Teen Voting and You!page 8

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Stuart Hall High School | Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco | Volume VI1, Issue III | February 2011

Table of Contents

School NewsOn the Town Preview..........................................5Face AIDS at SHHS...........................................9

SportsRoll Tide Roll......................................................4Random Question Sidebar.................................5Track is Back!.....................................................9

ReviewsBattlefield 3 Review.........................................10Oscar Predictions..............................................11

Special FeaturesWe Found a Neighbor........................................3History Remembered.......................................6-7Importance of Teen Voting................................8

Front cover photo by Peter Melling ‘12Back cover designed by Peter Melling ‘12 - photos by Peter Melling ‘12, Kyle Chew ‘12, Kimberly Wong, and Mrs. Saltveit

editors’ cornerStuart Hall,

We are right in the middle of second semester and are now looking forward to that long-deserved Ski Week. I hope you all will have a good break and wish our Stuart Hall High School students and faculty, who are going off to Spain and France, a fun and safe trip. Visit the travel blog for updates: http://shhstravel.wordpress.com/

I also want to thank the round table staff for all their hard work over Christmas Break and into the new semester. All their hours of work make it possible for this issue to exist. But there is another topic of discussion I would like to address. As a second-semester senior, I am starting to finally realize the coming end our careers at Stuart Hall. And as someone who needs a little push, especially in the second semester, I just want to provide some advice for my fellow seniors. Keep up the hard work and effort because it is this last semester at Stuart Hall that will define you and our class. Be active participants in and outside school. There is a terrific story on teen political action and voting, a great medium for youth action. Lastly, I urge you the reader to flip through the issue and for more, visit our website to stay up to date on sports, videos, and review. I am confidant that this semester will be a great one, whether it be in academics, athletics, activities, etc., so don’t forget to tune into the round table which will have in-depth stories on these and more. Let’s make this semester one for the books (or newspaper) and go knights!

Happy reading,

Brandan LaEditor-in-Chief

Have you ever wondered if human life could be sustained on another planet? According to scientists there is another habitable planet. The new planet sits 600 light years from Earth’s solar system. It inhabits a part of its own solar system in what is known as the “Goldilocks’ Zone”, named because the temperature is not too hot and not too cold, where water will not boil or freeze, but remain a liquid. The planet’s name, Kepler 22b, which comes from Kepler solar system, named after Johannes Kepler, a 17th Century German astrologer. Kepler 22b is similar to Earth in that both are “G-Type” planets. This means that the star they orbit is more or less the same size and the time they take to make one full rotation is similar in length. It takes Kepler 22b around 290 days to complete one full

revolution, while Earth takes 365 days. A problem with this newly found planet is that it is 2.4 times the size of Earth and not much is known about the planet’s surface. The planet’s surface could turn out to be just like that of Neptune. This serves as a problem because even though the planet is in a habitable zone, without knowledge of the planet’s surface, we cannot know if it is actually able to sustain life. Also, because the Kepler star system is approximately 600 light years away, it would take around

600 years to get there from Earth traveling at an impossible speed of 186,282 miles per second. Though not much is known about Kepler 22b the chance at new habitable planet is definitely an exciting prospect for humans, and hopefully, the first discovery of extraterrestrial life.

We Found a Neighbor Sustainable life on Kepler 22b?

by Tim Connolly ‘12

Photo by NASA|| nasa.gov

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special features

Roll Tide RollAlabama comes out with the W in rematch.

by Connor Abbott ‘14

Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report.com ||round table

sports

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9-6. That was the score of the November 5th showdown between #1 Louisiana State University (LSU) and #2 University of Alabama. The world of college football saw two defensive powerhouses take the field, and expected the line of scrimmage to be something close to a meat grinder. The two SEC defenses didn’t disappoint and put out a strange 9-6 showing, which was taken all the way to overtime before the LSU Tigers was able to come out with a field goal victory. A pummeled but victorious LSU football team limped out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama that Saturday, certain that they had put away their rival, the Crimson Tide, for good. But Alabama had other plans. BCS voting after Alabama’s loss placed them at #3 in the nation, only one spot back of where the were before. The next week, a flurry of NCAA Football confusion occurred. Oregon (4th in the country), Oklahoma (5th),

Oklahoma State (2nd), and Clemson (7th) all got bumped from their positions as national championship contenders,

leaving the gates open for Alabama and their defense. With only two more weeks against easy teams left until the bowl games, the Tide had their road already paved to New Orleans and the National Championship Game. Having the National Championship hosted in the famous city of New Orleans and nonetheless in the Louisiana Superdome was an easy advantage for the Tigers. LSU is located in the city-limits of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Consequently the university is located only an hour and a half outside of New Orleans, which made it easy for the opportunistic tiger fans to take New Orleans by storm for the game, outnumbering those who dressed in the rival Crimson. Despite these disadvantages for ‘Bama, the team never looked back. With what some consider one of the best running games in the country, with All-American back and Heisman trophy finalist Trent

Richardson and the undisputed best defense, Alabama went to work at the Louisiana Superdome. Alabama’s defense didn’t let up, allowing LSU only 93 overall yards, 5 first downs, and a fourth quarter drive in which LSU finally passed the midfield line until there were eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Conversely, Alabama, which is known more for its defense, also dominated offensively allowing standout, Trent Richardson, to run for 96 yards and the games only touchdown. The Crimson Tide took over the game, which ended

in a 21-0 victory, giving Nick Saban his third national title. The origins of the Crimson Tide’s name go back to a 1906 football game. There a reporter coined the term when he said that the Alabama defense looked like a tide of crimson rushing to the quarterback. And on January 9, 2012, the Crimson Tide earned their name.

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Photo courtest of DigitalBits.com || round table

school news

A Leonard Bernstein original, On the Town debuts at the Syufy Theater on Thursday, March 15th at 7 PM and runs through Saturday, March 17th at 2 PM. Rehearsals are in full swing for the production, which is directed by Ms. Rickard and with music direction by Mr. Philadelphia. The original Broadway production was penned by Leonard Bernstein in 1944, and received rave reviews, with numerous revivals on Broadway and London’s West End, as well as a movie in 1949. On the Town is the story of three sailors, Chip, Ozzie, and Gabey, on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City, and their adventures into the pleasures and excitements of the big city. Considering the success of the last musical, Cabaret, and that this

musical retains most of the younger performers from that cast, expectations are high. Mr. Philadelphia said that, “After Cabaret, we wanted another classic production, but one with a smaller cast and a lighter tone. I think we nailed it”. “This play is certainly more physically aggressive than Cabaret, with a lot more grabbing and more visceral choreography, but that’s to be expected of any musical depicting 1940s New York,” said Brandon Leong ‘14, who plays Gabey. “It’s got a nice script, and I think that with this cast, we can pull this musical off quite well”.

Following a string of drama successes, On the Town looks to continue the streak. Tickets are $5 at the door.

On the Town Preview Get a little Bernstein in your brain.

by Peter Melling ‘12

sports

Random Question SidebarNCAA Football Trivia

by Liam Lynch ‘13

1. Q: Who did Alabama beat to win the first SEC Championship game in 1992?A. University of Notre DameB. Auburn UniversityC. University of FloridaD. Pennsylvania State University

2. Q: Heisman trophy winner Billy Cannon attended which college?A. Texas Christian UniversityB. Louisiana State UniversityC. Kansas State UniversityD. Arkansas State University

Photo supplied by Wikipedia|| wikipedia.org

History Remembered“We honor our past and dedicate our future.” - Sergio Vasquez

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special features

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On Friday, Feburary 17th of 2012, Stuart Hall High School and other members of the community remembered Exclusion Order No 20 and how it affected Japanese-American people living in the area where Stuart Hall is today.

The Importance of Teen VotingVoting is for you

Our American teens, the United States’ future workers, providers, and contributors, have not been voting. According to the Youth Democrats of America’s statistics only 21% of teens who are eligible to vote, actually do vote. In addition to that, only 3 out of every 7 teenagers are truly informed on voting, politics, and government in general. Though you may tell yourself that you’re far from becoming a voter of the United States, it’s never too early!

One reason why teens should (even if you’re eligible or not) vote or get involved with politics is because, “We are the future of America.” Sooner or later, we will turn into adults and must take on the responsibility of voting, or even in some cases, running for office. If we refuse to take part in politics and voting, we will remain naïve and lazy which will cause this great nation to fall apart due to our lack of responsibility (but no pressure).

In addition to that, voting and becoming engaged in politics can clear up the misconceptions we are led to believe. The media directs our attention to keeping up with celebrities, which is useless information. In a test directed by Youth Democrats, 71% of teens prefer keeping up with the celebrity media rather than following the government and how recent events will affect them. In fact eight out of twenty-three American would rather become a movie star or professional athlete rather than have a political career, according to Marist Polls. With teenagers, and even adults, blindly keeping track of

what the Kardashians are up to, we grow even further away from politics and more or less don’t know how to vote. However, by participating in elections, our general knowledge on how to vote will increase.

Furthermore, eligible teens should be voting or getting involved because voting is a learning experience. How is the United States supposed to be able to rely on adults to vote and support the country if they were never given the opportunity to vote or go through the process as teenagers? Over time, we grow from being naïve and innocent into becoming strong young adults who have wisdom.

Without this process, our methods of thinking and choosing can be affected negatively because we have never been given the experience to make big decisions that affect our everyday life.

Also, voting is a powerful way to show governments and politicians what you stand for. Many teenagers don’t stand up or even know what they believe in because they’re misguided that they can’t bring great change to a cause. However, every vote counts! The more the votes, the more powerful the message will be. By voting, it gives us teenagers the confidence we require to stand for what we support, which also positively affects how we pursue other goals. If one stands strong for what they believe in, other actions are thus influenced.

At this point you may be telling yourself, that you’re just too lazy, naïve, and not educated enough to vote; or may be you just aren’t interested! Don’t let yourself believe that! Before you can judge, you should try it out and give it a chance. Instead of getting ready to watch MTV’s Beavis and Butthead, get off the couch and begin to learn about politics! Though you may not be eligible at the moment, it doesn’t hurt to get started and involved because it a learning process. By beginning to learn about politics and getting involved, you gain the benefits of being confident, educated, globally and internationally conscious, wiser, expressing your voice, and most of all, strong and confident in making decisions that will ultimately shape our nation.

by Austin Woo ‘15

Photos by Austin Woo ’15|| round table

special features

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Over the years kids have almost been oblivious to the AIDS epidemic. However, awareness is starting to creep back into communities, thanks to groups such as Face

AIDS, which is run mainly by the

youth. Face AIDS is a youth group movement set on helping individuals around the world battle against AIDS. The group is basically broken up into chapters around the country. This is done to improve the efficiency of fundraising and promote awareness in a local community. There are many chapters of the group around the world and now in our own community.

The story of Face AIDS began not too far from us. Three Stanford students, one of which was Jonny Dorsey who went to school at Sacred Heart Atherton, were working in a refugee camp in Zambia. They

founded Face Aids because they were touched by Mama Katele a grandmother living with AIDS. Face AIDS impacts many people by providing financial support, comprehensive health care, and gives HIV/AIDS prevention education to HIV affected communities. As an example of their accomplishments, Face AIDS has educated over 1,000 Rwandan youth about AIDS, financially empowered over 200 HIV affected Zambians and Rwandans, and has raised over 2 million dollars for health care for Rwandan HIV affected communities. Immediate help is needed in many other countries in Africa, and Face Aids gives Americans a way to help out. Even the students of Stuart Hall High School are involved! Right now there are about sixteen students that make up the Stuart Hall chapter which was started by Ben Carassco ‘13. SHHS has made a big difference. So far Stuart Hall has conducted a bake sale and a coat check, which raised $250 while raising awareness in our school. An additional donation earned the donor a pin featuring an AIDS awareness ribbon. The pins are made by Rwandan women trying to say thank you. If you have missed the bake sale and still want to help, stay tuned as you can participate in the raffle that is planned to take place or the 5K run with UCSF and other Face AIDS chapters around Northern California.

Photo by James Hernandez|| round table

Face Aids at SHHSStudents against the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

by James Hernandez ‘15

This year’s Track and Field team is back and looking bigger and better than ever! Up about 10 people from the previous year, there are around 60 members from both Convent and Stuart Hall for the 2012 team. The members of the new squad are enthusiastic about the new season, and eagerly anticipating all the experiences it promises. As Sophomore Elio Casinelli says, “ I look forward to all the new athletes, because I think that this year there will be a lot of new potential.”

This year’s track program will include the usual 100 meter, 400 meter, 4X4 relay sprints, hurdles, and the long jump as well as the middle to long distance runs of 800, 1600, and 3200 meters. The field program will include shot-put and discus. With such a big team, there are more than enough people to fill each category. This will allow our team to be more competitive as we will be able to showcase new talent, and have a bigger and stronger group of frontrunners for each category. And most importantly, with all the new people, there

is the potential for our team to improve exponentially. Sophomore Elijah Tolentino, a sprinter for the Stuart Hall Track and Field Team says, “ I think that our team is pretty good. We have a lot of potential to get better. The potential to improve is much more valuable than just staying at the same level of competition, even if it is pretty good.” This is the most important talent that the team has, the ability to better itself, every year, whereas some teams have a relatively fast squad of runners that usually stay at about the same level of ability for all four of their years on the team. These types of teams are strong at first, but are quickly surpassed by those who better themselves and take the necessary time and effort to do so with passion and dedication. That is what the Stuart Hall/Convent Track and Field Team is about, a passionate desire to do everything needed to be the very best.

Hopefully this year will be the team’s best yet with many spectacular feats of athleticism and courage.

Track is Back!Faster, Longer, Higher, Stronger

by Liam Lynch ‘13

sports

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school news

reviews

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Battlefield 3 ReviewBattlefield 3: Best FPS on the Market

Battlefield is a game known for its big maps and team based multiplayer. It is not known for really fast action game-play, rather it is a game of patience and actual use of skills. Battlefield 3 uses an engine called Frostbite 2. In Battlefield’s previous game, Battlefield Bad Company 2, it used the first Frostbite engine. When using the Frostbite 2 engine five things come to mind. Visuals, sound, tactical destruction, animation, and scale take the game to a whole new level. Dice, the developers of Battlefield, did a great job with the visuals and the sounds. The graphics are amazing and look realistic, including tactical destruction that is able to destroy the environment. Dice and EA did a great job improving the game as a whole from Battlefield

Bad Company 2. For example, in a game there is a sniper camping in a building and the player cannot get him because he has great cover. If someone selects the engineer class he/she can pull out his/her RPG and shoot into the wall of the building. The wall crumbles leaving the sniper exposed for anyone to kill. The single player has some reminiscence of Call of Duty Black Ops. Agents from the government are interviewing Blackburn, the main character in Battlefield 3. Whenever the agents ask him a question, he has a flashback and the game starts from what he was talking about. However, the game does not do a great job with building a connection with the player. Blackburn does not utter one word when playing the missions. Luckily, Battlefield is not known for its single player. Its multiplayer is, if not, the best multiplayer for first person

shooters at this time. Battlefield is known for having its big maps and long games, but this time around they introduced Team Deathmatch. This game mode was brought in to intrigue Call of Duty fans. Battlefield’s other two game modes are Rush and Conquest. Rush is like demolition, for Call of Duty fans, and Conquest is like domination. Games tend to go on for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The online matches may be long but are interesting the whole time. Another big part of Battlefield is the vehicles. They still have the usual helicopters and tanks. However, a new thing that EA and Dice added is the jet. They have four different kinds of jets. Although it is very hard to be the pilot for a jet, it is one of the best experiences in games available in the market today. All in all, Battlefield 3 is a great game if the gamer is interested in big maps, long games, and team-based multiplayer. Most gamers buy Battlefield for its multiplayer. Gamers will surely be satisfied with this game, and it is completely worth the $59.99 price tag. In December of 2011, Dice and EA released a new map pack. It is a DLC, downloadable content, which included maps from Battlefield 2. It also included ten new weapons, and four new vehicles. Dice also included an update for a more destructible environment.

by Robeil Andebrhan ‘13

Photo courtest of IGN.com || round table

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Battlefield 3 ReviewBattlefield 3: Best FPS on the Market

Oscar Predictions20 dollars riding on the Oscars

by ‘Colin Ryan/Sebastian Sandoval ‘12

reviews

the round table reporters Colin Ryan and Sebastian Sandoval duke it out on their Academy Award predictions and opinions. The following article provides a small window into why the following films and actors might win, in the eyes of Colin and Sebastian.

Best Picture Colin: My prediction is The Artist, a 2011 French comedy-drama film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema falls out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies. Most of the film itself is silent; it is shown in black-and-white, which is dope.

Sebastian: Seriously dude. That’s not a good choice. I think Moneyball

is better. It defined a generation. It’s rollercoaster ride of family fun tied in with action and drama. The depiction of the baseball industry was marvelous, phenomenal. There were a few tear jerking moments when the A’s won.

Best ActorSebastian: I think Brad Pitt was the best actor of the year. His role in the film, Moneyball defined a generation of young athletes striving to make it into the big leagues.

Colin: Not at all dude. George Clooney gives the performance of his life as a man in search of a moral compass on a Hawaii that is no paradise in the film, The Descendants.

Best ActressColin: Michelle Williams is totally going to win best actress. She gives an inspirational performance portraying the life of Marilyn Monroe. She delivers an elegant, neurotic and intoxicating

performance that steals much of the spotlight in the film, My Week with Marilyn.

Sebastian: I have to agree. Michelle Williams is a dime. Enough said man. Viola Davis is not cool, Meryl Streep is old, Glenn Close may be a man, and Rooney Mara is missing some eyebrows.

Visual EffectsSebastian: I have to go with Transformers. While the writing was far from decent the effects are pretty extraordinary and seeing the scene of Chicago being completely destroyed was breathtaking and looked realistic.

Colin: You are completely out of your element dude. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was the dopest thing I have ever scene. The visual effects were out of this world and ahead of its time. They used real people to play the roles of the monkeys.

Photo by Taro Duncan || round table

Sidebar Answers1. C: Florida. Alabama went on to upset Miami in the Sugar Bowl and win the 1992 National Championship.

2. B: Louisiana State University. Cannon won the award in 1959 as a halfback for the LSU Tigers.

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