Month: April 2017

By Anthony Ta and Syed Rahim

As winter breezes through the school, spirit week, Winter Rally and Winter Ball come to life once more.

Last Friday, the annual winter rally took place in the big gym with several performances from dance clubs, a skit from ASB and a segment recognizing sports captains. Spirit week—from Mon., Dec. 5 to last Friday—ignited the winter spirit throughout the school with holiday-themed activities and inspired many to share the joy of the holiday.

Due to a lack of publication and low ticket sales, ASB decided to cancel the winter ball.

“ASB will work harder for Sadies to happen,” states 2017 Vice President Jaria Jaug.

ASB started the rally off with a skit revolving around an elf trying to find his place in Santa’s workshop. After many failed attempts at finding his expertise, the elf—played by junior Howard Tong—runs to the center of the workshop upset. This does not last when the elves exchanged gifts. Howard receives a light-up Christmas sweater, which brings joy to his heart.

After ASB’s skit, juniors Taylor Dutra, Kayla Suoto and seniors Isaiah Gonzalez, James Grier were all recognized as captains of their respective sports teams. With the recognition of sports students, several clubs shook up the big gym with their respective dances. The performing clubs were Indian Club, PXM (Paradox Motion) and SXC (Seoul Xtreme Choreography).

“I think (Indian club members) really pulled it off. We know we pushed them really hard, but I think they did such an amazing job today and we are super proud of them!” exclaims Indian Club Vice President Namrata Shetty.

“I thought we did really good,” beams PXM President Justin Ho. “This is our first rally performance here and I’m just happy with the outcome.”

“The members worked really hard, and the effort matched the performance. There could be some things that we could fix in terms of formations and outfit malfunctions, but other than that I think it went really well,” joyfully expresses SXC President Angela Lam.

This time, the alma mater did not conclude the rally to ensure attendance for the class call.

Spirit week for this chilly season included Monday as Cozy Day, Tuesday as Ugly Sweater, Wednesday as Swinter, Thursday as Character Day and Friday as Snow Day with Class color accessories.

By Jen Luu

Last Thursday, a fire broke out in the boys’ bathroom located in the Junior Hall during the beginning of 4th period. Senior Richard Espinoza was the first person to discover the fire.

“When the fire alarm went off, I thought it was just a drill. So since my class was close to the bathroom, I just went,” recalls Richard. “But when I opened the door and looked in, there was a fog. From the smell of it, I knew there was an actual fire.”

After the fire alarm sounded, students and teachers evacuated to their designated areas near the tennis courts and school parking lots. Staff members put out the flame with a fire extinguisher, while firefighters from the San Jose Fire Station No.19 came to ensure the safety the students and faculty.

Students expressed various reactions to the sudden alarm. The prevalent attitude among most people was unconcern. At the same time, some students cheered while others groaned. The evacuation lasted for approximately half an hour.

“After a while, our teacher tried teaching a lesson. She was helping us prep for our upcoming poetry test,” recalls senior Jason Vu.

Although many find it inconvenient to follow through with fire drills so often, it was a good precaution that day.

“I’m glad that our fire alarms work because I know there are a lot of false alarms. This time, they protected us because there actually was a fire,” says Assoc. Principal Jacqueline Ng.

After the smoke cleared and staff members handled the crisis, class resumed. Official details of the event are not disclosed because they are still under investigation.

By Ashliana Rodriguez

On Fri. Dec. 2, the Drama department presented “Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal.” A spinoff of Home Alone, the play revolved around Kelly McCallister, played by senior Tresea Rullamas. Just like in Home Alone, there is a power outage that restarts the family alarm clocks and makes the family late for its trip to Paris. As a result, everyone leaves Kelly behind. Kelly fights off two burglars and keeps Old Man Marley, the creepy neighbor next door, away.

“It follows the story (of Home Alone) but adds some quirky characters,” explains Drama teacher Ms. Woods.

“We were able to give the people a small break from life and a quick laugh before finals and the holidays,”comments junior Rae Laguna-Carona who plays Helga.

Ms. Woods’ Advanced Drama class put together the show by producing, directing and creating the set. This show took a lot of work to put together since the students were only allowed to rehearse during class time. This plot was chosen because they enjoyed the way how last year’s show went when they performed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

“We created a show that would give the audience a break from the real world and feeling warm for the holidays,” states senior Tresea Rullamas, who plays the lead role in the play, Kelly McCallister.

The cast was made up of students from Advanced Drama class. For some, this was their first show performing in front of an audience.

“It was a really great experience,” said junior and Prop Master Alyssa Severance. “It was really great being apart of tech crew.”

For cast, the production was stressful at times but they pulled it together to present an amazing show for the staff and students.

By Emily Zhao

After a year without Speech class in the school curriculum, English teacher Babak Shahrivar will once again teach the class throughout the 2017-2018 school year.

The class will be available for upperclassmen and will count as an elective rather than as an English course. Thus, students interested must take Speech class concurrently with another English core class.

Contrary to popular belief, this course neither requires exceptional English skills nor speaking expertise. With no prerequisites, any upperclassman interested will be able to improve their skills.

“In the past, I’ve had students that just started learning English (take) the class, so it’s really just a class for anyone who’s really interested in improving their public speaking and confidence,” emphasizes Mr. Shahrivar.

Students who take the course will have the chance to participate in out-of-school speech competitions, like the annual Rotary Club of San Jose and Lockheed Martin contests. In the past, Piedmont Hills students have been extremely successful in speech competitions, winning first, second and third place in the annual Rotary Club contest.

“Also, I’m asked for (the Lockheed Martin) contest as a speech teacher to pick a student that would participate in that one. So, the only way of getting into that contest would be to (take the class). There was actually a student that I coached who won first place and was flown out for free to Washington State and compete at the higher level,” acknowledges Mr. Shahrivar.

Because Speech will most likely account for only one period, both students and teacher have a lot of freedom in how they want to run the curriculum.

“Every single year that I’ve taught the class, I’ve had them pick and choose what kind of unit they want to do. Last year, they actually did a parody assignment, where they got to prepare videos. They did a comedy unit, and actually a lot of students ended up doing stand-up comedy which was really funny,” laughs Mr. Shahrivar. A few students loved stand up comedy so much that they continued their practice at a local club.

“(Speech) is one of my favorite classes to teach because the whole class is like a family, I know that sounds cheesy, but everyone gets to know each other,” reminisces Mr. Shahrivar.

Not only is he eager to teach the course next year, students are enthusiastic as well.

“It was definitely a class worth taking, (and it) helped us develop valuable public speaking skills. We also made fun and wonderful memories together, and the class was a really safe and supportive community!” exclaims senior Jason Vu.