November 2, 2010

THEMIRADATeachersregister heavily as Democrats

POLITICS

INSIDE

PROPOSITIONS

By John Ferrannini, Connor Jang, and Victor Lam | Mirada Staff

Teachers at Rio are more likely to vote and be regis-tered as Democrats than voters in Sacramento County or the nation at large, but questions remain about the role politics should play in the classroom, if any.

The Mirada checked the voter information of teachers at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters and followed up with interviews of teachers whose names were duplicated or who live outside Sacramento County.

93 percent of teachers voted in the 2008 General Elec-tions and 88 percent voted in the 2010 General Elections. The national turnout rate for those eligible to vote was 61 percent in 2008 and only 37 percent in 2010.

“Teachers are fairly well informed when it comes to the election,” History teacher Rocco Marrongelli said. “Most teachers are also civic minded, so they understand the is-sues.”

When it comes to the breakdown of political parties among Rio teachers, of the 49 teachers whose voter registra-tion could be confirmed, 32 are registered as Democrats, 8 as Independents, 4 as Republicans, 2 as Libertarians, 1 as Green, and 1 as American Independent.

Percentage wise, 65 percent are registered as Democrats, 16 percent as Independents, 8 percent as Republicans, and 8 percent as members of smaller parties.

www.riomirada.com Rio Americano High School Volume 51, Issue no. 2 Nov 2, 2012

TEACHERS’ POLITICS | PAGE 3

ELECTION

As the 2012 general elections near, hundreds of students turned out to vote in a mock election organized by CIVITAS that was designed to simulate the real life voting experience.

The results were decidedly Democratic. In the race for President, incumbent Democrat Barack Obama beat Repub-lican former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 60.1 per-cent to 33.1 percent. In the race for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein beat Republican Autism activist Elizabeth Emken 62.2 percent to 37.7 percent. In the race for the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat Dr. Ami Bera beat incumbent Republican Dan Lungren 62.6 percent to 37.3 percent.

The results were acutely more Democratic than how Cal-ifornia’s 3rd congressional district has voted in the past. In 2010, Republican Dan Lungren defeated Dr. Ami Bera by a margin of almost 7 percent. Barack Obama did win the district over John McCain in 2008, but only by a slim 0.5 percent margin.

CIVITAS coordinator Linda Reed says that she has noted

her students becoming more liberal over the past decade.“When I first started CIVITAS this area was highly Repub-

lican,” Reed said. “During the Bush years, however, less and less of my students affiliated with with the Republicans and more and more with the Democrats.”

By John Ferrannini | Editor-in-Chief

ELECTION | PAGE 2

PROPOSITIONS | PAGE 2

On the left, junior Arianna Sue, President of the Young Democrats. On the right, junior Sydney Beyer, a Romney supporter.

Although they are more likely to vote than most Americans, Rio teachers say they try to keep political views out of classes

Props. 30, 38, and Measure N would fund San Juan schools if approved

Education Propositions Generate Controversy

By Whitney Tyler | Mirada Staff

Two statewide propositions and one district wide mea-sure on the November ballot will greatly affect funding for San Juan schools.

Proposition 30 is a set of tax increases proposed by Governor Jerry Brown. Proposition 30 raises state sales tax by 3.45 percent from 7.25 percent to 7.5 percent for four years, and it raises state income tax for those making over $250,000 per year for seven years. If passed, it will provide $6.8 billion in additional revenue for the state in fiscal year 2012-2013 alone.

Four speakers came to the campus last month to dis-cuss the ballot initiatives.

News 2Opinon 6Features 8 Sports 13

NEWS FEATURES OPINION SPORTS Survey reveals seniors’ attitudes about home-work. Page 5.

Proposition 34 would end Death Penalty. Page 7.

AP Art attracts creative minded students. Page 8.

Water Polo Beats Jesuit, going to Sections. Page 13.

Senior Aaron Prohofsky and Donald Heller discuss the death penalty.

SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE

Obama wins school vote

In mock election, students also support changes to ‘Three Strikes’ law, reject ending death penalty

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY •NOVEMBER 2, 2012Page 2

PROPOSITIONS| 30, 38, and San Juan’s Measure N would fund education

David Wolfe, a member of the Howard Jarvis taxpayers association, spoke against Proposition 30.

“California has the second high-est income tax,” Wolfe said. “People will leave to states that do not have income taxes.”

“[Proposition 30] adds a tax which would not be temporary but which will affect people forever.”

Shannon Brown, President of the San Juan Teachers Association, spoke in favor of the initiative.

“If this proposition does not pass, school will be shortened by about three weeks because of furlough days,” she said.

“Businesses favor Proposition 30 because they think schools do not deserve more cuts.”

Indeed, Principal Ginter has had

to move back graduation to Monday, May 20 in the event that the school can not remain open very much lon-ger due to furloughs if Proposition 30 does not pass.

Those students planning on at-tending college, whether it be a UC, CSU, or a California Community College, would be affected by Propo-sition 30 failing at the polls. Both the CSU and UC systems would face a cut of $250 million. The California Com-munity Colleges would be impacted by an even larger cut of $338 million. The California School Boards Associ-ation states that Proposition 30 “does not provide new funding for schools. Instead, it bolsters the General Fund with new revenue.” This means that Proposition 30 doesn’t expressly guarantee that any of the revenue it raises will be used for school funding.

Senior Tessa Stangl’s CIVITAS se-nior project partly covered Proposi-

tion 30. She’s against it. Her mother, a small business owner, was on a panel speaking against Proposition 30.

“It’s a total sham. It’s more taxes we’re going to be paying that isn’t even guaranteed to go to the schools,” she said. “It can be used for anything the politicians decide to use it for.”

“It’s more bureaucracy and waste-ful government spending as usual.”

Another ballot initiative that would affect San Juan schools is Proposition 38. Proposition 38, pro-posed by attorney Molly Munger, raises state income tax for twelve years. However, a majority of the rev-enue raised by 38, expected to be $10 billion per year, would go towards K-12 education. Propositions 30 and 38 have generated controversy from taxpayers who feel that they’re pay-ing enough to a state which wastes too much money on non-education related endeavors.

“I think it’s sad that the state leg-islature was unable to fund education and safety the way it should by put-ting other funds before education,” United States and World History teacher Rocco Marrongelli said. “It’s shameful to ask taxpayers for more money when education was not was not the legislature’s first choice in the first place.” Marrongelli doubts that either proposition will pass consider-ing the political climate, with many people angry about taxes. How-ever, he concedes that Proposition 38 would be the better of the two. “It’s probably better for schools than Proposition 30 simply because the money will go right to the schools,” he said. “Then again, it’s sad the tax-payers will have to give more to edu-cation which should be a legislative priority.” History teacher William Taylor disagrees. “Furlough days sound fun, but it means that you can’t

fund colleges and by not funding col-leges, it is harder for students to get into them,” Taylor said.

“You get less education. Schools will be underfunded.”

The third initiative is Measure N. Measure N would allow the San Juan Unified School District to issue $350 million in bonds to repair schools and classrooms in disrepair.

The bonds would also be used to increase energy efficiency and would be issued at a time when interest rates are historically low.

Marrongelli is okay with the bond measure.

“I’m okay with the bond measures if the people of the school want to im-prove infrastructure of their schools,” he said. “I can understand it to im-prove those areas, though I think it will be hard to pass anymore bonds considering the economic climate.”

ELECTION | Students learn about democracy

FROM Page 1

“Youth have a tendency to be more liberal, but only 708 of about 1700 stu-dents at Rio voted. It could be that the ones interested were the Democrats.” Reed notes, however, that the results could indicate who will win in the general elections on November 6.

“We’ve been doing this for four to five years for both primary and gen-eral elections,” she said. “In the last few, the students that voted have been right on not only on the candidates, but also on the propositions.”

There were three propositions vot-ed on in the mock election. Proposi-tion 34, which would repeal the death penalty in California, was voted down 53.3 percent to 46.6 percent. Proposi-tion 36, which would ease California’s three strikes law, passed 66.9 percent to 33.0 percent. Proposition 37, which would require labeling of genetically modified foods, passed 63.2 percent to 36.7 percent.

The mock election was organized with the help of the Sacramento County Elections Office. Junior Holly Hillis was instrumental in pulling off the election and making sure it simu-lated the procedure for a voter in an actual election.

“I chose to organize the Rio stu-

dent body mock election both as an extension of my internship at the Sac-ramento County Elections Office and because of my interest in the voting process,” Hillis said. “The elections office provided us with the voting booths, ballots, and vote-counting machine that we needed to make this election as accurate and real-to-life as possible. I asked all of the Rio teachers to participate, and we had an incred-ible amount of interest.

“After I reserved the small gym for the day of the election, I scheduled the classes to come at certain times throughout the day so there wouldn’t be too much of a rush or lull in the flow of voters. Students were able to vote privately in an official booth and see their ballots be counted as they ran through the machine.”

The true-to-life procedure for the mock election, including genuine vot-ing booths, ballots, and the sign-in process, was utilized as a way to teach students how to vote when they are eligible and to remove intimidation or fear from the voting process.

CIVITAS hopes that the mock election will encourage students to vote when they’re older. Youth cur-rently have the lowest voter turnout rate of any age group. Only 48.5 per-cent of eligible voters ages 18-24 cast a ballot in 2008. ”I think that many peo-ple do not realize how important their

vote and their opinion are, and how much they can really affect their own future by voting,” Hillis said. “Elected representatives, whether they are city council members or the President, are the people who propose and pass the laws that directly affect us as citizens.

Two seniors who voted in the mock election were Zachary Baumbach and Raven Balafoutis.

“I voted for Obama because I sup-port his policies over Romney’s,” Ba-umbach said. “He has a plan while Romney doesn’t know what he’s going

to do.” “I voted for Romney because I

don’t agree with what the Democrats stand for,” Balafoutis said. Balafoutis offered insight as to why s

he thinks Rio students are more liberal leaning and the importance of voting. “I think they’re more liberal because they’re mostly middle class or below,” she said. “It’s important to vote because you want the right man run-ning your country.”

Several Civitas senior projects over the past month, from the forum on

Propositions 30, 32, and 35 put to-gether by Tessa Stangl, to the forum on Propositions 30 and 38, and Mea-sure N put together by Sabine Wil-son, to the forum on Proposition 34 put together by Aaron Prohofsky to the forum on the national Presiden-tial campaign put together by Noah Lightman, were also designed to help students become more engaged in the political process and to give them the facts to make informed choices when they vote both in Rio’s mock election and, for those 18 and older, in the gen-eral elections on November 6.

“I voted for Barack Obama because he supports the values I believe in,” se-nior Tyler Reeves said. “The CIVITAS forums about the propositions were good, especially the one on the death penalty.” “I voted for Mitt Romney,” senior Devin Farrell, “I haven’t seen a lot of benefits from Obama and I don’t like how Hillary took the blame for Benghazi just because Obama is run-ning for election.”

“I really liked the forums. I re-ally enjoyed the death penalty forum. Both sides were well represented and it was hard for me to make up my mind in the end.”

“How can people make wise deci-sions about who’s in charge if they’re not involved in the political process?” Linda Reed asked. “You can’t com-plain if you don’t vote.”

FROM Page 1

Senior Tyler Reeves (left) fills out his ballot in the mock election. CIVITAS coordinator Linda Reed said that the results of the school’s mock elections in the past have accurately predicted the winners of the general election.

Senior Brendon Phelps casts his ballot in the CIVITAS mock election.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY •NOVEMBER 2, 2012 Page 3

The 65 percent registered as Demo-crats is far greater than the 45 percent in Sacramento County. The 16 percent who are independents compares to 23 for the county. And the 8 percent Republicans is far less than the 31 per-cent for the county, according to data from the Secretary of State.

Nationally, 44 percent of voters are registered as Democrats, 24 percent as independents, 30 percent as Repub-licans, and 2 percent as members of smaller parties.

However, teachers may be more aligned with students. Over 60 per-cent of students voted for President Obama in mock election last week.

(Although voter registration is part of the public record, out of respect for teachers who say they want to keep politics out of the classroom, the Mi-rada has decided not to print individ-ual party affiliation.)

Many teachers interviewed for this article say that the disproportionate amount of Democrats stems from the fact that teachers are government employees who have chosen a job to benefit society.

“They [Democrats] believe in help-ing others. However, that’s not to say Republicans don’t feel the same way,” French teacher Alicia Murray said. “ We’re working for the kids, and that’s the most important thing.”

American Government teacher Alisa Armstrong is not surprised that more teachers identify as Democratic then the general population.

“I think teachers tend to be pro-gressive and I think the Democrats represent those progressive values,” Armstrong said. “The teaching pro-fession in general is more concerned with issues Democrats tend to be con-cerned with.”

But that doesn’t mean teachers all think alike, she said.

“But there’s a huge variety of opin-ion within any political party. There are some liberal Democrats, some conservative Democrats, and some Democrats in the middle.”

Bucking the trend is Math teacher Darren Miller.

“Being a teacher and being a con-servative are not mutually exclusive,” Miller said. “This state has been run by Democrats my entire life. The Demo-crats have shown no desire to get their financial act together and so if we go bankrupt, everything I’ve worked for is gone. There’d be no retirement. If this state goes belly up, we have noth-ing. That scares me.”

Miller differs from other teach-ers in another way. He very openly avows his conservative beliefs and says other teachers should feel free to express their beliefs.

“One shouldn’t put student’s views against them gradewise,” Miller said. “However, it seems silly to ignore the outside world, especially when it re-lates to class.”

American Government and U.S. History teacher Gary Blenner, who has run for political office himself as a Green Party candidate four times, states that he tries to separate his per-sonal beliefs from his instruction.

“I try to do my best to present all sides and to allow students to express their views in a safe and open envi-ronment,” Blenner said. “I present my opinions at times, but I always preface with ‘you are free to disagree with me.’ My role is not to influence thinking.”

“I think our role is to teach ma-terial from a neutral position. We shouldn’t be a mouthpiece for a po-litical party. A teacher needs to be fair and give all sides.”

Science teachers may find it hard to remain neutral in the face of po-liticization of topics such as evolu-tion and global warming. But teach-ers here say they avoid the politics by sticking to scientific facts.

“Politicians sometimes ignore facts when it doesn’t fit their agen-das,” Biology teacher William Be-goyan said. “I teach facts which are generally accepted by the scientific community.”

What teachers can say in class is up for debate.

The Supreme Court ruled in Tin-ker v. Des Moines Independent Com-munity School District (1969) that “neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the school-house gate.”

But subsequent court cases have taken a different view on teachers and political statements.

In 2007, a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the 2003 firing of an Indiana elementary school teacher, who before the start of the Iraq War told her students “I honk for peace.” The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear her appeal.

A teacher’s speech is “the com-modity she sells to an employer in exchange for her salary,” the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. “The Constitution does not enable teachers to present personal views to

captive audiences against the instruc-tions of elected officials.”

The case applies directly only to some Midwestern states, but could in-fluence other courts.

Principal Brian Ginter understands that politics may come up between teachers and students, but insists that teachers not let political discussion in-terfere with their instruction.

“What any employee has to be con-cerned about is they can’t place beliefs onto students,” Ginter said. “They have to present both sides. Forcing beliefs on someone is not something we’re supposed to do.”

Ginter said that the administra-tion would only be able to act against a teacher imposing their beliefs on a student in the event of a complaint, making it a case by case situation.

“If there’s a complaint made we’d

have to talk to that person, classmates, and the teacher. Generally speaking, it’s on a case by case basis.”

Government teacher Blenner agrees about presenting all sides and holding back personal beliefs.

As a candidate he addressed a fo-rum held by the civic learning acad-emy, but would not discuss the cam-paign with his students.

“Although I spoke before Civitas when I ran for the Board of Supervi-sors, I didn’t talk about it in class until it was over,” Blenner said. “Outside is different. In class, I’m in a profession-al role. I didn’t want the impression that I was trying to influence kids to influence their parents to vote for me.”

Math teacher Miller also said he doesn’t force his beliefs on students, but he feels that challenging the pre-vailing views of things helps students

develop critical thinking skills.Educators “always talk about stu-

dents developing critical thinking skills,” he said. “I think they want students only to develop those skills about what we want them to be criti-cal about. If you don’t hear multiple opinions how can you think critically about issues?”

Students interviewed for this ar-ticle said teachers do a good job of keeping politics out of the classroom.

Senior Ramsey Karim agrees, but said bias can slip in. “They’ll never outright advocate for some position unless they’re joking, but teachers cer-tainly can present an issue in a biased light,” he said. “It’s not much of a prob-lem.. [as long as] they still deliver the lesson correctly.”

TEACHERS’ POLITICS | Teachers More Democratic, Politically Active FROM Page 1

AP American Government Model Congress Teaches Students

By Zach Sampo | Mirada Staff With the election drawing near, students are

learning more and more on how our govern-ment works. Gary Blenner and his AP Ameri-can Government class are putting on a mock Congress during second and third period. Sec-ond period is acting as the Senate, third period is acting as the House of Representatives, and Blenner is acting as the President.

Both of the classes will write bills and pres-ent them to the class. If the bill passes in one class, it will move onto the other class. Once both have passed the bill it will move onto the President: Mr. Blenner. He can veto to the bill and the Congress can either revise the bill or override his veto with a two thirds majority

vote in both houses. Or he can also sign the bill into law and have it become a law of the classroom.

This year the majority party, in both the House and the Senate, is the Democratic Party, despite the fact that the majority of students are registered as Independents, making them most likely neutral voters.

In the House, the Democratic majority has a slim lead compared the lopsided Senate. In the House there are 18 Democrats and 16 Re-publicans; whereas, in the Senate there are 22 Democrats and 9 Republicans.

The Democrats in the House, are run by Tyler Reeves as the Speaker of the House, Julia Butterfield as the Majority Leader, and Sydney Selix as the Majority Whip.

The Republicans in the House are led by Minority Leader Tessa Stangl and Minority Whip Melissa Baker.

In the Senate the Democrats are run by Majority Leader Chance Dunbar and Majority Whip Collin Koss while the Republicans are led by Minority Leader Mackenzie Porter and Minority Whip Olivia Pazdernik.

“This assignment allows me to express my political views freely in class and debate with my fellow classmates,” Pazdernik said.

Both the Senate and the House have many bills that they are debating that are from a range of topics.

Many of those topics included gay mar-riage, the inclusion of Puerto Rico as a state, al-lowing revenue bills to be started in the Senate

rather than just in the House, and eliminating the collage.

Both classes are either split evenly between a bill or they are all for it.

The inclusion of Puerto Rico as a state is a split bill where neither party as the edge.

However, gay marriage is a one sided bill and most people were in favor of it.

Blenner thought of the assignment as a good way to get students more involved in thinking about politics.

“The mock Congress allows the students to debate current events in a political setting and experience the process Congress undergoes to create a bill,” Blenner said.

Even though this assignment takes all se-mester to accomplish, the students are grateful

Infographic by David Egan

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY •NOVEMBER 2, 2012Page 4

Deborah Haines, the new student government advisor, has high hopes for the 2012-2013 school year.

Drawing on her experienc-es as an educator in Dresden, Germany and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Haines hopes to facilitate cooperation and synergy amongst her stu-dents.

“The students in student government are already well trained from their past years with Ms. Thomas,” Haines said.

“My goal for this year is to learn how the students work to put on the events, and to see how all the aspects of student government work.”

Haines has had plenty of experience with trying new things.

Haines, who has a bach-

elors degree from Sac State and a masters in English from UC Irvine, began teaching at Mira Loma in 1992. After 12 years she decided to teach abroad.

When she returned to Sac-ramento, she taught at Rio in 2010-11. Because of budget cuts she lost that position, but learned she would return in May.

“We’re excited to work with a new director,” said senior Madeline Arnett.

“Maybe we’ll be able to try out some new ideas, and take a fresh look at things.”

Creativity fuels the work of Student Government.

“Because of our creativity, homecoming was a huge suc-sess because we were able to be innovative with the theme, the rally, and the decorations,” Stu-dent Body Treasurer Elli Bren-nan said.

“Ms. Haines contributed by

helping to make our ideas a re-ality.”

“ I want to make sure all stu-dents are working to the best of their abilities, and that the school is being served in the best possible way.”

Student Government has its usual schedule of fundraisers and events this year.

The Blood Drive, Red Rib-bon Week, and Homecom-ing remain staples of student government’s coffer-building activities.

Promoting school involve-ment amongst the general stu-dent body is one of Haines key-stone goals for this year.

“We are working hard to keep clubs engaged,” Haines said.

The heir of an abundance of energy and creativity, Haines plans to make the most of this year at Rio.

“There is so much to learn

about how Rio does things, es-pecially following in the foot-steps of Ms.Thomas, who had a surplus of passion and experi-ence.”

This experience is only made the more useful because of the environment the school provides for it’s students.

“Rio is a very kind school and students are generally kind to each other,” she said.

“Staff members are helpful and warm. I feel like school is such a positive experience at Rio.”

Focusing on the importance of student participation and interaction, Haines wants ev-ery individual to embrace their high school experience.

“High school seems like it will never end, but it will and you will never have another shot at it. Make your four years count, get involved, make friends, be excellent!”

New student government adviser hopes to harness energyBy Cian O’Neil | Mirada Staff

Student Government meets every fourth period in C10. Thus far this year, they have planned two rallies and homecoming week under the direction of Deborah Haines.

Wally Harmon | Editor-in-Chief

By Whitney Tyler | Mirada Staff

TEACHER PROFILE

Rachel Moseley | Mirada Staff Rachel Moseley | Mirada Staff

Adam Bearsons’ resume includes producer, writer, filmmaker, aircraft parts dealer, and private investigator.

These days, he is trying his hand at teach-ing English 1, 2, and Honors English 1 in room A8.

“Being a teacher is my favorite of them all,” Bearson said.

Bearson went to Taft High School in Los Angeles.

He was expelled for assaulting his English teacher.

“I was a wild mixed-up kid in high school,” he said.

“My own personal experiences inspired me to become a teacher and to feel compassionate to students who struggle the way I did.”

He took away valuable advice from his past and shared it with his students.

Bearson went on to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder.

He said that his teaching strategy is “what-ever works” and that when it comes to embar-rassing moments as a teacher, he has had “too many to count.”

Bearson taught theater at San Juan High School and one of his plays was protested by a religious group.

At Bella Vista he made a 30 minute feature

film with his students that won accolades for its story and production values. In the quirky film about an unusual substitute, students learn about techniques and ethics of docu-menting their lives.

“Students worked as actors and production assistants, learning industry standards from local industry professionals,” Bearson wrote.

Bearson is married with two children, Na-thaniel, 15, and Lily, 12.

Nathaniel attends Mira Loma High School and Lily attends Winston Churchill Middle School.

The family has three pets: two dogs named Harvey and Snowball, and a pet gecko.

Bearsons’ favorite hobbies and interest in-clude “mountain biking and creating things with kids.”

He loves being involved as a parent to his kids, as much as he is involved with his stu-dents.

Bearson said he lives his life by the maxim “Always say ‘yes.’”

Luz Ledesma is a new math teacher on cam-pus. She teaches Algebra 1A, Algebra 1B, and Geometry. So far, she says she’s enjoying her new school so much.

“The kids are very respectful, the campus is very clean and taken care of, and it’s just a nice place to be at,” Ledesma said.

Ledesma grew up in Madrid, Spain. At the age of 26, she moved from Spain to the United States and began to attend college at California State University, Sacramento. When she moved from Spain at first she was very homesick and it was hard for her to be away from her usual surroundings and different culture.

Living in California was different but she grew to love it here.

However, her most difficult change was be-ing away from all of her friends and family. It was hard leaving them all behind, and another important challenge was trying to learn Eng-lish.

The reason why she wanted to become a teacher was because a long time ago a teacher once told her that she was very good at teaching

and she would be a good teacher. This is her fourth year teaching.Ledesma has two kids: Sofia, 9, and Marcos,

7. They both currently attend to Rancho Cor-dova Elementary School. They all speak Span-ish with one another in the home.

Over the summer, Ledesma spent a lot her time teaching summer school at Mira Loma and then went on vacation in Lake Tahoe, where she enjoyed swimming in the cold lake.

Over the weekends she likes to spend as much time as she can with her two kids and play with them, she also likes to go watch art shows at UC Davis Mondavi center.

Her favorite types of music to listen to are Disco and Jazz.

On the other hand when she has some free time her main favorite hobbies are lifting weights, running, taekwondo, swimming, and cooking.

The past schools she has taught at ar Ar-cade Middle School, Mesa Verde, El Camino, Encina, and Mira Loma.

However, she is fine with the district’s deci-sion to move her to Rio.

“It was the best choice they made,” she said.

NEW TEACHERS

While still learning, Haines wants school served in ‘best possible way’

Once a ‘mixed up kid,’ English teacher aids struggling students

Math teacher grew up in Madrid and has taught at many schools in district

By Madeline Jang | Mirada Staff

Be green. Recycle this paper.To see Bearson’s film “The Learnon Channel” visit www.riomirada.com.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY •NOVEMBER 2, 2012 Page 5

SURVEY REVEALS SENIORS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMEWORKBy Briana Smith| Mirada Staff

Infographic by David Egan

A Mirada poll found that a majority of seniors claim that they are given 6-10 hours of homework per week.

The poll, administered to two traditional and two AP English classes, was conducted after a controver-sy regarding a post on the website of Principal Brian Ginter regarding his opinion that formative assess-ment should ideally count for between 10 and 20 per-cent of a students grade.

A plurality of seniors, 40 percent, said that they receive more homework in English than in any other subject.

English teacher Jennie Scott offered her opinion as to why this is.

“I think that particularly here, we expect students to read quite a bit,” Scott said.

“Our goal is to prepare students for college and we want them well versed in world literature. In order to participate and get the most out of learning in class, they have to read and do that work outside of class.”

English teacher Matthew Valencich defended his homework policies.

“The amount of homework I give is reasonable and fair,” Valencich said.

“It is sufficient for writing and discussing ideas in class.”

The seniors polled tended to agree that the amount of homework they received was reasonable.

More than three quarters, 77.5 percent, said that the amount of homework they received was “about right.” There are, however, dissenters.

“I honestly don’t think teachers give us enough homework,” senior Mackenzie Nicolas said.

“It helps us prepare for college and I hardly have any.”

Those students who have expressed complaints were not necessarily complaining about the amount of homework in and of itself, but about the difficulty of budgeting it with extracurricular activities.

“Sometimes it is hard to manage playing a sport with my other extracurriculars,” senior Aaron Prohof-sky said.

“On top of that I have homework, but I’ve found that not procrastinating is the only real way to get all of my work done.”

When it comes to Principal Ginter’s opinion re-garding how much homework should count toward a student’s grade, 72 percent of seniors reported that they believe it should count for over 10 percent of their academic grade.

“Homework shouldn’t be worth more than ten per-

cent of a grade,” senior Ray Burgess said. “Tests are what show knowledge.”Jennie Scott supports the idea that teachers should

come up with their own policies regarding homework. “I think that as professionals, teachers know the

value of the work they assign,” she said. “I don’t believe in a policy regarding a certain per-

centage.”Scott says that collaboration among teachers to

make sure too much homework isn’t being assigned at once is unrealistic.

“I have 160 students and they all have different teachers,” she said.

“That would mean touching base with a lot of teachers and that would be ridiculous. The reality is you can’t track all of that. There’s a diverse group of teachers.”

The amount of time students spend doing home-work per week exceeds the amount they spend watch-ing television and using social networking sites.

And although to every underclassman it appears that every senior has an open sixth period, over 50 percent of those polled were enrolled in more than five classes.

With 54 percent of the seniors polled taking one or more advanced placement classes, the pressure to suc-ceed mounts.

The pressure to succeed in high school so that a student can move on to the four year college of their dreams can be highly taxing on many students, espe-cially those taking one or more Advanced Placement courses.

The amount of homework high school students re-ceive has been part of the ongoing national discussion concerning education reform since at least 2009, when the documentary film “Race to Nowhere” highlighted the negative effects of too much homework.

At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, following requests from parents, Principal Brian Ginter made a post on his web page requesting that teachers only count formative assessment for between ten and twen-ty percent of a grade.

The post was met with mixed reactions from par-ents and teachers, with many of the latter making clear that their homework policies are independent of any suggestions the Principal may make.

Nevertheless, the dual issues of how much home-work to give and how much homework should count promise to be ones affecting seniors and all high school students for some time to come.

HOMEWORK

Woodshop Donates Planter Boxes to Arden Middle SchoolBy Alyssa Campbell | Mirada Staff

Arden Middle School is the recipient of four planter boxes built by students in Rio’s own Woodshop program.

Marisa Alcalay, the Arden Middle School PTA Beautification chairwoman, approached three Rio students with the project.

“Last year I re-planted the courtyard area where the students eat lunch so I wanted to spend the money on a different area of the campus this year. There is a back courtyard that is wall to wall cement with two trees in the center of the courtyard. It looked very un-inviting and there was no dirt for me to plant any plants in. Last year’s Principal, Howard Cadenhead, a former Vice Principal at Rio, was the one who came up with the planter box

idea to brighten up the long and narrow ce-ment courtyard. I researched the cost of buy-ing 8 foot long by 2 feet wide boxes and it was very expensive. That’s what made me think of the Rio Woodshop.”

Seniors Justin Jeffrey, Zachary Baum-bach, and Travis Khan spent the first month and a half of the school year building the planter boxes.

“Mrs. Alcalay, who is in the Arden land-scaping club, came to me asking if I wanted to build the planter boxes because she knew I’m in woodshop and enjoy it,” Justin Jeffrey said.

“We made a design, and I saw it as a chal-lenge. I have never done something big to this extent.”

“The process of making the boxes was long because before we could start, we had to get the wood and draw up the designs,” Jeffrey

said. The planters were created using hard

wood so it could hold up plants. The boxes were eight feet by two feet by two feet each.

“Justin agreed to buy the wood and sup-plies and spent the month of September de-signing, building, and staining the four planter boxes,” Alcalay said.

Upon completion of the project, the planter boxes were delivered to Arden Middle School and are now located by the courtyard in-between the classrooms.

“Current sophomore Courtney Shaw helped plant the four eight foot long planters with a variety of perennial plants, daisies, and pansies as part of her CIVITAS community service hours,” said Alcalay said.

The planters are now being taken care of

by Arden History teacher Mr. Tjeder and his sixth period class.

“The addition of the beautiful planters and the flowers have brightened up a once grey courtyard. It does make a difference to every-one who looks at the courtyard or passes by it,” Alcalay said.

“I thought it was important that our schools work together and help each other. I thought it would be nice for Arden students and parents to see that Rio Americano stu-dents volunteered their time to give back to their middle school.”

“The students think the planters are so beautiful and I am very grateful to Justin and to Zach who spent so much time making my vision a reality.”

NOVEMBER CALANDER

Blood Drive During School Hours.

General Presidential elec-tion; 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM; Rio Americano Large Gym.

Playathon; 7:00 AM - 12 Midnight; M1, M2, Small Gym, Cafeteria, Theater & Library

Veterans Day Thanksgiving Break Club Photo Day In Cafeteria

122 6 9 17-2516

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

6OPINION

The Mirada www.riomirada.com

[email protected]

Rio Americano High School4540 American River Dr.Sacramento, CA 95864www.rioamericano.com

Editors-in-ChiefJohn FerranniniWallace Harmon

News Editors Victor Lam

Connor Jang

Opinion EditorsCian O’Neill

Grant Webster

Features EditorsTheadore Buffington

Derek Popple

Sports EditorsRyan Burns

Zachary SampoBriana Smith

Photo EditorBrad Conidaris

Web EditorDavid Egan

Staff WritersAlexis Bates

Alyssa CampbellHanna DespardMaleah GrannesMadeline JangDaniel Kisel

John LambertAnn Alyce Lohse

John MacrissRachel MoseleyAshton Nazeri

Jaden PerezRaeAnna Reynolds

Hannah Thompson-DavisWhitney Tyler

AdviserMr. Michael Mahoney

[email protected](916) 971-8921 ext. 80

Published monthly dur-ing the school year by stu-dents in Rio Americano’s newspaper class, the Mirada is the independent voice of the students and the campus.

The Mirada welcomes story ideas, comics, letters to the editor and opinion pieces from all members of the school community. Submit articles to the box in A3 or the main office.

Contact the business manager (by visiting room A3, writing to the above ad-dress or calling the adviser’s voice mail) for information on advertising. We welcome advertising, but reserve the right to refuse any ad.

RIO EMOTICONOGangnam Style Parodies From the U.S. Naval Academy to the Oregon Ducks, ev-eryone’s doing their own Gangnam style parody. There’s even a Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Style. Some may say it’s get-ting repetitive, but we like what has quickly turned into a pop cul-ture phenomenon.

The Election is EndingSurely we’re all thank-ful for the end of the constant annoyance of mudslinging TV ads and overly invested re-porters. Nevertheless, it was interesting to have congressmen, as-semblymen, and other politicians visiting the school day after day.

Red Ribbon WeekRed Ribbon Week seemed to go as soon as it came. The events weren’t publicized and many students were unaware that it even happened. Also, rain forced the booth into the small gym, hiding it from even more students. More publicity is necessary before the drug prob-lem is stopped.

It’s time to show some school spirit

For a school that brags about its API scores, music pro-gram and athletics,

Rio has an immense lack of school spirit. It is ironic how the students at such a wealthy school seem ashamed to rep-resent it.

The empty seats at sporting events and the unsold tick-ets for Homecoming clearly illustrate this lack of pride. Students simply don’t care about the events and extracur-riculars at school.

Students go to Rio every day, but as soon as the bell rings, it seems like their spirit is gone. We need to keep that flame of school spirit eternally burning within us.

Over the past several years, students dressed in Rowdy Raider gear have become a rarity at games. Raiders are “too busy” to attend a sporting event that lasts a single hour, but can spend their entire day on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Even English teacher Nina Seibel has seen a growing lack of spirit since she came to Rio. “During the spirit weeks, fewer students dress up. Even the teachers have stopped dressing up on spirit days,” said Seibel.

This year, students bought 760 homecoming tickets, an unusually large number

compared to past year’s sales. According to junior Becca Scott, student body president of Vista Del Lago High School in Folsom, 901 tickets were bought which is quite amaz-ing since Vista has a smaller population than Rio.

As students, we need to take pride in our school and make that absolutely obvious to anyone who visits Rio. All of us need to go to dances and games, and dress up for spirit days, not just those people who are required to by stu-dent government.

Senior Colette Hodges, a proud Rio Americano athlete, realizes the dearth of spirit on campus.

“Rio seems to have decent school spirit, but the spirit lies in only a select group of people,” said Hodges. “Most of the time it’s the athletes or student government with the spirit, but we need to get the whole school spirited.”

Part of school spirit is reaching out to those who don’t show it and encourag-ing them to participate. As students, we should all seek to meet this goal and bring some life to Rio.

Every year it is shocking to see how many Rio students show spirit by going to Holy Bowl, a game between our rival and a school that isn’t even in our league. “Dedi-

cated” students will sit on the Jesuit side and give endless explanations about “going for the girls” or “seeing their friends” in order to justify their behavior.

It is sad that Rio students show more excitement for a rival private school than their own school teams.

That’s not to say that it is inappropriate to go to another game, but if there is time to see another school, there is most definitely time to attend a game at Rio.

It seems like the only people at Rio who actually participate are groups like ath-letes, cheerleaders and student government. Senior Caitlin Temple, who participates in Speech and Debate, said, “I think we need to make more of an effort to support all our players at games and tourna-ments, but I know we are all Rowdy Raiders at heart.”

If we all do our part and go to a game or two when we have the opportunity, we will have a definite rise in spirit. Once started, it might be a cycle that will continue for years.

Don’t be afraid to go to an event you normally wouldn’t go to and support some other teams besides just varsity foot-ball and basketball.

If you’re a senior, make sure to go out of your way to

attend a few games or dances. It’s the last year you’ll have to enjoy high school and re-member that senior year only happens once.

Get your friends to go if you’re worried that you’ll be the only person at an event. You might even meet some-one new while there.

Next rally, we need to show outstanding school spirit. Don your Rowdy Raider gear and take an active step towards restoring the pride students should have in our fine cam-pus.

Even after the rally, we need to hold that spirit and be proud to be a Rio Americano Raider. We will always have memories of high school, so let’s make sure they’re good ones.

So Raiders, let’s make a change and be sure this year the most spirited year ever.

Let’s get rowdy and show every school we play just how much spirit we have. No ath-lete should be forced to play without the support of their school behind them.

If we do decide to make a change and show some more school spirit, maybe then we will finally see an end to the cliques and social circles that have divided Rio for years.

Grant Webster| Graphic Artist

| FRIDAY • November 2, 2012

Justice, Not Revenge

T he South African civil rights advocate Archbish-op Desmond Tutu once

said that “To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” This November, Cali-fornia has a unique opportunity to heed this advice by voting in favor of Proposition 34. If approved by the voters, Prop. 34 would end the use of the death penalty in California and start a fund of $100 million to help law enforcement crack more rape and murder cases.

The death penalty is too ex-pensive for our state to continue as we battle a $16 billion budget deficit. California has spent $4 billion on the death penalty since it was re-instituted in the state by Proposition 7 in 1978. According to a 2011 study, death cases in California cost an average of $308 million per execution. Because of the extra costs for security and legal representation, death cases cost twenty times more than life-without-parole cases. Combined, the state spends $184 million per year than it would if those on death row were given life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In the 2000 Presidential de-bates, George W. Bush said that “I think the reason to support the death penalty because it saves other people’s lives.” Contrary to his belief and those of many more, however, the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. Ac-cording to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2010 the murder rate per 100,000 residents of death penalty states is 25 percent higher than the murder rate per 100,000 residents in states with-out the death penalty. Statistics show that states which have recently stopped using the death penalty, such as New York in 2004 and North Carolina in 2006, have had no significant increase in the murder of police officers. Finally, a recent survey of crimi-nologists found that 84 percent rejected the notion that the death penalty was a deterrent.

The risk of an innocent man being executed may astound you. Since 1976, when the U.S. Su-preme Court ended the national moratorium on the death penalty in the case of Gregg v. Georgia, 141 inmates on death row have had their convictions overturned. Two of those inmates had their convictions overturned this year alone.

Prop. 34 is supported by for-mer Los Angeles District Attor-ney Gil Garcetti, former Califor-nia Attorney General John Van de Kamp, the California Nurses Association, the California Con-ference of Catholic Bishops, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the California Democratic Party. Donald J. Heller and Ron Briggs, who respectively wrote and campaigned for the 1978 proposition that restored the use of the death penalty in California, both support Proposition 34.

America is one of only a few Western nations which maintains the use of capital punishment. Even within the United States, seventeen states have stopped us-ing the death penalty. It’s time for California to join them and move on from this expensive and inef-fective death penalty system.Senior John Ferrannini is editor-in-chief of the Mirada

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 2, 2012Page 7

John Ferrannini

SAT Prep elective would help students

Junior Grant Webster is an opinion editor of the Mirada.

The SAT is one of the most crucial factors in the univer-sity admission process. It’s

no wonder that preparation for the test is essential. Many juniors and seniors, and even some underclass-men, have attended one or more classes to help prepare them for the SAT. These classes include practice tests, vocabulary flash cards, sample math problems, and practice im-promptu essays. These preparatory courses have proven to be highly effective; a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling showed that students who had taken prep classes scored on average 30 points higher than those who hadn’t. So what’s the problem with SAT prep courses? They are very expensive. On aver-age, every SAT prep course costs anywhere from $200 to as much as $4,000 for private tutors. Many parents are able to afford numerous courses for their kids, thus practi-cally ensuring a good score, but the sad truth is some people cannot afford even one prep class, let alone more than one. Unfortunately, the high cost of SAT prep courses causes an incongruity between students: some of them have the privilege of extensive SAT classes,

while others simply have to make due with what their normal school classes provide. On the bright side, school board candidate Saul Her-nandez may have the solution to this problem. Hernandez suggests an elective SAT prep class at schools like Rio. “I have four children, and all would have benefitted from such a class,” says Hernandez. Unlike the outside-of-school courses, the SAT elective would be free, allowing every student who needs help to take it, regardless of income. Right away, the class would undoubtedly raise SAT scores for students at Rio Americano, but it also raises some questions. How many classes would be offered? Who would teach them? How would it fit into students’ schedules? The answers to these questions are not set in stone, but there would ideally be multiple classes taught by teach-ers already employed at Rio. That way, the school would only have to pay the existing teachers for the extra classes and not need to hire new teachers. “There are already several teachers in the district that offer such a class on their own,” said Hernandez. The problem is, these classes are on Saturdays and require the student to pay the teacher. Therefore, many teachers are already prepared to teach a SAT prep class as an elective. Of course,

this would mean the possibility of cutting other classes, so in the event that that becomes a problem, Rio could easily hire one more teacher. It would be well worth the money to increase our SAT scores, helping the students and the school. So, because it would be relatively easy to implement, there are almost no downsides to an SAT elective in San Juan Unified School District. As Hernandez says, “It would help our students be focused on college goals and requirements.” Clearly the

students benefit the most from this elective, but everyone else involved will profit as well.

Parents who previously spent money on expensive SAT courses can now trust that their children are being taught the same material for free. And the parents who could not previously afford such classes will surely be glad to know their children’s college options will likely be better.

By Grant Webster | Mirada Staff

Grant Webster | Graphic Artist

This November voters have a crucial decision to make, one in which they will decide between two polar opposites with little common ground between them. It will be a time in which we choose the path we want to head down for the next four years and possibly the ultimate direction of our nation. The question is whether we want another four years like those that precede us or true reform and a turn back toward our country’s fundamental capitalistic and democratic ideals. Mitt Romney is the candidate that will make that change. He can turn our country around, just as he transformed the Salt Lake City Olympics from a potential economic disaster to one of the most successful Olympic Games in history, and bring us out of the mess created by our Presi-dent over the past four years.

President Obama came into office promising change, which he did deliver. Unfortunately, that change was not for the better. For instance, how much do you or your parents spend on gas now? Too much, many would argue. When the President took office the national average was $1.89 for a gallon of gas, half of what it is now. Instead of helping the situation, Obama has made it worse. He blocked the Keystone Pipeline, he has helped other countries drill but hindered domestic drilling, and he helped Solyndra get a $535 million government-backed loan. Solyn-dra subsequently went bankrupt, another prime example of this

administration’s wasted spending and poor economic choices. Gov-ernor Romney, on the other hand, wants to invest wisely in energy of all types, including coal. He would welcome more domestic energy production, rather than hinder it. He proposes North American energy independence by 2020 and would like to expedite the permit-ting process for drilling for oil on federal land.

Mitt Romney’s Five-Point plan will get our country back on track to prosperity. Romney wants the 21st Century to be another American Century. The first part of his plan, which I have already mentioned, is his goal of energy in-dependence by 2020. Romney also wants to open up trade that will benefit the United Stares and help our global standing. Additionally, Governor Romney strives to better educate our youth and provide training in all forms for our gen-eration, the future of America. Mitt Romney seeks to cut the deficit and reduce the out of control spend-ing of the Obama administration. He champions small business, unlike our current president, who believes the government creates wealth, not the people. Governor Romney knows that small busi-nesses are the backbone of the American economy and stresses the importance of comprehensive tax reform and lowering tax rates for all Americans. Above all, Mitt Romney is a leader. He knows what we need to do to get this country back on track and will lead us in the right direction, just as he did in Massachusetts with successful bipartisan cooperation.

Ultimately, one question will decide the course of this election: are we better off now than we were four years ago?

The honest answer is no.

Presidential Election 2012

President Obama came into office in 2009 to a country in shambles. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, America had lost 1.4 million jobs. Wall Street had almost collapsed. The once “too big to fail” auto-industry, which included mega-employers such as General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, were nearly bankrupt. Home foreclosures had increased 225% between 2006 and 2008. And the poverty rate had increased to 18.3%. John Kenneth Galbraith once said “All of the great lead-ers have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time.” President Obama is that leader.When confronted with a crippled American economy, he passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This alone gave California $33,288,877,152 to spend on projects in fields such as education, energy, transportation, and infrastructure, in addition to adding 18,226 jobs. Nationally, it helped stall the recession and put us back on the road to recovery. Then, he did what many great leaders tried and failed to do, he established near universal health-care in the form of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which gave health coverage to previously uninsured Americans, including nearly 3.1 million young adults since 2010. With regards to foreign policy, the President ended the war in Iraq and is withdrawing American sons and daughters from

Afghanistan. Mitt Romney’s attacks on the

Obamacare are shaky, since the health care he enacted as gover-nor of Massachusetts is strikingly similar to the one he disapproves of. Neither he, or Paul Ryan, his running mate, can give specifics as to when all of our troops will come home from Afghanistan. And because he believes that America should follow the “everyone for themselves” mentality, he is pro-posing to drastically reduce the social safety net programs that help people in need.Under a Romney administration, it is up to you to fend for yourself without govern-ment assistance. He even wants to end the Medicare program for the elderly as we know it. Do we, as voters, want our government to assume such an extremely passive role, when the purpose of govern-ment is to be there for the needs of its constituency? Its difficult to make out who Romney really is and what he stands for since he flip-flops on issues as important as abortion and gun control. Although I can understand the frustration and concern of conservatives, it is too easy to criticize President Obama and his administration without taking into consideration the state of the country when he took office. For any leader, whether it be Mitt Romney, John McCain, or Barack Obama, it is difficult to move forward, without first ad-dressing the “anxiety” of the time. Upon taking office, he did what all great leaders do, and that was tam-ing the beast that was our down-ward-spiraling economy. Whether you’re a conservative or a liberal, or stuck somewhere in between, you must acknowledge the fact that America is better now than it was four years ago.

Stick with what you know has and will work for America: Presi-dent Barack Obama.

Republican: Mitt Romney

Junior Arianna Sue is President of the Rio Young Democrats.

ARIANNA SUEGUEST WRITER

Democrat: Barack Obama

Senior James Villanueva is Presi-dent of the Rio Young Republicans.

JAMES VILLANUEVAGUEST WRITER

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

8Features

Ted Buffington | Mirada Staff

| FRIDAY • November 2, 2012

By Cian O’Neill | Mirada Staff

Taking it “G-Eazy” with “Must be Nice”MUSIC REVIEW

ACADEMICS

A native of Oakland, Gerald Gillum, better known as G-Eazy, is a pioneer in the field of in-dependant rap. A student of Loyola University in Louisiana, G-Eazy is majoring in Music Pro-duction. Producing all of his own beats, lyrics, and samples himself, G-Eazy demonstrates ‘Au-thentic Dedication’. His newest album, “Must Be Nice”, features a variety of styles and rhyme schemes.From the electric opening track to the bass-pounding ender, G-Eazy masterfully graces his tracks with witty wordplay. Gillum has been dropping albums since high school, but only recently has he got the recognition he deserves. Crushing any PJ Simas-like hope-to-be rhymers, G-Eazy has been nominated to receive awards from MTV as well as XXL.

Gerald’s tracks aren’t the self-promotional arro-gance glamorized by MTV and pop-culture. Reflect-ing on the experiences that led him to music, G-Eazy shows that rap can be meaningful and successful si-multaneously. He thanks music for providing a posi-tive outlet for which to place his energies. Throughout his newest release, G-Eazy teams up with a variety of guest artists, cementing his seat as the king of lyri-cal versatility. Gerald and DJ Carnage’s collaboration track ‘Loaded’ is reminiscent of Lil B.Other tracks by

G-Eazy feature a 1950’s James Dean-esque tone, and demon-strate the universality of rap.Other up and comers such as Hood-ie Allen have paired up with G-Eazy to ensure well produced and digitally mastered singles.

Gerald Gillum has a bright future in the music industry; self-produced, self-promoted, and successful at just 20.

Students with artistic talent now can join a higher level of art to better focus on their individual styles and mediums in the new AP art class.

Rene Worley, who teaches the class, said she would not have thought of having an AP Art class, but she got the idea as a request last year from current juniors Kyle Law-son and Cleary Chizmar.

“We just wanted some artistic freedom, I guess,” Lawson said. “Also, most of us in the class are go-ing on to be artist in the future and are going to college for it,”

To fulfill their request, Worley created her own AP Art syllabus and now teaches ceramics, advanced ceramics, and AP Art (2D). As a re-sult, she has six of the most talented artists on campus enrolled in her AP class.

Students must create two to three artworks a week, which are then put into their portfolios. By the end of the semester, the artists must turn in 12 works of art along with an essay

about their concentration. “All students are responsible for

their own portfolio,” Worley said. That was how her professors taught in college.

The artists in Worley’s class have completely different artistic styles that range in many different medi-ums.

“We have more time to explore our styles, and we can do our own projects instead of being forced to use certain tools for a certain proj-ect,” senior Caroline Stauffer said.

Individuality is essential for working in AP Art because the class runs while Worley’s Ceramics and Advanced Ceramics class is in ses-sion.

In order to work with each stu-dent individually, Worley “teaches” them by providing support and advice. One thing she tells her stu-dents is to constantly work on their art techniques so they can gain more experience.

Next year, Worley has plans to create an AP 3D Art class, which would provide a higher level of

ceramics. For AP 3D to become a class, Worley has to write the cur-riculum, and get it approved by the district and the College Board, which oversees AP classes.

Her goal for AP Art is to provide a higher level of art. It also provides a portfolio for applying to colleges since most of the students in her class are planning to attend an art school.

“I love AP Art because it gives me the time I need to explore differ-ent mediums and art styles as well as ready my portfolio for college applications,” said senior Rachel Morrison.

AP artists drawon imagination

Senior Rachel Morrison works on a painting for the new AP Art calss. Morrison is preparing a portfolio, which is required to receive college credit.

New class offers college credit for 2-D art portfolios

INFORMATION

To see more work from the AP Art class, see our gallery at riomirada.com. For infor-mation on AP Art 2D or the 3D class proposed for next year, see Ms. Worley in H-7.

By RaeAnna Reynolds |Mirada Staff

Cinderella is the story of a young girl who goes from a servant girl to a princess. She lives with her stepmother, two stepsisters, and has lots of animal friends. Here at Rio Americano, the Reader’s The-atre cast tells the tale of Cinder-fella, where the charming price is replaced with a dorky princess and the young girl is replaced with a young fella.

On October 23rd and 24th, Cin-derfella performed during each of the block periods, and then again after school. It is an original play by our very own Kari Miller and is very similar to Cinderella, but with many modern references and plot twists.

The show opens with a conversa-tion between a voice over and Cin-derfella. Our narrator then shows us as Cinderfella’s father is poisoned and he is left with his evil stepmoth-er. He is treated unfairly by the hu-morous and “ugly” stepsisters, and saves one of his mice friends from

being eaten by the cat, Lucifer.The king is in need of a wife for

his son at the palace. The prince is very narcissistic and is convinced that no one is as beautiful as him until he sees Cinderfella. Cinder-fella’s fairy godmother put him in a dress, so the prince has no idea she

is a he.The show had a great sense of

humor and a wonderful use of songs. The reappearing footman, musicians, remixes of classic songs, references to Rio Americano, an old mouse, and many other hysterical elements really brought this show

to life.One other thing that makes this

show stand out is the “Reader’s Theatre” style. The actors have no blocking, and tell the story from their seats. Each actor is on a stool with a music stand covering their face. When it’s their turn to speak, their head pops up and they are lit by a spotlight. This creates a great effect onstage and separates this play from ones elsewhere.

In the end, Cinderfella falls in love with the princess. Just about everyone ends up arrested for some reason or another, and Cinderfella ends up as a man with a long beard at the Greyhound Bus Station.

All of the Rio Americano stu-dents that worked on this show did a fantastic job, and their hard work did not go unnoticed. The cast and crew put on an amazing show and their dedication payed off. I know I had a great time watching it, and can’t wait to see the next one.

Reader’s Theater spoofs ‘Cinderella’ story‘Cinderfella’ draws laughs from packed houses

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • November 2, 2012Page 9

Improv Club finds fun in a dramatic way

Improvise (v): to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation.

In any actor’s career, improvi-sation is a very important skill to have.

It can also be useful to people in our day-to-day lives, whether we’re giving a speech in class or mak-ing up scary stories with friends. Besides being a great life skill, it is also a way to have fun and bring a group of people together.

Here on campus we have an Improv Club, formed by club presi-dent Liam Worrell-Olsen, where students meet at lunch to play some improvisation games.

“Improv club is something that

Liam came up with, it’s a group that meets twice a week where we come up with characters and scenes on the spot,” said vice president Meg Odell.

The Improv Club meets on Wednesdays and Fridays during lunch in Room A-2.

Liam and the other officers worked together to create the club.

“It was my idea to start it, but it probably wouldn’t get to where it has gotten without my wonderful officers,” said Liam, “especially Sam Calvert (secretary) and Meg Odell (vice president).”

During the meetings, all the members participate in a variety of games, and everyone gets to enjoy themselves and show their person-

ality. It is a safe environment, mean-

ing no one is judged or criticized for anything they may do.

A lot of the games may bring members outside of their comfort zones, so they can have fun while not worrying about what their peers will think.

“[It] is a club that brings really creative people together in a safe environment where they can have fun and act on the spot,” says Liam. “The purpose of the club is to create a place where people who want to have fun can have fun, and people who want to learn can learn too.”

Both Liam and Meg agree that there is more to Improv Club than just learning how to improvise.

Jeremy Nussbaum smells shoes for an act in the Improv Club. Improv Club meets in A-2 Wednesdays and Fridays at Lunch.

Rachael Mosely | Mirada Staff

THEATER REVIEW

Group gathers for theater skits and games

Josh Kleemann, Pano Roditis, and Frankie MacLaughlin perform diverse roles in the Reader’s Theater production of ‘Cin-derfella’.

By Rachel Moseley |Mirada Staff

By Rachel Moseley |Mirada Staff

-Jaden Perez -Brad Conidaris

Jaden Perez | Mirada Staff Brad Conidaris | Mirada Staff

Jaden Perez | Mirada Staff

COUPLE OF THE ISSUEHow long have you been together?Jenna: 7 months.

Do you have any nicknames for each other?Luke: Koala Bear.

Nicest thing they’ve ever done for you?Luke: She’s always buying me candy.Jenna: On my birthday he took me to the lake and and had planned a picnic and then we kayaked to an island that we now call “Our little island”.

Favorite thing about each other?Luke: How nice she is.Jenna: He can always make me laugh

How did you meet?Jenna: We met in Reader’s Theater

Best date?Luke: The time we ate lunch on the river.Jenna: Gala, it was when we first started dating so it was one of our first dates.

Worst thing about each other?Luke: Well nothing she’s perfect.Jenna: I honestly can’t think of a single thing!

3 words to describe her.Luke: The angel devil. Jenna: Funny, caring, mine.

CAR OF THE ISSUEBACHELOR & BACHELORETTE

DON’T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED

What kind of car is it?A 2000 Chevy Silverado 1500.

When did you get your car?My Uncle gave it to me forchristmas.

What is your cars name?Her name is Mary Magdilonbecause shes tamed on the out-side, but has a wild side.

What is your favorite part about your car?Mobbin’ with my subs.

What’s the fastest you’ve gone in your car?Maxed her out at 100 Mph.

What music do you play while you’re driving?Hardcore gangster rap.

Is it your first car?No, my first car got totaled afterhitting oil on the road.

What is your worst memory in your car?It got stuck in the mud, So I had to have a tiny jeep with there toddler in the backseat pull me out.

Who’s your favorite person to have in your car?My girlfriend.

Have you gone on any fun trips?Some friends and I went snow-boarding last year.

Where is your favorite place to drive?Off road!

How many miles does your car have?215,000 and still running strong.

Anders Franz, 12

Describe your dream girl.Alex Morgan.

What is your favorite pickup line?How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice. Hi I’m Nate Ansbach.

What is your biggest turn on?I love a good cook.

What is your biggest turn off?If she never talks.

What is the weirdest thing a girl has done for you?Woke up to a girl in my win-dow. Guess that’s pretty weird.

What is your dream date?Walking along the beach with Raven Balafoutis.

How do you get a girl’s atten-tion?Bird mating calls.

How does a girl win you over?If she texts me first.

Describe your dream guy.He must be shorter than me, I like to feel like I’m wearing the pants.

What is your favorite pickup line?Did the sun just come out or did you just smile?

What is your biggest turn on?Mullets.

What is your biggest turn off?Bad teeth.

What is the weirdest thing a guy has done for you?He asked me to be his “big foot”.

What is your dream date?Some major cardio, I dig mara-thons.

How do you get a guy’s atten-tion?Model poses from a distance.

How does a guy win you over?Ignore me.

-Jaden Perez

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • November 2, 2012 Page 10

Raven Balafoutis, 12, and Nate Ansbach, 12

Luke Hastie, 11, and Jenna D’ Ambrosio, 11

Across the street from the “Rio Famous” Loehman’s Plaza, Taque-ria Los Compadres offers another mexican alternative to Chipotle.

Fully equipped with a salsa bar, televisions and bathrooms, Taqueria Los Compadres rivals other mexican eateries, such as the Midtown Taqueria and Rey Azteca.

Not only is this taqueria cheaper than Chipotle, it is just as scrump-tious.

Connor Jang - I think that it was great while I was eating it! But similar to most taquerias, it wasn’t great after. It was very greasy, but it definitely was just as good as Chipotle. I ordered the carnitas super burrito, and it was perfectly portioned. opposed to its accross the street neighbor, the burrito is not so massive that you feel obligated to finish it. Everyone has had that moment at Chipotle where all you are thinking mid-burrito is “Dear merciful God, please let it be over.” But when the planets align, and by some miracle I don’t feel like the incredible flavor of a chipo-tle burrito is eating through my stomach lining, Chipotle is the way to go! Taqueria Los Compadres is the place to go any other time!

Wally Harmon - When writing an restaurant review about a local Taqueria you must always take into consideration the alternatives that surround it. The obvious one to compare and fortunately they are located across the street from one another is Chipolte. So in my review of Taqueria Los Compadres both of them will be compared. Authentic delicious mexican food with a huge variety of choices, great atmosphere, and most importantly cheap. Thats what you’ll find when you eat at Taqueria Los Compa-dres. The Taqueria is one of my favorite places to eat in sacramento. It’s a great alternative to the boring and repetitive Chipotle and luckily its located only across the street from the most popular Chipotle in town. So if you ever find yourself craving great mexican food for an affordable price and you don’t want to wait in those ludicrously long lines in Chipotle look across the street to Taqueria Los Compadres. Though not as customizable as Chipotle the vast menu with every-thing from wet burritos to delicious entrees.

The taqueria is conveniently located only minutes away from campus, opposite to Loehman’s Plaza. Parking is never an issue, as it is never busy or especially crowded.

TAQUERIA

-Wally Harmon and Connor Jang

-Grant Webster

Revenge solves everything in the new stealth game, “Dishonored,” a unique first person assassin stealth game. In the gloomy cityscape of an industrial Victorian-steam-punk setting called Dunwall, you play as Corvo Attano, the Empress’ loyal guard. You are charged with her assassination and are imprisoned in a cold, rotting jail cell. Later, you escape and seek revenge on the political scum that framed you.

As you seek out vengeance, however, you will uncover the twisted scheme that led to the assassination of the Empress, and a rat-ridden plague that is conquering most of Dunwall’s citizens.

“Dishonored” has a wide variety of choices you can make.

For example, you can go through the game without killing a single person, even your assassination targets wont have to be punished. On the other hand, you could go through the game much like “Assassin’s Creed” and pick everyone off as you go. However, there are consequences for killing people.

Unlike “Assassins Creed”, “Dishonored” gives you the option to either kill or inca-pacitate an enemy. Giving the player the choice to kill or spare will also reveal differ-ent plots to the story.

As the game progresses, you will gain abilities to enhance your stealthiness like slowing down time while you move around at normal speed, or teleporting to visible locations.

You can booby trap bodies, hide them, or use them to get from one area to another.

Around every corner you can get the lat-est gossip on the locations of your targets or even weapons and items that could poten-tially aid you in your vengeance. In fact, you can become so stealthy, that you can turn yourself into a fish or even a rat.

Of course, all of this will have to be in a stealth-like manner so that the guards don’t slaughter you on sight. The endings are multiple depending on what choices you make, thus providing you with hours of entertainment.

“Dishonored” brings players an entire new stealth and role playing experience that no other game has to offer. It brings you the style of Fable’s storytelling and setting, with the first person swords play of The Elder Scrolls, and the stealth of Assassins Creed. All mashed together into one has created the epic game that is “Dishonored”.

“Dishonored” is rated M for 17 and old-er and is for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

‘Dishonored’ twisted fun

“Arrow”, a new science fiction series devel-oped by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, premiered October 10th on channel 31.

Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), the son of a prosperous millionaire has been cast away on an island for five years. After being long forgotten and presumed dead, he returns af-ter being found by chinese fishermen. His friends and family, excited about his return overwhelm him in the latest news and throw him a party.

Oliver Queen, however, doesn’t care for such activities, and instead holds a secret about what happened to him on that island.

As the premiere episode progresses, Oliver Queen’s mysteriousness becomes shrouded around his experience on the island and his last moments with his father.

In the episode, Oliver Queen opens a small hand book full of names which were given to him by his father. The people listed in the small book are all people who have stolen from his father and have made his city a bad place. Oliver Queen is to redeem his father once he returns.

After half of the episode of Oliver staying suspiciously quiet, his calmness soon perishes

when he is held hostage by people who want to know his father’s secret. Oliver beats up his captors with only a chair and his bare hands. As one runs away, he is chased down by Oli-ver, who parkours his way across the rooftop and through the interior of a building.

Knowing that people are out for him, Oliver in secrecy readies his body and skills for hunt-ing down the first man on his list by forging arrows and firing them at moving tennis balls. He tracks down his first target, and warns him to transfer forty million dollars to an account before 10:00pm the following night. But when his target decides not to transfer the money, Oliver Queen does it forcefully.

“Arrow”, a take on the DC comic series, “The Green Arrow”, is in some ways similar to Batman.

Don’t be fooled by the similarities, how-ever, because “Arrow” is a story about revenge and justice, as opposed to Batman, who just likes to protect his city.

“Arrow” blew me away. The visuals are dark and gloomy and set up the mysterious tone and atmosphere of the show, as Oliver Queen himself is very mysterious. I would highly rec-ommend this show to superhero fans and ac-tion viewers.

“Arrow” airs on channel 31 Wednesdays at 8:00pm.

New Sci-fi show ‘Arrow’

A complex maze of time travel and assas-sins, “Looper”, starring Bruce Willis and Jo-seph Gordon-Levitt, reveals the dark side of time travel.

The story, set in 2044 in Kansas City, begins with Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) explaining his job as a looper.

In the film, time travel is outlawed in the future and only used by criminals to dispose of bodies. They send victims thirty years back, where a “looper” kills them and disposes their body, taking the silver that is attached to the body as pay.

However, when crime bosses want to eliminate the evidence, they send the looper’s future self back in time to be killed by their younger self. The loopers only realize that they have killed their future selves when they check the victim and find bars of gold, giving them enough money to live out their next 30 years in luxury.

The plot picks up when Old Joe (Bruce Wil-lis) escapes execution by his younger self and starts a quest to find and kill the younger ver-sion of ‘The Rainmaker’, a mysterious crime boss who unexplainably closes all the loops in the future.

“Looper” is a good mix of science fiction and action centered around a unique plot. The film is incomparable to most other movies, due to its inventive plot and setting.

The film is quite graphic, showing blood splatter every time an execution occurs. However, the gore, which is far from being excessive, adds authenticity by exposing the violence that is inherent with any type of or-ganized crime.

The cinematography, while nothing to brag about, never detracts from the experience of

the viewer. “Looper” steps over the intense CGI need-

ed to convey the process of time travel by hav-ing people suddenly appear in just one frame. The best special effects in the movie are seen when a young boy demonstrates his telekinetic powers.

On the other hand, the film isn’t as thought provoking as the commercials make it seem. Viewers looking for an enigmatic movie like “Inception” will be disappointed by “Looper”.

Elements of the plot involving time travel are sometimes confusing and don’t always fol-low a logical sequence. The writers do utilize the theme of time travel by showing the grue-some methods of torture used by the crimi-nals.

Overall, I give the movie three and a half out of five stars. Although it isn’t a masterpiece like “The Dark Knight” or “American History X”, “Looper” is worth the time.

After the first viewing of the film, I was left confused by the sometimes contradictory ele-ments of the plot. However, after reflecting on the film, I began to understand the intricacies that make the film coherent.

Viewers looking for a film with action, fighting, and time travel will be delighted by “Looper”. The film definitely deserves a second viewing in order to appreciate the small details that are easily passed over the first time.

Although some people won’t think it is worth the money needed to go to the movies, nothing will be lost by watching the movie on DVD.

So if you’re ever bored and looking for a movie to kill some time, be sure to check out “Looper”. It will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 31.

VIEWERS CAUGHT IN A LOOP

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA | FRIDAY • November 2, 2012Page 11

In “Dishonored”, “Revenge Solves Everything”. You play as Corvo Attano, an assassin of revenge, hunting down the people who imprisoned you. “Dishonored” is rated M for 17 and older and is for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Photo Courtesy of beyondhollywood.com“Arrow” follows modern day Robin Hood Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amerll, who takes money from villains in order to restore his father’s city.

Photo Courtesy of xperiencegaming.com

By Ted Buffington |Mirada Staff

By Ted Buffington |Mirada Staff

By Derek Popple |Mirada Staff

TV SHOW REVIEW VIDEO GAME REVIEW

MOVIE REVIEW

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY •NOVEMBER 2, 2012 Page 12

13THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

SPORTS

Men’s soccer move onto sections

The Rio Americano soccer team are currently first in their league. However they have had some bumps in the road on the path way to first.

Their first game of league against El Camino was a trounc-ing, winning by a score of 4-1. In their second game against Cor-dova,

Rio went in expecting to win. In the first ten minutes they scored 3 goals, goals coming from senior defender Mark Ledbetter, senior defender Ian Kinn, and junior for-ward Ahmadu Barrie.

In the second half Rio re-laxed and only scored one more goal through senior forward Berk Usanmaz.

In their third game, Rio beat second placed Whitney 2-0. With

both goals coming from junior midfielder Ryan Burns. The game was a comfortable win for the Raiders who sat back and pos-sessed the ball in the second half.

Then they played Mira Loma. It was supposed to be an easy win for the Raiders, but they struggled to score and tied 1-1.

The game was essentially a defeat for Rio, who had a perfect record up until that point.

“When we tied Mira Loma it felt like we had lost,” senior Alex Rizzo said. The only goal for Rio came from Barrie.

Next up was the hardest game of the season against at El Camino. The Raiders fought hard against the pumped up Eagles.

Fortunately, the Raiders scored first. The breakthrough came from a good play between sophomore forward Josh Parkin

A new beginning: The Miller Era

The Rio Americano football team had a month with ups and downs, but the October roller-coaster will be worth it in a year or two down the road.

It would be great to see the Raiders this year or next, but this year’s freshman class will see at least one playoff team by the time they graduate.

Before anything, this is not taking any credit from the players, the people to actually play these games.

Here’s why:The Raiders finally have a good

coach. Max Miller is the first good coach in the past several years.

He is a player’s coach. This could have been witnessed at the Cordova game. He stepped into a job that was spotlighted by nearly every media source in Sacramento.

Miller got the players ready for the first league game, one where they would have to give Cordova a first quarter head start. None of the seniors that had quit two weeks earlier were able to play that quar-ter as a punishment for leaving the team for a few days.

The Raiders were ready to play after a week of getting used to the new scheme that Miller imple-mented. The new coach made the players stay late for extended practices, and it paid off.

Rio won their league opener at Cordova, beating the Lancers 30-6.

One game and one win kicked off the Max Miller era for the Raiders’ football program that had been struggling for the past few seasons.

Rio then went 1-2 in the next three games, leaving them at a 2-2 record in league with a chance of a winning record if they can beat El Camino on the road on Saturday.

(Sidenote: game @El Camino at 1 p.m.)

Max Miller does have a great track record, too. He has coached Cordova When they were a state power that produced plenty D-1 college players.

Even more recently, he coached Folsom to a state championship in 2010. To get there, he beat a Grant team that had several players that would soon end up at top college programs such as Washington and Cal.

So, principal Brian Ginter, do what you can to keep Max Miller as our coach. He had a great past, has improved the Raiders’ present, and if he continues to coach at Rio, he will have a great future.

MEN’S VARSITY WATER POLO

Rio beats Jesuit, gets ready for Sections

Water polo is looking to make this year the third year in a row that they win sections, or as the players call it a “threepeat,” something Rio has never done.

After a strong performance in regular season’s play and tourna-ment wins with a final record of 18-8, the boys hope to repeat their success as Sac-Joaquin section champs.

The boys team has not lost a game to a team in Sacramento this season and beat rival Jesuit 16-6 in the Marauder’s home pool.

Senior captains Jack DuBois and John Price led the team on the left side of the pool, as two of the three leading goal scorers for the season they are a major threat on that side of the pool.

Price had this to say about the Jesuit game “We were clearly the better team in pool and the score-board reflected that.

Everyone was on there game and that made it such blowout”

Senior Wally Harmon, the team’s goalie, had ten blocks in the jesuit game.

Harmon has 180 saves as a

goalie so far this year. He’s gunning for the record of

206 saves for the season. He’s looking to get the rest of

his blocks in the upcoming section playoffs.

“This has been a great season so far, our team is small but we have a lot fight in us and we are never afraid to make those tough deci-sions and thats why I think we’re going to get that blue banner” said

Harmon, referring to the banner that a team wins for winning the section championship.

Coach Tyson Frenn expects nothing less but another title vic-tory.

Their first game of section cham-pionship is on Thursday against El Dorado Hills at whitney high school a 10 in the morning.

The coaches have even moved up a couple underclassman for the section tournament including fresh-men Matt Shelby and Sam Hastie, brother of varsity teammate, junior Luke Hastie.

With both the girls and boys water polo teams working back-to-back seasons with coaches Tyson Frenn, Eric Johnson and Joey Frantz. The coaches have been focusing primarily on the water polo playoffs. They’ve been eating, sleeping and breathing water polo. With so much focus and commit-ment by both the players and the coaches the playoffs look promis-ing.

Senior John Price passes the ball. He leads the team in goals and looking to earn himself a scholarship.

Hunter Brown takes on an El Camino defender. The win against the rival Eagles was the highlight of a successful league campaign.

By Connor Jang |Mirada Staff

By Zach Sampo |Mirada Staff

By Ryan Burns |Sports Editor

| FRIDAY • November 2, 2012

Jaden Perez | Mirada Staff

Freshman Sam Has tie is being moved up for section playoffs. He has been a standout for the JV team, including against Jesuit (right).

Wally Harmon | Editor-in-chief

Maddie Jang | Mirada staff

The Boy’s next section game is at Whitney High School on Tue Nov 6 against Dixon High at 8

13

Seniors ‘drive’ awaySenior Sydney Selix hits her tee shot. She is one of two seniors on the team, the other being Haley Ayres.

The Varsity women’s golf team may have been small, with only seven women on the team, but they did not fail to represent Rio well. As they dug into their season, they shaped the skills that would earn them their spot at second place in league.

Coach Drawbert and Coach Solov assisted the varsity girls in improving their technique on the course which helped them to play better overall.

Although they only practiced two days a week, they faced off in tour-naments a separate two days a week.

It was no hole in one for the girls during their journey as all seven of them strived to improve.

As senior and varsity captain Haley Ayers said, “I can definitely tell that everyone improved tremen-dously throughout the season.” Her optimistic attitude helped lead the team to victory.

Although they make the sport look easy, the outcome of the match-es could come down to as little as a single putt. Ayers says, “Something people don’t know about golf is how mentally frustrating it can be. You can shoot the best round of your life one day and your worst round the next.”

espite the nerves the team bud-gets in time to have fun at their tournaments as well. Before every match the team does a cheer to pump them up for a win.

The team headed into playoffs on Oct. 22 where they did not qualify as a team, however captain Ayers qualified individually.

Looking back on their season Ay-ers says, “The highlight of my sea-son was when we beat El Camino by 2 strokes.”

With two seniors from the team graduating this year, the remaining five girls hope to do as well next season.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 2, 2012Page 14

By Briana Smith | Mirada Staff

son and junior forward Ricardo Vega. Vega broke through the El Camino defence to bury the ball into the back of the net.

In the second half the Eagles ral-lied and tied up the game. The game ended in a 1-1 draw despite Rio’s best efforts.

When the Raiders played Mira Loma for the second time, Rio crushed them 5-1. The Raiders were elated with their win against Mira Loma because with that win they

were able to defend the previous year’s league championship.

“Winning the league and going undefeated was unbelievable for me,” Barrie said. They are moving into the section playoffs eager to try and win the title.

The offense will be run primarily through Barrie, who leads the team with 10 goals, with four of those coming in the last three games of the season.

Barrie was the lone goal-scorer in the tie against Capital Christian High School.

The Cougars are ranked ninth in California.

Rio is ranked 23.Even though the Raiders have

won their league, their main season goal of winning the sections are just beginning and the team is going have to work much harder than they have all season to reach their goal.

The Raiders received a bye in the first round of playoffs because of their winning league.

FROM Page 13

Jaden Perez | Mirada Staff

WOMEN’S GOLF

Men’s Soccer:10/1

Rio Americano-2Whitney-0

10/3Rio Americano-1

Mira Loma-1

10/8Antelope-1

Rio Americano-2

10/10El Camino-1

Rio Americano-1

10/15Rio Americano-6

Cordova-0

10/17Whitney-1

Rio Americano-1

10/22

Mira Loma-1Rio Americano-5

10/24Rio Americano-2

Antelope-0

10/26Capital Christian-1Rio Americano-1

Football:10/5

Cordova-6Rio Americano-30

10/13Rio Americano-6

Whitney-36

10/20Rio Americano-80

Mira Loma-34

10/26Rio Americano-14

Antelope-46

Women’s Volleyball:10/2

Cordova-0Rio Americano-3

10/4Whitney-1

Rio Americano-3

10/9Rio Americano-3

Mira Loma-0

10/11Antelope-0

Rio Americano-310/13

Rio Americano-2Spanish Springs-1

10/13

Rio Americano-2Union Mine-0

10/13Rio Americano-2

Salinas-0

10/13Rio Americano-2

Petaluma-0

10/13Rio Americano-2Marin Catholic-0

10/13Rio Americano-0

El Camino-2

10/16El Camino-1

Rio Americano-3

10/18Rio Americano-3

Cordova-0

10/23Rio Americano-3

Whitney-0

10/25Mira Loma-0

Rio Americano-3

10/27Rio Americano-2

Lincoln-0

10/27Rio Americano-1

Woodside-2

10/27Rio Americano-2

St. Ignatius-1

10/27Rio Americano-2

Crystal Springs Uplands-0

10/27

Rio Americano-2Carlmont-1

10/30Rio Americano-3

Antelope-0

Men’s Water Polo:Whitney-4

Rio Americano-1910/10

Rio Americano-9Whitney-6

10/17Rio Americano-19

Mira Loma-3

10/18Jesuit-6

Rio Americano-16

10/22Antelope-3

Rio Americano-16

10/25Rio Americano-8

Davis-9

Women’s Water Polo:10/9

Rio Americano-7St. Francis-12

10/10Rio Americano-11

El Camino-3

10/15Rio Americano-16

Oak Ridge-2

Senior Alex Rizzo aims for goal. The midfielder commands the offense alongside sophomore Hunter Brown. Rio defeated El Camino 4-1, clearly the highlight of the Raider’s regular season.

Scoreboard: fall sports league update

Mary Westover | Mirada Staff

Ready to win Sections MENS SOCCER

THE BIKE DRIVE WILL LAST FOR THE WHOLE MONTH OF NOVEMBERDROP ANY OLD BIKES AT A-3, A-6, OR THE MAIN OFFICE!

ALL BIKES WILL GO TO CYCLES 4 HOPE A CHARITYTHAT REPURPOSES BIKES AND GIVES TO THOSE IN NEED

THE RIO AMERICANO HIGH SCHOOL BIKE DRIVE

What sports do you play?I run cross country in the fall, and I play soccer and run track (800m and distance medley) in the spring.

Which one do you like more?Soccer!

How is cross country going?Pretty well - the girls hope to repeat as CAL champions, and we have a good chance to qualify as a team for states.

What position do you play in soccer?Center midfield and forward

What team do you play for?CASA Boca Juniors ‘95

Do you have any plans for college?I’ve committed to UC Irvine to play soccer.

Why did you choose UC Irvine?It has everything I’m looking for - excellent science programs, a great team and coaching staff, and a beau-tiful location.

Do you think you will play as a freshman?I hope to play. The team has made it to the NCAA tournament the last 2 years, so they’re pretty good!

Lizzie Hutchison: Irvine-boundBy Ryan Burns |Sports Editor

Team continues successful season

The cross country team is off to a great start with high finishes at tough meets and steadily dropping times.

The men’s varsity team has seen recent success in the elite Stanford Invitational - a race chalked-full of scholarship runners and emerging talents from high schools across the nation.

Rio Americano was led by senior George Halvorsen, who finished 38 overall, with a time of 16:57 and a pace of 5:28 minutes per mile. Junior Kenji Anzai finished 43 overall, only 9 seconds behind his fellow Raider.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season, though, has been fresh-man Evan Cross, who has risen to the third spot on the varsity team full of more experienced runners.

Cross finished 79 overall, fifth among all freshmen in the race.

On October 6, he finished second in the frosh/soph race to add onto his list of high finishes.

If the team makes it to sections, subsections, or even the state meet, Cross will play a vital role in the ac-complishment, providing depth as a younger runner.

The girls team, led by Macaulay Porter and Lizzie Hutchison, has also seen recent success.

In the most recent league meet, the girls team finished second with-

out Porter. All seven of the Raiders finished in the top half of the league with three in the top ten.

Porter and Hutchison have devel-oped a friendly, inter-squad rivalry in which the two practically trade off wins, separated only by a few sec-onds each race.

The highlight of the season for both teams definitely came from the weekend the team spent in Disney-land for their Mt. Sac race, another race with thousands of entrants.

“The meet was a great success for the team and a great opportunity to show how far the team has come,” Senior Josh Lowy.

The Running Raiders were able to compare themselves to other top cross country teams from across the state in the huge invitational meet.

The meet was their last big race before qualifying for sections, the first step to take before qualifying for their ultimate goal: state cham-pionships.

Hannah Keenan, Julia Andrews, Lucy Giles, and Rosie Morehead (front to back) all finish the league race that the Radiers hosted on the school track and the bike trail.

By Ryan Burns | Mirada Staff

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 2, 2012 Page 15

Football to take on El Camino after controversySenior running back Darrin Nishi escapes thriee Mira Loma defenders. The Raiders won 80-34

Over the course of the last few weeks, controversy arose for the varsity football team. A three sport athlete and football player, Guill-ermo Salazar, was dismissed from the team after the head coach, Christian Mahaffey, did not excuse Salazar’s absence from a game.

Fellow teammates were out-raged by his removal from the team after hearing that his absence was due in part to a baseball recruit-ment trip in Arizona.

As a result, the majority of the senior players on the team quit in

order to show support for their teammate. With coverage from local news stations and the Sacra-mento Bee, the senior players at-tempted to rejoin the team.

Players, parents and coaches all gathered for a meeting in which Principal Brian Ginter was left to make the decision as to whether the seniors should be reinstated.

The following day, the players were notified that the varsity team’s head coach had been fired and the seniors would not be allowed to play in one game.

Soon after, Cordova’s former coach Max Miller was appointed as the new head coach. He changed

the previous punishment of miss-ing a game to alternatively working community service hours.

Since Miller’s employment, the varsity team has altered their tech-niques and strategies. Senior player Matt Laffey said, “I think that he has the ability to turn this program around and to make a real connec-tion with the players.”

With only one game left, the boys hope to drive their way to a win under their new coaching staff. The final league game is set for Sat-urday Oct. 6 against the El Camino Eagles on the Raider home field. The JV game begins at noon, fol-lowed by the varsity game at 2.

By Briana Smith | Mirada Staff

CROSS COUNTRY

Returning runners hope to lead team to victories in league and sectional races

ATHLETE OF THE ISSUE

FOLLOW THE MIRADA ON TWITTER@RAHSMIRADA

DO YOU BLEED GREEN?

FOOTBALL

Beau Schaechterle | Mirada staff

Jaden Perez | Mirada Staff

A LOOK AT THE MONTH

Got a photo you want included in November’s “A Look at the Month”? Send it to [email protected].

‘Blast From The Past’ a fun night fot all

The Homecoming dance on Saturday, October 20 wrapped up a week of homecoming festivities including a spirit week, rally, and the traditional homecoming football game and float parade. This years theme, Blast from the Past, was mani-fested through spirit days and the choice of music for the commemorative Homecom-ing CD, which included hits by Elvis Presley and the Bee Gees. The dance was a night to remember for all attendees. “The music was pretty awesome,” senior Bethany Abad said. “And my friend Jeremy Nussbaum broke out into his pro dancing skills.” “Even though some of the

music was lame and it was very humid, homecoming was fun,” senior Sade Butler said. “It was fun because I was able to spend my last homecoming with good friends.” For freshman, this years Homecoming dance was their first formal high school dance. “Homecoming was fun because I got to show school spirit, hang out with friends, and dress up,” freshman Jenny Gurev said. “It really makes me look forward to future dances.” All in all, this years home-coming dance and the related festivities proved popular with students as they continue their journey through the 2012-2013 school year. The next formal dance, Gala, is on Friday, March 8.

“Dancing, because I’ve never been to a high school dance before.”

“Getting ready and go-ing to dinner, because I like to dress up and see all my friends dressed up.”

“Hanging out with friends because it was fun to make inside jokes.”

“I liked the decorations. I felt they captured the time periods.”

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 2, 2012 Page 16

By John Ferrannini | Editor-in-Chief

Nathan Rubinoff, 9

Megan Purcell, 10

Chase Hamersley, 11

Chris Carlson, 12

Student voice: What was fun about Homecoming?

Top: Senior Ben Davis dances with a date from another school.Middle, Left: Senior Nate Sher is stocked for homecoming.Middle, Right: Freshman Matt Shelby and his date.Bottom, Left: Seniors Kristal Celik and Madeline Arnett dance.Boston, Right: Counselor Jill Montbriand and History teacher Rocco Marrongelli.