Deputy Timothy ValesSchool Resource Officer

This could all have been avoided if

they had just stayed in class.

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”

Superintendent James Fitzpatrick has worked in education for 37 years.

AlexAndrA Gomes / SportS Editor

Wrestling team hosts tournament

Bonding time for teens

Unity at the Undivided

ClubGirls team places sixth Up to 20 credits are accepted

CV limits credits for

online classes

Dr. James Fitzpatrick, who has been the Castro Valley Unified School District superintendent for the past nine years, an-nounced his retirement late last November. Jan. 30 will be his last day before retirement.

Throughout his term, Fitzpat-rick has made numerous changes in this community, including some to the CVHS campus. Many CVHS students and teachers can remember a time when our cam-pus was as not as attractive as it is now.

Those who do remember will recall the red, ratty fence that bordered the outside of the old stadium and the tall pine trees that stood where the Center for the Arts does now.

During Fitzpatrick’s term, CVHS acquired the CFA, Trojan Stadium, and the glorious new arch that welcomes all pass-ersby.

These changes, and many oth-ers, are some of his most notable achievements. “Seeing what our students have been able to achieve and what our teachers have been able to accomplish,” is what he takes pride in, said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick started off as an elementary school teacher in the Brea-Olinda District and was promoted to principal and kept that position in the Lake Tahoe

District. He later served as the assistant superintendent and superintendent.

Before his term as superinten-dent here in Castro Valley, Fitz-patrick served as the assistant superintendent of the Escondido Union School District. He came to Castro Valley in 1995 and became assistant superinten-dent then superintendent. All together, he has worked 14 years here in Castro Valley.

Fitzpatrick has served a grand total of 37 years in education from his time as an elementary school teacher in 1971 until becoming our own superintendent.

At the age of 59, Fitzpatrick wishes to spend his retirement with family and getting a “good night’s sleep,” but still intends

By Alexandra Gomessports editor

lindsAy odA / BuSinESS ManagEr

Principal Potato Head?

Principal Pete Alvarez (center) pretends to be one of the many Potato Heads in his collection. See page 3 for more portraits.

P.E. truant found with

knife, arrested

Fitzpatrick to retire as superintendenton being an active figure in the district and helping “make the world a better place” for every-one, anyway he can.

After Jan. 30, Fitzpatrick will be temporarily succeeded by Jerry Macy, who was deputy su-perintendent and is now coming out of retirement. He will be the superintendent of CVUSD until June.

All are certain that, after Fitz-patrick leaves, he will be missed terribly.

In response to being asked what he likes most about his job, Fitzpatrick replied, “Being able to work with teachers and parents, making a difference, and being able to take dreams and turning them into reality so the students can learn.”

With Winter Ball just behind us and Valentine’s Day fast ap-proaching, we would all like to think about getting closer to that special someone. But how close is too close? The Castro Valley High school administration has a history of battling the issue of “freaking” at school dances when students get too close for others’ comfort.

This past Winter Ball was the latest example of what the staff would like to think of as the epitome of inappropriate behav-ior at school dances.

“Winter Ball was especially bad,” says Assistant Principal Jesse Woodward. However, when asked about future prevention or punishment, Woodward says that as long as there is no use of illegal substances, no new rules will be implemented.

Assistant Principal Lorrie Bar-rera sings the same tune saying that the case of “freaking” is not severe enough for the adminis-tration to put into place a new set of more severe prevention

tactics and punishments. The administration seems to think that current prevention methods are still useful.

However, the students at CVHS seem to think that the administration is already over-stepping the line. Many students think that the flashlight-wielding members of the staff are a men-ace to the jolly good times at dances.

“I think it’s unnecessary for teachers and administrators to wander around dances with flashlights, giving out warnings about the way kids dance. It’s all just good fun,” said junior Lindsay Poon.

Other students think that prevention is impossible alto-gether.

“You can’t stop it [freaking]. There’s always going to be someone trying to get freaky,” said senior Aaron Gelera. “Just as long as everyone’s clothes are on, everything’s all good.”

Hopefully, the students and staff of CVHS can come to a con-sensus so that students can have fun in peace and administrators can enforce appropriate behavior without being intrusive.

Freaky students won't stop freaking

By Isabel ChiBusiness mAnAGer

VOLUME 52, ISSUE 5 THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009 CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546

Pg. 6 Pg. 8 Pg. 4

A CVHS junior boy was ar-rested on Jan. 9 on suspicion of possession of a knife on school grounds. He was suspended and faces possible expulsion.

The incident began when a group of juniors cut class to go to Bonfare convenience store, said Sheriff's Deputy Timothy Vales. When they arrived there during school hours, a store employee reportedly called dispatch to in-form them of the situation.

Vales arrived at Bonfare to es-cort the students back to school. However, two of them resisted going with him, so Vales detained them in the back of his police car to return them to school.

Vales took the two students to the office, interrupting an admin-istrative meeting, where one was forced to empty his pockets.

“One of the kids smelled like cigarette smoke, so he had to [empty his pockets],” said

Vales. The student had both a lighter

and a five and a half inch knife that he had carried with him to school. Vales then arrested him.

Punishment for bringing weap-ons to school is an automatic

By Lisa CarmackstAff Writer

suspension and also automatic recommendation for expulsion.

The student will have to meet with the school board for a deci-sion on his possible expulsion.

Vales lamented the incident, commenting, “This could have all been avoided if they had just stayed in class.”

PHOTOPiniOnsPHOTOPiniOns

It was like Black Friday in Chicago all over again as

people were racing to get to Gov. Rod

Blagojevich’shouse.

The Olympian is the ever-great publication of the Journalism Class, Castro Valley High School, 19400 Santa Maria Ave., Castro Valley, CA 94546. © 2009

Editor-in-Chief...............................................................Malena BellCity Editor.......................................................................Irene LiangNews Editor........................................................................Eva PoonOpinion Editor...............................................................Becky ChaoFeature Editor.................................................................Frank ChaoSports Editor..................................................................Alex GomesCopy Editors...................................................................Erin Mundy Joseph WanPhoto Editor..............................................................Howard WhangBusiness Managers............................................................Isabel Chi Lindsay Oda

Staff Writers: Lisa Carmack, Sophiana Carrell, Moises Fonseca, Sarah Gilchriese, Lawrence Ham, Alicia Harger, Brandon Lui, James Rose, Trevin Smith, Tracy Tope, Elizabeth Tran, Tim Wong

Advisor........................................................................Matt Johanson

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”

By Irene LiangCity Editor

Letters to the Editor

The Olympian encourages letters from our readers. Please note

that pieces should be under 300 words and are subjected to edit-

ing and verification. They can be e-mailed to cvhsolympian@

gmail.com, delivered to Mr. Johanson’s box in the office, or dropped off at The Olympian’s

office in room 113.

Woohoo! Someone got me a Senate seat

for Christmas!It was Christmas morning

and I was getting impatient as I opened my presents. My anxiety grew as I opened present after present and still hadn’t yet received what I most wanted. Then, I came across a card that was underneath the heath of wrapping paper. I opened it and it was exactly what I wanted for

“I think it’s a big problem. It’s easy to make fun of people online rather

than straight to their face.”Matt Waespi, freshman

“I think it’s definitely a problem, and it takes a lot of time and a lot

of people to resolve it.” Ashi Bista, junior

“You can go to people’s Face-books and MySpaces and see all

the cyber-bullying that hap-pens… and for no reason, too.”

Alex Chan, sophomore

“I think it’s a big problem because a lot of people say

things over the Internet that they normally wouldn’t say.”

Danielle Valdespino, senior

“How big is the cyber-bullying problem?”

Compiled by Tim Wong

Christmas—Barack Obama’s Senate seat!

Whoever got me this gift de-tailed his or her experience wres-tling and bidding for this truly honorable and powerful gift.

It was a mad dash to try to get one of these Senate seats; it was like Black Friday in Chicago all over again as people were racing to get to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s house.

The race was like football with people from all different angles trying to tackle you to the ground and asking with tape recorders if you were Secret Candidate Num-

ber 5, even though everybody was. A lot of people had to be pushed to the ground to even try to get into the room where they were auctioning it off.

Senate seats are all the rage these days and when it was broadcasted on every news chan-nel that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was selling Obama’s Senate seat, I just had to have it.

Blagojevich makes being a political machine cool—just like how Paris Hilton made “That’s hot” the “it” catchphrase next to Donald Trump’s “You’re fired.” Vintage is always in and we were all just waiting for someone to bring back something trendy from the 1920s besides clothes and jewelry: political machines.

Meritocracy is overrated. In the U.S. it’s not about who has the most common sense or who knows the democratic process best: it’s all about the money. Even to Blagojevich, meritocracy is now about how much money a bidder has. The only skill that is required to be Obama’s re-placement in the U.S. Senate is the ability to make a quick bid during an auction.

I am just tickled with excite-ment about joining the Senate. It is going to be filled with so many tasks that I cannot wait to start. Not only do I have big shoes to fill since Barack Obama is awe-some, but I also get to help others and even meet Oprah.

My gratitude will never be enough to whoever got me this life-changing gift. Now I have to sell my enrollment at CVHS on eBay. Ka-ching! Thanks “San-ta.”

There’s not enough time to TTYL...

Dear Editor,I wanted to send you my

opinion on the article “21st Cen-tury version of passing notes gets LOLs from classmates” in the November 21 Olympian. I strongly agree that students should not text in class, that it is a distraction to them, and that it gets in the way of them learning in class. But, I do not agree with some of the things that were said.

If other students in class are really focused and are wor-ried about learning then they shouldn’t pay attention to people texting in class. If you were really worried about paying attention you wouldn’t let other people’s actions stop you. Like you said, “There will be no end to the tex-ting.” I really think that measures

We at The Olympian believe that although the new cyber-bullying law is worth supporting, there are many things about it that need to change.

Assembly Bill (AB) 86 became law last year with approval from the California Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger. AB 86 adds cyber-bullying to school disciplinary codes and explic-itly grants schools the power to take action by suspension or expulsion. Unfortunately, many restrictions to the bill undermine its power to manage and disci-pline cyber-bullies.

The bill only allows schools to take action when the bullying is related to school. This includes activities that occur on the way going to or coming from school, during school time and lunch-time, and at school-sponsored events, regardless of whether or not students are on campus.

Though this gives administra-tors some additional power, it’s just undoubtedly true that most cyber-bullying occurs outside of school. No one sends mean messages through the Internet at school or on the way to school. The only plausible cyber-bully-ing that would occur at school

would be texting during class.Also, what counts as cyber-

bullying? Many offensive words today are used jokingly, some-times in greeting. How will schools tell harmful comments from joking ones?

The Olympian believes that this bill is ineffective. In order to prevent cyber-bullying, the school would have to be given a much larger jurisdiction over online messages.

Instead of worrying so much about cyber-bullying, schools should focus on the physical and verbal bullying that occurs on campuses. That means crack-ing down on behavior at school events, such as irresponsible be-havior of fans at sports games.

There is, of course, value in the current bill. For example, AB 86 requires schools to create a school safety plan that deals with the issue of cyber-bullying. This safety plan will differ from school to school depending on the needs and resources of the school. AB 86 also clearly autho-rizes school action and defines cyber-bullying as a crime.

It’s a good start, but not good enough.

Cyber-bulling law twists its own arm in the non-schoolyard fight

like confiscating phones before class, phones being banned from school, or having metal detectors is acting out and is not necessary at all. I also disagree about hav-ing plenty of time to talk to your friends. Of course there is lunch and break but sometimes that’s not enough. Many people, like me, have a very busy life after school and don’t have time to talk to friends. I play on the var-sity basketball team as a fresh-man and have practice right after school. After that I head home to do tons of homework, which takes me a while to do. At the end of the day, I’m tired and go to bed as soon as I can. I barely get to talk to my friends during break and lunch, not to mention talking to my very close friends from other schools.

Texting in class isn’t the right way to talk to friends, but not everybody can make time in his or her life to do so. I agree that texting should not take place during class, but there are many reasons why students do it, and I don’t think it’s to distract and annoy fellow students or teach-ers on purpose.

Elena Ala

Cartoon by James Rose

Texting in class isn’t the right way to talk to friends, but not everybody can make time in his or

her life to do so.

“

”

EDITORIALISSUE5

Seniors Jill Beytin and Leonard Bobbitt lament the loss of

Mother’s Cookies. Lisa CarmaCk / Staff Writer

The Olympian spotlights super

Seniors Jennifer Fong and Colby Chung get ready

to paintball by donning similar t-shirts.

Tim Wong / Staff Writer

Sophomore Morgan Whitby doesn’t like doing things the

conventional way; that’s why she carries her books on her head.

TraCy Tope / Staff Writer

Sophomore Nghi Le works on her Orlando Bloom portrait. eLizabeTh Tran / Staff Writer

Junior Kelsey Paiz crowds her room with

Harry Potter paraphernalia.

aLexandra gomes / SportS editor

Sophomore Sasha Bishop shows off her rock

climbing muscles.

aLiCia harger / Staff Writer

Junior Brian Black performs the “buzz-saw.”

Joseph Wan / Copy editor

CVHS students!

Undivided Club: members who come together

Drama, suspense, and romance are just some of the great aspects of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. This fourth installment of the Twilight series is a thrill to read and a definite page-turner. Anyone who enjoys stories of love, vampires, and werewolves would love to get their hands on this book.

This story begins as Bella, an eighteen year-old high school graduate, and the love of her life, the vampire Edward, are about to be married. However, terror strikes the couple when Bella becomes pregnant during their honeymoon and the baby starts draining Bella of all of her energy, killing her slowly from the inside out.

Apparently, Meyer thought of the storyline for Twilight in a dream she had several years ago about a young girl and the vam-pire who fell in love with her, but yearned to drink her blood. With this, she wrote a transcript for the book and in a short while, had

By Alexandra GomesSportS Editor

written her first novel.How this book is written adds

to its overall greatness. There are three parts to the novel. The main character, Bella, narrates the first part and the last part. The second part, however, is from the point of view of Jacob, a werewolf who is infatuated with Bella. Both characters see the events of the story in two totally different ways, which makes the story exciting and interesting.

I was a little disappointed with one certain event in the book. I expected the climax of the story to end in a gigantic battle. Since the beginning of the book, I had been dreading that moment, but it ended more peacefully than I thought it would. However, I find this irrelevant to the great-ness of the story as a whole.

Lovers of a good story, fantasy, and romance, this is the book for you.

Not only is this book wonder-fully written, but the story is also attention-grabbing and definitely worth the read. This book, as well as the whole series, was one of the most engaging I have ever read and is one of my all-time favorites.

Anyone interested in Breaking Dawn or any of the other books from the series can find them in any bookstore.

Breaking Dawn is epically epic

A group consisting of teachers, administration, students, and a representative from Waste Man-agement met on Thursday, Dec. 11 to discuss revamping Castro Valley High School’s recycling and conservation methods.

The meeting addressed ways to cut down on waste as well as improve the school’s methods of recycling.

Staff members mentioned that the recycling containers in the classrooms are often filled with non-recyclable material because the students are not properly educated on how to use them.

Another issue discussed was how to take the recycling from the classrooms to large recep-tacles to be collected. It is not in the custodians union contract to take the recycling out, so it is up to environmentally friendly teachers to enlist the help of students and teacher assistants to get it out.

Science teacher Pat Parker

By Lisa CarmackStaff WritEr

expressed her desire to make the classrooms more environmen-tally friendly.

Assistant Principal Jason Whiteman, the representative for the administration at the meeting, expressed his concern for the environmental well being of the school.

“How can we get people to have the idea or concept of taking care of the Earth and getting into better habits?” he questioned.

A $2,000 check to help make that happen recently arrived at CVHS thanks to the Green Rib-bon Contest.

Environmental science teacher John Peterson filled out the lengthy application and took the steps with Waste Management company to attain the prize. The money will now be handled by the Environmental Awareness club.

The Environmental Awareness Club wants to bring the attention of the student body to the issue of recycling. Necessary to their efforts is cooperation with staff and leadership.

“We hope to ensure the long-term success of the green cause at CVHS by creating a lasting EA club coalition with the school, leadership, and administra-tion,” said Paris Watson, club president.

Watson has a lot of ambitious plans and aspirations for the future of CVHS.

“After renewing our recycling program, we will attempt new greening tasks, such as installing a compost program and reduc-ing classroom paper use,” said Watson.

Carol Dixon, science teacher and EA club advisor, was excited to share some other plans the club has been cooking up.

“[The EA club] hopes to have some interesting displays and in-formation at lunch time on day in April close to Earth Day. They are also working on a recycling video that they hope to get shown as a video broadcast for the whole school,” Dixon shared.

Hopefully CVHS will continue to have an award winning, eco-friendly streak.

Environmental Awareness Club takes CVHS green

Ashley Panko (left) and Elenita Nicholas cheerlead at the Warriors’ game, Sunday, Jan. 11.

HoWard WHang / Photo Editor

Student volunteers at CVHS are learning how to file tax re-turns. They will help families that earn less than $45,000 a year with the program VITA 2009 (Volunteer Income Tax As-sistance).

The program is run through United Way and sponsored by the Internal Revenue Service and Robert Half International. 15 students are trained under the supervision of Shan Rich-ards, a parent volunteer.

By Becky Chaoopinion Editor

The news has been all over the announcements and featured on the school website, and now The Olympian has secured a very ex-clusive interview with the Cisco students who won first place at a competition at the Cisco head-quarters in San Jose on Dec. 10.

The CVHS team – which was composed of Joshua Beeston, Jefferson Chau, Vincent Gero-chi, Christine Matheney, Joshua Muhlfelder, and Jeff Stevens – spent half of the day at work stations.

There they completed differ-ent tasks, including identifying computer parts, assembling and dissembling a desktop, and set-ting up a wireless network.

Though Stevens described the latter activity as “fun,” the team agreed their favorite part of the day was their tour of the Cisco headquarters.

They saw the multi-million dollar equipment that distributes much of the Bay Area’s video feed.

There was also a Jeopardy-like competition. Half the questions were about technology, and the other half was random trivia.

“One of the answers was ac-tress Halle Berry,” complained Stevens.

“It was to provide an equal playing field for people who didn’t know as much,” com-mented Matheney.

Though the school website stated that the CVHS students “came from behind to win,” the story was not that dramatic.

“We were in second place after the first half. We got exactly the same [number of points] at three stations, and they beat us at the virtual laptop one,” explained Muhlfelder.

That team, from American High School in Fremont, was

By James RoseStaff WritEr

Students give tax assistance“The high school can get a taste

of business,” said Richards. The 15 students are qualified

juniors and seniors who meet ev-ery Tuesday and Wednesday af-ter school in the CVHS library.

The students must complete at least 24 hours of training and pass a certification exam. They will then earn a Basic VITA cer-tification from the IRS.

The clinic will take place from the second week of February through April 1 every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon in the CVHS library.

Families will come on a walk-

in basis for free instruction on tax refunds.

Banking services will be pro-vided from Bank of America and Citibank.

“I found it very rewarding when you help people out. I even got lots of hugs and tears,” said Richards.

Both the Castro Valley com-munity and the student vol-unteers will benefit from the clinic. The taxpayers will receive valuable tax refunds and all the while the students will gain work experience and the feeling of helping others.

described as intimidating in ap-pearance.

“They came in suits. They were all Asians,” added Jefferson Chau.

Despite the challenges, the team enjoyed their experience.

“It was nice to see some human faces behind the whole thing, because up to that point it had just been looking at the computer screen,” said Muhlfelder.

In the end, Beeston, Chau, Gerochi, Matheney, Muhlfelder, and Stevens placed first, winning the class a set of screwdrivers and a certificate Cisco teacher Chris Burns has placed proudly on the wall of their classroom.

“I was very proud of my stu-dents. They worked hard,” said Burns smiling.

One member stated the event was life changing.

“It inspired me to pursue a ca-reer in technology,” said Beeston dramatically.

Cisco class wins at Cisco

The Pros vs

the Amateurs

By Elizabeth TranStaff Writer

Girls wrestlers take sixth with satisfaction

The football team might play it rough, but a match with the girls wrestling team isn’t exactly a walk on the beach either. On Dec. 20, CVHS hosted the sixth annual Castro Valley Girls Wrestling Classic in which the Trojans took sixth place.

“Overall, the team as a whole did as well as we expected for what we call the practice sea-son. Our tournament is the last tournament and the biggest for December. We had 180 wrestlers from 48 schools in attendance,” said head coach Antonio Sem-

Sophia Barnhart is getting her cleats out for another great year in soccer. This dedicated eight-year defense veteran is excited about the soccer season begin-ning. “I’m ready for the new year. I love improving my soccer skills,” said Barnhart. During the off-season she’s been keeping busy with friends and family until she can hit the field again. Barnhart has been playing hard since first grade and this year is no different. She is determined to do well this season, as well as cheer on her teammates. With her kind of experience this season is sure to be interesting.

S u p e r S a v v y Sp o r ts St a rs

Sophia Barnhart, freshman Chet Wehe, seniorJabari Brown, juniorOlivia Fryar, sophomore

Tracy Tope / Staff Writer

Number seven on the vol-leyball team is a fierce player; so fierce, she can often be heard singing to Jonas Brothers’ tunes on the court. This very intimi-dating player is none other than right side and the middle blocker Olivia Fryar. When asked about the season she said, “My favorite moment of the season was at the Deer Valley tournament, when Kaylea Ott was able to save the ball and score a point while she was sitting on the floor from a previous play.” Now that the season is over she will continue her volunteer work with team-mate sophomore Bonnie Xu as members of the Key Club.

Jabari Brown has been a busy guy; being a volleyball player this year and football player last year doesn’t leave him much time for anything else in the early months of school. Brown is trying to figure out which sport is right for him. “I enjoyed playing vol-leyball this year. It was refreshing and fun.” When he’s not playing volleyball or football you can find him cranking up the volume of his music. He loves listening to music in his spare time, similar to the hobby of many other students on campus. Time will tell which sport will win over Brown’s heart for the next fall season.

Senior Chet Wehe finished his cross country career strong. Chet was the only fourth-year runner on the cross country team this year, making him one of the most experienced members on the team. When asked if he enjoyed the experience he said, “When you get into it, you start to enjoy it and only when youíve gotten in shape.” Since cross country is over, he can work after school and play his guitar more often. Wehe says he enjoys the sport, but doesn’t want to continue it as a college sport. This doesn’t mean you won’t find him taking a leisurely run around the campus of his choice.

pronio.Three matches went on simul-

taneously in the CVHS main gym as the rest of the wrestlers warmed up on the sidelines, waiting to be called. The wres-tlers had one or more of the four CVHS coaches, Steve Solis, Den-nis Solis, Chelsea Grasseschi, or Sempronio himself encourag-ing them from the sidelines as well as their supportive family members.

Three hours into the tourna-ment, Sempronio said, “We are doing adequate. The girls who should be winning are winning, not saying that any girls should be losing.”

Sophomore Shashana Markus went against Cassie Devlin of Scared Heart in the champion-ships. Markus also placed sec-ond in her weight division.

“You train everyday for two and a half hours and the tourna-ment is like your reward,” said Markus.

Freshman Pam Crosby and junior Rachel Emery both placed seventh in their weight divi-sions. Also, freshman Rebekah Wright placed fifth.

“January is when the real sea-son begins, where the competi-tion is greater and the stakes are higher,” said Sempronio.

On a recent Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of going to the Golden State Warriors basket-ball game against the Indiana Pacers to personally experience professional sports journalism and compare it to that of high schools. After the end of the game, I was in awe and shock of what I found.

Going into the game, I had no idea what to expect, but as soon as I went through the me-dia entrance of the arena and I got my media pass, I realized there was a lot more to it than just watching a game. This pass allowed me access to so much more than any average high school journalist would have. With it, I got a complimentary dinner and access to just about anywhere in the arena. I was, however, restricted from going into the locker rooms.

On top of that, I received a perfect viewing seat of the game and my own monitor showing the names of the dif-ferent players right in front of me. Then during each quarter of the game, I was given statis-tics of each point, foul, timeout, and who made it to the very second. I even got booklets about the Warriors, telling me about their history as a team

and about the individual play-ers such as the fact that Stephen Jackson, jersey number one, has the same birthday as my mother, April 5.

For a high school journalist at a varsity basketball game, these luxuries are not handed to you like they are for professionals. They are not given updated game stats, free dinners, or in-depth detail on the team. For the most part, high school journalists at high school sports events have to pay close atten-tion to the game, the players, and the score whereas profes-sionals could just sleep through the whole game.

But the job of a professional sports writer is much more demanding than that of a high school journalist. For most pro-fessionals, their stories must be done by the end of the game. With the Internet available almost anywhere now-a-days, journalists are expected to be writing their articles during the game and turn them in right to the editor just minutes after the game has ended.

There are many drawbacks to both amateur and professional sports writing. But either way, no matter where or how you get the statistics, the story must be done on time, and of course, concise.

Junior Katie Courchaine struggles to break free from a head lock. elizabeth tran / Staff Writer

By Alexandra GomesSportS editor

By Erin MundyCopy editor

Junior Morgan Castain prepares to pass the ball between two defenders. Howard wHang / Photo Editor

By Trevin SmithStaff writer

Football coach bids farewell

Trojans lose to Carondelet,remain undefeated in HAAL

Varsity football coach Jordan Seiden’s two-year run ended when he was not asked back to coach another season at the end of the season coaches meeting.

“We just decided to amicably part ways,” said Seiden when asked about his departure from the high school.

Seiden has put a lot of time and hard work trying to adjust to a new school after so many years at Berkeley High, and to mold a football team into what he thought the players could be.

“I loved the kids,” said Seiden. In that time, his main goal was

to move a well-equipped Trojan football team to a solid status. But the one thing he was missing was the full experience as a head high school coach.

Before Castro Valley, Seiden served as an assistant coach at Berkeley High and came here to try

out the stressful job as a football head coach.

With two very poor seasons, people in the Castro Valley stands had a hard time believing it was the players’ fault.

On the other hand, the last year has been a tough one for Se-iden personally. There’s always that difficult task of having to make a name for yourself in a new town.

While here, he had a great time getting to know the stu-dents and coaching the game that he loves.

The football team will con-tinue to search for a new varsity football coach while still trying to break into the new field.

Seiden will not be teaching P.E here anymore starting next semester and will search for a team as the Trojans look for a new coach, but with so many talented players in our school, finding a coach shouldn’t be too hard.

The Castro Valley girls var-sity soccer team lost against the Carondelet team on Jan. 12. The girls played a good game, however, their energy wasn’t quite enough to win; Castro Valley lost by one goal, the final score being 3-2.

The team had a bad begin-ning. Carondelet scored three goals in the first half to Castro

Valley’s one goal. In the second half, the girls

were on fire and tried to score in different ways, like passing, long shots, short shots, and corners. However, they were only able to score one goal.

After the game was over there was a mix of emotions on players’ faces, some of happiness some others of sadness.

“We could’ve played better. We’ll play better next time,” said junior Summer Harris.

Head coach Paul McCallion analyzed the game, saying, “We beat ourselves, not the other team.”

Even though the girls lost, they are still undefeated in the HAAL this season. In fact, the Trojans are ranked fifteenth in the nation.

There are many reasons why the team is doing so well.

“I think our strengths are in our passing skills,” said senior Kimberly Wilhite.

The Trojans varsity basketball team annihilated the Moreau Mariners on Friday, Jan. 9.

The crowd was pumped, the Trojan Den was annoying as usual, and everyone was ready for a good game of basketball.

The game started off with a lot of swift passing and the ball was quickly put into the Castro Valley end of the court.

The boys were able to keep a good hold of the ball with strong defense and stuck on the Moreau players to steal the ball away several times. There seemed to be many fouls in the first half, both fair and unfair calls, starting with Moreau’s foul against Carlyle Garrick.

Senior Rashad Parker took

the ball down the court to make a swift shot before bouncing out of bounds, nearly missing the hoop but scored yet another basket for Trojans. By halftime it was clear that Moreau would be facing a big loss with Castro Valley already ahead by 35 points.

Several three-pointers were made throughout the second half by players like junior Arman Irvin and sophomore Roddick Bobbit. Bobbit was on top of his game, like all Trojan boys that night, passing quickly to open players, taking the ball down the court, and making several shots through Moreau’s attempt at a defense.

In the final seconds of the fourth quarter, player senior Omodele Adesanya dunked the ball to complete the Mariner massacre. The final score was Castro Valley 79, Moreau 25.

The team is now 13-1, in first place in the HAAL, with high hopes for the rest of the season.

“Team chemistry,” answered senior Jimmy Woodard when asked what worked best for the boys that night.

Junior Orlauwn Ellis agreed and added, “We work hard at practice.”

“So far, so good,” said Coach Nick Jones.

After a win over O’Dowd, a “great, huge win” says Jones, “the boys focused and played hard. We gave it to them right out of the gate.”

The boys’ uplifted spirits definitely aided them in their win Friday night.

“If you can beat O’Dowd, you can beat anybody,” says Woodard.

By Moises FonsecaStaff writer

First-place basketball boys trample Moreau, 79-25

On Jan. 9, the CVHS varsity girls basketball team lost to the five-time league champ Moreau Catholic.

“This is the game that decides where we’re at,” said head coach Jim Lemmon when asked about how well the team’s doing this season. Lemmon also said the team is “doing good” and “play-ing hard.”

The girls won second place in the preseason tournament San Ramon Classic where co-captain senior Lisa Petty got the MVP award.

The girls still didn’t have success playing against Moreau. In the first quarter CVHS was down by three but kept up with the Mariners. Moreau, however, quickly gained a 21-point lead by half time.

After a good locker room chat, the Trojans caught up some and

ended the third quarter down 31-38.

During the come-back third quarter, senior Bethany Chan had a nice drive then hook shot from the middle of the key. Freshmen Elena Ala came running down the court on a fast break, pump-faked her de-fender, then made the lay-up. Senior Lisa Petty was three for three behind the arc.

The game ended up with a final score of 43-67. “We always work hard, but we need to step up and work together. We have to come through and win games,” said Chan.

Coming through and winning games was also Lemmon’s team goal. “We want to win league (championships), make North Coast Section playoffs, and learn to compete hard on the floor the whole time,” he said.

By Lindsay OdaBuSineSS Manager

CVHS girls lose to five-time champs

School has also applied to be a Distinguished School

By Alicia HargerStaff Writer

What would you do if the only transportation required to go to school is to turn on your computer? There are many online classes already available and Castro Valley High students can take them for credit towards graduation, but the high school administra-tion is putting limits on it.

Only 20 credits are allowed towards graduation. These 20 units can be very helpful. They can provide a boost to students looking to get ahead for college and can also help students catch up on their credits for graduation.

There are some restrictions to this opportunity. UCs don’t

Web classes offer credits from home

CVHS has received the Cali-fornia Honor Roll award from the California Business for Edu-cational Excellence Foundation and Just for Kids, a program sponsored by the National Cen-ter for Educational Achievement. These groups provide informa-tion to make educators better at teaching to meet grade level proficiency and consecutive test scores.

A total of 911 schools received the California Honor Roll in 2008, which includes Castro

Valley elementary schools Jen-sen Ranch, Marshall, and Van-noy. The California Honor Roll recognizes that CVHS has been improving in academic achieve-ments and testing.

With the Honor Roll, it’s no surprise that CVHS also applied to be recognized as a California Distinguished School. Assistant Principals Sue Goldman and Lorrie Barrera put together the application.

The factors that make a school eligible for being distinguished follow several key requirements. The school has to comply with the No Child Left Behind policy

By Brandon LuiStaff Writer

CVHS receives prestigious California education award

and AYP (Adequately Yearly Progress) criteria, meaning equal funding for students and progressive growth in grades. Barrera says that our chances

Richard SchneckScience teacher

...Like anything else in our society, our

technology is moving faster than our ability

to control it.

“

”accept all online courses. Any class that is offered at CVHS can be taken at only Cyber High School, UC College Prep (UCCP), UCCP/UCIX (UC Irvine Extension), and National University Virtual High School. The only other way to get credits for an online class is to get the principal of the high school to sign off on the class.

There are also other wor-ries as well. Online classes are formatted in a way that makes it easy to cheat. Would it be okay for young children to take these classes? And if so, how young? What if someone takes only online classes and never goes to a physical high school? Do they still get a high school diploma and which high school do they get a di-ploma from?

“Just like anything else in our society, our technology is moving faster than our abil-ity to control it,” says CVHS science teacher Richard Sch-neck.

He and others are worried about these online classes be-cause they could threaten the existence of schools.

“It’s really wordy, so it’s sort of difficult to focus, but the actual content is good,” said junior Nicole Nalty, who took an online class.

Whether you think online classes are threats to educa-tion as we know it or a handy way to get ahead, log on and go to class, because the In-ternet could be the future of education.

Our chances are good for be-coming a Distin-guished School

this year because CVHS has made the achievement

gap smaller.

are good this year because CVHS has made the achievement gap smaller. This gap is the difference in grades between the highest

and lowest performing student percentages. Our API (academic performance index) score has gone up from 782 in 2007 to 806 by the end of 2008.

Barrera mentioned, “This [API score] exceeded our tar-get growth of five points and showed substantial growth in all subgroups. We also met all 16 criteria for AYP.”

Educators across the state will review the CVHS applica-tion. If accepted, we’ll receive a visit from a team of educators to review the school for final delib-eration on whether or not CVHS will be titled as a distinguished school. What does being titled as a distinguished school mean? The school would receive more recognition and possibly more resources from the district. The acceptation confirmation is due any day now with the evalua-tion, if approved, taking place this spring.