Author: thelegendonline

By Bernice Ou-yang

The piano recital was held in the L-Building on Monday, May 15. All three piano classes, with a total of approximately 80 students, participated in this recital.
“We were allowed to choose our own pieces to play,” reveals senior Khoanam Nguyen. “I chose my music from the games I played and animes I have watched. I had practiced it for like a few weeks.”
Most of the students had been practicing these pieces for (blank time). Each piece was chosen by the students themselves and were approved by piano teacher Emily Ray.
“Basically, the beginner piano students usually choose the same songs since it would be hard for them to find a good song to play on hteir own,” says Khoanam. “Because of this, Ms. Ray has to seperate the students from (the beginning classes) during the recital.”
Ms. Ray organized the order of the recital so that no same pieces were played side by side. She mixed and matched students from different class levels to keep the whole recital entertaining.
“(The piano recital) is basically our finals,” comments senior Veronica Roy. “(Ms. Ray) grades us a bit leniently since it’s pretty intimidating to play in front of a crowd. ♦

By Melody Li

On Wed., April 26, the PHHS counseling staff held Senior Honor Night in the L-Building to celebrate the academic achievements of graduating seniors.  Before the official event started, a meet and greet was hosted in the library for teachers and students to celebrate.
As Principal Traci Williams described in her opening speech, Senior Honor Night is a more intimate version of graduation.  Each senior is called up and introduced individually with details about their major, career plans and awards, which ranged from department awards to GPA and AP awards.
Before awards were given, senior Cleo Lagunilla started the night with a solo vocal performance, accompanied by music teacher Myles Ellis on the piano.
To make the event even more personal, each student was introduced by their valedictorian classmates.
“Reading the names and achievements of my classmates was nerve wracking because I was scared to mess up and I didn’t want to ruin their special moment,” admits senior Jennifer Lai.
At the end of the night, each senior was given a white carnation to give to someone who was influential to them throughout high school.
“I gave my carnation to my mom because she’s always inspired me to do my best,” comments senior Nancy Le.
Over 120 students were qualified to attend the honor night and around 100 students showed up.  Many were unable to attend the event due to schedule conflicts, especially since Club Day occurred on the same day.
“Even though I had finals the next day, I’m glad I attended honor night because I was able to celebrate my friends and all that they’ve accomplished in their four years,” reveals senior Ronaldo Legrama.
ASB President Sydnie Tanujaya closed the night with a congratulatory speech and empowered seniors to finish their high school career strong. ♦

By Sophia Xiao

Students from all over the district came together on May 3 for the 38th annual Eastside 11 Photographic Exhibition and Competition.  Piedmont Hills seniors Natasha Maxin, Kole Cabacungan and Rebecca Rossini won the Best in School award, and Natasha also won Best Still Life and Senior Portfolio.
The pieces were chosen from previous assignments done in photography class, which had to be approved by photography teacher Ian Tippetts before submission.
“I picked this photo to submit because it was very different, unique, and it hardly required any retouching in photoshop.  I named the piece ‘The Weight of the World’ because it has that vibe of corruption,” explained Kole.
Senior Portfolio, unlike the other six categories, required participants to submit a total of five pieces, making it all the more difficult.
“My painting picture has to be my favorite one that I submitted. I want to major in graphic design and I believe this picture shows how I combined my Photoshop skills and the mentality of a graphic designer to create it. It took a long time to edit so it would look like a painting and then I added the shapes to add color into it,” elaborated Natasha.
Other categories included Best Traditional Print, Best Special Technique Print, Best Action Print, Best Landscape, and Best Portrait.
The best pieces often had their own meanings and themes, called concentrations, behind them.
“I chose masks (for my concentration). I wanted to show people– how they really are, how they really feel,” said Rebecca about her piece which won Best in School. “I took a picture that I had taken of my friend Austin and projected that image onto my (other) friend, who was holding a piece of paper in front of her eyes… (Then), I leveled off the projector until his eyes were over the piece of paper.” ♦

By Daniel Kokoski

At Tuesday’s annual Student versus Faculty History Bowl competition, two squads of JV (junior varsity) and Varsity trivia members competed against each other in a battle of historical wits.
History teachers Mr. Holly, Ms. Lighty, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Romero made up the varsity squad. Non-history teachers Mr. Shahrivar, Mr. Clough and Mr. Vasquez comprised the JV team. Questions covered topics ranging from Ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms to Revolutionary War battles.
In a never before played segment, Mr. Clough and Mr. Shahrivar competed against juniors Sagar Tomar and Syed Rahim in a Sports and Entertainment competition. This segment tested participants on pop culture and sports trivia.
“I’d been waiting to play this game for a while now,” exclaimed Syed. “I felt really confident about my pop culture knowledge from our Thursday practices in P-15.”
“The experience overall was exciting. Our team really grew this past year and the audience size was encouraging,” beamed History club President Nala Chen. “All in all, it was a great way to end the year.” ♦

By Phuong Nguyen

Club Day was held on April 26 from 1 pm to 3 pm in front of the Big Gym, where swarms of student and staff were exposed to a diverse array of food made by a variety of clubs.
“It went way better than I expected. There was also a bunch of cool food there that was so good,” elaborated LEO (Leadership Experience Opportunity) Vice President Rachel Ly. “I loved the Totchos and the Cajun fries the most! They were both so good and I was looking forward to trying them (throughout) all the days leading up to Club Day!”
The venue was crowded with hundreds of students and some staff.
“I liked how lively it always is (but) I disliked the long lines to popular booths,” commented Psychology and Neurology Vice President Sharon Wong.
For some, Club Day was enjoyable and successful.
“I know for choir council, we were super successful and we had long lines waiting for our chicken fries,” added Choir Council publicist nominee Cat Nguyen. “(Also), I really liked the Korean milk soda, Milkis, and garlic noodles!”
To make Club Day a success, the club officers put in a lot of time and effort to prepare for this day.
“The officers prepare cool foods to fundraise for their clubs. They don’t get anything for doing all that planning, preparing food and standing at a table for hours. They don’t get anything for themselves, but they do it and it shows how dedicated people are to their clubs,” said Cat admiringly.
Most clubs sold out because of the long lines of customers that were eager to buy the popular foods, such as Choir Council’s chicken fries and LEO’s baked potatoes. Because of this, some people, including the hard working officers, did not have a chance to purchase the food that they wanted.
“Sadly, I didn’t get to try much (food) but I think of all the things I did get to try, overall, I wasn’t disappointed,” thought Cat.
Besides food being served, there was also a marriage photo booth hosted by ASB officers. With the price of one ticket per person, students and teachers had the chance to get married, holding various signs and props and even wearing fake rings.
“I like the idea (of a marriage photo booth) because it’s just a fun way to take pictures with your friends,” exclaimed ASB Historian Kristy Nguyen. ♦

By Arthur Hoang

The Treblemakers wrapped up the end of the year with a concert in Reno on April 28, their spring concert on Wednesday and their annual concert “Jazz in my Pants” today.
The Treblemakers departed from school for Reno after break on April 27 and performed at the University of Nevada in Reno.
“We had a blast of a time on the trip, and overall, I think we did a fantastic job,” said vocalist William Chung.
In preparation for Reno, the Treblemakers had rehearsals every day during lunch, as well as Wednesday morning.
“After the Santa Cruz, we learned that we needed to be fixed and improved on. I knew I needed practice on some of the songs, especially in terms of vowels shapes,” said William.
Volunteer drivers for the Treblemakers drove four hours to Reno, stopping once in Davis for lunch and then driving the rest of the way to the hotel they stayed at.
At 3 pm, The Treblemakers performed the pieces that they’d performed at the jazz festival in Santa Cruz, which included Moon Dance, Jody Grind and Waters of March for a panel of acclaimed judges. One of them actually turned out to be a composer of Moon Dance and Jody Grind.
The Treblemakers scored a 2-2-2 rating (a score of 1 being the highest and 3 being the lowest). After their performance there was a clinic, in which a judge talked with the group and gave feedback and commentary.
“It was both shocking and interesting at the same time to have the composer for the piece performed come tell us that she thought we were great and give us some advice,” said William.
The Treblemakers set out to finish off strong with their last annual concert of the year, “Jazz in my Pants.” The concert is being held today and features the Treblemakers singing all the songs that they performed during the year. ♦

By Emily Zhao

Every year, April 25 marks the day for National DNA Day, a day where students and teachers can learn about genetics and genomes. To commemorate the day, the SCCBEP (Santa Clara County Biotechnology Education Partnership) held their 14th annual DNA Day art competition, showcasing the art and videos that high school students created.
This year’s DNA Day art contest featured three winners in the art category and two winners in the video category. For the video section of the contest, Piedmont Hills High School senior Benjamin Gonzales took first place. First place winners were awarded $100.
The students’ artworks highlighted DNA in a variety of creative fashions.
“(My) video is about a kid at a typical lemonade stand, but instead of selling lemonade, he’s selling DNA! (When) the thirsty Jogger grabs a drink, (the DNA) transforms his head into a dog,” laughed Benjamin. “I didn’t try to convey any certain message, I thought it’d be cool to have the character’s head turn into a dog after drinking the mysterious DNA.”
Benjamin originally created the video because biology and biotechnology teacher Archie Kregear assigned the project to the biotechnology class.
“Don’t get me wrong, I loved making it!” said Benjamin.
The entire video recording and editing process took him almost eight hours to complete, with the vast majority of the time spent editing.
“I was shocked when I found I won!” exclaimed Benjamin. “I usually don’t win many contests.”