By Sydney Harder UPA’s recently formed student government convened on Nov. 7 to discuss ideas for the widely anticipated winter dance, which will be held on Jan. 31. The past Halloween dance was the most successful dance event in UPA history and was hosted by the PTSO. For the next dance, student government will take most of the responsibility for its organization; the success of the upcoming dance will also be a measure of how effective and dedicated the newly elected ASB is when it comes to plan-ning school-wide events. They will also have to attempt to meet the high expectations that stu-

dents have for the winter dance since the last dance surprised everyone and established a new set of standards for off-campus events. “[The student gov-ernment] have to manage the money effectively and figure out what’s most important”, history teacher Andrew Yau said. The ASB plans to meet several more times to confirm the winter dance location and theme. Students and staff alike hope that the student govern-ment can rise to the challenge and demonstrate the achieve-ments they can make by work-ing together. “They will learn a lot about leadership”, Mr. Hophan said. The next dance will feature the same DJ, though the venue information has not yet been released.

By Selena Razo Hear that? No? Exactly. If anyone has been feeling a void amongst the UPA clubs lately it would be because one of UPA’s very first clubs, Glee Club, has of-ficially disbanded. Those who have been at UPA since fall 2011 were there when Glee was first introduced and students witnessed their first performance at a UPA spirit rally. Sophomore Priyanka Karunakaran said that when she first saw the ad for Glee, she thought it would be cool to watch, but not something she would want to try herself. “There was never just ‘one’ special moment, all of them were fun,” eighth grader and for-mer Glee member, Jacob Cayaby-ab said. Diminishing attendance is one reason Glee has ended.“I

was ready to restart Glee again this school year, but there were only three people left, including myself. Everyone wanted to try something new instead.” former leader Hannah Cooke said. Aspiring singers at UPA need not fear, however, as one of UPA’s newest clubs, Music Club, includes its own choir. One would think these clubs would possibly go head to head if Glee were still around, but that’s actually not the case. Leader of Music Club Jessica de la Paz never even con-sidered Glee Club as a rival. “I would have never thought of us to be arch-rivals. I mean come on, what are we? Fifth graders? I would have just thought of us as two separate things.” There are a few differ-ences between Music Club and Glee Club. “I realized Music Club

teaches you how to sing, while Glee Club only tells you what to sing,” sophomore Cooke said. She also expressed op-timism for the future of Music Club; though not a part of it, she said “I hope Music Club will achieve the goals Glee Club was trying to do.”

New UPA Foundation Will Raise School FundsBy Serena Quedaza UPA’s recently formed student government convened on November 7 to discuss ideas for the widely anticipated winter dance, which will be held on Jan-uary 31st. The past Halloween dance was the most successful dance event in UPA history and was hosted by the PTSO. For the next dance, student government will take most of the responsibil-ity for its organization; the suc-cess of the upcoming dance will also be a measure of how effective and dedicated the newly elected ASB is when it comes to planning school-wide events. They will also have to attempt to meet the high expectations that students have for the winter dance since the last dance surprised ev-eryone and established a new set of standards for off-campus events. “They [the student government] have to manage the money effec-tively and figure out what’s most important”, Mr. Yau said. The ASB plans to meet several more times to confirm the win-ter dance location and theme. Students and staff alike hope that the student government can rise to the challenge and demonstrate the achievements they can make by working together. “They will learn a lot about lead-ership”, Mr. Hophan said. The next dance will feature the same DJ, though the venue infor-mation has not yet been released.

Annual Winter Arts Event ShowcasesStudent-Produced Music, Drawings

AquilaUniversity Preparatory AcademyVolume 3, Issue 2Dec. 17, 2013

Winter Dance in the Works

By Lizzy Wallace On Dec. 6, UPA held its annual Winter Arts Showcase. It took place from 7- 8:30 in the evening, and included contribu-tions from the art, music, drama, and dance departments, as well as students who are not in any of these classes but signed up to par-ticipate. The purpose of the event was to “show the excel-lence of UPA’s arts departments.”

art teacher Karen Crump said. Students have been preparing for this event since the beginning of the year, and the event paid off to finally show the fruit of their ef-forts. The band classes per-formed the songs “Medieval Leg-end”, “Sally’s Song”, and “Sleigh Bells”, as well as a contribution from the Advanced Band class. The middle school dra-ma class performed the partner

scenes ‘Private Eyes’ and ‘The Sphinx’. The high school would have performed the scene, ‘The Break Up’, but were unable to due to a missing actor. The high school dance class contributed a routine to ‘Carol of the Bells’, which was self-choreographed by the students, as well as ‘Bezubaan’ and working together with the middle school class for a Michael Jackson med-ley. Middle school also danced to

‘Jump, Jive, and Wail’ and ‘Halo’. “I had lots of fun with dance, and look forward to do-ing it again next year,” said Katie Holland, a freshman in the dance class. Works from the middle and high school art classes lined the walls in a gallery layout for ev-eryone to see throughout the eve-ning. Pieces displayed were cre-ated using pastels, paint, marker, pencil, and other mediums.

Photos by Lizzy WallaceFrom left to right: April Nicholson with the marching band; sketch by Christina Wei; drawing by Brandon Nguyen; Nicole Darvin and Jennifer Nguyen; drawing by Laura Houck; colorguard performance.

And Now We’re Missing Glee

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The Aquila website for exclusives!

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By Sydney Harder You’ve heard it a million times: “It’s the season of giving.” Perhaps the cheerful Salvation Army volunteer ringing a bell, smiling at passerby while standing next to a red collection box comes to mind. Or maybe the common Thanksgiving newscast showing a pre-recorded segment of volunteers happily serving at soup kitchens inspires you to

volunteer next year. However, as soon as the Christmas trees are disposed of and the decorations return to gathering dust in their boxes, people go back to the regular schedule of their daily lives and once again become overwhelmed by activities intended to fulfill their selfish desires. Why does the spirit of generosity only come around once a year? Some people might feel obligated to donate or volun-teer because the “season of giv-ing” has become an inveterate ideal in society. Red and green ornaments, winter coats and hot chocolate have long been associ-ated with the season where people who are preoccupied with their busy lives 10 months out of the year momentarily abandon their

stationary positions at their desks and suddenly become active vol-unteers in giving back to the com-munity. But when the artifi-cial “season of giving” label is s t r i p p e d away, along with its Christmas lights and red collec-tion boxes, people in need are still ever-present. Re-gardless of your $5 or $100 donation to the Salvation Army, multitudes of un-derprivileged individuals remain, generally forgotten about until the leaves start to fall again and the familiar bell makes people

mindful of the “time to give.” However, it does not have to stay that way. People have enough alerts and iPhone alarms to help them remember rela-tively unimportant daily chores

and upcoming meetings as it is. Besides, why should people have to be constantly reminded of their moral ob-ligation to as-sist others? Hope-fully people

will no longer need those con-spicuous reminders to prompt them to volunteer. Selfless acts of kindness are admirable; they are also part of life’s purpose. You cannot deny that help from oth-

ers facilitates the arduous jour-ney through life; without others’ advice or empathy for a burden-some situation, you would likely still be facing one of life’s inher-ent obstacles. Clearly, regardless of the season, there will always be someone in need of a helping hand. So as you pass by the Salvation Army volunteers or the regularly seen homeless man on the corner, remember that while your charity indeed goes a long way this holiday season, hands-on volunteering during the 10 months when widespread giving appears to be dormant will be valued by the recipient. Further-more, it will provide an experi-ence that is bound to enlighten your perspective on what the true meaning of giving is.

EditorialDec. 17, 2013

PAG

E2Recognize The Importance of Giving 365 Days a Year, Not for One Month

Editor-in-ChiefAkeiylah DeWitt

Managing EditorMorgan LuuNews EditorLizzy Wallace

Editorial EditorSydney Harder

In-Depth EditorVincent GarciaFeature Editor

Taio HokariEntertainment Editor

Selena RazoWeb EditorNico Sarabia

Art and GraphicsVincent Garcia

Staff WritersSerena Quezada, Sam Leath,

Sammy Cardoza, Brooke Headley, Emily Manley, Gabby Munoz, Heriberto

Alcantar

AdviserLaura Gordon Reska

Contact(408) 723-1839

2315 Canoas Garden AveSan Jose, CA 95125

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website. Please keep criticism constructive, avoid offensive

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AQUILAUniversity Preparatory Academy

The Aquila is a student-produced and student-edited high school newspa-per. It serves as a designated public forum for student expression.

By Selena Razo Eggnog. The most deli-cious drink in the entire universe! Stop laughing, this is serious. Eggnog is a delicious drink and typically made of milk, cream, sugar and whipped eggs. Partakers can also top of the de-licious drink with cinnamon or nutmeg. I remember the first time I drank eggnog. My dad took my sister and me to this official busi-ness place where I had no idea what was going on; maybe it was his workplace, I wasn’t sure, and I’m still not sure. I saw this bowl

of eggnog and decided to try it. Once I took my first sip, I wanted even more. I even made my dad buy some eggnog at the store our way home. A great part of eggnog is that it can be served right out of the refrigerator; no need to wait like you have to do for boil-ing milk or water for tea and hot cocoa. You’re not thirsty later, you’re thirsty now. The fact that this holiday drink contains raw eggs may gross some people out, but raw eggs are actually a very good source of protein. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. Plus, the eggs in egg-nog aren’t really raw. According to professor Bob Hutkins at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, store bought eggnog contains eggs that have been cracked, mixed and heated, making the eggs cooked, not completely raw.Homemade recipes for eggnog instruct to heat the mixture before putting it in the refrigerator, mak-

ing the eggs not raw either. If you still have a prob-lem with raw eggs in eggnog, then you should have a problem with cookies, too. Raw eggs are also in the cookie mixture before they are heated to make the cook-ie. Even the loveable Mr. Turner from the hit cartoon show “Fairy Odd Parents” has become obsessed with the yummy drink. It was a running gag through-out two Christmas specials for the television show in 2001 and 2008. Next time you want to have a nice holiday drink, sure you can have hot cocoa with Din-kleberg (the horror), or you can have a nice tall glass of eggnog with Mr. Turner (hooray).

Ignore the Health Freaks: Eggnog Isn’t That Bad

By Nico Sarabia As UPA students know, finals can kill everyone even the most prepared and studious. One problem every-one needs to be aware of is that stress is contagious when you are talking about a test. When your friends start talking about how hard a test is going to be, then you start to worry yourself. Do not ignore your friend’s woes, but recognize you need to focus on yourself and not worry about problems others have in a class. Although it seems like a no-brainer, avoid energy drinks as a way to stay awake during class. They actually have a reverse effect that keeps you amped temporarily, but later hit you with a bad crash. Another way to al-leviate stress is to eat healthy. Exercise is also important, especially for teenagers. Af-ter about an hour of studying

go for a short 10 minute walk or listen to music to take your mind off school for a bit. Even though it might be hard to say no to people sometimes you must. This means saying no to anyone who wants to take up your time. If you give away your time, you are more likely to blow off studying all together, which will be detrimental to the grade you hope to achieve in a class. Force yourself to take breaks after 20 minutes. This might seem like a bad idea, but this allows your brain to file the information away for when you need it, like for the final. Master Yoda has a great point when he says to visualize success. It sounds goofy, but it is a great way to get ahead of the ball because motivation will drive success. Finals may be tough, but the human capacity to han-dle stress is stronger.

Conquer Finals and Then the World

“Regardless of the season, there will

always be someone in need of a helping

hand.”

In Reality, It’s Really More Like Eggnot

By Lizzy Wallace Although eggnog is con-sidered to be a traditional and enjoyable holiday beverage, it is a positively vile substance. The ingredient that gives it its trade-mark frothy, thick texture is none other than raw eggs, the very thing that children are told from a young age never to consume due to the risk of food poisoning. While most drinks as-sociated with winter and the holi-day season are served steamy and warm, eggnog is the only one that is served from the refrigerator;

none of the effort needed to make a perfect cup of tea or coffee are necessary to consume such an easy, lazy drink alternative. Which would you pre-fer: A cup of tea, cider, or hot choco la t e that warms you from the inside out with every sip, or an icy b e v e r a g e that does nothing to warm you up against the harsh winter weather outside? Eggnog is not the healthiest of the many winter drinks available; on average, a one-cup serving of the eggy drink contains 225 calories. However, a cup of tea-- milk and sugar in-cluded-- contains only around 50 calories. Even a cup of hot choco-late has fewer calories, about 190. If just regular eggnog

has so many calories, imag-ine how many the final product would have if topped with choco-late shavings, whipped cream, or any other common garnishes? A tall eggnog latte from Starbucks

tops off at 370 calories. And the 20 ounce venti size? A whopping 610 calories and 185 milli-grams of cho-lesterol. Yuck. S o the next time you’re craving

a winter drink, you might want to skip over the slimy, thick eggnog and go for something that will ac-tually satisfy your craving for a sweet beverage without making you want to retch at the thought of drinking raw eggs. And if you really must have something with eggs as an ingredient? Have a cookie. At least the eggs are cooked.

“Next time you crave a winter

drink, you might want to skip over the slimy, thick

eggnog.”

Correction: In the Nov. 5, 2013, edition of The Aquila, the writer of

“Fate of Junior Trip Announced: Annual Trip Saved” was misnamed. The correct author of the article was

Anum Aslam.

By Lizzy Wallace The long-awaited film version of the novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card hit theaters Nov. 1. The sci-fi novel was origi-nally published in 1985, and after nearly 30 years, a movie version has finally been released. The story revolves around a genius young boy, An-drew ‘Ender’ Wiggin, who joins an elite battle school in order to be trained to defeat the Formics, a hostile alien race. The vast majority of their battle training takes place in the form of games, puzzles, and other challenges dis-guised as leisure games. The long-anticipated movie has been in the works for multiple years. It took a long time to be produced because it re-quired many special effects and technical elements that would have previously been hard to

make look believable and realis-tic. Many fans were sur-prised when Asa Butterfield, 16, was cast to play the 12-year-old Ender Wiggin. However, he man-aged to pull off the role flawlessly, and his performance has received great reviews overall. A review by the New York post says, “Ender evolves before our eyes into a true lead-er… punctuated by subtle mo-ments of wry humor, the kid’s a magnetic screen presence.” With a star-studded cast and dazzling visual effects, the movie was a better movie adap-tation than expected. However, it is recommended that people read the book before seeing the movie so that deeper meanings and small details which were skimmed over in the film will make sense.

It’s Not The End For ‘Ender’s Game’

By Nico Sarabia “Call of Duty: Ghost,” a continuation of the Modern Warfare sequel to the “Call of Duty” franchise, is said to use a Next-Gen engine that delivers a new level of immersive game play while performing at a flu-id 60 frames per second. Since the re-lease, “Ghost” has revolu-tionized the immersions of multiplayer gaming, Ghost now allows charac-ter customization of more than 20,000 combinations as opposed to previous “Call of Duty” games that only allowed creation of classes. Tactics and strategies for multiplayer gaming have also been dramatically changed as the Next-Gen engine uses Dynamic maps that allow for player-trig-

gered events that make the map evolve throughout a match. “Ghost” also brings in a new squad mode, which allows a player to create up to six members in a squad that level up through multiplayer; however, the deci-

sions you make on your squad actually stick with the member due to the new AI (artificial intel-ligence) that works with whatever class a member is given. For sales, Activision

Blizzard’s “Ghost” made more that $1 billion on Nov.5, the first day the game was sold. Activision’s release of this number shamed Rockstar’s most recent “Grand Theft Auto” installment, which took three

days to make its first bil-lion. Activision expects it’s newest edition to the “Call of Duty” series to increase in sales upon the release of the new PS4 and Xbox One. Activision, making such a large profit off the “Call of Duty” franchise, has

recently started the creation of the next “Call of Duty” game to be released next year, as has been the norm for most “Call of Duty” games.

Hunting the Secret Ghosts of ‘Call of Duty’

Battle of the Consoles 2013 By Heriberto Alcantar The Xbox One and PS4 have had their opportunities to show off their new and improved gaming systems. PS4 has redesigned their controller as well as the look of the gaming system itself. Sony, the second biggest gaming corporation, has also re-vealed its newest gaming console, with a price starting at $400. Sony corporation be-lieved it would amaze new gam-ers like before, but sadly it has not, according to BBC News, which has also released a guide to fix an the Internet connection problem the PS4 initially had. With the new control-lers, a small touch screen will be available for players to view items, such as the mini map on Call of Duty games or just pause and play a game. While the PS4 has added new features to its system, the

Xbox One has not stayed back. Microsoft, the leading gaming corporation, has con-tinued to dominate the gaming industry with the release of the completely redesigned and im-proved Xbox One. The Xbox One system will now allow players to do two things at once on the same televi-sion. The Xbox One has also made voice commands possible through the use of a Kinect that comes with the purchase of a Xbox One. “The PlayStation 4 sys-tem opens the door to an incred-ible journey through immersive new gaming worlds and a deeply connected gaming community,” Sony corporation stated at the first release. For years, the two corpo-rations have been highly competi-tive over being the best, except Microsoft’s motto, “Developer In-

spired, Gamer Focus,” has helped them win every time. The Xbox One comes with more exclusive Triple A games which is one of the main reasons why students such as Aar-on Caprino purchased the Xbox One. Triple A games are games which are the highest ranked; however, Sony is not holding back and now has a team of game developers to help Sony create new games that will be ex-clusive to the PS4. The people who have bought the PS4 is because they re-cently own the PS3 and will stick with the Sony gaming system pro-duction. With both gaming sys-tems being so popular in the past, one corporation now hopes to take it all and win the battle be-tween the two gaming systems.

Summit Entertainment“Ender’s Game” premiered in theaters on Nov. 1. Tributes Come Back to

Theaters for ‘Catching Fire’

By Sammy Cardoza Based on the “The Hunger Games” book series by Suzanne Collins, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” star-ring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, was released on Nov 22. “Catching Fire,” direct-ed by Francis Lawrence, is the sequel to the first movie, “The Hunger Games,” directed by Gary Ross. Lawrence managed to make the movie as detailed as possible and wanted to incorpo-rate as much as he could from the novel onto the big screen. “The Hunger Games” lacked large details and failed to introduce characters from the book , this was something fans and critics were disappointed about. “Catching Fire” has since made up for the disap-pointments. Luckily for fans of the series, Lawrence will be directing

the last two movies in the series “ Mockingjay” parts one and two. “Catching Fire” is dif-ferent from other sci-fi movies. Its versatile plot “shows love, kindness, courage and empathy, and a lot of other themes, unlike other movies,” freshman Reyna Lara said. For someone who has read the books it is easier to un-derstand what is happening in the movie; however, “the movie follows the book really well,” Lara said. The “Hunger Games” trilogy is suitable for all audienc-es, for both teenagers and adults make up the “Hunger Games” fandom. “I watched it and I re-ally liked it” English teacher An-drea Aquino said. Taking place in the fu-ture “Catching Fire” is a perfect sci-fi experience. I recommend it to any-one who wants an action filled love story.

EntertainmentVolume 3, Issue 2PAG

E3

Lionsgate FilmsA “tribute” is the name given to a fan of the “Hunger Games” series.

“ ‘Ghost’ has revolution-ized the immersions of multiplayer gaming.”

Volume 3, Issue 2

Feat ures 4PAG

E

During the summer, Beulah Dadala, a sophomore, did research at Sri Padmavati Wom-en’s University, a women’s col-lege in South India. She went to the lab seven days a week. Mon-day through Saturday were full days from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. while Sunday was from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. “The experience showed me, as both a student and an aspiring doctor, how much I do not know and how much the collective pool of researchers around the world do not know. My dad has a say-ing from the university where he studied that I wholeheartedly believe: ‘When you think you know, you get a bachelor’s de-gree. When you see that you do not know any-thing, you are given a mas-ter’s degree. And when you realize that no one knows any-thing, we give you a Ph.D.’”The purpose of research is to learn something or gather evidence, in-creasing knowledge. One cannot simply know, without learning the material through research. “The research is sci-ence,” science teacher Chris Weitzel said enthusiastically. “Students are performing ac-tive research in areas that sci-entists are trying to figure out. That’s what research is.” New areas of science are being found all the time, which means more research. Science is expanding daily be-cause it uses research to thrive. “My favorite fields of re-search that I studied this summer would have to be DNA barcoding and gene expression. This would be because it is so new and there is a lot of promise in this field. This

field is still creating new bound-aries and parameters which are broken each year, meaning that there are many unknown territo-ries. This helps with the element of surprise, since anything can happen in this field, green-glow-ing bunnies (courtesy of the Grin-ch), it is all there- or about to be.” The “green-glowing bunnies” were born in August 2013, perfectly healthy, after their pregnant mother was in-jected with a naturally glowing jellyfish gene. Geneticists from University of Hawaii and Turk-ish scientists worked together to create these two bunnies. “I feel that I have only

scratched the surface in any area of science and, if I try, I have a lot to learn in the future. I feel that this was a very good first step, but that it is only

the beginning,” Dadala said. There is so much information to be learned, it can be overwhelming. There are many different parts of subjects waiting to be explored. Someone could research a certain subject for weeks and barely make a dent in what is out there to explore. “The hardest part of the research would probably be the long hours and the pre-research necessary to be able to under-stand the technology, science, and procedure behind each goal or research aim. In order to come up with something of substance, there needs to be dedication. Where single procedures can last four hours or even overnight and have a success rate of two in 10 attempts, it is a trying process.”

Pupil Studies Science in IndiaBy Brooke Headley By Vincent Garcia

The holiday season in America is the happiest time of the year and nothing repre-sents that better than sitting with your family to watch a classic. Movies such as A Christ-mas Carol hit the silver screen be-fore UPA students were born, they are still among the most watched films of the holiday season. More recent films such as Elf, featuring Will Ferrell, have proven to be quite popular as well for an en-tirely different reason. Older films focused more on “Christmas spir-it” and the theme of the Christ-mas miracle. They have retained their popularity well through the 21st Century with the warm and welcoming feelings they evoke during for the Holiday Season. Over the years more humor has been introduced into holiday movies, but the warm feelings have not been com-pletely abandoned. Movies such as A Christmas Story and the Home Alone series have be-come favorites for their cute humor and cuter protagonists. Some popular movies have been remade over the years.

A Christmas Carol and How the Grinch stole Christmas have both been remade years later using the latest advancements in movie pro-duction technology. While pro-duction costs and special effects have leaped in the past decade, that does not necessarily equate to a better film than the original versions. The original storytell-ing that made holiday classics so popular through the years has sometimes been compromised by slapstick humor; however, that is

not to say that they do not make a great motion picture to watch with the family. A new kind of fun has made holiday films even more memorable for winter gatherings. The stories and morals may not be as profound as be-fore, but a laugh is one of the best things to share with family and friends.The celebration of holiday miracles and Christmas joy still exists and often provides a satis-fying conclusion to the prevalent comedy holiday films of today.

Twins, Triplets Share Life ExperiencesBy Gabriela Munoz Though UPA may be a small school with a diverse popu-lation of students, UPA is also home to many families, some of which include twins and triplets. Included in that variety would be seniors Simran and Herman Kaur, a set of twins, juniors Rebeca and Raquel Guada-lupe, another set of twins, and juniors Maria, Kassandra and Raul Ramirez, a set of triplets. One of the Kaur twins claimed “we both have minds of our own and we both do not think the same way. We have different views on every-thing, but our personalities are dif-ferent yet similar in some aspects”.They both agreed that being a twin makes them very unique and if they had the chance to reverse be-coming a twin they wouldn’t be-cause “it’s a fun and unique expe-rience that we can experience that others can not” said the Kaur’s. “Twins do in fact run in our family, it came to surprise that we were the first set of triplets.

“We are triplets but we all have minds of our own, although we don’t have the same minds, we can all agree on one thing, that Maria is always the happiest out of our bunch” the Ramirez triplets said. Both the Ramirez trip-lets and the Kaur twins agreed that they would not like to change being triplets, they said: “if we could change being a part of a triplet bunch I wouldn’t, peo-ples faces are priceless when we tell them we are triplets. “One thing I like about my bunch is there is always someone to talk to when I’m feeling down, but I dislike having to share my things with Kassandra since shes the other girl”, said Maria. Raul said; “One thing I know about my siblings is Ma-ria makes sure that the room never goes quiet and Kassan-dra has a good sense of hu-mor and is very energetic.” “Raul and I have more in common, he’s the one I would play with most as a kid.

He’s ridiculously silly, and Ma-ria is really funny, she can be annoying but her humor al-ways has a way of brighten-ing my day.” said Kassandra. They all agreed that they wouldn’t change being triplets , there rea-soning behind all of this was “ in the end we are still family, and we would not be the people we are today because we all kinda make each other, at least a little.” Junior Rebeca Gua-

dalupe says she and her sis-ter aren’t exactly alike but they do share similar interess. “Raquel and I sometimes think of the same exact thing, half the time we even finish each others sen-tences.” said, Rebeca Guadalupe. Both of them agreed that they would reverse be-ing a twin if they could. Raquel says, “I’d be alone and bored without her. She’s like my other half that I need, we always

help each other and laugh to-gether. I would never want her to leave shes like my best friend.” Rebeca had an equally heart-warming opinion of her twin; “It’s nice to have someone around all the time who can en-tertain you and keep you com-pany. Including she shares the same looks with me, which is really funny. I wouldn’t change being a twin for the world.”

You’ll Laugh, You’ll Cry: Holiday Movies Then and Now

Courtesy Soul Train ReviewsA Christmas Story star Ralphie

“New areas of science are found

all the time.”

By Brooke HeadlyWhen people are asked about their most embarrassing experi-ence, they usually have at least one come to mind instantly.Some think back to all their embarrassing moments, some standing out more than others, and some bury the ordeals in the back of their mind, hoping they will never come up again.Former English teacher Matt Daugherty had an experience

with a student stalker at his former high school in San Di-ego. A girl would break into his classroom during lunch, and one time after she was caught, a po-lice officer came and searched her bag. The officer found a screwdriver and a bottle of liq-uid, with leaves and branches

in it. She was planning on put-ting poison oak in his coffee.During the 2010-11 school year, science teacher Richard Prizznick had an incident with his chemistry class. Butyric acid, an unpleasant colorless liquid used in stink bombs, was dropped on the floor by a student. The room, and most of the Learn-ing Center, had to be evacuated.Math teacher Nathan DeVaul was once a campus supervisor at UPA. He started his day like any other, only to find out he had a hole in the outer seam of his pants. He used a binder clip to fix it until he had a chance to have a friend drop off a new pair of pants.Loren Schwinge, a science teacher, also had a tale to tell. “I was cleaning in a small lab sink, and working with dishwash-ing soap to clean up after a par-ticularly messy lab. I was waiting for the water to get hotter when one of my students ran up and told me to come look at a snake’s nest he had found,” Schwinge said. “Not expecting to take long, I ran out to have a look. It end-ed up taking a few minutes, and when I came back to my class-room I was greeted with massive amounts of soap bubbles spill-ing out of my sink and all over my floor. Ever since this event

I now only use regular soap.”Math teacher Nada Bennett was not used to the block day schedule and let a class out fif-teen minutes early, only to have another teacher herd her stu-dents back into the classroom.Stuart Hamilton, a new math teacher at UPA, used to be con-fused about the bell schedule, especially since he changes classrooms four times a day. “I went to Mr. Guevara’s lab classroom at the beginning of the fifth period, but I thought it was the beginning of my sixth period,” Hamilton said. “Even though I did not recognize the students, I decided to start my math lesson. The students looked at me blankly and a few moments later, Mr. Guevara came in and said that he was teaching his fifth period class. I was very embar-rassed that I was in the wrong class at the wrong time. All the students had big grins on their faces.” After the incident, Ham-ilton’s embarrassment subsided, and “As I walked back to the staff room my embarrassment melted into light-hearted acceptance that I would not always get every-thing right at my new school,” Through these awkward inci-dents, people learn that it is okay to mess up every once in a while.

EXCLUSIVE: Embarassed Teachers Tell All