174 students responded to a Facebook survey:

Twilight: What Team Are You On?

Raven Report

By LAUREL DEARBORNNews Editor

Volume V, Issue 3 1201 Brewster Ave. Redwood City, CA 94062 November 10, 2011

Sequoia High School

Africause raises campus awarenessBy ANNA DAGUMFeature Editor

Feature: Opinion:Twilight: Have you been bitten? Page 3

16% Team Jacob

just listen to the teacher talk,” senior Giovanni Luciani said.

Because the curriculum was de-signed by Ingram, it is easily in-teractive and is shaped specifically around student lives. “They ask us questions about our communities,” said Luciani.

It provides con-text for how and why the students need to learn these skills. Luciani said that “It’s fun to be able to talk in our class and see how everyone else feels about different topics.”

Senior Tori Beene feels the same. “It’s more reltable and makes it more interesting, “ Beene said. “We can bring our own experiences into the class.”

Ingram wanted to provide easy access to financial help for students. It gives these students a place to go to ask questions about banks, credit

cards, and other financial proto-col. At Sequoia, currently 400 students are getting this oppor-tunity, and Ingram hopes it will move through all the schools in the district. Carlmont and M-A

are also cur-rently offer-ing the pro-gram, and h o p e f u l l y Wo o d s i d e will become involved as well.

But this is not just about learn-ing how to manage finances. It shows students how making one good financial decision can im-pact the rest of one’s life. They begin to judge what they should spend and what they should save. It sets them up for real life situa-tions in the work place.

“It will help us,” freshman Bry-an Meza said. “ We will be pre-pared for life and after.”

“You really bring your own experi-ences to the class and its not just a lecture on history. Its what’s going on in the community and it really relates to you.”

—senior Tori Beene

The N-Word Cuts Deep Page 4

If you are female, please step back. If you or your family have ever used food stamps or received wel-fare, please step back. If you have ex-perienced some kind of emotionally difficult circumstance, please step back.

Vulnerability. Embarrassment. The danger of being singled out. Yet this class was supposedly about money.

Out on a broken down blacktop with faded border lines, a class dis-covered what factors might make them privileged in society. This is just one of many various activities that students involved in Future-Profits, a financial literacy course of-fered at Sequoia, participate in.

“We don’t have anyone else come and talk to us about the economy,” senior Jorge Ferrandon said. “It’s interesting because they point out things in life that you don’t neces-sarily think about.”

Future Profits was started in 2006 when Redwood City resident Jenni Ingram learned that 60 percent of high school students in East Palo Alto don’t graduate. They enter the work force without a diploma and little to no financial knowledge. In-gram thus started FutureProfits in East Palo Alto to teach financial lit-eracy; in 2008 it began at Sequoia.

Students are exposed to this cur-riculum once a week for 50 minutes with Ingram and other volunteers serving as teachers.

“When we first started teaching financial literacy, we realized that all the curriculum out there didn’t address the full needs of teenagers,” Ingram said. “If you go into a class with all teenagers and say ‘hey I’m going to teach you about financial literacy,’ most of them would zone out.”

“It’s a class discussion the whole time and it’s interactive. We don’t

FutureProfits brings life skills to the classroom

77% Team I Don't Care7% Team Edward

While students at Sequoia stress over school work and college applications, the children in Northern Uganda and the Con-go have much more to worry about. They grow up in a war zone with the constant fear of being abducted into a rebel army and being forced to kill their friends and fami-lies. The Africause club (formerly known as “Schools for Schools”) held an assembly Nov. 3 in Carrington to reveal these horrors to students.

The club brought a film and speakers from the Invisible Children movement, which is geared towards high school stu-dents wanting to help. The club memebers have been in correspondence via letters with children in Kenya, as well as making and selling beaded bracelets and necklaces from recycled paper, similar to those made in Uganda.

They also have been raising money to partake in a teacher exchange program to provide a teacher in Uganda with a scholar-ship to come and teach at Sequoia in Janu-ary.

Kim Dotts, a college junior and roadie for the Invisible Children Organization, came to the assembly.

“When I finally went to Africa and wit-nessed the injustice, it reiterated my pas-sion,” said Dotts.

The roadie process, for students who have graduated high school, lasts about four months, of which two of those are devoted to traveling from school to school in order to spread awareness.

“Everyone has their own struggles,” she said. “It’s when you’re willing to put aside those struggles to help others that really matters.”

Dotts is passionate about this cause, and longs to see an end to Joseph Kony and the war in Uganda. Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, draws on child sol-diers because of their impressionable per-sonalities, and lack of self defense. These children are abducted from their homes and thrown into camps where they are given guns and taught how to fight, taught how to kill.

PHOTO BY LAUREL DEARBORN

Students in FutureProfits participated in an outdoor activity to explore how finances can change a person’s position in society .

2 News

FutureProfits is hungry for change

Sequoia band passes notes

Your School’s Credit Union Just what makes a credit union different from a bank? When you join a credit union you

become a member not a customer. Credit unions work to increase

your share of the credit union. Credit unions generally charge

less fees and lower interest rates than banks.

Credit unions are not for profit, they are for you, the member.

Sequoia Federal Credit Union 530 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94063

(650) 366-7777 Sequoiafcu.org

As they walk through the door, a stream of rhythms and tunes envelop them. Focused expressions result in a rumble of melodies, a mixture of sounds where odd horns and cheer-ful flutes are welcoming. They take a seat while attentive eyes wait for their advice. The class continues and a stu-dent struggles with a note. After a few minutes of struggling, a harmonious note develops.

Every Wednesday during 7th pe-riod, about eight Sequoia band stu-dents walk over to MIT to help both North Star’s and McKinley’s 6th grade music students. Jane Woodman, the advanced band teacher at Sequoia, started sending students over to the McKinley campus just this year as a re-sponse to Carlmont and Central Mid-dle School’s similar program where high school students visit a middle school to assist their music students.

During their 30-40 minutes Se-quoia students spend there, they sit-in with different sections of the band while they model proper rehearsal technique, help keep them focused, and even pull-out some students to help them individually.

Not only does this benefit the mid-dle school students, Sequoia’s students also benefit by demonstrating their leadership skills as they become role models and mentors.

“It’s really fun to see them passing along their knowledge and passion for music,” said Woodman.

Junior saxophone player Helen My-lod Yee, who aspires to be a teacher, finds the time beneficial.

25 cents will only buy you a quar-ter of a pack of gum, half a lollipop, or a fifth of a candy bar. It will take you almost nowhere in the American economy. However, halfway across the world it is the equivalent of an entire meal.

FutureProfits is raising money through the program Something To Eat along with the organization Gen-eration Alive in order to provide meals for under-nourished children in Af-rica.

As students in FutureProfits are learning how to manage money and are exploring the value behind invest-ments, they are asked to give a dona-tion and see how much 25 cents can buy for someone in need.

“Seeing kids suffer in Africa makes me feel grateful for what I have,” fresh-man Kevin Sandstrum said. “[It makes me thankful] that I have something to eat every night.”

Raising money has proven to be a

Along with the turkey, sweet po-tatoes, and pumpkin pie comes op-portunities to help people in need. During the holiday season, the com-munity’s need for charity rises, and Se-quoia students are busy giving back.

“There’s a spirit of giving during

Holiday season inspires charity

“I really enjoy sharing what I like to do with other people and it’s been a really good experience for me to be in the teaching position,” said Yee.

Trombone player Aaron Jacobson has worked with kids as a camp coun-selor, so he is comfortable teaching music students on the MIT campus.

“I’m really looking forward to [looking back] at the end of the year, when they’re that much better, sort of knowing that I had something to do with that,” said Jacobson.

—ARACELI EFIGENIO

great balance with FutureProfit’s on-going curriculum.

“Financial literary is about manag-ing your money, but we wanted to give it a deeper meaning; [about how] you can use your money to [provide im-provements for another person’s] life,” FutureProfits founder Jenni Ingram said. “This is why we are doing the Something To Eat Project; to show and give the students an opportunity to give life and give purpose behind why and where they spend money.”

Anyone can participate and donate as little or as much to the fund.

“They show us pictures of what they have to go through,” freshman Bryan Meza said. “I don’t want them to have to go through stuff like that.”

This project will help some of these families give them one basic necessity that we all too often take for granted: food.

“We have this constant need to buy stuff,” Ingram said.

Ingram hopes that the students will raise at least 15,000 dollars by Dec. 3, when the meals will be packed in the Sequoia small gym. Giant’s pitcher Jeremy Affeldt will be visiting the cam-pus on this day and help the 130,000 meals be assembled.

—LAUREL DEARBORN

Your School’s Credit Union Just what makes a credit union different from a bank? When you join a credit union you

become a member not a customer. Credit unions work to increase

your share of the credit union. Credit unions generally charge

less fees and lower interest rates than banks.

Credit unions are not for profit, they are for you, the member.

Sequoia Federal Credit Union 530 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94063

(650) 366-7777 Sequoiafcu.org

Your School’s Credit Union Just what makes a credit union different from a bank? When you join a credit union you

become a member not a customer. Credit unions work to increase

your share of the credit union. Credit unions generally charge

less fees and lower interest rates than banks.

Credit unions are not for profit, they are for you, the member.

Sequoia Federal Credit Union 530 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94063

(650) 366-7777 Sequoiafcu.org

Your School’s Credit Union Just what makes a credit union different from a bank? When you join a credit union you

become a member not a customer. Credit unions work to increase

your share of the credit union. Credit unions generally charge

less fees and lower interest rates than banks.

Credit unions are not for profit, they are for you, the member.

Sequoia Federal Credit Union 530 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94063

(650) 366-7777 Sequoiafcu.org

Sequoia Federal Credit Union: your credit union

VOLUNTEER SUGGESTIONS

1.Toys for Tots. Hillsdale shopping center. Wednesday Nov. 30 to Dec. 22. New or used toys accepted.

2. Giving Tree. Hillsdale shopping center. Friday Dec. 2 at 4:30 p.m. Bring gifts for families in need.

3. Canned food drive hosted by Se-quoia’s leadership class until Nov. 21. Bring cans to fourth period.

—JARRETT CROWELLand CAROLINE LEMPERT

the holiday season, and charities re-ally get into that, said senior Key Club Vice President Alessandra Saluti.

While some think it is hard to get involved in charity, local chari-ties have countless opportuni-ties to get involved in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“The holiday season is a time for families to share love with each other,” said sophomore Albert Smith, who participates in local charity work with his church during the holidays.

“Some people don’t feel that love, so it is important to do char-ity work over the holidays so people who are less fortunate can get that feeling of belonging,” said Smith.

Students can also get involved with charity on campus. Sequoia’s leadership program is holding a canned food drive from now un-til Nov. 21. Last year, the drive re-cieved close to 1000 cans, but this year they are striving for 1500. Any donations are greatly appreciated.

feature 3Fourth installment of Twilight story bites students’ interest

Troubled teens need new outlets to express themselves. Some throw themselves in their music, ceramics... or hair?

Hair is becoming a way to be original and demon-strate personality, whether it be through a mohawk, long swooping hair, or the generic short and spiked. Hairstyles greatly reflect one’s indvidual-ity.

Many of the male students at Sequoia choose the typical short hair style, but a bold few try to pull of the long hair look.

Sophmore Riley Dunn has a “Bieberlicious” do, which he’s sported since the seventh grade. He describes his hair-style as a common one preva-lent at Sequoia.

“Justin Bieber copied me,” Dunn said.

He says that he just condi-

tions it and lets it grow.Senior cross-country run-

ner Manuel Avila Jr. is recog-nizable by his high mohawk.

“It’s well formed, but natu-rally flowing,” Avila said. “It’s who I am.”

His mohawk reaches about four inches off of his head. Avila uses his hair to describe his personality and shows his boldness to be different.

When people see Avila’s hair, they ask him: Does the

mohawk cut the wind when he runs?

Track coach Adrian Dilley said that his hair demonstrat-ed to others his friendliness.

“Come talk to me, I’m a nice guy,” Dilley said. Being an athlete himself, Dilley keeps his hair short, which

raises the question if athletes have to have short hair. Many of the athletes at Sequoia that are athletes have shorter hair, but some athletes dare to keep their hair long as they compete for Sequoia.

For girls, common hair-styles consist of long bangs,

Shear excitement spikes as unique hairstyles grow By PETER BUGOS and TY DEWESStaff Reporters

Whether you love it or hate it, the Twilight franchise is a hot topic that’s had people buzzing since the premier book’s 2005 breakout. Six years later,

after the release of three proceeding best sellers and three box office hits grossing over $1.8 billion, the series has created

an entire culture around vampires, werewolves, and good old-fashioned

teenage romance. And after over a year of silence from the notorious characters, the release of the fourth installment of

the series has fanpires elated and Twihaters grumpy.

As the moon rises on Nov. 18, both my early deci-sion applica-tion and the premier of The Twilight Saga:

Breaking Dawn—Part 1 loom over me. One of the two seems to have higher priority over the other.

Audiences have had a love affair with romance since ancient times. If these epic romances tell us anything, it’s that we love a love story with the possibility of death, a dash of abstinence, and a whole lot of life-shatteringly intense passion, tension, and infatuation. Penelope waits 20 years for her love Odysseus to return. Antony falls to his sword to escape a life without his beloved Cleopatra. Juliet poisons herself for her love for Romeo. Jack freezes to his death to save his beloved Rose. And whether Twilight gives you butterflies or makes you roll your eyes, the series is undeniably equipped with that same deadly risk, unbearable temptation, and its fair share of obstacles.

That being said, Twilight is also pretty well-off in terms of its bizarre plot lines. With its sparkly vampires, wolf-human hybrids, and parasitic pregnancies, I get that the series has ridiculousness. But are we really all so serious that a dash of melodrama and some fantastical absurdity makes us

Harry Pot-ter defeated Voldemort. Mulan saved China. Shrek rescued Fiona. Bella Swan... mar-ried a 104

year old who sparkles in sunlight? Barf in my mouth.

The Twilight Saga has become the epitome of teenage girl obsession since its in-troduction to the world of pop culture in 2005. Starting off as a seeming-ly harmless love story, it has turned into a cult of teenage girls worshipping sparkly men and shirtless werewolves.

First of all, the relation-

ship between Edward and Bella is just plain creepy. He’s nearly 90 years older than she is, he goes into her room in the middle of the night to watch her sleep, and his first instinct

scowl? The reality is that few great love

stories come without their fair share of ridiculousness. Odysseus is imprisoned on an island by a jeal-ous, lovestruck nymph. Okay, that’s ridiculous. Heartbroken Cleopatra takes a poisonous snake to her breast to kill herself. That’s just outrageous. Juliet kisses Romeo’s poisoned lips thinking he’s a corpse. Many would think that absurd, probably even creepy. I could go on, but you get my point. The great love stories that we have indulged in for thousands of years are charac-teristically outrageous. Even if not in terms of fantastical creatures and su-pernatural impossibili-ties, at the very least in terms of straight up bizarre human be-havior. And while I am not saying that Twilight is any epic tale, I think that there’s something to this.

Anyone can watch any Jennifer Aniston movie ever made

Go to TWILIGHT, page 7

is to drink her blood. But I guess that’s no big deal if you’re in love with him.

However, a line is drawn when Bella is eighteen and pregnant with a vampire. I’m sort of astounded at how someone can be stupid enough to be impregnated by a creature whose baby will try to eat you from the moment its conceived. Apparently I’m missing something, because somehow Edward’s charm is lost when his eyes change color depending on how much he wants your blood.

Team Jacob? Better than Team Edward. Although he lacks self control when it comes to keeping his shirt on, Jacob is one of the few Twilight characters with facial expressions and a personality. Unlike the Cullen crew and Bella, who occasionally grace the screen with a smile, Jacob actually shows signs of emotion.

While Edward and Bella attempt to have a healthy relationship, Jacob is always there to pick up the slack and be Bella’s shoulder to cry on. Even though his heart is broken when Bella chooses Edward over him, Jacob continually risks his life for her. And, his body gen-erates warmth and a heartbeat, which is always a plus. I’m not really sure what’s going through Bella’s head.

Sure, it’s a fantasy. But given that there was all the potential in the world to create a love story with a legitimate plot and like-able characters, Twilight is pretty pathetic and overrated. But if you’re going to succumb to the guilty pleasure and see the movie anyways, at least show up in a Harry Potter cos-tume.

straightened hair, or long with a slight wave. Girls can either let their hair loose or put it in a pony tail.

Sophmore Sydney Cohn said wears her hair short, however.

“Boys are able to do more bold things with their hair,” Cohn said.

Girls are beginning to add feathers, braids, and high-lights into their hair to add more originality in their hair. A feather is it’s a clip with a feather that can be attached to the base of your hair. A feather adds a great accent to long or short hair.

Other popular trends for girl hairstyles include side braids, French braids and fishtail braids. Side braids can be tight or loose and is over one shoulder. French braid involves more hair all the way up the head unlike the generic braid.

Hair shows others a little bit of who we are, and stu-dents are embracing this.

By LAUREN KIRKPATRICKFeature Editor

Left to right: Manuel Avila, Riley Dunn, Sydney Cohn and Adrian Dilley show off their trendy hairstyles, which are commonly seen throughout Sequoia.

Photos by Peter Bugos

By CAROLINE LEMPERTLayout Editor

opinion4

Sequoia High School

Raven Report2011-2012

Editor-in-Chief Sarina GrossLayout Editor Caroline Lempert

News Editor Laurel DearbornFeature Editor Anna Dagum

Feature Editor Lauren KirkpatrickOpinion Editor Tiffany Ah Tye

Staff ReportersDaniel Black Hanna Bolaños Peter Bugos Erick Castro

Jarrett Crowell Ty Dewes Cole Dunbar Araceli Efigenio Taisha Griffie

Catalina Mares Sophie Miller Matthew Morrow Bogie Sandoval

AdviserKim Vinh

Mission StatementThe Raven Report strives to provide Sequoia High School with informative, engaging, and relevant news. The staff will exercise

integrity and adaptability while promoting justice and transparency through professional reporting

about the school, the community, and the world.

Letters to the EditorThe Raven Report welcomes letters to the editor from

students, parents, or community members, sent to Room 308 or by email to ravenreport09@gmail.com.

Letters must include the writer’s full name and ID number, and the staff reserves the

right to edit for space and style.

By TAISHA GRIFFIEStaff Reporter

The power of the N-word: Think before you speak

Holiday season is the perfect time for students to give back

Staff Editorial

Respond to what you read in our issue, suggest a topic, or participate in a survey! Search for Sequoia High School Raven Report on Facebook and like our page.

N i g g e r . They heard this word in the midst of severely be-ing beaten until their flesh burned

and bright red blood began to trickle down their backs. They heard this word while being burnt alive. They heard this word while being taken from their roots, and taken to Europe-an soil where they were sold for a dol-lar. African mothers heard this word while their babies that they carried for nine months, were being taken away from them, not knowing if they would ever see their children again.

Now we use it in the hallways like it’s nothing.

We hear it on the radio, our favorite comedian may say it, our best friend may use it five times in one sentence, we all say it. Yes, just like most of you reading this, I’ve said “nigga” multiple times before.

The way rappers loosely use the word to refer to themselves makes us believe it’s okay to use it, which is sad because most of us don’t know the meaning and the tremendous impact this hurtful word holds.

I didn’t either. I was only talking to my friends casually; I didn’t mean it like that, I wanted to be funny, that is all. I wasn’t hurt-ing anyone.

And then when it happened to my little brother, I started to realize how power-ful this word can be. I used to pick up my 10-year-old brother from school everyday.

One day, I went to go look for him, but he was nowhere in sight. I looked around the empty playground, there he was! He seemed really angry; “what happened”? Try-ing to hold back his tears, he told me his classmate called him the n-word. The pain and hurt in my brother’s eyes filled me with anger.

Why would his classmate say that?

Where did he hear that word? Who taught him how to talk like that? What are we teaching the younger generation?

A ripple of thoughts and questions filled with anger raced through my mind.

Then I realized I use this word too. This word I claimed I didn’t use

to hurt anyone, had hurt my little brother tremendously. I felt like such a hypocrite. How could I be angry at this kid when I used this word myself ?

After this incident I tried to elimi-nate this word from my vocabulary. I’m not going to lie I’ve slipped a few times, but before the word left my mouth, I had to think back to the pain I saw in my brother’s eyes,and quickly swallow the horrible word.I wanted to know the TRUE meaning of this word that we all seemed to know.

My dad was the one who told me the meaning of the word. I did more background research and was shocked by the meaning, and the pain and bloodshed this word had caused my ancestors.

I understand that most of you that use this word don’t use it to hurt peo-ple, but however you use the word, it doesn’t change the meaning and the history behind it.

I love that Tupac Shakur tried to change this negative word, and make it have a positive meaning; never igno-rant getting goals accomplished, but

I remind myself this positive outlook on the word doesn’t change the negative meaning.

This word was used to put down my ances-tors, to dehumanize them. The majority of us who use this word ignore that aspect of the n-word or were simply never taught.

Even when used casually to refer to a

friend the word still holds that nega-tive meaning. It doesn’t change the meaning nor the history. There is oth-er ways to refer to friends. Bro, friend, bestie, amigo. “Nigga” does not have to be one of them.

This was the last word they heard, before they were killed. Please think before you speak.

With our first semester near-ing an end and the holiday sea-son approaching, most of us are overwhelmed with too much on our plates. But in the midst of the madness, we shouldn’t forget that the holiday season is a time for ap-preciation and giving back.

With campus clubs like Some-thing to Eat and Key Club, Afri-cause, and Youth Advisory Board, many Sequoia students practice giving back year-round. But whether you are a part of these clubs or not, take the holidays as an opportunity to amp up your appreciation and contributions.

There are a ton of ways to show your gratitude, and in no way are they limited to giant projects or expensive gifts. A simple apprecia-tion card for a teacher or friend could brighten up their day. An hour or two at your local food

bank could let a person know that they have someone looking out for them. Joining a new group at school one lunch a week could add that extra force behind a bigger cause.

As high school teenagers, we of-ten are consumed by school work, our social lives, and the minutiae of our daily lives. But often we forget to step outside our own priorities and concerns to thank those who help us and consider those less fortunate.

As the holidays approach, soup kitchens and canned food drives all throughout our communities flood with opportunities for students to get involved with need for dona-tions and volunteers all around. So with Thanksgiving just around the corner, now is the perfect time to show your gratitude and give back to your community.

This word I claimed I didn’t use to hurt any-one, had hurt my little brother tremendously.

I felt like such a hypocrite. How could I be angry at this kid

when I used this word myself ?

Nig-gernoun

Slang: A person of any RACE or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, and/or ignorant.

In a small classroom on Thurs-days at lunch, a place of imagina-tion, mind-bending stories, and wel-coming smiles make up the Creative Writing Club. This club invites poets, songwriters, and fiction writers to join them on their quest to improve their writing, and to exercise the cre-ative part of their brain. They work towards improving their members’ writing skills by having once-a-month reading circles in which anyone who would like to may share out anything that they may have been working on for that past month.

Many members of the club write as a past-time. “Writing’s a confidence builder...I use writing to prove to my-self that I’m good at something,” said sophomore Frannie Vescia. The club helps its members with their writing

By TIFFANY AH TYE and TAISHA GRIFFIEOpinion Editor and Staff Reporter

“An intense feeling of deep affec-tion” is the definition of love that you would find on Google, this definition barely scrapes the surface of what love truly is. People have many questions and problems about love. Can I be in love at such a young age? What if it doesn’t work out? What is love? How do I know I’m in love? Well, here’s some advice from us to you.

As students begin to settle back into school, love begins to blossom all around. Growing up, we are surround-ed by love in almost all aspects of life..

We love our parents, friends, and family, but being in love with someone outside the family tree is a completely different story. Adults tell us that we are too young for love, and that we should just enjoy being young right now, but love can-not be avoided.

According to freshman Robert Vogel, love can ex-ist at a young age if you give it enough time. And sorry girls, he’s taken.

Although adults look at teenage love as immature, for teenagers love surrounds our everyday lives. In the

halls there are public displays of affec-tion and everywhere you go love is ap-parent.

Now love may not be for everyone, but for most people the idea of a rela-

tionship is entic-ing. This may be why some rela-tionships do not always work out, but keep hope; there will always be other chances

to find your “one.” “If it doesn’t work out, don’t worry

about it,” said sophomore Maggie Hal-lamasek (also taken).

Married math teacher Amy Cho-

jnowski said love is “a choice, a sacri-fice, and always making the other per-son happy.” This love is more real and sounds much less intriguing then the love we see in the halls at school, but it is definite and true for teachers and older generations.

Love will make you stop thinking about other girls or boys, and make you focus on one special person. “You can’t stop spending time with some-one, and you always want to spend more time with them, and you care about their thoughts and their feel-ings,” said Vogel.

Remember we are still young, so have fun with life before you commit yourself to someone for forever.

Feature 5

By PETER BUGOS and TY DEWESStaff Reporters

Love experts offer advice on young relationships

block, and the members give feedback about each others different samples of writing. “Right now, the members are coming up with different prompts that they’d like the group to write about. So each time you write, there’s a different idea, “ said Club Advisor Katie Karlin.

This club helps its members to think outside the box, and gives them a chance to express themselves creatively. “Because so much of the type of writing we do in class is often academic, there’s often not a chance for people to communicate the more creative ideas that are they have,” says Karlin.

The club hasn’t submitted any writing pieces to contests yet, but that’s one of their goals. Their main focus is not to write for competitions, though. “I see writing as a general way to ex-press myself,” said sophomore Ellie Singer. “The club keeps you thinking, and gives you ideas for another story,” said Club President Matvari Maharaj.

Creativity at Sequoia flares with writing club

“[Love is] a choice, a sacrifice and always making the toher person happy.”

—Amy Chojnowski, Sequoia math teacher

Dreaming by Ellie Singer

The green waves are my bed, infinite in their rolling expanse. Blades of grass brush my legs and arms. As I melt into the ground I shut my eyes and smile. Suddenly, with a release of breath, I open my eyes. My mouth forms an 'o' and my lashes flutter, then burst to see. The shocking blue sky flashes into my vision. There is nothing but me, my grass, the sky, and a speck. The black dot twists above, turning, spiraling. I watch as the bird flaps ever farther from the earth.Movement beside me. I flip to the side and see you. You, your face. Your smile, your laugh, your life-filled crinkled eyes. We lay on our sides, gazing forever.Forever comes to a close.I reach toward you to brush your face. Your features glimmer, flicker. I reach through you, through air. I stare as my fist grasps nothing. Pieces fall into place.I struggle to stand, panicking, silently screaming. Tears stream down my cheeks and you freeze then disappear. I cannot move; the grass pulls me to the ground.I give up, stop attempts at freedom, accept my defeat. I suddenly remember what happened to you, to me, to everyone. I wish I don't.I remember the curse of the dream. To be a figment of your imagination is to be imprisoned for all time.No one will see you again. I least of all. My fate is all but simple.This land of nightmarish imprisonment, my paradise, my hell.Trapped in a dead man's head.

The Girl In The Tattered Dress by Zoe Kegler-Wenk

There was once a girl in a tattered dress Her decisions not always good So said the girl in the tattered dressI’d take it all back if I could

Perhaps by magic her wish made trueThe girl in the tattered dress is given a re-do

She wipes her past clean of everything wronghas rewritten her lyrics to a new song

But now she looks up through light innocent eyes

With matters of pain she cannot sympathizeShe has nothing to shape herOr grow her identity fromShe cannot comprehend hardshipShe grows unknowingly numb

There was once a girl in a clean white dressSecured away from pain So say the others of her passingShe leaves no color nor stain

...And When by Matvari Maharaj

...and when the clear night sky calls and you’re next to me,watching the stars rain upon us,creating a dwell of lights that surround us, I’ll know it’s just a dream. A creation of my imagina-tion....and when the pure sound of a song that is playedon your black guitar,my black guitar, our black guitar, a song that was written to tell a story,send a message, for those words that have been scared to be spoken directly, I’ll know it’s you and me....and when I see your smile, your dimples, your gray-blue eyes, when I hear your laugh and feel your touch, when held in a hug filled with protection and care, when the world around me stops, and my breath is held from the moment...I will know that the wait is finally over and I am finally yours

6 Feature

Students encouraged to argue in debate clubBy COLE DUNBARStaff Reporter

Arguing is fun.The members of Sequoia’s

Speech and Debate Club know that best. In the Speech and Debate Club, members talk about topics ranging from current events and glob-al issues to government poli-cies. The members meet and debate with other argument enthusiasts from all over Cali-fornia.

“I want to give youth their voice,” said sophomore Amir Amerian, founder and presi-dent of the rapidly-growing club. “Speech and debate is my passion. I love it.” This year, the club has grown to 16 people, and has attended five tournaments at nearby schools from its league.

The club is 1 of 48 schools that makes up the area from South San Francisco to Gil-roy, in Northern California, that are part of the Coast Forensic League (CFL) and the National Forensic League (NFL). If the Speech and Debate Club wins the state

qualifiers, then it will be able to attend the National Forensic League champion-ships in Dallas, Texas. The NFL is a very prestigious na-tional league, which the CFL branches off of. Tournaments are hosted at various schools within the league. In Feb-ruary 2012, Sequoia High School will be hosting a tour-

nament for the CFL. This year, Sequoia’s Speech

and Debate Club has planned a minimum of 12 tourna-ments that it will attend. In each of the tournaments, the club members participate in a number of events; they com-pete with another team. Each event has different rules and preparation times.

“It’s really fun,” said Ju-lia Neish, a sophomore who competes in the Parliamenta-ry (or “Parli”) debate event—another form of academic debate. In Parli debates, two-member teams debate against each other after 20 minutes of preparation.

The adviser for the club, math teacher Kelley O’Hern,

represents Sequoia High School in the League. O’Hern represents Sequoia (instead of student members) because the League requires a school staff member to a representative. She and two other parents as-sist in the running and organi-zation of the club. Parents do-nate time and money to help coach the club members on speech and debate techniques.

Students gain valuable ex-perience and improve their speaking skills. By practicing public speaking and debate, students learn that there are multiple sides to the topic be-ing discussed.

Team members learn pub-lic speaking and research skills. Participating in the club also keeps students up-dated on current events be-cause every Thursday they dis-cuss and practice debating on these topics. To attend tour-naments, students must act and dress professionally.

The skills acquired from being part of the Speech and Debate Club prepare students for leadership and a profes-sional career.

Sophmore Amir Amerian and Junior Michael Wucher lead the Speech and Debate Club. They meet Mondays at lunch, and Thursdays after school.

By HANNA BOLAÑOSStaff Reporter

What does it take be an Olympic gymnast? To turn hockey into a ca-reer? Or to fence a Hungarian in Eu-rope? Several Sequoia students pursue nontraditional sports not offered at Sequoia, and spend countless hours working to reach these goals.

Sophomore Angie Canale has been a gymnast for 10 years. Her inspira-tion to pursue gymnastics came from her dad; a man whose gymnastics took him all the way to extreme college level competition. Canale practices for five hours a day Monday through Saturday at Bayshore Elite in Red-wood City. Her practices start with running a mile, then she practices all her events, runs again, does condi-tioning, and finishes with stretching. The conditioning always involves 100 sit ups, 100 v-ups, and 100 push ups.

“It’s totally worth it,” Canale said, “just knowing that I’m good at a sport not many people are capable of keeps me motivated to try and make it all the way.”

She competes in four events: bars, beam, vault, and floor, but beam is her favorite.

“I like it because when I’m on the beam, nothing else exists. My routine

is always extremely complex, but I al-ways do well because I trust the beam and myself,” Canale said.

Canale is a citizen of both the United States and Italy. Her ultimate dream is to qualify for the Italian National Team and attend the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Recently, she won a competition that was the first step in qualifying for the team. She placed 1st in all four of her events. She still has to make a few more qualifications, but if she does well in the rest she will be going to Brazil.

However, it’s not all about light-hearted flips. Gymnastics is a physical-ly, emotionally, and mentally demand-ing sport that requires an immense amount of dedication.

“Sometimes I feel like I just want to give up, and quit, but I always re-member how hard I’ve worked to get to where I am. There have been times

when I feel like gymnas-tics is hurting me emotion-ally and phys-ically, but it’s my way of life and I’m never

going to give it up,” she said.But despite her massive time com-

mitment to this sport, Canale does not use it for PE credit. Instead, she will be will trying out soccer for Sequoia this winter and track next spring, both of

which she is excited about.“Gymnastics is all about trusting

yourself,” Canale said, “trusting your-self to the point where you believe you can do more than you are humanly ca-pable of.”

Sophomore Harrison Mills has been playing competitive hockey for seven years. Mills practices three times a week in both Fremont and San Jose and plays one to two games on week-ends. Practices and games are both about three hours long, which totals up to nine hours of practice time a week in addition to the games. Ev-ery practice includes both training on

dry land and on the ice. Dry land in-volves a lot of squats, push ups, planks, sprinting, and running long distances.

“Because hockey is year round and extremely time consuming my life gets really stressful sometimes,” Mills said. “Balancing time between hockey homework and friends is really diffi-cult. I usually take my laptop in the car to work on an essay or take my backpack get a good education. He hopes to play hockey for his college and make hockey a career.

“If I can get good enough to make it my career then I will be set for life.

Go to UNIQUE, page 7

Athletes pursue unique sports not offered at school

“Gymnastics is all about trust-ing yourself. Trusting yourself to the point where you believe you can do more than you are humanly capable of.” -Sophomore Angie Canale

Sophomore Harrison Mills plays hockey for 10+ hours a week . Photo courtesy of Harrison Mills

7Entertainment

Though she wears a Sequoia jersey, junior ex-change student Sophia Bolte is from from Frank-furt, Germany, 5692 miles away. The Raven Report asked her questions comparing American life to that of it in Germany and on her experience as a Ravo-kee cross-coun-try runner.

How did you get in-volved in the exchange stu-dent program andhear about Sequoia?

A c t u a l l y coming to Se-quoia was an “accident.” I applied to go abroad with an exchange organization, but because my German school (Koper-nikusschule), is Sequoia’s sis-ter school, my German teacher and and the American German teacher, Ms. Kispersky, sort of organized my Host Family and all the paper work to enroll at Sequoia. I also came to California two years ago and I loved it, so I was very excited to come over here.

How are America and Germany different?A big difference is the school. Instead of six sub-

jects each year, we have about twelve different ones per week. Every class is 45 minutes and sometimes 90 minutes. In addition, we don’t have sports at school. You have to attend a club outside of school where you go to practice in the afternoons at around six p.m.

Is this your first time doing cross country, or did you do it in Germany as well?

Yes, this is my first time doing cross country. We don’t even have it in Germany. We have (half ) marathon runners and distance runners at track, but that’s it.

What inspired you to do cross country at Se-quoia?

To be honest, I wanted to do a sport just to not gain weight. But when I went to my first practice, I was impressed by Coach and all the people were so great and accepted me from the very beginning.

By LAUREL DEARBORNNews Editor

Sequoia runner Boltes to the finish lineHave you done other sports before?In Germany I did track for the last two and a half

years. That’s another difference. We don’t have the sports in seasons we have them all year. And when I was little, I did gymnastics and I played soccer.

Are you going to do other sports while you are here?

D u r i n g the winter, I want to do soccer and in the spring I want to try softball because we don’t have that sport in Germany. I will prob-ably end up doing Track and Field though, be-cause ev-erybody is trying to convince me to do it.

Is the school atmo-

sphere different? Is the sports atmosphere?The school atmosphere is absolutely different.

We don’t have the school spirit that Sequoia has. One example is at the football games. The students don’t support each other the way Americans do. In Germany, students want to go home as fast as pos-sible after school. Plus, the relationships with the teachers are not as close as they are here.

What didn’t you expect about the U.S.?I didn’t expect the tons of homework and I’d

heard so much about the American high school spirit from friends and brochures, but I could have never imagined how much. It’s just amazing.

Learning a language is hard. How is learning everything in English?

I started learning English five years ago, so my English was okay when I came here. In the begin-ning it was way harder to express my thoughts and all that stuff in daily life.

If you could have 24 hours with one person, who would it be?

That’s a hard question... I’m not sure. I’ve met so many great people since I’ve been here and I like every single one. So I guess I would the spend the 24 hours with all of them

it my career then I will be set for life. Any team that will accept me would be great,” Mills said.

With all his hard work and dedication, Mills has had a great hockey career so far. He’s traveled to Phoenix, Vancouver, and Niagara Falls.

“I have been on a team that won the state championships, and I hope to win nationals this year.”

Despite the immense amount of Mills’s time that hockey consumes, it’s his die hard passion.

“I love the game with its ups and downs, I love the speed and finesse re-quired to play. It is fast and keeps you on your toes; you never know when some-thing crazy might happen like a goal or a big hit,” says Mills, “I play because it’s amazing.”

Sophomore Marc Berghouse is one of Sequoia’s few fencers. He started fencing when he was seven years old after attend-ing a pirate day camp at Stanford.

“We went on a bunch of treasure hunts, did pirate activities, and took a fencing class, and I thought, “this is kinda cool.’”

“I want to be just like Captain Jack Sparrow because I want to sail the seven seas,” Berghouse said.

He fences on Tuesdays and Thursdays in San Carlos for two hours, and then for three hours on Fridays and Saturdays in San Francisco.

For cross-training, Berghouse swims frequently and weight trains.

“It takes up a lot of my time, but I love it,” Berghouse said.

Berghouse plays in tournaments about every three weeks, and gets to travel not only around the United States, but to Europe too.

“I’ve been to France, Hungary, and Italy, and I’m going to Germany this month,” Berghouse said. “Those tourna-ments are the best because you get to fence in a new place, meet new people, and experience a different country.”

Some of Berghouse’s favorite memo-ries come from tournaments in which he’s encountered players from all over the world.

“There was this Hungarian guy. Every time he would get a point he would scream and dance, it was really weird,” Berghouse said.

“And all Italians get really pissed off when they fence, so they rip off their masks and throw them a lot.”

Fencing is much more challenging then it seems, Berghouse said. “It’s a mind game, it’s like physical chess”

Although Berghouse doesn’t want to make a career out of fencing, he says that he will most definitely fence on and off for the rest of his life.

Even though fencing won’t be his career, he will always aspire to be like Captain Jack Sparrow and sail the seven seas.

UNIQUE from pg. 6

Sophia Bolte (center) with junior Bliss twins Alyssa (left) and Alex (right) has emerged as a cross country star in her time in America.

to get a little taste of romance, but there’s something special about a story that can sweep you off your feet and into unusual terri-tory.

While its characters, plot lines, and relation-ships make it undeni-ably over the top, these out-of-this-world ele-

ments of this love story also create the intensity and passion that make love seem like a little bit of magic in a world of a whole lot of familiarity and routines. And the way I see it, a good love story is the ultimate es-cape from the mundane of our everyday.

So, yes. In the midst of the hair-graying col-lege process and after 16 and a half long months of waiting, I am not ashamed to say I that I am elated to indulge in 117 minutes of good old-fashioned, outra-geous romance. I will relish in every absurd moment and blush at every sweet one in

TWILIGHT from pg. 3 which Edward and Bella pursue their forbidden love.

What can I say? I’m head over heels. And be-ing the smitten-kitten I am, I even wrapped up my early decision ap-plication a couple weeks early to prepare for and focus on what’s really important in my life: Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Photo courtesy of andrew hutchinson

The junior varsity football team has had a six game winning streak and has won eight out of nine games this year. The team also won the big game at Woodside on Oct. 14 and played Carlmont on Nov. 10.

“Everyone [on the team] is good,” said junior varsity team member, sophomore Benjamin Chou-nard. “We have good coaches.” The team is lead by coach Cameron Farris, who has been coaching at Sequoia for three years.

The team has many factors that have made them so great this year. “The coaches push us really hard at practice,” said sophomore junior varsity team member Troy Spears.

“We practice everyday and put a lot of effort into it,” said freshman junior varsity team member Kite

8 SPORTS

JV football team scores big this year

The Sequoia High School cross country team is the best it has ever been in Sequoia history; currently, the boys team is in sixth place and the girls team is in seventh out of the total 17 schools in the Peninsula Athletic League standings. The team began its season at Half Moon Bay High School for a PAL meet and continued their official season until PAL League Championships on Nov 3.

“Statistically, we are the fastest team that any team has ever been in Sequoia,” said Coach An-drew Hutchinson.

In 2009, Coach Andrew Hutchinson took over the team, and since then the team has seen a dramatic increase in participants. According to Hutchinson, this is because of runners bring-ing in friends to participate in the sport.

“Everybody can be included in cross country, it doesn’t matter who you are. Girls can’t play football unless it’s one game a year, but in cross country, we take everybody in,” said junior War-ren Van Velkinburgh.

The cross country team runs four to six miles for workouts, but only runs three miles during meets, at places like Crystal Springs in Belmont.

“It’s more mentally challenging rather than physically, where being able to keep yourself go-ing for more than three miles is definitely the hardest part of the sport,” senior Chris Mc-Creddin said.

Both the boys varsity team and the girls varsity team continued onto CCS Section Fi-nals last Saturday.

Lauese. “We have a pretty good chance at going [to the championships].”

The team also watches movies of their past games to review what they should work on and what plays they did well.

There are now three freshmen on the junior var-sity team.

“They have exceptional skill,” said Chounard. The team is getting better every year, thanks to many great, new players.

“They score a lot of touchdowns,” Spears said about the new team members.

“We were excited and proud of each other,” said Chounard about their win at the Woodside game. “The Woodside game was the toughest because it was the closest,”

Although the varsity team did not win, the ju-nior varsity team beat Woodside by two points, winning 28 to 26.

“The win was good, but unexpected,” said Spears.

By SOPHIE MILLER and MATTHEW MORROWStaff reporters

With the girls tennis season wrapping up with a triumphant 6-1 victory against Oceana on Oct. 25, they overall grew as players, as well as closer as a team. Although the girls ended with a 1-12 win-loss ratio, “[they] had a very successful season in terms of how the girls responded to challenges as well as athletic improvement,” said tennis coach Phil McKenney.

Cross-country team has best season ever

Girls tennis season ends with a winBy ANNA DAGUMFeature Editor

By ERICK CASTROStaff reporter

November 18 & 19 @ 7:00 p.m.November 20 @ 3:00 p.m.Tickets: www.showtix4u.com650.367.9780 x6288

“Everyone cheers each other on. It’s a good environment,” said junior Sami Mast, a player on the team.

The game is played according to divisions: singles and doubles. Singles is played as a one-on-one match between two different teams, whereas doubles is played with two people from each team, with a total of four people competing against each other.

This season, under instruction of a new coach, the team learned how to charge the net, improved

their volleying skills, and learned some doubles strategies.

Juniors Alex Hilbert at No.4 and Rebecca Sand at No.3 singles had the most victories with three each. Juniors Caitlin Castagnola and Chelsea Texeira also made a strong No.1 doubles team.

“The games that we do win [in terms of division], everyone takes it as a win,” said Mast.

“We haven’t won that many games as a whole, but we’re spirited.”

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