Raven ReportVolume vii, Issue 1 1201 Brewster Ave. Redwood City, CA 94062 September 11, 2013

Sequoia High School

From using pens and paper to programs and passwords, the Physics Department has adopted its curriculum to match modern technology.

Physics teachers Allison Stafford and Ben Canning began the second full year of using Chromebooks instead of notebooks this fall.

“We started not knowing what it would look like and what kids would do,” said physics teacher Ben Canning.

Under pressure from phys-ics teacher Jack West, c u r r e n t l y on leave to work at a startup, the Physics De-partment has transformed t e a c h i n g strategies to modernize their classrooms.

Each day, every student is given a Chromebook, to watch online lecture videos, type notes on Google Docu-ments and view all worksheets digitally.

The hope for going paper-less was that students could work at their own pace in class and would be more organized in a paperless setting.

“It was a good way to or-ganize my work because it was all on labeled documents in labeled folders, and it was cool because I could access it at home or at school, without having to carry all my work with me,” junior Jasmine Sim-mons said, referring to her time in physics last year.

Chromebooks have also made note-taking faster, in-creasing students’ productiv-ity.

In addition, the Chrome-books have helped reduce the estimated 5 million pieces of paper, or 594 trees, that our student body alone uses each year.

“It was never our intention to have a more eco-friendly classroom, but it has been a nice bonus,” Canning said.

With the Internet full of distractions far more appeal-ing than physics worksheets, teachers have to be wary of students being on task much more than normal.

“It started to [become a problem] in the beginning,

and then we got the Hapara Re-mote Con-trol up and r u n n i n g , which al-lows us to see what a student is doing and

what tabs they have open. From that point, most stu-dents were fairly on task,” Canning said.

Still, anytime a teacher was not actively monitoring stu-dents from their computer, the open door to YouTube, games and social media drew in students rapidly, causing in-creased time off task.

“I know all my friends got distracted, I’m not gonna lie, I did too,” senior Nick Chang said.

Others, however, utilized the Internet to increase pro-ductivity.

“Sometimes I would put on a Pandora station and lis-ten to music while I typed notes or did problems, but it actually made me work more effectively,” Simmons said.

See PHYSICS, page 2

Chromebooks digitize physics curriculumBy GLENN BILLMANStaff Reporter

Our Voice, a program for students of color taking IB classes, held its first meeting Sept. 4 with a turnout of seven teachers and 11 students.

Senior Matvari Maharaj created the program to give students tools to feel more comfortable and successful in their IB classes, as students of color are more likely to drop honors and IB

courses than their peers. “People need to be informed; it’s not just the

10 of us that feel intimidated in our IB courses,” senior Esperanza Jimenez, a meeting attendee, said.

The purpose of the first meeting was to create a safe space to start the conversation about how race affects the performance of students of color in their honors classes.

Feature: Editorial: By the Numbers

By CLAIRE HARKOLAStaff Reporter

Maestros inmigrantesPage 6Page 3

Number of football players and coaches:

Amid the hype of choos-ing first day outfits, reuniting with friends and receiving the first homework assignments of the year loomed the inevitable mass of over 200 stressed stu-dents that mobbed the Guid-ance Office on the first day of schedule changes. Although the line snaked almost all the way to Carrington Hall, counselors saw every last student, though it meant staying until 6 p.m.

“We know that what your schedule looks like can make a difference in your joy that year,” said head counselor Guadalupe Navarrete.

The guidance office worked 13 hours straight the first day of schedule changes.

Creating ideal schedules can be complicated and tedious, but

counselors do what they can to provide students with all the classes they desire. However, limited space and a tight school budget can get in the way of reaching that goal.

“We’re happy when we’re able to give you exactly what you need and want,” Navarrete said. “It’s very hard to say no, but we have to uphold rules for the whole of the body.”

Although students may think a counselor’s job ends after classes are finalized, their schedules last far longer than seven periods. They continue to work throughout the year, writ-ing letters of recommendation for college-bound seniors, offer-ing crisis and career counseling and presenting to classes about graduation requirements.

“I would hope a student would feel comfortable coming to us with anything at all,” coun-selor Joni Gordon said.

Despite how busy the guid-ance department can be, getting help doesn’t have to be a chal-lenge. Some counselors have an ‘open-door policy’ which allows students to stop in and chat with their guidance counselor at any time. Additionally, email is a fast, easy way to get a response.

“I love email,” Gordon said. “I try to have all my emails an-swered by the end of the day.”

Responding to emails daily is one of the many ways that coun-selors show their dedication. They work hard throughout the year for the benefit of the stu-dent body. However, Gordon, like many others in the Guid-ance department, doesn’t mind working hard for the students’ benefit.

“I’ve been in this district for 27 years, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Gordon said. “It’s a beautiful way to connect with youth.”

Photo By Carmen Vescia

Counselors began accommodating schedule change requests on the third day of school. Over 200 students lined up to have their schedules modified on that day.

By CLAIRE BUGOS and CARMEN VESCIAPhoto and Feature Editors

Counselors work to start year right

Our Voice program launched

“[Using Chromebooks] was a good way to organize my work because it was all on labeled documents in labeled folders, and it was cool because I could access it at home or at school, without having to carry all my work with me”

—Junior Jasmine Simmons

Varsity 78 Frosh 35Junior Varsity 42 Total 153

We need bike safety

News2New AVP welcomed by UnaliyiBy DALIA JUDENews Editor

Warning: a tiger is roaming the halls, a white tiger that is. Sequoia’s new Ad-ministrative Vice Principal Sophia Ol-liver taught the martial arts form Bok Fu, which translates to “white tiger,” for many years in Redwood City.

In addition to Bok Fu, Olliver taught English for 14 years at Menlo-Atherton High School. She joined the Sequoia fam-ily this year and filled the position that In-structional Vice Principal Sean Priest held for the last two years.

“I have met nothing but positive, kind and energetic staff and students,” Olliver said. “This really does feel like a place of friends. Unaliyi really stands true.”

Olliver came to Sequoia for May and June of last school year and just started her first full year this fall. During her time at Menlo-Atherton, she overlapped with Priest and Principal Bonnie Hansen, who also worked there.

“I know her to care about every stu-dent. She has high expectations, but she is also really nice and fair,” Priest said.

Sequoia’s no cell phone policy at brunch and lunch impressed Olliver in her first few weeks on campus.

“What I see here is a lot more students

actually communicating with each other rather than an electronic device which is a beautiful thing,” she said.

Olliver knew she wanted to be a high school teacher ever since she was in kin-dergarten; after growing up on the East Coast and going to Mount Holyoke Col-lege in Massachusetts, she began her ca-reer.

“I had never really been to the West Coast so I literally closed my eyes, picked a place on a map and said ‘I’m going to

Redwood City,’” Olliver said. One of her first tasks at Sequoia this

year is controlling the expanding campus parking dilemma (see graphic on page 7). Olliver also looks forward to getting to know the student body and developing relationships with students.

“Seeing growth in students, whether it’s academic or emotional or some other form of growth in character, I think is just the most rewarding [part of what I do],” she said.

Enrollment at record highBy EMILY DUCKER and ANTHONY DUFOURStaff Reporters

With 2,033 students enrolled, the 2013-2014 school year has Sequoia’s classrooms bursting at the seams, housing up to 41 students per class.

Such large classes are impacting both teachers and students, restrict-ing individual attention and putting some teachers over the number of students their contracts allow them to teach.

Teachers are using temporary so-lutions to accommodate the large number of students in their classes, including having students use stools as desks and first-come first-serve seating policies.

Guidance counselors and union representatives are working together to see if the school is offering enough sections of the necessary classes.

New class offerings such as AP Statistics and Java programming have been added, while German is in its fi-nal year, and yearbook is no longer of-fered due to lack of student interest.

Photo By Simon Greenhill

Before coming to Sequoia this year, new Administrative Vice Principal Sophia Olliver was an English teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School.

While many students drive or walk to school every day, a group of sophomores have come up with their own way to get to school. As many as 18 or 19 of them bike to school as a group every day and call their morning commute the Bike Party.

Bike Party was unofficially started last year by sophomores Dylan Sollfrank, Daniel Spottis-wood and Wesley Schulze, who decided to “change an ordinary bike ride… to a party,” Sollfrank said.

“It’s a great way to get togeth-er with friends and get pumped up for the school day,” Spot-tiswood said. They started with six people, but with recruitment and word of mouth, they have

Students form ‘Bike Party’ to invigorate commute

gained riders.Every day of the week, the rid-

ers meet in San Carlos at 8 a.m. and ride by to where the rest of the group joins them. As they’re riding, Spottiswood plays music through his speakers.

“On Sunday nights, I’m feel-ing sad because there’s school to-morrow, but Bike Party gives me something to look forward to,” Sollfrank said.

Sophomore Jake Loveland heard about Bike Party from his friends at school and joined in shortly after.

“My carpool was dull, and I needed a better way to get up in the morning,” Loveland said. “It’s so fun and it’s a good place where nobody judges you, and it gets me up in the morning, and really gives me a reason to go to school.”

By EVAN ISENSTEIN-BRAND, Staff Reporter

A group of sophomores have figured out how to make the morn-ing commute to campus more fun than usual.

Even if students use them ef-ficiently, Chromebooks require more class time to prepare and use than traditional materials like paper and pencils.

“[Time efficiency] probably balanced itself out because us-

ing the computer gave us access to the Internet so we could look everything up and type notes, but it always took time to get out the computers and log in and put them back each day. And there were technical issues like not be-ing able to connect to the Inter-

Welcome Back!From the

Sequoia FederalCredit Union

Photo courtesy of Ike Seneca

PHYSICS, from page 1 net,” Simmons said.Even with its flaws, the Phys-

ics department feels confident about their system as they kick off their second full year using the program.

“We’re changing, getting bet-ter at it,” Canning said.

Superando fronteras y océanos: los maestros de Sequoia derrotan obstáculos

3 Feature

En 1994, Verdeses escapó del comu-nismo y opresión de Cuba en avión has-ta San Francisco gracias a acuerdos entre Reagan y los países comunistas que dejó a muchos ciudadanos encontrar refugio en los Estados Unidos.

“Yo tuve que venir, no soy comuni-sta. No me permitían enseñar en Cuba porque no soy comunista. Tienes que hacer lo que ellos dicen. No puedes

Instead of spending her sum-mer working at a desk job, ju-nior Stephanie Rosas spent sev-eral weeks at Facebook’s bustling Menlo Park campus as one of 20 high school interns the company hired for the summer.

Rosas, along with juniors Darlene Arteaga, Karla Delgado, Serena Galindo and Kevin Tran, took part in the Facebook Acad-emy, an internship program for East Palo Alto and Belle Haven residents.

Some worked in the Informa-tion Technology (IT) depart-ment, delivering computers, accessories and technical aid to employees. Others worked for logistics, or event operations. A select few worked in the engi-neering department.

“We didn’t really know any-thing about our fields when we

pensar diferente. No puedes tener tus propias ideas,” dijo Verdeses, quien hoy tiene doble ciudadanía.

“Tú no puedes ayudar a tu gente, tienes que venir aquí a enseñar a otra gente.”

Por más de treinta años, Verdeses ha enseñado español a alumnos en Cuba y en los Estados Unidos pero no era un paso sin obstáculos.

Después de un viaje de más de 20 horas en avión desde España maestra de español Belén Álvarez comió un pastel rosado en el aeropuerto de Washington. Aunque había previsto ser abogada, el sueño de ser maestra, una oportuni-dad que no pudo rechazar y la decisión de probar suerte causó un cambio de corazón.

Antes de ser maestra por 13 años, Ál-varez vivía en Gijón, España. Fue con-tactada por un programa llamada “visit-ing teachers” que encuentran maestras

Sophomores intern at Facebook’s Menlo Park campus

“El primer impacto fue el choque cultural, la gente que es diferente,” dijo Verdeses.

“Lo que más me sorprendió fue la tendencia que hay en este país en cla-sificarlo todo: en raza, en religión, en nacionalidad. Todo se clasifica en que tú no eres tú, eres una cosa.”

Sobrepasando sus dificultades Verde-ses ha obtenido tres maestrías y un doc-

de España y México para enseñar espa-ñol en los Estados Unidos.

“Lo viví como algo muy positivo aunque en el principio me sentí per-dida por el horario, el cambio cultural y echaba de menos a mi familia,” dijo Álvarez. “Todo me parecía muy grande y muy diferente de España. Probé todo y decidí que iba a viajar y experimentar todo pensando que me iba en un año.”

Sin embargo, todo no era pasteles rosados y la barrera del idioma fue algo difícil para ella en el principio.

“Fue vencer la timidez con el idioma. Aunque lo entendía todo me costaba mucho hablar. Yo había aprendido in-glés británico. Me sentía como ‘si no me entienden, no quiero hablar’,” dijo Álvarez.

Pese a que ahora Álvarez ve a su fa-milia dos veces al año, en el verano y en diciembre, para su familia su viaje hacia los Estados Unidos también era difícil.

“[Se sintieron] triste pero al mismo tiempo apoyándome porque entendi-eron que era una buena oportunidad.

Hubo alguna lágrima,” dijo Álvarez. “El re-encuentro era espectacular como si no nos hemos visto en 10 años.”

Los sacrificios merecieron la pena no obstante por el amor que Álvarez tiene por sus estudiantes.

“El sentimiento que es un intercam-bio no solo enseño, si no aprendo,” dijo Álvarez.

“Me encanta ver incluso que aunque no los tengo me saludan en los pasillos. La satisfacción que estoy haciendo lo que me gusta. Eso es importante.”

torado pero sobretodo ha encontrado su pasión en enseñar a sus estudiantes.

“No es una fábrica. No puedes ver lo que lograste hasta el final,” dijo Verdeses.

“La mejor parte es sentarme con los estudiantes y poder ayudarlos directa-mente y ver los resultados. Me parece interesante verlos porque puedes ver los frutos de tu trabajo.”

Verdeses viaja desde Cuba para enseñar su pasión en la area de la bahía

Álvarez vino por la experiencia y se quedó para aprender de sus estudiantes

By SIMON GREENHILLEditor-in-Chief

Five sophomores joined a group of about 20 high school interns at Facebook’s Menlo Park campus this summer.

go there,” Rosas said. “We just learned. You just have to be will-ing to learn, and be a really good, fun person.”

Assigned to make a video about dining options at Face-book, Rosas said she was most surprised—and enchanted—by Facebook’s culture.

From the bright blue cruiser bikes that employees take to and from meetings to the literal “Facebook Wall” where guests write messages to one another, Facebook’s philosophy is to al-low employees to have fun at work.

“You’d think that [Facebook is] just a bunch of people stuck in a room, but it’s the complete opposite of that,” Rosas said. “You don’t have to be all serious, you can have fun while work-ing. [Facebook] accept[s] you for that, and they actually love people like that.”

Galindo, too, was surprised

by how enjoyable the experience was. Being handed the responsi-bility of a full-time employee, she said, taught her perseverance.

“I wasn’t really motivated to get involved, but when I got there and met all the amazing people in the program, I was so

glad that I showed up and did it,” she said.

For students like Rosas and Galindo, getting to work at Face-book was an unprecedented op-portunity: whereas most intern-ships at top-level companies go to college students from presti-

gious institutions, this one em-ployed students from Facebook’s own neighborhood.

“I’d love for this program to grow; I hope that Facebook no-tices us,” said Gregory Stein, a Computer Animation and Web Design teacher who helped Ro-sas with her application. “I hope they notice that Sequoia has a lot of students… that can re-ally make a contribution to their company as interns.”

Though her summer stint at Facebook is now over, Rosas—who still used “we” when talking about the company—said that she fully intended to return next summer.

“[If I hadn’t been at Face-book], would have just been sitting around at a computer an-swering phones, writing emails and stuff,” Rosas said.

“Instead, I’m learning and having fun; it’s the best thing ever.”

—Por Araceli Efigenio

Special Feature4

Walking historic hallsAs summer turns to fall and the school year starts, freshmen walk the hallways for the first time, getting a good look at the next four years of their life while seniors saunter down the beaten path. What many stu-dents do not realize, however, is that they are walking the halls of a majestic campus that is over 100 years old, adorned with historical sites to be discovered and stories that they may have never dreamed of. This place that we attend for four years has so much more to offer than classrooms, books, teachers and home-work. So next time, rather than walk carelessly from class to class, you can appreciate the age old stories, we invite you to learn some history about our beloved school.

Almost a century ago, the first gradua-tion plaque was put in the ground to com-memorate the graduating class of 1917. After that, every single class from 1925 to 2006 installed a plaque to honor the grad-uating seniors and to remember the time period. The plaques, 81 in all, are located outside the main entrance of Sequoia. Be-neath some of the plaques lie time capsules from that year. All but three of the plaques were made out of metal engraving, encircl-ing the graduating year with a square. The years 1942 to 1944 are constructed out of yellow and white mosaic because metal was scarce from World War II weapon production.

Terremere Field is where our football players make tackles, our soccer players score goals and strangers come to run around our brand new track. Al Terremere was the football coach for two decades, from 1930 to 1951.

In the 1930s, a gardening class wanted to create a natural rock formation. Later on, the Japanese club utilized the space to create a Tea Garden instead. A large oak tree collapsed in a 1969 storm and destroyed the tea house. The Sequoia High School Alumni Association restored the Tea Garden in the early 1990s. Korean War Dogs, originally from the Japa-nese exhibit at the Pan American exposition in San Francisco in 1915, guard the entrance to the garden.

Sequoia’s bell tower, officially named Argo Tower, was constructed in 1923. The name “Argo” is in honor of Clarence Argo, who was the visionary principal from 1921 to 1948. He and a group of colleagues used the room at the base of the tower to make important decisions about creating the district. The structure of the tower is modeled after the tower at Stanford University. The bell no longer rings in the tower; however, it stays to symbolize Sequoia pride, tradition and stability.

Photo By Dalia Jude

Photo Courtesy of Cole Driver

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

— Compiled by Jarrett Crowell, Lily Hartzell, Matvari Maharaj, Cam Rebosio and Sabrina Villanueva

5Special Feature

Walking historic hallsAs summer turns to fall and the school year starts, freshmen walk the hallways for the first time, getting a good look at the next four years of their life while seniors saunter down the beaten path. What many stu-dents do not realize, however, is that they are walking the halls of a majestic campus that is over 100 years old, adorned with historical sites to be discovered and stories that they may have never dreamed of. This place that we attend for four years has so much more to offer than classrooms, books, teachers and home-work. So next time, rather than walk carelessly from class to class, you can appreciate the age old stories, we invite you to learn some history about our beloved school.

Appropriately enough, our campus is cov-ered in trees from around the world. One of the most iconic is the native Australian eucalyptus between Carrington Hall and the main build-ing. Directly in front of the main doors and next to the picnic tables is the Atlas Cedar na-tive to the Atlas mountains in Northern Africa. It has traditionally been a popular lunch spot in the warmer months. A third, lesser-known tree, is the Monkey Puzzle on the corner of El Camino and James by the football field and school garden. It is commonly found in Chile and Argentina, and its long prickly cones make the soil too acidic to grow many plants, creating difficulties for the school garden.

The mural adorning Sequoia’s main hallway has hung there since 1927 and was painted by Sequoia students in an ad-vanced freehand drawing class. Over the years, there has been some controversy over the depiction of the Native Ameri-cans’ relationship with missionaries Father Junipero Serra and Father Crespi. In the mural, they stand on a pathway that is now El Camino Real.

Otis M. Carrington began teaching at Sequoia in 1907 as the art and music instructor. He taught for 43 years, and acted as head of the music department for many years. In 1912, Carrington’s students wanted to perform an operetta, a short, funny opera. Carrington wrote his first of over forty operettas for them, called “The Windmills of Holland.” His operettas became staple performances at Sequoia and the surrounding elementary schools from 1923 until 1945.

. Engraved in stone at the Sequoia Veter-ans Memorial outside of Carrington Hall are the names of Sequoia alumni who have lost their lives while serving in the military. The stone is set in a peaceful rose garden, allowing viewers to commemorate those who have passed away. “To give them recognition is a beautiful thing, you can come here and remember the very spirited people,” said Lora Ro-landelli, a member of the Alumni Associa-tion, who often comes to the memorial to remember some of the students that went to school with her children.

Sequoia’s bell tower, officially named Argo Tower, was constructed in 1923. The name “Argo” is in honor of Clarence Argo, who was the visionary principal from 1921 to 1948. He and a group of colleagues used the room at the base of the tower to make important decisions about creating the district. The structure of the tower is modeled after the tower at Stanford University. The bell no longer rings in the tower; however, it stays to symbolize Sequoia pride, tradition and stability.

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

Photo By Dalia Jude

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

Photo Courtesy of Dylan Lubeck

Sequoia High School

Raven Report2013-2014

Editor-in-Chief Simon GreenhillManaging Editors Laurel Dearborn Lily Hartzell

News Editor Dalia JudeFeature Editors Araceli Efigenio Carmen Vescia

Opinion Editor Matvari MaharajSports Editor Jarrett CrowellPhoto Editor Claire Bugos

Staff Reporters Glenn Billman Xavier Boluña Julio Cortez

Anna Dagum Emily Ducker Anthony Dufour Lily Friebel Carlos Garcia Claire Harkola

Evan Isenstein-Brand Caroline LempertEmma Peyton Cam Rebosio

Sabrina Villanueva-Avalos Abigail Wang

Adviser Kim Vinh

Mission StatementThe Raven Report strives to provide Sequoia High School

with informative, engaging and relevant news. The staff will exercise integrity and adaptability while

promoting justice and transparency through professional reporting about the school, the community and the world.

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

faculty, or community members, sent to Room 308 or by email to ravenreport09@gmail.com. Letters must include

the writer’s full name and ID number, and the staff reserves the right to edit for space and style.

6 Opinion

Staff Editorial

We’re happy you’re hereWe all remember

the first day of fresh-man year: crowded halls, confusing maps, intimi-dating uperclassmen. The transition to high school can be overwhelm-ing, and often leaves our newest students feel-ing lost and despaired. It’s hard to adapt to a new environment, particularly when you’re surrounded by older, taller, (seemingly) more mature students. We’re not as scary as we look. We’re excited to have you on campus—you’re the next generation of students that will continue to make Sequoia the open-minded, diverse place it is. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or start a conversation. We promise, we won’t bite your head off.

Upperclassmen aside, your fellow freshmen aren’t so scary either. Maybe you didn’t go to middle school with someone, but you’re now in school together for the next four years, and you’ll be learning from each other. Ask them what they think of Sequoia, smile in the hallway, bond about how scary your first day was. Trust us, meet-ing your new classmates is one of the best things that will happen to you here.

Though we can’t help you figure out your math homework or walk you from class to class, we can welcome you to Sequoia and let you know we’ve been there, too. We survived and thrived, and know that within a few months you’ll love Sequoia just as much as we do.

Staff Editorial

Increase in bikers causes spike in accidents around campus borders

With the new Bay Area Bike Share program rolling out around the Peninsula in the past week—including bikes in front of the library in Redwood City—more and more cyclists are on the road. The program’s goal is to have 1,000 bikes distributed in 100 kiosks in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose and downtown Red-wood City. Adding to this, the Sequoia bike cage is fuller than ever, and many teach-ers ride to school. Part of this increase can be credited to the ECOS and Bike Club’s Bike To School Day efforts, as well as student initiatives such as Bike Party. You know students are environmentally-aware when bike parking is just as big a problem as it is for cars.

The rise of cyclists on the road is exactly what we want. Not only is it emissions-free

and lighter on the pavement, but it keeps people healthy and self-sufficient. However, the series of serious cycling ac-cidents in the first few weeks of school is worrying.

During the second week of school there was an accident on the corner of Brewster Ave. and Elwood St. involving a Sequoia freshman. Last year a Woodside student was killed in an incident on the corner of Alameda de las Pulgas and Jef-ferson Ave. Clearly, this issue is relevant to our community.

Road safety is a two way street. Groups riding should be in single file, and it’s polite to signal before you turn to give cars a heads-up. If you’re heading home after sports or to zero period on early winter mornings, get a flashing light and a bike headlight for the front. You’re much harder to see than you think. Finally, stop signs. It’s in the name.

Cars aren’t guilt-free either, though. Honking doesn’t help, and you don’t need to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid us. Just treat us like slower, more eco-friendly cars without a layer of metal to protect us.

As The Raven Report stat-ed in an editorial last year, a stop sign on the corner of Brewster Ave. and Elwood St. is desperately needed. Many students have reported almost getting hit there, almost hit-ting someone, or avoiding the area by any means necessary. A four-way stop would greatly decrease the risk of accidents around school.

So, keep cycling. You’re saving the planet one pedal at a time. But you’re not in-vincible. Or, keep driving, but please be careful.

Whether you’re behind the wheel or the handlebars, be aware and stay safe.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

www.facebook.com/ravenreport @ravenreport

6 hours basic driving course $2998 extended freeway course $420

Drivers training available 7 days per week Free pick up and drop off

from home or school Day or evening class

Rated 5 stars on Yelp Contact:

Jonathan Zelaya (650) 365-3322

CaliforniaDriverSchool.comSe habla español

BREWSTER

ELWOOD

P1 P2

P3 P4

Brewster Ave

Brewster Lot

VisitorParking

Elwood Lot

James Ave Lot

James Ave

Elw

ood

St

El C

amin

o Re

al

Broadway

GYM 3

POOL

StudentActivityCenter

TeaGarden

ConferenceRoom

TeaGarden

TRC

PE2

PE1PE3

PE4PE5

WS–1Wood Shop

B–1

B–8

B–9 B–11 B–12 LL–1 CPM–20

M–1

4342 42B

4140–1403938

15 14 1344

M–5 CARRINGTONHALLM–26

LL–3LL–4LL–5

33

31 30 2928

27

26

25

2423

22 21

20

19

35

3436 37

B–10

B–3 B–4 B–5 B–6 B–7B–2

MultiPurpose

Room

M–50

M–52M–54

Libr

ary

Book

Room

Read

ing

Room

GYM 2

GYM 1

TRACE Program

District Office480 James Ave

LOCK

ERRO

OM

LOCKERROOM

WEIGHTROOM

Pr.

CCC

College andCareer Center

Rev. 7/12/13

Sequoia High SchoolFIRST FLOOR LAYOUT

1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0

102030405040302010

KEY:

Principal’s Office

Instructional Vice Principal’s Office

Attendance Office

Treasurer’s Office

Administritative Vice Principal’s Office

Guidance Office

Restrooms

Feature 7New girls golf team drives forward towards success By ANNA DAGUMStaff Reporter

The Sequoia girls golf team debuted this year. Practice is held at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame, teeming with wildlife and views of the reservoir.

“There are deer and little bunnies that hop through the bushes,” senior Morgan Park said.

Unlike other sports where the scenery con-sists of a black tile cross at the bottom of the pool, or the view of the Yumi Yogurt sign from the football field, Crystal Springs boasts a beautiful setting with little more to desire.

“It’s gorgeous there, and the course is especially pretty,” senior Sarah Swanson said.

Swanson practiced with the boys golf team last year, and is thankful for her new team.

“It’s definitely nicer to have girls around because all the guys were so good; they’ve been playing for a while,” Swanson said. “It was fun prac-ticing with them, but it’s nice to have a girls team now,” she said.

Another draw to the sport for many

Sequoia says

“My life is made up of embarassing moments. I trip all the time and papers fly.”

—Teresa Ignaitis, College Counselor

“Me and Kuliga became best friends.”— Kalele Satele, senior

“I was at the top of the stairs on the very last step with all of my soccer stuff, and I tripped. My bag flew over my head, and no one helped me up.”— Carly Barranco, senior

—Compiled by Araceli Efigenio

is the relaxed atmosphere and coach-ing strategy.

“Our coach is really nice and really chill,” Park said, “Kind of like a father-ly figure—”

“A grandfatherly figure,” added Swanson.

Gary Sowers and Jerry Cresta are both coaches for the team, and be-cause of its novelty, learning will be a

main theme for the sea-son.

“I think it’s going to be really fun,” Park said. “I’ve never played golf before, not even a whole round.”

Golf, like many sports, is an outlet for stress.

“It’s so relaxing, and so much fun,” Swanson said. “All you have to focus on is hitting the little ball; the driving range is a great stress reliever.”

Because there are only eight girls on the team, students are encouraged to participate in pioneering this new sport at Sequoia.

“Gary just wants us to have fun with it, he really doesn’t care if we’re competitive or do well he just wants us to have fun because it’s a new team and we’re just getting started,” Park said. “Everybody’s welcome.”

“It’s so relaxing, and so much fun. All you have to focus on is hitting the little ball.”—Senior Sarah Swanson

Whole lot of students, not a lot of lots: An insider’s guide to navigating Sequoia’s parking problem

“I went to Woodside.”— Nicole Bouque, sophomore

Parking Permits issued 102

Money made on permit sales $4,080

Tickets issued since Sept. 3 19

Money made on fines $570

What was the most embarrassing moment of your freshman year?

Policy Update• Students who want to park on campus must obtain a parking permit.

• In order to obtain a permit, students must pay $40, show their license and provide proof of registration. Parking permits are available from the AVP office.

• Students parked on campus without a permit will be ticketed.

• The first ticket costs $30, the second costs $50 and a 3rd offense will result in a fine, towing of the student’s car, and a revoked parking permit.

• The administration began issuing tick-ets to cars without permits after Sept. 3.

—COMPILED BY ANNA DAGUM

Sports8

Photos By Claire harkola

By LAUREL DEARBORNManaging Editor

Day in the life: What it’s like to play football

Noteworthy home gamesvs. Monta Vista 9/13vs. Woodside 9/20vs. Menlo 10/18vs. Menlo-Atherton 10/25vs. Carlmont 11/15

Football season previewLast Year’s

overall record: 9-3-0

Bay Division league record: 3-2-0

Special gamesvs. Woodside (Minimum day) 9/20

vs. Cedar City, Utah 9/27vs. M-A (Homecoming) 10/25

CCS Play-offs 11/22–12/17

I inched across the track and finally onto the turf, staying far away from anyone who was throwing a ball. The whistles blew and I filed into line, ready for warm ups doing what they call “Granny Skips” and lunges. I desperately tried to look like I knew what I was doing as a misfit among tall people in pads. I leaned into each stretch way more than was necessary and when the team went in for the huddle, I wasn’t sure whether or not it was okay for me to go in for the cheer so I stood five feet away from everyone. Super awkward.

The drills are confusing. I need a playbook just to understand all of the equipment used. For example, one drill I did with the receivers involved running to four corners of a square… and then doing diagonals. It sounds simple, but it seemed that every single time time that I watched the players in front of me, someone cut a diago-nal at a different time. So I winged it.

After that drill, we moved on to contact. I was obvi-ously banned from that as I would probably fall over if someone simply touched me with their pinky. So I stood aside and watched a running back attempt to get by a blocker. If the offensive lineman let the defense past him, he does push ups. In fact, push ups were happening all over the place. If the receiver caught the pass, the defense team did push ups. If the defense made a stop, the offense did them. Players were dropping down and doing thirty all the time.

It’s super easy to get sweaty and thirsty under the beat-ing sun. As I got more rest than any other player on the field, my life was a lot easier, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t try out the complex water mechanism. If you have yet to see the tank with yellow tubes hanging out of it, you must. Fortunately, the water is nice and cold. Unfor-tunately, it is really easy to squeeze the clip at the end too hard and squirt water all over your face. Lesson learned.

And then we were back onto the field for more drills. I would have been absolutely clueless if the team mem-bers hadn’t been kind enough to explain exactly what we were doing. As we lined up for receiver starts, I missed the start by probably three or four seconds, an eternity in football. The guy in line next to me told me to not keep my eye off of the ball, and I went at the right time for the

next snap. They asked me whether or not I was trying out for the

team. Indeed, I know my tie-dye shirt screamed “football player.” Obviously, I wasn’t trying out.

I had been scared all day to go practice with the var-sity team. But everyone was inclusive and really forgiving when I asked them a gazillion questions about what the heck drill we were doing. They defied every single expec-tation that one might have about being these big unap-proachable football players. In fact, it was the opposite.

Everyone was nice and I didn’t have to be intimidated. I’m a water polo player, not a defensive lineman. I’ve

grown up with football, yet I didn’t realize how fast their practices move. The clock counts down every five min-utes for drills and then the team switches to work on something else. And they have to set up fast. I got yelled at for slacking as I was walking instead of running to the next station. Coach Carbonneau explicitly said that there “is no walking on his football field,” and I wouldn’t dream of crossing him.

It’s not possible to fully comprehend a sport by just sitting on the sidelines. Thus, the Raven Report is practicing with sports teams to experience firsthand what it is like to be a Sequoia athlete. In this first installment, Laurel went to football practice. Read what happened.

Football team drills include “Granny Skips” and lunges.