Category: News

By Rianna Gallardo and Hannah Tong

From Nov. 9 to Nov. 12, the PHHS Drama Department presented the school with their fall play “Noises Off.”

“Noises Off is one of the most complicated farces ever written,” informs drama teacher Anna Woods.  “It’s a play within a play. The actors aren’t just playing one role; they’re playing two.”

Students act as the characters in a play titled “Nothing On.”  Throughout the storyline, problems occur everywhere, beginning from wardrobe malfunctions to relationship issues.  Written as a farce, the comedic play puts actors in improbable situations and portrays the ongoing dread of pursuing perfect performance.

“There’s a lot of action going on.  We have characters falling down stairs and getting bloody noses,” laughs sophomore and actress Rachel Nguyen.

The drama cast hopes to bring laughter to everyone with this lighthearted piece.

“We’re just trying to crack a smile,” expresses actor and senior Rahul Negi.

Because student actors played as actors themselves, preparation for this show was much different than that of past plays.  This is also the first time the drama department introduced a two-story set, which spun in a counterclockwise circle, and displayed the backstage scene of “Nothing On.”

“The set was probably one of the best sets the drama department has ever built,” claims Stage Manager Anthea Nyako.

The show was double casted, each show alternating between two different groups of actors.  The two casts were labeled “Oxfam” and “Sardines.”

“I love the rush of performing and the reaction of the crowd,” admits Rachel, who was a part of the Oxfam cast.

“It’s a very rewarding experience,” claims junior and actor Jaydin Geer.  “You’ll learn to appreciate theater for what it truly is.”

By Trevor Glassey

Our Construction Technology Class (Carpentry) is currently building a tiny house in the fenced area behind the K-Building, and plans to start work on a second.  According to Construction Technology teacher David Fredericks, the leader of the five teachers in the project, this is part of a new curriculum emphasizing construction.

“We redesigned the curriculum to be construction based because that’s where the need is in the industry,” asserts Mr. Fredericks.  “The skills these guys are learning coming out of high school will start at $30 an hour in a union apprenticeship.”

Starting back in September, this change to the curriculum is quite significant as the project regularly pulls in many students after school every weekday to work on the project. The first tiny house is projected to take most of the school year to finish.

According to senior Andrew Giluso, they often stay until six or seven working on it.  The time is primarily being spent to finish the first house, but while waiting for pre-assembled parts like windows. They have started the second house.  The students learn about construction on a small scale, within a school year, as they have to craft the purchased materials into usable parts, put together the house and add the essentials of plumbing and electricity.

This project is part of the CTE (Career and Technical Education) program which aims to teach students real life applicable skills.  The four main departments of Social Sciences, English, Math, and Science are represented respectively by history teacher Joshua Berry, English teacher Ryan Lundell, math teacher Richard De La Rosa and science teacher Jonathan Montoya, who each believe in the project’s goal to see students well-rounded. They give them many opportunities and work to keep students in the program doing well in their other classes.  Most students in the program end up with even better grades after joining the program.

“(The program) opened my eyes to different opportunities,” explains senior Rafael Rodriguez. “I have more options.”

In today’s world, the idea of having to go to a four-year college is becoming increasingly prevalent.  However, the CTE program tries to show that there are other perfectly valid ways of life.

The monetary cost is lowered due to funding from Economy Lumber, whom the department gets its tools and supplies from.  As it turns out, this project was suggested by Director Tim Nguyen to both Piedmont Hills and Independence High School, who started their house back in spring.

“We expressed interest, and we have a buddy over at Independence, Jeremiah Ellison, building one as well,” answers Mr. Fredericks when asked about the start of the sponsorship.

This tiny house is part of a new housing trend showcased by a show called Tiny House Nation that is about people downsizing to these tiny houses to limit environmental footprint.  These tiny houses could also serve a not-so-tiny role in combating California’s large and growing housing crisis.  While Mr. Fredericks doesn’t know where the houses are going right now, he predicts it will end up either sold or donated. Whatever their fate, the tiny houses are likely to make a big difference for both the students working on them and California as whole.

By Sean Tseng

As Piedmont Hills settles into the fall semester, the English Department is once again working to bring English 4 back onto the course list for seniors.  This comes at the heels of a student-driven petition from last spring which brought the issue to the forefront of Piedmont’s concerns.

English teacher Tricia Bolster, whose sophomore students wrote and delivered the petition last school year, has been a long-time vocal advocate for bringing English 4 back.

“I’ve heard from a lot of students,” remarks Ms. Bolster.  “They want to take something else as seniors besides ERWC.”

English 4 has been offered at Piedmont Hills before.  Since Piedmont’s establishment, the course had been available to seniors who did not want to take English Literature and Composition AP (AP Literature).  However, four years ago, the district issued a mandate ordering teachers to stop offering the course.  Instead, ERWC (Expository Reading and Writing Course) became the only alternative seniors had to AP Literature.

ERWC teaches nonfiction English writing and is meant to reinforce the literacy skills of students who have not yet passed certain English tests.  Essentially, it acts as a remedial college course, allowing passing students to skip the English tests in college and go straight into English 1A.  It also allows special needs students to be mainstreamed into the population.

“It’s a valid course for a valid population.  It is not supposed to be the default English course for seniors,” Ms. Bolster firmly explains.

The biggest issue with the current options available for Piedmont seniors is the fact that a sizeable part of the student body has taken English Language and Composition AP (AP Language) in their junior year. This means students who go from AP Language, which already teaches nonfiction writing at a rigorous level and pace, to ERWC are experiencing a repetitive and slow class.  This causes grief for many academically advanced students who feel the class is not meeting their needs.

“One, it’s useless.  Two, it’s not fun at all,” sighs senior and former AP Language student Hannah Lim.  This attitude seems to be the general consensus among the population of former AP Language students now enrolled in ERWC.

Of course, these issues have not come at the fault of either the course or the teachers.  The problem lies in the fact that ERWC must cater to a wide range of students with differing academic backgrounds.  From mainstreamed special education students to students who excelled in AP Language and everyone in between, ERWC poses a serious challenge.  No matter how teachers run the class, a large amount of students will find the course ill-fitted for their needs.

“Even teachers want (former AP Language) kids out so they can really teach,” says English Department Chair and English teacher Nancy Kennett.  This, in addition to the testimonials of several past students, has motivated Ms. Kennett to fight for the reinstatement of English 4 over the last few months.

As of early October, the district has decided that English 4 may be offered again on the condition that it be piloted as a new course.  In a meeting held on Oct. 18, the English Department Chairs and a representative from each department convened to write the English 4 curriculum.  Ms. Kennett projects that English 4 will be available to Piedmont students as early as next August.  Still, the results are not entirely what the teachers and the English Department had hoped for, at least in terms of timeliness.

“I wish we had offered it this year.  That’s what feels unnecessary.  We could have offered it this year,” Ms. Kennett reflects.

Ms. Bolster echoes the sentiment as well: “I was sad.  I was hoping (seniors) would get the choice this year.”

By Alyssa Gutierrez

The students and student athletes of Piedmont Hills joined the movement and the protest and decided to take a knee during the Homecoming Football Game on Sept. 23 against Mt. Pleasant during the singing of the National Anthem. Students also raised their fists and sat down during the Homecoming Rally on that same day. People all across the country started protesting the National Anthem to protest against police violence and to raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.

“For the people who don’t actually know the actual lyrics, Google the original ones, it directly has quotes linked to slavery and punishing black people so that is why we decided to take a knee” informs Senior Offensive Lineman Donovan Taylor. Not everybody agreed with the student’s right to protest. The PHHS football coaches told their players if they do it again, they’ll bench them for the game says Senior Michael Bird. You can’t just decide on student athlete views to comment on this matter. Most of the students and staff at PHHS didn’t even realize this was happening. “I don’t think it will achieve anything because we’re only high school students and that won’t make a difference in the world” says Junior Casey Lambert.

This all started when the San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Collin Kaepernick took a knee during the singing of the National Anthem to raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement and to raise awareness of police violence. People all over the country disagreed with his choice because it is “disrespectful to our troops and to our country,” but he received more love than hate. It also confused a lot of people because why didn’t he protest this when he was a starting quarterback? It would have gotten a lot more attention, but it got just the right amount for people all around to speak out. Students as well as other athletes are all following him now and joining his movement.

How will this movement make a difference in the world and bring forward the Black Lives Matter movement? There are a lot of different opinions whether this movement will make a difference in the world. Casey thinks that “It will definitely get more attention drawn to that subject but I don’t think anything will happen because police are going to continue being police.”

Donovan thinks otherwise that change will happen, but it will happen over time. “At least in American, sports play a big part of our daily lives so it will definitely sky rocket forward” and he also added “In time you will find a better way to deal with it.” The big question now is, will you protest against the National Anthem and join the movement?

By Andrew Huynh

Classes might just get more interesting now that the Science Department has purchased a new 3D printer.  According to Physiology teacher David Vasques, Science teacher Archie Kregear spearheaded the plan to purchase the printer.

“He had the idea for a couple years, but it took a while to get the grant,” answered Mr. Vasques when asked when the idea was conceived.

The printer costed around $2,500, much less compared to the old cost of $10,000.

Gathering all of the funds needed for the order took about ten months.  The purchase was made possible due to contributions “from a grant, some boosters, and a bunch of money from several different sources.” The ESUHSD contributed $1,000 in the form of a grant.

“We put the money in an account and then purchased it,” stated Mr. Vasques.

With this new technology, many teachers are thinking of ways to incorporate it into their lesson plans.

“I’m still exploring my options, which is researching what I can do.  I want to incorporate this into an inquiry based design but I’m just struggling with how to implement it,” said Biology teacher Jason Dries.

“I gave them all my Biotech students an open project, design something Biotech related and print it,” stated Mr. Kregear.

When asked why he wanted to buy a printer for the Science Department, Mr. Kregear answered, “For students to have exposure to 3D printing will help them prepare for college and get a concept of how to manufacture materials.” However, science classes aren’t the only ones who are planning to use a printer. CAD (Computer Aided Design) classes have always been making designs, but were not able to do anything else with them until now.

“I think the CAD class is getting one too, or already got one.  Hopefully there will be some coordination between us and the CAD classes,” commented Mr. Vasques.

With permission, students not in classes that use 3D printers will also be able to print their own designs.

“You would probably go through with Kregear.  It’s not completely open. Obviously we want to be able to monitor what’s going on.  If it’s not being used for a certain project already,” said Mr. Vasques.

Although he has no plans to use the printer in his lesson plans yet, Mr. Dries has been able to print some things.

“I have made a very important Iron Throne from Game of Thrones and a self-watering planter this morning, which took a shocking amount of time to do,” he commented.

By Diane Tran

Fellow PHHS senior Michael Tran has started to sell his personal clothes and longboards for money starting in October because his father has been laid off.

He started using Facebook to advertise his personal items.

“Basically I looked at what I had, and I was like no; I had way too much right now and I didn’t need all of this.  I need to clean out my stuff and be able to sustain myself because my parents are barely able to sustain the house so how are they supposed to buy me food.”

Recently, his dad got laid off and Michael needs to raise as much money as he can for himself to use because he might lose his house.  He started selling his things to help his parents.

“My dad got laid off a couple months ago, and my mom hasn’t been able to sustain us with my dad’s unemployment.  He’s been thinking of reaching into his retirement funds, but you don’t want that because it’s your retirement funds.”

Michael has definitely been persevering through all of his problems.

“Well this is the worst time too because college apps are coming up.  I felt kind of overwhelmed by it all; not only do I have to worry about my future, but I also have to worry about right now and how to get by.  Eventually, I was able to calm down and figure out ways to go for it.  Now, a way for me to get money is to potentially intern at Zeemee, a way for colleges to know you more as a person.”

His friends are supportive of Michael. Randy Tau, PHHS alumnus, explains, “I saw that he was selling his belongings. I didn’t want to buy something that he once valued so I got him a 50 dollar gift card to Safeway.”

In addition he has been trying to sell his items and thinking about intern shipping, Michael also does custom design on cruiser boards with wood staining and graphics for $110.

By Rosa Lin

Starting this year, ASB is implementing new regulations in regards to gram delivery.  In the past, these grams were preordered through booths in the hallways and delivered by students during 5th or 6th period.

“From now on until finals week, grams can be dropped off during break and lunch for teachers to pass out during 4th and 6th period,” explains senior class president Megan Huang.  “We have to have permission from the teachers though.”

Many students have expressed mixed opinions about the new gram delivery rule.

“During finals week grams have to be passed out during break, lunch or afterschool,” reveals ASB Secretary Sydnie Tanujaya.  “It makes things more inconvenient, but I understand how the teachers feel.”

Since these grams are delivered to students during class time, some teachers feel as if both the receiver and deliverer of the grams are letting valuable class time go to waste. Some students also feel that their concentration is shattered every time their class is interrupted.

“You’re trying to listen to the teacher, but then they (the grams) take the attention away from the teacher,” expresses senior Matthew Enriquez.  On the other hand, other students still appreciate the in class gram delivery.

“Personally I don’t find the grams distracting at all,”  says senior Iris Chiang.  “Receiving the grams is a nice reminder that someone cares about you, especially considering how high stress school can be.”

“They may be a brief distraction, but I like them because of that.  It’s like a breath of fresh air from the lesson,” laughs Matthew.

Although the new rules bring complications, ASB understands the reasoning behind the change, and hope the new rule minimizes classroom disruptions and accommodates to the wishes of both the students and staff on campus.

By Michelle Lin

Scheduled to begin this winter, the PHHS swimming pool will undergo renovations costing approximately $3 million, according to Principal Traci Williams.

For years, the school has had several problems with its swimming pool.  Such issues range from chipped tiles on the floor to the shallowness of the swimming pool.

“I think the pool renovation is a much-needed project,” claims Ms. Williams.  “The pool area will be converted from having two individual pools to one large supersize pool that will have a deep end and a shallow end.”

According to the district website, the East Side Union High School District currently has plans to renovate the pools of seven schools in the district.  For all seven schools, the cost to remodel is about $21.6 million, which is approximately $3 million for each of the schools.

“It’s a lot of money because (they have) to do some extra constructions to make the area the right size for the renovation.  It’s going to be very, very expensive, and it’s going to take a little over a year.  It’s scheduled to start in December,” asserts PHHS sports director Peter Simos.

Because the renovation will take such a long time to complete, it will conflict with not only the swim team’s season this year, but also with the swimming units for the freshmen PE classes.

“We won’t have a swimming as a (PE) course until probably spring of 2017.  Where it’s really going to affect is our swim team this year, and we’re going to be practicing at Independence (High School),” states Mr. Simos.

“Practicing at Independence will affect practice schedules, and it’s just really hectic,” anticipates swimmer Maxine Gutierrez.  “But pool renovations are definitely worth it, since comparing to the other schools where we have meets, they all have better pools than us.”

Despite the several unfortunate events, the swimming pool’s renovation does carry many positive aspects that will help improve the school.

“(The swimming pool) will be able to accommodate diving and all the PE classrooms, so it’s just going to be a new and exciting addition to the school,” mentions Ms. Williams.

“Once we have the pool, we’re going to have a safer facility,” acknowledges Mr. Simos.  “It’s just going to be a better facility for both PE and athletics.”

LET’S SKYPE! Students of sculpture class engage deeply into the video call with the director.

by Yen Linh Duong

As the due date for college application was drawing near, many thoughts troubled the minds of seniors.  Having to not only keep up their grades, they also faced some of the most important decision-making moments of their lives accompanied with the never-ending application, leaving them no time to even breathe.  Luckily, the sculpture class of N. Rubay were able to receive help for college directly from the UCLA Art Director Laura Young through Skype.  Contacted by senior Tim Vo, a student of the class, Ms. Young proposed to Skype with the class on Oct. 14.

“Originally I called and asked her if I could just please have a representative of the UCLA Art come to my school and talk to my classmates.  But unfortunately, they couldn’t do that,” recalls Tim.  “So Laura ultimately resorts to the final and biggest one, which was skyping my whole class.  She actually offers to do that, so that was such a great idea and it just shows how generous she was to get out of her way to do this for us.”

During the Skype call, Ms. Young kindly answered all of the questions asked by the students, helping them as much as she could in one full hour of class.

“She talks a lot about what you need in order to apply to UCLA, as far as the art program goes, and she discusses various portfolio requirements, about campus, what it was like, how impacted the art program was.  She covered everything in the form of what the art program is pretty much like,” describes junior Sierra Sharp.

Through the conversation, Ms. Young has ignited the passion for art in the students and inspired many to pursue a major in art as well as applying for the art program at UCLA.

“It’s really reassuring because you have someone directly from the admission office to tell you what to do and what to expect for you to apply for the art major there because UCLA is such an intimidating school, but she made it sound so welcoming.  I would definitely go there,” reflects senior Iris Chiang.