THEMIRADAClass gearing up for ‘Super Bowl of Nerddom’

ROBOTS

INSIDE

SLEEP

John Agostinelli’s Robotics class has entered the FIRST Robotics Competition and will be participating in an event known as Ultimate Ascent.

In this competition teams divide into opposing alliances and duke it out inside a metal enclosure.

There are two towers on opposing sides of the enclosure, and teams score points by getting their respective robots to toss frisbees through goals; the more difficult the goal, the more points it is worth.

“The competition is scheduled for March 21 to 23 at U.C. Davis,” senior Justin Jeffrey said. “Schools from all over California will be there.”

“Each year is a little different. This year the goal is to get frisbees into goals and whoever has the most points wins the match.”

The full set of rules and requirements is available online.

The final event is aired on NASA televi-sion, and serves as a model of the things

high school technology programs can achieve.

The Robotics class is already in the process of designing a robot.

The competition, also known as the Super Bowl of Nerddom, requires the brightest of high school students to engage in a death match of programming, design, and skill.

In order to emerge victorious, teams must successfully create a system that can complete a variety of tasks.

www.riomirada.com Rio Americano High School Volume 51, Issue no. 4 Feb 1, 2013

BASKETBALL BOYS BEAT RIVAL EL CAMINO ON THE ROAD 64-55 | PAGE 8

ROBOTS | PAGE 2GUNS

In the wake of the tragic Sandy Hook school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, educators and lawmakers are looking for ways to ensure schools are safe.

Legislators in several states, though not California, have proposed laws that would allow teachers to carry guns on campus. The Obama administration has proposed spending $150 million to pay for armed guards, counselors, and psy-chologists in schools around the nation.

With an open campus that backs onto the wooded American River Parkway, keeping Rio Americano safe presents spe-cial challenges.

“We do the best we can with the re-sources we have, which include campus monitors, administrators, and cameras,” Principal Brian Ginter said.

“We can do a better job surrounding the campus to keep it closed. Arden put up a fence around the entire school. Noth-

ing is going to be foolproof.”An informal Mirada survey of teach-

ers found that 82 percent agree or strongly agree that Rio is a safe campus, a number that reflects past surveys of the students.

“I would say that given our geography, we’re vulnerable,” science teacher Tobias Spencer said. “Anyone can drive up, but our staff and students are conscientious and look out for each other. I feel safe with the staff I work with.”Armed Guards on Campus

28 percent of teachers said that they believe it would be reasonable to have an armed police officer on campus at all times while 69 percent disagree and 3 percent are unsure. Principal Brian Ginter said it would be reasonable.

“The experience I’ve had with armed officers on campus has been positive,” Ginter said. “At both schools I’ve worked at in Pennsylvania, there was a police substation in the schools and an armed of-ficer there all day and in the evening when there was an event going on. I think it’s

reasonable.”Ginter said that there would be bene-

fits to having an armed officer on campus.“In Pennsylvania, we used the school

resource officer to strengthen our aca-demic programs such as driver’s educa-tion,” he said. “They worked with our social studies department to explain laws and law enforcement. They developed a good relationship with the community and it changed the way people saw the police. In a dangerous situation, you have someone who you know is in charge from the get go. Principals aren’t trained.”

Nevertheless, he sees the drawbacks of the idea.

“The detriment is that you have a weapon on campus,” Ginter said. “When there’s a weapon on campus there’s al-ways the possibility something is going to happen.”

Amanda Wilcox of the Sacramento chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said that she has no

GUNS | PAGE 2

SLEEP | PAGE 3

Wallace Harmon | Editor-in-ChiefA sheriff’s deputy patrols the school parking lot on Wednesday. An armed deputy is on campus “once every couple days” according to Vice Principal Whitaker. Though regarded as safe, the openness of the campus and proximity to the American River Parkway pose special security challenges.

Robotics team to participate at UC Davis competition

Juniors and seniors sleep at rates similar to teens nationally, less than what doctors recommend

Principal says armed police “reasonable”

Teen sleeping habits a nightmare

By Kayla McArdle & Valana Stiles | Mirada Staff

You see them dragging themselves late to first pe-riod, draped in comfy sweats that may have been slept in, clutching a Starbucks’ Venti Macchiato, sleep still in their eyes. But they are wide awake doing homework or watching TV at midnight, long after experts say they should be in bed to get the recommended hours of sleep.

According to national and Mirada surveys, they are pretty typical teens.

A Mirada survey of 94 juniors and seniors found that Rio students are likely to sleep at rates comparable to teenagers nationally, which are generally below the 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours per night recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. The survey also found that students taking AP courses were more likely to sleep less than those in traditional courses.

Junior Sydney Ford takes three AP classes, plays basketball and soccer, and sleeps “maybe 7 hours, if lucky.”

Typical of many high achieving students, she said that she needs to stay ahead of the curve if she is going to succeed in life. “I need to stay up to study and finish homework,” Ford said. “Sometimes college is so com-petitive and I want to get into the right college, leave Sacramento, and start living independently.”

Overall, on the average school night, 16 percent of the students surveyed sleep less than 6 hours per night, 21 percent sleep approximately 6 hours per night, 37 percent sleep approximately 7 hours per night, 20 per-cent sleep approximately eight hours per night, and six percent sleep approximately nine hours per night.

According to a 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, only 31.4 percent of students na-tionally slept eight or more hours per night compared with 26 percent of the Rio students surveyed. Accord-ing to the same survey, only 7.5 percent of

News 2 Opinion 6Sports 8Features 13

NEWS SPORTSOPINION FEATURESSite Council makes important decisions re-garding school funding. Page 4.

A first hand reflection on the Presidential inau-gural in Washington. Page 7.

Tahoe a popular destina-tion for Rio’s snow sport enthusiasts. Page 9.

Pretty Little Liars ‘A’ show to watch. Page 14.

ByJohn Ferrannini & RaeAnna Reynolds | Mirada Staff

In the wake of tragedies,officials take aim at safety

By Cian O’Neill | Mirada Staff

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013Page 2

GUNS | Most teachers reject weapons proposal

ROBOTS | Project helps students with robotics skillsFROM Page 1

FROM Page 1

Junior Zach Paladini works hard in Robotics to build the robot for the UC Davis competition.Brad Conidaris & Cian O’Neill | Mirada Staff

problem with armed officers on campuses, but emphasized that she thinks it wouldn’t be a ‘be-all-end-all’ solution.

“I have no problem with having an armed police officer at a school, particularly at a high school,” she said. “A large number of schools al-ready have police on campus. Com-pared to the public, law enforcement officers are trained to access situ-ations, make quick decisions, and use their firearms properly. None-theless, the two security officers at Columbine and the Police Force at Virginia Tech were unable to stop the shootings. At Columbine, they missed their target.”

While the NRA proposed that the United States Congress put po-lice officers in every school, Wil-cox thinks these kinds of decisions should be left to local government. “Keep in mind that a police officer at every school in California would cost a lot of money and the state has suffered severe cuts to educa-tion in the past few years. Nation-ally, it would cost a huge amount of money. I do not believe that armed police or resource officers should be mandated. It should be up to each school district. I am on the Board of a small, rural Elementary School District and we do not consider an armed police officer on campus to be necessary.”

Arming TeachersAnother proposed reaction to

Sandy Hook is to arm teachers and

administrators. In 2008, the Harrold School District in northwest Texas became the first to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons.

In California, the Fontana Uni-fied School District purchased 14 AR-15’s in the aftermath of the Au-rora, Colorado movie theater shoot-ing last summer.

When it comes to armed teach-ers and administrators, Principal Ginter is not supportive. “I don’t think anyone except a trained offi-cer should have a weapon on cam-pus,” Ginter said. “If I found out a teacher was carrying a concealed weapon, I would report that to hu-man resources.”

Sharing Ginter’s concern is Amanda Wilcox of the Brady Cam-paign. “I do not support teachers carrying a concealed weapon on campus,” Wilcox said. “As I said earlier, law enforcement personnel are highly trained and repeatedly trained. I do not trust the public, in-cluding CCW holders to make good split-second decisions, particularly when they are in an extremely stressful situation. The decision to shoot or not-to-shoot is even diffi-cult for law enforcement. When two people are armed and exchanging fire, how do the police know who the “good guy” is (think of the Au-rora shooting)? Teachers need to fo-cus on teaching. Although the New-town shooting was horrific, schools are still statistically very safe places with little gun violence.”

According to Trent Allen, the

Senior Director of Community Re-lations for the San Juan Unified School District, there was a teacher in the district who wanted to carry a concealed weapon on campus and was denied his request. Allen de-clined to name the specific teacher or school.

“Board Policy 1250 prohibits weapons and other dangerous items on school campuses. This would in-clude concealed weapons regardless of whether the individual has a per-mit for the weapon. Therefore, any request to carry a weapon on cam-pus would be denied,” Allen said. “Since the tragedy in Connecticut, I am unaware of any requests by teachers to carry a weapon on cam-pus. I am only aware of one such request prior to that time and there was not a specific reason stated. The request was denied pursuant to Board Policy 1250.” 17 percent of teachers said that they believe it would be reasonable to arm some teachers and administrators on cam-pus while 83 percent disagree.

One teacher who thinks it would be reasonable is John Agostinelli. “Engagement is the key in active shooter situations,” Agostinelli said. “Law enforcement agencies across the country have studied how to deal with active shooters. The les-sons have given way to the idea

of rapid engagement of the active shooter. The most important con-cept is to get someone to engage the shooter as quickly as possible. Hav-ing a number of teachers on campus who could engage the shooter could help quickly contain the perpetra-tor. The police response time here in Sacramento for the first officer to arrive would probably be less than 5 minutes after they received the 911 calls.”

Agostinelli is opposed to having armed police on campuses for sev-eral seasons. “If you have one offi-cer at every school, it would make sense that the active shooter would just target them first,” he said. “The cost of this would be staggering. Just to put an officer at every San

Juan Unified school site would more than double the amount of officers that patrol the county at any one time. Think about that for a minute. We would need to double the police force just so half of them could sit at a school waiting for the minute chance that someone goes crazy and starts shooting up a school.”

Disagreeing is English and Avid teacher Jolynn Mason. “I’m not in favor of that,” Mason said. “I don’t think there’s a place for it. If a teacher is armed, even though they’re trained, who’s going to say there aren’t going to be mishaps and they’ll remain calm? Even the most trained police officers who face this every day have shot innocent people in the heat of the moment.”

Ginter himself faced a situation in Pennsylvania when a student came to school with a gun.

“A student reported that he had seen a student on the bus with a gun,” Ginter said. “I went to the students classroom, asked if I could borrow the student, and asked him to step outside. I then asked if he had a gun, the expression on his face gave it away, and he admitted that he did. I asked him where and he told me it was in his locker. So then I had the hallway containing his locker blocked off and had him stand about 10 feet away while I opened it. We found a handgun and at that point we confiscated it and dealt with the student accordingly.”

“You need to have a pretty fast learning curve,” junior Mike Castel-lano said.

“Everything builds upon every-thing else, and you got to keep up.”

Competing robots must throw frisbees into slots, scale metal tow-ers, and even engage in battles with other team’s creations.

Rio’s team has until February 19 to finish their creation and be ready to battle.

In Robotics class, students learn to program computers, draft designs, and complete electrical circuits.

His students obtain skills needed in the modern workforce.

“Robotics is such a valuable class because kids learn basic engineer-ing skills and end up being forced to work together in order to get things done,” Agostinelli explained.

The skills taught in vocational classes offer students practical knowledge that academia doesn’t.

“College is not for everyone. Kids who aren’t on that four-year univer-sity track need a place too.”

Justin Jeffery said that he has learned a lot of skills from Robotics and from this project in particular.

“It teaches you how to manage time,” Jeffery said. “It’s really fun. Like in woodshop and any industrial arts class, you learn skills as time goes on.”

Carpentry, construction, automo-tive engineering, and numerous other fields hold opportunities for high school graduates who do not want to pursue a college education.

Wyotech, and a host of other engineering and mechanical acad-emies offer career pathways for those who want to enter the workforce with specialized knowledge rather than an

academic degree.“Most people don’t know that

an electrical engineer, entering the workforce after a two year vocational program, can make up $90,000 a year as a starting salary” senior James Vil-lanueva said.

Trade schools like Wyotech prom-ise fast and focused training, and often partake in helping prospective employers obtain workers with the right skill sets.

“I want to be a mechanic for im-port cars,” junior Zach Paladini said.

“I think classes like robotics are the best way I can get prepared for that while still in high school.”

Robotics, as well as woodshop and other industrial arts programs, are indispensable because they pro-vide a base of knowledge for those interested in engineering, craftsman-ship, and mechanics.

“Classes like shop are really im-portant and often overlooked,” senior Mark Lyon said.

“We need engineers and carpen-ters and metal-workers. Those are vital careers, we couldn’t function without them.”

“I think hands-on programs are really important at the high school level,” sophomore Cheo Vasquez said.

“I feel like we neglect the need to train and educate a vocational workforce.”

“Havng a number of teachers on campus who can engage the shooter could help quickly contain the perpetrator.”— John Agostinelli, Teacher

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 3

Info graphics by John Ferrannini

Teacher proposes 7-period bell scheduleJunior and senior English

teacher Matthew Valencich has a proposal to change the school schedule.

“Countless studies have shown that students need more sleep,” Valencich said. “The stu-dents benefit from the element of choice. It is beneficial to the faculty because the teachers get to pick a schedule that works for them, their family, and their stu-dents.”

The proposed change would allow students to take a zero peri-od in order to end the school day after 5th period, or remain with the traditional periods 1-6.

The student would have the power to choose whether to sleep in to 8:20 and be dismissed at 3:20 for the traditional 1-6 period

day or wake up at 7:20 and get out early at 2:15 for the 0-5 pe-riod day.

On block days, zero period would continue to be about one hour per day.

“I came up with this plan,” Va-lencich said.

Concern has been raised by the student body. Student athletes have traditionally opposed start-ing school any later because they are concerned that if school gets out any later, practices will all be pushed back, resulting in the stu-dents getting home later.

But with Valencich’s plan, athletes would have the ability to start school earlier and start prac-tices earlier.

“People were concerned with student athletes missing school,” Valencich said.

“This plan allows students to have a flexible schedule for their sport, so they miss minimal school.”

Nevertheless, some students are still skeptical.

“We, as a student body, have already acclimated to our cur-rent daily routine,” junior Erin Cherovsky said. “Keep it the way it is, we all need our beauty sleep and it would be tough to change.”

“I don’t agree with the propos-al because people have jobs after school,” senior Elysia Taylor said. “My job wants me there at 3:30 and I wouldn’t be able to get to Gold River in 10 minutes.”

But Valencich believes that the proposed plan would offer every-one more of a choice.

“Students and teachers alike could benefit from the element of choice,” Valencich said.“Teachers could choose their schedule of when would work best for them.”

Students could take classes to accommodate their extracurricu-lar activities.

Valencich said that he has fac-ulty support behind him.

“Many teachers support this plan,” Valencich said. “But we still need to discuss it and vote on it as a faculty, student body, and com-munity.”

Valencich remains optimis-tic about his plan to benefit the student body and faculty, and believes that it could easily be implemented on campus.

SCHOOL START TIME

By Connor Jang | Mirada Staff

SLEEP| AP students sleep less than traditional students; feel less satisfiedFROM Page 1

students nationally obtained “optimal sleep” (9 or more hours a night for teenagers) compared to 6 percent for the Rio students surveyed.

Given these numbers, it’s no surprise that research-ers in the science journal Developmental Neuroscience said in 2009 that “sleep deprivation among adolescents is epidemic.”

At Rio 57 percent of students said that homework was a contributing factor to their not sleeping enough, 48 percent listed internet surfing and social media, 11 percent listed sports and 24 percent said that they just weren’t tired early enough. (Students could list multiple causes for lack of sleep so the percentages do not add up to 100 percent.)

Junior Devyn Swift blames the pull of social media and electronics for her lack of sleep.

“I’m on the phone or talking to people,” Swift said. “I don’t sleep way more because of texting and calling than because of homework. It doesn’t matter how much I manage my time I would still want to stay up and talk to people and do what I do.”

One habit scientists say would help increase the qual-ity and quantity of sleep is going to bed and waking up at the same time every night, regardless of the day of the week. Yet 83 percent of the Rio students surveyed said they go to bed later on Fridays and Saturdays then on school nights.

The 2011 CDC study linked sleep debt in teens with risky behavior, saying that teens who reported not getting sufficient sleep were 86 percent more likely to have seri-ously considered suicide, 67 percent more likely to smoke cigarettes, 52 percent more likely to use marijuana, and 41 percent more likely to engage in sexual activity.

Researchers have also linked sleep debt in teens with impaired ability to learn, depression and anxiety, exces-sive weight gain, decreased athletic skills, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

A problem for AP students The Mirada survey also found that students enrolled

in AP courses are more likely to sleep less than those in non-honors courses, more likely to attribute losing sleep to homework, and more likely to report feeling worried too much in the past several months.

About 29 percent of AP students, a plurality, reported sleeping less than 6 hours per night, compared to only 6 percent of traditional students. While 33 percent of traditional students sleep 8 hours or more per night, only 18 percent of the AP students do.

There seems to be a consensus that the high de-mands put on AP students to be admitted to their dream university is a main cause of this discrepancy, especially when coupled with the fact that AP students often add on Civitas, sports and other extracurricular activities.

Counselor Chris Brownfield said that AP students spend less time sleeping and more time doing homework because of the pressures of their high standards.

“The AP students feel more pressured than the other students in the survey and that pressure can be imposed by others: parents, teachers, colleges, or it could be self imposed,” Brownfield said. “I think that the pressure would be to stay up later to study more as a way to deal with the stress.”

One junior who isn’t sleeping enough is Ben Harouni, who juggles Civitas and multiple AP classes while sleep-ing only about 6 hours on school nights.

“I don’t feel like any of the advanced students get enough of the sleep they need,” Harouni said. “They’re giving up health for grades and it’s not a good exchange.”

When asked about why he makes the sacrifice, Harou-

ni said “I want to be the well rounded student that gets into a good college like a U.C. It’s a necessary thing to do.”

Junior Arianna Sue takes five AP classes, is on varsity cheer, and is the President of the Rio Americano Young Democrats.

“I think students enrolled in honors and AP classes receive more homework,” Sue said. “They put in more effort and understand the time they put in is reflected in the quality of their work. They need more time to be successful.”

Cheer coach Demeris Athey said that she notices the exhaustion that her busy cheerleaders face.

“We have quite a few high achieving cheerleaders,” Athey said. “I do see them sometimes get completely burnt out. Trying to juggle practice, community service, and games with the expectations of those classes strains kids. There’s a fatigue about them.”

Athey said that the workload has increased from what she remembers when she was a cheerleader in high school.

“When I was in high school, homework didn’t com-pare to what students are given now,” she said. “I don’t remember having half of what you have. The demands weren’t what they are now.”

The survey found that while only 45 percent of tradi-tional students listed homework as a cause of not sleeping the recommended hours, 80 percent of AP students did.

But while Harouni and Athey agree that many AP students are burnt out, they don’t necessarily agree that less homework is the solution.

“If teachers take more advantage of their class time, students could be more productive,” Harouni said. “I’d say 65 to 70 percent of homework is busy work and people just want to sleep when they get home.”

Athey said that students should be educated before they get to high school on the impact of sleep on aca-demic performance.

“They feel an all nighter will make them do better, but sometimes sleep will,” Athey said. “How much you sleep is a choice and who’s to say that, if they didn’t have home-work to do, they wouldn’t be up until two in the morning playing video games?”

Effects on moodPerhaps the most telling number revealed by the

Mirada survey was that while only 15 percent of students in traditional courses reported feeling “hopeless about the future” in the past several months, 36 percent of the AP students reported feeling that way.

The fact that AP students generally get less sleep may have something to do with it. The 2011 CDC study found a connection between depression and insufficient sleep.

Students themselves have a variety of explanations.“We know enough to realize that it’s going to be so

much more difficult to be successful than we thought it would be,” said senior Ramsey Karim, who is in three AP classes and band. “Getting into college is difficult, getting a good job that pays well is difficult. We know that because we’re AP students and that, I think, is the tragic irony.”

Arianna Sue echoed that sentiment. “I think students taking these courses understand the weight and severity of the decisions they make,” she said. “One test can affect your grade which can affect your GPA which affects your chances of getting into a good college. For AP kids, it’s magnified ten times what it’s like for others because they understand cause and effect a lot more.”

Brownfield thinks the hopelessness is related to the extra pressures put on AP students. “It has to do with pressure,” she said. “Sometimes high achieving students feel as if they’re never doing enough, which can contrib-ute to feeling hopeless. If you believe you’re never doing enough, you’re never feeling satisfied.”

Proposed 7-Period Schedule

Flexible schedule. Teachers may choose to work periods 0-5 (7:20-2:20) or 1-6 (8:20-3:20) and must be on campus at least 15 minutes before their first class.

0 7:20-8:151 8:20-9:202 9:25-10:25Break 10:25-10:303 10:35-11:354 11:40-12:40Lunch 12:40-1:105 1:15-2:156 2:20-3:20

Tuesday block: 0 (7:20-8:15); block 1,3,5Wednesday block: 0 (7:20-8:15); block 2,4,6

Thursday short day: 2:10-3:10 collabora-tion, 3:15-4:15 faculty meeting on second Thursday

Matthew Valencich

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013Page 4

One of the creators of the popu-lar Snapchat phone application, Da-vid Kravitz, is a Rio alumni.

“My friends Evan and Bobby worked on the first version of Snap-chat for a number of months and it was finally released on the App Store in late 2011,” Kravitz told the Mirada.

“Evan and I were the same year at Stanford, and a mutual friend intro-

duced us in May. We clicked imme-diately and in June, I started work at Snapchat along with Daniel Smith.”

Snapchat is one of the most pop-ular apps used today by teens.

The app was created by Kravitz, Daniel Smith, Bobby Murphy, and Evan Spiegel.

Snapchat allows people to send photos or videos (known as snaps) to each other which are only view-able for up to ten seconds.

Since its inception, Snapchat has gained a lot of popularity with teens through the media.

By last November, 20 million photos were being shared over Snapchat per day.

“I use it every day,” junior Mor-gan McClure said about Snapchat.

“I like it because I can make the

ugliest faces and people can only see it for a couple seconds. I send about 20 a day.”

“I think it’s hilarious because you can look as ugly as you want for five seconds and then no one will ever see it again,” senior Allie Mering said.

“Unless they take a screenshot of it, and then the embarrassing photo is theirs forever,” added senior Brit-tany Hagedorn.

“With so many users and snaps, the servers can have trouble keeping

up,” Kravitz said. “We have to spend a lot of time

figuring out how to make things run more quickly and efficiently.”

Although the creators of Snap-chat can now be proud of their ac-complishments and their success with the app, it wasn’t easy creating it.

“There are always lots of difficul-ties developing software,” Kravitz said.

“This summer Daniel and I worked on creating the Android version.

Photo and video applications on Android can be a bit tricky to de-velop for because every Android has different camera hardware.”

The development of the app took several months but in the end it paid

off. “We are still working hard to

keep improving Snapchat. There are so many possibilities and we’ve only scratched the surface.”

The original reason for creating Snapchat was to have a fun way to communicate with friends and fam-ily.

Today this idea has led to its popularity and its growing number of users.

“We’re humbled and flattered by all the love and support we have got-ten from the Snapchat community,” Kravitz said.

“We feel privileged to be able to work on Snapchat every day.”

“As for the future , we are con-tinuing to work hard to make sure people keep having fun.”

Alum obtains fame, but only for up to 10 seconds

By Alyssa Campbell andWhitney Tyler | Mirada Staff

RIO ALUMNI

David Kravitz helped create the popular Snapchat application

The third annual Rio Pasta & Crab Feed Auction will be 5:00pm on Saturday, February 9 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School in Carmichael. Dinner, including pasta, salad, and crab, will be served at 6:30pm. The event is meant to help fund upgrades to Rio’s base-ball facilities.

“The feed and auction raised over $9,000 for our program last year,” parent Susan Kaza-njian, whose son Alec plays baseball, said. “In addition to this fund raiser, last year we had 30 patients per evening work at five Sacramento Kings games in concession and they raised al-most $5,000.”

The players and families also sold discount cards, Rio Baseball apparel, coupons to restau-

rants, wash cars and sell banners to businesses to put up on our fence for their advertising.

The team also sells discounted tickets (vouchers to be used at any time during the season) to Sacramento River Cats games so that they can have the opportunity to play a game at the River Cats Stadium with another area high school.

The Rio American Athletic Boosters, or RAAB, pays for two baseball coaching pay-ments and the District pays for two more.

A few years ago they put in sprinklers on the field. However, RAAB has been difficult the past few years because family member-ships and donations have been falling so much due to the economy.

“We encourage all of our baseball parents to join RAAB for the great things they do to help Rio Americano”, Kazanjian said.

Coach Wheeler wants to offer players a first rate high school playing experience. Through the fund raisers, they have upgraded their backstop, erected a new fence, new batting cage nets, concrete in the dugout, baseballs and related equipment, bought four sets of uniforms and hats in the past five years, and have gotten to participate in big Spring tour-naments.

The past three years during Spring Break, Rio’s Varsity team has traveled to San Diego to play in the Lions Invitational High School Baseball Tournament. This tournament is said to be the oldest, the biggest and the best high school tournament in the nation.

They regularly host over a hundred schools, and the players come from as far away as Ne-vada and Utah. This year during this Spring break, Rio Baseball will be staying local as they

have been invited to play in the Boras Classic Tournament, where 16 Northern CA top high school teams will compete.

The winner of the four-day event will face the winner of the 16-team field from Southern California on April 13 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Also, this year they will be ordering a home plate halo and upgrading our Freshman/JV field/facilities.

Kazanjian is grateful for the parent sup-port.

“All of these things would not be possible without player and parent involvement and events like our Crab Feed and the other fund raisers,” she said.

Tickets to the Pasta & Crab Feed Auction are $49.

By Whitney Tyler | Mirada Staff

The school’s Site Council’s spend-ing decisions affect the student body more than one may know. The Site Council consists of a dozen people, including Principal Ginter, teacher, student, parent, and classified rep-resentatives, who make decisions over how to spend money allotted to them by SJUSD.

“One of the main points of Site Council is oversight by the commu-nity,” Classified Representative Tom Nelson said. “It’s oversight that the school is being run well and is fol-lowing the plan and priorities that the school community determines as being important, so from the ad-ministration and district point of view, it’s important that the stake-holders in Site Council feel like they’re getting answers and are a part of the operation of the school. It takes a village. A well raised child is raised by the community. A well run school is run by the community. The best run schools are schools in which the entire community feels involved.”

“I joined Site Council because I saw that the money that was be-ing spent the last year and previous years could have been more effi-ciently spent,” senior Site Council Chairman David Egan said. “Maybe if they were given more information about what they were buying, they’d say ‘no.’ I wanted to have a say in the school and how they’d spend the money.”

Egan was elected to Site Council by the student representatives and became the chairman. The coun-

cil has spent money on computers, textbooks, supplies, travel, printing, and postage.

On Monday’s Site Council meet-ing, Principal Ginter discussed the fact that Toshiba started a new lease contract with the school for three years.

Classified Representative Tom Nelson brought up how the school would spend money raised as a re-sult of the Measure N bond that passed in the November elections.

“We’re supposed to be contacted by the district at each site to discuss the priorities of each site,” Ginter

said. “That’s supposed to happen in

February. The district will make ultimate decisions on what will be funded.”

“It’s kind of like schools are bid-ding for it,” Nelson added, prompt-ing laughter from the room.

The council also discussed hav-ing a Family Resource Center on campus

“The idea for a Family Resource Center is that it would be a place for students to come and get help on homework, have access to a com-puter, and do those in a more dedi-

cated environment,” Egan said. “After school tutoring is only an

hour a day. This would be a place to go for students to get a lot of stuff done.”

The proposed Family Resource Center would have a computer lab open to students who didn’t have ac-cess to a computer at home.

Sophomore Student Represen-tative Sun Ho Hwang brought up a common student concern of get-ting undesirable courses, as well as cigarette butts on campus and the bathroom running out of toilet pa-per too often.

“With the new semester, many kids were getting angry at their schedules,” Hwang said. “They’re getting classes they don’t want, P.E. for example for students who’ve al-ready taken two years of it. I see it as something that needs to be fixed, but unfortunately I don’t have an al-ternative to things.”

Site Council meetings are open to the public.

For the rest of the year, they have $48,605.24 total that they have a say in spending, though the money they spend is limited to certain catego-ries.

Site Council sets sights high for school’s budget

By Victor Lam | Mirada Staff

Principal Brian Ginter speaks at Monday’s Site Council meeting on a proposed Family Resource Center.John Ferrannini | Editor-in-Chief

SITE COUNCIL

At monthly meetings, parents, teachers, and students have a say in school’s direction, funding

DavidKravitz

Next Saturday’s feed to raise money for athletic boosters

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 5

By Hanna Despard | Mirada Staff

John Ferrannini | Editor-in-Chief

Winter Concert

7:00pm-9:00pm

CAHSSE Testing Baseball Crab Feed

5pm-11:30pm

St. John the Evangelist

VICCI Sophomore Interviews

8:00am-3:00pm

Library

February Break (No School)

Small Ensemble Night

7:00pm-9:00pm

Band Rooms

12-135 5-6 9 18-2213

Religion can be a very controversial topic, but for the Christian club that prays every Wednesday at the flagpole, it is a source of strength.

“The Christian club has been an awesome new way to share my faith and get to know more people who have the same views as me,” club Vice President Erik Anderson said.

“I really enjoy meeting with my group of guys and taking a step back and just talking about life. Most guys aren’t as open to shar-ing their difficulties in life but this has given us the opportunity to share our problems and help each other move towards a solution and pray for one another.”

Members of the Christian club help each other through the stresses and strains of teen-age life and strive to become closer to Jesus as they pray for each other and for the school community.

Club members also answer one another’s questions about Christianity, but that doesn’t mean they’re always so serious.

“Christian club was created as a place where Christians and people interested in Christianity can come together and hang out,” club President Olivia Carreon said.

“Members of the Christian club get to have a fellowship with each other and pray togeth-er.”

“My favorite thing about Christian club

is just hearing the struggles people are going through and getting to resolve those through prayer and support. But it’s not all serious-ness. We just had an awesome laser tag event the other week which was loads of fun.”

Club Vice President Erik Anderson joined the Christian club again this year with the goal of gaining new members.

“I joined the Christian club because I was actively involved with it last year and wanted to expand it,” Anderson said.

“Last year I was the only guy. Thankfully our group has gone from about 10 people to fifty people. Faith is much easier to live out if you have other people who support you and keep you accountable.

In addition, I have to thank Karina Bode-meiger and Olivia Carreon for their devotion to strengthening the club over the past year. I also like the fact that a lot of the people in our club go to the same church youth group as I do.”

The club welcomes people of all religions or of no religion at all.

“If you are already Christian or are looking for a new club to join then it’s a great option and there are plenty of friends I have person-ally made from being a part of this club,” An-derson said.

“Other people who are not believers are welcome too, and we are always open to ques-tions and anyone who has a genuine interest in joining our club.”

The Christian club prays every Wednesday at lunch at the flagpole.

Students have different reasons for coming to the Wednesday prayer lunch.

“It’s a positive in a day full of school work,” sophomore Juli Towle said.

“I like to connect with other Christian people,” said freshman Mimi Pierce-Pique.

Pierce-Pique, like many of the club mem-

bers, goes to church every Sunday. Pierce-Pique attends Our Lady of the Assumption in Carmichael.

Club President Olivia Carreon said that the club prays because “we want to encourage each other on our walks or faith and pray for our school.”

“We want to be lights to the world.”

TEACHER OF THE ISSUE

Derek Popple | Mirada Staff

F E B R UA R Y C A L E N D A R

CLUB OF THE ISSUE

What kind of student were you in high school?Academically speaking, slightly above average. I

got a scholarship award my senior year for citizen-ship. I was really involved. I played soccer for 4 years. I was a peer mediator and introduced new students to the school. I didn’t really belong to any particular group; I belonged to everything.

Where did you go to college/what did you ma-jor in?

I went to Sonoma State and majored in Psychol-ogy.

Why did you want to become a teacher?I worked in a group home for emotionally dis-

turbed kids and I learned that I liked educating them.

What do you like to do in your free time?I like running. I like the community of runners

in Sacramento.

Why running?10 years ago I weighed 205 pounds. I went to the

doctor and he said I was overweight and had to do something about it so I joined a running club, did well, ran a marathon, and decided to do more. It’s a combination of being good at it and meeting a lot of fun people.

What is your favorite part about teaching Psy-chology and Economics?

In Psychology, I like the students’ ability to explore who they are through the activities. In Economics, my hope is that when the students are done they’d have an understanding of the economics around them.

What do you want to do before you die?I want to fully give back to my community or

to mankind in general. I want to make everything around me better, focus less on the stuff I do, and fo-cus more on the general welfare of all people.

- John Ferrannini

The Christian club prays every Wednesday at lunch at the flagpole.

TEEN HEALTH

By Grant Webster | Mirada Staff

Bad news for pessimists - a new study shows that happier teens are more successful in the long run.

A study by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health followed 10,000 teens from high school to 29 years of age, and they found that income was linked with hap-piness. Students who had said they were gen-erally uncontent earned 30 percent less than the national average, while more cheerful stu-dents earned 10 percent more.

This means there was a 40 percent differ-ence in income between the groups, based solely on how optimistic they were.

According to Andrew J. Oswald, who was behind the study, teens with higher levels of optimism have a high probability of “obtain-ing a college degree, getting hired and pro-moted, having higher degrees of optimism and extraversion, and less neuroticism.”

That means, in addition to achieving more success, happier people also suffer fewer men-tal disorders later in life.

So why do brighter teens have brighter fu-

tures? Oswald and the rest of the study team sug-

gest this is because happier people have fewer distractions to keep them from reaching their goals.

More distraught teens, however, tend to dwell on their problems and allow these road-blocks to impede success.

Furthermore, outgoing and optimistic stu-dents will normally perform better in job in-terviews, allowing them to attain higher pay-ing and more desirable occupations.

Of course, smiling all the time won’t guar-

antee anyone a big paycheck. Though happy students tend to earn more money, there are always exceptions to the study.

The best way to be successful is to achieve the best grades and activities within one’s ability; hopefully happiness will be a natural added bonus.

So, though happiness and optimism are by no means all you need for success, it doesn’t hurt to smile or compliment someone every now and again.

Social science teacher Curt Casazza invests time in students

Happier teens more successful in long run, study says

Christian Club shares fellowship at lunch

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

6OPINION

The Mirada www.riomirada.com

riomirada2013@gmail.com

Rio Americano High School4540 American River Dr.Sacramento, CA 95864www.rioamericano.com

Editors-in-ChiefJohn FerranniniWallace Harmon

News Editors Victor Lam

Connor Jang

Opinion EditorsCian O’Neill

Grant Webster

Features EditorsTheadore Buffington

Derek Popple

Sports EditorsRyan Burns

Zachary SampoBriana Smith

Photo EditorBrad Conidaris

Web EditorDavid Egan

Staff WritersAlexis Bates

Alyssa CampbellHanna Despard

Margaret HastingsIsabel JacobsonMadeline Jang

Ann Alyce LohseJohn Macriss

Kayla McArdleRachel MoseleyAshton Nazeri

Jaden PerezRaeAnna Reynolds

Valana StilesHannah Thompson-Davis

Whitney Tyler

AdviserMr. Michael Mahoney

mmahoney@sanjuan.edu(916) 971-8921 ext. 80

Published monthly dur-ing the school year by stu-dents in Rio Americano’s newspaper class, the Mirada is the independent voice of the students and the campus.

The Mirada welcomes story ideas, comics, letters to the editor and opinion pieces from all members of the school community. Submit articles to the box in A3 or the main office.

Contact the business manager (by visiting room A3, writing to the above ad-dress or calling the adviser’s voice mail) for information on advertising. We welcome advertising, but reserve the right to refuse any ad.

RIO EMOTICONOGrumpy CatThis internet sensa-tion’s cheeky humor and caustic com-edy have made him Twitter and Tumblr Famous. This par-ticular Snowshoe cat’s sarcasm is perpetually entertaining, and the Mirada staff hopes Grumpy Cat continues to pursue his hobby of social networking.

Valentine’s DaySweet for some, sour for others. Valentine’s Day can be fun if you’re a couple, no big deal if you’re single and want to be, but if you’re single and don’t want to be it’s a sad reminder that you’re alone.

Manti Te’oNotre Dame’s star linebacker said that his girlfriend and grandmother died on the same day. His grandmother died, but the girlfriend never existed. Enough with the sob stories in sports; just play the game.

Alarm Goes Off On Teen Sleep

This month’s Mirada survey on the sleeping patterns of 94 juniors and seniors is just

a small part of the overwhelming statistical and scientific evidence that teens don’t get enough sleep, which affects their moods, attitudes, and performance.

A sleep expert from Cornell University was quoted in the Wash-ington Post as saying, “Every single high school student I have ever measured in terms of their alertness is a walking zombie.”

What is needed is action. Something must be done.There is no single cause of this

problem. Schools, teachers, athletic

teams, parents, and especially teens themselves have to take responsi-bility because they are all, at least partially, at fault.

It is necessary to remember that students shouldn’t settle for less when it comes to their achievements and getting life started on the right foot.

But it is also necessary to remember that there shouldn’t be a conflict between settling for less and doing what a young, developing body needs to do to stay healthy.

Firstly, the school community should once more consider making it possible for students to start their school day later.

In the past, two main objections to such a policy have been raised.

The first is that starting the school day later, say 30 minutes later, would only cause students to go to sleep 30 minutes later and that there would be no net gain of sleep.

However our current bell sched-ule doesn’t consider the fact that going to sleep and waking up later is part of a teenager’s biology.

In the teenage brain the secretion of the hormone melatonin, which promotes sleepiness, takes place

between 11 o’clock at night and 8 o’clock in the morning.

Therefore, especially for students who live in Gold River, having a school start time of 7:50 in the morning interferes with the body’s natural rhythms.

The second objection is that starting the school day later would cause sporting events to have to be pushed later, which would result in more sports practices and games taking place after sundown.

While it need not be mentioned that the convenience of some coach-es should not be on the same level of

concern to the school as academic success and physical health, surely some compromise can be made.

Perhaps athletes can choose to start school at an earlier time, kind of like a zero period.

Secondly, students themselves have to understand that how much they sleep is their choice.

Are there pressures put on stu-dents by the school, parents, sports teams, and the College Board?

Of course there are.Nevertheless, people who can

already drive, who are a couple of years away from becoming an adult, or who are already adults, who maintain jobs and organize their schedules, can surely take enough responsibility for their own lives to stay healthy.

Do you need three sports or can you settle for two or one?

Do you need five AP classes this semester or can you settle for four or three? Do you need a job this early?

Of course it’s great that so many teenagers are involved and are try-ing to succeed.

The world of adulthood is cer-tainly harder than high school and learning different skills and subjects to the best of one’s ability is good.

But how much does one need to push themselves before they feel secure in their intelligence or their

worthiness or their athleticism? Why continue to lose sleep in or-

der to perform better academically when doctors say again and again that it decreases performance?

Maybe being excellent in two or three fields is better than taking on the weight of an Atlas and striving to be excellent in everything.

Taking responsibility doesn’t necessarily mean cutting back on advanced classes or extracurriculars.

It could just be a matter of bud-geting time properly.

Do you really need to check Facebook another time before going to bed?

Can you wait until tomorrow afternoon to watch that TV show?

Unmistakably, this is a public health issue.

Teenagers who sleep less than the recommended 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours per night are more likely to get sick (due to a weakened immune system), to have seriously consid-ered committing suicide, to smoke cigarettes, to use marijuana, and to engage in sexual activity.

Sleep debt interferes with memory and concentration and hurts academic performance.

There is a great deal of anxiety and angst felt not only by teenagers, but by their parents and the com-munity.

How can one become a ‘have’ in a society that is increasingly shifting ‘haves’ into ‘have-nots’?

How can the next generation, with a sluggish economy and a so-ciety filled with so many pessimistic and even downright apocalyptic vi-sions of the future, maintain or raise the standard of living set by their parents and grandparents?

These concerns, on a personal level, aren’t illegitimate.

It’s good to have individual ini-tiative, drive and to want to succeed.

However, imagine the success teenagers could achieve and the heights they could reach if they were healthier.

Imagine how well a well rested, healthier, more optimistic teen would perform on an entrance exam or how they would excel in a par-ticular field of accomplishment.

Imagine how well a teenager could do if their parents and schools gave that student adequate condi-tions so that they could be success-ful to the best of their ability.

Today, it can only be imagined.

Grant Webster | Graphic Artist

| FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013

This editorial represents the views of the editorial board of the Mirada.

“There shouldn’t be a conflict be-tween settling for less and doing what a young, developing body needs to do to stay healthy.”

Students Should Come First

Last month, we remembered the fortieth anniversary of the death of President Lyndon Johnson, who is perhaps best known for having declared a war on poverty. According to census data, the national poverty rate lowered by 8.3 percent in the 1960s and programs like the Job Corps, Head Start, food stamps, Medicaid, and Medicare con-tinue to alleviate poverty today.

Nevertheless, the scourge of poverty hasn’t been eliminated. In California, 16 percent of the population lives in poverty. Contrary to popular belief, these people aren’t all “welfare queens” as according to the Public Policy Institute of California, 62.4 per-cent of Californians in poverty are in working families.

One of the most important indicators of whether someone will end up in poverty is the quality and quantity of their education. In California, the poverty rate for those families headed by at least one college graduate is 5.2 percent. The rate for those families with no adults who had graduated high school is 31.3 percent. Therefore it is clear that one of the battlelines in the fight against poverty has to be public schools.

There is no magic bullet solution. What is needed is an honest debate where students are put first, not pithy talking points or special interests.

In my opinion, we should give serious consideration to the proposals of Michelle Rhee, who was the chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools from 2007 to 2010. The District of Columbia is 51st in high school graduation rates, with only 56 percent of the class of 2012 graduating. Before she was forced to resign, Rhee tried to reform the district, firing teachers who received poor reviews under D.C.’s IMPACT teacher evaluation program. Her approach can be moderated by the need for different standards on judging teacher performance and the need for some level of job security. Unions are not demons. But is bureaucratic red tape always necessary?

Social welfare programs should be strengthened and made more efficient and less wasteful. They shouldn’t be dis-mantled. Nobody can learn on an empty stomach. Universities have to do their part. A family that’s barely able to pay the bills would find it challenging to say the least to send a kid to college without accumulating thou-sands of dollars in debt. Finally, there are some actions that can be taken that government can’t perform. Maybe if we had more intact homes and families, more responsible parenting, and more stable communities, things would be better. It can be awfully hard to focus on Geometry or Chemistry when there are mur-ders in your neighborhood, or when you don’t have a father and your mother has to hold down two jobs.

What is needed most, how-ever, is an end to the sanctimo-nious drivel. This isn’t a prob-lems for unions or reformers or for liberals or conservatives; it’s a problem for all of us.Senior John Ferrannini is editor-in-chief of the Mirada

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 7

John Ferrannini

New movies déjà view for audience

Junior Grant Webster is an opinion editor for the Mirada.

Endless horror movies, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Nightmare on Elm Street, are being remade. Spider Man is being rebooted after just three movies less then ten years ago.

Dreamworks made three sequels to one movie to suck out all the enjoyment it might have had.

Pixar reissued Finding Nemo as the exact same movie, but this time in 3D.

It’s common knowledge that the movie industry is recycling the same old ideas over and over again, and not the good kind of recycling.

Hollywood is re gifting old mov-ies in a shiny new package, giving fans more of the same.

Finding Nemo 3D, for example, was the exact same movie we saw in 2003, but with the added gimmick of putting on some goofy glasses to watch the film.

And yet, Pixar made another $43 million off the “new” movie, which cost under $5 million to convert to 3D.

The result: a cheaply-made, com-pletely reused idea that the fans still couldn’t tell apart from a new movie.

But Finding Nemo 3D is by no means the only instance of Holly-wood ripping off itself at the expense of fans who crave something new. It seems original scripts are becoming more and more scarce.

Movies like Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty, which are adapted from musicals and real events respectively, can still be vastly enter-taining and successful.

But movies like Texas Chainsaw 3D, which are direct remakes of older movies, are not only hack-neyed and devoid of suspense and surprises, but it seems they hardly ever rate better than their originals.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been remade twice now, and both remakes had harsher reviews from critics than the 1974 original.

The trend is the same with the Red Dawn and Total Recall remakes.

The trend here? Fans go see the same movies

incessantly, but aren’t happy with them.

In the end, it’s all about business.

Why would someone put the effort into writing an original script, characters, and plot when he can just remake another movie or book, or make a sequel to an already suc-cessful movie?

Not even fairy tales are safe, as they are being remade into “hard-core” action and horror movies like Red Riding Hood, Jack the Giant Slayer, and Hansel and Grettle: Witch Hunters.

All I need to do is say that title for you to know how ridiculously stupid it is.

The truth is, filmmakers as a whole are becoming progressively lazier.

Fans will still flock to familiar titles because there is little risk involved.

If they have already seen it and enjoyed it once, they are likely to enjoy it again, albeit not as much as the first time.

In the end, however, they are cheating themselves, because these movies have consistently proven to be shotty grabs for money.

Sure, it can be interesting to see some familiar faces on screen, and

old stories with new twists can be equally entertaining.

Adapting old screenplays can allow directors to focus on perfect-ing the cinematography, editing, etc. But when movies are so frequently and shamelessly redone with a cheesy 3D gimmick, or once-good films are squealed to death, there comes a time when enough is enough.

Thankfully, we have not run out of new ideas yet.

The problem is that original scripts often go unnoticed. Remakes can usually coast on the success of their predecessors, guaranteeing them a space in major theaters.

Quality original scripts, both in major theatres and independent film events, are still plentiful enough. My advice to anyone looking for some new entertainment: check out some independent films, at least until Finding Nemo 4D comes out.

By Grant Webster | Mirada Staff

Grant Webster | Graphic Artist

Inauguration 2013: Witness to History

Senior Wally Harmon is editor-in-chief of the Mirada. Junior Connor Jang is a news editor for the Mirada.

On Jan. 21, 2013, we witnessed history. Leaving the craziness of the Inaugural Ball at 2 a.m., we walked through the freezing cold D.C. night along the paths of the Capitol Mall toward the beacon that is the Lincoln Memorial. Exhausted and colder than we two native Califor-nians had ever been, we sat alone at Lincoln’s feet and thought on our whole experience.

Fifteen hours earlier we stood near the front of the estimated one million people who had come Wash-ington to hear President Barack Obama take his oath of office and deliver his historic second inaugural address atop Capitol Hill. Hundreds of millions more people at home and around the world watched on television. But, thanks to Jang family connections, we were there right in the middle of it. The entire city was celebrating for the inauguration. Flags were on every street corner. Streets were closed for a half mile radius around the National Mall. Banners draped every building congratulating the President on his reelection. Luckily we had all forms of tickets and passes to get us into to the week’s festivities and events. The Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, National Archives, Smith-sonians, and all of the monuments were open for visits, and we took full advantage, visiting almost every landmark.

Then came the inaugural events. We watched the 57th Inauguration from the National Mall, then re-treated to the sides of Pennsylvania

Avenue for the parade. Finally we donned tuxedos to go to the Inaugu-ral Ball. The ball was filled with mu-sical guests like Brad Paisley, FUN, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, and Alicia Keyes. It was estatic end to the serious day with all the feelings of historic impact and exhaustion being let loose to the songs of Stevie Won-der and Alicia Keys. It was almost goofy and stupid like a high school dance. The inauguration fell on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the connections of the day’s importance was obvious. Two days before the ceremony, residents in Washington gathered at the National Mall to participate in the National Day of Service to honor Dr. King and his

legacy. President Obama took the sacred oath with his left hand on Dr. King’s personal Bible and then one step further when he used Lincoln’s Bible for the unofficial event. In his spectacular 19 minute address, the President reiterated King’s belief that all men are created equal. Though its been half a century, and we’ve made countless social advances, we still haven’t achieved Dr. King’s lofty and noble goal. Millions still go hungry every night. Thousands still lose their job everyday. Hundreds of students, moviegoers, shoppers and kindergarteners still lose their lives. With the first term in history and the second term already under way, President Obama has incred-ible challenges to conquer. He faces

an overwhelmingly Republican controlled House of Representatives, Iran’s increasing nuclear ambitions, an ever-unstable Middle East, im-migration and tax code reform, and an ominous debt ceiling debate.

The President said it himself, that he cannot do it alone. The United States of America needs to rally be-hind a leader to pull them through our anguish and strife, and the com-ing challenges. Regardless of being black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, man or woman, the country needs to come together for a future.

Our future.

By Wally Harmon & Connor Jang | Mirada Staff

Wally Harmon | Editor-in-Chief

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

8 SPORTS

This month has been one of the most lie-filled months in sports history.

Lance Armstrong was proven a cheater and admitted his PED use shortly after.

Zero baseball players were inducted into the Hall of Fame, including home run record holder Barry Bonds.

Last but not least, there is Manti Te’o, the NFL prospect who was dedicating his brilliant senior sea-son to a nonexistent girlfriend.

Where do all of these athlete’s legacies stand?

Lance Armstrong completely ruined all of the good he created in the world. Even his LIVESTRONG bracelets feel as though they have a negative connotation.

After his huge admission on Oprah’s network, it feels like Lance is hiding something from us.

After all of his lies, not even the truth is believable.

He built himself up as a god. He came back from cancer only to become the greatest cyclist ever.

The comeback story seemed too good to be true. Too bad it actually was.

Barry Bonds was very similar in his story.

At the beginning of his career, Bonds was a baserunning machine and a great fielder.

After bulking up, though, he became a one dimensional player. All he could do was hit, hit, and then hit some more.

73 homers in a season is a record that may stand for another 25 years. The only thing that might knock Bonds of his perch is an as-terisk to denote the cheating nature of his feat.

Manti Te’o is the only one of these situations that may draw sym-pathy from fans. For now.

Even though he was duped, his judgement is questionable. How could he call someone that he had never seen in person his “girl-friend?”

With more information coming to the surface each and every day, it may be possible that Te’o was in on the hoax from the beginning.

Although he has an entire NFL career ahead of him, the Notre Dame standout’s name will always go hand in hand with MTV’s Catfish.

In such an eventful month of the field for these athletes, sports are becoming more and more unbeliev-able every day.

What record holders used steroids that we don’t know about? What stories have remained hidden from the fans?

The world will never know.

By Ryan Burns |Sports Editor

| FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The dishonest world of sports

RIO’S

The Raiders defeated rivals El Camino to find their revenge for a questionable loss three weeks ago.

Ryan Burns | Sports Editor

BIGWIN

The anticipation leading up to the rematch of the Rio-El Camino game was built out of the heart wrenching game in Rio’s gym only two and a half weeks ago.

The first time around, El Camino, with the help of some questionable calls, got the better the Raiders in double overtime.

In both games Rio had leads going into the half, and El Camino came back relatively early in the second half.

Round two was a different story.On Tuesday the Raiders held on to the lead to win 64-

55 and got the revenge they were looking for after losing on their home court.

“The first game was terrible. We are 2-0 against El Camino in my book,” said junior Chase Hamersley.

Rio got off to a very quick start behind a few drives from senior Zack Suarez. El Camino did not flinch, though.

The Eagles utilized a full-court press for the entire game, which helped them force turnovers that were con-verted into layups and free throws.

The easy El Camino baskets were canceled out by senior Matt Laffey. Laffey had a breakout game in front of the ominous away crowd. He came out after hitting a pair of free throws after he was hobbling around the court with what appeared to be a leg injury.

Once Rio figured out how to break the press, though, they closed the gap and eventually took the lead that would stand through the majority of the second half.

After the break, Rio quickly extended its lead, cour-tesy of senior Kyler Joaquin, who scored 18 in the game, and Suarez, who scored 11. The two scored at will in the third quarter to counter El Camino’s short bursts of scoring.

After the Eagles hit a pair of threes in the fourth quarter, junior Luke Moore committed what looked to be a costly travel, but he would quickly make up for it.

He grabbed clutch offensive rebounds, scored on a couple put-backs, and came up with a huge block on El Camino’s last stand.

In a last gasp effort, the Eagles intentionally fouled Nishi four times. He converted on six out of his seven attempts from the free throw line to finish with 10 points and seal the huge win for the Raiders.

By that point the game was already over. Suarez and Joaquin were laughing while Nishi was at the line.

The bench was celebrating, too. When junior Jordan Cloud was subbed out with under 30 seconds left in the game, he was greeted by his teammates with high fives and smiles.

The victory meant the world to the Rowdy Raiders, the student cheering section, as well.

“We came. We saw. We got the job done,” said Alex Najera, president of the Rowdy Raiders.

The game meant the world to the team’s hopes of making playoffs this year, too. The victory came in a must win environment and proved the team’s resilience bouncing back from a thrashing against league-leaders Antelope.

In the next few weeks, Rio will need to play their best every game if they still want to make the playoffs, and Tuesday was a perfect start.

By Ryan Burns |Sports Editor

Senior Zack Suarez is fouled on a drive against El Camino. The Raiders won the game 64-55.

Wrestling Prepares for league final Page 10

WeightliftingStudents weigh inPage 10

Dancing Its benefits to teen health Page 11

As snow begins to line the ma-jestic peaks of the Sierra Nevada, students rush to get their own piece of the gnar.

With the heavy snowfall at the beginning of the season, Tahoe is well prepared for a long snow sea-son.

A free skier, junior Sebastian Buras is stoked to go ride Heavenly which has received 226 inches of snow this season.

“I like Heavenly because it has a huge variety of terrain ranging from parks to steep tree runs,” Bu-ras said. “Also the snow is great, much better than last year.”

Although talented in many dif-ferent aspects of skiing, riding park is Buras’ forte

Park riders execute a range of tricks like spins and grabs over boxes, jumps and rails.

“My favorite trick is either 270’s onto rails or butter 360’s,” Buras said.

When he isn’t doing butter 3’s, a technical trick where the skier spins on the tips of their skis, Buras can be found doing 540’s over the kickers in the park.

Buras’ biggest inspiration is freeskier Andy Parry, who rides for Line Skis.

“I like Andy Parry because of his steezy style as he flows through the park.”

Other Rio students enjoy going to one of the many other resorts in Tahoe.

Senior Josh Kleemann has skied for the past 15 years and learned from his father who did ski patrol at Northstar for several years.

“I like to ride chutes and mo-guls, but I’ve started to ride park this season as well,” said Kleemann.

“Also, I have tickets to several resorts, so I never get sick of being confined to just one or two, but I would still like a season pass.”

Kleemann’s philosophy for ski-ing is to always maintain speed and style, and one can often see him fearlessly bombing runs in Ta-hoe.

However, skiing and snow-boarding is not all fun and games.

According to the Center for Disease Control, of the 213,000 in-juries related to outdoor sports be-side bicycling, 26 percent of those were from snowboarding. Also, of all ski related injuries, 12.5 percent involved fractures according to ski-

injury.com. Typically, skiers suffer lower

body injuries most often, while most snowboard injuries affect the upper body.

The most prevalent injury in snowboarders is a fall on an out stretched hand, or FOOSH for short.

An injured wrist means the rid-er will be off the snow for around eight weeks, and if more fractures occur, the rider might not ever be able to snowboard again.

Despite these looming dangers, students still make the pilgrimage to Tahoe each weekend in search of fresh pow and snow bunnies.

“I understand the danger, but there is still nothing better than getting stoked after sticking a banger,” Kleemann said.

“Gliding down fresh pow pow with the frost nipping at my nose, I feel as if angels take my hand and guide me down the mountain in a state of extreme nirvana.”

When asked if they skied, snow-boarded, or neither, 25 percent of Rio students said that they snow-boarded, 19 percent that they skied, and 56 percent said that they did neither.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 9

Senior Josh Kleemann boosts a tail grab over a kicker at Sierra At Tahoe. When not in the park, Kleemann likes riding bowls and chutes at Alpine Meadows.

By Derek Popple | Mirada Staff

Senior Nate Sher gets gnarly on a 50-50 up an ollie-on log jib. Sher’s big-gest role model and main source of inspiration is his brother, Edek Sher.

Do you ski or snowboard?I snowboard.

How long have you snowboarded?6 years.

What kind of terrain do you like to ride?I like to ride half pipes.

Who do you ride with?I like to ride with Steven Taylor, Courtney Stevens, Nate Ansbach, Alex Larivee, Josh Kleemann, Mike Finneran and Auston Chastain.

What is your favorite trick?Frontside 540 tail grab.

Who is your role model?My brother, Edek Sher, is my biggest inspiration.

Nate Sher on board

Proximity to Sierra ski and board resorts draws students to slopes for winter fun It’s snow laughing matter

Top Senior Josh Kleeman on the tail end of his trick perparing to land.

Middle Junior Sebastian Buras skiing downhill towards an ap-proaching jump. Buras often skis with his alum brother Tomek Buras

Bottom Middle Buras in mid trick with his twin headed skis in the air.

Bottom Josh Kleeman grinds a rail on a bright sunny day at Sierra Ski Resort.

Photos By Derek Popple and Tomek Buras

As the varsity girls basketball team drives further into the season, their record only continues to get better.

The team of 11 is led by senior and four year varsity player Eliza-beth Moulton.

Moulton motivates her fellow teammates with competitive drive and constructive criticism both on and off the court.

When she plays, Moulton poses both an offensive and defensive threat to the opposition on the wings, especially with her three-point shooting.

Moulton is also a varsity soccer player in the spring.

The team had a preseason record of 14-3. As they deepen their way into league play their league record remains strong at 19-3.

Their first league game was against rival school El Camino.

The key away game for the Raiders drew possibly their largest crowd of the season.

The Lady Raiders fought their way into overtime.

They ended as victors, with the final score of 64-63.

The rivalry game was historic due to the record-breaking perfor-mances by two of the Lady Raiders’ star players.

Moulton hit six three point shots in the game against El Camino, setting the new single game school record.

This sharpshooting performance helped her maintain her team-lead-ing 15.8 points per game.

Senior Samantha Riel’s blocks against El Camino contributed to her season total.

She broke the school record for most blocked shots in a season during the league game against Whitney.

With each and every game, she extends her run into the record books.

The second game against El Camino was nowhere near as close as the teams’ first meeting.

Rio won 47-31 to improve their league record to 6-0.

Moulton tied her own record of six threes to lead the Raiders past the Eagles.

Junior Daisy Wilson, Rio’s other

guard, added eight points in front of the huge home crowd.

Wilson and Moulton form one of the most athletic back courts in the Sacramento area and average a combined 26.4 points per game.

With the team projected to make their way to playoffs, the women drive toward success.

“We are so excited for playoffs,” Riel said. “Beating El Camino in our first league game gave us great momentum for the rest of our season.”

The players aim for the playoffs with the encouragement and push of their coach.

“We are doing well in league which I’m hoping will put us in a good seed and will give the girls a playoff game at their home,” varsity coach Jeff Hart said.

The women’s final league game against Antelope will take place on Feb. 11 and playoffs are set to start soon afterward.

With the women’s skill and experience, the varsity team strives to continue their winning streak.

They are looking to finish league in first place and undefeated and to make a deep run into the

Lady hoops dominates league

Junior Emily Hansen draws a foul against Lincoln. She is the Raiders’ third leading scorer with an average of 9.6 points per game.

Whether it’s shooting baskets or scoring goals, twins Emily and Ja-mie are sure not to disappoint.

Freshman twins, Emily and Ja-mie Gomes, have been playing bas-ketball for four years.

After playing for Mission Oaks and then their middle school team at Arden, they moved onto high school basketball.

Both girls are hard working ath-letes playing not only basketball, but also soccer and softball.

Not only do they challenge each other in the gym, but they also chal-lenge each other outside of practice.

Some think it would be difficult being on a team with a sibling but the twins say “It’s fun being able to work with each other in whatever sport were playing.”

The twins admit that a downside of playing on the same team is get-ting compared to one another by

coaches and fellow players. The Gomes each have their own

techniques and skills that they con-

tribute to the team, though.Emily says that their weeks are

very busy, considering they have

practice or games. In addition to basketball and soc-

cer, Emily and Jamie have to bal-ance sports with homework to earn the title “student-athlete.”

She later stated that she manages all of her events while keeping her grades up.

All of these “after school hour” activities make their weeks ex-tremely busy.

Out of everything they do, they always enjoy practicing and playing with their teammates.

“My favorite part of the team is that we are all so close,” says Jamie. “We have a lot of fun together on and off the court.”

The twins have impressed coach-es, friends and teammates in all their time playing sports.

“Both Emily and Jamie are good athletes and team players, any sport or position they try they’re good at,” their teammate, Sara Knepshield, said.

Knepshield has played soccer with the Gomes twins for as long as she can remember.

Other teammates agree that they

work well with everyone and they bring any team they play on togeth-er by their leadership.

“Both, Emily and Jamie have always been really dedicated to ev-ery sport they’ve tried,” said Me-gan Shoelloe, another friend of the twins.

Emily and Jamie aren’t the only athletes in their family, though.

Their brother Alex, a junior at Rio, played soccer for Rio as a freshman and has played for his club team for the past three years.

Their dad, Joe, used to run track and was a high school standout baseball player. He attended Ari-zona State to play.

The Gomes twins have only been at Rio for only a few months, but they are already leaving their marks on the school’s athletic programs.

Most would think it would be difficult to be on the same team as siblings, and to be compared to one another constantly, but both twins say that it’s fun and challenging all at the same time.

By Alexis Bates andHannah Thompson |Mirada Staff

Freshman twins are double trouble for opponents

Twins Emily and Jamie Gomes warm up for their game against El Camino.

By Jaden Perez |Sports Editor

Athlete of the issue: Emily HansenWhat sports do you play?I play both soccer and basketball.

Which on do you like more?Soccer.

Are you planning on playing either in college?I am playing soccer at Cal Poly.

What is the high point of your athletic career?I once scored the winning header off of a corner kick.

What is the low point?I hit my head with another girl so hard that I cracked my head open.

Who is your favorite athlete? Why?My favorite professional athlete is Gerard Pique who plays defense for Spain and Barcelona. He is my favorite because he is a great defender.

-Ryan Burns

Ryan Burns | Sports Editor

Junior Daisy Wilson drives to the basket against El Camino. Wilson scored 8 in addition to Elizabeth Moulton’s 22 to defeat rival El Camino 47-31.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013Page 10

Ryan Burns | Sports

Derek Popple | Feature Editor

With a team of 21 students, the wrestling team is getting the work-out of a lifetime.

The team is captained by senior Peter Cardinale and sophomore Ramona Young.

The team’s athleticism is proven by all the other sports that the wrestlers play: football, soccer and Young is even a cheerleader.

It requires a combination of strategy, strength and fitness.

Their two an a half hour practic-es are not a walk in the park, they are hard and tiring. “I have never felt so fit in my entire life,” said freshman Brandon Aranzamendez.

Some might think wrestling with a girl would be weird, but the

wrestlers find it as the same chal-lenge posed by a male opponent.

“Wrestling with Ramona isn’t much different than wrestling with boys.” said Cardinale.

The team all agreed that the team atmosphere is laid-back and sometimes serious.

“One of the funniest moments the team experienced is when we went to a dual meet against Ante-lope, and Robbie Crandall wrestled a guy who was buff and had tat-toos,” said Aranzamendez. “The opponent had control over Robbie, [he] looked over to our coach and said: ‘he’s big coach’ while laugh-ing.” The wrestling team is looking to prove their skills at the CAL finals on Feb. 11, when the seniors will hope to win their last ever match.

When you expect the unexpect-ed, you will find Ramona Young, female wrestler.

The tough sophomore defies the stereotype of wrestlers and persists to give the sport all that she has.

Young began wrestling a little over three years ago during her eighth grade year.

“We did a unit on it in P.E. and I loved it,” Young said. “So, I started going to the practices.”

Currently, Young conditions, trains and practices with the other boys on the team, unaffected by the fact that she is the sole female. Her flexibility and endurance give her the upper-hand on many of her opponents.

Fortunately, her sex does not create any split between her and the other boys.

She even wrestles her fellow teammates.

“I wrestle both girls and boys but I like to wrestle boys better because it is more rewarding when I win,” said Young.

Many of her male teammates respect her ability as a female wres-tler claiming she has a raw talent for the sport.

“I love being the only girl on the team, “ said Young. “All of the boys are like my brothers and we’re really close.”

As one of the team captains Young works to motivate the other boys and to stay on the track to suc-cess herself.

“It’s great to have a girl on the team,” said fellow teammate and captain Peter Cardinale. “She’s also a great leader.”

Young travels with the team and competes.

“My favorite part of wrestling is going to tournaments and being with the team,” said Young.

On top of her wrestling pursuits, she is also stays involved in other activities on campus.

Young cheers for the JV cheer-leading squad and works to balance it with wrestling.

Young plans to continue her pur-suit of wrestling for the remainder of high school.

With her sights set high, she hopes to place well in tournaments and continue to win her matches.

Wrestling team gets prepared for league finalsBy Briana Smith |Sports Editor

Teens these day are placing a premium on building muscle and making their physical presence perfect.

On average, teens these days are working out and building muscle more than previous generations.

Working out is a good way to relieve stress and improve your quality of life.

Some people take it more seri-ous than others.

While some work out once or twice a week, some of the most avid weightlifters work out every-day, twice a day.

“As I kid my saw my dad and older brother working out and I wanted be just like them. I have continued to lift for football and it also just makes me feel good,” said senior Jordan Vinson.

Vinson, along with thousands of other teens around the world use protein powder to maximize their workout results.

Nationally 35% of boys use protein powder and 6% have used or are using steroids.

21% of girls were reported to use protein powder and 4.6% have used steroids.

At first thought, this number

seems rather small, but if you think about how many teens there are in the US, 35% is a staggering number of users. At Rio many students use pro-

tein powder to boost their results

from working out. Mike Smith, the Weights teacher

at Rio, insists that supplements for lifting weights are simply not

needed.“Protein powder is unneces-

sary,” said Smith. “Five healthy meals a day will have plenty of protein for your body to absorb.”

Having about 40-50 grams of protein within 30 minutes of completing a workout is ideal for maximum effectiveness.

Examples of protein-rich foods include chicken breast, which con-tains 30 grams of protein, one cup of milk, which contains eight grams of protein, and two tablespoons of peanut butter, which contains the same amount as a cup of milk.

It is widely know that steroids can increase results by ten fold.

However, senior Erik Hubbard say that the benefits are not worth the risk.

He also believes that steroids are just a way to shortcut the process of building muscle.

“The disadvantages of steroids heavily outweigh the positives. You can achieve the same results with-out them, it just takes more work,” said Hubbard.

Steroids can cause severe acne, high blood pressure, bad choles-terol, and abnormal liver function, just to name a few.

With all of these risks and only with the benefit of bigger muscles, it doesn’t make sense to use ste-roids.

Protein and steroids are ‘unnecessary’By Zach Sampo |Sports Editor

Junior Clay LeFevre (left) fights a Whitney opponent to the ground. The Raiders struggled against the Wildcats, but they are looking forward to the CAL final.

By Maddie Jang |Mirada Staff

Junior Eric Barretto benches during first period. Students often take supplements such as steroids or protein to enhance the results of lifting.

Ryan Burns | Sports Editor

Victor Lam | Sports Editor

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 11

ANALYSIS

Teenage girls struggling with mental health problems should look into dance classes.

Recent studies suggests it can increase self-esteem and reduce psychiatric complaints.

A recently published Swed-ish study found that teen girls in that country who take dance are less likely to continue with mental health problems than girls who don’t dance.

According to the study, 91 percent of girls with problems such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, and headaches would describe their dance class as a positive experi-ence.

At Örebro University, Anna Duberg studied the benefits of 112 Swedish girls in dance training.

53 of the girls were placed in a control group where their lifestyle was not changed, while the other 59 participated in a dance class twice a week.

The 75-minute class lasted for 8 months of the year for two years. The girls got to create their own dance routines for portions of each class, and provided input into the music and choreography.

Their dance classes focused more on the “joy of movement, not on the performance” according to the study.

The benefits aren’t limited to Swedish girls, and they aren’t lim-ited to dance either.

Other studies have found that

sports and exercise in general can benefit mental health.

Senior Ruthie Kaplan, who takes Zumba dance workouts at 24 Hour Fitness, said she is not sur-prised by the study’s findings.

Although she doesn’t suffer the problems of girls in the study, she said dance class helps participants keep a positive attitude.

“We are all happy because everybody doesn’t care what they look like when they’re dancing,” Kaplan said. “Also it’s a workout so you release endorphins and feel good after.”

Researchers said it is unclear what about the class had such an impact on the girls.

They speculated that it was the social aspect, the sense of control over the music and choreography, the dancing itself, or something else.

“Dance is a well-established and popular form of physical activity, particularly for young women,” the researchers wrote.

“It can provide a supportive environment and an opportunity to enhance low body attitudes and physical self-perceptions.”

People who exercise 2.5 to 7.5 hours a week have better mental health.

Experts believe that chemicals are released in your brain while you exercise that make you feel good.

So the next time you or a friend is feeling down, try taking a dance class.

It’ll lift your spirits and keep you in shape.

Juniors Jake Tracy and Kaycee Solario dance for their “Roaring 20s” swing dancing. The dancing was taught by Coach Smith.

Study: dancing relieves stress in teenage girlsBy Rachel Moseley |Mirada Staff

Derek Popple | Feature Editor

Kathryn Heath’s ‘stable’ hobby

Many students are involved in extracurricular activities, but freshman Kathryn Heath’s is cer-tainly one of the most interesting: equestrian.

Heath has been riding horses since she was four years old in kindergarten.

“I ride a Warmblood horse. His name is Noah,” Heath said. “I have had three horses in all my riding career.”

According to Heath, one must have good time management in order to balance the busy schedule that equestrian entails.

“My weeks are very busy,” she said. “I play soccer along with horseback riding which takes up most of my time.”

Heath practices riding horses three times a week all year round at the Van Vleck Ranch in Rancho

Murieta. She plays soccer for River City United.

To add to her busy week, Heath is also trying out for Rio soccer this upcoming month.

Heath has traveled all the way to Los Angeles and Palm Springs to attend competitions and in most places in the top three.

“Horseback riding is a challenge but it teaches me responsibility,” Heath said. “You have to have good core, arm, and leg muscle. It’s very hard and tiring but fun.”

Horseback riding is a very dan-gerous sport. According to a local survey, horseback riding is the third most dangerous sport in the world.

It is no secret what the dangers of horseback riding are. When horses get scared or startled, their first instinct is to run. This kind of situation generally ends up with a person falling off or getting bucked off the horse.

“I have been bucked off mul-

tiple times,” Heath said. “But I have never been seriously injured.”

Even though her week packed full with activities, Heath always makes room for family and friends.

“In my free time, my favorite thing to go is hang out with friends and family,” Heath said.

Her friends praise Heath as a person in addition to a talented rider.

“Kathryn is the super sweet to everyone and is the nicest person I know,” freshman Mikaela Frame said. “She has a great personality and is really funny.”

“Kathryn is a very well rounded girl. She is intelligent and kind,” freshman Megan Bassanelli said. “She puts a lot of time doing what she loves, riding horses.”

This sentiment goes to show that Heath is not only a tremendous horseback rider, but also a smart student and a loyal friend.

Madeline Jang | Mirada Staff

By Madeline Jang |Mirada Staff

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013Page 12

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EL CAMINO BASKETBALL GAMES

| FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is prominently in the air. Couples become more affectionate while singles begin to feel slight pangs of loneliness.

The honeymoon stage that couples go through tends to die down over the year, but when February comes around the sparks start to fly again as couples remember why they got together.

Love, according to couple Tyler Reeves and Meghan McKenna is about “finding someone you can be completely yourself around… that you can be committed to and that makes you happy.” Having been together for a year and nine months you will still find them glancing at each other dur-ing class with a smile on their faces and giggling as they walk through the hallway holding hands.

The generic gifts that major companies make people believe they need to buy and the expectations, contribute to boys becoming cheesy or stressed and women casting aside obligations in order to find the perfect gift. The purpose of the holiday gets lost.

Its that corporatism that makes the true romance of Valentine’s seem corny and unimportant. But there are ways for those of you out there who are trying to get those romantic feelings back. Use Valentine’s Day as “an excuse to have a fun date and spend time together.” opined Meghan.

Instead of breaking the bank at that expensive restaurant find some great recipes, buy all of the ingredients, and cook together. Not only will it save money, but it is more intimate and will get you doing something together. A “picnic in the park” said junior Chandler Frame, is another ideal date that is more unique and personal.

What you buy is secondary to the creativity and thought you put in;

which is why you should avoid tacky gifts like the stuffed animals stating “I wuff you”. While you know they will be appreciated, don’t gift the dozen roses you buy at the grocery store the night before, the cards lacking senti-mentality or that box of chocolates that is sold in bulk instead of special-ized to the person.

Flowers are a great gift but try and find out some of the persons favorites or at least favorite colors like Tyler did last year when he bought Meghan Orchids. Point is try and make the your gift special made to your significant whether it’s, a card or roses.

Making the day fun and keeping it light. Best advice, single senior Kristal Celik said “Boys: get your girl something she will actually appre-ciate, like a pleasant voicemail and a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.” She might be joking, but the idea of doing something a little silly and unique is something to consider.

For friends and even significant others, find an inside joke or a special memory of your time together and use it for inspiration. But if you do this make sure you can explain the meaning behind it just in case.

Pinterest.com is a great place to go for ideas on crafts and recipes for the day. “Baked goods are essential to success,” said Senior Elizabeth Moulton, for all relationships.

This Valentine’s Day remember to focus on the love that you feel for the person whether it be a crush, significant other, friend, or even favorite teacher.

Oh and one last bit of advice “communication is the key,” proclaimed Tyler, for any relationship to last. So make sure that on this Valentine’s Day you remember to spend time together and talk because that is most important.

By Isabel Jacobson | Mirada Staff

13FEATURES

THE RIO AMERICANO MIRADA

Photo by Derek Popple | Features Editor

Derek Popple | Features Editor

Forget the stress,make Valentine’sa day you can

Student voice: What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

Mikaela Frame, 9

Courtney Stevens ,12

Wes Plumley, 11

Reilly Ravazzolo, 10

“I want to do better in school this semester so I’m going to study much more often and pay better attention in class.”

“My New Year’s resolu-tion was to stop biting my nails, so I’ve been wearing gloves as much as possible. Also, this year I just want to have #goodtimes #funtimes and #funnights.

“My New Year’s resolu-tion is to lose weight and of course drink my Muscle Milk.”

“I have a really bad shop-ping problem so to help it I plan to diagnose the addiction. I’m going to limit myself to shopping once a week, it’s also a plus cause I’ll be saving bandz.”

I might have just figured out the reason,why everybody leaves,it’s because no one wants love givenwith so much ease.Maybe they don't want you to love asmuch as you can, and boys just wantsomeone to make you feel like a man.No one wants to be comfortable, inknowing you’re there, I guess I wouldbecause I can’t seem to not care.No one is drawn, like moths to a flame,to someone who’s love is so fierce butso tame. And who really wants someoneto love them this hard, you’re just a greenblade in their immense front yard,just one more blade to be picked up or cutdown, it doesn’t matter much to anyonehere on the ground. They’re too busychasing flowers, impossible to reach, theyforget about the love that’s like sand on a beach,But I am the giant waves crash-ing rightin front of you,and I am the water flowing everywherein plain view.How can anyone value what, always, comesout of the sink?It’s only when you’re parched that youappreciate a drink.

-Megan Randolph

LOVECouple Meghan Mcken-na and Tyler Reeves pose and smile for a picture. They’ve been dating for a year and a half

Senior Josiah Perez and girlfriend Alyssa Arreguin walk to class on a particularly chilly morning.

Oceans

POETRY

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THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013Page 14

Fighting to rid Los Angeles of organized crime, the protagonists of Gangster Squad, which premiered on Jan. 11, work together to stop mob boss Mickey Cohen.

In the film, Sergeant John O’Mara, played by Josh Brolin, hand picks a team of cops to wage a secret vigilante war on Mick-ey Cohen’s gang. In O’Mara’s first speech to the team, he encourages them to leave their badges at home so they can break the law in order to bring justice to the city.

Following the police chief ’s secret or-ders, the squad aims to not only kill Cohen, but to decimate his operations in order to ensure that no gangster will ever control Los Angeles again.

Gangster Squad has a loaded cast with actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling fight-ing against Cohen who was played by Sean Penn. In addition, the smaller actors who made up the rest of the team played very good supporting roles that contributed to the quality of the film.

All actors played their parts well, but Gosling and Penn were especially compel-ling. Penn was cold and ruthless as he ruled Los Angeles with an iron fist. Gosling did not impress me until I saw his unparalleled

emotion in the scene when he witnesses the killing of a young boy, his impetus for join-ing the squad.

The cinematography of the film was ex-cellent, utilizing a mix of moving steadicam shots and fixed shots that all worked to dis-play Los Angeles in 1949. One of the best shots of the film used a steadicam to dip and weave through the crowd, all while follow-ing Jerry Wooters, played by Ryan Gosling.

The Director of Photography also in-cluded slow motion footage of Penn boxing and guns firing that resulted in beautiful, artistic shots.

Scenes revealing the gruesome mob murders earned the film it’s R rating. One scene depicted a man being torn in half by two cars before being fed to the wolves, all as a display of power by the mob boss.

All in all, the plot kept my attention and left me with a feeling of suspense that drew me into the film. Both the acting and the cinematography were excellent, backing up the film’s well-written storyline.

Although it did not inspire deep thought after the film, Gangster Squad is quality en-tertainment that demands one, if not sev-eral viewings. I give the film four out of five stars for its great cast, plot and cinematog-raphy. Everyone should see this film as it is well worth the time.

Bring the Gang!

The 1978 comedy Animal House is a must-watch. An instant classic. The funniest movie of all time.

The National Lampoon movie is about a fraternity of party “animals.” It takes place at Faber College, the school whose motto is “knowledge is good.”

The funniest scenes are ones that include the two main characters, Otter (Tim Mathe-son) and Bluto (John Belushi). Otter is very smooth-talking and has a sarcastic sense of humor. Bluto on the other hand, is a fat, lazy college student who humors himself through childish yet elaborate pranks.

Otter is the classic “ladies’ man.” He can charm any girl with his looks and pick-up lines while shaming the men around him with his knack for walking out of any room with the woman of he chooses.

Bluto is a very special character for a two reasons: Belushi’s acting and the script writers. The writers gave the legendary Saturday Night Live actor the perfect role. John Blutarsky is a man of very few words, but manages to make every second special through hilarious facial expressions and an unforgettable personality.

The plot is full of crazy twists and turns that will keep the viewer laughing the whole time.

The Delta Tau Chi fraternity is known throughout Faber College as the craziest of the Greek living groups, and is on a short leash with the dean of the college, Dean Wormer.

Despite plenty of slip ups, the Delta mem-bers talk their way out of every situation they get into with the school.

The one time that Dean Wormer is serious about expulsion, the Deltas put matters into their own hands by pulling off an crazy stunt at the college’s homecoming parade that even-tually gets the dean fired.

The movie was filmed at Oregon Univer-sity in the late ‘70s and is considered one of the most profitable movies of all time. It only cost about three million dollars to make, yet it generated over 130 million in revenue solely from DVD and video sales. That is not includ-ing all of the merchandise sold by National Lampoon.

Animal House is available on DVD, at movie rental stores, and can be watched in-stantly on Netflix.

As Bravo!’s funniest movie of all time, Ani-mal House will not fail to disappoint the view-er and will leave the audience laughing harder than they ever have before.

A must-watch comedy

As the new year comes, so do new secrets. The third season of Pretty Little Liars premiered on Tuesday, January 9 on ABC Family.

Pretty Little Liars started as a 2006 novel which appeared on the New York Times Best seller List multiple times.

It spawned a book series and the hit TV show that premiered in 2010.

The TV and book series follow a group of past friends brought back together by secret messages, received from an anonymous person using the alias of “A” who threatens to reveal all of their secrets.

The series covers many issues relevant to modern teens including bullying, peer-pressure, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and murder.

At first the girls think “A” is their disap-peared friend Alison, but their theory turns out to be gravely wrong.

The girls realize that someone else knows their secrets and they have to risk their lives to keep them from being exposed.

The audience consists of mostly teen girls. They feel that they can relate to the show, being that it is based on four friends in high school.

The show also gets its views because of its never ending excitement and the mysterious plot twists that it brings to each and every epi-sode.

“My favorite thing about watching Pretty Little Liars is that I never know what is going to happen next, which always keeps me on my

toes,” freshman Hannah Horton said. Horton says she watches Pretty Little Liars

almost every week.“I watch Pretty Little Liars every single

Tuesday and I would say it’s a roller coaster full of fear and angst,” said freshman Natasha Verigin.

Pretty Little Liars is broadcast to 37 coun-tries all around the world, and generates a total of about 2.47 million views.

Being that the show did so well its first sea-son, production scheduled to have a second, third and fourth season.

Depending on how well the fourth season goes, there could be more to come.

The TV show series has been given awards in everything from Best Continuing Series to Favorite Cable TV Drama during Teen Choice Awards and People’s Choice Awards.

The TV series was ranked as the number-one scripted show in Women’s magazine for women ages 18-34.

As the last two seasons have been full of mysteries and intense lies, the third season has promised to be packed full of new secrets, stron-ger lies, and the most treacherous journeys.

“A” SHOW WORTH WATCHING

In Gangster Squad, a team of cops go off the books in order to stop notorious crime boss Mickey Cohen, played by Sean Penn.

Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Photo Courtesy of ABC Family

John Belushi is best known for his performance in “National Lampoon’s Animal House”. Although he doesn’t have many lines, he never fails to make the audience laugh.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

By Ryan Burns |Mirada Staff

By Derek Popple |Features Editor

By Hannah Thompson and Alexis Bates

CLASSIC MOVIE REVIEW MOVIE REVIEW

TVtt REVIEW

-Rachel Moseley -Briana Smith

Rachel Moseley | Mirada Staff Derek Popple | Mirada Staff

Ashton Nazeri | Mirada Staff

COUPLE OF THE ISSUEHow long have you been going out? Brittney- 1 year and 2 months

Whats is something cool you two have done for each other?Troy- We always buy issues of The Walk-ing Dead for each other. Brittney- He gave me a Portal necklace that matched his.

What is your favorite thing about each other? Brittney- The way he sings to himself when we are together.Troy- She giggles like a schoolgirl when I make jokes.

What is your least favorite thing about each other?Brittney- He is a pacifist. Troy- Nothing, she is adorable!

How did you two originally get to-gether? Troy- We just started up a conversation about Dead Space. Brittney- And then we started play video games together. Troy- Then I asked her out on my birth-day when my confidence was high.

CAR OF THE ISSUEBACHELOR & BACHELORETTE

DON’T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED

What kind of car do you drive?A 2012 Jeep Patriot.

How long have you had your car?Since October.

What is your favorite part of your car?The sound system.

What kind of music do you listen to in your car?The slappers.

Have you ever hit a car?Yes, I hit a car in the Rio parking lot. Whoops.

What is your car’s nickname?Louis Vuitton, or Lou for short.

Have you ever gone on any fun trips in your car?LA & Tahoe.

What’s the fastest you’ve gone in your car?I went on the freeway once, so 65. It was chill.

What’s your dream car?The car that the Kardashians have. A Mercedes G63 SUV.

What’s something cool about your car?It’s like a transformer because you can start it from the outside.

How many miles does your car have?3,500.

Why did you buy your car?Cause it was cute...duh.

What’s your favorite pick-up line?Are you from Tennessee cause I want to make out with your face. (Jenna Marbles)

Who’s your celebrity crush? Why?Zach Galifianakis because he’s dreamy.

Where would you go on your dream date?The beach at sunset.

Describe your dream guy in three words.Cute, funny, athletic.

What would be a deal breaker in a guy?If he didn’t like my constant singing.

How does a guy/girl win you over?With a cute smile, cheesy pickup lines, and a hug.

What’s your favorite pick-up line?How you doin?

Who’s your celebrity crush? Why?Justin Bieber because he’s Ca-nadian

Where would you go on your dream date?Atlantis

Describe your dream girl in three words.Moustache, muscular, albino

What would be a dealbreaker in a girl?If she didn’t have a moustache.

How does a girl win you over?She needs to have a nice mous-tache.

-Ashton Nazeri

Andrew Finnecy, 9, and Melitta Kauppinen, 9

Brittney Murrin, 11, and Troy Silva, 12

One of the best food combina-

tions on planet earth is greasy food and good beer. At least that’s what I’ve been told. And Lowbrau in midtown does that very well. I’m assuming most of the people read-ing this are underage and will not be able to participate in the beer part of the restaurant. Fortunately Lowbrau almost makes up for that with its good food. Its all reason-ably priced with a wide variety of options as wide as the options can get for what is basically a hot dog. But don’t get me wrong I respect and think Lowbrau’s cool for tak-ing the old German bierhalles and putting a hip twist on it. And thats just what it is. Its a cool young place to eat good hot dogs and socialize. Since its fairly cheap with a great atmosphere I definitely recommend as a place to eat for the young students of Rio Americano looking for a cool place to eat and hang out in midtown just as long as its not after hours.

I give Lowbrau three and half Wally Heads out of 5.

Lowbrau is an incredibly comforting and fun atmosphere. This place is a great restaurant, but its staple is beer and greasy food. The combination of a high class restaurant and a bar is an interest-ing change of pace for students. However, being under the age of 21, we were unable to fully enjoy the entire Lowbrau experi-ence. If we were a little older and could legally participate in the full menu, it would be much better. Its location is not very accessible to students because it is downtown, but it is well worth the drive. But in the heart of Sacramento night life, the German inspired cuisine will hit the spot. The brat covered in caramelized onions and ketchup and mustard on a sweet roll accom-panied with “duck fat fries” was the definition of good comfort food. Lowbrau defiantly isn’t the place to go if you are on a diet.

I give Lowbrau three and a half Connor Heads out of five.

CONNOR &WALLY’S BITE OF SACRAMENTO

-Wally Harmon and Connor Jang

-Grant Webster

Kendall Geist, 11

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 15

ROARING TWENTIESLESSON IS THE CAT’S MEOWWilliam Taylor & Jolynn Mason’s combo class gets dolled up for their annual Twenties themed dance. The dance helps teach them about the literature and his-tory of the 1920s.

Every student felt the chill of the early morning in the first weeks of January, especially sophomore Jessica Crockett and friend. Now in the first month of the year the cold is still present, but it is receding.

NO QUESTIONING THIS VARSITYBASKETBALL VICTORY OVER EL CAMINO

Senior Matt Laffey shoots over an El Camino defe-fender. During the last El Camino game he had a huge impact on the outcome of the game scoring close to 20 points .

STUDENT MAKES IT TO POETRY OUT LOUD COMPETITIONSenior Chance Dunbar takes his chances in Rio’s Poetry Out Loud competi-tion. He secured second place, making him the runner up to freshman Josephine Molina.

A LOOK AT THE MONTH

WINTER HAS COME

Got a photo you want included in next issue’s “A Look at the Month”? Send it to riomirada2013@gmail.com.

THE MIRADA | FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 1, 2013 Page 16

WRESTLINGRio’s wrestler Austin Morse tries to overpower an Antelope wrestler. Sadly the wrestling team has had a tough season.