thelegendonline Pirate of the Issue

Pirate of the Issue: Sommer Fowler

poi-sommerfowler2

ONCE A SOMMER! Sommer Fowler happily smiles alongside her English students in Cambodia. (Picture Courtesy of Sommer Fowler)

 

By Michelle Lin

For four weeks throughout June, senior Sommer Fowler had the unique opportunity of volunteering to teach English to underprivileged students in Cambodia.

“(The trip) was an independent thing.  I didn’t go with an organization; it was just me and my mom,” explains Sommer.  “We randomly selected a school in a smaller town of Cambodia.  I went over there to ask for an opportunity to volunteer, and they so graciously gave me three different classes of 40 students.”

Self-funding the entire trip, Sommer taught eighth graders between the ages of ten and sixteen the material from the US’s version of fourth grade level books.

“I was given a lot of free range to do whatever sort of lesson I wanted,” recounts Sommer.  “Talking to (the students) a few hours on the first day, I noticed what they needed help on and picked out something that I thought I could help them on.”

The school system in Cambodia is vastly different from that of America.  With a society that holds education at a much lower standard than America’s ideals, students in Cambodia often lack respect towards learning.

“It blew me away that they could be so careless about what we’ve got as entire institutions here,” expresses Sommer.  “I think (the experience) increased my value for education.”

Throughout the school year, Sommer also participates on the PHHS Cross Country team.  Outside of school, she trains for marathons and ultramarathons, which are 26.2 miles long races typically held on trails.

“There’s a big leap between a marathon and an ultramarathon.  The time that it takes to train for one of them is incredibly crazy,” states Sommer.  “I have to set off seven hours of running on the weekend to prepare for an ultramarathon.”

Sommer is currently scheduled to run her first twelve hour race this December and her first 50 miler in April.

thelegendonline Features

Insane Ink creates team for Alzheimer’s Walk

f-02-alzheimerswalk-halliehuynh
OVER HERE! PHHS team member holds a sign showing the location of the team. c

Picture Courtesy of Hallie Huynh

By Mae Castellano

Wanting to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s, Insane Ink has created a team for the Alzheimer’s Walk on Oct. 8 at Arena Green.  Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that leads to memory loss and changes in thinking.  According to Alzheimer’s Association, one in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another kind of dementia.

“It’s a good thing to do for my community,” states Insane Ink’s CEO Hallie Huynh.  Every year, Insane Ink enjoys doing non-profit events, with last year’s event being Step Out For Diabetes.  Because it’s a non-profit occasion, Insane Ink will give 50% of its money back to the community, following their 50/50 concept.  Business Dept. Co-Chairman Diane Pereira is happy that they surpassed their goal of $2,000.

“It is very significant.  Even if it’s not affecting you today, it could possibly in the future,” declares Mrs. Pereira.  The Alzheimer’s Walk will mean a lot to those with experiences involving the disease.  Business Dept. Co-Chairman Mitch Method’s mother-in-law had recently passed with Alzheimer’s, and with Mr. Method’s wife’s involvement with the walk, it was good timing.  Insane Ink likes doing two non-profit events a year, one near the beginning and end of the year.

“I want (students, teachers or anyone in the community) to want to come and support the disease,” provides Hallie.  Insane Ink didn’t want to force anyone to go, but it would be great if people showed up and lended a hand in raising money and awareness for this disease, especially if they didn’t know much about it.

“Overall, it’s a sad disease,” mentions history teacher Maria De La Rosa.  Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and someone is diagnosed with this chronic disease every 66 seconds.  As of right now, there is no chance of preventing, slowing or curing Alzheimer’s.  This disease also kills more lives than breast and prostate cancer combined.

thelegendonline Features

New clubs emerge on campus

 

By Angel Palomino

She’s the First

She’s the First is a club that gives scholarships to young girls in low-income countries such as China and India.  They help these girls be the first in their families to go to college, and they are part of the larger organization called She’s the First.  They also participate in fundraising events to raise money for the scholarships.

greenfingers

Green Fingers

This new club looks to beautify Piedmont Hills by plantings plants and flowers inside and around campus and teach about various plant-related topics.  During the meetings, the club also tells several gardening jokes and gives an overview of what to expect later on.  The club’s final goal is to have a functional school garden on the campus.

 

Tea Club
A club that’s all about the tea.  During meetings, Tea Club gives facts of the week about tea. Then, the members drink, and sip some tea.  You can bring a tea bag to use and sip along other tea-drinkers. In addition, there are more activities involved in the club, besides only sipping some tea.

 

Mock Trial

A new prestigious club that specializes in practicing debates and court cases. The club members participate in a nationwide competition in which the shall defend, prosecute, and argue a fictional story.  Also in this organization, there are witnesses, prosecutors, defense, judge, jury, clerk and everyone else who is needed in a court.  This club competes with other schools, and every member in the club plays a role in the cases.

 

Bring Change to Mind

A new club that wants to end stigma around mental illness.  The members work to raise awareness about mental illness, and participate in public events, and to learn about various differences of mental illnesses.

spirit

Spirit Club

Spirit Club is a club that acts in as the new cheer squad during home games for sports such as Football and Basketball at Piedmont Hills High.  It is a mix of students at Piedmont ranging from seniors to freshmen.  This club’s goal is to boost spirit and cheer at the sport games, so they don’t drag on or become quiet.

Graphics by Anthony Ta
thelegendonline Features

Instrumental Concert “Pieces of Autumn” rustles people to the door

dscn2863
SPOTLIGHT! Symphony Orchestra gets ready to tune before their performance.

By Arthur Hoang

As the students of Orchestra and band set up for their first concert of the year, they discovered that the way to their instruments was surrounded by toilet water.

Before the concert even started, disaster had struck the concert.  As the performers came to set up, they saw that water was flooded out one of the side doors of the L-Building.  In addition toilets were locked so none of the performers could have gotten in, only the janitors and staff had keys to get in.

“In of the bathrooms the toilets had been constantly running and had overflowed,” said orchestra teacher Emily Ray.

On Oct. 5, the orchestra and band had their first concert of the year in the L-Building. Admission was five dollars and the audience was treated to what both groups had been working on since the beginning of the year.  The String Orchestra started off the night with She will Hang the Night with Stars and the Finale from Symphony no. 41, then the Concert Band performed Whispers of the Wind, Little English Suite and Valley Forge March.

Afterwards, there was an intermission where the Instrumental Club sold refreshments: pumpkin cookies, chai lattes, custard donut holes and water.

“All money raised goes to music festivals, the Disneyland trip, instrument repairs and instrumental coaches to help students perform better,” said Instrumental Club President Sarah Dao

Then, the audience returned to its seats and the Symphony Orchestra took the stage and they performed Danse Bacchanale and Fandango asturiano. Finally, Wind Ensemble rounded out the night with the Russian Sailor’s Dance and the First Suite in E flat.

The music for the concert had been in the hands of the students for only a couple weeks. The String Orchestra had its music for five and eight weeks, respectively for each of their pieces and the Symphony Orchestra had its music for about six weeks.

“ The performances generally went well. Orchestra played well with no major mishaps,” says Ms.Ray.

The next Instrumental Concert will be on Dec. 9 in the L-Building.

thelegendonline News

English Department works to bring back English 4

 

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.”

thelegendonline News

Homecoming comes to PHHS

n-02-homecoming-kristynguyen-f
DAZZLING! Male cheer elevates to another level.

Picture Courtesy of Kristy Nguyen

By Emilie Chau and Hannah Tong

Piedmont Hills awaited Homecoming by decorating the hallways, hosting Spirit Week, participating in Powderpuff games, attending the Homecoming Rally and organizing a Homecoming Dance on the week of Sept. 19.

Like previous years, each class decorated the hallways according to its theme: freshmen had Spongebob, sophomores had Wreck-It Ralph, juniors had Princess and the Frog and seniors had Greek mythology.iedmont Hills awaited Homecoming by decorating the hallways, hosting Spirit Week, participating in Powderpuff games, attending the Homecoming Rally and organizing a Homecoming Dance on the week of Sept. 19.

“We started our murals as soon as sophomore year ended,” stated Class of 2018 Vice President Howard Tong.  “I’m proud of my class because it took so much time and effort to paint a mural, and we made twenty two of them.”

Along with the decorated halls were spirit days.  Every day was a different theme, starting with the freshmen’s Spongebob theme and finishing with the seniors’ Greek mythology theme.  Then, Friday was saved for the traditional class color day.

“Our Spongebob theme was nice,” comments freshman Brandon Lin.  “I liked the colors in the hallway decorations.  The rally was also very fun and eventful.”

At lunch everyday, ASB Pep Rally Commissioner Martin Ruiz hosted spirit games in the quad in which people from each class compete to win spirit points.

Girls Powderpuff, an annual flag football game played throughout Homecoming week among all the classes, began at the beginning of the week.

“[The games] really bring out the competitiveness in the girls,” comments Class of 2018 Secretary Stephanie Vinoya. “They get pretty crazy, but at the end of the day it’s all fun and games.”

The games ended with seniors beating the juniors 7-0.

To finish off Homecoming week, PHHS hosted its “Horns and Halos” Homecoming Dance on Sept. 24.  The number of ticket sales was the most ever in recent years, with over four hundred tickets sold.

“Most students thought that the dance would be dead and not have many people going,” said ASB Club Commissioner Vince Nguyen.  “However, we completely obliterated the goal of ticket sales.”

The dance took place in the L-Building and was decorated with large murals painted by the leadership class.  Colorful lights illuminated the dance floor, long lines formed for the photobooth and decorated clouds on the stage set the mood for Homecoming.

With so many bodies in one room, the atmosphere was physically hot and exhilarating.  Even so, all the students crowded the front of the stage where the DJ was and danced enthusiastically to have a good time.

thelegendonline News

Students protest national anthem

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?

 

thelegendonline News

Science department purchase 3D printer

n01-3dprinter-andrewh

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.

thelegendonline Fun Page

March Poll: If you could vote in the 2016 presidential election, would you?

Comic_W-None_A-Yen-Linh-Duong-and-Angelina-Nguyen

Graphic by Quynh Luu

Compiled by Walt Leung

This poll was conducted over five days from Thurs., Mar. 3 to last Tuesday, with 160 responses recorded. Compared to the national average voter turnout of 57.5% in 2012, students at Piedmont Hills indicated a much higher willingness to exercise their right to vote, with 72% indicating that they would do so if given the opportunity.

Got a burning question for Piedmont Hills? Send it to The Legend at phhslegend@gmail.com and see if your question is included in next month’s issue.

thelegendonline Centerspread

Bring Back AP Computer Science

By Walt Leung

AP Computer Science.  AP Java.  APCS.  Whatever you call the class, a key problem remains at this campus: Piedmont Hills High School resides in the heart of Silicon Valley, but does not offer a computer science course.

The relationship of the 21st century will be defined by man and machine.  The binary system with its ones and zeros has already taken its place in society, and is continuing to expand its influence.  In medicine, researchers use Perl to sequence genomes.  In finance, investors implement HTML into online banking systems for clients.  In art, designers value Java to create a multitude of graphics.

Yet, computer science is an often misunderstood subject.  Ask the vast majority of the graduating senior class: many of us express a desire to major in some form of computer science in college, but only a handful have programming experience.  And once introduced in college, some find programming mundane and attempt to move into other subjects.  We are undoubtedly forced into this field, whether from parents in engineering fields or from industry leaders such as Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.  We learn subjects such as calculus and physics because we are told they resonate with computer science.  But if you stop and think, how can learning integration or special relativity be critical to writing C++?

By no means am I arguing that students cannot aimlessly walk into the world of computer science, find love for the subject, and succeed in their fields; many have done so in the past, and many will do so in the future.  But for the amount of preaching we receive on landing the ideal job that makes us happy, I find irony in the sheer amount that are willing to blindly pursue a path that they don’t even know the fundamentals of.  What if you had to spend the next four years of your life learning about Greek literature?  Or even worse, mathematics?  No offense to those whom actually love these subjects—I am merely expressing my interests.

Computing is a world built by the user, molded by the imagination.  It is the ultimate medium for expression, a platform free of limitation.  A computer science course will not just offer an opportunity to thousands of students at Piedmont Hills; it will also give college-bound students a chance to explore their interests.  Whether it’s Python, Java or MATLAB, computer science boasts an incredible range of versatility and practicality.  Fortunately, some teachers have begun to express interest in teaching a computer science class; Mr. Luc, for example, is willing to lead an AP Computer Science course as an experimental class for the 2016-2017 school year, and he needs at least 30 students to sign up.

Scheduling ends in a few days.  I strongly urge those whom wish to pursue an engineering-related field—and there are many—to sign up for computer science.  Thirty students may seem like a lot, but it’s only a fraction of the students that will check “Computer Science” on their UC applications.  Enroll in a class that will hopefully shed some light on your future, and it may turn into the most valuable choice of your high school career.