thelegendonline Sports

Girls’ Golf drives through undefeated season, places 7th at CCS

By Harleen Kaur

PHHS Girls’ Golf Team ended their undefeated season after competing at CCS. The team won BVALs and continued to compete after they qualified to compete at CCS (Central Coast Section).

After ending their undefeated season of 10-0, the team was able to qualify for BVALS (Blossom Valley Athletic League). BVALs took place in Santa Teresa on Oct. 29.

“BVALs is a competition where the top three teams and individuals of the league compete to go to CCS,” said Girls’ Golf Team Captain Rachel Truong.

The team played against schools such as Leland, Live Oak and Silver Creek. 

The team also won many matches and took first place in BVALs.

After BVALs, the team qualified to play in the CCS league because of their undefeated record. The girls traveled to Monterey to compete in CCS to play against other schools in the CCS competition.

 Some scores from CCS: Shannon Abitago, 78; Vani Karamanal, 74; Rachel Truong, 79. In golf, the lower score is the higher you place.

The team placed seventh overall with a score of 444. They lost to teams such as Palo Alto, Valley Christian and Harker. The team was not able to qualify as NorCal Regional Qualifiers and ended their season after the CCS matches. 

“I thought I did good, and I am proud of our team for being the first (golf) team from Piedmont Hills to qualify and make it this far,” expressed sophomore Simriti Mahajan.

This year, the school had an actual Girls’ Golf Team. For the past years, there was not a team for the girls since there were not enough girls interested in joining or playing on a Girls’ Golf Team. Since there was no team for the girls last year, the few girls who were interested in golf played and practiced with the PHHS Boys’ Golf Team during the boys’ season. 

 Last year, the girls wanted to compete in BVALs, so they played as individuals representing PHHS at BVALs.

“We are no longer practicing or playing with the Boys’ Golf Team because this year we have an actual team for the girls,” said Truong.

The team practiced for matches by hitting and running short games at San Jose Muni Golf and Spring Valley. Practicing for short game consists of chipping and putting. The girls also practiced using different clubs such as drivers and irons to help develop skills to use during games.

“We are motivated to win and make it further into CSS next year,” stated Truong. 

thelegendonline News

New Concessions Stands Hit the Football Field

By Ryan Norton

PHHS was granted a new and improved concession stand for the upcoming season. During the first semester, the new concession stand has been under construction. The concession stand was located next to the sports storage area during construction and was relocated on Nov. 4 to its current location at the entrance.

“The district office sent out construction crews during the summer for blueprints, which is the same blueprint as Santa Teresa’s building so they have familiarity of what the design is going to be,” shared Principal Ginny Davis.

The main purpose of the reconstruction is to implement public restrooms into the building, rather than having portable restrooms during sport games. It also served to expand and better the conditions of the previous stand.

“The district has taken its time to assure that mistakes such as not putting in electrical breakers would be avoided in this new construction,” said Mrs. Davis.

However, the construction created two major setbacks. One of these included the concession sales decreasing by almost 25% this year compared to the last few years. It was mainly because of the location and visibility of the concession stand. Another setback was that this year’s temporary concession location was in very close proximity to the portable bathrooms, which may have discouraged people from being in that area.

Nonetheless, the new concession stand proves to be different and better than previous years.

“The new concession building will be up to proper food and health codes. It will have running water, an ice maker and proper electricity capacity. These were lacking in the old concession stand. We hope the new concession building, in its original location, will increase sales beyond previous years,” says Parent Boosters President Anh Lee.

Once construction is complete, the new concession building will be used for other sports. Parent Boosters will be using this stand to sell concessions and Pirate merchandise during sport seasons other than football.

 

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Fun events to go to in the summer

By Trisha Trinh

 

Do you feel like you’re not going to have anything to do over the summer? There are a couple events during the break to keep you feeling rejuvenated and great. You will be having the time of your life and feel as if you aren’t wasting your summer away cooped up in your room.

Fanime- Are you into Japanese animation and culture? This event has it all with guest speakers at panels, merchandise, artwork and cosplayers. The event was created by the fans themselves to bring a community closer with their passion and love for anime. It’s filled with fantastic activities to do and being able to interact with others that share the same interests with you. Fanime is on May 24-27, a way to fill your event with Japanese culture.

Corgi-Con- An event that happens every year at the beach in San Francisco where you can hang out with corgis of all kinds. The event is on June 15 and starts at 10 a.m. It is a great event for all dog lovers and a reason to get out the house. There will be competitions such as costume contests or even corgi races. A perfect way to bond of over loveable and friendly dogs.

San Diego Comic-Con- This convention is made for all comic book lovers and those who are into the pop culture. With special guests from movies like the “Avengers” or “Star Wars” to ask burning questions you might have. The event includes artists from around the world to show off their expertise and artwork created for the fans. Cosplayers from all the popular shows and movies gathered at one place to show off their love and passion of their fandom. It is a spectacular event for all ages to experience and go to. Comic-Con starts on July 17-21 and it happens every year, so don’t miss it.

Outside Lands- A perfect way to end your summer with a bang by hearing your favorite music artists at the largest music festivals located in the heart of San Francisco. With headliners like “Childish Gambino” or “Flume”, this music festival will rock your heart out. Aside from the music, you can experience the taste of the Bay Area with a wide variety of food. Not to mention, a huge milk tea party for those boba lovers. If you are into music and food, this festival might be for you.

These events will keep you company in the summer if you cannot seem to find anything to do and to create memorable things along the way.

 

thelegendonline Features, Uncategorized

Competing for the MNT cause

By Julian Rosete

Key Club hosts their first ever MNT (Maternal Neonatal Tetanus) Olympics on Sunday March 31st.

“This is the first time Key Club has done the MNT Olympics, but hopefully it will become an annual event for our members,” says Key Club Publicist and MNT coordinator Emily Vu.

“It was an event that our fabulous MNT coordinators had been planning for a really long time, and seeing everyone participate and have a lot of fun at the event was pretty rewarding”, says Key Club president Kathy Ton

This event is for contestants to come out to compete and for spectators to come and watch. The event was run by MNT coordinators and Key Club officers at Cataldi Park. There will be many games for contestants to compete in such as three legged race, water balloon race, water toss and more.

“Our division goal for MNT was three thousand dollars and with the registration, raffle tickets and concessions sold at the event, MNT olympics pushed us over the three thousand mark,” says Kathy

The admission costed five dollars for those who chose to compete in the Olympics and three dollars for those who came to watch the event. All the money raised went to the Eliminate project to help fight the MNT disease.

MNT is a disease that causes mothers and newborn babies to experience convulsions and severe pain that can lead to involuntary death. This disease kills a baby every 15 minutes even though this could be prevented with three doses of vaccines that cost $1.80, according to Key Club. These vaccines can protect mothers and children for their rest of their lives.

The Eliminate project is a cause which not only helps to solve the MNT crisis, but also to provide clean water, nutrition’s and other vaccines. The overall goal of the Eliminate project is to raise 110 million dollars to support these causes.

thelegendonline Centerspread, Uncategorized

Deforestation and the Amazon

By Harleen Kaur

 

Forests covers about 31 percent of our land on Earth, but with humans destroying animal habitats, that number will only decrease. Before human impact, the Earth had 6 billion hectares of forest, but as of now only 1.8 billion hectares remain according to rainforestinfo.

Many might wonder why deforestation is happening so rapidly, however the main cause of deforestation is humans. As stated by livescience, forests are being torn down to make space for housing, urban development and land for cattle ranching.

Also, the human need for natural resources contributes to the rapid deforestation that is taking place today. Trees are also being cut down to make timber, wood, paper and oil from palm trees.

The Amazon region is the world’s largest rainforest and home to 10 percent of the known species on Earth, as stated by wwf.panda. The rainforest has already seen 20 percent of its habitat near roads or upcoming developments depleted.

If this deforestation continues at this rapid rate, then between 2010 and 2030, 48 million additional hectares could be destroyed.

Natural resources might run out but before we deal with that problem. The world will have to deal with the displacement of many animals or even extinction of certain species. According to aquaexpeditions, the Pygmy Sloth and the Red-Faced Uakari are already endangered species, and many more animals such as South American Tapir and the Giant Otter will join the list soon.

In order to save the planet and these animals, humans have to start making small changes to their lives to decrease the rate of deforestation. One thing that we can do to decrease rapid deforestation is by making more sustainable choices, like using less paper products by switching them out for reusable products.

Also, another way is to speak out to government officials and voice concern about deforestation. When enough people speak out, the government will have to listen. Speaking out to government officials lets our representatives know that we have a problem and we want to fix it. One federal agency that you can contact is the regional EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) workers who specialize in environmental issues in the area you live in.

Lastly, cutting down on red meat consumption will be able to help decrease the rapid rate of deforestation since land for cattle ranching also contributes to deforestation.

If deforestation continues at this rate, humans will not only have to deal with climate change but also figure out how to get more resources once the forests are depleted.

thelegendonline Features, Uncategorized

Concert Choir workshops with Dr. Benson at SJSU(San Jose State University)

Concert Choir workshops with Dr. Benson at SJSU(San Jose State University)

By Justin Wang

Concert Choir attended a choral workshop at SJSU (San Jose State University) to join is Director of Choral Activities at SJSU, Dr. Jeffrey Benson, and his students on March 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“He just listened to us, then gave us tips on vocal quality and dynamics to prepare us for performances and make our pieces concert-ready,” said senior Lilly Liu.

Dr. Benson conducted the choral warm-ups and many of his students came in and directed the Concert Choir.

“His warm-ups are really cool, funny; he would have his own students come in, lead up and direct. We get to see different perspectives of people directing. And how they did it, they were all different,” said junior Jeremiah Porda.

Concert Choir practiced the pieces “Canti cum novum”, “Hela Rotane” and “Good Night, Dear Heart.”

“I think he’s very knowledgeable and he gives us a lot of great tips. He reinforces the things that Mr. Ellis says and he helps prepare us for concerts,” said Lily.

This workshop provided unique experiences and a look into the workings of college choir for some Concert Choir students.

“I’m looking forward to performing with college students. It’s going to be cool to see how college choirs work,” said Jeremiah.

Dr. Benson and usually holds workshops with PHHS Concert Choir semi-annually, but in recent years Concert Choir has not been able to meet with Dr. Benson at SJSU.

“Dr. Benson usually visits us like twice a year, but we never really go to SJSU,” said Lilly.

Dr. Benson is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) according to sjsu.edu, the official SJSU website.

The website also notes that choirs under Dr. Benson’s direction have been invited to perform with notable figures such as the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli.