BY ANDREW LYUNEWS

As the year slowly dwindles down, one imminent issue hangs in the mind of every college bound senior: applications. De-scribed as possibly one the most stressful of high school experi-ences, the application puts more at stake than simply a grade; it can alter ones entire future.

Thankfully, Aragon sits at the heart of California, home of the University of California system. The UC system is known world-wide for offering top notch edu-

cation at public-school costs. It boasts schools like UC Berkeley and UC Los Angeles which have consistently ranked among the top ten in the nation while main-taining tuition about two-thirds the cost of most private colleges. The estimated full year tuition including board at UC Berkeley for California residents during the 2009-2010 year totaled ap-proximately $29,000, in contrast to estimates of $48,000 from the nearby private Stanford Univer-sity.

However, just like most edu-cational institutions, the UC sys-tem has also been impacted by

tightening budgets. During the 2010-2011 school year at

UC Berkeley, the price of the educational tuition

fee excluding board for California resi-

dents is estimated to be $6,230 per semester. This is almost double the estimated fee from

the 2004-2005 school year which was reported to be about $3,365 per se-mester. As a result,

many senior stu-dents attending

colleges now have witnessed their tuition bills grow year after year.

Senior Rashmi Jain notes, “It will effect how many years people are in college. Some people will take five years instead of four.”

This budget impact is also ef-fecting the decisions of some of our seniors. Senior Andrea Chau says, “Many of my friends are applying to privates hoping that scholarships and grants to pri-vates will make it cheaper than UCs.”

However, the budget is not the only great recent concern of the UC system. In the recent decade, UCs have seen a surge in appli-cants as well. In 2000, UCLA re-ceived 37,794 total applications. A mere decade later, UCLA wit-nessed a 52 percent increase with a staggering 57,660 applications, compared with 48,616 applica-tions for UC Berkeley.

The increase in the number of applications coupled with the budget crisis has prompted most UCs to start enforcing tighter ad-mission standards. UC Irvine has seen admission rates drop from 61.0 percent in 2005 down to 45.2 percent last fall.

Now students are feeling the strain of the heightened competi-tion.

District hesitant to cover teachers’ health insuranceBY PETER ZHANNEWS

Since last February, the San Mateo Union High School Dis-trict Board and the SMUHSD Teacher’s Association have been in a stalemate over the issue of

healthcare insurance, with the District reluctant to continue paying for teachers’ healthcare. With rising insurance costs and a failing “formula” that proportion-ally divides the district’s budget, it seems the District Board is taking a hard-line stance, despite having

$4 million more than expected. Currently, the two sides are in

a secretive mediation process.“If the District is not totally

reasonable, there may be no mid-dle ground,” explains SMUHSD Teachers’ Association Vice Presi-dent and Aragon teacher Carlo

Corti. “From my own experi-ence, I know that the District has covered teachers for at least the last ten years. But for the last four years, the economy has been weak, leading to problems with the District’s financial budgeting formula. If the district isn’t get-ting more money each year from property taxes, then the ‘formula’ doesn’t work because the expens-es grow every year.”

At a recent District board meeting that over 200 teachers at-tended to express their wishes for a fair contract, president of the SMUHSD Teachers’ Association Craig Childress urged the District to come to a fair settlement quick-ly, criticizing the District for not being open to compromise.

“The final public proposal made by the Association rep-resented a significant number of major concessions from our original bargaining position, es-

pecially regarding salary,” says Childress.

A recent article from the For-ster City Patch states that health and welfare benefits constitute 11.1 percent of the district’s bud-get, while salaries constitute 46.4 percent of the school district’s general fund budget.

Certificated teachers did not receive a salary increase in the 2009-2010 school year, and the Association this year is merely asking for the status quo regard-ing salary and healthcare.

Childress further explained that the expectations of teachers are not being met by the Board and that teachers are not having enough say in the board’s ac-tions.

“We expect that teachers will have a meaningful and authorita-tive role in the continuous mis-sion to reduce and control

BY KIRA BRENNERNEWS

Four of the six varsity football home games for this season have been scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.

In past years, Aragon played home games immediately after school: 3:15 p.m. in September, 3 p.m. in October, and 2:45 p.m. in November. The games started earlier as the season progressed in order to ensure enough natural light.

Many students have extracur-ricular activities after school and thus attending the home games was not an option. The hope in

changing the game time is to in-crease attendance to the games.

The general consensus from students is that the game time change will make it easier for them to attend, but only to a cer-tain extent. Junior Ayelet Brown-Jackson says, “The seven o’clock time is not going to change very much for me. It will be a lot eas-ier to go, but I went to last year’s games and will continue to go this year.”

Sophomore Brandon Canfield says, “Although I am more inter-ested in going to a seven o’clock game, getting a ride to the game might pose an issue. If the game

Spotlight on varsity football night games

UC system impacted by budget

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Night games heighten game intensity for both players and the crowd.

Board meetings were largely uneventful, with no compromise being made between teachers and board members.

Check out www.aragonoutlook.net next Friday for web-exclusive content of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s

upcoming visit to Aragon!

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATE MONDOS

FeaturesFlip to page 11 to find out what kinds of quirky pets students and teachers have!

SportsTurn to page 16 to find out about students’ participation in a 127-mile relay race!

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage PAIDPermit No. 782San Mateo, CA

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LUNA LYNCH

02 NEWS volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

BY BRANDON LIUNEWS

Over the years, the diversity of Aragon’s student body has spewed an outgrowth of different language courses being offered to students. Increased interest in Asian languages has recently led some to think that the Spanish department is beginning to de-cline.

Since 2008, the number of students enrolling in Spanish has decreased by 60. The number of freshmen enrolled in Spanish has decreased severely, resulting in one less Spanish 1-2 class.

Due to Barbara Viele Basques’ retirement, Spanish teacher Luisa Hardy has taken on extra sec-tions. Hardy believes that despite less students, many people are still interested in learning Spanish. Data has not shown substantial decrease in student enrollment, but Hardy says, “Students are re-alizing that the world is shrinking and are opening themselves up to new ideas.”

Many students feel more com-fortable with Spanish because of previous study and its alphabeti-cal similarities to English.

Additionally, the fact that there is one less Spanish class may be offset by the smaller freshman

classes.On the other hand, Chinese

has shown steady growth since its inception in 2007. The de-partment has grown from only two classes and one teacher to six classes. Chinese teacher Sonya Yu is a new face in the World Lan-guage department, and was hired to meet the increasing demand.

Interest in Chinese has grown a lot in the past years, leading to gradual change. Although many students believe in the practical-ity of taking such a language, they consider it to be more difficult than other languages.

Founder and head of the Chi-nese department Qi Fan says, “The nature of the language is a big challenge because it is not alphabetical.” In the first year of study, students only learn 200 of the 3000 characters that must be mastered for fluency.

Students are often turned away from this and choose to take other languages which they believe are easier.

Casey Cheng, a Chinese-Jap-anese freshman taking Japanese 5/6, says, “I [have my] mother[’ s] tongue. My mom is Japanese so it is easier for me.” He believes that Chinese was more difficult and chose to take a language that he was more accustomed to.

Despite this, Fan has 26 stu-dents enrolled in AP Chinese, all with various motivations for tak-ing the class. Speculation has been raised that fluent speakers taking Chinese are enrolling purely for the grade benefits. Zhili Wang, a senior who moved here three years ago from China, takes it mostly for the grade, while senior Michele Mao says that many oth-ers are motivated by other rea-sons. She learns for culture and

says, “It’s easy [for me] and I have a 99 percent, but it is harder for the non-native speakers.”

Junior Eric Ho relates that AP Chinese is hard despite him being fluent, but he is willing to take on the difficulties of the language and strives to take the class for more than just a grade. “It is hard [but] I want to practice more and learn simplified Chinese,” says Ho.

From a statistical standpoint, the World Language department

is changing, but change is slow. Chinese interest is gradually in-creasing and it is becoming ap-parent that many are beginning to think about their futures, but the language still presents much diffi-culty because of its complexity. It seems that the Aragon World Lan-guages department is successful at accommodating rising interest for new languages while maintaining interest for the traditional.

Adios to Spanish, ni hao to Chinese

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

were after school, then I could just hang around until it started, but with the later game time, I have to go somewhere off campus be-tween 3 pm and 7 pm, making it more difficult to get back to school.”

Sophomores Haley Bartlett and Melissa Matthews were not able to make the game on Sep-tember 10 due to their soccer game. “I want to go more this year because the games seem more ex-citing; more people will come,” says Bartlett.

Many varsity football players agree that increased attendance during the new game time leads to more school spirit. Senior of-fensive lineman Aniva Nunez-Mamea says, “I like the later games because there is more time to mentally prepare, it’s helpful. I like it more because night games bring the intensity up.”

Senior wingback Aaron Eder, another varsity football player, agrees. “Night games are better. They give people something to do on a Friday night. My favorite part about them is that more peo-ple come to the games,” says Eder.

Fellow senior varsity football player Edgar Moreno enthusias-tically says that the night games, “get me and the team pumped up. They are more exciting for every-one.”

Freshman and leadership member Nicole Briedis says,“We make signs for the games. I think that the night games will definite-ly increase the number of people going to the games; it is great for Aragon spirit.”

A lot of preparations have to be made in order to hold the games at night. As common cour-

tesy to the people living near Aragon, administration has to alert them when games will be held at night. Varsity football coach and athletic department head. Steve Sell says, “security measures must be taken,” in or-der to ensure everyone’s safety at night.

Last year the district pur-chased portable lights to use during the nighttime sport-ing events. The district shares the lights amongst the other schools. Without these lights Aragon could not hold night-time games at all. Each school had to take $5000 from their athletics budget for the lights. However, the lights opened up the opportunity to host the home night games. Sell says that now, “three times as many students at-tend the games.”

“Other sports and after school activities take place at the old time of the varsity games; with this new time, attendance will go way up,” says Sell. “Athletes can come support each other and it’s so great for school spirit. People will want to come to the 7 p.m. games because there is good weather ear-

ly in the year. [The players] have more energy, it makes it more fun. The team [also] misses less class for their games.”

Thus far, Aragon has played two home games and two away games. This Friday, Aragon will play Menlo-Atherton at a home game, followed by an away game at Burlingame next Friday. Recaps of games can be found at www.aragonoutlook.net.

Lights up on night football games

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BY TAYLOR WESTMONTNEWS

Aragon’s fall musical this year will be Curtains, a comedic mur-der mystery musical within a musical. “The murder-mystery genre is my favorite,” Shane Smuin says.

Smuin also liked that Cur-tains had a very large cast of 30 people providing casting op-portunities for both males and females. Another thing that made Curtains an ideal pick as a musical was that it is a relatively new musical, so very few people know the plotline. Which is per-fect, of course, because it is a murder mystery.

The audition process started the second week of school, on August 23. Over fifty prospective actors and actresses had to show off their singing capabilities. The next day they had to dance and act. Wednesday brought call-backs, and on Thursday the cast list was put up.

Out of the 30 people in the musical, there are sixteen se-niors and just one freshman. Currently there are rehearsals four or five times a week, usually from four to six after school. A few different types of rehearsals occur: there are music rehears-als with pianist Kevin Imbimbo, and dance rehearsals in the the-ater with choreographer Hill-ary McQuaid. Ultimately, “fi-nal product” rehearsals, whole scenes with music and dancing combined, help.

The backstage of Curtains will be visible to the audience because many scenes portray the actors backstage of their own production. Also, the orchestra

will be on a platform at the back of the stage, raised eight feet above the ground. This is to give the illusion that the audience is actually backstage with the cast of the play, and that the ‘audi-ence’ is behind the curtains and the orchestra. The set is currently 60 percent built and unpainted.

When asked how she man-ages homework, Senior Jessia Hoffman says, “Well, I stay up pretty late… past midnight for sure”. Hoffman plays one of the main characters, Georgia, and is taking a heavy workload, along with having to manage college applications. She would not give up going to rehearsal because, she says, “rehearsal is like therapy … I get to do what I love … put-ting on a musical has got to be the most fulfilling thing a person can hope to do”. Hoffman loves her character because she has the opportunity to explore and de-velop as a main character

Another person involved in Curtains who has a lot on their plate is senior stage manager-Kathy Shield. She has been part of Aragon’s drama produc-tions crew for two years. Kathy’s job composes of running the “booth”, crew and cast. She has to make sure everyone is on stage when they need to be, that every-thing is ready before the curtains come up and that the crew is do-ing their job properly.

As sophomore ensemble member Laynie Mitchell says, “It’s going to be a crazy intense show!”

The show runs from Novem-ber 18 to 21, and it will be from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. There will be five performances, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Behind the Curtains

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CHENWEN HWANG

Senior lineman Villiami Fukofuka starts on both offense and defense.

Capuchino fullback Will Scott (34) is pursued by senior outside linebacker Sioeli Mapa (1) and senior defensive lineman Etoni Tonga (4).

BY WENDY YUNEWS

An unforgettable Prom and Senior Activity Day does not pay for itself. As the new school year sets in, each class is actively mak-ing efforts to find ways to raise money, so that by senior year , their class will have a great way of ending their high school career.

Classes have multiple ways to fundraise, from finding sponsors to selling goods at public events like dances and food fairs and each class has made a lot of prog-ress through these means.

Accounting Clerk Barbara Ly-ons says, “One of the main ways each class has been raising mon-ey is through finding vendors like Jamba Juice to sponsor their classes. When people mention Aragon, those vendors usually donate a percentage of the profits made from the people who men-tioned Aragon to the class they are sponsoring.”

This type of fundraising has recently been popular due to the fact that in-school fundraisers are limited.

Throughout their years in high school, each class fundraises until the end of their senior year when the money raised gets p r i -marily spent on ac-

tivities for Senior Activity Day. Prom, on the other hand, costs an average of $20,000 total and is covered entirely by its own ticket sales.

Leadership Teacher Catherine Williamson states, “Ticket prices are calculated to pay for Prom. This involves the seniors sitting down with me to go over the ex-penses and estimating how many students will attend. I usu-ally refer to the number that at-tended last year. Thus, seniors should retain what money they had going into the Prom, and they usually end up with a profit.”

In some cases, when Prom and Senior Activity Day are over and paid for, the seniors still end up with a surplus in funds. They can either decide to spend the money on a gift back to the school or have more extravagant end of the year activities.

Whether or not they do spend it, the money is still designated towards the school, since any left-over money is donated to the As-sociated Student Body (ASB) to be used for the student body.

With the school year just be-ginning, each class has made healthy progress towards plan-ning a successful financial year.

Sophomores, currently have $795.37 in their funds. Com-menting on the way things were run last year, Sophomore Class Vice President Keaton Moe says, “By looking at previous funds, I do not think we started off the way we had wished. Even though we had some great officers and board members last year, the level of fundraising and class spirit

wasn’t at the level we thought it could be.”

Moe ex-plains, “Pre-viously, the f r e s h m a n

class hosted many common res-taurant fundraisers. This year we are planning to use the same type of methods, such as a possible movie-night or walk-a-thon.

With $1,284.32 in funds, the juniors have done well in raising money in the years past. Junior class treasurer Yuzo Makitani says, “The Class of 2012 raised around $400 freshman year and around $600 sophomore year … so our income is in pretty good shape so far.”

Juniors have many plans to make another year thrive. One of their main projects is to release Aragon’s first ever class sunglasses while also having more class-shirts coming in later in the year.

Like the juniors, seniors have done espe-

cially well through-

out

the years with a current balance of $2,964.13. Senior class presi-dent Amrit Saxena says, “Our class continued its traditional success and fundraised phenom-enally well last year. Our fund-raising strategies included res-taurant fundraisers, lunch sales, after-school sales, and class t-shirt sales.”

Seeing that this is their last year in their high school career, seniors are focusing more on planning end of the year activities rather than concentrating solely on fundraising. “We are investing more time in planning Prom… and we plan to raise money as we traditionally have,” says Saxena.

While all the other classes are well on their way, the freshmen are just getting started. With freshman elections occurring not too long ago, the freshman stu-dent council has already figured out meetings and basic goals for their class.

Using the orientation as a jump start, Freshman Class Presi-dent Patrick Lin states, “By the end of this year, we will hope to have held at least six fundraisers, and possibly have raised more than two hundred dollars through restaurant fundraisers, food sales, and maybe a fundraiser at the Ice Chalet.”

Lin also adds, “We have de-cided to utilize Facebook as a fast and efficient way to contact each other and arrange meetings.”

Moe, summing it up, says, “We are just getting started, but,

already, we foresee success, so hopefully the positive mo-

mentum can carry us on throughout the rest of the year.”

Be sure to visit www.aragonoutlook.net for additional

content!

BY KATHRYN DEWITTNEWS

After dropping 10 points in 2007, Aragon High School in-creased its Academic Perfor-mance Index (API) score by 18 points from last year. The num-ber of sophomores who obtain a proficient score of 380 or higher on the California High School Exit Exam, and the STAR (Stan-dardized Testing and Recording) testing scores determines the Aca-

demic Performance Index. Cur-rently, Aragon’s API is 840, second only to Mills High School in the San Mateo Union High School District.

“[That 840] tells colleges [that our] students have an aggressive curriculum that meets standards” says Assistant Principal Joe Ma-hood.

“Community members have pride and prestige that their “stu-dents work hard and the teachers teach well,” says Assistant Princi-pal Jim Coe.

Administration and faculty alike have enforced the impor-tance of the considerably long test by rewarding students.

“We work hard, but we play hard [too],” says Coe. Raffles are typically held for students par-ticipating in STAR tests, with the drawings being held at lunch on each testing day.

“I won some movie tickets [in a raffle]” says junior Jethro Mer-cado excitedly.

Reasons for the drop in API

several years ago vary from per-son to person. “[Back in 2007,] we did not have the encourage-ment that we do now,” says Schol-arship and Financial Aid Advisor Nancy Walsh about the 10-point loss that occured in that year.

“I do not think [the drop in 2007] has anything to do with the teachers,” Walsh says. Aragon got out of that low scoring phase, and increased its score each year since.

In fact, Aragon was the only school in the district for which all student subgroups met their target.

The increase in API cannot be directly traced to students trying harder or doing anything differ-ently on the tests as students who were interviewed reported that they did little different over the years.

But most students groaned and grumbled when reminded of the monotonous tests that occupy a week in the spring. Though they also find the tests to generally be easy, junior Krista Neill says

“[The] tests [have] been the same [level of difficulty].”

Although the API score has risen over the past three years to exceed 800, there is a chance that Aragon could pos-sibly not make the Adequate Y e a r l y Progress (AYP) if a subgroup does not score well.

AYP acts as a standard for the schools and districts to make sure more and more students make the proficient level. If a numeri-cally significant subgroup with -in Aragon does not score well enough, that alone could send us under the AYP. A drop in the score would put our school “one step closer to [Program Improve-ment],” says Mahood.

Not making these goals two years in a row results in place-ment into Pro-gram Improve-ment. If the API dropped in 2008, Aragon would

h a v e easily started escape PI and professional development. The entire faculty at Ara-gon would have been replaced if the school did not meet AYP in six years. Fortunately,

raising 18 points means Aragon is nowhere near such an event.

Summing up students’ opin-ions, senior Evelyn Vilchez says “[it is] just another test I have to take, [so] I will try my best.”

03NEWSvolume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

Class finance situation revealed

Raising Aragon’s scores to the STARs

Aragon’s 2010 API Score:

840Score difference from 2009:

+18Statewide API target:

800

UC SelectivityCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Number of Freshman UC Applicants for Fall 2010:

100,428Number of Freshman UC Applicants for Fall 2009:

98,002Number of Freshman UC Applicants for Fall 2008:

95,201College Advisor Laurie Tezak

observes, “Many students feel more pressured. They are nervous about whether or not they are taking the right classes. They feel as if they have to get everything right because there is more com-petition.” Although Aragon has not seen declines in admittance, Senior Class Adviser Trisha Lis-kay warns, “UC’s this year will be much more adamant. That means absolutely no D grades.”

Many students have also be-come more conservative with their college selections. Tezak says, “students are not looking at CSU’s as their backup, but com-munity colleges as a back up.”

Indeed, Behrooz Sharvini, a teacher in the Aragon math de-partment who also teaches at the local College of San Mateo, re-ports that his class sizes at CSM have seen an increase. No need to fear community colleges though. Sharvini assures that at commu-nity colleges, “the education is ex-cellent, and it really is a bargain. It is really easy to get personalized attention as opposed to if you were to go to a UC like Berkeley with huge class sizes.”

Regardless of the economic sit-uation, it seems as if the increased selectivity of UC’s is here to stay.

“Schools like the competition,” Tezak says. “It is likely that these selective admissions are going to stay like this for a while.”

YUZO M

AKITANI

NATALIE PALTER

“Our class continued its tradi-tional success and fundraised phenomenally well last year.”

-Amrit Saxena

04 NEWS volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Health Care costs ... Despite our effort, the only role we have been allowed to play is that of a sounding board for District ideas for cost control, with no real say, even though our benefits hang in the balance. We expect that the District will consult with teach-ers when developing future bond or parcel tax proposals so that we can be an active voice of support for items that affect our liveli-hood and the education of the students we see every day ... and we expect that we will be treat-ed with respect and as valuable voices in conversations about the future of this district,” he stated.

Although Childress empha-sized that “it is still the hope of the Association Bargaining Team that the parties can reach a fair settlement through mediation” and that “[the Association] be-lieves that the parties have moved closer in recent sessions,” many teachers are visibly upset that they are working without a for-mal contract. At the board meet-ing, teachers wore black t-shirts reading “no teacher left behind,” and held up signs reading “Do We Deserve Reduced Compensa-tion?”

Aragon teacher Steve Ratto says “For me, thoughts about the contract are always in the back of my mind, since these decisions will have a big impact on my future. I don’t have dependents

now, but if I have children in the future, I’ll have to think about what happens to them. ”

In response to the Associa-tion, Board member Peter Han-ley said that the negotiations were primarily about balancing the needs of teachers and those of students. “We’re primarily here to educate kids,” he told the Foster City Patch.

Student representative to the Board of Trustees and Aragon senior Kayla Lahoz said, “Part of the problem is that the state hasn’t passed the budget yet, so the Board wants to be semi-con-servative in their actions.”

Only time will tell what be-comes of this mediation pro-cess. Although Childress has stated that he feels the SMUHSD Teachers’ Association and the District are nearing a final agree-ment, he believes there is still a gap to be bridged. Adds Ratto, “If this mediation process does somehow work out this year, I’ll wonder if the same problem will come up next year... did we actu-ally solve the problem, or did we put a small Band-Aid over a big wound?”

BY BAILEY GODWINNEWS

Aragon is holding five dances this year with the addition of the Welcome Back Dance and the Winter Ball.

Last year, the Welcome Back Dance was not held due to lack of leadership enthusiasm, despite being held in the past. Leader-ship Advisor Catherine William-son says, “The Welcome Back Dance was discontinued because of attendance …, the detention policy, tardies … and maybe we didn’t get it off the ground soon enough.”

The Winter Formal was not held last year because of difficulty in finding a venue large enough to host 400 to 500 students for less than $10,000. In years past there have been 400 students that came to the Winter Ball.

“In order to accommodate that many students, we had to go off-campus … After Homecoming last year, stu-dents have been asking to put the Winter Ball back on calendars … Those that really like the dances are go-ing to love the Winter Ball,” says Williamson.

This May, the dance committee will decide whether to keep the Win-ter Ball or not based on ticket sales.

Senior Colleen Hahn, a mem-ber of the dance committee, says, “We’ll keep our fingers crossed and test the waters…”

Williamson says, “I think it’s great that there is new interest in the dances, because it shows that the students show enough enthu-siasm that they pay attention to our activities that are going on.”

“Because the detention policy changed, more people were al-lowed to come to dances. We’re hoping more people will be able to come,” says Hahn

“[S]ince this is my last year, I

want to spend as much time with my friends as possible,” says se-nior Felicia Dito.

The new dances also allow freshmen and sophomores to at-tend more dances. Sophomore Kerri Su says, “I hope [the danc-es] continue. Underclassmen can’t go to Prom this year, but it gives them something to look forward to.”

The increased number of dances may contribute to the rise of school spirit this year. Su says, “I think if we increased the amount of dances that we have, school spirit would get better, but then … school spirit comes from the students, so it might not change much.”

The dances normally pay for themselves. Every few days the price for the dances goes up, so it is important to buy them early.

Hahn says, “There was more money to spend on decorations

and venues … we just wanted to add another dance just to see how it would turn out.”

The key to the success and revival of these dances all de-pends on the expenses. Tick-et prices adjust accordingly.

Dito says, “I think that people will be really pumped up about the increase of the dances, especially the seniors.”

Hahn agrees, saying, “It’s my senior year, and it’s just one

more dance to go to.”

Welcome Back and Winter Ball make comeback

EMILY YIP

Health care withheld by district

For more articles like these and web-exclusive

content, visit www.aragonoutlook.net

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06 FEATURES volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

BY WASSIM KHEMICI

FEATURES

Aragon has excellent stan-dardized test scores, high AP exams pass rates, and dedicat-ed students. However, when it comes to style, many believe that Aragon is inconsistent and often mediocre.

Junior Dani Cutts believes that Aragon is “not really” a fash-ionable school. She explains that Aragon "is more focused on aca-demics rather than fashion. Be-cause of that, we see a lot of sweat pants and big sweat-shirts."

“Some people don’t care about fashion because they feel like there are more important things to focus on in high school, like grades and college applica-tions,” says senior Natalie Palter.

While academics have a large impact on the way students dress, so can extracurricular ac-tivities.

Senior Nina Prentiss, along-side the rest of the Improv team, wears team shirts during shows. She enjoys doing so since “it's fun to try and make the simple T-shirts look fashionable with accessories.”

Other groups besides the Im-prov team represent themselves through clothing. Students in-volved in the musical dress in their finest for opening night, the water-polo team wears team shirts on game days, and last year the robotics team members dyed their hair.

However, students not only demonstrate club-pride through their clothing, but displaying school spirit is becoming in-creasingly popular.

“I am loving the fact that on Fridays I see a lot of students wearing red & black--that's the way it should be people,” says freshman English teacher Melis-sa Perino. “We need to represent AHS and not be afraid of show-ing who we are. San Mateo High School has the best school spirit on Fridays and I think we need to show them that the Dons can

represent.”Unfortunately, many feel as

though social rules and the feel-ing of conformity prohibit stu-dents from dressing as they wish.

“Conformity plays an aspect [in how people dress], but I don't notice it in high school as much as I did in middle school,” says Prentiss. “People are still worried about sticking out, but they also want to be known as their own

person.”Perino shares the same idea

relating conformity and fashion.“I'm sure that many students

feel like they must conform to a particular ‘style identity’,’’ she says. “But the students who, in my mind, are the most ‘fashion-forward’ are the ones who do not conform.”

Gender roles also tend to play a role in the way people feel comfortable dressing. For Pren-tiss, defying them had an unfor-tunate impact on her self-image.

“There is a definite need to appear feminine for a lot of girls. I definitely got a negative reac-tion a few years ago when I cut my hair really short,” says Pren-tiss. “I became self-conscious because I didn't think I was portraying myself as feminine enough.”

Prentiss also believes that bravery plays a “big role” in fashion. She explains how she “know[s] the exact feeling of wearing something a little more fashion-daring and being un-sure of how it will be received at school, whether I'll make a splash for the wrong reasons,” just like many others.

So be it bold, spirited, or un-interested, fashion is something that the student population is confronted with every day. For most, a simple T-shirt and jeans will suffice, and for others, ex-pressing themselves through style is a pivotal part of their day.

As Palter says, “I think [tak-ing risks in] fashion is a personal choice. But for me, when I dress fashionably, I tend to have bet-ter days. It makes me feel more confident.”

The many facets of Aragon fashion BY JAN MARINI C. GALABAY

FEATURES

Darkness shrouds the last night of October and only the light from the moon illuminates a crowded street. Thrills and chills fill up the neighbor’s house as they excitedly wait for the knock-ing of the door and the beaming words of “trick or treat!” Strad-dling the line between fall and winter, fun and fear, Halloween is a time of celebration and super-stition.

Halloween is the time for cre-ative people to show off and pa-rade their often bizarre costumes. But the hassle and pressure before the night of the celebration can be very frantic and overwhelm-ing. “I was a demon last year and I made this really big mask,” says Sophomore Danielle Gomez. “It was made of paper mosaic, hel-met, tissue box, and tooth picks. I bought this zombie costume and my friend and I added ripped up costumes to it. I prepared for it for a month.”

However, the stress of making a costume is sometimes lessened with the help and support of family members. Junior Naomi Tarling says, “I woke up in the morning really early and my dad spent like an hour painting my

face with camouflage colors.”Junior Valeria Beltran has the

same experience. She says, “I was a butterfly in third grade. My

mom had to make the dress and my own antlers. I felt guilty be-cause she did all the work.”

After the costume has been made the excitement does not end. Through their creativ-ity, many individuals make new friends. Senior Andreana Grant says, “My brother and I were wearing 101 Dalmatian costumes in second grade. We were in the park, and surprisingly we saw two Dalmatian dogs. They licked us and almost sniffed our butts.”

In addition to these experienc-es, part of the fun of Halloween is figuring out what other people are portraying. Most of the time it is easy to identify what people are dressed up as, but other times it is as difficult as solving a math problem. Junior Alekhya Veera-malla says, “The only costume I had was an Indian princess, because I always wear Indian clothes... People just won’t under-stand what I was.”

Sometimes, things do not turn out the way they have been planned. “I was a medieval prin-cess in fourth grade. I felt weird and uncomfortable because my dress was too long. The size of it was bigger than my actual size so I kept stepping on it,” says Junior Katherine La Serna.

However, even if most are enthusiastically preparing for Halloween, there are some who simply do not want to be part of the frenzied cel-ebration.

Sophomore Jamie Lo says, “I do not wear costumes on Halloween. I’m kind of a home buddy.”

There are also some people who do not celebrate Hallow-een because of their culture or their own personal views. Junior Ayelet Brown-Jackson says, “I don’t celebrate that much because of religious reasons. We never answer the door when there are kids trick or treating.” On the other hand, Senior Laci Moore has a different view about wear-ing costumes. She says, “This would be my last year to wear a costume because I’m getting

kind of too old.” Whether every-one participates or not, the fun and exciting spirit that Halloween provides, give everyone some-

thing to look forward to. Others prefer to be fascinat-

ed by other people’s costumes, rather than be the one stared at. Senior Rashmi Jain says, “There were like these two students that used to go to this school, and they always used to dress up as pros-titutes. Every year, every Hallow-een, there were these two guys who used to do that. I thought it was really really funny.” Surely, Halloween is not only for the par-ticipants but also for the viewers.

Halloween is one of the old-est and most popular holidays in America. It means kids running around in costumes, and fam-ily and friends getting together and exchanging pleasantries with each other. Others still see its su-perstitious nature or its ties to deceased. Nevertheless, besides a visit from the tooth fairy the next day, it is the only holiday that gives you the excuse to eat all the sugar you want and wear what-ever you want.

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Sophomore Danielle Gomez spent a month creating this elaborate costume with her friend.

Costume craftsmanship

Senior Angie Cheung goes retro with thick-framed glasses and a stylish, but comfortable sweat-shirt.

Junior Dani Cutts thinks Aragon has a stronger focus on academ-ics than fashion, but she man-ages to stay trendy in a printed sweater.

ALYSSA

LIM

ALYSSA

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Senior twins Andreana and Charles Grant started the tradition of wearing identi-cal costumes at an early age. They later moved on from wizards, to dalmatians.

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For more stories and web-exclusive content, visit us at www.aragonoutlook.com.

07FEATURESvolume 50 issue 02October 14, 2010

BY CAMILLE HALLEYFEATURES

“Most of them are from people and places,” says freshman Emma Mamis as she held up a collection of bracelets on her wrist. “This one is from a little town in Spain,” she said, pointing to a bracelet given to her by her friend. “And this one says ‘dance’ on it because I like to dance,” she says, pointing to another.

We all have that certain object we have a strong sentimental at-tachment to, whether it be a teddy

bear, a baby blanket, a trophy, or even something completely un-expected. Many Aragon students have objects like these that they consider to an irreplaceable part of their lives and are willing to share.

Freshman Sarah Mark ac-quired her sentimental object when she was just a baby. Mark’s biological mother gave her a stuffed panda bear before putting her up for adoption as a “kind of parting gift.” Mark says that the bear is “one of [her] only memo-ries of [her biological mother].”

Mark also remembers her mother through a few letters she keeps from her.

Junior Sammy Shufton also developed his connection with his most cherished object when he was born. Shufton described his blanket “Blankie” as a soft white blanket that never leaves his bed. “If I lost it, I’d probably cry for a long time and probably punch something,” says Shuf-

ton. “I keep it in my bed where I know it’ll be safe.”

For many, it is the relation to a special person that makes an item so significant. Junior Nick Tom, for instance, treasures a toy rocket ship that his grandfather gave to him when he was in kindergarten. In what Tom described as a “spaz moment” last year, he nearly dropped the rocket, but was lucky

enough to save it in time be-fore it hit the ground.

Junior Kathryn Miya-hira also treasures an item related to a relative, who passed away earlier this year. It is an accordion that had previously belonged to her great-grandfather. “He lived in San Francisco, so he thought he was Italian, even though he was really Irish, so he bought an accordion,” says Miyahira. Her family sometimes tries to play the accordion in remembrance of her great-grandfather, who she says played the accordion well.

“My sentimental object is an abalone shell that was carved by my great-grandma in Hawaii,” junior Eric Neketin says. He has had the abalone shell for “as long as [he] can remember” and now wears it around his neck every-day. Neketin said his great-grand-mother had a fondness for travel and that “she lived in Hawaii for a part of her life, and she also lived in Egypt”, and adds that it is part of why the shell means so much to him.

For students, the deeper the connection to the object, the more frightening the idea of los-ing it is. Sophomore Kyra Fung has had her stuffed panda bear since she was three, and says her

mother once tried to get rid of it, along with one of her other stuffed animals, when she was only four. “I’ve had it through ev-erything, like my moves and my parents’ divorce,” says Fung. She says that since the near loss of her bear, she has been especially pro-tective of it.

Other students value objects that symbolize their passions. For example, sophomore Brendan McGinnis described his skate-board as being his most cherished possession. Junior Jonathan Pan, who plays music, said the music box he received from his grand-mother six years ago “inspired” him to begin playing music.

Sophomore Ashley Lentz has a replica of a uniform worn by Julie Foudy, an Olympic gold medal-

winning soccer player. Lentz’s mother gave her the uniform when she first began playing soccer eight years ago. Lentz had the uniform signed by Julie Foudy herself when she met her at soccer camp, and now displays the uni-form on her wall.

Junior Summer Kang takes value in an object that she is proud of, a giraffe she made last summer. “I made it

out of tape and put pa-per mache on top of it, and then I painted it,” she said, adding “it’s sentimental because I really en-joyed the art class I took for it, and I really like [the giraffe].”

From toy rockets to accordions, and abalone shells to “blankies”, it seems that most Aragon students have something that they hold dear. While the shape and origin of each student’s treasured item varies, their sentimental value represents a universal feeling of significance and meaning.

M o r e t h a n j u s t a n o b j e c t

BY PANIZ AMIRNASIRIFEATURES

Senior Katherine Shield sighs deeply and lays her head on her tired hands. Finished with the ap-plication form for a scholarship that combines her academic and extra-curricular achievements, all she has to do now is write an essay naming a significant moment in her life and describing how it has changed her. She can think of a number of events that are mean-ingful to her, yet the words simply refuse to pop into her mind. The trouble seems to be narrowing down all of those moments into one that stands up above the rest. Suddenly, she comes across a re-alization, “You know that saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’? [Well] I can’t be de-fined by one moment because my life is not one moment. I’m not dance or soccer or girl scouts or robotics or the theatre or what I do with my family. I’m all of those things,” says Shield.

Though scholarships provide great financial op-portunities, they can often act as an emotional pro-cess for students as they put their full efforts into their applications. However, many of the students at Aragon do not even know about the broad range of scholarships offered to Aragon students. Whether based on aca-demics or creative arts, scholar-ships that apply to different ac-tivities exist by the dozens.

One of the most common scholarships offered at Aragon doesn’t, in fact, offer much money. The California Federation Schol-arship rewards those who are aca-demically qualified with recogni-tion for being solid students. If a student further qualifies, they can then apply for scholarships with a cash value.

“I didn’t know much about CSF at first,” says sophomore Grace Chan. “My parents just told me to apply for it and I basically followed what my friends did af-ter that. But after learning a little bit about it, I felt pretty proud that I was able to apply because I was getting rewarded for my hard work.”

Also well-known, the Rotary scholarship follows students from middle school into their high school years, working with them to set academic goals and reward-ing them with financial benefits every year that these goals are achieved. “I applied for the Rotary scholarship in the 8th grade be-cause I didn’t know what I want-

ed to do for col-lege at the time, and it provided a sense of security. I didn’t end up winning, but just the experience of applying was beneficial” says senior Cinderella

Langilangi. Scholarships sponsored direct-

ly by Aragon include the AVID scholarships and those offered by the PTSO such as the Sum-mer Opportunities scholarship.

Students taking part in various summer programs can apply for this scholarship in order to re-ceive some financial help. “I had a really amazing experience just learning to put yourself out there and to have more self-confidence. It gave me a lot of courage to try new things, and [it felt good] to do something meaningful,” says junior Simone Jacobs, one of the recipients of the scholarship last year who used her winnings for a program called Amigos de las Americas. Participants of this program travel to various Span-ish-speaking countries where they take part in community service

projects and work as teachers. Scholarships aimed specifically

at personal interests often supply great opportunities since they add a fun aspect to the application process. Aragon alumni Julia Bor-den, who applied for the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Scholarship in high school says, “I’d been an ACE student pre-senter and active student leader for about 8 months to a year be-fore I applied for the scholarship [and] I was also very involved with other youth climate change initiatives, so a scholarship geared toward one’s environmental ac-tions fit perfectly.”

“The scholarship was mean-ingful because it honored all of my hard work and achievements as a youth climate advocate,” says Borden. “Throughout high school, this was the one issue I felt strongest about and that I’d put the most time and effort into, so it [was] nice to be recognized.”

With no limit on the number of scholarships each individual can apply for, “the more you apply for, the better,” says scholarship and financial aid advisor Nancy Walsh. “Some of them do require a lot work, but it’s worth it if you win. If you’re very diligent and determined, there’s a very good possibility [that you can even pay off four years of college].

Jacobs agrees, “it’s definitely a great idea and a very useful ex-perience applying for scholar-ships during your high school years [because it] prepares you for when you’re applying for col-leges. And instead of immediately just assuming you have to pay for something, it’s good to look at outside resources.”

Finding the right scholarship may seem intimidating with so many of them available. How-ever, it is as simple as talking to Ms. Walsh in the office, or even searching them online. And even if the scholarship ends up going to someone else, “it teaches you how to do things on your own, and as you do them they’ll prob-ably get easier,” says Walsh. “What do you have to lose? You won’t win everything you apply for (I didn’t), but you lose more by not trying,” adds Borden.

A dive into opportunity: scholarships at Aragon

Junior Kathryn Miyahira treasures the accordion that once belonged to her grandfather, who “thought he was Italian.”

NATA

LIE PALTER

“I felt really proud that I was able to apply [for CSF] because I was get-ting rewarded for my hard work.”- Sophomore Grace Chan

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Junior Sammy Shufton’s “Blankie,” has stayed in his bed since he was born.

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Ballot DECRIMINALIZATION VS. LEGALIZATION

As the debate regarding the upcoming Proposition 19 boils up, it is

i

mportant for all those participating to understand the difference between

legalization and decriminalization, two tricky legal terms. Decriminaliza-

tion is defined as the lowering of penalties associated with an act without ac-

tually declaring it legal, while legalization is the complete or near-complete

removal of all penalties associated with the act. This means that, even if a

drug is decriminalized, a person can still be charged with a fine if he or she is

in unlawful possession of the drug, though they cannot be charged as a criminal

and given jail time for that particular act.

Proposition 19 more fully legalizes marijuana for adults with

attached regulations. however, it carries provisions

which match the description of decriminali-

zation too. The proposition still allows

for jail time to be dealt out when

dealing with underage

possession or dealing.

1996: Proposition 215 (Compassionate Use Act)

passed = patients with valid illness may use marijuana

for medical purposes

2003: Senate Bill 420 passed = legitimizes iden-tification cards related to

medical marijuana

Marijuana over the Years

Student P

oll

Teac

her P

oll

n = 216

PHOTO COURTESY OF TORBEN HANSEN

Ballot Misconceptions

Misconception #1: A majority of high school students try marijuana.

Fact: A 2009 survey called Monitoring the Future concluded that only 7% of 8th graders, 16% of

10th graders, and 21% of 12th graders in the nation had tried marijuana in the month leading up

to the survey. Concurrently, the Healthy Kids survey of Aragon, conducted in November of 2009,

concluded that only 19% of 9th graders and 35% of 11th graders at Aragon High School had ever

tried marijuana. Statistically, most students do NOT use marijuana; the data speaks for itself.

Misconception #2: Marijuana has been proved to be a “gateway” drug, and

can lead to use of other harder drugs.

FACT: There have been studies that SHOW marijuana as a gateway drug; there have been stud

ies that demonstrate the opposite. The fact of the matter is that there is no clear-cut

evidence to show a direct correlation between the use of marijuana and harder drugs.

However, there is one way in which marijuana can lead to other drugs: its illegality. In

this regard, people who actually deal marijuana may be exposed to other aspects of the

drug trade, and thus may be likely to deal harder drugs as well.

Misconception #3: Marijuana is extremely addictive.

fACT:While there are people out there that are addicted to marijuana, the drug is

generally regarded as less addictive than other drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

The fact that people are addicted to marijuana, however, should come as no great

shock; people can be addicted to just about anything, including seemingly odd

things such as sex and food. However, this is not to say that addiction to mari

juana is an extremely rare occurrence; recent studies have shown that

approximately 9% of adults who have tried marijuana have

acquired a EMOTIONAL dependence on the drug.

Ballot Statistics http://www.marijuana-addiction.info/Marijuana_Statistics.htm

The number of past year marijuana users in 2005 was approximately

25.4 million (10.4% of the population aged 12 or older) and the number of past

month marijuana users was 14.6 million (6.0%). Reaction time for motor skills, such as driving, is reduced by 41% after

smoking 1 joint and is reduced 63% after smoking 2 joints. In many parts of the United States, marijuana is the number one cash

crop. This is mostly because it fetches a very high price on the black market. http://www.drug-addiction-support.org/Marijuana-Addiction-Facts.html

Statistics show that Marijuana abuse and Marijuana addiction cost

Americans over $484 billion annually. This figure includes

healthcare costs (and abuses of that system), lost

job wages, traffic accidents, crime and the associ

ated criminal justice system costs.

According to the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, approxi

mately 10 to 22 percent of car crashes

involved drivers using drugs. http://www.marijuanadrugtreatment.

com/marijuana-abuse-in-america More than 83 million Americans (37 %)

age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least

once, according to the 2001 National Household

Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Marijuana is most popular among those

between the ages of 18 and 25, with 16.3 percent

of them using marijuana in the past month.

Marijuana charges were pressed on nearly

5.9 million Americans arrested since 1990.

Ballot Pros/Cons

Effects on police focus and enforcement: Pro: The legalization of marijuana will allow the police to shift their focus on violent crime instead of on non-violent consumers. Controlling and taxing marijuana would save the state over $200 million a year that would have been wasted on arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration for non-violent cannabis consumers. Con: It is considerably more difficult to spot a driver who had just used marijuana as opposed to a driver who was driving erratically due to the consumption of alcohol. Generated revenue: Pro: There is an estimated $14 billion in marijuana transactions per year in California that can be used to improve the state treasury through taxation and control, leading to increased employment. Con: MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION WILL ONLY PROFIT if individual cities and counties opt in and set up regulatory tax schemes. Locations for consumption: Pro: Marijuana can be consumed at home and in licensed establishments. Con: Marijuana would still be illegal to smoke in public. Locations for cultivation: Pro: Property owners can cultivate their own twenty-five square foot plot solely for growing marijuana for personal consumption. Con: Many people may become uneasy due to the possibility of proliferation in their neighborhoods.

Instead of gliding

over this November’s voting bal-

lots, the Outlook chose to am-

plify an issue actually pertinent

to Aragon students: marijuana.

Prop 19 aims to legalize and

regulate the sales and the use of

marijuana, also known as canni-

bas. Through countless hours of

research and polling, the Outlook

examines the many facets of Prop

19 in order to present an unbiased

overview of this controver-

sial proposition.

2006: San Francisco makes adult marijuana possession the lowest priority for local

law enforcement.

2008: Guidelines created for medical pot clubs that specify that all dispensaries must op-erate as non-profits; may only

sell to legitimate patients with prescriptions.

October 1, 2010: Governor Schwarzenegger

makes marijuanapossession an infraction in-

stead of a misdemeanor.

Marijuana over the Yearsn

= 19

Ballot Statistics http://www.marijuana-addiction.info/Marijuana_Statistics.htm

The number of past year marijuana users in 2005 was approximately

25.4 million (10.4% of the population aged 12 or older) and the number of past

month marijuana users was 14.6 million (6.0%). Reaction time for motor skills, such as driving, is reduced by 41% after

smoking 1 joint and is reduced 63% after smoking 2 joints. In many parts of the United States, marijuana is the number one cash

crop. This is mostly because it fetches a very high price on the black market. http://www.drug-addiction-support.org/Marijuana-Addiction-Facts.html

Statistics show that Marijuana abuse and Marijuana addiction cost

Americans over $484 billion annually. This figure includes

healthcare costs (and abuses of that system), lost

job wages, traffic accidents, crime and the associ

ated criminal justice system costs.

According to the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, approxi

mately 10 to 22 percent of car crashes

involved drivers using drugs. http://www.marijuanadrugtreatment.

com/marijuana-abuse-in-america More than 83 million Americans (37 %)

age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least

once, according to the 2001 National Household

Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Marijuana is most popular among those

between the ages of 18 and 25, with 16.3 percent

of them using marijuana in the past month.

Marijuana charges were pressed on nearly

5.9 million Americans arrested since 1990.

Ballot Pros/Cons

Effects on police focus and enforcement: Pro: The legalization of marijuana will allow the police to shift their focus on violent crime instead of on non-violent consumers. Controlling and taxing marijuana would save the state over $200 million a year that would have been wasted on arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration for non-violent cannabis consumers. Con: It is considerably more difficult to spot a driver who had just used marijuana as opposed to a driver who was driving erratically due to the consumption of alcohol. Generated revenue: Pro: There is an estimated $14 billion in marijuana transactions per year in California that can be used to improve the state treasury through taxation and control, leading to increased employment. Con: MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION WILL ONLY PROFIT if individual cities and counties opt in and set up regulatory tax schemes. Locations for consumption: Pro: Marijuana can be consumed at home and in licensed establishments. Con: Marijuana would still be illegal to smoke in public. Locations for cultivation: Pro: Property owners can cultivate their own twenty-five square foot plot solely for growing marijuana for personal consumption. Con: Many people may become uneasy due to the possibility of proliferation in their neighborhoods.

PROP 1

9

MARIJU

ANA

LEGAL

IZATIO

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Center Spread EditorRebecca Hu

10 FEATURES volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

We see it everywhere: plas-tered on bus stations, on buttons and bumper stickers, even in the reddened, bleary eyes of the oc-casional student. We hear it whis-pered about among the halls and joked about during passing pe-riod. Marijuana has always infil-trated our communities, although some might try to deny it. Howev-er, after years of battling a slew of failed marijuana policies, Califor-nia has placed the long overdue Proposition 19 on the November ballot.

If we zoom into our commu-nity at Aragon, this issue hits us especially hard since a significant aspect of the debate over Proposi-tion 19 concerns minors and our increasing familiarity with mari-juana. As freshmen, Health class warns them against the evils of marijuana and its life-destroying properties. Ingrained into our minds is the idea of “above the in-fluence” ever since we turned on a television.

However, we should take a step back and examine the proposition more carefully because Proposi-tion 19 will be able to bring nu-merous benefits that will shed light upon the current woes of California.

One of the most immediate benefits that Proposition 19 will

bring is freeing up local courts and police resources that are ded-icated to controlling illegal mari-juana. A few weeks ago, Governor Schwarzenegger decriminalized the use of marijuana in California, thus lessening the punishment for possession of marijuana to a fine instead of charges that would ap-pear on one’s permanent record. Legalizing marijuana would take the status quo of marijuana laws to a whole new level and save ex-orbitant cost of upholding the present prohibition of marijuana that drains vital law enforcement funds. With Proposition 19, po-lice and law enforcement would save millions of dollars a year that they could then channel towards solving violent crimes and reduc-ing overcrowding in prisons.

Also, California has over $15 billion worth in illegal marijuana sales every year, and is also home to a $20 billion budget deficit that neither our governor nor our lawmakers have been able to alle-viate. We already regulate and tax alcohol and cigarettes, and taxing marijuana is a financially ben-eficial solution to mitigating Cali-fornia’s debt. The $15 billion that is currently lost in the illegal drug trade would relieve our financial situation and direct funds to em-ployment, education, healthcare,

and other public facilities solely by taxing a drug less harmful than alcohol.

Marijuana has gained an infa-mous reputation as an addictive and dangerous drug. Part of that notoriety stems from facts, part of it from rumor. A main reason of why marijuana can pose physi-cal dangers to the body is because illegal marijuana plantations add harmful pesticides to their crop in order to maximize production. If marijuana is legalized, the new law is likely to induce stricter reg-ulations on growing marijuana, thus solving the risks involved to due to harmful cultivation. Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana does not cause as much damage to the body because marijuana smokers use it less frequently than do drinkers and tobacco smokers. There is no proven connection between the use of marijuana and psychological disorders either. If both cigarettes and alcohol are le-gal for adults over the age of 21, criminalizing the safer marijuana makes as little sense logically as it does economically.

Perhaps an economic over-sight of the United States govern-ment and California in particular, the drug cartels in Mexico are being fueled by our marijuana black market. The ruthless cartels

killed 6,290 people in Mexico in 2008 alone, a figure that exceeds the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq since the wars began. Without a need to seek illegal and foreign sellers, marijuana users will cut off the cartels’ revenue, save lives and stimulate the economy.

Although many argue that the number of marijuana users will skyrocket with the consent of le-galization, studies in other coun-tries prove otherwise. Portugal’s recent legalization of marijuana has had no detrimental effects. Rather, its marijuana usage rates rank among the lowest in the Eu-ropean Union and rates for use of other more dangerous drugs such as cocaine have remained stable ever since the law came into effect.

California must confront and accept its previous blunders re-garding marijuana policy and rise to finally enact the necessary changes to our society. Our cur-rent marijuana prohibition policy is beneficial to no one. We must clear the smoke from our eyes and see the clear benefits in marijuana legalization.

Editorial: California Proposition 19:A law the state should accept

THE ARAGON OUTLOOK:

Mission StatementThe Aragon Outlook staff

publishes a monthly newspa-per created for the students to express themselves on issues of interest and importance to them and to provoke thought and discussion within the Ara-

gon community.

AdviserScott Silton

Co-Editors in ChiefPhilip Dimaano

Daniel Fu

News EditorsOlivia Bocanegra, Sabrina

Imbler and Ryan Yu

News WritersKira Brenner, Justin Ching,

Kathryn DeWitt, Bailey Godwin, Landon Hart,

Brandon Liu, Andrew Lyu, Heimana Vaea, Taylor Westmont, Wendy Yu,

Meng Yuan, Peter Zhan

Features EditorsAlice Bebbington, Alina

Polishuk and LuShuang Xu

Features WritersSam Alavi, Paniz Amir-nasiri, Will Eckstein, Jan Marini Galabay, Camille Halley, Derek Han, Jack

Herrera, Christine Kalife, Wassim Khemici, Anthony

Lu, Jason Mai, Sangwon Yun

Photo and Technology Editor

Eric Torres

Photo StaffersKenan Chan, Kore Chan, Martin Contreras, Casey Fitzgerald, Alyssa Lim,

Kayla Solomon, Samantha Soon, Erika Wang

Arts and Graphics EditorJanice Pang

Arts and Graphics StaffersBrian Barch, Chenwen

Hwang, Luna Lynch, Yuzo Makitani, Natalie Palter,

Emily Yip

Center Spread EditorRebecca Hu

The Outlook would love to hear from you.

Visit us at:www.aragonoutlook.net

or:E-mail us at:

aragonoutlook@gmail.com

BY CHRISTINE KALIFEFEATURES

Ring! Ring! Ring! The end of class has just been announced. The hallways have become flood-ed with students and the sound of their voices resonate through-out the campus. Yet students are not the only ones traveling these hallways. Almost everyday, sub-stitute teachers occupy various classrooms and take the place of our absent educators. They have a constant, yet important, pres-ence at Aragon. However, it seems that very few students actually know about neither the substitute process nor the substitutes them-selves.

“Usually the teachers would call substitutes they’re familiar with, somebody that they know will be able to come in and do what they ask them to do,” says substitute teacher Frank Cham-bers. If an emergency situation

arises, then the office would nor-mally be responsible for finding a replacement.

Even though their days may be short lived at each school, substi-tutes have made positive memo-ries that they will continue to car-ry with them. “I think one of the best experiences was working in an ESL class where [there was] a student who had been [involved] gang activity from another coun-try and had difficultly reading. At the end of the school year after I had been subbing a lot, he said to me ‘Ms. M, how come I always work for you? I don’t work for any other teacher. I get so much done in your class, why is that?’ So it was really exciting to see him come to his own,” says substitute Sherri Maurin.

At Aragon, many substitutes have had similar encouraging experiences, especially while sub-bing for the long term. Maurin, for example, subbed for a teacher

on maternity leave for two and a half months and enjoyed the “chance to develop a long-term relationship with the students that continue today. It was nice having the continuity and seeing them step up to the plate…and work together in partnership.”

Isaac Benton shares this expe-rience of long-term subbing, say-ing “The best [experience] was to see how Ms. Hu’s students adjust-ed from her teaching style, to my teaching style, and then back to hers [last year]. [They] were great in being receptive to the both of us.”

The day of a substitute may seem easy but even they face the difficulties of being a teacher. “The worst thing that happened to me as a substitute teacher was when I was cursed out by a stu-dent,” Benton says.

Of his overall experience, Chambers comments, “The hard-est thing is that some students’ perception [of] a substitute [is that] they can treat them differ-ently than they would a regular teacher.” In Chambers’s opinion, this problem can be resolved if the regular teachers “make it clear to the students that when they’re gone, the substitute is to be treat-ed with respect.”

It seems that the administra-tion is taking steps to ensure that substitutes receive the respect they deserve. “I am delighted that they are changing the word to ‘guest teacher’ because students who have attitudes about subs of-ten come in with that ‘oh a sub is here’ and turn on [disrespectful] behavior,” says Maurin.

One thing is absolutely certain. Substitute teachers take pride in Aragon. “Not only do our stu-dents want to learn, but they seem to really enjoy the process of learning,” states Benton. “I feel very well received by the staff, and the students and administration,”

“There’s a vibrancy here. Kids seem to like each other. I feel at home here,” adds Maurin.

But by far, being a guest teach-er has its benefits.

“Being a sub I get the best of both worlds. I get to interact with students, get interviewed, and I don’t have to set the alarm clock every day,” says Perry.

CASEY FITZG

ERALD

The guests of Aragon: substitute teachers

Substitute teachers play a vital role in keeping instruction going for stu-dents at Aragon, as well as across the SMUHSD. Subs act as superheroes for a day, when teachers are ill or otherwise unable to come teach at school.

For more articles, content,and photos, please visit

AragonOutlook.net.

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We look forward to reading your letters!

11FEATURESvolume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

BY ANTHONY LUFEATURES

While some students own dogs, cats, or freshwater fish, some, like sophomore Ashley Lentz, have three ducks living in their backyard. A closer look at a few students at Aragon reveals that the variety of pet preferences are not at all lim-ited to the most common.

Lentz acquired the three ducks when her moth-er’s third grade class hatched them for a school project. “Since I live on a beach, we thought it would be a perfect place for them to live,” says Lentz. “They just swim around and hang out around the house. They don’t go far because they don’t want to miss a meal.”

When her ducks were little, Lentz taught them how to swim. “We had to put them in the sink because they didn’t know how to swim by themselves. And when they got big enough to go outside, they would follow me into the la-goon in my backyard,” says Lentz.

Lentz says she must feed the ducks every morning and night. “They are very time consuming pets. Between cleaning up after

them and feeding them, it’s a lot of work.”

However, she says that they make “great pets if you have the proper place for them to live.”

Biology teacher Katherine Ward has owned numerous un-

usual pets in the past in-cluding “leop-ard geckos, a chinchilla, fire-bellied toads, r e d - e a r e d slider turtles, [and] a red-tail boa constric-tor [named] Akuma.”

All of these lived in her old classroom, and most went to for-mer students when she moved to her new room. She currently owns a pet colony of pill bugs.

“The chinchilla, Max, was re-ally easy. It ate pellets,” says Ward. “What was interesting about it was . . . [that] [it] bathed in dust. It would roll around in its bowl of sand and make this big dust cloud.”

In addition to dust baths, Ward’s chinchilla took pleasure in escaping his cage. “I would do a cage check every day to make sure he hadn’t escaped,” she says. “Akuma, my snake, was also a very good escape artist. Once, he escaped and didn’t reappear again

for three months. Akuma showed up on Back to School Night, not in my classroom but in a neigh-boring classroom.”

Senior Emma Walsh received her high yellow leopard gecko, named Ms. Marshall, as a gift from her aunt. “It has been in the family for 10 years,” says Walsh.

Geckos, according to Walsh, require a lot of maintenance, in-cluding heating pads, live food, and proper lighting. “I have to feed my gecko live crickets, so I also have to make sure the crick-ets are healthy and well preserved so my gecko can be healthy. They ... smell. But the real challenge is that the crickets always escape, no matter what you do.”

“The best thing about my gecko is that she has little nubs for back legs. She has stumps so we call her ‘Nubkins.’ That’s how I got her,” says Walsh. She goes on to explain how Nubkins uses her nubs to balance herself across her bowl. “Her belly drags along the rim, her front legs edging her along, and then you see these yellow spotted stumps sticking straight out on either side of her body, sometimes rolling and wav-ing around . . . using her arms to steady herself. It’s hilarious in a really sick way.”

Birds are common household pets too, in fact, Junior Jenny Qu owns eight chickens. “They’re

very docile, they just roam around the yard eating grass,” she says. “I like them, every time you look out the window and see them, they’re very cute and fluffy.”

Qu says that caring for chick-ens involves having a coop and a big yard, plenty of food, a lots of care - she watches them to make sure they do not steal each others’ food.

“It’s just nice to have,” says Qu. “I have a dog too but it’s not as interest-ing. They’re the kind of pets you ad-mire from afar. When they’re chicks you can touch them, but when they grow up they become just chick-ens and don’t let you touch them anymore. But they’re still very pretty. I just really en-joy having them around.”

Freshman Eric Carlson ex-plains why he chose his bearded dragon named Rhino: “We al-ready have a dog and a bird, so I thought we should go with some-thing different.”

According to Carlson, bearded dragons are low maintenance, re-

quiring feeding once or twice a day and not too much else. “Since it’s a desert animal, it gets most of its water from food.”

“You can take it out, but you don’t have to,” says Carlson. “Mostly they keep to themselves and do what they want. But they really like to be taken outside.” From chickens to pill bugs, Ara-gon is the home to not only a

diverse student body, but also a colorful spectrum of quirky

pets.

Weird, wacky, and wonderful : Aragon’s pets

BY SAM ALAVIFEATURES

As the sun beats down on him and his feet pound against the ground, sophomore Jared Di-libero sees two people coming up from behind. They are also drenched in sweat and wear-ing Aragon track uniforms. Even though they are his teammates and not his oppo-nents, Dilibero’s

competitive drive kicks in and he sprints to the finish line. The friendly competition between him and his friends gives him the extra strength needed to excel during the race.

“Honestly, there is always competition be- tween us, but it is all

very friendly. There are only so many spots on Varsity and so that is the main competition. But it would never effect any friend-ships. We are all good sports,” says Dilibero. Most sports are very competitive not only against oth-er schools, but on a personal level with teammates as well.

Sophomore Daniel Gorn, who is on Aragon’s water polo team and Speech Team, says, “When [my teammates and I] compete against each other in water polo, it increases our ability at an expo-nential rate because we each try to be better than the other.” So com-

peting against friends is not always a bad thing.

Sophomore Skylar Assaf has experienced

this trend in an-other setting.

Since middle school, Assaf has auditioned for theatrical product ions

with her best friend sopho-

more Laynie Mitchell. “[Laynie] always helps me with bringing as much emotion as pos-sible into monologues and songs. For every audition we practice

with one another beforehand so that we would bring out the best in each other,” says Assaf.

However, things do not always work out the way they might have wanted. Mitchell and Assaf both au-ditioned for Aragon’s fall musical Cur-tains, but Mitchell got in and Assaf did not. “The fact that I didn’t make it did not affect our friendship at all. I will be rooting [for] her on this fall in the show,” says Assaf.

Friendly competition is not only found between friends but also between siblings. Sophomore twins Brittany and Amy Pisoni say that there is definitely friendly competition between each other. “The competition we have a lot is about school work,” says Brittany Pisoni. “For example, when we have to read a book, I always try to finish before [Amy] does because it annoys her. I like it, because she has always been better in school than me.”

“I think these little competi-tions help [Brittany and I] be-

come better in what we do. It gives us something to work towards,” says Amy Pisoni.

Gorn would agree. “For exam-ple, when I am playing against a teammate, I work extra hard because I don’t want to be out-played by my fel-low teammate. Then, they work extra hard be-

cause they can’t be outplayed by me, and the cycle feeds itself. It is even more so in speech team. The only way to get better at debate is to debate people.”

“People should not look at competition against friends nega-tively,” says Assaf. “Your friends are great resources to help you improve and push you to work harder. Utilize that as much as possible.” As long as competitions are maintained at a healthy and safe level, students should make the most out of them.

The docile side of competition:How competition can actually be good for us

EMILY YIP

LUNA LYNCH

“Akuma, my snake, was . . . a very good escape artist . . . Akuma showed up on Back to School Night, not in my classroom, but in a neigh-

boring classroom.”-Biology teacher Katherine

Ward

“Your friends are great resources to help you

improve and push you to work harder. Utilize that as

much as possible.” - Sophomore Skylar Assaf

Visit www.aragonoutlook.net for web exclusive content

and more.

BY SANGWON YUNFEATURES

Students see them in the park-ing lot before school directing traffic. During passing period, they may be seen helping the occasional injured student to class. For the lunch period, they are out in the halls, watchful of general activity. These individu-als are the campus aides here at Aragon High School. Almost everyone has observed or inter-acted with them at one point or another, but few are familiar with who they are or what they do on a day to day basis.

Throughout the day, the cam-pus aides undertake a wide va-riety of tasks. “We enforce the school regulations and the kids’ behavior,” says aide Tavita Finau.

This includes “enforcing in the morning that parents will only drop off their kids on the Aragon white zone, as well as monitoring student activity and behavior on campus. We monitor visitors on campus, and supervise students during passing time or during

lunch time.”Fellow aide Hosea Patton

agrees with this, saying, “Our role is basically the safety and security of the campus; making sure that all the rules and regulations are followed – you know, make sure the students feel safe, comfort-able.”

“When teachers see things, they’ll intervene,” says Patton.

“They’ll call us if they’re not comfortable intervening and tell us what the situation may have been. Also, kids are very aware and on top of things, so if they see something or hear something that we don’t have any knowledge about, they will usually whisper it to us if they’re comfortable talking to us, saying that some-thing might happen later on after school or something may have happened during school.”

Aide Gabe Garcia echoes Pat-ton and Finau’s thoughts, saying, “This is your school. We’re here for your safety, protection, secu-rity.”

“It’s almost the Big Brother program, kind of,” says Garcia. “Because we walk around talk-ing to people. So you know, if there’s a guy that plays football, or there’s one that doesn’t. We talk to everyone. We talk to any-one from the chess club, to the football team or math club.”

Thus, while it may seem that their duty is strictly limited to acting as the security force here at Aragon, their responsibilities extend beyond simply that of protectorate. For many, they act as a mentor.

As Patton said, “For me per-sonally, and I’m sure along with Dave and Gabe, [the best part] is just building the relation-ships with the students. That’s just what I’ve done since I’ve graduated from college: work-ing with students in some aspect or another. There were a couple of girls on the basketball team. They were captains and star play-ers but they were having some is-sues . . . with some of their team-mates, and they didn’t know how

to reach out to them. My advice to them was to simply put it out there, because if you think [the issue] is going to be detrimental to the team and you address it at the beginning, then you get it solved. It doesn’t become a prob-lem midway or at the end of the season, when it really counts.”

Thus, for the campus aides, it’s not only about making sure that Aragon High School is kept safe and secure; they play an in-tegral role with the academic fac-ulty in the lives of many Aragon students as source of guidance in the maturation into adulthood.

Their interaction with stu-dents is in no way limited to issues of “school policy regula-tion.” For some, it extends into the very process of counseling, advising and just being an adult that an adolescent can talk to.

12 FEATURES volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

Unique Student Sports Spotlight on campus aidesBY JACK HERRERA FEATURES

We are a school of athletes. In the halls, sports bags are as abun-dant as silly bands. Dribbling a soccer ball, shooting a free throw, swimming a fifty meter race, or smashing a volley ball comes second nature to many of the students who strut through the Aragon halls. But while running non-stop for ten miles or sinking a half-court shot is impressive,

they are not as surprising as see-ing a boy casually back-flipping over the pavement.

While Aragon offers a mul-titude of amazing, challenging sports, many of our students forgo these con-venient teams in favor of a sport outside of school.

A warm Thursday after-noon finds ju-nior Ali Imani in the wrestling room showing off examples of amazing, athletic feats to an in-trigued crowd. The sport Imani is presenting is what he calls, “The underground sport of tricking”.

Imani speaks of how he started his career as an expert in mar-tial arts, and then parkour. After growing tired of parkour, he be-gan “free-running,” a sport that can be compared to gymnastics on rooftops.

Imani, however, was still not satisfied. He became increasingly interested in what can only be called a blend of dance, martial arts and gymnastics, a spectacle known as “tricking”.

Tricking (martial arts trick-ing) is the informal name of a relatively new underground al-ternative sport movement, com-bining martial arts, gymnastics, and other activities to create an “aesthetic blend of flips, kicks, and twists.” Tricking is quite a lot like gymnastics or extreme mar-tial arts, but focuses more on an almost dance-like aspect, which is incorporated in moves such as the Corkscrew, a back flip and a spin combined into one spectacular

stunt. It is hard to believe some of these moves are humanly pos-sible until seeing tricking experts like sophomore Miles Lang ca-sually perform them. Lang and Imani both agree that while these

moves seem to be very chal-lenging, they, and most other tricking moves are, “95% men-tal, and master-ing your fear, and 5% physical strength”.

“Tricking is still a bit under-ground so there aren’t many for-mal competitions or teams. But it’s on the rise,” says Imani. Trick-ing professionals are hardly un-derground though.

A popular new web show “The League of Extraordinary Dancers” is based around extreme trick-ing moves combined in dance to create and extraordinary fusion of rhythm and acrobatics. The show’s popularity (seen by its 56,000 fans on facebook) shows how entertaining tricking can be.

Imani agrees, saying that he takes tricking as almost more a performance than a competitive

sport. “Once me and a couple of friends were on Burlingame Av-enue after a tricking session in a gym…and we basically started tricking back and forth on the streets of Burlingame Ave, and taking pics and videos of the ac-tion,” Imani recounts. An im-pressed crowd of onlookers soon gathered to watch this impressive impromptu performance.

However, tricking is not the only sport outside of school that’s hooking Aragon students. Cycling is an increasingly popular sport, with the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong paving the way to national press coverage, yet it still remains a relatively alterna-tive sport in the USA.

Sophomore Sam Sokolsky is an avid cyclist outside of Aragon. Cycling, unlike tricking, has much more organized events and many competitive races. Although So-kolsky has not competed in many races, he has taken part in many organized, long distance rides.

Sokolsky recalls his favorite of these, the Davis Double Cen-tury a “…nationally acclaimed, 200-mile, one-day cycling event through scenic Northern Califor-nia hills,” according to davisclub.org. Sokolsky explains, “Davis Double Century is this ride that around 1000 people do every year and I had to wake up at 4 am be-cause it starts at 5 am. It was fun for around the first 10 hours or so but then the fatigue hit in and I was basically dragging myself to the next rest stop to stuff down as many cookies as I could, and then get back on the bike. Finally, just as it was dark, to glorious finish sign was ahead.”

At the finish, after biking for fifteen hours, Sokolsky had cov-ered an incredible 200 miles on his own power.

When asked why he thinks Aragon does not offer cycling, Sokolsky explains “not enough people do it, and there [aren’t] any other schools that we could compete against”. He says that not having cycling at Aragon means “there isn’t a coach to tell me how to train and I get to do it a lot less,” making it a definite inconve-nience to not have as an option at school.

With tricking on the rise, and cycling gaining enthusiasts every day, students should keep their eyes open for teams and clubs popping up at Aragon, and other schools.

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I Campus aide Tavita Finau makes his daily rounds around campus.

Sophomore Amir Dastgheib consults with campus aide Tavita Finau.

Junior Ali Imani performs a perfect 540, a tricking move he has mastered, during an intense practice.

To see videos of Imani tricking, visit

www.aragonoutlook.net

“I had to wake up at 4 am because [the bike ride] starts

at 5 am. [After the first 10 hours ... the fatigue hit in

and I was basically dragging myself to the next rest stop.- Sophomore Sam Sokolsky

13PHOTOvolume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

Photo story: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010 :

baywood walk-to-school dayPHOTOGRAPHS BY

KORE CHAN

For more photos and an extended article visit AragonOutlook.net or check out our Facebook and Twitter pages!

1. Baywood Elementary School students are welcomed by scores of goodie cups filled with Goldfish, M&M’s andCheerios - a healthy start to the morning.

2. Two Baywood students enjoy their morning bite to eat as they enter Baywood Elementary School.3. Juniors Patrick Garcialuna and Jethro Mercado help set up tables by Baywood. In collaboration with Baywood

Elementary, Aragon Service Commissioners also assisted in helping out with Walk-to-School Day.4. Walk-to-School day promoted safe driving along Alameda de las Pulgas, following the injury accident at Aragon last

year, and a more environmentally-friendly way to go to school. 5. Dean Michael Valmonte coordinates with Baywood Principal Joanne Day as he sends Service Commissioners to

designated spots to walk with students.6. San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer works with other police officers from the San Mateo Police Department

to make Walk-to-School Day a success.

14 PHOTO volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

Photo Story: Fun in the Sun Photographs

shot byeric torres

for more content, photos,

and articles,please visit

aragonoutlook.netor check us out

on facebook!

1: 25th Avenue was closed on Sunday, October 10, 2010, for a neighborhood block party organized by the First Presbyterian Church of San Mateo.

2: There were a wide variety of festivities available for children at this block party including face painting, bounce houses and inflatable slides.

3 and 4: The Aragon Jazz Ensemble was invited to play a set for the crowd at the block party on Sunday.

3: Senior Gabrielle Straughn plays onalto saxophone in front of the local audience.

4: Sophomore Rory Beyer steps up to themicrophone as he performs his trombone solo.

5: Local businesses supported the blockparty by giving out free food.

6: Local church volunteers also helpedout by coordinating a food drive.

BY WILL ECKSTEINFEATURES

With an all new Freshman team coached by Aragon gradu-ate Kelsey Stiles, and a promising Varsity and JV team with a series of victories under their belts, Vol-leyball is the sport to watch this season.

Mintonette was the name first given to William G. Morgan’s fu-sion of hand ball and tennis cre-ated on February 9 1895 at the Massachusetts YMCA. The name was later changed to Volleyball to describe the action of creating a volley between the opposing play-ers.

While volleyball may not be the most known sport at Aragon it certainly has the attention of the world. It is the seventh most popular sport in the world it also enjoys the title of the national sport of Sri Lanka.

Practice for these successful teams involves “conditioning, skill development, scrimmaging and

improving skills,” says JV coach and PE teacher Linda Brown. As far as practice goes, “We run two miles at the beginning of practice . . . and then we practice serving and passing for a while, and then we end by scrimmaging,” says se-nior Erika Brinkley.

As said conditioning and pre-paring to perform at your best is key in volleyball, moves such as the spike or set require tremen-dous amounts of energy and must be done for three or more games per match. Also, countering and being on the defense can be dif-ficult; in a match against the San Mateo Bearcats one player found them self returning a spike and then doing a backwards roll to break the momentum.

Volleyball can be a very chal-lenging sport to play and equally challenging to coach. As the coach of the Freshman-Sopho-more team, Brown has the chal-lenge to break in the new recruits and show them how high school volleyball is played. Annette

Gennaro, on the other hand, coaches the Varsity team and has the benefit of coaching already experienced players. However that also means she will face more experienced teams when it comes to matches. According to Brown, the teams that pose a threat are “Burlingame, Carlmont and MA [Menlo-Atherton].” However, to prepare for upcoming matches against such teams, the coaches have developed excellent practice programs.

In the September 23 match against the San Mateo Bearcats, the JV and freshman teams scored many points due to the plethora of spikes, however when it came to Varsity the competition was taken up a notch.

The scores in the matches rare-ly deviated from each other, while the Dons would score a point the Bearcats would come right back scoring another till the match would reach game point where the winner would be decided on which team could score first.

Such tension was not only shown by the players but the crowd as well.

Although they did not win their first match against San Mateo for the first time in five years, the Dons did gain a vic-tory against the Mills Vikings on during the Sep-tember 7 match at Mills. For the first game the Vi-kings seemed to lose control, often returning the ball only to have it go out of the bound-

ary line and not be-ing able to recover from the point loss witch eventually led Aragon to jump ahead by eleven points, the largest gap in the en-tire match.

In the second game however the Vikings showed signs of re-covery, staying within a range of about three or four points, but the Dons stuck with their lead and gained another victory.

The third game would be the final with Aragon clinching the game and overall victory. This victory however was not achieved easily, only after ty-ing the game up 24-24 Mills then scored another point to make it game point for them 25-24. The Dons then came back with a 26-26 tie point only to go to 27-27 and finally beating Mills by a two point victory of 29-27. “The first two games were good, the last one shouldn’t have come to that [tie] but at least we won” says Junior Ariel Mangum.

The players generally feel positive and confident about the season, even though they know that upcoming games against Burlingame and Carlmont will be tough.

With the success of the team the coaches say they will not change much in terms of practice and direction of the team. With a solid formula for winning, the team is mainly building on last year’s skill and emphasizing teamwork.

Magnum says, “We work really well together. We have rough patches of course [but] most

teams do.” Junior Jamie Moore agrees,

saying “[the season] is going pretty [well], [but] we’re still get-ting to know each other as play-ers.” The goals of the team largely remain the same, their aim is to “have fun, win and play to win” according to Brown.

“Intramural basketball is like an orange. Just peel back the sweat and hard work, and you can get to the sweet friendship,” says junior Robert Konopka, a regular participant in intramu-ral basketball.

Junior Abid El-Miarri has many fond memories of the basketball games he has played, but there is one time that he re-members the best. El-Miarri’s team was up by one and ev-eryone was sweaty and panting. All players were on offense with just E l - M i a r r i staying back in defense. Junior Oscar Tovar, one of El-Miarri’s opponents, got the rebound and started to rush towards the hoop of El-Miarri’s team. With time running out, El-Miarri felt the extra adrenaline and coura-geously guarded the rim. Tovar came sprinting down the court and tried to shoot over El-Mi-arri. However, El-Miarri leaped off the ground and blocked

Tovar. “Ooh’s” and “ah’s” from the sideline.

Intramural basketball is run by campus supervisor Hosea Pat-ton. Patton started this intramu-ral basketball league six years ago, and has been running it success-fully ever since.

Intramural basketball happens at lunch four times a week from either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday. There are two leagues, one in the fall and an-

other one in the spring.

The league uses the brack-et method of playing with each team play-ing all the other

teams once until two teams are left.

The rules of intramural bas-ketball are the same as the rules of basketball except the fouls are called by the players. Patton is there to supervise the games and keep score. Three pointers are counted as two points while ev-erything else is worth one point.

Intramural basketball games can be more difficult than regular

basketball games because the time limited is restricted to one lunch period. If a tie comes up with time left, the game goes into overtime. If the overtime does not break the tie, then the first team to make a free throw will win the game.

Junior intramural basketball team leader Jethro Mercado has been playing intramural basket-ball since he was a freshman at Aragon.

“Intramural basketball hones your skills. Everyone can join. It is kind of competitive, but it’s really fun,” says Mercado.

Mercado says the most difficult part about playing intramural basketball is choosing teammates. The average number of players on a team is nine, but there is no official limit on the number of teams and the number of players on each team.

As a captain, Mercado makes the decisions and gets to pick the first five players to start the game. He calls people in and out de-pending on their fatigue.

Junior Jerrick Chin says, “The most difficult part about play-ing is trying not to get hurt and [too sweaty] as much before class

starts”.No matter how fatigued the

players feel after the game or how stressful the games can be, these lunch time athletes always bring everything they have got on to the court.

15SPORTSvolume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010

Basketball athletes in action during lunch

Senior Max Liebergesell skillfully crosses over an opponent in a friendly intramural basketball game and goes for the dunk.

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Sophomore Alexia Hong and freshman Sarah Rennert settle into the defensive set-receive position before the game starts.

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Volleyball team’s hard work rewarded by victories

“Intramural basketball hones your skills. Everyone can join. It is kind of competitive, but

it’s really fun.”-Junior Jethro Mercado

BY JASON MAIFEATURES

Junior Omar Salli boldly contests senior Byron Ng’s shot.

KAYLA SO

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For more photos and articles, please visit aragonoutlook.net

Aragon cross country members gather together in front of a decorated van before embarking on the 10-hour drive to the relay start point.

Senior Sinclaire Cheong aims for the net in a heated match.

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Senior Kyle Kim attempts to gain the ball from a teammate while an opp-posing player blocks his catch.

BY LANDON HARTNEWS

The opposing team has secured a 40-love lead. Just two more points and the other team would win the match. But with the encourage-ment of teammates, Aragon advances to a duece score. Soon after, the advantage belongs to Aragon.

A long suspenseful rally goes on for the last point, and the Aragon girls’ ten-nis team wins the match. Cheers all around ensue for this amazing come-from-behind victory.

The Aragon girls’ tennis season is un-derway this fall season. T h e team, coached by Ed Schuler and Dave Owdom, has over 30 mem-

bers this year, making it a very competitive squad.

Only the top ten players on both varsity and frosh/

soph will be able to play in the singles or doubles matches. This means

every girl will be trying hard in practice to grab a

spot for playing time.Everyday, practice goes for

a couple hours after school. This means a big por-

tion of the girls’ lives involves tennis and

dedication is need-ed to succeed.

The players have a mix of

conditioning, drills, and scrim-mages to get fit and ready for the matches.

Schuler and Owdom make the freshmen play the juniors and the sophomores play the se-

niors. Then, the winners of those matches face off in the end. This provides a good experience for the younger players who will be facing older girls in their matches against other schools. It also simulates what happens in the real matches.

During the matches, there are four singles matches and three doubles matches. The girls are seeded and then play against the other school. A point is awarded for a win and the first team to earn four points wins.

Schuler says, “We need to get the doubles match-es won. That way, we only need a win or two from the singles.”

This is Coach Schuler’s eighth season at Aragon; he says this year’s team is the best he’s had.

“The team is really good…They are all friends too and support

each other,” Schuler explains.Last year’s frosh/

soph team went un-defeated in the PAL Bay division, the highest di-vision available.

Sophomores Lauren Chan explained the goal of the team, saying, “We want to go un-defeated [and] improve on our skills from last year.”

Schuler also said a goal for varsity is to make it to CCS

and have a better record than last year.

A l r e a d y , varsity defeat-

ed Notre Dame, Crystal Springs Uplands,

Woodside Priory during the preseason.

In their season opener, they beat Mills High School

with the score 5-2.

Co-Captains Alice Liu, Cyn-thia Huang, Melody Ma, and Erica Bass are leading the team for their goal of the playoffs.

The girls tennis team has a match today at San Mateo at 4:00 p.m. , and the next match will be held on October 19 at Carlmont.

BY JUSTIN CHINGNEWS

The new season has brought some changes for Aragon’s water polo team, with a different pool being but one of them.Due to Aragon’s ongoing pool renova-tion, the water polo team has been practicing at CSM.

Though its distance from Ara-gon causes some inconvenience, the pool at CSM has been for the most part a benefit. “CSM’s [large] pool is nice, and is helping us with spacing. It gives us a lot more to work with,” says junior Aaron Kim. Fellow junior Gabe Hargis says, “The pool is really clean. It’s a much nicer pool than we ever had and will possibly ever have at Aragon.”

Furthermore, the Aragon’s boys varsity move to the Ocean division from the Bay division has left the “playing field… more even,” according to junior Blake Tandowsky. However, Aragon still faces much competition, particu-larly from strong schools includ-ing Terra Nova and Half Moon Bay.

Yet for the most part, water polo for the Dons remains large-

ly unchanged. Practices are still grueling in what Hargis calls “the hardest sport in the world,” and a high commitment level is required to continue playing on the team.

Throughout practice, team-mates not only build their stamina and dexterity through going over plays, but also give and receive input on their plays and perfor-mance.

This balance of teamwork and cooperation are important, and are huge team goals for the sea-son. During practice, three year boys varsity coach Arjuna “June” Manning-Laisne tells the team, “[You are] not using talent to get you a goal. [You are] using offense to get a goal.

Similarly, when asked about the balance between talent and com-munication, girls varsity coach Nick Gonzales says, “[They’ve] got to come hand to hand. One with-out the other, [and] you’re not go-ing to be too successful.

This success has paid off even in the early stages of the season. On Saturday’s game, Aragon’s boys varsity team played Hillsdale, emerging victorious with a score of 7-6. The Dons played clean, with no rollouts, few ejections, and most fouls coming from Hill-sdale. Moreover, their practice in teamwork was visible; the Dons made multiple goals through as-

sists, including one goal in which Hillsdale’s players could not keep up with the web of players the ball was being rallied around.

After the game, an impas-sioned Coach Manning-Laisne stated “[The] teamwork was awe-some. [It] was the best all year.” Manning Laisne adds that in the end, the Dons outdid Hills-dale through their stamina from strenuous practices and depth as a team.

Though they have only played one league game this season, the girl’s varsity team also appears to be starting the season strong.

Coming home from the Ap-tos Invitational tournament this weekend, the girls lost one game, but won against Santa Clara, Ap-tos, and Foothill.

Senior Miya Oto says the team consists of a “really large experi-enced” class of varsity veterans, alongside some underclassmen. The girls varsity team, has been doing well by through its team bonding inside and outside of the pool.

Above all else, Aragon’s water polo teams are succeeding in the defining aspect that many teams ironically fail to conceive - be-coming a team. As Coach Man-ning-Laisne says, “Sports are really about becoming a team and [that kind of] atmosphere.”

Girls tennis serves up a brand new season

Water polo: pool-less, but not defenseless

BY DEREK HANFEATURES

The Portland to Coast Relay, an annual 127-mile-long relay event, takes a considerable amount of perseverance and determination.

The race starts in downtown Portland where the runners run west and cross the rural lands of Oregon, eventually finishing at the city of Seaside, Oregon.

Eight runners from the Ara-gon cross country team drove for 10 hours, and participated in this long race, and finished with third place.

There were seven sophomore runners and one freshman runner on the team. In the relay, each runs three legs, with the average being about five miles. Each runner runs about sixteen miles total. This race is much longer than a regular cross country meet which is only about 3.1 miles long.

The first runner from the team starts the race while the other run-ners rest and mentally prepare for their turn.

Once the first runner is done with their leg it is time for the second man to run his leg while the first runner rests. This cycle repeats itself until the 127 miles have been completed.

The race started at 6 p.m. on August 26 and ended at around 9 a.m. on August 27 which included running long hours past midnight.

“It’s hard to run, then sleep,

then run again after that. It’s kind of weird running at two in the morning,” says sophomore Ian Barrie.

Different runners have differ-ent strategies regarding how to combat the physical and mental strain. Some runners save their en-ergy in the beginning of their run and speed up later while others keep a consistent pace throughout their leg.

Sophomore Rory Beyer says, “Before the [ran] I was think-ing of a strategy on how I would run. During the run, the strategy meant nothing.”

When asked about how he felt after the race, Beyer says, “My legs were so shot, I was so tired and it was so much relief.”

During the race, the runners run individually, but it is also a team effort. “Whenever some-body runs, we cheer them on,” says sophomore Jong Lim, “We get each other pumped up.”

The long drive, team effort and unexpected obstacles combined to make this relay that much more memorable for the eight Aragon cross country runners who took on the grueling Portland to Coast Relay.

For more pictures from this ar-ticle, as well as web-exclusive con-tent, pictures and more, be sure to visit www.aragonoutlook.net!

Endurance:Aragon students participate in

Portland to Coast Relay

16 SPORTS volume 50, issue 02October 14, 2010