Volume IV, Issue 6 1201 Brewster Ave. Redwood City, CA 94062 March 9, 2011

Sequoia High School

Raven Report

You’re late to class, and you get sent home?

Much of Sequoia was caught off guard after Sequoia’s new tardy pol-icy was announced Thursday, Feb. 3 by Administrative Vice Principal Don Milhaupt, who created the new policy. The announcement stated that any student who had been late to that fifth period class would have his/her name recorded by the AVPs. If the student was late again, he/she would be picked up from school by parents and brought home.

The Sequoia administration has buckled down on tardiness much more this year. First, they instituted the one-minute bells before class to warn students when they were almost late. Then, students had to call their parents and they received detention for being late. Now, they just have to leave.

“Sometimes, the only way to get people to listen is if we take drastic measures,” said Milhaupt.

Before the new policy, if a student was late, he/she received a detention and was placed on the no privileges list until he/she served it.

After a student’s third tardy, he/she was given an in-house suspension.

The number of tardies has been steadily increasing, so the new policy was created. Now, the students will get their names put on a list the first time they are late. The second time, the students will be suspended for the remainder of the day, and their parents will be called to take their students home.

“We decided that parents need to be involved,” said Milhaupt.

“I think [the administration] should be taken more seriously by the students, and this will help,” said social studies teacher Nancy Berry.

The new policy had an imme-diate effect as tardies in the later periods (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th) decreased by 31.6 percent from the day before the announcement to the day after, according to statistics from the attendance office. Students have been sent home as a result of the new policy. Students may now be more motivated to get to class on time, but they don’t necessarily agree with the policy.

“Why would they kick them out

The pungent smell of yesterday’s spicy chicken lunch special lingers in the air while traces of sour chocolate milk drift through the halls, class-rooms, quad, library, field, gym, and everywhere else that IB Environmen-tal Systems and Societies students go.

While being a walking garbage can is not a typical assignment for a science class, this is part of the IBESS project that this year’s juniors and se-niors did for the week Jan. 31 to Feb. 7. Students were required to dispose of all of their garbage, everything from fish sticks to fingernail clip-pings, into their personal trash bags. It was mandatory that these bags were on hand at all times over the course of the project; teachers deducted points from students who where found with-out their trash.

As a part of the pollution man-agement unit, students received a personal first hand experience concerning the impacts of the solid domestic waste that they produce. Solid domestic waste is our everyday garbage that we throw away: a mix of paper, leftover food, glass, paint, and old batteries. Despite how much of it we produce each and every day, solid domestic waste is only responsible for five percent of the world’s waste and can be controlled and reduced.

IBESS teachers Sarah Newman and Debolina Dutta wanted this project to impress upon students the environmental impacts of everyday waste with a unique personal experi-ence and hoped to leave their stu-dents with an optimistic outlook.

“I want my students to gain a sense of empowerment... for them to see what it is that they can do and to realize that they have power in the choices that they make,” said New-man. Students agree that although the project posed several challenges, it was an eye-opening experience that made some even change their habits.

“I stopped eating fruits with peels

Trashy students invade campusBy SARINA KOCHER GROSSEditor-in-Chief

Go to TRASH, page 7

of class instead of just letting them miss a couple minutes?” said sopho-more Nick Pauley. “I understand if it’s like 20 or 30 minutes, but we don’t miss much in the first couple minutes of class.”

“Sitting in that little room for detention, you’re bored to death. But here, you can show up late and

go home instead of show up late and stay at school for an-other hour,” said junior Thaddeus Saldanha. “Kids can pretty much go home and

play video games or do what ever they want.”

Milhaupt doesn’t believe the students should have any excuse to be late.

“We do the same thing everyday, people,” he said. Indeed, we do. And besides Mondays, students have plenty of time to get to class. We get 15 minutes between 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th, 50 minutes between 3rd and 5th or 4th and 6th, and 10 minutes between 5th and 7th or 6th and 7th.

“The vast majority of the students

Sequoia cracks down on tardies

“Sometimes, the only way to get people to listen is if we

take drastic measures.” —Administrative Vice Principal

Don Milhaupt

By MATT BROTHERTON and NICKIE PUCELStaff Reporters

Go to TARDY, page 5

EntertainmentCompare Sequoia Oscar picks to the real award winners Page 4

SportsDo you hear the footsteps? Sequoia Stampede brings out teacher rivalries Page 8

FeatureFacebook risks and pressures cause one student to delete page. Could you? Page 3

Eighteen juniors and seniors embarked on a 10-day journey called Sojourn to the Past from Feb. 17-26. Here (from left to right) Eric Watson, Emmoni Alo, Julian Hiltbrand-Consoli, Lizeth Cuevas, and Rebekah Marti-nez-Gonzalez sing with Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, in Birmingham, Ala.

Students ‘sojourn’ to South to study civil rights

2

Redwood City Sequoia School

Employees Federal Credit

Unionhttp://www.rcsse.org/

530 El Camino Real, P.O. Box 5413, Redwood City(650) 366-7777

Serving employees and their families in the following

districts: Redwood City Sequoia San Carlos Belmont

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Woodside Canada College

This month’s Financial Literacy article is sponsored by the RCSSE:

Using Credit Cards In today’s marketplace, a credit card can seem a necessity as well as a convenience. Some trans-

actions such as shopping online or renting a car require one. And having a credit card allows you to carry less cash and shop in stores that don’t take checks. But unless it’s used wisely and within a budget plan, then a credit card can be a shovel for digging yourself into excessive debt - debt that can be hard to pay off and that can cost you hundreds of dollars in interest. Financial planning ex-perts recommend following these pointers for making a credit card work for you rather than letting it control you.

Carry only one card.Experts recommend using a credit card for convenience, not as an ideal way to make large pur-

chases. A small consumer loan from your credit union is probably a better way to purchase a com-puter system or repair your vehicle, for instance. Carrying only one card until you have experience using credit can help you practice sound credit management. Carrying several cards to increase your available credit is an early warning sign of poor financial management.

Shop for a card with maximum customer benefits.These include low interest rate, no/low annual fee, and grace period after purchase before inter-

est kicks in.Budget before you spend.

Using a credit card for impulse purchases, particularly bigger ticket items such as tempting elec-tronics or expensive clothes, is a no no. Before you pull out the card know how the purchase fits in to your budget. If you use the card for making a planned larger purchase, also have a plan for paying off the total amount.

Keep your receipts and check them against the monthly statement.This way you can catch and correct any errors. Some experts recommend signing up for online

access to your credit card account so that you can check it more frequently than monthly.

Pay before the due date.Paying late, even a day late, reflects on your credit rating.

Pay off the balance in full each month.If you don’t roll part of the balance, you don’t get into debt and you don’t have to pay interest.

Avoid the trap of minimum payments.If you can’t pay the balance in full, make as large a payment as you can and make a plan for pay-

ing the balance off over a specific time. Card companies earn their money on people who carry balances.

Opinion

STAR doesn’t light up all of Sequoia’s achievements

Please choose the best answer to complete the following sentence:

The point of standardized testing is________.

A. To bore and frustrate students.B. To help students practice their

bubble filling skills.C. To accurately assess a student’s

educational aptitude.D. I’m putting this answer be-

cause I’m making a zig-zag out of the bubbles.

E. None of the above.As STAR tests

approach, the debate rages about whether they are a useful indicator of intelligence or not. Can patterns of bubbles on a scantron sheet really show how smart students are?

Sequoia teachers agree: there is no simple right or wrong answer when

it comes to the practicality of STAR testing. Some Sequoia staff members have shown support for these tests.

“One pro of STAR testing is that teachers get to know if [students are] learning or if they’re wasting their time every day. It forces us to show [that] we’ve been doing our job. I love them,” said IVP Lisa Gleaton.

STAR testing isn’t perfect though. It comes at a huge cost to the state which has a $43 million contract with Educational Testing Service. Even for this price, many do not think that the tests provide a comprehensive view of progress and learning ability. These tests give simple numerical scores that are easily comparable. They cannot detect whether the scores reflect what the student was taught at school, or personal learning experiences.

“There are so many pieces that go into who you are and what you

understand. You can’t separate out when [one] learned something,” said English department chair Jessica Mass. “There are too many variables, there is

too much that the students may or may not do outside of my class.”

“Testing looks for the most conve-nient way to get the most info,” said

Mass. However the STAR test itself seems to perform below basic in both the convenience and information sections.

“I don’t think the number necessarily represents where a student is or what they are capable of do-ing,” said AVP Ricardo Cooke. “The questions that are asked, in theory, are supposed to be things that the kids are exposed to. In reality, that is not always the case.”

“Standardized tests do a good job of assessing a lot of skills but they definitely can’t assess all of them,” said English teach-er Alissa Talesnick. “Not everyone is good at taking multiple choice tests; that’s just the way it is. I think those students have a real disadvantage.”

“I think to get an authentic, holis-tic view of English skills, there would have to be a written component, a listening or speaking component, and

not all multiple choice questions,” said Mass.

Cooke agreed, “A more holistic approach would be adding some

of those ele-ments of writ-ing, adding a component of a teacher perspec-tive, something similar to what the IB program does.”

Unfortu-nately, these tests are already expensive and time consuming, and anything more in-depth than multiple choice would be expensive to administer.

Most agree that the STAR tests do not cover everything that would be needed to show how much a student knows.

“There’s a lot that standardized testing doesn’t test, just like grades don’t get everything. Sure it can get basic understanding, but some people may not be good at a subject, say math, but they memorize all the

By WILL JAMES and JOSH PITKOFSKYStaff Reporters

“Testing looks for the most convenient way to get the

most info.”—English department chair

Jessica Mass

Go to TESTING, page 6

3Feature

Friends (1977)

Been bullied or want to lower your risks? Guidance Counselor Lisa McCahon has some guidelines before putting anything online or in an email.

“Teens are so used to posting information and pictures on the Internet or through cell phones and forget that the information is

now accessible for others to spread to unintended audiences,” she said. Some teens are known to post inap-propriate pictures and give away test answers as Facebook statuses. Next time think before you post.

“This information can also be possibly viewed by school authori-ties, parents, potential employers

and potential colleges,” McCahon said. “Students should ask themselves before they post something, "Would I be upset if this was forwarded to people I don't know? Would I be up-set if my mom or dad saw this? If I'm trying to get a job or get into college and they see this, would they hire me or accept me?"

Cyberbullying is rising: counselor gives tips on how to avoid If the answer is "No" to any of

these questions, then it is best to not post that item.”

If any information is question-able, don’t risk it. Who knows when someone will ask you in a job interview what you were doing that night in that tagged picture.

—Laurel Dearborn

Facebook changes relationships as interactions move online

Instant messages, pokes, wallposts, and an endless source of gossip; it’s undeniable that Facebook has changed the way our lives work. In an Internet-free world, teenagers were free of the pres-sure to constantly be in contact with their social life. If something needed to be said, it was in person or over the phone. The phenom-enon of social networking has become a part of our everyday lives, taking away our freedom to just be alone.

“I pretty much get home, do my homework, and then spend 3 hours Facebook stalking people... No joke.” said freshman Shahil Sharma. Constantly connected, students carry on discus-sions sparked by last night’s Facebook statuses and Formspring answers at school, then go home to repeat the cycle. Apart from the obvious time sync Facebook has created, the incessant facts about classmates’ personal lives create an atmosphere where privacy is virtually non-existent.

“Facebook has become the way I interact with people,” said Instructional Vice Principal Lisa Gleaton, an avid Facebook user. When you become a part of this online community, you find your-self commenting, posting, and chatting with people you wouldn’t even think about inviting over for a sleepover.

On average, Sequoia students spend about an hour and 45 min-utes on the site a day. “It becomes a daily thing,” said sophomore Marisa Steck. Almost 2 hours a day spent having a heart-to-heart with a close friend is one thing... but viewing hundreds of pictures of people you’ve only met twice?

Unfortunately, the large number of Sequoia students with a Facebook put more of their personal lives on their page then they realize. Remember, everything you post on Facebook is “stalk-able”.

It’s anonymous. Who will know? This is the last thought run-ning through a cyber-bully’s mind when debating whether or not to post a hurtful comment on an enemy’s wall. Unfortunately, many disobey any moral values they have learned and switch to degrading innocent classmates.

“It really gets to you...being connected to people 24/7. It doesn’t give you any chance to be alone. Sometimes you don’t need all that drama in your life,” said junior Casey Kuhlow. She should know. A former “Facebook addict”, she took her page down after being abused by anonymous comments. “There’s an anonymous answer honest box and people really take advantage of it,” she said. “People I don’t even know would write things- people that don’t even go to school with me.”

The pressure of constant beeps, buzzes, and vibrates can get annoying, but without it some can start to feel insecure and out of touch with the world because of how intertwined it has become with our lives. “Its not Facebook that’s the addiction, its the desire to know whats going on 24/7,” Kuhlow said. “I’m still spending a lot of time on the Internet but now I’m so much more stress free.”

She doesn’t have to worry anymore whether or not someone will post something hurtful to her wall, or ask her questions she doesn’t feel comfortable answering. No notification emails will pile up in her inbox and persuade her to log on to an online horror. She can study in peace without worrying that someone is backstabbing her for the whole world to see. Her photos and so-cial life are now more private and relationships can feel more real.

“It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Interaction gets digital with Facebook phenomenon

Student deletes Facebook account to avoid online drama

4 Entertainment

Sequoia High School

Raven Report2010-2011

Editor-in-Chief Sarina Kocher Gross

Layout EditorSantiago Ortega

News EditorsZeenat Ali and Alex Deas

Feature EditorSami Mast

Sports EditorDaniel Jude

Staff ReportersWilliam Baker Matt Brotherton Anna Dagum Laurel Dearborn

Layne Diener Connor Grossman Will James Caroline Lempert Liam O’Hara! Josh Pitkofsky Nickie Pucel Rebecca Sand Jacob Warren

Mission StatementThe Raven Report strives to provide Sequoia High School with informative, engaging

and relevant news. The staff will exercise integrity and adaptability while promoting justice and transparency through professional reporting about the school, the community, and the world.

Letters to the EditorThe Raven Report welcomes letters to the editor from students, parents, or community members,

sent to adviser Kim Vinh’s room, 308, or by email to ravenreport09@gmail.com. Letters must include the writer’s full name and ID number, and the staff reserves

the right to edit for space and style.

And the Oscar goes to...

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is the most culturally celebrated awards event of the year. There are many others, the Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the Emmys, the Grammys...the list goes on, but none compare to the glamour and honor that the Oscars present.

This year the 83rd Academy Awards were Feb. 27th, and new hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco led what turned out to be a boring and un-funny evening at the Kodak Theater in Los Ange-les. Franco seemed detached while Hathaway tried to compensate with bad jokes. Overall the produc-tion didn’t work, but the Oscars still represent something important, they represent Hollywood’s review of its own work.

“It’s an insider’s event. Fans want to see the celeb-rities together and making fun of each other,” said junior Aidan Harr. “As long as I can remember, the Oscars were always a big moment in my family.”

Last year the nominees list for Best Picture, the most prestigious award, expanded from five to ten nominees. This allows more films to have the honor of placing a “Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture” sticker on their DVD box.

“Its definitely become more commercialized,” added Harr.

The Academy does tend to have biases, es-pecially towards period pieces, which are movies placed in a historical time period with an inspiring story (this year’s example, “The King’s Speech,” win-ner of Best Picture and Best Director).

“Its the sort of movie they just make to get nomi-nated,” said Harr. Movies like this are made every year and get the Oscar nod over non-period pieces that might be more deserving. The period piece movies are often good and well-made, but some-what formulaic and get in the way of better mov-ies receiving recognition.

Some-times the bias may even get personal, and a movie may not win because of a grudge. Prin-cipal Bonnie Hansen thinks this happened in 2009, when Gran Torino was excluded from nomina-tion in the major categories.

“Clint East-wood probably ticked off the wrong person on the Oscar panel,” said Hansen.

This year at the Academy Awards, two pictures tied for most Oscars won. Inception and The King’s Speech both received four Oscars. Although Incep-tion won mainly for its technical achievements being awarded Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Art Direction, Inception took home the Oscar for its Cinematography which is among the most prestigious awards. The King’s Speech on the other hand, took home Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Directing, and Original Screenplay, by far “winning” the night.

The winners and losers are not the only part of

the Oscars that make it entertaining. When every A-list celebrity is put in a room and roasted for three hours by a host, America is intrigued and wants to watch. Billy Crystal, who made a guest appearance this year (and probably should have just taken over the night), has hosted eight times, and had a record 57.1 million viewers in 1998 when Titanic won Best Picture. Jon Stewart, who has hosted twice, had the record low of 31.8 million viewers in 2008. This year Franco and Hathaway did a less than stellar job in the opening monologue, with awkward jokes and low quality entertainment.

However, the Oscars do not attract everybody, and this year the production was particularly messy.

“They’re not exciting, I can get all of the infor-mation the day after,” said junior Thaddeus Sal-danha. The acceptance speeches are, as Saldanha describes them, “Just blah blah blah, I don’t care!” Some think they tend to drag on and bore the audi-ence and viewers, and most of the time music plays telling the speaker to get off the stage.

Hansen put it best when she said, “Some people can act, but they can’t give a speech.”

Nevertheless, with bias and boring speeches, the Oscars are an event watched and enjoyed by many. For some people, like Hansen, what they “really care about is what Angelina Jolie is wearing that night.” Whether you watch for the

hosts’ performances, to see who wins, or to live-tweet about how weird Christian

Bale’s beard is getting, enjoy the glorious Academy Awards for years to come.

Ms. Hansen’s Picks Sequoia’s Picks The Actual WinnersBest Director Tom Hooper—

The King’s Speech

Colin Firth—The King’s Speech

Natalie Portman —Black Swan

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Support-ing Actor

Best Support-ing Actress

Best Picture

Christian Bale—The Fighter

Melissa Leo—The Fighter

The King’s Speech

David Fincher—The Social NetworkJesse Eisenberg—The Social NetworkNatalie Portman —Black Swan

Christian Bale—The Fighter

Amy Adams—The Fighter

Inception

Tom Hooper—The King’s SpeechColin Firth—The King’s Speech

Christian Bale—The Fighter

Nicole Kidman—Rabbit Hole

Hailee Steinfeld—True Grit

The Social Network

Oscars fall short of heightened expectationsBy DANIEL JUDE and SANTIAGO ORTEGASports Editor and Layout Editor

This year’s best actors: Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Melissa Leo, and Colin Firth. Photo from www.mtv.com

Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco trade wardrobes in one of their many spoofs.

5

Is it his charming smile? His big, innocent eyes? His wise and inspirational song lyrics? Or his hair that just knows which way it wants to go? Though it’s no lie that Justin Bieber’s music is catchy and fun to dance to, what is it about this teenybopper pop and “R&B star” that the fans absolutely adore?

For us hardcore “Beliebers,” it’s definitely the hair. Justin Bieber has been all over the news these past months for many reasons, ranging from his recent haircut, to his appearance at an NBA All-Star game.

Justin Bieber released his movie “Never Say Never” on Feb. 10, just 19 days before his 17th birthday. This epic feature length film is a story about how the star sold out Madison Square Garden in Manhattan in just 22 minutes, after only being known in the music business for a year. His inspiring tale includes countless interviews with teenage girls who grow quite emotional while waiting to see his concert. One girl said she tweeted Justin Bieber 100 times in just one day while others cry when saying that they want to marry him.

Junior Lucia Bertero saw the movie after it came out and immediately changed her Facebook status to, “Let me say, life changed. That kid is a boss.”

With all the Bieber hype, it’s no wonder Se-quoia’s buzzing with “Bieber fever.” English teacher Emily DeVoe uses Justin Bieber for her student’s

By ANNA DAGUM and LAYNE DIENERStaff Reporters

daily kickoffs. However, many people disagree about whether this new found star is entitled to all this attention. Freshman Erick Pena thinks that “He deserves the fame but not the movie; that’s just for people who have been famous for a long time.” The other things that Bieber doesn’t deserve is, “Being labeled as an R&B star, and his nail polish line.” said Pena

Despite the life-size cutout of “The Biebs” in her office, Athletics Director Stacy Morell doesn’t “dislike Justin Bieber, but [she’s] not a fanatic.”

“I got the cutout at a white elephant Christmas party, I stole it from a friend because I thought it was funny,” said Morell.

The Biebs’ fame has sky-rocketed because of his movie and the amount of publicity he recieves, but his greatest achievement by far is his novel. 100% Official Justin Bieber First Step 2 Forever: My Story is a picture book packed with illiterate twitter posts and quotes about his Canadi-an pride, his faith in God, and being surrounded by beautiful girls. Our favorite quote is “I

get to sort of emerge from the fog and slam into ‘Love Me.’ The show’s opening makes me sound like a bad-ass.” We whole-heartedly agree.

Despite the controversy upon whether this heartthrob deserves a movie chronicling his career, we Belieb that the movie gave a positive message to all audiences about perseverance and optimism, and agree whole heartedly with Bieber’s motto: Never. Say. NEVER!

Feature

From Orange Fever to...Bieber Fever?

Start College

NOWThe Middle College High School program is

accepting applications for fall 2011. Application due date: April 13th.

www.canadacollege.edu/middlecollege

Talk to your guidance advisor and attend the information meeting to learn more:

Thursday, March 24th 7:00-8:00 p.m.

SUHSD Board RoomThis meeting gives an overview of the

program and offers an opportunity to have questions answered.

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TARDY (continued from page 1)

“The vast majority of the students at this school get to class on time, but there’s a few people who are continuously late,” said Milhaupt. ”Some stu-dents don’t care that they have to serve in-house, and they’re chronically late.” “But it’s affecting kids [who aren’t always late],” said Pauley. “Because if we’re tardy twice out of the 180 days we’re here at school, we’re getting punished for being a minute late. It’s not like we’re trying to be late.” The policy was designed to stop the kids who are consistently tardy to class, but the students who are rarely late are also affected by the policy. Despite all of the “drastic” changes made, there is still an issue that was left unchanged. “It is not for 1st or 2nd period; that’s where the bigger problem is,” said Berry. “I don’t have any tardy problems with the other periods.” While some tardiness occurs during 3rd through 7th, the majority of tardiness comes dur-ing 1st and 2nd period. Based on statistics from the attendance office, the tardies from 1st and 2nd period make up about three quarters of the total tardies. On average, there are 149.75 kids late to either 1st or 2nd period, depending on the block day. From 3rd to 7th period, an average of only 51.75 kids are late to class. However, it is much more difficult for the ad-ministration to enforce a tardy policy for 1st and 2nd period. Students are still at home, and the school is not responsible for them. The adminis-tration can’t go to every students house and force them out of bed to make sure they get to school before their first classes. The administration’s new policy will help reduce the number of tardies from 3rd to 7th period, but the larger problem remains during 1st and 2nd period.

Justin Bieber (at least... a life-size cutout of him) lives on campus. Photo by Laurel Dearborn.

6 Opinion

Club promotes DREAM of a better future

While I’m fortunate to have documentation, a number of my successful and hardworking peers face extra chal-lenges because they do not. I find it discriminating that a paper saying where they were born limits them so much. A place of birth cannot measure a person’s potential for success, yet our politics limit so many youths based on this. Students in Sequoia High School and throughout the country have this political challenge. Many were brought here as babies, and did not choose to come to the U.S. Some have been here so long that they forget their native lan-guage and country. This country has be-come their home. But their talents, dreams, and possible contributions are wasted just because of papers. Instead receiving financial support for their future careers, they are considered “illegal”. President Obama reflects on this issue; he commented in the recent state of the union that “[These students] grew up as Americans and pledge al-legiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation” Last December, a bill meant to solve the issues of un-documented youth did not pass in congress. Essentially, the DREAM Act bill would grant a path towards citi-zenship to undocumented students who have enrolled in two years of college or join the military.

With the help of this bill, not only the students would benefit. With more people with education, there will be less poverty in neighborhoods and these students will gain better paid jobs. This in turn would make them pay more taxes and contribute to the country. These people would be able to also invest by creating more businesses and buying stocks in the market. A recent study conduct-ed by UCLA’s North American Integration and Develop-ment Center “estimates that if 825,000 undocumented

youths obtain legal status under the [Dream Act], they would generate $1.4

trillion in income over a 40-year period”. This influx of capital could potentially push America into a relevant economic growth stage. Another way in which the Dream Act would help the country is by enrolling more

people in the military in order to maintain natural secu-rity. When the DREAM Act did not pass last December, not only did students lose, but this was a major loss for the country as well. I’m proud to say that I’m part of the DREAM Club, and I’m privileged to be part of this new civil rights movement. This past semester, in coalition with the Im-migrant Youth Action Team, we hosted a big fundraising dinner. The event was called “Making Dreams Come True” and we raised over $ 5000.00 in scholarship money for undocumented students. I hope to continue working for this cause until the Dream Act is passed and “papers” discrimination is over.

By ROBERTO PABLO PIMIENTAGuest Reporter

functions and equations, and spend 7 hours on a test and get the A,” said sophomore Aaron Jacobson.

The STAR is not a test that you can or should study for, and cram-ming the night before would not help much.

“It’s not necessarily what you learn, but how you demonstrate why those things that you have learned are important,” said Cooke.

The STAR won’t lower your grades, and colleges will not see it. So why care about doing well on these tests? This year by doing well on STAR tests, students are eligible to raise their grades and win prizes, and show the state of California that their teachers have been teaching and they have been learning certain state education standards.

The state of California uses the API, or Academic Program Index, which is composed of STAR test scores and CAHSEE results. When you put those together it is supposed to give a snapshot of how your school is performing against other schools, and more importantly whether or not your school has met the government’s goal of an 800, (API score) the suggested proficiency level for all schools. If a school does not reach that goal for multiple years, they risk facing a government takeover of the school.

Taking these tests seriously can keep a school afloat, and even improve the surrounding commu-nity. Areas with schools that have higher API scores have higher property values. The tests can also serve as preparation for the students’ future.

“These tests can be an opportu-nity to practice for higher stakes tests, like the SAT,” said math teacher Laura Larkin.

Sequoia Staff sends the message that these tests need to be taken seriously, because even though the effects are not visible to students, they do affect the school greatly. Whether these test directly ben-efit you or not, “take it as seriously as you can, because your name is attached to it,” said Cooke, “un-derstand that your name should mean everything to you.”

Standardized testing has been going on for 50 years, and the STAR tests have been in use for the last 13. It’s really more of an academic tradition than a useful tool for assessing students’ intel-ligence. This is not the best way to indicate how well a school is teaching its students, but it is what we have for now.

“A place of birth cannot measure a person’s potential

for success.” —Junior Roberto Pimienta

By LIAM O’HARAStaff Reporter

Jersey Shore wipes out teen brain cells

I’ll admit it: I spent seven hours straight watching Jersey Shore.

It was a surreal experience to say the least. Jersey Shore is the spawn of MTV, and stars eight roommates doing “Jersey things:” binge drinking and picking up girls. Jersey Shore has become MTV’s most watched series of all time, with 8.4 mil-lion viewers, and has experienced continued success.

The “stars” of the show include Michael “The Situa-tion” Sorrentino, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, Vinny Guadagnino, and

Deena Cortese, who all add their own distinctive form of skin deep jealousy and resentment which leads to more distrust in their home.

Jersey Shore is, for lack of a better word, stupid, the characters are one dimensional. They’re paid to be their

shallow unintelligent selves, and the same thing happens every episode: one of the characters does something dumb, there’s a big fight, and Mike says there’s a situation in the third person, followed by a half-hearted

resolution between the characters.I should hate this show, and I do,

but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It was simply too funny. I kept thinking to myself, what planet are these idiots coming from? They’re getting paid to be jerks to each other, and they’re

complaining that life’s hard!?

However, the entertain-ment comes from the char-acters shallow nature. Junior David Hibbard said, “The show’s only entertaining value is the stupid conflicts among the characters, and distrust among each other.”

Jersey Shore is everything that’s wrong with the real-

ity television industry, it promotes shallow materialism, and shows that making an ass of yourself on national television is the way to get paid.

But on the bright side it makes me feel better about myself.

8.4 million viewers watch Jersey Shore. Photo: cbsnews.com.

TESTING Continued from page 2

7opinion

spread out on my desk, I thought, ‘If this is my trash for a week, then what does my trash for a year look like?’. It made me wonder about where all of this trash goes,” said junior Au-drey Inglis. Although the United States is one of the largest produc-ers of domestic waste, yield-ing 1095 kg of waste per capita every day according to the United States Environ-mental Protec-tion Agency, most people do not know what happens to their trash after they throw it away. “It’s so easy to throw things away, but when you have to lug it around with you every-where, you start to think about where your trash goes and begin to appreciate those places,” said junior Savannah Rae. While both Inglis and Rae

said that they were disappointed to see that the most abundant material accumulated in their bags was plastic, they were pleased to find that a lot of their trash was recyclable. They agree that they would like to see more com-posting and recycling bins at Sequoia and for students to know where these facilities are.

Many Se-quoia students are already en-vironmentally conscious and make use of the recycling and compost bins that they have access to on campus or are part of Ecos Club to spread public awareness. But you don’t have to be an IBESS student or a member of Ecos Club to make a differ-ence: you have control over your everyday decisions that have a huge impact. Future IBESS stu-dents should

look forward to this annual project that brings a new perspective and a better understanding of how our everyday choices impact the world.

Junior Nathalie Irias sorts through a week’s full of trash on the IB Envi-ronmental Systems and Societies class project’s last day. Photo by Sarah New-man.

TRASHcontinued from page 1

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Competitive training is also available for students interested in participating in USA Boxing sanctioned events. As a member of USA Boxing and the United States Olympic Committee, we sponsor athletes to compete in local, regional, and national level tour-

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Students ready to show off talent

The Sequoia Talent show, premier-ing March 11 in Carrington Hall, is not only a showcase of Sequoia student preformers, its a way of rpeople to get together outside of school and expose the many talents here at Sequoia. It’s an inside look at what students do when they’re not in school. The show will be produced by the senior Class and will feature stu-dents, and some teachers with special talents. Admission to the show will be 5 dollars.

To create the show, the seniors and Belen Alvarez, Spanish teacher and the show’s advisor had a gen-eral meeting about what needed to be done and by who. They then held auditions for the talent, practiced the show twice to make sure technical equipment worked and found people for security and ticket sales.

The Talent Show does more than expose people’s talents.

“It creates a sense of community. It’s an opportunity for students, teachers, and parents to get together outside of school,” said Alvarez.

Performers are excited to show off their hard work.

“I’ve worked on this solo piece and I really want to be able to perform,

By SAMI MAST and REBECCA SANDFeature Editor and Staff Reporter

especially if I can’t get it into the dance show, I’ve never danced by my-self in front of a huge audience, but once I get going I’m good, I get lost in the story and begin to relive it which is why I’m known as an emotional dancer,” said sophomore Bian Jabari.

Even the teachers get into the spirit of performing.

“One year [Spanish teacher Edith Salvatore] told jokes. I thought it was hilarious. It was pretty amazing to see how comfortable she was perform-ing. At the time I thought, ‘If I had to be performing in front of so many people I would die!”

Some students have been practic-ing their talents for years.

Jabari has been danc-ing since “[she] was eight or nine. So about seven or eight years.”

These performers are dedicated to making their talent as good as

it can be.“I hear some students sing and

I wonder why they are here. They should be on American Idol,” said Alvarez.

This year’s show will have about 30 performers counting teachers.

“I cannot tell you which teachers are performing, they are going to be surprises,” said Alvarez.

Sphomore Kayla Parolari said,“I think it would be fun to go to cheer on your friends who are performing.” Anyone is welcome to go and watch the show and cheer on the talent.

“It creates a sense of community. It’s an opportunity for students,

teachers, and parents to get together outside of school.”

— Spanish teacher Belen Alvarez

EXPERIENCE A BOLD NEW VISION OFCHARLOTTE BRONTË’S TIMELESS CLASSIC.

MIAWASIKOWSKAMICHAELFASSBENDERJAMIEBELLAND

JUDIDENCH

J A N E E Y R E

“A LOVE STORYAS FIERCELY

INTELLIGENT ASIT IS PASSIONATE!

Director Cary Fukunaga hasbroken the mold. Mia Wasikowska

owns this part – it’s her Jane.Michael Fassbender shows

signs of limitless talent.”

“LET THESWOONS

BEGIN!”

IN SELECT THEATRES MARCH 11

KAREN DURBIN,

LAURA JACOBS,

Moxie - High School Ad4x6’’

8 Sports

Tensions rise as Stampede looms in distanceBy CONNOR GROSSMAN and ALEX DEASStaff Reporter and News Editor

Those purple footsteps plastered across the walls of Sequoia are finally starting to mean something. The first annual Sequoia Stampede is kicking off Saturday, April 2 at 9 a.m. It will be a five kilometer (three miles) race around the neighborhoods sur-rounding Sequoia. Anyone is welcome to come watch for no fee but all racers will have to pay a $25 entrance fee.

Food will be provided at the event along with an assortment of booths from local businesses. All of the funds raised from the event will go directly to all Sequoia Sport programs.

Race coordinator Adrian Dilley said, “If we could raise $30,000, we could help every team in the Sequoia sports program.”

“If we could raise even half of what MA raised for their run ($70,000), this could mean new uniforms and equipment for all of Sequoia’s teams,” said Dilley.

Cross Country coach Andrew

Hutchinson said, “Our inspiration is the event Menlo Atherton puts on every year. The concept that we could have this one giant fundraiser in one day to raise enough money for the entire sports program is awesome.”

Teams need this

financial aid from the community along with state funds to ensure that every team can be provided with new and updated equipment.

Danny Raggio,a senior, has participated in track and cross country all four years is excited Sequoia is doing a fundraiser like this.

“I’m going in it to try and win it.

My goal is to try and get a 17-18 minute time on the course or even lower if I can,” Raggio said.

Raggio does have a favorite teacher to win the race, however: “Mr. Dilley seems like the most athletic person at school. I’d be sur-prised if he didn’t win.”

Not only are students and the community preparing for this event, teachers from the science, math, and history departments are competing against each other for major brag-ging rights. The history department is preparing to dominate the race.

“We demand sub 7 minute miles,” said team leader and history teacher Karin Zarcone. “We need to repre-sent, bring it.”

“Social studies is going down,” said math teacher, Josh Yezerski.

“It’s all about teacher participation

Junior Gabriel Ortiz qualified for the California State Indoor Track Meet in Fresno, CA on Feb 26, with his record time in a previous meet. Held on Feb 5, the first pre-season meet of the year at UC Berkley, gave way to Gabriel’s time of 1 minute and 16 seconds for the 550 meter sprint, which placed him 2nd for the day in the high school boy’s divi-sion.

Because indoor track is not recognized as an official high school sport in the state of California, Ortiz will be running solo and not as a Sequoia athlete at the upcoming meet.

The difference between indoor and outdoor track is “indoor is shorter. instead of running a lap in 100 meters, I’m going to have to run 3 laps. So it looks like a longer race,” said Ortiz. “But the track itself is shorter.”

“This is going to be my first time running in

indoor track, so I don’t know which is harder.” said Ortiz. “This is [also] my first time going to state, so I don’t really know how the competition is, but I guess I’ll find out”

However desite the challenge the race will pro-vide, runners must constantly train for any meet.

“You have to just keep doing long sprints. You have to eat right and get your sleep.” Ortiz said. “You have to be fit, physically and mentally.”

Gabriel Ortiz has been running track exclusively for Sequoia since his freshman year, and although his speed is phenomenal, Ortiz is not sure whether he will be pursuing track after high school.

But for now, Ortiz must be focused more on his upcoming race.

“I guess I’m a little nervous,” said Ortiz. “But if you train hard, and give it your all, you know there is no reason to be.”

“I run to compete, and it feels good to win.” Or-tiz said, and coming in 11th out of 29 competitors in the 600 yard run, Ortiz is living up to this motto.

By ANNA DAGUMStaff Reporter

along with friendly competition. Mr. Lee seems to be the class of the Math department in terms of the marathon.”

Science teacher Jack West said, “I can see a small rival-ry forming between the science and math departments. Some teachers are definitely getting really competitive about it.”

West also sees a teacher he be-lieves will win: “Ms. Larkin is extremely competitive, cut throat type of at-titude.”

Most depart-ments are taking the level of competition

to the next level by wearing costumes corresponding to their department.

According to Zarcone, the social studies department is discussing pos-sible historical themed outfits, and the science department is consider-ing dressing up as the food pyramid.

It is obvious that the race will be full of surprises, and if there’s anything that can be predetermined going into the stampede, the compe-tition will be fierce and the intensity between participants will be high.

Ortiz dominates indoor track meet

Sequoia Track athlete Gabriel Ortiz (second from right) participates in a 600 yard sprint in the California State Indoor Track Meet in Fresno. He placed 11th out of 29 competitors. Photo taken by Adrian Dilley.

Sequoia basketball wrapped up the regular season on Friday, Feb.11 with a very successful quad-game for both junior varsity and varsity boys playing Oceana and junior varsity and varsity girls playing Hillsdale. Sequoia swept the four games in convincing fashion with girls varsity winning 44-39, girls junior varsity 25-23. Boys varsity won 47-32 and boys junior varsity won in dramatic fashion 44-43 with a buzzer beater courtesy of sophomore Jaden Briesach.

The varsity boys finished 4-4 in league while junior varsity ended up 3-5. Girls varsity finished 5-3 in league and junior varsity finished 6-2. Going into the last game, both varsity teams had Central Coast Section playoff spots up for grabs.

The game was a must win for both varsity teams who were without automatic qualifiers. Meaning it would depend on whether they are selected to attend CCS because neither won the division out-right. Sequoia girls junior varsity had a successful year going 6-2 in league which will enable them to move from the lake to the Bay division next year.

“It was a lot of fun this year, and I loved my coach,” said sophomore Caitlyn Yao. She also acknowledged that there opportunities lost, “We should have at least tied for league.” The boys ju-nior varsity will not advance to the Lake division.

“We might not have won the division this year, but I think this game showed our true potential,” said Briesach.

Basketball sweeps in final quad gameBy WILLIAM BAKERStaff Reporter