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FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009VOL. 36 NO. 8 | MT. CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL, SAN DIEGO, CA 92129SUN
MT. CARMELwww.mcsun.org
ACADEMIC LEAGUE
Inside the SUN: Section A: News..........2 Sun Spread..........4 Opinions..........6 Section B: Sports..........1 Entertainment..........4 Features...........6
INSIDE
NEWS: THE ACADEMIC LEAGUE HAS BEEN COMPETING HARD FOR THE LAST FEW MONTHS. READ ABOUT THEIR SUCCESS. PAGE A2
FEATURES: LEARN ABOUT SIGN LANGUAGE, MC STUDENTS WHO KNOW THE LANGUAGE AND HOW THEY USE IT IN THEIR LIFE. PAGE B7
ENTERTAINMENT: WHO DO YOU THINK THE BEST COMEDIAN IS? SEE WHO MC VOTED AS THEIR FAVORITE COMEDIAN. PAGE B5
MC students, community reduce ecological footprintsPARESH DAVEWEB EDITOR
IN THE PARKING LOTSmaller than a baby hippo and rare enough that a tow truck driver
is awed by it, senior Ankita Bilolikar’s SmartCar is one of the leading examples of students “going green.”
Although other drivers are often annoyed as they see an open parking space, only to see her car deceptively tucked in, Bilolikar is happy to say her ultra-low carbon emitting and superior safety rated car has needed only three gas fi ll-ups since the beginning of 2009. Her car is not alone in the MC parking lot boasting fuel effi ciency. According to parking permit records, four students and eight teachers drive the Toyota Prius, the poster-child for green vehicles.
AROUND CAMPUSLast year, cardboard recycling bins collected
plastic, glass and aluminum. Winds swept the bins away, so now there’s no organized system for col-lecting such items. Instead, a handful of teachers and custodians as well as the aquatics supervisor have continued their own recycling initiatives. Custodians sort through the trash they collect, and exchange bottles and cans at the recycling center for money.
“It’s fi nders-keepers, and it turns into a win-win situation,” custodian Jaime Efe said.
According to him, he collects about $60 every three months.
Inside classrooms, science teacher Michael Bird leads a bottle and can recycling effort for which a few teachers collect in their classrooms. The money he raises helps teachers pay for supplies.
On the pool deck, senior Kimberly Sultz, who uses paper made from discarded banana peels, initially placed a bin to raise money for a girls scout trip. Between three loca-tions and a $300 grant from the PQ Town Council, her group collected $3,000 in a year.
“It was fairly easy, but involved some pretty messy work, but if people are willing and able, it is super rewarding,” she said.
Aquatics supervisor Dean Berenz has continued what Sultz started and used the proceeds to purchase an ice machine, pool toys and other items benefi ting athletics.
“Students have to push recycling and others will catch on,” he said. “Then whoever does the work (collect, sort and deliver), can get the reward. Three old guys used to go through MC’s dumpsters and collect $800 a month. What could MC do with that money?”
AT HOMESenior Alex Wright says the main reason people aren’t “green” is
because they’re lazy. Even the self-proclaimed tree-hugger admits she’s tossed a few recyclables into the trash bin. She does make an
impressive effort, however. Instead of throwing out biodegrad-able food, her family cultivates a compost pile in their back-
yard. Priuses fi ll up their garage and compact fl uorescent light bulbs illuminate their house.
Organic produce purchased from a farm in Carlsbad and picked up in Scripps Ranch fi lls their fridge. A reus-able water bottle always sits in her purse, and a hemp bag travels with her when grocery shopping.
It’s all part of routine. One that takes getting used to. One that costs money, but for Wright, one that just seems right for the world.
“I get lazy, we all get lazy,” she said. “But we won’t get to be lazy for long if don’t care for our Earth.”
IN THE TOWNThis is where the fi rst of the three R’s kicks in.
Reuse. As in reusable shopping bags, which only 19 out of 200 students admitted to using every time they shop. As in reusing clothes and toys by donating them. As in reusing paper, mainly the unused backside of
sheets.The only thing missing from the going green equa-
tion now is renewable. But, senior Jordan Busse and fresh-man Alexandra Busse have that covered. Their family now
pays about $12 a month for electricity because solar panels were installed on their roof last summer.
Jordan also wears shirts made from recycled materials or clothes manufactured in the US by companies like American Ap-
parel. Even her lunch, a Boca burger, chips, an apple and water is all organic. From the Voltaic Backpack with solar panels to organic sham-
poo, there’s no shortage of green products for those willing, as Sultz says, to make an investment in the Earth’s future.
“People often do not realize how just a little bit done by everyone can make a huge difference.”
San Diegans urged to conserve water voluntarily, discover new ways to cut back water usage
ADITI PAISTAFF WRITER
Senior Archana Ramesh does her best to conserve water. With almost no grass in her backyard, a dripper system instead of sprinklers, and using the faucet sparingly, she works to keep her family’s water use low. Of course, before AP Environmental Science she was barely cautious about it.
“I didn’t really know water was that much of an issue here in San Diego,” Ramesh said. “Only when I learned we live in a chaparral [regime] which gets really little rainfall and that we have to import most of what we drink was I made aware of this issue.”
R a m e s h ’ s conserving will go a long way. On June 4, 2008, Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought throughout California. As a result of getting mostly recycled water, San Diegans were asked to go on voluntary conservation. The government hoped that with this conservation we wouldn’t have to enter into a higher drought response level as designated by the Model Drought Response Ordinance.
Some programs, such as the 20 gallon challenge, promote conserving water for San Diego. For the most part these steps involving voluntary rationing have worked effi ciently.
Not only has the need for mandatory rationing decreased because of this, the recent rainfall helped in adding water to San Diego reservoirs.
With summer approaching though, water quality representatives urge people to continue conserving. Ramesh’s use of a dripper is a good way to start.
“So we use a dripper systems which instead of spraying water everywhere is for individual plants,” Ramesh said. “It drops water to the roots of each one. This just reduces the evaporation and waste from such a wide sprinkler. We also limit the number of times we turn on the drippers depending on the season.”
Other sources promote conserving water in other ways. The Water Authority promotes turning the water off when brushing teeth which saves approximately three gallons a day. Shortening showers by two minutes saves fi ve gallons a day. Washing only full loads of laundry saves 15-50 gallons per load.
In regards to conserving outside, watering the yard before 8 a.m. reduces evaporation and will save 25 gallons a day. Using a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks will save 150 gallons a month. Finally, hundreds of gallons per year will be saved by using organic mulch around plants to reduce evaporation.
KATELYN CUTTS NEWS EDITOR
While most students were preparing for another semester of tough exams and hours of homework, the AP Environmental Sci-ence students were fi guring out their second semester project. The project’s purpose is for students to fi nd a way to help the en-vironment and learn something new at the same time. Senior Sarah George decided to do a project incorporating what they were learning in class.
“In APES, we were learning about climate change,” George said. “[AP Envi-ronmental Science teacher Harold] Dorr showed us that the rise in temperature cor-relates with the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I’ve always associated human output of greenhouse gases with industrial factories, but just walking instead of driving my car the quarter mile to school can make a real difference.”
Taking this thought, George realized what she wanted to do during class when Dorr was explaining some options for the project.
“For a month, two if I can pull it off, I plan on only walking, biking, and carpool-ing,” she said. “I am recording everywhere I go and will fi gure out how much carbon dioxide [didn’t] enter the atmosphere.”
For seniors Danielle Spence and Patrick Nowak, the project was an opportunity to help more than just the environment.
“We are starting a recycling program for the MC swim and dive team,” Spence said. “We are collecting all of the bottles after practices and meets as well as other recyclables and turning them in to recycling centers for money.”
The cash raised from the recycled mate-rials will go to help the team.
“We will use this money for the swim
team most likely by helping the current scoreboard or donating money to buy a new scoreboard,” she said. “We are accomplishing this by setting up days to collect recyclables and setting up trash cans at the pool deck.”
For Spence, the deci-sion to make this their project was an easy one.
“We chose this because we are both on the swim team and knew that every day there are so many bot-tles and cans that are thrown away when they could be recycled,” she said. “This will help the environment because fewer bottles will be wasted and the bottles won’t take up room in dumps. The pool also really needs a better scoreboard or at least money to help maintain it.”
Other students in the class are volun-teering with organizations like the Oceans Foundation or performing tests to check the water quality of rivers and how it affects the species living in the aquatic environment. George is learning a lot about the true impact of human activities through her project.
“Global warming seemed like a problem, but warmer winters, I did not mind,” she said. “After learning how screwed we actu-ally are continuing with our ways, it defi nitely has made me realize the importance of climate change.”
Like George, the APES students are using the project to make a dif-ference and help protect the earth and the surround-ing environment.
AP Environmental Science students work on projects to help Earth
HOW TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT...
- SWITCH TO FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULBS - INSTALL DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEMS - USE CEILING FANS TO COOL OFF INSTEAD OF AIR CONDITIONING - DRY YOUR CLOTHES OUTSIDE - CARPOOL OR USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT - PLANT TREES - PLANT NATIVE SHRUBS - RECYCLE - START A COMPOST PILE - MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO LEAKS IN KITCHEN, BATHROOM, OR GARDEN PIPES - USE A LOW FLOW SHOWER HEAD ACCORDING TO
WWW.PRACTICALENVIRONMENTALIST.COM
CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST
THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY
SENT THIS MESSAGE OUT TO HELP SAN DIEGANS
CONSERVE WATER.
March 13, 2009 NewsA2 Mt. Carmel SUN
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Academic League hopes to continue success; prepares for diffi cult matches against RB, WV
MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ | PHOTOGRAPHERShuyang Fang (11), Michael Zhang (12), Mackenzie Lance (11), and Jeff Hsaio (12) work together to complete a problem during a match. The varsity Academic League has been victorious, with a record of 4-0 as of March 4. The eight seniors and two juniors meet three times a week to practice and compete in matches on Thursdays. The team took on their toughest rival, RB, yesterday. Results were not available at press time.
KAVERI GYANENDRAFEATURES EDITOR
Complete the following line from Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, _______________.”
Most students would be left dumbstruck with not the faintest idea but members of MC’s varsity Academic League would know right off the bat.
As of March 4, the varsity team held an undefeated record, 4-0.
The squad, which is composed of two ju-niors and eight seniors, practices three times a week and competes on Thursday nights.
During practices, the members are split up into their areas of concentration and go through questions that correspond with their subject. They also test their speed by reading practice questions from quiz books.
The preparation pays off when the team goes in for one of their weekly games.
“The hardest part is defi nitely trusting your knowledge,” senior Vincent Heng said. “We go in and get really tense because there’s just a drive to do well. Once the team lets it
just fl ow we do a lot better than when we aren’t relaxed.”
Five people compete at a time and it is up to coach Ken Matson who competes during the game.
According to Heng, the people who are chosen to play are based off their performance during the week of practice. Each member of the team specializes in two subject categories, so each area must be covered.
While looking to beat the main rival, Ran-cho Bernardo High School, the Sundevil Aca-demic League is also beating the typical stereo-type of what an academic league is.
“A lot of people just see academic league as like nerd club or something,” Heng said. “But it’s really not. Even though we do com-pete in challenges of wit, it’s not that nerdy. Whenever one of my friends comes to a match they expect it to be really nerdy and stuff but they leave and think it’s pretty cool.”
In addition to learning solid facts for games, the team members learn lessons that can be used outside of game time.
“The most important thing I have learned from my fellow team members is to simply live, laugh, and love,” senior Archana Ramesh said.
Five seniors become Merit Scholar fi nalistsMACKENZIE LANCE SPORTS EDITOR
After months of prep classes, hundreds of dollars spent on study books and endless sleeping hours lost to studying, fi ve Sundevils took the SAT reasoning test.
Their sacrifi ces paid off months later when they were informed of their status as National Merit Scholar-ship fi nalists.
These students are an eclectic mix of athletes, ASB members, and musicians, but are all scholars. Every student earned above a 2200 on their SAT I and no one’s GPA drops below a 3.9.
Dahlia Zhang, the highest scoring member of the group plans to go into the medicine fi eld for a career. She ap-plied to several UC schools as well as Duke, Stanford and USC.
The second highest scoring Sun-devil is John Biberman. He was grant-ed early acceptance to Dartmouth. Biberman was a varsity high jumper his junior year on the track and fi eld team and a four year member of the orchestra.
Jessica Chang placed third among the Sundevils, is a four year member of ASB. She has applied to UCSD, NYU, St. John’s, Columbia, and USC.
Jeff Hsaio splits his time between an internship with Truis Pharmaceuti-cals, the varsity golf team, and keep-ing up his perfect GPA. He applied to several Ivy League schools including Yale, Princeton, and Stanford as well as MIT, UC Berkeley, UCSD, and Uni-versity of Chicago.
Nick Johnson, a varsity wa-ter polo player and swimmer hopes to study neuroscience at UCSD. He joined the varsity Academic League this year and has become a valuable asset to the team thanks to his wit and quick thinking.
Sometime between mid-March and June, the students will be notifi ed if they have won scholarships from the program.
Speech and debate advances individual to state
SHAYON SAID | STAFF WRITERJonathan Smith (12) argues against his opponent in the Public Forum debate dur-ing the state qualifi ers at Helix High. Billy Watson (10) made it to state competition.
SEAN WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
The speech and debate team went to Helix Charter High School in La Mesa to compete against many other schools in the State Qualifi cations on Feb. 28.
“It went really, really well,” senior Sarah Fan, the president, said. “We had more than three people go this time.”
Nine people total went for two different events. There was the Congress form of debate and the Public Forum debates. The Congress form of debate is ran like the Senate: there’s a group of people in the same room, and they debate issues.Congress had four topics to debate, one for each round. Their topics were gun laws, illegal immigra-tion, troops in Afghanistan, and federal agencies.
Sophomore Billy Watson participated in the Congress debate, along with sophomore Shayon Said and junior Edward Brann, and he got up to fi nals.“I don’t think I did as good when I got to fi nals, but I’m not disappointed,” Watson said.
Despite this, Watson ended up mak-
ing it to State Tournament. Those who placed in the top three to fi ve in fi nals get to go to it.For Public Forum, their topic was debated with partners. They debated one topic, which was about BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and if they had a positive impact on the U.S or not.
“We had to debate both sides on our topic of BRIC countries for public forum,” senior Christina Yao, the vice president, said. “I think we did better with our negative argument.”
There were three teams for Public Forum. Out of the three, one of them made it to fi nals. The team was seniors Jonathan Hall and Jonathan Smith.
They all had two weeks to research and come up with their arguments for their debates.
“The time we researched our topics varied from team to team,” Fan said. “[Freshman] Laura Slusser and Jonathan Smith put in intense research two weeks beforehand.”
This was the last debate for this year. “We actually have some other stuff we still
need to do,” Yao said. “We have to do massive re-cruiting. We also have to do the banquet, and we need to go to the courthouses for a trip.”
THEATRE AT THE MOUNT PRESENTS.....
“OUR TOWN” CAPTURES THE NATURAL BEAUTY AND FRAGILE ELEGANCE OF
LIFE AND HOW POWERFULLY WE IMAGINE OURSELVES. IT IS TRU-LY A TIMELESS AMERICAN THEATER TREASURE THAT REMINDS PLAYGOERS TO ENJOY WHO AND WHAT REALLY MATTER MOST
IN LIFE.
PERFORMANCE DATES: MARCH 19-28 AT 7 P.M.
MATINÉES ON MARCH 21 AT 2 P.M.
TICKET PRICES: ADULTS: $10 STUDENTS: $8
March 13, 2009News A3Mt. Carmel SUN
CONGRATULATIONS TO
KRIS HIZAL, MT. CARMEL’S 2008-2009
TEACHER OF THE YEAR
AND ERIN KELLY, MT. CARMEL’S 2008-2009
CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR!
BE SURE TO LOOK FOR A FEATURES ARTICLE ON THEM IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE SUN!
KELLY FANSTAFF WRITER
As of the March 2, one of the desks in the Sun Center was vacant. Barbara Tomicich, one of three guidance technicians at MC and an Academic Advisor to seniors, has left MC to join the counseling de-partment at Twin Peaks Middle School, taking the position of Assistant Counselor. Her decision is a result of the district’s cur-rent unstable situation with budget cuts and job security. “No one knew if I would still have a job at MCHS next year, so I put in a transfer request,” she said. Her new position as assistant counselor will be very similar to her position as guidance tech, with an important distinction. “[The assistant counselor] position is con-sidered essential, and while not immune from layoffs, is much more secure,” she said. Despite the assurance of a more secure employment, the decision was still very diffi cult for Tomicich. “This was one of the most diffi cult deci-sions of my life,” Tomicich said. “Do I leave a wonderful job for a steady paycheck? Or do I gamble that the budget cuts will not be as bad as projected?” Tomicich, who has been working at MC for about a year and a half, expressed her bit-
tersweet feelings about leaving MC. “I was welcomed here with open arms,” she said. “There hasn’t been a single day where I have been ‘I don’t want to go to work today’…I had planned on staying here forever.” But Tomicich isn’t the only one who is sor-ry.
She will be missed by both the students and the staff members she has worked with. “She was very helpful to lots and lots of students,” Vincent March, MC’s tech support coordinator said. “She had a great personality. She was very student friendly.” Tomicich will also be missed for the work she accomplished for students. “In 11th grade I helped my students research post-secondary options, and presented new re-sources such as CareerCruising and PrepHQ,” Tomicich said. “The fi rst semester of senior year, it was all about college apps, ACT, SAT, letters of recommendation, and meeting dead-lines.” Luckily, the timing of Tomicich’s departure will not leave students hanging. “When I left, we were in the midst of schol-arships, so all the hard work was done,” she said. “I was looking forward to my seniors excitedly announcing their acceptances.” With everything Tomicich has contributed to MC, many would agree with Ellen Wood of the health offi ce in saying, “Twin Peaks is very, very lucky.”
ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER Vanda Wilshire, Barbara Tomicich, and Rodelyn Correa work together as guidance technicians in the Sun Center. Becasue of the lack of job security due to budget cuts, Tomichic has transferred to Twin Peaks Middle School
ADITI PAISTAFF WRITER
The future of a high school student is, for the most part, an unplanned adventure. Some-times though, certain students have a life already chosen, a plan in place, and only certain profes-sions offer this stability. Senior Kirk Herrmann was recently re-cruited to join the Marines.
“Sergeant Barrow came to me when I was sitting with my group at lunch one day,” Her-rmann said. “I always had had military plans for the future but he helped me out a lot in my decision. I gave him my contact information.”
A few phone calls later, Herrmann and Barrow set up a meeting at his offi ce to discuss
the Marines in more detail.“We talked more about the
benefi ts of the Marines and about my future,” Herrmann said. “I want to be a lawyer or politician and when I apply for my job I will be one step ahead of everyone as a result of having marines under my belt.”
As the new Marine Corps Representative for MC, Ser-geant Delsean Barrow is one of the many men in uniform seen throughout the school day on campus.
Sergeant Gunnery Mac, a fellow Marine, sees their time on campus as a good opportunity to connect with students.
“Our aim is to introduce young men and women of the schools to some different op-portunities,” Mac said. “Wheth-
er it be educational or technical skills we are trying to enhance some of their future goals.”
Among the opportunities they provide is an emphasis to further education. As part of their plan to provide alternative prospects for all students, they pay 100% for college and of-fer technical training in various fi elds such as aviation, mechan-ics, business, and administra-tion.
When Mac comes to cam-pus, he looks for ways to intro-duce himself and the Marine Corps to faculty and students.
“I do this to show people a different option,” Mac said. “At times a recruiter will set up a class talk with teachers in order to give info to a wide variety of people.”
PARESH DAVEWEB EDITOR
The UC system now faces a $450 million shortfall as the legislature continues to trim the state’s budget.
Though the recent federal stimulus pack-age will improve that fi gure slightly, UC re-gents still expect a $400 million difference be-tween what the system wants to spend in 2009 and how much money it actually has.
If voters do not approve some ballot measures on May 19, the $450 million defi cit may head in the opposite direction.
“[This] will be felt by students, by faculty, by staff and ultimately by people across Cali-fornia who benefi t in their daily lives from the university’s work,” UC president Mark Yudof said in a press release. “Lower spending for
higher education ultimately erodes student opportunity, innovation, health care and med-ical research, and economic growth for Cali-fornia.”
In the CSU system, executives had al-ready expected a $163 million cut in funds for this year.
About 10,000 qualifi ed applicants to such schools as San Diego State University will be denied admission simply because the school can’t pay for them.
According to MC’s online PrepHQ sys-tem, six out of 28 students who applied to SDSU have already been admitted.
Among those is senior Gladiola Marti-nez-Orozco.
“I’m as happy as you can be to get into a college and am happy that the nerve-wracking wait is over, but I’m worried about the mon-
ey,” she said.While the state cut back on fi nancial aid
for next year, President Obama plans to offer even more federal aid. That’s exactly why MC counselors are advising all students to fi ll out the FAFSA, regardless of their level of need.
“We’ve had a big increase in students coming in with personal issues surrounding family fi nancial stress,” counselor Kimberly Bronson said. “I know that many kids who never considered fi nancial aid have fi lled in the FAFSA this year in the hopes that they will qualify for some fi nancial help.”
Senior Kim Marsh already knows both she and her parents will have to take out loans to pay for college. A couple months ago, she planned on attending community college.
“It wasn’t about the money; I just really underestimated myself and decided at the last
minute to apply to universities,” she said.Her self-doubt and negative thoughts
were replaced with surprise when several uni-versities accepted her.
Now, Marsh’s only wish is that the public colleges could give out more scholarships. For now, she’ll have to settle for not being affected by the admission cuts and take advantage of new law.
Obama’s package introduces a $2,500 tax credit for college expenses, which now in-cludes textbooks. In addition, he has called for a change of the FAFSA system, an increase in Pell Grant awards and a revamp of the federal work-study program.
The situation for the UC/CSU systems remains bleak, but as the newest students in the system, Marsh and Martinez-Orozco wel-come every bit of help with open arms.
Activity buses cause ridersfrustration; district cites safety, liability for policiesLAURA SLUSSERSTAFF WRITER
It’s nearing 4 p.m., on a Monday, and a few tired, hungry-looking students hang their heads, waiting for their rides.
The activity bus pulls up, stays for roughly a minute and a half to pick a few kids up, and then pulls away from the curb.
A girl runs out of the school, just in time to catch the bus. The bus driver opens the door, but he doesn’t let her on.
He tells her that once the bus has pulled away from the curb, even if it’s only two inches, he can’t pick her up. She has to step back, without a ride.
According to bus driver John Lore, this is district policy, and has been enforced ever since he was a student in middle school.
“Our CHP offi cer tells us: ‘...Don’t ever stop in the middle of the street to pick any-one up,’” Lore said.
Lore went on to say it’s like “running into the street to catch a bus that’s already gone.”
These rules seemed notably absent from the PUSD web site. Although it has a full page dedicated to the Transportation Department, there is no document regard-ing the actual district policy.
There is only one link, titled “Bus Rules,” addressing singularly elementary stu-dents.
The logic behind this seemingly un-written rule is that if students know the bus driver cannot pick them up, they will not go running into a busy street.
“All you need to do is have one person chasing the bus, trip, fall, then go under the back tire,” Lore said. “By the time I look over, see them running and see them trip and fall, there’s no way I can stop the bus.”
Although some students seem pretty desperate for a ride, Lore doesn’t budge on this policy.
“I’ve been sitting at traffi c, away from the school… and had people standing at my door, knocking at the door, trying to get on,” Lore said.
Sophomore Vienna Lung is one of the students who have been left at school be-cause of this policy.
“I got mad at my boyfriend so we were having an argument and then we made up...” she said. “I didn’t notice the bus came, and then I was crying, so I couldn’t hear the bus either, and then the bus left and I was crying even louder.”
Lung said she could have run after the bus and most likely made it, but she knew that they weren’t allowed to stop. Although no accidents have happened yet, Lore wants to make sure that it stays that way.
“To me, it works,” Lore said. “… [It] doesn’t work that well on elementary kids, though… some of them still do it.”
To Lore, it all seemed to come back to one thing.
“It’s all about safety,” he said.
Tomicich seeks job security with transfer
Marine recruiters assist with planning students’ futures
Budget cuts force UC, CSU schools into cutting incoming students
MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITORMembers of the United States Marines talk to students during an on cam-pus lunch recruiting activity. The representatives work closely with those interested to ensure security of their future and fi nancial aid for college.
March 13, 2009
Sun SpreadMt. Carmel SUN 7 6 Mt. Carmel SUN
Under PressureParents, Peers push teens to the limit
Positive pressure encourages excellence
After school, in the reference room of the library sat a quiet circle of seniors. The ground around them was littered with AP textbooks and study materials.
Senior Sarah Fan softly shuffl ed the cards and dealt for another game of bridge as they shared the tricks of the academic trade. From instruction on how to do math problems to tips on how to stay up late, these students had it all.
“You know Monster?” senior Shin Kimura said.
“That stuff doesn’t do anything... Get Zipfi zz. It is like concentrated Monster.”
Fan recalled how long she had stayed up in order to fi nish a project.
“We were supposed to cook a traditional Hispanic country dish [for AP Spanish]...” Fan said.
“I cooked that at 11 at night... my powerpoint [had only] two slides done until six twenty-ish. And then I thought: ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ [I] took a ten minute nap, then brushed my teeth and went to school.”
Kimura said that his uncle was making him write an essay outside of school, on top of his regular schoolwork.
“It turned out to be 15 pages, really in detail,” he said. “It was about leukemia, too.”
MC librarian Erica Turner had a different outlook about academic stress.
“With my children, they were self-driven,” Turner said. “I never said to them: ‘Have you got your homework [done]?’ ....They did it themselves, but I know with other people it’s like drawing teeth.”
Although Turner herself never had any problems, she said she knew many who did.
“I feel sorry for some parents though,” she said. “And some kids who have nagging parents.”
Fan had a similar approach as Turner.
“I put enough pressure on myself,” Fan said. “My parents don’t feel the need to do it... I know my
capabilities.”Most teachers agree that the
pressure from parents to get into a good college has increased dramatically over the past few years.
“I think some students defi nitely get in a little over their heads and become overwhelmed with the stress,” chemistry teacher Deborah Stenger said.
Spanish teacher Isabel Cooper agreed.
“Sometimes I think parents put a lot of pressure on their students, and they’re not accepting the fact that maybe it’s okay to get a B,” Cooper said.
However, students like Kimura and Fan hold strong, ready to do whatever it takes to get a good grade.
“You know those people who go to sleep at 11 and wake up at six?” Kimura said.
“That’s seven hours of time wasted. You study for that time, you become a genius... people need to stop going to sleep.”
According to the Washington Post, lack of sleep can increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity among other major illnesses, including an increased risk of overall mortality.
“It’s healthy,” Kimura said. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
Although scientists come out with new studies every year proving that lack of sleep and food can have many detrimental effects, especially to high school kids, the students don’t want to budge on this matter.
“You should start pulling all night-ers... By junior year you’ll be so used to it,” Kimura said.
>>Laura Slusser
It started when she was only fi ve years old. Sophomore Bella Genkina’s parents got her into playing tennis at a very young age.
This happens often with sport oriented families. Parents may start their child in a sport at a very young age, often because it has been in the family for generations. But the children are often forced into it at fi rst, when they are not interested at all.
“When I was little, I didn’t appreciate tennis as much,” Genkina said. “They made me play all the time when I was young.”
After so many years of constantly doing a sport, it becomes second nature to the athlete.
“Now I’m used to it, and I feel completely off if I don’t play [tennis] for two days,” Genkina said.
But the question is: would kids like Genkina have gotten into the sport without their parents pushing them to start it?
Does this kind of athletic pressure help or harm the athlete?
For many athletes pressure from parents gives them a competitive edge. Knowing that parents care enough to involve themselves in their teen’s lives is always reassuring. But parents can also go too far by losing sight of the fact that teenagers are not yet professional athletes.
They will always get sidetracked by social events and bad decisions, so it is important that they are given free time to be young and explore other interests, with one of these interests being other sports.
“It’s defi nitely hard to do multiple sports at once and be committed to both,” Genkina said. “It takes up a lot of time so there is less time for academics. As for the social aspect, my closest friends are my friends from tennis.”
Although the sport becomes a large chunk of one’s life, the pressure that they get from being so involved is often stressful and unnecessary.
“We are past the point of pressuring me to play; it’s more of a pressure for
me to win. And that’s the diffi cult part,” Genkina said. “Not meeting high expectations is a disappointment and not a good feeling.”
Many Sundevils can understand the feeling of not achieving the goals that others have set for them. It’s often worse than not achieving your own goals, as you feel the weight of both yours and the other person’s disappointment on your shoulders.
Even worse is when Sundevils are expected to maintain a very high GPA, while doing several sports. This often leads to being forced or pressured by one’s parents to quit the sport that has become so important to them.
“My parents believe that academics are more important, especially for getting into college,” freshman Suzy Sue said.
While some parents do not openly force their teens to quit a sport, the fear of the parent often infl uences the teen to quit, while saying it was their decision all along, when it was really their parents.
“I kind of fear my parents because they give me privileges, and it would be pretty bad if they took them away,” Sue said.
In the end, the teen has no choice but to agree.
“I wish I could do another sport, but it is better this way,” Sue said. “My grades have signifi cantly changed because of it.”
Pressure, whether it’s a push to begin something new, or to stop, is a part of every person. It has molded who people are since the very day we started doing any activity.
For the most part it is positive and people feel supported by it, but when it goes too far, teens feel heavy and have nowhere to go but down.
>>Lauren Hall
Pressure doesn’t always make diamonds.
The product of a society with a beauty ideal that pushes teenagers to the limit of what is healthy is one thing: a majority of teenage girls believe that they are overweight.
A bombardment of media infl uences shapes an unrealistic standard in the minds of girls from a young age.
According to a recent survey of teen girls by “Teen People” magazine, 28% say that the greatest pressure to diet comes from parents.
Most teens assume that their parents know nothing about being a teenager. They assume that parents are out of touch with the image ideals of their generation.
But for some, parents play a different, much more negative role in the shaping of their body image.
One anonymous MC junior has had many experiences with this unique relationship.
“My mom used only let me eat certain amounts of food at dinner,” she said.
“Like never being able to get seconds even when I had friends over. It was really embarrassing.”
But the negativity didn’t stop there.
“Last year she would make me go to the gym every day after school, and if I didn’t, I would get in a whole bunch of trouble,” she said.
“If she felt that my clothes were getting too tight, or my shorts and skirts too short, they would just disappear one day.”
“She would buy me new clothes and say: ‘You can wear this only if you lose weight.’
“One day I was trying on a thin pair of sweats and she was like ‘You can’t wear those, you can see all the cellulite in your butt and thighs,’” she said.
Parents may not realize it, but the off-hand comments they make about weight can have a strong impact on their kid’s body image.
“I think she probably has something
to do with how self-conscious I am,” she said.
“I do put a lot of pressure on myself because of the things she says that I do think are true, and because she is a lot thinner than I am and so is my sister,” she said.
Although teenagers may not like to admit it, parents are the one rock in their life, the one person who is always there for them.
Potentially degrading comments can be a betrayal of the family bond.
“It makes me feel really bad about myself because if she’s saying it, it must be true,” she said.
“But sometimes I think it’s good because it does make me work out and try to better the way I look.”
Although girls are three times more likely than guys to have a negative body image, it’s not strictly a female issue.
Guys also feel pressured to emulate a certain ideal put forth in the media.
But the media can seize responsibility; they don’t always have to be a negative infl uence on teens.
Recently the Council of Fashion Designers of America held a symposium on body image.
Women spoke about their struggles with weight and body image, showing teen girls that even models struggle with the pressure to conform to society’s ideal image.
Responsibility in media and the fashion industry about the negative image they create is slowly becoming more prevalent.
While the product of pressure may not always be as dazzling as diamonds, it can be healthy in moderation if parents and teens stay conscious of their treatment of others.
>>Kylie Baranowski
After a long day of school, there is nothing more soothing than lounging on the couch, eating snack food and chugging soda.
This is the teenage dream. This dream soon becomes a nightmare when
one realizes how little work is accomplished in this time of relaxation.
As much as students want to just sit and chill out, it is a necessary evil to work.
Helping with this task is peer pressure.Yeah, peer pressure. The same thing that
we are all told makes us drink, smoke and have rampant sex can also be benefi cial.
“I really am forced to work hard to be completive among my peers,” junior Emily McKeon said. “I always want to be the best and having the highest grade is a tangible way of achieving that.”
Although this pressure can get out of hand, and lead to mental breakdowns, fi ghting, and cheating, when it is controlled it is extremely constructive.
“My main motivation in my toughest classes is to beat everyone else,” McKeon said. “Whenever I see my class rank at the bottom of my grades on Learningpoint, and I’m not number, I get really frustrated and I devote myself to work.”
The competitive nature makes for a dog-eat-dog world within the student body, but this sometimes hostile environment can lead to an incredible future.
“I think that eventually all this work will pay off,” McKeon said. “I spend most of my time on school and I don’t get nearly enough sleep, but in the future, I’m sure the rigor I’ve put myself
through will be rewarded.”Many students aren’t solely pushed towards
success by their own ambitions and competition with others.
Parents are an important part of the support system for students.
“A lot of my friends think that my parents fall into the ‘Asian parent’ stereotype,” a senior said. “However, they are really helpful to me, and they help me to keep my priorities straight.”
While peer pressure can push us into dangerous situations and parents can expect too much of us, pressure can be positive. When we are given a little bump in the right direction, our actions are more likely to reach our full potential.
>>Mackenzie Lance
71% 9%How do MC students feel the most pressured?
AthleticsAcademics
6%Body Image
14%None
me to win. And that’s the diffi cult part,” Genkina said. “Not meeting high expectations is a disappointment and
Many Sundevils can understand the feeling of not achieving the goals that others have set for them. It’s often worse than not achieving your own goals, as you feel the weight of both yours and the other person’s disappointment on your shoulders.
Even worse is when Sundevils are expected to maintain a very high GPA, while doing several sports. This often leads to being forced or pressured by one’s parents to quit the sport that has become so important to them.
“My parents believe that academics are more important, especially for getting into college,” freshman Suzy
While some parents do not openly force their teens to quit a sport, the fear of the parent often infl uences the teen to quit, while saying it was their decision all along, when it was really
“I kind of fear my parents because they give me privileges, and it would be pretty bad if they took them away,”
In the end, the teen has no choice
“I wish I could do another sport, but it is better this way,” Sue said. “My grades have signifi cantly changed
Pressure, whether it’s a push to begin something new, or to stop, is a part of every person. It has molded who people are since the very day we started doing any activity.
For the most part it is positive and people feel supported by it, but when it goes too far, teens feel heavy and have nowhere to go but down.
>>Lauren Hall
Academic Ath let ic Body Image
*203 students polled
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL THAN | PHOTOGRAPHERDerek Mateo (11) poses as a student desper-ately trying to keep up with school work.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTOGRAPHERAlex Parks (10) poses with her running shoes and letterman jacket, common gear of many MC athletes.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALLISON ROGERS | PHOTOGRAPHERShelby De Long (9) poses as a weight-conscious teen measuring her waist.
An adieu and applause to coaches
“To teach, to serve, to excel, to compete.” This could have been the rallying cry for MC athletics, but the culture at MC had already been set.
So now, math teacher and baseball coach Mike Giaime will carry his four pillars eight miles north and erect them at Del Norte High School as the Nighthawks’, the school’s mascot, fi rst athletic director.
The Nighthawk Way, he says fi rst and foremost, will begin with coaches who want to compete and athletes who want to excel.
Earlier this year, I spoke to Giaime about how it seemed as though the level of athletic performance at MC had seemingly stagnated. His key idea to change that: athletic PE.
It seemed brilliant to me, but there were too many hurdles to clear to make it happen here.
Giaime now gets to implement a program of having athletic practices during the school day at Del Norte, along with a larger policy goal: building an on-campus, state-of-the-art biomechanics lab to determine every athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. The problems can be addressed, and, in theory, performance would improve.
If he has his way, every one of Del Norte’s 65 acres will be soaring with Nighthawk pride.
So, the question arises: how do you get to this new culture?
It takes time and the strength. Which is why I have to applaud soccer coach Mark Green. And which is why it’s hard to swallow the fi ring of football coach, throwing coach and history teacher Darren Spence.
Green’s past few soccer teams have been, as he admits, tough to work with. Last year, a team laden with talent underachieved. Green mixed things up this year and helped a team of players of all different backgrounds come together and over achieve.
The skills they demonstrated as coaches can also be seen in Spence.
While MC went 14-37 in his fi ve seasons, they also made three straight playoff appearances. That’s something that had not occurred in a decade, which led to a growing sense of pride in the program.
His fi ring came because PUSD can’t afford hiring temporary teachers next year, and he was a temporary teacher. Though the budget situation is understandable, it would have been great to see him saved for yet another year.
“We brought the program to where we are competitive in every game,” Spence said. “There were probably 9,000 people at the Westview game and that didn’t happen before I got here. Before people only came to watch the band, and no disrespect to them, but football games are meant for football.”
A visible supporter of MC athletics, he came a long way in developing a new culture at MC and on the football fi eld, but tangible results like a league title and even a CIF title remained elusive.
“I just would have loved to be part of a fourth straight playoff berth and seen where we could have gotten,” he said.
Spence will probably head back to the Bay Area, and I’ll be off at college. From my distant spectator seat the next few years, I’ll keep an eye on Del Norte and hope Giaime is able to see his vision take hold.
A few years from now, it would be sad to hear him say, like Spence recently had to, “Can you imagine working on something for fi ve years, and you’re fi nally in the right place and then all of a sudden they take it away from you?”
March 13, 2009OpinionsA6 Mt. Carmel SUN
Glued to a screen
Paresh Dave
STAFF EDITORIAL
Religious tolerance no longer valued in society; differences in cultures not respectedLAUREN HALLSTAFF WRITER
“The need of the moment is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions.”
This was said by Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual, non-violent, leader of India during the time of British control in India.
Gandhi believed that peace would come from tolerance, whether it was spiritual, social, racial, etc.
So, why is it that nowadays there is an ongoing battle between groups about whose set of beliefs is correct?
It is understandable to spread the word, to be excited, and even to teach the words of one’s religion to those who are willing to listen.
H o w e v e r , to put down the beliefs of others to make your own seem correct is a contradiction of the Christian Bible.
To l e r a n c e is taught in Christianity as loving everyone.
S o m e r e l i g i o u s people, not only Christians, come to the conclusion that they are tolerant, morally righteous people, and then suddenly turn around questioning the credibility of another’s beliefs.
People place common misconceptions about other religions besides their own, and preach them as if they know what they are talking about.
This is apparent with the misconceptions that some people have about Mormonism.
Once when it was brought up, someone replied, saying that Mormons did not like people of other races.
It’s so ignorant for someone to judge a religion or a group of people when they really know nothing about
it at all.Like discrimination, intolerance
refl ects the judgemental attitude of humans to look on those different from themselves with discontent.
But to use it against someone, or to present it to other people as fact, and in a negative way, is not right.
It is fi ne to present your beliefs to get people interested, but to present others as fact, or even to guilt people for not asserting themselves actively in their religion is going too far.
Where religion may be the center of one persons’s life, other people do not necessarily believe the same thing.
People should not have to immerse themselves in the church to be considered religious.
The smaller religious groups, such as Buddhism, are sometimes viewed as being ridiculous and some people consider the concept too strange.
People who were raised in another faith have kept those beliefs for centuries as part of their culture.
How can one blame them
for not converting to Christianity, especially when it has never even been presented to them?
So, through all of this, why is it that people feel the need to constantly push their religions in peoples’ faces?
This is because they cannot understand a different point of view.
For them to try to imagine a change in what they believe would twist their view of the world upside-down. They are afraid.
There is nothing wrong with having faith or giving your heart to something you believe in passionately, but people need to realize that every different culture has different ways of showing their faith based on the infl uences of those around them.
When you think of a hero, what probably comes to mind are sports stars and celebrities. The problem is, a hero is supposed to be a role model, and many celebrities are not people anyone would wish to be like. For example, A-Rod who got to where he is by juicing up, OJ Simpson, who killed his wife, and Michael Vick, who got arrested for dog fi ghting.
But the true heroes are people like C.B Sullenburger, who saved hundreds of people’s lives by landing a plane in the Hudson River, and Ross McGinnis, who jumped on a grenade in Iraq to save the lives of the men under his command, and the countless other people who go out of their way to do good things for people every day.
True Heroes are those who
fi nd themselves in tough situations, and still do the right thing without having to think about it. But we often get them confused with people we often regard as “our heroes.”
A true hero isn’t always rich, famous or sexy. They can be, but they are usually just average people who saw an opportunity to make a difference or help somebody and took it.
Like McGinnis. He wasn’t a celebrity, but when a grenade came rolling through where he and his men were fi ghting, he sacrifi ced himself to save their lives.
Sullenburger, too, was just an ordinary pilot, but when the plane he was fl ying started malfunctioning, he took the initiative and saved the lives of his passengers by landing the plane
in the Hudson River. Then he ran up and down the plane twice to make sure everyone else got out before he did.
Many of these heroes actually do became famous after word gets out of what they did, but if you were to talk to them about their deeds, chances are, they would probably be pretty humble about it.
Role models come in all shapes and sizes, but those who do something out of the ordinary or miraculous and can still act like they did before they were well known are truly heroes.
Compared to people like Sullenberger, McGinnis and Librescu, celebrities and sports stars don’t seem so much like heroes anymore, just people with a lot of money or fame you wish you had.
School uniforms unreasonable; take away individuality, maturity of teensVANDANA BHAIRISTAFF WRITER
I remember a few years ago I watched an episode of ‘That’s So Raven.’ That particular episode was about how Raven’s school decided to have uniforms. Long story short, that idea was an epic fail.
Yes, it is only a show. Then I started to realize that if MC were to have school uniforms just like Raven Baxter’s school, it would wreak havoc for a number of reasons.
First, making students wear the same uniform would be taking away from people’s individuality.
For some (mostly girls), clothing is a way to express themselves. It is a clear representation of one’s personality.
For example, people who are “sports lovers” tend to wear athletic brands, such as Nike and Adidas. And people who wear bright and fun colors and patterns are generally crazy, fun, and happy people.
Also, clothes can depict a person’s
mood. If someone is sad, they might wear all black. If they are happy, break out the brightness. Forcing teens to wear the same clothes takes away from the “high” they get from wearing an amazing outfi t.
We have all been told that school, especially high school, is supposed to prepare us for the real world. This is absolutely true – no doubt about it.
However, in the real world, we won’t have people holding our hand picking out what we are going to wear for the day—it’s our choice.
If students, especially high school students, are required to wear a uniform they wouldn’t get that responsibility and maturity to pick out what to wear. Essentially, sticking to a dress code with basic parameters, exactly like what MC has now is best.
Third, the type of uniform could also be uncomfortable for students, for example a skirt or skort for girls. I know many, many girls who would “go through hell” if they had to wear a skirt every day for four years.
Next, it has been scientifi cally
proven that students are going to learn better if they are wearing something comfortable. Students won’t be learning if they have to keep scratching their legs because their skirt is itchy. It’s just common sense.
Also, uniforms may not be comfortable for students with special needs. I knew this one girl who had Asperger’s Syndrome.
She told me that people in her situation cannot learn nor do things properly if they aren’t wearing something comfortable.
What would administrators do then? Make them wear a “special” uniform, singling them out?
The truth is, you can’t make everyone happy, boys or girls, with one type of uniform. It will just never happen, ever. The only thing that will always make everyone happy is letting people dress the way they want to.
We were all born as individuals, so why become a copy? Nobody is the same inside or out. So why should we be treated like we are the same? It’s just wrong.
Natural lack of luck causes detrimental issues for lower class citizensSHAYON SAIDSTAFF WRITER
By the time you fi nish reading this article, roughly 500 people will die. Of those 500 people a percentage of them died of natural causes, but most of them, were simply unlucky.
The world is simply astounding, we see people rise from scratch with simply one act. However, the interesting part of humanity is how naturally unlucky some of us are.
Now, I’m not talking about diminutive things like grades and guessing an answer correctly; some people’s lives are unlucky to the extent
that they lose something so valuable such as a home or a loved one.
Although, that home or person could easily of been saved if the technology we have was equally distributed, and our world actually lived in parity.
Of course, in what world will true parity ever be defi ned?
For instance, health care in America can be easily described: not very effi cient. And because of someone’s tendency to be in the middle class of average income, they can’t afford the same health care benefi ts that a person with a wealthy income can.
Does this mean that because one family is richer than another, then the richer family deserves better health?
Unfortunately, this is what our current system suggests. However, the last I checked, all humans were created equal, but our economic situation doesn’t support that very basis; the same basis that started this country.
For example, two people are both in need of a heart.
One of them comes from a wealthy family, the other comes from an average family.
The average cost of a heart without insurance can be roughly a
quarter of a million dollars. Obviously the wealthy family
can afford it, but the average family can’t. This all results in one thing: the wealthier man survives. How fair does that really sound?
I’m not suggesting we go into a utopian society where everyone is equal because that would lead to communism, which evidently, doesn’t work.
It’s just surprising how easy it is to lose in life, but not have any control of the outcome because of the way our society is run.
We can’t live here and consider ourselves humane if a life is lost when
it doesn’t need to be. Money is said to make the
world go ‘round, but nobody ever really noticed that it in fact made it crumble.
Humans started society in this world.
They made this world our home, they made this society a dichotomy between those who can live, and those who can’t live due to the affects of our everyday affl uence.
If we were able to corrupt ourselves to the extent that we contradict our own beliefs and create this society, then we can defi nitely change and fi x this society.
Celebrities mistaken for heroes; true role models not acknowledged, appreciated
CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST
“ Like discrimination, intolerance refl ects the judgemental attitude of humans to look on those different from themselves with discontent.”
CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST
March 13, 2009Opinions
Mt. Carmel SUN
EditorsKatelyn Cutts NewsKylie Baranowski CenterRachel Martin OpinionsMackenzie Lance SportsKevin Lage EntertainmentKaveri Gyanendra FeaturesParesh Dave WebCathy McDermott CopyMatt Coffelt PhotoStaff WritersVandana BhairiNicole BustamanteErica ByerleySarah CarriganMelanie DickinsonKelly FanMatthew GellerLauren HallCordell HunterAbby MansourKaren MichelAditi PaiVincent PhamShayon SaidSara ShantzLaura SlusserDennis SunJordan UgaldeSean WilliamsStaff PhotographersAna AlvarezMary Carmen GonzalezAllison RogersAmanda Stintman Daniel ThanKyle CoveyArtists Christian JunAlyssa SurmillonBusiness ManagerAlison AshworthMegan Ashworth
MT. CARMEL SUN Mt. Carmel High School 9550 Carmel Mtn. Rd. San Diego
CA 92129 (858)484-1180 ext. 3211 [email protected] http://www.mcsun.org
Our mission is to provide the MC community with an informative, accurate and respectful student-run publication. The SUN seeks to stimulate the discussion of issues in order to promote a more aware student body. Whether informing, voicing opinion, or entertaining, the sun strives for standards
of balance and good taste.
Melissa Roadman Editor-in-chief
Rick MercurioAdvisor
Catherine JaravataAssistant Advisor
Craig RacicotPhoto Advisor
The Mt. Carmel SUN is the offi cial newspaper of Mt. Carmel High School, published by its Journalism 2 students. The views expressed in the SUN do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Mt. Carmel High School administration or PUSD Board of Education. Unsigned editorials refl ect the beliefs of the SUN editorial board. The SUN is a student open forum, and all fi nal content decisions are made by its student editors. Letters to the Editor are welcome and should be signed. For advertising rates and information please call, email, or write the SUN at the address above.
Thumbs St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner. Don’t pinch me, I’m wearing green boxers. I swear!
- Vincent Pham
Put your hats back on and take cover. The seagulls have
returned!
- Alison Ashworth
A7Should employers and college admissions directors be
able to use Facebook content to infl uence employment or acceptance decisions?YES NO
Sundevil PerspectiveANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER
SophomoreMatt Long
TeacherTom McKinney
SeniorArnie Elicerio
JuniorJason Trout
FreshmanBriana Pompa-Hogan
“Yes, because it expresses who you really are.”
“No, because you want to keep personal life personal, and your business life pro-
fessional.”
“Yes. It’s not like it’s any-thing private. And if it is, it’s your fault for putting it on
the Internet.”
“No, I don’t think it mat-ters how you interact with
your friends, only how your grades are and how you are
in school.”
“Heck yeah, because before I hire somebody, I want to know as much about them
as possible.”
CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST
KEVIN LAGEENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Whether you know it or not, everything you do on the Internet is recorded and fi led away until somebody important asks to look at it, and your social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace, are no exception.
In a recent study, 10% of the 320 college admissions offi cers surveyed stated that they have visited an applicant’s online profi le and, of those 10%, 38% said that what they saw negatively affected their opinion of the student.
It is a valid point that the colleges should be allowed to research their applicant on a deeper level than just what is on the application, but scrutinizing their online webpage is just not the way to do it.
Colleges already require letters of recommendation from teachers and counselors, so why should they be invading a student’s privacy by reading up on the student’s weekend plans with friends?
The study also showed that what the colleges most often scrutinized was the photo albums.
Does it seem fair that a student can potentially be turned down from their dream schools because they get caught on camera making a rude gesture, or getting into some stupid shenanigans with their friends on the weekend?
Another dangerous possibility
for the student’s chances is, what happens if the college types in the student’s name and clicks on the wrong profi le?
If you type “Kevin Lage” into the Facebook search box, nine different profi les appear, and that’s with a pretty rare name like Lage.
It is at least reasonable to ask the student to make smart decisions about what they post on their profi le, but how is a student supposed to be held responsible for the actions of people they have never even met before? And what if an ill-wishing classmate creates a false account under your name in an attempt to get revenge for something you did to them at school?
Now there is a legitimate looking profi le, with your school information and possibly a picture of you, fi lled with references to illegal activities, and things that could destroy your chances of getting accepted into what could possibly be the right school for you.
Also, personal accounts get hacked, almost every day, and vulgar stuff gets posted on profi les. So who decides whether the post is truly made by the student, or if it was just a friend messing around?
As wrong as it is for colleges to base decisions on what they see on your online profi le, there is not yet anything prohibiting them from doing it, so do yourself a favor, and just be smart about what you choose to make public about yourself.
Graduation is less than 90 days away. Oh wait, I’m a junior.
- Mackenzie Lance
It’s almost spring break. Just thirty four thousand, � ve hun-dred sixty more minutes to go.
- Kelly Fan
Take a break...unscramble the words to solve our puzzle.
COME TO PLAY.Answer: To get the answer text your name to 760.709.1656
tysa ot ernal.
MATTHEW GELLERSTAFF WRITER
Blogging on the World Wide Web can often have unintended consequences. Some unfortu-nate people have become pain-fully aware of this fact, as Face-book accounts are scanned by college admissions directors and would-be employers, and people are hurt by indiscreet blog post-ing. This, some believe, is a gross violation of the right to privacy. In fact, it is merely the inevitabil-ity of cause and effect.
Only an idiot would believe they could shout their misde-meanors to the world and expect no one to hear. Why they expect the web to be any different is be-yond comprehension.
It’s the World Wide Web-- what is written can be read any-where, anyplace, anytime, in any nation across the globe. Expect-ing anything to be kept secret displays either thoughtlessness or a severe lack of intelligence.
There are always people, especially the youth, who drink underage and are involved in various other illegal and inadvis-able actions. But most, at least, have the good sense not to tell colleges and would-be employ-ers.
Arguably, only a small por-tion of those who drink or com-mit other misdemeanors blog on Facebook and are punished for
it. Unfair? The unfortunate few made the mistake of announc-ing their indiscretions, and they are paying for it. Actions al-ways have consequences. People shouldn’t be let off just because others got away with it, especial-ly if they confess themselves.
As for privacy, why should they expect it? There is no such thing as privacy on the web. Those who think otherwise are simply delusional. If people wish to brag, they shouldn’t post it for the world to see.
And if a person posts a blog boasting about binge drink-ing or otherwise incriminates themselves, should colleges and employers turn a blind eye “be-cause it isn’t fair”? The answer is clearly no.
Employers and colleges have every right to pass judg-ment on people based on Face-book accounts. Why shouldn’t they be able to? Or should ad-missions directors and employ-ers not be able to judge people on the words they have written? The people who made indiscreet posts acted naively, and they pay for it.
Actions always have conse-quences. If a person posts their misdemeanors in a blog, then they should realize the conse-quence. Those who complain and bluster about their rights to privacy are just that-- bluster and hot air.
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Yes No Unsure*206 STUDENTS POLLED
March 13, 2009OpinionsA8 Mt. Carmel SUN
Sportsmanship transfers into real life; coaches must teach right lessonsRACHEL MARTINOPINIONS EDITOR
The ball teetered around the rim, fi -nally falling through the net for the team’s 100th point of the game. As the buzzer rang and the crowd fi led out of the gym, the girls from the losing high school team couldn’t help but think that that was the longest basketball game of their lives.
Recently, this piece of news has been circulating the networks, telling the story of two high school teams in Texas. One was a private Christian school, and the other was an academy that specializes in teaching students with learning differ-ences, such as dyslexia or short attention spans. The total number of girls enrolled in that academy barely reached 20.
They began the game as two com-petitive opponents, but, by the end, one team had annihilated the other. The Cov-enant School of Dallas had beaten the Dallas Academy 100-0. Not one jump shot, layup or free throw had been made by this hard-working team full of spirited girls.
In the days following this extraor-dinary game, the head of the Covenant School released an offi cial apology on their website.
However, the coach of the winning team refused to acknowledge the apol-ogy, saying in an email to a newspaper that he did not regret the win. He said his girls played with “honor and integrity,” and they had no reason to apologize for their respectable victory.
This is despicable. There is absolute-ly no reason for any team to win a high school basketball game by 100 points. Especially when the other team doesn’t score even one point.
In the past few years, high school sports have become increasingly com-petitive, almost to a point where they be-come too aggressive.
Of course sports are a good outlet for all the stress teenagers have. How-ever, there must be some limits.
If a basketball team is winning by a fairly good margin, it is expected for
them to take out their fi rst string and give some other players a chance.
When the Covenant School was up, oh, let’s say, 50-0, would it have been unreasonable for them to let up on the defense and let the other girls score a layup?
Not only was the score of the game appalling, but the response of the coach was inexcusable.
Teenagers learn many lessons on the court, or fi eld, when they participate in sports.
Many times, these lessons are trans-ferred into their everyday life. But maybe we need to start being more concerned about what lessons they are actually learning.
On a different note, there has also been a recent news story about a boys basketball team in Illinois. They traveled two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, where one of the players proceeded to purposely miss two crucial free throws.
It turned out that the mother of the opposing team’s senior captain had passed away earlier in the day. When the captain wanted to play in the second half when he arrived, the team received a technical foul because his name wasn’t on the roster.
But when the player went up to shoot the free throws, he shot them off target.
This story is a remarkable demon-stration of sportsmanship at its best.
The lesson that the boys on both the teams learned came from a very impor-tant source — their coaches. The boy’s coach told him to miss those free throws, and, with the permission of the rest of the team, that is what he did.
The sports coaches of America should know both of these stories. Many of them probably do not understand the impact that they have on the teenagers who play for their team.
Good sportsmanship on the court transfers to good sportsmanship in life. And if our coaches are teaching us the wrong lessons, what will happen to the teenage athletes of our nation?
Athletes need to cope better with losses; failing can only lead to improvement ERICA BYERLEYSTAFF WRITER
Torrey Pines has been number one in the county in girls tennis for over 20 years. Not too surprising when you consider that some of their players can pay thousands of dollars a year for private lessons and that their coaches have had a long history of success.
Last year, MC was the defi nition of the underdog. We had never won CIF before that year, and our courts were losing their battle against the
weeds.To say the least, we were not
looking forward to playing Torrey Pines, but we prepared ourselves as best we could. The day of the match, they showed up and stuffed them-selves with pizza, then proceeded to completely slaughter us. It was a hu-miliating defeat.
Any of their JV players could have been on varsity if they went to a different school, and they weren’t about to make us forget that.
Still, they didn’t win every single point. We were forced to change our
strategies, look harder for their weak-nesses, and try things we never would have tried during a normal game. Some things worked, others didn’t.
So even though we experienced a horribly bitter loss, we learned a lot from playing them.
Nobody likes losing, but it is an important step in getting better. It per-sonally motivated me to work harder, and the whole team was given a seri-ous lesson in strategy by our coach.
We were able to use what he taught us during later matches and the whole JV team seemed to improve as
a result.People who didn’t know what
side of the court to protect for dou-bles were fi nally learning. They had to. Nobody wanted to lose that badly again. If you only play against people who are easy to beat, you are never going to get any better because being mediocre is enough.
If someone doesn’t have to run faster or hit harder to win, they prob-ably aren’t going to. They aren’t going to challenge themselves, and they are not going to get better.
Being challenged and playing
against people better than you are is what makes you better. Losing only comes naturally with this.
Even if it is annoying to lose, it is an opportunity for improvement.
This is true for other things as well.
For example, anyone in AP Phys-ics can attest to the fact that AP class-es are often extremely diffi cult.
There is always the possibility of failure, but the benefi ts of taking these classes, such as getting college credit, boosting GPA, and learning signifi cant material, are only open for
those willing to take the risk.Risk-takers are always the most
successful people because they aren’t afraid of failure.
If people aren’t willing to ever fail, how can they expect to succeed?
Losing is an important part of life. It’s not fun, but it is just reality.
Parents shouldn’t try to shelter their kids from it, because they are handicapping them for when they reach the real world.
At the end of the day, people just need to learn how to suck it up and be better losers.
Coaches’ Opinions Coaches’ OpinionsRobin BlalockGirls Basketball
“I think you have to consider who’s competing and what’s at stake. High school sports are largely a teaching experience; we’re dealing with kids, so we have to look at what ethics is going to be best for the best opportunity to learn.”
Randy WrightAthletic Director
“I think the CIF...has a required set of rules. Every coach and athlete signs a code of ethics and standards that we follow; it [sports ethics] is the whole idea of victory with honor.”
Patsy MaltaBoys Volleyball
Gail MillerWrestling
“With wrestling it’s a di� erent story. You have 14 guys, and with ethics you tell them to go in [the ring] and pin them, otherwise it would be disappointing...We put our A guys out there if the other team is solid... If they aren’t so good, we throw the B guys out there.”
“I think sportsmanship is a large part of high school sports. It should be focused more about the individual and team than the actual sport, making the person a better athlete.”
KYLE COVEY | PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTO ILUSTRATION BY MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITOR
COMPILED BY SHAYON SAID | STAFF WRITER
