May 2010 Issue

Thursday, May 20, 2010Volume Forty-Nine, Issue 8

FEATURES CENTER SPREAD SPORTS

Please turn to the Center Spread to learn about where Aragon’s se-

niors will be next year.

Aragon badminton team is the champion of its league! Read more on page 19.

Aragon says goodbye to beloved faculty

retiring at the close of this year. Please turn

to page 8.

By OLIVIA BOCANEGRANEWS EDITOR

On the morning of Friday April 30th, hundreds of Aragon students marched in white. Not for spirit week or class presen-tation, but for Día de Silencio. Many of these students also took a vow of silence to honor the event. Day of Silence was an event for the community to stand up for immigration re-form. Organized by the Latino Clubs from Aragon, San Mateo and Hillsdale High school, the day was an in-school and all-day demonstration, followed by a si-lent march and a rally of testimo-nials and music.

Senior Yvette Jimenez, who is the Aragon Latino Club Sec-retary, but plays a much bigger role, says, “the beauty of it was it had parts in past events, there is a day of silence for gay rights, and white is a symbol of peace, and since 2006, the immigration re-form movement has used white.” The organizers chose silence to symbolize the way many immi-grants cannot speak out for their rights due to fear of immigration laws.

In the months leading up to the event, student and adult or-ganizers met to plan the day, and

Students march to protest law Senior Activity DayBy REBECCA KORffNEWS

Senior Activity Day, a major event full of games, food and relaxation for seniors, was post-poned from its original day of Monday May 17 to Tuesday May 18 because of rain. The Senior Activity Day, held every year, took place on the Aragon football field for the second time. Prior to the football field, the tradition origi-nally took place at Great America and later Beresford Park, a big transition for those who took part in the event.

The postponing of the activ-ity day came as a big surprise for many seniors who were set on the event being right after the weekend. Assistant Principal Joe Mahood had a busy day call-ing all senior students at home and telling themof the sched-ule change. Some students were confused with whether it would still be a minimum day on Mon-day, but Mahood cleared it up in his phone message sent Sunday night.

The postponement of the day did cause some rifts with the scheduling of the activities held. Senior Jessica Barney, who helped plan the event along with senior Patty Chen, explained that

“we had to pay extra money to the renters of the bounce houses, and we were not completely sure whether the DJ was able to make it due to school.” For some teach-ers, the switch up changed their lesson plans, such as Spanish teacher Nicole Elenz-Martin. She explained, “The change was a lit-tle difficult for me because I had student presentations scheduled that day, so I ended up having to change the order and date of the presentations.” For other teachers such as math teacher Cheri Dart-nell, the change did not affect her at all, on the contrary, it helped her as she had a meeting planned for Tuesday and the bulk of her class would be gone.

It was the first time the Senior Activity Day had been postponed due to weather.

Health Aid Sherry Barbour explained, “This is the first time I see the Senior Activity Day be postponed.” But as a long-stand-ing tradition there was no way that this event would ever be canceled.

English Teacher Vincent Bra-vo who knows a long history of this tradition explained that, “It originally took place at Great America and that the day was de-signed to prevent senior cut day.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4Aragon students, along with other students and citizens of San Mateo march through the streets in protest of the new immigration law.

ERIC TORRES

By RyAN yUNEWS

The Aragon Varsity Baseball Team has advanced to CCS play-offs with a crucial home win against Hillsdale on May 14.

With the win, Aragon broke a tie with three other teams to clinch the fourth spot in their PAL league; the top four teams in the league are guaranteed a CCS berth. There is no PAL league championship tournament, un-like other sports.

Coming off an astounding 26-6 season last year in which they never lost a home or league-play game, the Dons carried high ex-pectations for this year.

“Coming into this season, I feel like our expectations were to make a name for ourselves on the peninsula. Last year we had a 14-0

record in our league, but this year we knew it would be harder to duplicate what we did in the past,” says senior catcher Nick Enea.

The team hopes to advance far in this year’s playoff tourna-ment, following a loss to Mon-terey High School in the second round of last season’s CCS play-offs. Coached by Lenny Souza and led by Fresno-State-bound enior Sam Tuivailala, the Dons have finished their season at 9-5 in league play and 15-11 overall.

The Dons’ last two games were against rival Hillsdale, with the first game on Hillsdale’s field and the second on Aragon’s field.

However dispiriting it was to Aragon, the Knights got exactly what they wanted from the first of the two games. After Aragon

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

3-2 win vs. Hillsdale gives Aragon baseball team CCS berth

MISSy LOESERLast friday’s game ended with a 3-2 victory for Aragon guarantying Aragon’s place in CCS.

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PHOTO COURTESy Of JESSICA SULLIVAN

Dons play in first CCS game today at Aptos High School

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010News2

By Sam alaviNews

On May 7, Aragon held its annual talent show. With 21 dif-ferent groups performing every-thing from music and singing, to improv and “candy catching,” the audience experienced an array of talents.

Students who wanted to be in the talent show had to first audi-tion.

Junior Bobby John, who per-formed an original monologue, says, “The auditions were pretty straightforward. Sign up and go in. I wasn’t very nervous on how I would do, because I’d rather per-form badly now and be rejected than perform badly later on when

it counts. It was a win-win situa-tion.”

Sophomore Mariko Ishikawa says, “I thought it was nice and fun to have auditions. It was nice because it would prepare you for auditions you might be in the fu-ture, and fun because you got to see other people perform.”

Smuin explains, “This year was probably the best auditions in my four years. The students came prepared and on time. Of the past years, this group certainly had the most talent.”

Among the many talent show acts, there were some that re-ally stood out and shined. To name a few, sophomore Rebecca Hu’s dance and piano perfor-mance, and sophomore Mariko

Ishikawa’s dance performances; Ishikawa performed twice, a solo routine to the song “A Heart’s Longing” by Phillip Glass, and a duet with Ashley Lu, to the song “Black Roses Red” by Alana Grace.

Ishikawa explains her perfor-mance saying, “This winter will be my eleventh year of dancing. I love to dance, and I would take any opportunity to dance for peo-ple so they can enjoy the moment. I felt really good about my dance and I hope everyone else did too.”

Hu’s performances were among those that wowed the au-dience.

Hu says, “On the piano, I per-formed Chopin’s Ballad no. 1 in G. minor. I danced a Mongo-lian dance called ‘Sweet-smelling

Milk.’ I’ve been dancing for nearly 10 years, and I’ve been playing piano for just about eleven years. To be honest, I started because my parents forced me to, [because] all of their friends’ children did such extracurricular activities. Over the years, however, I have devel-oped an undeniable passion for both music and dance, and words cannot express my gratitude to-wards my parents for suppress-ing my bratty resistance years ago and following through with the opportunities. I wanted to per-form in the talent show because I wanted to both showcase my own capabilities and influence other people to pursue their passions in music and dance,” says Hu.

Senior Shadan Lashgari per-formed a traditional Iranian dance.

“I wanted to teach the stu-dents at Aragon a little bit about the Persian culture. Most students don’t even know what country it’s from; they think it’s from Persia, when it’s really Iran. The best way I knew how to represent the Per-sian culture’s grace and beauty was through dance,” says Lashgari.

With Mothers’ Day only a few days after the talent show, many students decided to dedicate their performances to their mothers. Sophomore Kathryn Miyahira was one of them.

“I chose “The Best Day” by Taylor Swift because I could re-late to the experiences and how close [Taylor Swift] felt with her

mom. The first time I played it for my mom, she started to cry and thought I wrote it! I decided to dedicate it to my mom because she is the best mom I could ask for, even though she is strict, she is still a lot of fun, and we’ve be-come really close in the past years. I thought that she deserved a song in her honor,” explains Miyahira.

Aragon’s Improv Team per-formed several acts this year at the talent show.

Freshman Improv team mem-ber Rachel van Heteren says, “We did a lot of the traditional old fa-vorite games, like ‘town hall meet-ing’ and ‘half-life.’ But mostly, we just came in at the ends and be-ginnings of the acts to warm the audience back up before the actu-ally well-rehearsed acts came in.”

Smuin also put together a group of staff members to per-form. Among them were English teachers Jim and Vicky Daniel, and science teachers Kevin Doyle and Leigh-Anne Ecklund.

“Faculty was on stage singing “Find Your Grail” from the musi-cal Spamalot. This song embraces the theme that people should pursue their dreams and don’t let anyone stop them or get in their way,” says Smuin.

Over all, the talent show was a huge success. Over 20 different groups got to perform and show off their many talents. Those who did not attend the talent show, missed out on many fabulous performances.

Aragon’s got talent!

Ward works with leadership to increase spiritBy WaSSim KhemiciNews

The appearance of a red and black colored lunch table in cen-ter court surprised many stu-dents. However, the table has since become a part of the Ara-gon campus. The table is part of a larger attempt by Aragon teacher Katherine Ward and the Aragon Leadership class to improve spirit in Aragon.

“Where did [this table] come from?” asks Ward. “This table shows up out of nowhere ... It would be nice to have a sign sitting right next to it saying ‘brought to you by your student body.’”

Ward recently came up with the idea of bringing the picnic table onto campus in light of cre-ating more school spirit. But her inspiration was propelled further when she came across the edito-rial regarding school spirit in the Aragon Outlook.

“There was an editorial in the newspaper recently…about spir-it,” says Ward. “And I think that [the article] was very eloquent in saying ‘what do you remember from your high school years?’ It’s not usually that one assignment that you did really well on. It’s that dance that you went to; it’s that basketball game that came down to one point; it’s that play that you were a part of. We all have a part in making this the best experience that we can. So, I kind of have been thinking about that a lot.”

Ward took action and ap-proached the Leadership class in

light of collaborating ideas that would commence the process of fortifying school spirit.

“She’s been sharing various ideas with us,” says Leadership teacher Catherine Williamson. “Sometimes it’s very good when we have an outside source that makes the suggestions.”

“[Ward’s] whole thing with raising spirit has really been all about improving the look of the campus and making it more comforting for the students,” says sophomore Leadership student Eric Mee. “I met with her twice, mostly listening to her ideas about how to raise spirit by improving the overall feel of the campus.”

Ward believes that one of the reasons why the school campus is sometimes perceived as lack-ing spirit is because, “If you walk through Center Court, there’s re-ally no place for you to sit. Even at lunch, I have kids sitting in [my classroom] eating. Kids are sit-ting in the hallways, and even the student lunch room isn’t available for students to eat. So, wouldn’t it be nice if the place looked a little different, and had visible symbols of change, something that says that we are proud of where we go to school.”

Ward soon decided to search and hand-pick a picnic table from a catalogue which would accom-modate Aragon’s school colors.

She also offered to fund the first table, but the Student Leader-ship class found the funds needed to pay for the table themselves.

The money from the Student Body Fund, which has been used

to pay for the picnic table, is gen-erated from within the Leadership class, but it is not Leadership’s money. The money is generated from school-related events such as homecoming and T-shirt sales. As Ward puts it, “When someone goes to a school related event, the money goes right back to the stu-dents.”

Aside from bringing a picnic table onto campus to raise school spirit, Ward has also been work-ing on banners and a fight-song. Ward says, “You know, if you look at this campus, our mascot isn’t anywhere. You don’t walk around and see ‘oh, this is what Aragon is!’ We have a crest. Has anyone

ever seen it? I just don’t think it’s visible enough. I think that there’s some small things that can be done … We could have banners in the gym, with our motto and out fight song, which I have been working on. I mean, when you go to another school, they have ban-ners and their mottos. Why don’t we do anything like that?”

“We want to do [banners] like the light-standard banners,” ex-plains Williamson. “[The banners are] 4 and a half feet by 2 feet and will hang from light poles. Burl-ingame had them for their 100th anniversary, and we want to have them in our parking lot for the 50th anniversary of Aragon next

year.” Despite popular belief, howev-

er, Ward’s primary goal is deeper then creating simple school spirit.

“It’s not just about ‘rah-rah, let’s be part of a school!’” says Ward. “It’s, how do I say this? It’s about being part of a community. But if we don’t build that com-munity, then we don’t really know what we’re part of. Walking onto this campus, if we say ‘we’re a Don,’ what does that mean? What does it mean to be a Don? What’s a Don? Are you a leader? Are you a scholar? Are you a visionary? Are you a creator? What are you as a Don? What does that mean? We haven’t defined it. What are we?”

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Sophomore mariko ishikawa and freshman ashley lu perform a dance to alana Grace’s “Black Roses Red.”

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Sophomores camille cosca, marrisa Bonfiglio, Stevie herrera and junior matt moeser sit at the new lunch table, provided in an effort to raise school spirit.

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 News 3

Naviance support program comes to Aragon

BY ALLIE PATAWARANNEWS

"We hope that Aragon students use Naviance to organize their game plans for the future," says College and Career Advisor Lau-rie Tezak. Naviance is a school-specific, online resource that helps students to schedule school cours-es, make plans for college, and search for scholarships.

The objective of the resource is to help students by providing them with the tools needed to suc-ceed in preparation for the college process.

On the website itself, students can organize college information, look at scattergrams, and check upcoming Aragon college visits. Students can look at Aragon col-lege acceptance history, where it

lists the number of students accepted to a university and the number who decid-ed to attend it. The site also matches the student with schol-arships that they can qualify for.

Students will also be able to look at scattergrams for each school that Aragon students have applied to. These scatter-grams compare stu-dents’ SAT scores and GPAs to the those of previous students

who applied to the school. Although the scattergrams do

show the SAT scores and GPAs of students who were accepted into a particular school, all test scores and grades remain anonymous.

Tezak says, "San Mateo has been using it for nearly five years now, and they have found it to be an excellent resource for fresh-men, sophomores, juniors and se-niors. For example, let's say a stu-dent wanted to go to UC Berkeley. Naviance would be able to show the student what GPA they would need, what SAT score, and more. Plus, they could take tests to see whether or not they are suited for the school."

Freshmen, sophomores, ju-niors and seniors all have different opinions about the implementa-tion of Naviance.

Freshman Savannah Kiefer says, "A lot of kids nowadays rely on what their peers tell them about college. For example, some stu-dent might think they need a 4.7 GPA to get into UCLA because of what their best friend told them. However, with Naviance, each stu-dent would receive the accurate information and would then be better prepared to face college ad-missions in the future."

On the contrary, junior Nisha Datt says, "Well, I think it probably would help, but I'm still unsure as to how much it would. I think it would probably help the super-motivated kids who really desire to attend top colleges and maybe not so much the kids who are un-decided about their future plans."

All Aragon seniors were re-quired to take a Naviance gradu-ation survey about college, where they had to give advice to other younger students about high school and the college preparation process.

Senior Annie Yang says, "I sug-gested that younger students try their best in high school and get the best grades possible because that's the only way to succeed in my opinion. I think this will help younger students by providing them peer-based advice.”

Whatever stance students take, however, Naviance has taken its place alongside schoolloop in the growing list of online resources that Aragon students will continue to use.

BY SABRINA IMBLERNEWS

This year, an overwhelming 160 rising juniors and seniors signed up to take AP Psychology next semester. However, only ris-ing seniors will be able to take the course because instructor Carlo Corti will only be teaching two sections of the popular AP class next year.

Rising juniors must wait un-til their senior year to take AP Psychology, at which time a new teacher may be hired to take on the growing workload.

Counselor Steve Allekotte says, “Every senior will get the chance to take AP Psychology because it’s their last chance to take it. Many seniors are scram-bling to take APs and they need it more than juniors.” The coun-selors made the final decision to admit only rising seniors instead of considering rising juniors with good GPAs.

“I think the counselors made the right choice. Next year is my last year of high school, and I’m glad I’m able to take such an in-triguing class before I go to col-lege. Rising juniors will get their chance,” says junior Ksenia Bez-rukov.

“I honestly have no idea why so many people are signed up,” says Corti, who currently has 67 students enrolled in his AP Psy-chology class this year. “Perhaps they were attracted to how dif-ferent the curriculum is in AP Psych[ology]. People have an inherent interest in other people and why they act the ways they do. Another reason would be that the students who take it this year liked it and told their friends.”

Many students who signed up for AP Psychology expressed their interest in the unique cur-riculum, which stands out among the other AP courses.

“AP Psychology is a one year psychology course that attempts to find reasons behind human behavior,” teacher Jim Smith ex-plains. “It’s a challenging course, and as in every AP, some people thrive and some people struggle.”

“I have always liked psycholo-gy – how someone’s mind works. It’s a new science, and there are new discoveries to be made, which makes it seem like a re-ally interesting but intense class. However, I think a lot of people are taking it because it’s an AP class,” adds sophomore Mimi Lynde.

Sophomore Meng Yuan open-ly admits to her motives, saying “I was going to take it because it

was an AP. It sounded like a really interesting class, but the AP was what really mattered to my par-ents and [me].”

Corti acknowledges the stu-dent struggle to find APs, say-ing, “Some people may be taking it just for the AP. But I’m sure they’ll enjoy it because the cur-riculum is incredibly deep and it’s a really fun class to take.”

This year marked Corti’s first year teaching AP Psychology. He explains, “I’ve always taught Eco-nomics and Government, but I offered to teach AP Psychol-ogy because I’ve always been into psychology. The class has been going amazingly. I love my stu-dents, and we can tackle in-depth issues.”

Nevertheless, Corti’s love for psychology will not convince him to teach more than two sections.

Corti says, “I always teach Economics and Government be-cause it’s my passion. I only have so many classes I can teach a day. Perhaps next year, if the same amount of students return with interest, we’ll hire a new teacher.”

Because of this over-sched-uling, many rising juniors have been forced to rethink their aca-demic plans for their junior year.

Sophomore Mariel Wong says, “I’m upset, because AP Psychol-ogy was my most interesting AP class. I’m going to have to choose another AP class, which I doubt will be as interesting as AP Psy-chology.”

Corti reassures AP Psychology hopefuls, saying, “This was my first year, and I know each year will only get better as I feel out the curriculum.”

Some students, however, feel the weight of another AP class lifted from their shoulders.

Sophomore Ivan Wang com-ments, “I feel a little relieved. I don’t know if I would survive seven periods with the classes I’m taking next year, such as Multi-variable Calculus.”

Many sophomores have re-scheduled to regular psychology because of their persistent inter-est in the science of the mind.

Yuan says, “I never considered regular Psychology because ev-eryone I talked to was taking AP Psychology. However, now I’m taking regular Psychology and I think it will be a nice relaxing class during the year that matters most to colleges.”

Bezrukov says, “AP Psych is a stepping stone into college. May-be taking this course will open up career possibilities in psychology, which I’ve always been interested in. I couldn’t be more excited.”

AP Psychology experiences surge in enrollment BY RUSSEL ROECKEL

NEWS

Hate language consists of words and phrases that some use quite casually every day. However, this kind of language is quite of-fensive and hurtful to the student body. Just ask Sophomore Shau-na Harris, one of hate language’s many victims. “I once had some-one come up to me and throw things at me and call me terrible names because of the person I was dating,” says Harris. The Aragon High School Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) wants to eliminate the stu-dents’ usage of such words.”

Junior Jason Galisatus, presi-dent of the GSA, recently spoke on the Bay Area’s local National Public Radio station on this very issue and is currently helping to spearhead a new Aragon policy re-garding this issue. “We want to re-duce on campus the use of words such as, or “that’s gay” or “homo” or “faggot” because they’re used excessively and in asking around, the gist is that a lot of people are using those words or phrases on a hate basis” says Galisatus.

If passed, the school adminis-tration would expand the propos-al to include all hateful remarks about race, creed, or religion.

Jason says “I don’t know [if the administration supports it], but [Pat Kurtz] is in on it. She is definitely for a policy such as that. But again the details haven’t been settled yet, but we do ultimately hope that an all encompassing one should be passed.”

The GSA is going to launch a school-wide movement of aware-

ness at Aragon next year. Galisatus says, “We want to work with vari-ous clubs like the Black Student Union, and we’ve talked to students who went on Sojourn. ”

As it stands, the pol-icy outlines the actions to be taken when stu-dents use hate language once, or repeatedly. There will be a council of students with differ-ent levels, each level be-ing in charge of specific types of hate language.

“If students are caught using hate lan-guage once, they will have to meet with a rep-resentative from the stu-dent language council and a counselor from the counseling office,” says Galisatus. In these meetings the student will need to discuss if they are aware that what they said is offensive to people.”

Principal Patricia Kurtz agrees with Galisatus, stating “I don’t have any concerns about what the proposal states and obviously it’s something that we all support here at Aragon based on Mutual Respect.” Kurtz adds, “The imple-mentation of the disciplinary ac-tion would be the difficult part.”

Sophomore Nael Cruz agrees with Galistaus, saying “I hope that this policy will lessen the amount of hate language being used, and students will hopefully think about what they are saying.”

However, Senior Tim Dyer says

“No matter how many detentions you put on [hate language], it will still be used out of habit.”

Junior Eric Cura believes that “If said out of ignorance, like for lack of a better word, punishment should be minimal, but if hate language is used to be hurtful, then the punishment should be at least a detention.”

The GSA has hope for the poli-cy as they refine the policy for next years proposal to Kurtz and the administration. Galisatus adds, “If all goes as planned, no one will be harassed on a basis of anything, which is the overall goal of this policy.”

GSA strives to help pass a new policy

ERIC TORRES

Junior Jason Galisatus, the president of the GSA, is playing a major role in advocating the passing of the policy.

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News4By Sarah kimNEWS

As the school year is com-ing to a close, Aragon students are planning for the best sum-mer, whether it is to take classes, sleep-in, or get jobs. Aragon High School’s advanced musicians will have a high school exchange pro-gram with Killarney High School in Canada from June 6 to June 11.

The planning began last year, after Killarney came to Aragon for a music exchange. There will be around 115 Aragon music stu-dents attending the trip from a combination of the advanced or-chestra, band, and choir students.

Not only will the trip be a time to shine for Aragon, it will also be a good learning experience for both the music students and teachers.

“I hope that my students will be able to share their love for mu-sic to other people around the world,” says band teacher Troy Davis.

After listening to Killarney High School, Aragon students will be challenged to do better and strive for higher goals. Both schools will exchange ideas and help each other improve as much as they can.

There will also be a lot of site- seeing and casual activities for the students. Students will take a ferry ride to Victoria and visit Butchart Gardens. They will also enjoy trips to the theaters, ice skating, bowling, and the Van-couver Symphony.

Junior Monique Beaudouin says, “I am incredibly excited for this Canada trip. I’ve seen the itinerary and we’re going to be doing a lot of fun things. Van-

couver and Victoria are full of life, are unique, and they are such fun places to be. Plus, I’ll be with some of my closest friends, and I know we’ll have plenty of laughs together. Also, one of my best friends lives in Victoria, so I’m ec-static to see her.”

Freshman Tina Pai says, “I am excited for the Canada trip. There’s lots of exciting things about it, like even just going so far away, but I think I am most excited about staying there with my friends and hopefully hav-ing some fun.”

However, the expe-rience will not be easy financially and physi-cally. The cost of the whole trip was $1,060 with three separate de-posits.

The music is also very challenging. Fresh-men Sally Hosakowa says, “I’m nervous be-cause I have to keep up with the hard music. This is my first time playing while traveling. This will be a totally new experience for me.”

On the other hand, this trip will also be Aragon seniors’ last trip. Beaudouin says, “From this , I hope to have a fun vacation to begin my summer before going into senior year. I’m really looking forward to ending my junior year with a fun adventure with many of my friends before starting college applications and senior year.”

As a result, Aragon’s hard-working musicians will spend their summer in a different coun-try, learning and experiencing a

different culture. “I hope to gain some experi-ence in playing music on a trip, which I have never done before,” says Pai.

By DaNiEL FUNEWS Editor

Aragon hosted its annual Luau dance in center court last Friday. The event was arranged and co-ordinated by Leadership, with help from the Aragon Service Commission.

While this year’s Luau main-tained the level of excitement the dance has always promised, this year’s dance lacked the tradi-tional pre-dance performance by the Polynesian club and barbeque that dances in previous years have featured.

The lack of pre-show perfor-mance was due to the performers

being in Utah for a rugby tourna-ment. As for the barbeque, cam-pus aide Tavita Finau, more com-monly known as Dave, was away

at a funeral, and could not attend.The dance officially began at 7

PM, but dancing did not pick up till 8, as the sun set.

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010

SaBriNa PErryThe french horn section of the wind ensemble, like the rest of those going on the trip, have begun preparations.

aragon students enjoyed the Luau despite a lack of barbeque.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Since so many seniors were ditch-ing class, the school decided to fund a day where seniors could enjoy the day without skipping class.” Originally going to Great America was a great event for the students because other schools attended the theme park the same day and it became a very social event. But it later got moved to Beresford because a few incidents occurred where drugs were found being brought into the theme park by students.

Also, one student in particu-lar drove himself which was not allowed according to school field trip policy.

Beresford was the second home for the Senior Activity Day where

Bravo explained that, “I hon-estly miss the park as it was a dif-ferent location and it was a chance go on a field trip for the seniors.” But there were some downsides, such as having limited buses to the park, limited space and com-plaints of loud music from the Beresford neighbors.

The day was eventually moved to the football field at Aragon due to the complaints – a location that before the renovation of the field would never have been possible.

Mahood explains that the lo-cation on the football field is even better because, “Now we can have louder music and bigger bounce houses, where at Beresford we were only allowed one bounce house.”

This year the activities varied from two bounce houses, a box-ing ring, photobooth, slide, rock climbing wall, food from the par-ents and free shirts.

The yearbooks were also dis-tributed for the seniors before any other class, which allowed for good bonding moments.

English teachers Rob Thurtle and James Daniel, who are regu-lars at the event, are usually water targets for the students.

Thurtle explained that, “one year, I got drenched and Daniel got a whole bucket of ice water.”

Though the Senior Activ-ity Day has been moved to many places and now has finally reached home at Aragon making it easier for the Aragon community to gather.

Bravo explained that “at Great America and Beresford, parents were rarely involved, but now that it is at Aragon, parents and some teachers are included to come down and celebrate the success of the seniors with the seniors them-selves.”

Seniors spend day on field

Aragon musicians to go to Canada

Luau dance bids seniors farewell

5arts & EntertainmentVolume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010

The NationalHigh VioletGenre: Rock

Poetic lyrics and powerful rhythms defineThe National’s fifth self released album. This Brooklyn-based band further solidifies its already successful career with “High Violet,” which includes guest stars Sufjan

Stevens and Bon Iver.

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Ro-mance” by Seth Grahame-Smith Fiction, Comic

Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice,” is here with a twist. Grahame-Smith’s novel is set in an alternate universe of zombies and the battles against them.

Sage Francis

Where:The Fillmore- 1805 Geary Boulevard, San FranciscoWhen:Friday, June 4What: Sage Francis is a hip hop artist from Rhode Island. His unorthodox style consists of metaphors and word play.

Price: $22.50

* Prices may have convenience charges

Events in the Bay Area

Robin HoodPremiered 5/14Genre: ActionRidley Scott’s lat-est film, Robin Hood, stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Crowe plays the strong character of Robin Hood, who starts off as a com-mon archer for the Kings’ Crusade. As the movie progresses, Crowe’s charac-ter becomes a legend.

Go

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The xxWhere:Great American Music

Hall- 859 O’Farrell St., San

FranciscoWhen: Tuesday, June 1What: Even though The xx

formed in 2005, their music

has been more recently used

in the commercials during the

Winter Olympics. Price: $21

The makemagazine Youtube channel brings the do-it-yourself ethic to a whole new level through technol-ogy. Makemagazine has a wide selection of videos that teaches Youtubes how to make everything from messen-ger bags to pinhole cameras or kaleidescopes. You are sure to find something fun to make on makemagazine.

BonesFoxThursdays at 8 pmBones will conclude it’s fifth season on May 20. However, do not panic, the show has been renewed a sixth season. The show consists of weekly murder cases solved by FBI agents and forensic anthropologists. The two main prota-ganists, Dr. Brennan (Emily Dechanel) and Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) help each other in their investigations, developing a working relationship and also a romantic one.

Channel: makemagazine

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 through 9.If you use logic you can solve the puzzle without guesswork. Maze 16

MGMTWhere: Fox Theatre- 1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland.When: Wedneday, July 21What: Grammy-nominat-ed MGMT is best known for their songs “Kids” and “Electric Feel.” Their new album, “Congratula-tions” was released in early April.

Price: $37. 50

Youtube MonthVideo of

Album Release Cinema BOOK

TELEVISION

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010Senior6

Tory Lang Duke University

Dayna PicettiCollege of San Mateo & ROTC

Jordan Epstein Academy of Art

Victor SukhovitskyNew York University

What are some of the reasons you chose to

attend Duke University?

Duke had always been one of my top choices

for schools. Duke’s Research Triangle locale is

quite ideal since I’m interested in pursuing the

sciences. Compared to other science-focused

schools, Duke was the most balanced between

research and medicine. It also has great humani-

ties programs, so I feel my education will be well

balanced. Duke’s smaller size (in comparison to

the larger UCs) and non-urban location were also

perfect for me. Having visited over spring break

to the admitted students’ event, called Blue Devil

Days, contributed greatly to my decision. Seeing

and interacting with my potential classmates and

learning a lot about the student life got me excited

to become a Blue Devil. Lastly, Duke basketball.

How has your time at Aragon helped to pre-

pare you for life at Duke?

Aside from academically, the environment at Ara-

gon hasn’t necessarily done much to prepare me

for life at Duke. Being immersed in AP classes had

given me a competitive edge in getting accepted

into Duke, and the workload of these courses has

helped to ready me for the rigor of college classes.

What about your future are you looking for-

ward to the most?

I’m definitely looking forward to getting out of

the Bay Area. I’ve lived here for all 17 years of my

life and am ready to experience something new

and refreshing. I embrace change and a new at-

mosphere, so here I come, North Carolina!

How do you think you have changed since

you entered high school?

I’ve grown a lot mentally and emotionally. Life at

school and home have challenged me in ways I

could never imagine. Coming from a small pri-

vate middle school, I hadn’t really known what

to expect, but looking back over these four years,

I feel confident and ready to take on the world.

What are your plans for the future?

My plans after graduating from Duke are still up

in the air. There are a lot of potential career paths

with a degree in the sciences—medicine, research,

business—but I’m not trying to limit myself by

narrowing my focus to any one particular plan.

What made you choose NYU?I like the school and I like the city and I wanted to experi-ence it. I’m a big city person and aside from the winter weather I feel as though it’s perfect for me.

Do you have any anxieties about going to school in New York City?[I’m most anxious about] how to adjust to the change it-self, not actually being there. I need to find a way to pay for it and a place to live, so I need to

find a job there which I can’t really do from here…

What does your course schedule look like?The core classes in the liberal studies program are writing, social foundations and cul-tural foundations, and then there are elective classes which will be my science courses and languages that I have been maintaining. The liberal stud-ies program with those core classes is pretty much general education for two years , and then after that is regular pur-

suit of my pre-med major.

What were you originally looking for in a college?I wanted a small student size, a good pre-med program, and a school near a big city.

Are you interested in studying medicine?Yeah, Cardiothoracic heart and lung surgery. I’ve always liked [the idea of] hands on surgery and most of the other stuff is getting more machine related, and I don’t want to be looking at a computer when I

operate. Medicine has always been one of my interests.

Do you feel like anything or anyone at Aragon has shaped your interests for your future?Yeah, really Ms. Ward and Ms. King’s Chemistry and AP Bio classes have pretty much so-lidified my interest in human biology… I’ve always liked it but these particular classes specified that I don’t like other areas [of science] as much as I like medical.

What are you most excited about going to college for?Living on my own sounds good to me. I’m just really excited, [although], I don’t re-ally know what I will be doing between now and then.

What would you tell in-coming freshmen about high school?Try not to burn out, because when you look back at the last four years [of high school], the best thing you can do is see yourself doing your best at all times.

What is your plan for the Academy of Art?

When I didn’t get into the design school I wanted

in NY, I realized that it was because I needed a

stronger portfolio. I am still planning on studying

in New York at some point in my life and being

much more prepared with my application. I may

transfer [from the Academy of Art] my junior

year to finish my college career in NY or I wait

until graduate. Either way, I know the Academy

of Art will prepare me for whichever I choose in

the end.

Why did you choose the Academy of Art?

I chose the Academy of Art because…it has ex-

actly what I want: a well-known and developed

fashion design program, connections within the

industry, a city campus, an affordable tuition

cost, invitations to showcase senior design proj-

ects at the New York fashion week, tons of differ-

ent fine/performing art classes to choose from, a

great study abroad program, and because it is a

place where I can continue to construct my port-

folio and pursue my dreams to make it in New

York as a fashion designer while continuing to

pursue voice.

How will you balance design and perform-

ing?

I have always been interested in fashion and de-

sign, yet I also love singing, theater, and improv...

[however], I realized that although I love voice, I

am not entirely sure I want to make a career out

of it…I love the “high” of performing live, feeling

completely in the moment, and singing amazing

music, but I love the creative process of design-

ing and making clothes even more. I don’t think

I could ever give up both completely, and that is

why I am still studying both in college.

What are you most looking forward to in

college?

I am so pumped to live and party in the city, make

a new network of friends, be close to home still,

study what I am interested in, take advantage

of the art and design resources/connections the

Academy of Art has to offer, learn from working

professionals, not have a curfew and really focus

on my portfolio.

How do you feel Aragon has prepared you

for the Academy of Art?

I could not have asked for more supportive teach-

ers and counselors. The Advanced Art and AP

Studio Art course helped significantly with my

portfolio application processes and preparation

for the Academy of Art. It gave me time and place

to work with tons of different materials as well

as Mrs. Katcher’s feedback to finesse my final AP

Portfolio.

What is your plan for CSM?

I’m going to go to CSM for two years, then I’m hop-

ing to get that IGETC transfer, and I’m thinking of

either going to Davis or SCSU, depending on what

I major in. The reason that I am going to CSM is

because it is cheaper, and I feel it is going to be an

easier transition to go from a community college,

instead of just straight to a four year college…I plan

on majoring in biotechnology at the moment, but

down the path I might change that up… I just want

to go there and try to satisfy the Associated Degree

and the transfer at the same time.

What about ROTC?

After the two years [at CSM], if I were to go to

SCSU, they have an option which is Navy Reserved

Officer Training Corps [NROTC], and what that

is, is it helps you pay for college, the military pays

for your education, and every other Saturday you

participate in military training, so that by the time

you graduate you are an enlisted officer in the ma-

rine corps. And then what you have to do is serve

six years based upon how much money they gave

you for college. It is kind of like a handshake com-

mitment.

Is that a definite thing or is it up in the air?

It’s kind of up in the air at the moment, but every-

day I seem to consider it more and more…because

I’m interested in both aspects of being a soldier and

being a student.

Have you ever had experience doing some-

thing similar to the NROTC program before?

In middle school, I participated in a class that was

kind of like a simulation of boot camp, like a lot of

physical activity on top of learning how to be dis-

ciplined, and I’ve come to like that whole lifestyle.

What inspired you to consider the NROTC

program?

I’d be the fifth generation in the military out of my

family, so I guess it is kind of the natural thing to do

if you’re a Picetti.

How are you feeling about going to college?

It changes every day. But I know that if I take it one

day at a time it will be okay. I’ll probably just ease

myself into it. It’s not as hard as you think it is. So,

I’m not really stressing it. I think things will be per-

fectly fine, or they will usually turn out that way…

I feel done with high school and ready to go to col-

lege.

What would you tell an incoming freshman

about Aragon and what to expect?

Take it seriously but also have a good time. I just

have to get the work done but have fun.

BY ALINA POLISHUK AND CHRISTINE KALIFEFEATURES

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 Spread 7

Michael Souza College of San Mateo

Meghan DriscollSacramento State University

Lauren NishizakiHarvey Mudd College

Yuzo Yanagitsuru UC San Diego

What was the main reason you decided to go

to CSM?

Because of it not being so expensive. My parents

say it’s easier to go to a community college then

transfer to a University of State.

Where do you plan on going after CSM?

Maybe San Jose State.

And why is that?

Because it’s close and I like the environment. I

visited there and it was nice, like the buildings.

We didn’t see the classes, we just took a tour and

went around the campus. I went with Ms. Reed,

my photography teacher last year to take pictures

[for the class].

Do you have any favorite subjects at Aragon

that could influence your decision for a major?

Maybe biology or math. I just like the [body sys-

tems] and animals. I like the animals-that part of

biology. That’s why I want to be a vet.

What about math interests you?

I’m good at it, that’s all. I had geometry last year. I

like using all the formulas to figure out the shapes.

What are the differences with what you

would expect in college and the comfort of Ara-

gon?

There is not going to be any help at college. You

have to be independent. But here, there is a bunch

of help.

Any memorable experiences at Aragon that

you will take with you to college?

Probably the rallies. The students are very active,

[and] doing stuff outside of school like prom.

What are you going to miss the most about

Aragon?

The teachers and the staff because they help you

a lot.

What are you most excited for?

[I’m excited] just for being independent and be-

ing by myself.

What are you most nervous about for col-

lege?

Just the work. It will be much harder.

Any advice for the seniors next year?

Enjoy your senior year because it goes by fast.

What was the biggest factor in this decision?The biggest factor was probably the campus. I heard about the school and how it had an amazing campus during the middle of freshman year and I just idealized what the school was like in my head for the following two years. It wasn’t until the middle of junior year that I actually went to visit the school, but when I got there, it was better than what I had imagined; The beach was a lot prettier and closer to the school than I thought it would be. There is a singing tree that makes music in the mini forest they have, which is epic. The upside down pyramid structure of the library was fanfreaking-tastic and the pathway leading to the library shaped like a snake with tiles that fall out easily so that they can be replaced with tiles of another color so that the snake “sheds its skin” was the most creative thing I’ve ever seen. Plus there was a lot more, but I would go on for-ever so yeah. But the point is, the campus was perfect, well everything about that school is perfect for me, but it was extra perfect.

How did this passion in fish influence your deci-sion to go to UCSD?I love fish! And everyone who knows me knows that. That’s actually how I found out about UCSD when my friend’s Dad told me that UCSD has the number one graduate school in the nation for marine biology. Sadly,

they don’t offer a marine biology major for undergrad-uates, but the freedom they give you in choosing classes for my major (ecology, behavior, and evolution), practi-cally makes me a marine biology major. Plus, knowing that I’m going to the #1 school in the nation for what I want to study is just a great feeling. Another thing that drew me to UCSD is the fact that Seaworld is so close, which is going to be my playground for the next four years and also where I plan to intern during my college career.

How did you become interested in this field and fish in the first place?Well, I’ve always loved the life sciences and performing “experiments” since I was little, so I knew I wanted to be a research scientist in the biological sciences for a long time. The whole marine biology and fish thing started the summer before my freshman year when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday. For some ran-dom reason I wanted a fish tank, so I received a 10 gal-lon fish tank... and it was just the best gift request I have ever made in my life. I started expanding my collection immediately, and at the peak of my fish-keeping “ca-reer,” I had a 150 gallon, 50 gallon, 30 gallon, 20 gallon, and 4 10 gallon fish tanks up and running. I just had the time of my life taking care of my fish and fell in love with them. So combining my childhood dream of being

a research scientist plus my love for fish, I decided that I would become a marine biologist.

How has Aragon influenced your desire to become a marine biologist at the John Muir College?I came to Aragon knowing beforehand that I wanted to become a marine biologist, but taking AP Biology with Ms. Ward amplified that desire as I got a real taste for what a higher level biology course is like and thor-oughly enjoyed it. Taking APES with Ms. Holloway had a huge impact on my purpose as a marine biologist. Be-fore taking the class, I had no idea for what purpose I was going to research fish for; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to perform research on fish for the biotechnology in-dustry, or for aquaculture or something of the sort. But after taking the class, I realized that I wanted to aim my career toward the conservation of fish populations and the marine and aquatic environments all across the world.

What do you look forward to in the future?I’m most excited for my future job as a marine biologist, where I’m going to be surrounded by hundreds, thou-sands, or maybe even millions of fish every day. I just love them so much and I can’t wait to work with them to protect them and their habitat every day alongside like-minded people.

Why did you choose to go to Sacramento

State University?

I chose Sacramento because I really liked the

distance it was away from home, not too close,

not too far. Also, my aunt and uncle went there

and they had a blast, and what I heard about it

sounded like a good match. Also, when I went to

visit the campus, I thought it was a pretty school.

What programs does that college offer that

suits what major you are interested in?

I am majoring in communications and they

have a very good program for that. They also

have an excellent child development program,

which I might be interested in minoring in.

Can you describe your most memorable ex-

perience at Aragon?

There’s really too many to recall, but my favor-

ite times at Aragon were probably this year on

sunny days when all the seniors got really close

and would all hang out at lunch near the pyra-

mid. Oh, and when the seniors brought the lawn

chairs and every one hung out in Center Court

on the lawn. That was a good day.

What lessons will you take out of attending

Aragon that you believe will be essential in col-

lege?

One thing I will really take out of my four years

of Aragon was getting to know people and how

they work and think. I think I made a lot of very

good lifelong friendships at school. I also learned

a lot about myself. I learned it is important to

respect everyone and get to know them before

you pass judgment, there’s a lot more behind a

person than what you can see on the outside. I

am excited to go to college and meet new people,

and it will definitely help knowing what I know

now.

Where do you see yourself in 6 years? 10

years?

In the next 6-10 years I hope to see myself grad-

uated college, hopefully with a boyfriend/ hus-

band and maybe even a kid. I want a family and

a home.

What made you pick Harvey Mudd?

Harvey Mudd offers so many more opportunities

for research and being able to get to know your

professors [and] the total school population is

about 800, so it’s tiny… there is more personal-

ized instruction and the smaller class sizes is defi-

nitely a plus.

What do you plan on studying while you are

there?

I plan on majoring in engineering. Harvey Mudd

offers one general engineering degree, although

through research and the types of classes you take

you can specialize in a certain area of engineer-

ing. So, I’m planning on specializing in bioengi-

neering. One thing I like about the Harvey Mudd

curriculum is that it is very well rounded, so you

have to take core classes which include classes

in engineering, biology, physics, chemistry, and

computer science.

What is bioengineering?

It’s working with biology and engineering com-

bined to solve biological problems.

What sparked your interest in engineering?

Definitely the robotics team… I just like solving

problems and being able to work hands-on with

things. I also took engineering and tech, because

I wanted to know more about it, although I can’t

say the class really impacted my decision.

What kind of extra-curricular activities do

you want to do?

I am planning on continuing to do music, so I’ll

probably join the orchestra down there.

What are you looking forward to about go-

ing to college?

[I am excited to] have new experiences and meet

new people and that sort of thing. I guess just go-

ing off on my own and figuring out exactly what

I want to do and what interests me.

Are you nervous for anything in particular?

I’m a little bit nervous for the small college size

and the intensity of the classes, but overall I’m

pretty excited. I’m [already] getting to know

people on Facebook, which is great.

What are you going to miss about high

school?

Seeing all of my friends every day. I have a bunch

of friends going to UCSD, but that is an hour

away. So I’m just [hoping] we will all try and

keep in touch.

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010Features8

By sangwon yunFeatures

Aragon High School will be missing an-other teacher next year,

though not to cutoffs. Biology and biotechnol-ogy teacher Jessica Sul-livan will be instructing in Caracas, Venezuela, at Escuela Camp Alegre.

Though it may catch some students as a sur-prise, her decision to teach abroad attributes

its origins in a passion for travel-ing. She related, “I took my first trip abroad to Europe when I graduated from college, and my sister had just graduated from high school. We spent six weeks together in Europe and we had a great time. But it wasn’t just the fun of being in Europe. It was experiencing the world through a different land and it was learn-ing about different cultures, and it was seeing that the way we do things here isn’t the way they have to be done.”

She added, “That trip in

1999 really was a pivotal mo-ment in my life where I realized that travel[ing] was going to be a priority for me because it was so inspiring and … I learned so much about different places… So throughout my travels, I was never satisfied with the amount of time that I was able to spend trav-eling. I want[ed] to see the sights, and learn about the culture and learn about the language. I was always left with a desire for more, and the only way that I could think to satisfy that was to live in another country.”

The inspiration to teach abroad was incidentally born of earlier trips to Latin America. Sullivan said, “So in the early 2000’s, … I went on several trips to Latin America; each year I went on a trip to Latin America for two months. One of them was to Peru [where] I stayed with friends of friends who were teachers at the International School of Lima. And they planted the seed in in-ternational education.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

By CaTHERInE RIVIELLoNeWs eDItOr

“What I will miss most about [Ms. Viele] is her commitment to act as a teacher in all aspects. She does not simply aim to teach Spanish, but rather takes it upon herself to also help students learn how to be responsible, caring human beings,” says junior Jes-sia Hoffman. After 20 years at Aragon, Spanish teacher Barbara Viele Basques has decided to re-tire. Throughout her time here, Viele has not only developed last-ing bonds with faculty and staff, but has also had a significant impact on her students. Sopho-more Ali Imani says, “Ms. Viele has been able to teach one of the most interesting and fun classes I’ve ever taken. I’ve had her for Spanish 5-6 this past year and her class is definitely something I look forward to in the day. The

atmosphere in the class is unlike any other class I have!” Junior Michelle Yu agrees, saying, “Ms. Viele [is] a great teacher in that she personally reached out to me and actually tried to get to know me better.”

Viele first came to Aragon be-cause she was tutoring students in Spanish for the Department Head, Mr. Ucovich. She was then asked to become a permanent Spanish teacher after two spots for classes opened up. She then remained at Aragon for 20 years, where she developed bonds with her students and life-long friend-ships with her colleagues.

Viele’s interest in languages began when she was a child. Her grandparents traveled frequent-ly and lived in both Spain and Peru. They also drive throughout Mexico, and Viele was always fas-cinated by the stories they would share. “My grandfather also used

to communicate with the [Native Americans] in Idaho in their lan-guages. I always respected that he could communicate with people in their own language.”

This previous experience with languages piqued Viele’s interest when she attended Burlingame High School, during which she had the opportunity to study and travel in Salamanca, Spain for six weeks in the summer. She then moved on to attend University of the Pacific, where she studied abroad during her junior year in Spain, this time in Madrid. It was during this time that she also had the opportunity to live with a Spanish family. Viele then gradu-ated from Santa Clara University where she also received her teach-ing credential.

Viele is retiring because she feels that it is time for a change and time to do other things in her life. She plans on helping out her

mom, possibly work-ing with student teach-ers, and getting more leisure time to do the things she loves, such as walking.

As for her favorite thing about Aragon, Viele says, “The staff is great, supportive, and professional.” She loves watching her students perform skits in her classes, “I like to see students put together all the elements they’ve learned. It’s like watch-ing a flower blossom,” she says. “I will miss my colleagues the most, because they’re incred-ibly talented people, wonderful friends, and we’ve had lots of laughs together,” Viele remem-bers, “Some of my favorite mo-ments were dancing with Sue Ba-

rizon and fellow teachers and staff in the Halloween rallies over the years. It was always a memorable and fun event where we had many laughs and smiles.”

By aRI BREnnERCO-eDItOr IN CHIeF

The audience was already hooked by the faculty’s perfor-mance of “Find Your Grail” at the talent show on May 7, but it was Academic Advisor Sue Barizon’s solo that brought down the house. Striding up to the microphone decked out in a feather boa and striking red and black face paint, Barizon roared the number’s final words to the audience’s delight. The show, already the makings of a fantastic night, took on a whole new memorable character as she commanded the stage.

For someone familiar with Ba-rizon’s history at Aragon, though, her dynamic performance comes as no surprise. A graduate of the 1970 senior class, Barizon remembers her experience as a cheerleader and general captain of Aragon spirit fondly. “I did all the wacky, crazy, wild things,” Ba-rizon recalls. “I went rogue at all the rallies, and got a lot of laughs. I was more spontaneous than the other cheerleaders.”

In her senior year, Barizon won in three categories in the yearbook’s polls: Best Sense of Humor, Most Likely to Send me to the Moon, and Most Spirited. Of the three, she chose Most Spir-

ited, because it “defined me at the time,” she says.

During high school she met her husband, Steve Barizon, a stu-dent one year older who went to Hillsdale High School. Though her devotion to Aragon was strong, she managed to forgive him for being a Knight when he swept her off her feet at a dance. “He came up to me … and asked if I’d like to be his partner, and asked me to dance, and we’ve been partners ever since,” she says. Barizon is the mother of two sons, Augie, now 32, and Luke, 31, who are both Aragon graduates.

After high school, Barizon worked as the Executive Secretary for the San Mateo County Dental Society and earned her associ-ate’s degree from the College of San Mateo. She married Steve two years after graduating. “Our mar-riage motto was ‘Steve and Sue in ‘72’,” she says.

In the 90s, Barizon was recon-nected with the Aragon commu-nity by Mary Williams, the head of the Special Education depart-ment, and became the cheerlead-ing advisor. “I got to be the kind of cheerleading advisor that I wish I had when I was here,” she says. However, she admits to be-ing “probably more gung-ho than they were used to.”

In 1995, two academic advi-sor positions opened up. Barizon was approached by then-Assis-tant Principal of Student Ser-vices Anne Rarden to interview for the position, because “People thought it would be a good fit. I had no clue what I was getting into, but it was fun,” she says. As an academic advisor, “When I got on campus … I felt like a kid in a candy store—there was so much that I could do,” Barizon says.

“To the Aragon community she demonstrated a lot of pride, and she was a support system for a lot of people,” says 2009 Aragon graduate Candace Albuquerque. “Even if she wasn’t your advisor, she was always there to help.” Al-buquerque, who currently attends Dominican University, formed an intimate relationship with Bari-zon as one of the commissioners who helps her manage the Silver Sword system at Aragon.

As a commissioner, Albuquer-que says she “saw everything she did behind the scenes, and how much she puts into her job and how much she gives to her stu-dents. It was apparent from be-ing in the office and speaking to parents.”

Barizon’s decision to retire was a tough one, but feels to her like the right choice. Her son Luke is

expecting a baby in D e c e m -ber, and she hopes to be an i n v o l v e d g r a n d -mother.

She is hoping for a girl: “If it’s a boy, then I’ll dress him as a girl, just like I did with my son Luke,” she says... as a joke, of course, but considering that Luke was an all-league de-fensive football player at Aragon, perhaps she could do worse.

Barizon has confidence that other faculty, some also Aragon graduates, will take up her mantle as the fearless defender of spirit and cheer. She needs “to make way for the new generation, so I’m handing the baton over,” she says, referring to teachers such as physics teacher Steve Ratto, math teacher Adam Jacobs, social sci-ence teacher Jennifer Condon and English teacher Jennifer Wei.

However, Barizon vacates some astronomical shoes that other Aragon devotees must fill… and she knows it. “I find it inter-esting,” she says, smiling, “[that] it will take all seven of them … to take my spot.”

“Her caring personality is defi-nitely a big strength, and also I definitely think she’s very outgo-ing, which is good because she reaches out to a lot of people,” says Albuquerque.

Aragon Chair of Guidance Trish Liskay says it best: “Mrs. Ba-rizon is Mrs. Aragon.”

Academic Advisor Sue Barizon

Science Teacher Jessica Sullivan

Spanish Teacher Barbara Viele Basques

CHa

RLoTTE BRaXTo

n

Barbara Viele Basques will retire after teaching 20 years at aragon.

academic advisor sue Barizon holds the audience captive as she booms out lyrics of “Find your grail” at the May 7 talent show.

oLIVIa

BoCa

nEg

Ra

science teacher Jessica sullivan will be teach-ing International Baccalaureate Biology after having signed a two-year contract.

JEssICa su

LLIVan

We’ll Miss You!

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 FEATURES 9The 2009-10 school year in reviewKanye West interrupts Taylor Swift

After winning Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards for “You Belong with Me,” Taylor Swift was interrupted during her acceptance speech by Kanye West. West grabbed the microphone right out of Swift’s hands, saying, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’m going to let you finish but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time...one of the best of all time!” West’s behavior left quite an impres-sion nationwide. “Kanye West is a jerk and shouldn’t have done that to Taylor Swift,” says junior Brittney Filimoehala-Egan.

Twilight: New Moon PremiereThe premier of the Twilight sequel, “New Moon” broke the midnight opening record totaling over twenty-six million dollars from the midnight shows alone. “I didn’t really like the plot as much but I was really excited for Jacob’s abs,” says senior Emily Niemann.

Arizona Immigration LawAs the drug war in Mexico began spreading to Ari-zona cities, and the growing number of illegal im-migrants became more and more of an issue, the Arizona government created a law that allowed authorities to make citizens who they suspected of being an illegal immigrant, prove their citizenship. This highly controversial law led to protests nation-wide, including students from Aragon participat-ing in a Day of Silence on Friday, April 30. The Day consisted of wearing white, and being silent during the school day with a march from the Congressio-nal Church of San Mateo to St. Matthews Catholic Church at 4 p.m.

Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held in Vancouver, Canada. The most emotional point during The Games was when Men’s Olympic luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia was killed in a Training-Run Crash. According to CBS News, It was the world’s fastest track, and Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, flew off the track and hit a steel pole.

Earthquake in HaitiOn Tuesday, January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck less than 10 miles of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, followed by 12 aftershocks (with magnitudes over 5.0). According to boston.com, over 150,000 people have been reported dead, and 300,000 injured.

Sonia Sotomayor appointed to Supreme CourtPresident Obama confirmed Sonia Sotomoy-er as a Supreme Court Justice, the first His-panic to ever serve on the Supreme Court and the third woman.

Lady Gaga CrazeLady Gaga has emerged as a new force in the music industry. Known for her bizarre out-fits and multiple chart toppers, she has made quite an impact. “She brought something dif-ferent to the music industry,” shares senior Amanda Al-Shamari.

Volcano in IcelandA volcano under the Eyjafijallajokull glacier in Iceland erupted on April 14. The volcanic ash and smoke was so severe it forced the shut down of many European airports.

Tiger Woods ScandalDozens of women came forward about their love affairs with the golf champ. On December 2, Jai-mee Grubbs, a cocktail waitress from Los Ange-les claimed she had a 31–month–long affair with text messages and a voicemail from Woods as proof. As more mistresses came forward, Woods confessed, “I have let you down and I have let down my fans ... I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated.”

Saints win Super Bowl XLIVThe New Orleans Saints won their first Super bowl and beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in the Sun Life Stadium in South Florida. Cor-nerback Tracy Porter sealed the deal with his 75-yard interception return for a touchdown. “It was the best Super Bowl ever,” says fresh-man Trevor Lahoz.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8After traveling to Latin America, Sullivan

finally chose Venezuela to prove her desire to teach. “I have been drawn to Latin Amer-ica since traveling there in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Once I narrowed my search down to Latin America, I wanted to make sure I was at a quality school. In my research I found Escuela Campo Alegre, The American In-ternational School of Caracas. It has a great reputation internationally and offers the complete International Baccalaureate pro-gram [K-12],” says Sullivan.

According to their website, Escuela Camp Alegre (ECA) “is a private non-profit Eng-lish language international school located in Caracas, Venezuela.” Established in 1937, the institution is “designed to serve the academic needs of students from families who are tem-porarily assigned to Caracas with interna-tional corporations and diplomatic agencies.”

In addition, she will be an assistant coach for the high school swim team at ECA. Her history of distance swimming included: swimming the Maui Channel between Lanai and Maui, swimming across Lake Tahoe, an attempt to swim the English Channel in 2007, as well as countless long distance swim in the San Francisco Bay. She said, “I am a swimmer and I swam since I was a small child through high school and college. And I also am a for-mer marathon open water swimmer and so I’ve done a lot of long distance open water swimming in the ocean. So part of who I am is swimming.”

Relating her swimming career to her pres-ent endeavor to Venezuela, she said, “I am the type of person [who is] passionate about the things that I want to do and the things that I want to achieve. For a long time I swam competitively in college, and then after that, for eight years or so, I was really focused on developing myself as an open water swim-mer…[and] living abroad is a goal I’ve had for myself, and I’ve been very proactive in re-alizing that dream. So yes, I am very focused, and I don’t really do anything halfway. When I want to go for something, I go for it.”

Though she anticipates her trip to Ven-

ezuela, Sullivan said, “I also am a little sad to leave Aragon. I feel a little bit anxious about all the big changes in my life so quickly. I’ve been planning this for so long and everything is coming together so quickly.”

She hopes to return one day saying, “I would love to come back to Aragon, but I don’t know what the future holds for me. But coming back to Aragon would be awesome.”

Junior Hannah Hibbs, who is a student of Sullivan, said of the trip, “I was so happy that she had found an opportunity that could of-fer her everything she loved. She was so excit-ed to tell me about it, especially about coach-ing the swim team and having open-water practices and international swim meets.”

Junior Erin Sullivan, a student of Sulli-van’s biotechnology class, said, “When Ms. Sullivan told me she was leaving, I was very sad to hear she wouldn’t be here next year but also very excited for her because this is going to be such an amazing experience and a lot of fun! I can tell Ms. Sullivan is sad to leave Aragon because she said she is going to miss the staff and students very much, but we will miss her too and look forward to her return with open arms!

Spanish teacher Giselle Hunter had mixed feelings about Ms. Sullivan’s journey to South America, saying, “She’s been practicing her Spanish, so she comes in during first period, many times a week. So I’m going to miss the contact with her.”

Hunter added, “She’s really going to be missed, but I think she’s really going to enjoy it, and I think that when she does come back, she will have no regrets… I think they have to find someone to come in, and I don’t think you can [easily] replace someone who’s been here a long time. So its like the expression, ‘big shoes to fill’.”

As she looks ahead to her future in Ven-ezuela, Sullivan confided, “Just the more people you meet around the world, you learn that we’re not all that different. You know, we all want the same things in life: to be happy, to provide for our family, to be good to our friends. These things are common through-out the world.”

By JEssICa BaRnEyFeatures

Columbia Basin CollegeMichael Conde

University of WashingtonKatherine LohEmily Lucey

Seattle UniversityCatherine Riviello

The Evergreen State CollegeJacob Schroeter

Willamette UniversityNicolas Culas

Reed CollegeSamuel Kennedy

University of OregonKristiana FoppianoSarah MarblestoneMarcela Nadel

University of Nevada, RenoMargeaux Huang

University of Colorado at BoulderMargaret Arcudi Ainslee SidunKian Solomon Katherine Wayne

University of Hawaii at ManoaJordayna Miller Danielle Lefczik

University of ArizonaThomas BalestreriJoshua Nayberg

Northern Arizona UniversityDarren MullinsMolly Kinder

Arizona State UniversityAmanda AngelichRachel Di Santo

Stanford UniversityWilliam ChidyausikuMark Sherwood

De Anza College Shadan Lashgari Justine Roscoe

San Francisco State University

The Art Institute of California, San FranciscoRaphael Dela Cruz

University of California, BerkeleyEsther Adelstein Amreet AujlaKristin Chan Preston ChanPatty Chen Kasper KuoFrancis Wang

Saint Mary’s College of CaliforniaShayna Pascoe

California State University, East BayIlan Seid-GreenCorinne Umali

Merritt CollegeAshley Morris

Academy of Art UniversityJordan EpsteinAlvin NguyenMegan OkamuraDevon RossSarah Steffen

Henal Chand Jasmine Chin Dilian Donev Kenny Kha Jennifer Mathura Ronigel Melendres Andrew Peckham Brittany Pegueros Jessica Romero Malik Shehade Brian Stephens Fonda TongKevin Thich Shane Hart

Mario Alvarez Jeffrey Chow Alexander Dobron Vivek Dutta Joseph Fitch Alexandra KorAlexandra Riffel Yuen Yau Marijana ZnaorJennifer Soto

University of San DiegoDana Yee San Diego State University

Timothy CoUniversity of California, IrvineGoldie Chang Samantha FongYutaka Kadota Ariana RecidoroSamantha Takahashi Jonathan TamEllery Wong Devin Yan

University of California, RiversideBrian KawamotoCharlotte TaufaleleCourtney Wang

University of California, San DiegoJessica Barney Roy Gonda Kuo-Yu HoGina Jee Rebecca Korff Diana LiJoshua Lu Jebsen Man Andrea VilchezYuzo Yanagitsuru

Biola UniversityAllison Loy

University of Southern CaliforniaKristyn IkedaElizabeth Maggi

University of California, Los AngelesMichael ChanKathryn JensenWeilu JiaGeorgia ThomasYoda YeeTalia Young

Santa Monica CollegeJessica Chan

Loyola MarymountUniversityBritney Tsao

Pepperdine UniversitySamantha Ichikawa

Santa Clara University Nicolas Aguilar Brooke Barron Arteivia Lilomaiava Natalie Weil

California Polytechnic State University, San Louis ObispoChristopher CheungMelissa Loeser University of California, Santa Barbara

Jane HayashiSeth KlebeSabrina Perry

San Jose State University

University of California, Sandta CruzRaphael BocoboAnders Feldt-RasmussenJoshua HermanAmanda LeeYvonne LeeSydney WeiserJonathan Hom

City College of San FranciscoHeae In Moon

San Francisco Conservatory of MusicJeffrey Taylor

University of San FranciscoNicholas Enea

Concordia UniversityEmily McNiel

Sonoma State University Yvette Jimenez Iman Rashed Caitlin Winterbottom

University of California, DavisCaroline Balagot Omid Dastgheib Justin Tang (US Marine Corps Reserves)Kevin Kwan Gin Ma Joseph SeidenVictor Hung Sandy Wu Colin YanLily Yao Heather Yee Henry Zhang Andrew Tong

California State University, SacramentoMeghan DriscollSabina Hussain

University of the Pacific Sandy Chen Molly Cheng

California State University, FresnoSamuel Tuivailala

California State Polytechnic University, PomonaClinton Suen

Pitzer CollegeEmi Hashizume

California State University, San BernardinoJonalie Resurreccion

University of California, Merced Alex Li

Claremont McKenna CollegeShelby Barthold

Harvey Mudd CollegeLauren Nishizaki

Rice UniversityRachel Marcus

Duke UniversityRiley GluskerTory Lang

Full Sail UniversityRobert Caldwell

New York UniversitySally Shearer Victor Sukhovitsky

Tulane UniversityLiza Brownstone

Washington University in St. LouisSarah Jacobs University of Chicago

Jenny Park

Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteFranklin Wu

University of BridgeportNoelle Cahill

Brown UniversityJulia Borden

Suffolk UniversityEmma Schmeeckle

Boston UniversityArmaan VachaniPhoebe Chao

Harvard UniversityAri Brenner

University of MichiganRachel Bradley-Haas

Columbia Basin CollegeMichael Conde

University of Colorado at BoulderMargaret Arcudi Ainslee SidunKian Solomon Katherine Wayne

University of Hawaii at ManoaJordayna Miller Danielle Lefczik

University of ArizonaThomas BalestreriJoshua Nayberg

University of Denver Derek White Stephanie Woo

Texas Tech UniversityEric Larsen

Orange County Community CollegeChristine Quach

Johnson & Wales UniversityShelby Ritch

Montana State UniversityChristiana Pensabene

San Diego State UniversityTimothy Co

University of California, RiversideBrian KawamotoCharlotte TaufaleleCourtney Wang

Amanda Al-ShamariAlvin AmirLawrence AngZoe AquilaTara BaldiniErica BarronDaniel BrusilovskyCourtney DillonNayely EncisoBrandon FahrerMallie FisherVictor FongErin FullerAndres GomezTom HavinFrancisco HenriquezAlma HernandezRussell HortonTaylor KimbroughNikko LaprescaDaniel LeighCarlos LopezEdelberto Lozano SamanoIsaac LuiAshley Matias

Nicole McDonaldJohn McNielMasa OtoBernard Mejia OrtizGustavo MoralesAdelesh NandEmily NiemannAdit PalKyle PhamAlexander QuimsonDeisy RamirezEdgardo RiveraJohn RogersBrandon SavageJonathan SchurbaMichael SouzaCole StevensonChristopher TongAlfonso Valdez-RosarioMiguel ValdiviaWalter ValverdeTomislav VranjesSiv WuAnnie YangAlexander Yoshiba

Cañada College Sandra Arana PradoAngie BarrosGiovanna CalderonKassandra ChavezGustavo ContrerasJie DingLucia MaldonadoJoanna RamirezAmanda RosasBarrie Tipton

Foothill CollesgeNicole CannuliMona KhemiciBrian LeeMeera MistryNatasha ModjtabaviNikolas NelsonCatarina Nunes de CastroLosaline TaufahemaDominic TejoLaura Torres

College of San Mateo

MilitaryBrandon Chandler ( US Army)Alex Li (US Army)Gustavo Morales (US Army)Nayely Enciso (US Marine Corps)Derek Phelps (US Marine Corps)Bryant Regla (National Guard)Siv Wu (National Guard)Juan DeCastro (US Navy)

OtherShawn Bevington (Gap Year)Angelique Jaurigui (Gap Year)Daniela Mendoza-Ruiz (Gap Year)Kristine Paredes (Gap Year)Joseph Gonzalez (Work)

Tasia Unga (Work)Luis Valentin (Work)Daniella Torreano (Trade School)Carly BruceEdward HendersonArlyn Viray

Yo high school, I’m really happy for you and I’ma let you finish, but graduation was one of the best experiences of

all time. OF ALL TIME!

Layout by Rachel Marcus and Mark Sherwood

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010FEATURES12

THE ARAGON OUTLOOK:

Mission StatementThe Aragon Outlook staff publishes a monthly news-paper created for the stu-

dents to express themselves on issues of interest and

importance to them and to provoke thought and dis-cussion within the Aragon

community.

AdviserScott Silton

Co-Editors in ChiefAmreet Aujla Ari Brenner

NewsOlivia Bocanegra, Dan Fu

and Catherine Riviello, edi-tors, Sam Alavi, Sabrina Im-bler, Katie Jensen, Wassim Khemici, Sarah Kim, Re-

becca Korff, Allie Patawan, Russell Roeckel, Ryan Yu,

Wendy Yu, Peter Zhan

FeaturesPhilip Dimaano, Brian Kawamoto and Rachel Marcus, editors, Paniz

Amirnasiri, Jessica Barney, Alice Bebbington, Alexia

Carrosco, Meredith Charlson, Eric Ding,

Yvonne Hsiao, Kristyn Ike-da, Christine Kalife, Alina Polishuk, Sangwon Yun

PhotoJulia Borden, editor, Shelby Barthold, Charlotte Brax-ton, Kenan Chan, Ashley Lentz, Alyssa Lim, Missy

Loeser, Sabrina Perry, Eric Torres

Arts and GraphicsPhoebe Chao, editor, Mar-tin Contreras, ChenWen Hwang, Yuzo Makitani,

Janice Pang, Julia Riviello, Emily Yip

Technology EditorMark Sherwood

The Outlook would love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]

or visit us at aragonoutlook.net.

By philip dimaanofeatures eDItOr

Over the past few years, social networking has become a virtual-ly inescapable part of high school life and society in general. Teenag-ers now live in a time where they are actually the minority if they do not have a Facebook account as they appear detached from the rest of the online society. There is no such thing as privacy on the internet, and potential lurkers are free to practice their trade at will as they sift through the wall posts and photo albums of their supposed “friends.” But what happens when you take away the name that identifies the person and what they said? Websites such as Formspring now give individu-als the ability to hide behind the veil of anonymity to say whatever they want about other people on-line, no matter how negative it may be.

Launched back in late Novem-ber 2009, Formspring was the brainchild of John Wechsler and Ade Olonoh. Users have the abil-ity to leave other users comments and questions that go into a pri-vate mailbox. The user can then choose to ignore, delete or answer them and only the answered ones are posted publicly for the rest of the population to see. This was not the first website envisioned to

grant users anonymity with their comments according to a New York Times article. Juicy Cam-pus, a college gossip site, created so much grief in the college com-munity that campuses nation-wide actually banned the website from being used by their students. In the subsequent backlash that ensued, the website was eventu-ally forced to shut down entirely. Facebook offers its own way for users to leave anonymous quotes with the Honesty Box add-on, although its effects have far been overshadowed through the in-ception of Formspring in recent months.

What makes Formspring such a potent force in the teenage gos-sip world is the veil of secrecy that any user can hide behind when posting a comment. People ex-ploit this to the fullest by leaving malicious and hateful remarks for other users they target per-haps out of envy, jealousy or sheer wickedness. Despite these hateful and sometimes sadistic remarks, users continue to pour over them no matter how much it may hurt them on the inside. Perhaps they crave the attention even if it is negative or maybe they are so self-conscious that they just have to know what other people think about them. While this type of social medium can give users the opportunity to gain greater in-

sight into other people’s opinions about them, the negativity that emanates from such a ploy far outweighs any conceivable ben-efits.

Consider the case of seven-teen-year-old Alexis Pilkington who committed suicide in March of this year. She was not a social outcast with behavioral issues as one might expect but a popular senior at West Islip High School in Long Island, New York. Every-one at school knew about her and her exceptional athleticism, as she was able to get a soccer scholar-ship to college. Despite all that she had going for her, the torrent of nasty and demeaning messages on her Formspring led her to take her own life before she could experi-ence it to the fullest. Even in her passing, the flood of negativity from the comments of other us-ers continues to pour in both on her Facebook memorial page and Formspring. “She was obviously a stupid depressed – who deserved to kill herself. She got what she wanted. Be happy for her death. Rejoice in it,” wrote one person. The hatred towards Pilkington is not restricted only to words, how-ever, as people even go so far as to post photos of her with nooses around her neck.

As with many problems that are prevalent in human society, they stem from the pitfalls of hu-

man nature and what may gener-ally be considered acceptable in society.

This does not mean that it is just the way it is and nobody can do anything to change it though. Those who may be inse-cure and crave attention willingly use Formspring as an unfiltered source of opinions and state-ments solely regarding them and their deficiencies. However, no-body is forcing them to partake in such perverse methods of hu-man interaction. At any time they have the choice to cut themselves off from the surge of unmitigated scorn and find some closure in the way they think and view himself or herself as a person. While they do not have to cut themselves off from social networking entirely, they can be smart with the way they use it and not view it as a competition to see who has the most friends.

Less social networking would also mean people would be more inclined to communicate with others face to face, an aspect of human society that seems to be drifting farther and farther away into the realm of obscurity.

What people say and how they say it should always be associated with a face – a face that someone can trust as a friend and as a truly benevolent individual.

The Formspring debate

NorCal Colloquialisms

By KRiSTyn iKEdafeatures

If an Aragon student were to travel to New England, he might hear the phrase, “That was wicked awesome!” Senior Emily Lucey explains that if an Aragon student were to travel to Maine, he might hear the phrase, “Jesum Crow!” To the student, it may so strange to hear “wicked” instead of “hel-la,” or “Jesum Crow” instead of “Jesus Christ” or even the pop culture “Cheese and Rice,” but to the native New Englanders, it is just everyday slang.

Northern California, of course, has its own distinct slang. The poster child of Northern Califor-nia slang is the notorious “hella.” “Hella,” which is synonymous with “very” or “really,” has even prompted a Facebook page en-

titled “I’m from Norcal and I say ‘Hella,’” which has almost 20,000 fans. It is unusual to go a day at school without hearing the word “hella” at least once.

Hearing the phrase, “hella” repeatedly would have an effect on almost anyone, and junior In-young Song is no exception. He comments, “[Hearing hella has] definitely rubbed off on me; I say [hella] all the time now.”

Sophomore Patrick Kerrigan agrees, explaining, “It just kind of slips out. To me, it feels like a slip of the tongue; I try not to say it, but it just comes out.” Others, however, refrain from using slang. Senior Caity Winterbottom com-ments, “I don’t say [hella] because I can’t pull it off and I’d look like a fool if I tried to.”

Although “hella” is the word most associated with slang in Northern California, there have been other phrases commonly used by teens in the Bay Area. The phrase, “yadadamean” has come to mean, “You know what I mean?” “Bounce,” “chillax,” and “hyphy” have been other words than have been phased into Bay Area slang. Recently, the term “sidebusting” has come to mean the same thing as eavesdropping, and “sketch” or “shady” mean sus-picious or dubious; “legit” is now a commonly used abbreviation of “legitimate.”

It is not surprising that slang creates some level of confusion to those who did not grow up with it, especially since most slang

trends go in and out of use after a matter of time. Junior Inyoung Song, who moved to California from Korea, explains, “I thought ‘hella’ was a real word for a while.”

Senior Jenny Park, who moved from Minnesota, remembers, “My first day of school here, this guy was like, ‘You’re hella sick’ and I was like, ‘No…I’m fine.”’

Senior Stephanie Woo com-ments, “My friend from Southern California was trying to make fun of me because I say ‘hella.’ She was like, ‘So you guys say ‘What the hella?”’

Junior Haley Kilroy has a dif-ferent story, adding, “One of my friends from Arizona was visit-ing and I said, ‘Oh! You got hella moded!’ and she was just really confused and then I had to try and explain what moded meant.”

If slang within the United States creates confusion, then international slang only compli-cates matters further. Kerrigan explains, “In Ireland, if two peo-ple have been making out, people would say they ‘met.’” In Great Britain, it might be referred to as “snogging.” Likewise, the term, “mate” might be heard in Aus-tralia or New Zealand instead of “bro” and “bra,” all which have come to be synonymous with “friend.”

Senior Danielle Lefczik tells of a time when she was confused, recalling, “One time this guy was visiting from Australia and was telling us how instead of ‘z,’ they say ‘zed.’ I was really confused

and asked, “So instead of zoo, you guys say zedoo?’ He was just like, ‘No. We say zoo.”’

Even body language is not im-mune to the miscommunications of slang. Woo, recalls, “When I was in London, I was holding up a peace sign. The people I was with were really surprised, and I didn’t understand why until they told me that the peace sign was basi-cally the equivalent to flipping someone off.”

Slang is always changing. In the 1920’s, the phrase, “the cat’s pajamas,” or the “bees knees” would be used by youngsters, in 60’s, “groovy,” in the 90’s, “rad.” Slang serves as a memento of the era—a tie between pop culture and the generation of the time, and thus is constantly evolving.

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Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 FEATURES 13

Student volunteers in Latin American countries

BY MEREDITH CHARLSONFEATURES

At Aragon, it can be easy for students to take their privileges for granted. Students here share the pleasure of waking up in a bed, eating a warm meal, getting to put on nice clean clothes, and going to a school with desks and books. However, it is common knowledge that there are people all around world who are not as privileged as people in San Mateo.

Fortunately, there are stu-dents at Aragon who are will-ing to sacrifice their time and effort to pro-vide humani-

tarian aid inter-nationally. One of those students is senior Sarah Ja-cobs. A couple of years ago, Jacobs became involved with an organiza-tion called Ami-gos de las Ameri-cas (AMIGOS) which she ex-plains, “…sends young adults to Latin America over the sum-

mer to foster intercultural under-standing and to facilitate commu-nity development.”

Like the Peace Corps, students who participate in AMIGOS are assigned to a destination and must receive long-term training to prepare them for their jour-ney. Jacobs was assigned to go to Lempira, Honduras and worked with AMIGOS for a year before her trip to master her Spanish and to learn necessary leadership skills. When she arrived, she was

assigned a partner from AMIGOS to work with in the community and a host family to live with.

Jacobs says, “My [assignment] was to organize a construction project in the community. We organized and ran community meetings and we decided to build [rest stops] for pickup trucks. In the community, people hitch-hiked to get from place to place, and we built bench areas with roofs so people could sit and didn’t have to stand in the rain.”

Jacobs and her AMIGOS part-ner filled out the paperwork for funding, and assisted with the building process as much as they could. “There was a gender issue and people there didn’t want girls helping with the building,” Jacobs states, “Also, there were a lot more qualified people there who had more experience in construction. [My partner and I] did go to the river, though, and shoveled sand from the river to mix for cement.”

“It was really exciting because it wasn’t touristy and I was really experiencing the culture,” Jacobs says. “I went to religious services, was a part of the community, and I learned how to make traditional foods. I would definitely go back when my Spanish is better, and in college, I definitely want to do more volunteering specifically with youth.”

Senior Sarah Jacobs has worked with children in Hon-duras and is attending Washington University in St. Louis after graduation.

COU

RTESY OF SA

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JACOBS

An eye on financial aidBY ALICE BEBBINGTONFEATURES

“Nearly 20 million chil-dren now receive free or reduced-price lunches in the nation’s schools,” reports USA Today in an article that also describes an 8 to 17% increase in demand for free lunches in 2009. All across the nation, schools help students in times of economic need, and Ara-gon is no exception. “We call it a scholarship program,” says assistant principal Joe Mahood, “and what it does is it provides students with as-sistance for fees that they have here at school.” These many fees include (but aren’t lim-ited to) class fees, lab fees for certain classes, P.E. uniforms, lunch, prom tickets, cap and gown, and yearbooks.

One Aragon participant who has been in the program for two years says of the appli-cation process, “It’s really easy [to sign up]… I took the form to my mom and she filled it out.”

Barbara Lyons, accounting clerk, says “It be like at the be-ginning of each semester, as each [fee] arises…it’s more of an in-dividual basis [that stu-d e n t s s i g n

up]. All students need is “a brief conversation and docu-mentation from parents” says Mahood.

So how many students are signed up for this easy-to-apply-for program? “It can be anywhere between…15 to 35 [students],” says Mahood, “depending on what it is.”

“I think more people should use it,” commented a student on the program, “it’s really helpful, because I mean I can’t buy lunch everyday.”

Junior Karen Beltran, who has been on the program “ever since freshman year… to get free or reduced lunch” is another student who is grate-ful for the program. “I find it really helpful because at times we don’t always have money to buy lunch…[It’s] very con-venient.” Beltran says you can either sign up for free lunch, which gives students lunch at no charge, or reduced lunch, which costs students $.50.

Beltran encourages stu-dents to sign up, saying, “it’s very simple [to apply]…“Everybody should be aware that there’s that opportunity

that everyone can have it

and ev-eryone

should try and apply for it if they are eligible for it. It’s a great help for the family as well; they don’t have to worry about their child being able to get lunch at school when its already provided for them, so it’s peace of mind.”

The programs’ leaders also agree with its success. “I think we do a good job,” says Lyons. Mahood agrees, saying, “[w]ell I never have had to deny anyone a request, so I’ve been doing okay.” But with the cur-rent economy and eminent budget cuts to the California school system, there is some concern as to how well Ara-gon’s welfare system will hold up, and what the future will bring.

Currently, the money to supply the program comes from Leadership and the Principal’s fund. Leadership provides about $1,000 each year to this program, made by numerous fund raisers. Prin-cipal Patricia Kurtz has a fund that contributes to this pro-gram. The fund consists of money from different sources, some of which are donations. Mahood says, “I got a dona-tion from a parent for just this [scholarship program], this year, and so very generously it’s been able to cover a lot of my students.”

But is it enough? “Any kind of donation to the Ara-gon Scholarship foundation are welcome,” continues Ma-hood. “We need monetary donations. It helps…our stu-dents.”

Memorization Tips & TricksBY ALEXIA CARRASCOFEATURES

To many high school students, tests and quizzes seem to be the most im-portant aspect of school life. Studying is crucial for most students as they try for successful tests and grades. However, is there a single best way for a student to study? The problem with studying for some students is that they look over their textbook for hours, trying to absorb all the materi-al within the book, but fail to remem-ber everything they need to. “There was a time when I studied [for] really long hours for my biology final, but I ended up getting a C on the final. I figured that my next final, I would need to change my methods. For science, it is always usually hard for me to wrap my mind around concepts. I resorted to studying with my friends and going in [to the teacher] for help,” said sophomore Tiffany Ly Su.

Junior Monique Beaudouin also likes taking the time to go through her notes with her friends, saying “I also really like working with my friends. They can be very helpful in explaining things to me in a different way. Explaining things to me in the way they personally under-stand the notes, which I’m more likely to understand as well.”

Many students at Aragon also dis-covered helpful methods for studying through the help of the AVID program at Aragon. AVID teaches students tech-niques to help them prepare for college like organize binders and learning how to take reliable notes during class. One study method AVID teachers try to focus on with their students is Cornell Notes. “The difference between what we do in AVID and what most other students do is that [AVID students] are required to take notes and then are also required to go back and look at those notes, writ-ing a summary of what was discussed

in class and what they learned in class. They [also] write questions; in the left column, they ask questions that they think might be on the test,” explains AVID teacher Don Bush.

Bush also used the trusty Cornell Notes when he attended a special class a few years back “I took an Italian class, at CSM, a couple years ago. And I used Cornell Notes, and it takes work, it takes time to organize what you’re doing. But the most important thing is to go back. And when I went back and looked at it, it made it much easier.”

Even though finding that perfect studying method is one of fulfillment, make sure that it can be used, without distracting others, during a class test. If one student learns their vocabulary by singing it out loud, the best decision would be to learn it silently also. “[The method] I use somewhat worked for me in class, but not 100%. I was on my own when it came to memorizing the mate-rial,” says junior Lisa Kain, of the time her method left her hanging and on her own during a test.

Make studying like a game —turn it into something fun. That way the atten-tion will be focused more on the mate-rial, rather than just a ordinary memo-rizing technique because sometimes that could be the down fall to a habit that one can own.

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Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010PHOTO14

Día de Silencio ~ day of silence

A tear rolls down junior Ariana Sacchi’s cheek while Aragon senior Yvette Jimenez (not pictured) tells her story during the testimonials at St. Matthew’s Church about how the broken immigration system has affected her and her family’s lives during her lifetime, and how she has overcome those issues.

Sophomore Ninette Rico, one of the many Aragon students in support of immigration reform, put duct tape over her mouth in honor of the Day of Silence. Many wrote their reasons for protesting on the tape, such as “Rights” written on Ninette’s tape.

Students during brunch gather in Center Court with signs to take a stand for immigra-tion reform on Day of Silence.

Seniors Yvette Jimenez of Aragon and Ana Sanchez, Presi-dent of San Mateo High’s Latino Club, lead the silent march through downtown San Mateo.

Students and adults carry a wide variety of signs as they march along B Street near North Beach Pizza in support of immigration reform on the Day of Silence.

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to spread the word. Nearly 5000 fliers were printed and distributed to share in schools and businesses in San Mateo and the surrounding areas. “A lot of the exposure was word of mouth. Leaders were re-sponsible to tell people and at the same time inform kids about the issue,” says Jimenez. Along with the fliers, student leaders made an-nouncements in classes, over the loudspeaker, and on small radio stations in the local area.

Aragon Latino Club President, senior Jackie Santizo says, “We felt a lot of motivation to do this Día de Silencio. But the biggest motivator came when we heard about the im-migration law in Arizona, SB1070.” This publicly criticized law allows law enforcement to ask people for proof of their immigration status. This law is widely considered to legalize racial profiling. All across the nation, including the Bay Area, millions of people have spoken out

against Arizona. It became a run-ning goal of the Day of Silence, along with others. Another key theme of the day was family unity, as many families have been broken up because of the flawed immigra-tion system, including that of stu-dent organizer Jimenez, whose fa-ther was forcefully deported a few years ago, and her mother is in a le-gal battle to stay in the country with her six children who are all citizens of the US. Problems like this were a huge motivator for the organiz-ers to raise awareness. The day also stood to bring awareness for the Dream Act, which would help to allow students without documen-tation pursue higher education and opportunities.

The day officially began for participants to be silent once they arrived at school. A number of teachers were understanding and allowed students to participate in class in ways that did not take away from participation. At brunch, Ara-gon participants were invited to

gather silently in Center Court with signs showcasing the issues that the day stood for and leaders were interviewed on paper by various media organizations. The organiz-ers were inspired to see the amount of support and participation on the day of the event. Jimenez says, “We didn’t feel it would be as big as it was. Minorities are in the shadows at Aragon, and to see about sixty percent of people joining in gave me a feeling [that] we were doing something right.”

At lunch, student participants gathered on the red and black pyra-mid, holding posters and many wore tape over their mouths to emphasize the silence. Santizo says, “we had planned to take over the pyramid because we didn’t want to distract from the rally that [was] taking place.” The lunchtime group consisted of students from all races, not just Latino students. Santizo adds, “We wanted to also focus on the fact that it wasn’t just for La-tinos. Many Polynesians and stu-

dents from BSU really supported our cause.”

Hundreds of people joined the march through downtown San Mateo, from the Congressional Church of San Mateo to the office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier. The march was silent but at this point the crowd broke the silence, and they began chanting and cheer-ing such things as “students united. We’ll never be divided” and “Si se puede” (yes we can). Students con-tinued until St. Matthews Church where the rally began. A number of students shared their personal sto-ries, including Jimenez, Aragon stu-dent Nayely Enciso and San Mateo Latino Club president Ana Sanchez.

A big reason the day was so successful was because of similar passion and personal connections with immigration Jimenez says, “My personal reasons were for my fathers’ deportation and my moth-ers’ ongoing deportation process. Also, one of my closest friends re-cently left the country, because of

her family, even though she was a citizen.”

Some supporters did not have first hand experience with immi-gration fears, but still supported. Junior Gloria Langi says, “I knew it meant a lot to others so that’s why I participated. I also wanted to sup-port some of my friends.”

The organizers agree that the day was an overall success. Santizo says Our main goal was to show [everyone] how important the is-sue of immigration and SB1070 is and at the end of the day I felt like we definitely made an impact.” The Aragon Latino Club does not plan to stop anytime soon, and they are already making plans for the future.

Jimenez says, “We want to tell underclassmen that we did it for them and to inspire them to get involved. And to tell young Latinos that they have a voice and they need to speak up.”

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 PHOTO 15

Freshman Wyatt Cooper swims the 100 butterfly for the varsity boys team at PALs on Thursday, May 13.

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Sophomore Curtis ota and senior Gin Ma playing mixed doubles against Mills on May 4.

Seniors Ellery Wong and Brian Lee playing boys doubles against Mills on May 4.

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Junior Nolan Freitag runs to first base in the game against Hillsdale on Fri, May 14. Senior Sam Tuivailala up to bat against Hillsdale.

Senior Sam Tuivailala pitching for the Dons in the game vs Hillsdale.

Aragon High School crowned PAL Varsity Girls Champions. From left: Coach Lindsay Canfield, Shorhon Gong, Nicole Cannuli, Shelby Barthold, Jessica Barney, Erica Bass, Candice de Sauvage, Lauren Crowshaw.

Sophomore Lauren Crowshaw, the final runner in the Varsity Girls 4 x 400 Relay, finishes first and secures a gold medal for her team.

Varsity Girls Track

& Field

BADMINTON: LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

vARSITY BOYS BASEBALLCCS CHAMPIONSSwimming

Volume 49, Issue 6May 20, 2010AdvertisEments16

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 SPORTS 17

BY ERIC DINGFEATURES 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his early years, was a magnificent sight to behold. With massive bi-ceps and a muscular body, no one knew that he would become an actor let alone a politician. The overwhelming success of Arnold Schwarzenegger, now the gover-nor of the state of California, and the success of other bodybuilders, have fed directly into male hope-fuls. The craving to be “buff” or “swoll,” as some Texans say, has been prevailent throughout the ages.

There is no doubt that eating correctly is extremely important. However, bodybuilding supple-ments seldom seem to appeal to a wide audience.

P.E. instructor Guy Oling says, “caution must always be taken with supplements. A big part of the appeal of bodybuilding supplements is in the marketing, claiming that these supplements help you. In actuality, the supple-

ments may not help at all.” Generally, bodybuilding sup-

plements are given a bad reputa-tion because of the clear negative effects of drugs such as steroids. Steroids are persistent in the news, and it is perhaps the degradation of this particular illegal supple-ment that discourages supple-ment use in general. What most people don’t know is that many other supplements are available and potentially beneficial. Many bodybuilding supplements have been proven to be very effec-tive, such as Creatine and Glyc-erol. Creatine produces increased amounts of ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate), which heightens the amount of energy. Glycerol cre-ates a lesser dehydration rate in athletes because of better water retention.

“When I work out, I don’t do much in particular because I gain all my nutrients by eating how I do normally,” says junior Gabriel Dela Cruz. “Sometimes when I’m feeling extra adventurous, I eat

slight dietary supplements like vi-tamin gummies.”

Junior Nathan Borovikov says “before matches or games, I usu-ally eat pasta or something the night before for carbohydrate en-ergy.”

When prepping for a soccer tournament or game, sophomore Eri Loaiza Gutierrez does what many athletes do. “I drink milk for healthy bones, which is very important,” says Loaiza.

Similarly, sophomore Vincent Tong eats a special fruit when he is going to play. “For me, bananas are the way to go. They give me confidence and the nerves to get into the game,” says Tong.

“Salads are preferable when I’m about to play, but anything is worthwhile for me,” says sopho-more Juan DeAnda.

Bodybuilding supplements are uncommon in high school life. This can be attributed to wide-spread skepticism. “I don’t see the need or the motivation in taking protein shakes or other supple-

mental things. The way I see it, eating a bal-anced diet is all one needs,” says Loaiza.

This skepti-cism is real, and it is very often justified. “Sup-plements are nice to take, but there can’t be a magical product that instantly makes you stronger,” Oling says. “Supple-ments can never replace hard work and eating healthy.”

Perhaps bodybuilding supple-ments are not actually for en-hancing muscles and strength. When considering effects of sup-plements, much, if not the major-ity, of the effect can be noted in psychological changes, not physi-cal changes. “Many supplements are helpful in the Placebo effect,”

says Oling. The Placebo effect is demonstrated when a beneficial effect arises from patients, but not precisely from the drug. In-stead of benefiting from the drug, the patient benefits from his or her expectations concerning the treatment, not the treatment it-self. “Many supplements do help athletes, but only in the fact that the athletes now believe that they can do better.”

Bodybuilding Supplements:Are they beneficial or detrimental?

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BY YvONNE HSIAO AND BRIAN KAwAMOTONEwS

Emerging from a team of all boys, senior Shelby Barthold made her first appearance on the YMCA basketball court in first grade. “I remembered how the guys never passed to me because I was the only girl,” Barthold com-ments.

“My sister was my primary rea-son I played basketball,” Barthold says. Sitting on a bench, Barthold had “always watched [her] sister make cool moves on the court” Barthold playfully explains. “It was like an anything you can do, I would do better kind of complex.”

When Barthold had first start-ed playing basketball, she had at-tended a summer league where she went against girls that were much better, taller, and older than her. “Because of my lack of skill, no one would pass to me, and I truly felt really left out.” Because Barthold was more of “a reserved player that did not like to openly ask the coach for help, “[she] had to constantly and quietly work by [her]self. Basketball, unlike any other sport, requires a lot of dedi-cation and is a combination of teamwork but also individual ef-fort. It may be a little harder, but that’s why it’s also really fun. With excelled athletes around me, I’m always able to work harder with inspired to play my best,” says Barthold.

The fundamentals of the game is essential to playing, and “my coach had emphasized that one time by making our entire

team make chest passes the entire practice to the point where my fingers were red and really hurting,” Barthold recalls.

Barthold also revealed that not every game is perfect. “I start out each game holding the ball with my hands to get the feel of it and make myself remember that for the next 32 minutes or so I, as a point guard, [had] to lead my team and take care of the ball and not lose it. But, there [are]some times where I just feel really weird and nothing is going my way including the harmony of the team.” The best game, “is not necessarily when I make a lot of points, but actually when the team works together and I can successfully contribute my best,” Barthold says. Unlike most sports, “basketball also allows me and my teammates to work for and share our glory together.”

“My most memorable moment was during my senior year against Mitty High School. They were ranked 8th in the state and most people thought that we’d get ‘blown out.’ They had six players above six feet tall and six players who were going to college to play on division one teams. But we kept up with them and I like to think at one point, we were winning (8-7) even though it was in the beginning of the game. Although we lost, we played better against them than the teams who played them in the semi-finals and finals. It just feels good to know we were able to keep up with one of the best teams in the state” says Barthold.

Although at first Barthold was hoping to attend a larger school such as a UC, “I realized I wanted to play basketball in college and discovered Claremont McKenna

and spent the night there and fell in love.

“Although academics always come first, I hope to continue to do what I love as well as learn from such a high caliber school and hopefully have a better future” continues Barthold.

As a multitalented athlete, Barthold has had success in many different sports such as cross country and track. Previously, she was ranked 7th in her division, just missing the cut point to advance to CCS and was now determined more than ever to outrun at least one more runner to be ranked 6th and advance.

“Although it is a physical sport, cross country is extremely difficult because it is all mental—someone who is really motivated can do better than they should have done,” says Barthold. Not only did Barthold outrun the one runner she needed to become ranked 6th and advance to CCS for the third season in a row, but she also got her third cross country medal, which only the fastest 15 runners receive at PAL

races. “Cross country is a sport full of self-dedication and will-power and satisfaction you get after working through all that pain is undeniable,” emphasizes Barthold.

Although through cross country Barthold has learned to be dedicated and motivated, it is not the only sport she has applied these desirable traits. Recently in track and field, the varsity girls’ team won the league championships at CCS . Amongst those who contributed to this victory was Barthold winning medals in three of her four events—triple jump, high jump, and the four-by-ones (not long jump). She placed 4th in triple jump and recieved a personal record by a foot and three inches achieving 32 feet and 3.5 inches. She also got 5th in high jump and 6th in the four-by-one relays. I did the best I’ve ever done and I felt I really contributed to the team by winning three medals” says Barthold.

Aside from her recent victory, Barthold admittedly agrees that

“the best part of track is seeing all [her] teammates support [her], and accomplishing [their] own personal achievements. Each person tried to do well in their own event which helps benefit the team.”

Through all her achievements, Barthold could not have done it alone. “I want to thank Coach Gennaro because she helped me on and off the court and [was always there] if I had a problem. She helped my life progress in every way. Similarly, my cross country and track coach, Dasko has been supportive and it was nice to see him at my basketball games during the off season” recalls Barthold.

Through her four years of high school athletics, Barthold has learned many lessons, but the most important one to her “is to keep your head held high if you did you best. Even if you lose, as long as you played your hardest, you should always be happy.”

Athlete of the month: Shelby BartholdThe story behind the 12-sport athlete

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Senior Shelby Barthold jumped 32 feet and 3.5 inches to achieve a new personal record. She placed 4th place in triple jump and recieved a medal at the May 12 PAL track meet at the College of San Mateo.

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010SPORTS18

BY WENDY YUNEWS

Both the girls’ and boys’ varsity swim teams got off on a rocky start as they struggled to earn wins throughout the season due to shortages in team members. Yet, on May 12, as the first preliminary trials of the Peninsula Athletic (PAL) League Tournament came around, both teams were able to bring their individual skills and have six members, in total, move onto finals just in the first day.

In this season, the varsity boy’s swim team consisted of only nine people while the varsity girl’s swim team consisted of only 15 people. These teams are considerably smaller compared to other teams who average about thirty people in each division. Fred Farley, new head coach of both teams, says. “The varsity girls are pretty strong. The varsity boys are strong as well, but we only have nine boys. So, during meets, having a team of nine or 15 versus a team of 30 is very challenging.”

Farley explains, “Having a smaller team compared to other schools has definitely been a negative impact, seeing that we only have one to two people or sometimes even no one entered in events where the maximum we can enter is up to three people. In

meets, there are five places to be given, so even if we place well, due to the scoring, we still get out-pointed in the end.”

Freshman Ivan Chen, a member of the varsity boys’ team, adds, “During meets, you are only allowed to swim in two events per person. So if we don’t have enough people to swim, we lose points in the events we didn’t enter in.”

In turn, due to this issue, the girls’ varsity team has won five out of seven meets, against Westmoor, Mills, Sequoia, Woodside, and Carlmont while the boys’ varsity team has only managed to win two out of seven meets, against Westmoor and Carlmont.

Regarding the season, freshman Julie Engelmann, a member of the girls’ varsity team, states, “All in all, we sometimes lose meets because of our size, but we sometimes can beat other teams because having a smaller team just motivates us and allows us to make our comebacks.”

Concerning the team in general, Farley comments, “Compared to what I saw on the first day of practice back in February, this is a completely different team. For the most part, everyone has worked hard to improve their stroke techniques, which is the first step in becoming

a better swimmer. As we progressed through the season, they all began to learn what it meant, and felt like to race, and how to manage those races.”

During the girl’s varsity team finals, junior Priscilla Young placed well in the 200 Freestyle event. She made the cut to go to finals after placing fifth with a time of 2:05.33.

“I did much better than I expected since I didn’t expect myself to improve especially because of pressures from last year when I was a 13th of a second away from making it to CCS,” says Young.

Leong, who placed seventh in the 200 Individual Medley (IM), with a time of 2:25.56, moved onto finals. Leong says, “I think I’ve done well since this is my eighth time swimming this event this season. But, my time wasn’t good since my transition from backstroke to breaststroke wasn’t good. It was because I had counted too many strokes [while racing], so I hit the wall instead of the gutter, which didn’t allow me to get a good push off.”

Next, placing at a solid first to make the cut was junior Miya Oto in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.58 seconds, which was below the CCS qualifying time of 25.89 seconds, Oto states, “I thought I

did well racing-wise, but not time-wise because compared to past times, it wasn’t an improvement since my best time for this event is 25.3 seconds… But overall, being in first place doesn’t matter as much to me as times do.”

Swimming in the last event for girls and placing in fifth to move onto finals was junior Kate Kell who swam the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:05.83. “I’m very happy about making it to finals especially since I have been out of the pool for three weeks because of strep throat and a knee injury. So it has been especially hard getting back into it since it has been a while,” says Kell.

Along with the girls’ successes, junior Kenan Chan has also been fortunate enough to make it to finals by a slight margin after beating teammate junior Kyle Kim by a 28th of a second with a time of 2:15.68 min in the 200 IM. This placed him in the eighth and final spot to make the cut. Chan comments, “Kyle is a great competitor and friend. Honestly, he’s been beating me by seconds in the meets prior to PAL’s, and seconds for swimming are a lot. Last year, he placed eighth and I got ninth, which is the opposite of what happened this year. Going into it, Kyle definitely looked like he would have beaten me, so I

don’t know what happened.” Swimming two events and

making finals in both was senior Masa Oto. Swimming first in the 50 Freestyle, Oto placed fifth with a time of 22.87 seconds, surpassing the CCS qualifying time of 22.99 seconds. In his second event of the day, Oto swam the 100 Butterfly where he took a close lead for second with a time of 53.69 seconds, which also exceeded the CCS qualifying time of 56.69 seconds.

“For CCS this year, I’m not too concerned with what place I get, but I really want to end my senior year on a good note, so improving my time from last year would be a happy ending.”

Commenting on the PAL Tournaments in their early rounds as a whole, Farley says, “Having the confidence to perform under pressure is something that is only exposed in the moment, and they all stepped up to the plate and amazed not only me, but more importantly, themselves. The last part of the equation comes back to confidence. This is sometimes the hardest part to learn, but obviously after today’s events, they all have taken great strides in knowing that they can be amazing.”

Varsity Swim Season and PAL Tournament

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scored three runs after quickly loading the bases in the first inning, Hillsdale responded with a quick run off Don’s senior pitcher

Nick Aguilar on an infield error. The Dons then jumped back in the top of the second inning with four runs, including a three-run home run by senior Drew Vanisi, bringing the score to 7-1 at the end of second inning.

Hillsdale, on the other hand, didn’t go away. The Knights would broke loose with 11 runs in the bottom of the third inning, capped off with a home run by Knights’ cleanup-hitter Sho Sato; this would put the score at 12-7.

Aragon added one run in the next inning, while the Knights

added six more, putting the score at 18-8 by the end of the fourth inning. And despite a grand slam by junior Tyler Outzen of Aragon in the seventh and final inning, it was not enough; the Knights prevailed with a final score of 20-14.

Aragon avenged their loss last Friday, however, with another game against Hillsdale played at Aragon. The game started as a standoff between Aragon pitcher Tuivailala and Hillsdale pitcher Greg Hanson, with no team scoring in 7 innings of regulation. Aragon seemed set for the victory

when they pushed runners on first and second base with no outs in the bottom of the seventh. Hillsdale, however, was able to get out of the jam with no damage done, pushing the game to extra innings.

The eighth inning would see n o runs

scored, as Tuivailala smashed a ball upwards of 300 feet for Aragon, only to see it caught by the Knights on the boundary fence.

In the ninth, Hillsdale scored the game’s first run off of a bases loaded grounder that was misplayed by Aragon, setting

the score at 1-0. The Dons responded, however, as

junior Sam Pacholuk hit a double, bringing in senior Andrew Vanisi to tie the game. Hillsdale pitcher Hanson got out of the jam with no extra damage caused, leaving three Aragon

men on base.It was the tenth

inning that the game was then decided. Hillsdale once again

took a one run lead when junior Kody Barden hit a line drive to left field, bringing in a run and setting the score at 2-1. In the bottom of the inning, Tuivailala tied the game with his own line drive to left field, bringing in senior Daniel Leigh. And following an intentional walk and a hit-by-pitch, Aragon had loaded the bases. Junior Tyler Outzen then came to the plate. With Tuivailala on third, Outzen hit a ground ball down the right-field line. The Hillsdale first baseman, throwing home, was too late to catch Tuivailala, who slid home and gave Aragon the win amongst a roar from the crowd.

The Dons’ first CCS game will be on Thursday, May 20, at Aptos High School.

Junior Kate Kell swims the varsity girls 100 yard butterfly at PALs.

Senior Masa Oto dives into the pool at PALs at the start of the varsity boys 100 yard butterfly.

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Badminton: A legacy born at Aragon

Ari Bren

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Thursday, 5/13Aragon 11, el Camino 4

BY KATie JenSenNEWS

The Aragon softball team completed a successful season last week with two wins over Mills and Capuchino. The girls were 10-4 in the Peninsula Bay League and 21-6 overall. This record puts them in 3rd place in the Bay League behind 1st place Hillsdale and 2nd place Capuchino.

In the first game of the week, the girls were stunned by a 3-0 score in favor of Mills in the top of the third inning. Head Coach Bill Laskey said the first three in-nings of the Mills game “[were] a wake up call. They didn’t under-stand what was going on, because last time we played them, we de-stroyed them.” However, the girls quickly proved capable of a great comeback. In the bottom of the third inning, Sophomore Elena Bowman hit to center field that allowed junior Danielle Ciardella and junior Vanessa Smith to score the first two runs for Aragon. This momentum carried the girls, with runs scored by senior Noelle Ca-hill, sophomore Brooke Ramsey, and senior Ashley Matias to end the inning with a score of 5-3 Aragon.

Laskey, however, never doubt-ed the girl’s ability to take the game back, and saw the come

back as a positive. “It gave them momentum and confidence that they could come back. Everybody was panicking and I was like, ‘re-lax, we play seven innings here, not three.’”

The game was dominated by Aragon after the first three in-nings. Aragon scored five more runs, leaving Mills in the dust with a final score of 10-3.

The Dons continued their streak with a 2-1 win over Capu-chino on Thursday, 5/13. mark-ing the end of Capuchino’s 17 game winning streak. The girls went into the game prepared to fight for a win. Bowman com-ments, “We were all going in knowing that Capuchino is really good team and it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. We came to play and that was exactly what we needed to do.”

The Dons were first to score with a run by sophomore Mau-reen Duddy in the top of the first inning. Capuchino came back with a run in the bottom of the first inning. With the score even, Duddy took the game into her own hands when she success-fully stole home plate in the top of the third inning to give Aragon the lead. “I knew that every run is important against at team like that, so I really wanted to score,” Duddy said. “There was nobody

covering third, so I had a big lead, and as soon as the catcher threw, I ran.”

Aragon successfully held on to their lead with excep-tional defense throughout the game. In the bottom of the third inning, Capu-chino hit a hard drive to left field, opening a chance to score. But senior Kristiana Foppiano caught the ball deep in left field, leaving Capuchino without a run. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Bowman caught the foul tip and threw to first for a double play. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the defense again proved solid when Foppiano threw from left field to get a Capuchino player out at home. With two outs, Dud-dy made a catch in centerfield to strand the runner at third. The excellent defense gave the rest of the team confidence and momen-tum to hold on to their lead.

When asked about their per-formance, Bowman also gave credit to the hitting ability of the team “I thought our hitting was really good. We were making con-tact and putting the ball in play. [The Capuchino pitcher] is really good, and making contact was crucial.” The Dons contact with the ball combined with great de-

fense proved too much for Capu-chino to handle.

The softball team now moves on to CCS playoffs, where they will put their abilities to the test against more challenging teams. Foppiano says, “I’m a little ner-vous, but I think because we just came off a big win and completed a big goal of ours, it shouldn’t be that hard for us to face harder teams.” Senior Pitcher Justine Roscoe agrees, “I feel like our team can beat anybody on any day if we play our best. Every single person has to be into it and focused and together—and then we can beat anybody.”

Softball season ends with two wins

Senior Kristiana Foppiano on the base path.

BY PAniZ AmirnASiriFEATURES

Aragon’s Track and Field team competed in the PAL Finals at the College of San Mateo on Wednes-day, May 2. With overall rankings in the top three places for two out of four divisions, as well as nu-merous individual wins, the day proved successful for the Dons on one of the last competitions of the season.

The Dons started strong with sophomore Lauren Croshaw coming in first place for both the 1,600 and 800 meter runs for girls varsity. After coming in sec-ond for the frosh-soph girls 1,600 with a personal record, “I got a gold medal [at the semi-finals], I got silver [today], and now all I need is a bronze,” said Fresh-man Nikki Stockman. True to her words, Stockman placed third in the 800 for frosh-soph girls with another PR, pulling ahead of Ni-cole Novales from Westmoor just in time after a close sprint on the last straight-way.

Junior Candice DeSauvage and Senior Nicole Cannuli add-ed to the individual wins for the varsity girls as DeSauvage came in third for the 400 meter dash, and Cannuli took second for the girls varsity long jump. Sydne Brown, Elizabeth McSheery, and Addie Eveslage contributed to the girls frosh-soph team, with Brown placing third in the 100 meter hurdles, Mcsheery rank-ing second in the triple jump, and

Eveslage coming in third for the 200. “I always try to remember that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it only matters how much you push yourself in the end… but winning does feel nice,” says Eveslage.

With the meet winding down to an end, only the 4 by 4 hun-dred relay remained. First up was the frosh-soph girls team of Kimi Hashizume, Lori Ross, Ol-lie Maggie, and Addie Eveslage, who finished second overall after scores from the two heats of the 4 by 400 were combined. This score brought them into an over-all ranking of third place with 66 points, after Westmoor and Carl-mont.

Next were the frosh-soph boys, coming in third with the com-bined effort of Parker Huang, Luiggi Sebastiani, Trevor Lee, and Vinh Doan. They finished with an overall score of 54.5 points, put-ting them in fifth place for the PAL Finals.

Senior Jessica Barney, junior Erica Bass, junior Candice deSau-vage, and junior Lauren Croshaw placed first in the varsity girls 4 by 400 meter relay, with Croshaw us-ing the final curve to pull ahead of a neck to neck race with Alli-son Daley from Burlingame. Sec-ond after fifteen events, this win brought the girls into first place, marking the first league champi-onship for the Dons in the past 14 years.

Last to run, the boys varsity team of junior Kyle Fung, senior

Patrick Moore, junior Nick De-ferrari, and junior Jamison Hall came in seventh place for the 4 by 400 meter relay, making them rank 14th overall.

“My thought is, it was a team victory,” said distance coach Frank Hunt before leaving the meet, “you can’t just win with one star, you need all the pieces of the puzzle.”

Coach Ed Larios attributes some of the success to the new track, saying, “it’s made it a very pleasurable place to be. It’s ex-citing to have meets there, it’s a great environment, it’s a great fa-cility, and it has really enhanced our program.” Junior Kyle Fung agrees, “freshman year, we had to crowd into coach Larios’ car and drive up to CSM to run because the track was literally dirt. Now, we can stay at home for practices and even host meets at Aragon.”

Senior Nicole Cannuli says “it’s definitely more beneficial because it’s an all-weather track so usually we can run under any conditions. And when we had the dirt track, people were more prone to falling so there’s less injury now.”

However, other elements made this season a success. “This year we have more coaches, so each

coach is pushing their own group [of athletes] to do better,” says Se-nior Kenny Kha. “[This season], we have over a hundred kids on the team, we have a lot of enthusi-asm, and we have a lot of talented kids,” says Larios, “It’s not just limited to the very talented; it’s limited to the very dedicated.”

Track & Field season wrap-up

SHeLBY BA

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Athletic Awards: May 19

Sophomore Lauren Croshaw clinches Aragon’s PAL championship by finishing first in the varsity girls’ 4x400.

Volume 49, Issue 8May 20, 2010 SPORTS 19

Sophomore Paul Chen, the Aragon boys’ number two singles player, won his match may 13 against el Camino. The badminton team clinched first in its division with the win.

ASH

LeY LenTZ

Wrestling Conor StantonSoccer Girls Kat McAuliffe Nicole KilligrewBoys Dilian DonevSoftball Justine RoscoeSwimming Girls Miya OtoBoys Masa OtoBadminton Kristyn Ikeda

2010-2011 Varsity most Valuable Players

2010-2011 Athletes of the YearSam Tuivailala & Shelby Barthold

Boys TennisJosh Lu Chris EngelmannBoys Golf Amol MahalTrack & FieldGirls Lauren CroshawBoys Michael ChanCross-Country Boys Christian PedroGirls Lauren CroshawFootballSam Tuivailala

Girls TennisKatherine LohWater PoloGirls Natalie WeilBoys Kyle KimGirls Golf Jasmine ChinVolleyballMissy LoeserBasketball Girls Arteivia LilomaivaBoys Sam TuivailalaBaseball Sam Tuivailala

Mark: CAL is better than Stanford! I had a lot of fun poking fun at you. Truce? But still, Berkeley is way better than Stanford. See you at the football games!Brian: You are such an easy person to talk to. You have a very big heart and understand and accept my criticism late at night without talking it to heart. Rock on Brian!Phoebe: Let’s just say that your unique music taste will always be remembered. You never fail to put a smile on my face with your spontaneous laughter.Catherine: ‘Single Ladies’ dance all the way. Never let the ‘whooo’ child in you die! Whoooooo!!!Rachel: I wuv your OCD. Seriously, your chromatic organi-zation helped a lot. Thank you for hearing me rant and play-ing with my hair when I was in high-stressed situations. Julia: I would be soooo lost without you. You are my other half. No wonder we are both bears. Your puppy eyes and always smiling face makes my day. You are the Jewish spice in my life. Ari: Who are the “awesomest” editaaas-in-chief in da world? We are!! Not conceited at all. Thank you for putting up with my insanity and childish behavior. You always managed to bring me at ease and erasure me. Your dry sarcasm some-times confused me but in the end, it made my day. Gang-staaa…you rock!! Love you!Mr. Silton: Thank you for all your support and reminding me when I was lost and confused that I could do it. You pushed me a foot further every time. Your behavior never failed to put a smile on my face…beep beep.

We’ve shared countless laughs, many burrito dinners, and tons of good times. We’ve helped each other through the stress and the breakdowns. We’ve put in our blood, sweat, and tears to produce a great paper each month, and throughout it all I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve had in high school and the best memories. Thank you to the entire Aragon Outlook editing staff and Mr. Silton for such an incredible year. You’re all such wonderful people, I love and will miss you all.

This year’s editing team has been one of my fa-vorite professional experiences ever. They really pay me to hang out with the coolest and most productive kids in the school? But you do all the work! Well, that’s not quite true,but the positive vibes emanating from the whole team has engendered a degree of collabo-ration and communication that led to a truly student-driven publication we could be proud of. Other teams have had equal intellectual horsepower without the nearly perfect attitude that has made this year really special. Thank you.

It’s been awesome working with you all. Late nights, hilarious jokes, and closer friendships. I had a great time and I’ll never regret tak-ing this class and becoming a fellow editor with a great group of people. Thank you to you all, and Mr. Silton!

After 4 amazing years working with the Aragon paper, the task of saying goodbye is perhaps the most daunting one I’ve faced yet. Mr. Silton, I can’t thank you enough for four years of advice and support and all you’ve done for our publication, without which I can’t even picture working with the newspaper. To Mark, I was so thrilled that you gave into my arm-twisting and joined the team this year, not only are you indispensable on this team but getting to hang out during newspaper has always been a blast. Julia, from you I’ve learned the magic of USE THIS and USE THIS ONE REALLY and shared some great jokes, I’m always impressed with your insight both in and out of your role as photo editor, I look forward to heading on over to the East Coast with you next year. Brian, we are an unstoppable team, I think it’s a fair statement that when we work together we’re a force to be reckoned with, you have such a keen sense of humor and bring a unique spark to the team. Olivia, it is because of your warm and bright presence within our editing team that I forgive you for constantly making me feel inferior to your expertise in all things music and concert-related, I’ll miss you next year but trust you’ll continue to make the Outlook fabulous.

Dan, ever since I nabbed that 5-second hug this semester, I’ve felt that our relationship got even more awesome, best of luck next year and keep up your sneaky ways. Phil, your brand of humor is the subtle but brilliant variety, I love talking with you and hope to continue being “obscenely convenient” next year. Rachel, your energy and spirit bring so much to the pub of-fice, also you’re the only gal I know who can take ANYTHING and find a way to get it even more extensively organized, which is a useful trait indeed. Phoebe, my (beloved) nemesis, our camaraderie began in full during our escapades during 3rd period last year, and I look forward to taking Boston by storm together next year. Catherine, our darling woo child, your endless spunk and dynamism never falter and I’m jealous of your future students! Amreet. AMREET you are the BEST co-editor a guy could ask for, you’re so sweet and fun and smart and funny and talented and I wish that every partner I work with for the rest of my life was you, I can’t believe how much we accomplished together this year. I’ll miss every single thing about newspaper dearly next year.

I started off this year unsure about joining the team last minute. I end the year regret-ting that I had not done it sooner. Newspaper has been one of the most fun and different things I have done at Aragon. I have been set in my interests and activi-ties for too long. This class in turn chal-lenged me by taking me outside my normal sphere of activity.To my fellow editors, I have no idea what life was like without you. Thank you guys for making my last year at Aragon one to remember.

Ari-I forgive you for the muffins. Thank you!Amreet-You are the true Queen of the World.Julia-Wink. Call me.Mark-Stop playing with sharp objects. You’re going to cut yourself. Brian-You always manage to make me laugh when I need to most.Catherine-You should have won “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day”; you definitely helped me look on the bright side. I now say thank you when people compliment me, and it’s probably due to you.Phoebe-You are kind of amazing. Our nights in the photo room were perfect. And your music taste is way better than certain other peoples’.Everyone: This year has been one of the best parts of high school for me. I cannot thank you all enough. This year has been filled with laughter that I will carry with me for a long time.

The Outlook League

Dear editors, first off I want to say “thank you” for all the fun memories we’ve had this year! Playing hide and go seek tag with the janitors at 11o clock during deadlines and camping out in Center Court was a lot of fun and I will always cherish and remember you all and the wonderful memories we’ve birthed together. Also, what many people don’t know about The Outlook is that we are better than Yearbook.P.S. Seriously, we are better than Year-book, everyone says so. Love always.

This year has been absolutely incredible. Being a part of such an intelligent, funny, eclectic, vibrant, and just plain awesome group of people is something not many get to experience, especially in a high school class. From working diligently (sometimes) to falling out of chairs from laughter, newspaper is a place where you can be creative and silly and still turn out an awesome product. Here’s to the best editors EVER: Cath-erine (the woo child—you always brighten my day!) Brian (the cool guy who creates the best layouts) Mark (the funny one who gives the best hugs and high fives!) Rachel (the OCD one, and I love you for it!) Ari (the visionary—never loses sight of the big picture) Phoebe (the artsy one—good times collecting content together) Amreet (my best friend—you are my other half) And a special thanks to Mr. Silton for everything he’s taught us over the year! Thank you all for the wonderful memories!

Phoebe Chao Rachel Marcus

Julia Borden

Mr. Silton

Brian KawamotoCatherine Riviello

Amre

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Ari Brenner

Mark Sherwood Page Created by Phoebe Chao