May 2012 Newsletter

INFLIGHT M A Y 2 0 1 2F H S I N F L I G H T. C O M

On April 21, 2012, the junior class left the Bay Area and was transported to another world - A Night in Paris. Junior Prom at the Robert Livermore Community Center turned into a Parisian wonderland, complete with red roses and Eiffel Towers. Juniors had the options of dancing, indulging in snacks - including a chocolate fountain, sipping drinks by the dance floor, and getting their caricatures drawn by beret-clad artists. Although the night ended at 11 pm, the class of 2013 will surely remember the night as très magnifique.

By Evelyn Minaise, Editor-in-Chief

Junior Prom: A Parisian Vacation

Why Obama might lose in November’s election

Students’ artwork at the Firehouse Art Center

New perspectives from siblings on senioritis

All photos courtesy Kauhleen Mangayan

More in this issue:

Every Fifteen Minutes educates Foothill Students

By Duncan Morrow, Opinions Editor

Foothill High Schoo’s bi-annual warning about the dangers of drunk driving created a huge buzz in Pleasanton, especially among the Juniors and Seniors who witnessed the event on April 19th and 20th. The demonstration of the effect drunk driving has on students, their families, and the community drew assistance from the Pleasanton Police, Fire, and EMS personnel.

Every Fifteen Minutes happens in Pleasanton every year, alternating between

Foothill and Amador, in order to raise awareness about the dangers and risk of drunk driving.

The kickoff involved a tremendous coordinated effort from students, the school, and the city in order to pull off an incredibly realistic depiction of a drunk driving car crash, involving actual totaled cars. Students depicted the dead and the injured involved in such an accident, and actual police cars, ambulances, and helicopters assisted.

Said Ashkon Honardoost (‘13), “it really was an eye opening experience about how my decisions, regardless of how insignificant they may seem at the time, can impact the lives of so many people”. This sentiment was echoed around the school, especially after the closing ceremony on the 20th.

The closing ceremony started off with a mock funeral for the victims of drunk driving. It was followed by speeches by members of families who have had their lives touched

by the senseless violence of drunk driving, including FHS’s own vice-principal Mr. Gorton.

The ceremony also included “eulogies” from the families of the “living dead”, students who had been selected to be taken out of classes for the duration of the closing ceremony. These living dead symbloized the universal effect drunk driving has on a community, like Foothill, and the universality of the victims and people directly affected by tragidies.

Photos courtesy Benjamin Dunn

At the end of the assembly, there was barely a dry eye in the entire gym. Everyone understood the impact.

All in all, it was without a doubt one of the most significant moments in the school year for most of the student body, an event everybody could come away from with something incredibly important. Both the assembly, and the crash had a profound effect on people, and won’t be forgotten by Foothill anytime soon.

For more articles, reviews, editorials, pictures, and content, vist FHSINFLIGHT.COM, or visit FHS Inflight News on Facebook.

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M A Y 2 0 1 2F H S I N F L I G H T. C O M

It’s a typical Tuesday at the McDeavitt house. After dinner, my sister Kelly and I settle down to work on homework. After about thirty minutes, I’ve already finished. For the rest of the evening, I browse Tumblr and Facebook, read, watch TV, and graze in the kitchen. My sister, however, is stuck upstairs, working on her homework and studying until midnight.

As a senior, I have little schoolwork to worry about. It’s not senioritis’ fault—although, admittedly, I do have a little. I just don’t have that much homework any more. Unfortunately, my sister is a junior, and her load is much, much heavier than mine. Even when she starts working right after school, it seems to take her all night to finish. Every night, she has homework from each class and a test or two the next day. On the other hand, I typically have one homework assignment (and the occasional test).

My evenings are carefree, yet I watch her struggle and stress. When she asks me for pre-calc help, there isn’t much I can do. In fact, it seems that I can only offer assistance for what she doesn’t need, like writing movie reviews. I know it frustrates her to see me relaxing while she keeps working and working. (Many of our weekday conversations sound like this: “Have you seen this YouTube video?” “NO.” “Can you come see it? It’s really funny.” “NO.”)

I help her when I can, but there’s not much I can do to minimize her French homework or tutor her in math. It doesn’t help that we usually have the same academic strengths. If she needed help in English, I would give it. But she takes French, I speak Spanish. I don’t remember pre-calculus. I’ve never taken psychology. I hate to say it, but I’m not too motivated to improve the situation.

Although to be fair, I’m not too motivated to do anything right now.

Unlike me, most kids just get stuff done. They sit in their room – no doubt after a solid amount of procrastination – and simply do their homework. This isn’t the case for me because I live with senioritis. This is the life of a junior with a senioritis sibling.

Let’s say I’m motivated to work and I plow through some tricky pre-calculus problems. While I’m in the zone, solving problems under the heat of my study lamp, I suddenly hear a train in the distance and the hoot of an owl. Confused, I turn around to find my sister spread out on my floor enjoying the magical world of Pottermore, a website designed for Harry Potter lovers.

My heart longs to join her, but I tell myself that I must resist. I continue working on my math until my sister says, “I got into Ravenclaw! I wonder which house you belong to?” I just can’t ignore this, folks. I sit down “only for a few minutes” to discover my house. I suddenly find myself an hour later still on Pottermore. That math homework was just the beginning of the day’s studies.

It seems that every night, I’m left with a boatload of work to cram into the evening while my sister relaxes all day.

That’s not to say that my sister doesn’t have any work. She’s an AP student and has more challenging homework than a lot of other kids. No matter what homework she has though, it doesn’t compare to the endless assignments of junior year.

Not only do I have trouble getting work done, but my senioritis sister also has some peculiar tendencies. With her boredom comes randomness. There will be spontaneous singing in the kitchen, a sudden dance in the hallway.

My senior spends her time making me laugh and postponing my homework. Senioritis tends to seep out of my sister and sneakily cling to me. Although ultimately I choose when to work (and Kristen may even tell me to work from time to time), with all the fun she’s having around me, it’s hard not to join in.

Although I love my sister with all of my heart, her senioritis impacts me as a junior more than I would like. What worries me isn’t how I will ever work again – what worries me is that other junior-senior siblings are going through the same thing. I’m here for you, poor junior. My advice is to lock yourself in your room until that homework is done - then indulge in the fun with your senior sibling.

With the 2012 GOP nomination elections clearing up, the political world’s focus has been shifted to the general election, where Mitt Romney and Barack Obama will be duking it out. While many say this is a clear-cut win for Obama, there are a few factors that might actually cause Obama to lose this election.

It’s 2012. 2008 Obama is gone. The aura he had with slogans like “Hope” and “Change” won’t work this time around. In short, Obama has lost his shine.

What has caused this? Well, the major reason is the economy. Things haven’t improved that much during the past four years. While he may play it off as an “it could be worse” scenario, the majority of Americans just want jobs back, and the fact of the matter is that Obama hasn’t delivered on it.

But the economy isn’t the only thing Obama has failed on. Funding NASA, not using unapproved military action, lowering gas prices, lowering our debt, and closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Center are just a few more

of the President’s broken promises. Whether or not all of those were reasonable promises doesn’t matter; to the eyes of the public each failure makes Obama more and more like a politician and less and less like the hero they believed him to be.

Last time, Obama actually raised voter participation, something he may not be able to do now, and historically speaking, voter apathy has generally hurt Democrats.

To make matters worse, this time around, the Republican party has huge activism, which will probably boost votes for their part.

So while Obama is now losing votes due to apathy, Romney is currently on course to gain votes due to activists, a trend that could potentially spell defeat for Obama in a few months.

At the end of the day, the coming election isn’t going to be easy for Obama. He needs to convince the American people that he is still the best man to get them back on track, and with his current record and loss of novelty, I think that’s easier said than done.

Senioritis: A junior-senior sibling story Why Obama might not win

Photo courtesy Kristen McDeavitt (right) and Kelly McDeavitt (left)

By Kristen McDeavitt, Editor-in-ChiefBy Jason Almeida, Staff Reporter

Off the ChARTS: Foothill students’ artwork on display

By Benjamin Dunn, Photo Editor

As I walked into the open doors of the Harrington Gallery, I was unsure of what to expect. I had never been in an art reception before and had no idea how I was supposed to act.

Should I stand by my photograph and answer questions for visitors? Should I enjoy myself and take a look at what other students did? Or should I just stay in the background and let people wander around? These were just a few of the thoughts that ran through my head as the reception started. Despite my anxieties, it turned out to be a light and open event.

On April 20, the Firehouse Arts Center opened its doors to Off the ChARTs, a show of over 40 works exclusively by Amador, Foothill and Village students. As I perused the gallery, it was hard not to notice all the variety present, from oil paintings to photographs, from digitally created works to political cartoons. There was a sort of fresh atmosphere as all these new works were presented to the public for the

first time. It just felt great to be in an environment full of creativity and artistic genius. Perhaps the refreshments had something to do with that as well.

The show wasn’t just limited to a small portion of the city: it was open to a large variety of individuals. I was surprised at the number of people who decided to visit the gallery. There were at least 100 people who went in and out of the building when I was there. Everyone seemed to know each other at the reception. No one was afraid to ask questions and I often saw parents inquiring about certain works or artists talking with other artists about their stories and how they came into the arts. I was surprised to see that the majority of attendees were children, from elementary to high school. It was nice to see all the different types of people who attended.

Louisiana Hot Sauce, a small Dixieland jazz band composed of Foothill students, provided music and entertainment in the foyer. The jazz was very refreshing and

the band attracted a small audience that would roar with applause and appreciation whenever they finished.

I was very impressed with the works in the gallery. Many of them gave interesting and unique perspectives on how to view the world. Some of the works focused on nuanced details and presented them in a completely different way that made me appreciate them much more.

For example, there were some that gave a different take on what it feels like to be mentally trapped or the values that our culture imposes on us today. There’s plenty of art there for everyone to take a look at and perhaps discover a new view on life. All it takes is a bit of thinking and art can quite possibly open a new door for you.

Photo courtesy Benjamin Dunn

By Kelly McDeavitt, Staff Reporter

Image courtesy Daniel Borman