Senior spits his rhyme

Musical talents exposed CV wins homecoming game New documentary criticized

Trojansbeat

Lancers

This is no job forSuperman

Banner heads should go to key, important stories

Juniors win annual competition

One unforgettable event in CVHS history is Homecoming. This year’s event was no different from the past years and created a special form of unity between the four classes. Our theme this year was “cereal” and although many posed questions on how to represent our favorite breakfast, students of CVHS were able to bring fun and responsibility to the plate.

Each year, the upperclassmen are able to bring forth the true meaning of Homecoming and pass on the same level of excitement and participation to the newer students.

“Homecoming was pretty good!” said freshman Cameron Beresini. “I really liked the march.”

Students of each class put their best efforts into creating a memo-rable Homecoming. The senior class especially proved superior to the others during their final march by executing a synchronized and well spirited march. However, the results of Homecoming returned in an upset. Juniors (Fruity Peb-bles) won first place, followed by seniors (Cap’n Crunch) in second place, sophomores (Fruit Loops) in third and freshmen (Trix) in fourth.

“A lot of the seniors were upset with the results,” said activities director Nick Whitaker. “Before I was activities director, I heard people saying it was rigged and that the seniors always won. It turns out that the juniors won this year and now the seniors complain that it was rigged.”

“I wish that people would sit

back and say ‘I did my best’ and be proud than to express dis-appointment,” Whitaker said. “Even with the unexpected results, Homecoming this year went very smoothly and was a fun experience for everybody.”

Though the results may have been unexpected, many seniors still managed to keep up their good sportsmanship.

“It’s unfortunate that the seniors lost. However, the juniors were most definitely united and together,” praised Joon Joung, ASB President. “Of the six Homecomings that I’ve seen, I honestly believe that this was the best based off of the floats, male and female per-formances, dress up participa-tion and class unity. I love this school with all my heart and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year turns out.”

Everybody who participated in Homecoming this year did his or her absolute best, help-ing shape another extraor-dinary and successful event. As Homecoming brought the school as a whole together, it also united the students within each class, creating in-dividual bonds between them. The juniors accepted their win graciously, taking in note of the other classes’ exceptional work.

“Homecoming this year was amazing. Every class did an outstanding job in the per-formances, floats, and school spirit,” said ASB Secretary Kyle Linayao, a junior. “Although I am happy with the results, I know it does not truly reflect how much effort every class put in.”

Trojans rally around Homecoming

For those Castro Valley students, teachers and staff affected by the recent cuts to the district’s budget, some hope may be on the horizon in the form of stimulus dollars.

The Castro Valley Teachers Association and the California School Employees Association are currently negotiating with the school district regarding the use of the money received from the government this year. CVTA has filed a Demand to Bargain with the district, but is still waiting for the money to arrive in its entirety

and to learn about specific con-ditions attached to its use to proceed.

CVUSD has received 90 per-cent of the $1,660,367 allotted to it by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The money is ap-portioned based on the average daily attendance statistic within the district’s schools.

A primary purpose of the stimulus is to preserve teach-ing jobs and soften the impact that California schools have felt from rising class sizes and dwindling teacher-student ra-tios. The money cannot be used

By Emily Lin-JonesStaff Writer

MONEY: Page 6

How would you spend $1.6 million?to fund anything in the district office itself, but can be spent on any employee who works on a school site, teachers and custodians alike.

The stimulus is “one time only” since it won’t be available every year and cannot be relied upon to make any permanent changes in the district, such as reverting the student-teacher ratio to 20:1.

“Would you consider getting something back that should have never been taken away in the first place?” pleaded CVTA

The CVUSD school board has recently taken steps to implement a proposal that would authorize construction of solar energy panels at CVHS, Canyon Middle School, and the Adult Education or Dis-trict office facilities. If the proposal does pass, construction would begin sometime in 2011 and would take four to six months.

“From the analysis we’ve done so far, we think that the panels will save about $9 mil-lion on all three sites over the course of the 25 year warranty,” said Mike Bush, the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Services.

The panels would be put in areas with large amounts of uninterrupted sun and would be built to create several large

District to install solar energy panels

By Holden ParksStaff Writer

SOLAR: Page 6

By SangEun ChoiStaff Writer

Pg. 2 Pg. 8

Juniors show off their class pride during a lunch rally and the homecoming assembly.Bianca ariaS and aBBy clark

Pg. 3

VOLUME 54, ISSUE 3 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2010 CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546

Letters to the Editor

By Jennifer PriceStaff Writer

andie Smith/ Staff Writer

Superman is wrong; “the entire system is the problem”

Davis Guggenheim’s new docu-mentary, Waiting for Superman, states that teacher unions are the main reasons why the American school system fails to adequately educate children. On a bigger scale though, these unions are not the main causes.

Guggenheim says the main problem with unions (which nearly all public school teachers join) is tenure—the rule that protects permanent employment after two years of teaching in public schools.

There are teacher evaluations for tenured teachers, but they are rarely thorough and are essentially meaningless, the film alleges, and this allows incompetent teachers to stay employed after two years. Thus—with the belief that “good teachers make good schools” –Guggenheim thinks this is the main problem ruining the public school system.

The question we should ask is, “Are the incompetent teachers fail-ing to adequately educate children, or is it the entire system itself?”

If you think good education con-sists of memorizing facts, scoring

higher on tests, getting jobs, and obeying authority—then incom-petent teachers are the problem. Thus, we should eliminate or re-form teacher unions if we want this type of education.

But if you think good educa-tion consists of developing a life-long curiosity for all types of knowledge, and helping indi-viduals question authority and think for themselves—the entire system is the problem.

As long as the system stays the same, children will not be-come individuals. Eliminating

or reforming teacher unions will only enforce the current system that consists of memo-rizing facts, scoring higher on tests, etc.

Humans are born with infi-nite curiosity. Remember when you were a child and you con-stantly asked questions? See how babies try to put in their mouth every object they can find?

This is the innate curiosity in human behavior. But as we grow up, the outside world be-gins to suppress that. We start

meeting authority figures who “know more than us” and try to “teach us.”

We are not encouraged to ques-tion or expand our individuality.

The authority figures start ig-noring our “childish” questions more and more with each grade level, telling us what is wrong, what is right, who we should obey, who we should trust, who we should ignore and who we should dislike.

And when we build up restric-tions on our innate curiosity, education becomes a mechanical

process of repetition instead of one that expands students’ minds for free thought.

By the end of high school, we are only a few years away from being a totally ruined canvas: completely average, conven-tional and uncreative, when so much else could have been.

There are exceptions to the system at times, such as teach-ers who really try to get stu-dents to think and question. Many students will break out of convention, as well. But for the vast majority, this is rarely the case.

The most important thing to note is that gaining knowledge in these classes can be very engaging and constructive; it’s breaking out of conventional thought that is hard—thinking about things we are not taught and asking questions about them.

Question authority and what you are taught, but do it ratio-nally—not to provoke conflict, but to expand your mind. And don’t think I have an authority on this.

Don’t be fooled: though I talk about breaking out of con-vention, it doesn’t mean I’ve brilliantly and totally broken out. Nobody has except the geniuses—great philosophers, great artists, great musicians, etc.

You are just as smart as I am, as they are, as anyone. Each of us is the smartest person on the planet. We just don’t know it until we totally break free.

By Trevor KwongStaff Writer

The Olympian is a publication of the journalism class at Castro Val-ley High School, 19400 Santa Maria Ave., Castro Valley, CA 94546. © 2010

Editor-In-Chief...............................................Alicia Harger City Editor.......................................................................Simrit KaurNews Editor...........................................................Lawrence HamOpinion Editor.............................................................Kate KimFeature Editor............................................................Nic BarradasSports Editor.............................................................Kearny CombsArts and Entertainment Editor........................................Sarah Gilchriese Copy Editor.........................................................Dana LinPhoto Editor..............................................................Bianca AriasBusiness Manager........................................................Hillman ZhengStaff Writers: Anna Balassone, Daniel Chung, Matt Barney, Abigail Clark, Natalie Chin, Rebecca Fong, SangEun Choi, Dan Galvan, Reyna Garcia, Jason Hazari, Yoon Jung, Trevor Kwong, Max Ka-hane, Emily Lin-Jones, Erin Kim, John London, Tim Pak, Jennifer Price, Holden Parks, Andie Smith

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

“America as it was meant to be: a land of freedom”

To be frank with you readers, I hate being called an American. The image that many American people have molded for themselves makes me shake my head in ignominy, hiding in the shadows of my own hands. This image a few have cre-ated shouldn’t be for everyone. It should be for the Americans who want to be “American.”

When I look at the American his-tory of some of its people, words like animal, crass, and insane pop into my head. Let me give you an example: lynching. Some Ameri-cans from the past called them-selves proud Americans. However, while they were calling themselves “Americans,” they were also hang-ing an African American from a tree. This is what many Americans have done, which led me to hate being called an “American.”

Another example is the civil injustices with which many Ameri-cans have committed against

women and gays and lesbians of this country. Why do these people cling to their rights, yet completely deny and relent-lessly abhor the pleas and cries for other citizens to have those same rights? An example of this oppression would be the opposi-

tion to women being able to vote in their homeland, America. Women did not gain their right to vote until 1919. Organiza-tions such as The National As-sociation Opposed to Women Suffrage were constructed to oppose something so small as a voting ballot!

It disgusts me that, even to-day, many people hate the idea of women having “so many” rights. It pains me to see kids at our school joking about how women should be in the kitchen

By Tim PakStaff Writer

while we men go out and “bring home the bacon.”

It brings shame to me to also see the opposition directed to-wards gays and lesbians, who demand nothing but peace and justice in their lives. As many of you know, Prop. 8 denies the passage for gays and lesbians to receive marriage certificates, or simply, the proposition denies the power for a gay and lesbian couples to get married. Many Americans have carried pro-tests signs saying “Fags Aren’t People” or “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” Does this not seem wrong to you? As humans, does this not seem incredibly juvenile and insensi-tive? How can many Americans who say that they are “proud to be an American,” be so unjust to their own fellow brothers and sisters depending on race, gender, or sexual orientation?

So my fellow reader, what are you? Are you an “American” or will you create a new image for yourself? If you consider an American a person who sup-ports a country that terrorizes foreign states and oppresses minority groups, I am not an American. But if you consider an American one who admires the struggles citizens have gone through to achieve human rights, then I am an American.

I am a human being who has emo-tion and the courage to stand up for equality in the world.

For those of you who agree with what I say, join me to oppose op-pression and discrimination in the world. Don’t be categorized by someone else. Instead, make

a name for yourself and more importantly, use the wisdom and the beauty of knowledge to create an image of America as it was meant to be: a land of freedom, liberty and where it is a given right to pursue hap-piness.

Banner heads should go to key, important storiesSenior hopes to make it big with beats

In ten years, senior Brandon McChesney sees himself selling his third major hip-hop album and influencing people with his astounding music. Ever since fifth grade, McChesney has taken his life experiences and made them into uplifting raps.

He started his dream of becom-ing a well-known artist by releas-ing his first mix-tape this past September, called See the World Differently. Writing all of his own material, this 18-year-old has a promising future, filled with music and soul.

Unlike the mainstream music you hear on the radio, McChesney raps about relatable and inspiring experiences. From his mix-tape, you can hear music ranging from love to striving towards your dream and goal.

His tape’s lyrics have a lasting effect on high school teenagers. I’m not big hip-hop fan, but See the World Differently had me listening to all the tracks on repeat.

“Don’t go for what you hear on the radio. If you say something, say

By Sarah GilchrieseA&E Editor

something you mean,” advises McChesney.

With a laid back personality and mature sense of awareness, McChesney takes after some of his favorite artists and rap-

pers. These include Kid Cudi, which you can gather from McChesney’s inspiring tones

Music-Nov. 22: My Chemical Ro

mance – Danger Days

Nov. 22: Ne-Yo- Libra ScaleNov. 30: Black Eye Peas- The BeginningDec. 7: Plain White T’s-

Wonders of the Younger

Dec. 7: Jessica Simpson- Happy Christmas

Movies-Nov. 24: FasterDec. 10: The Chronicles of

Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderDec. 10: The Tourist

Video Games-Dec. 7: World of Worldcraft:

Cataclysm (PC), $39.99Dec. 7: Tron: Evolution (PS3,

X360, PSP), $59.99

Books-Nov. 30: Travis Hunter- At

The Crossroads, $9.95Nov. 30: Allyson Condie-

Matched, $17.99Dec. 1: Eric Walters- Strand

ed, $11.95Dec. 7: Sara Shepard- The Ly

ing Game, $16.99

Concerts- Nov. 23: Attack Attack!,

Grand Ballroom, $16.50Nov. 29&Nov. 30: Weezer,

Nob Hill, $57.60- $116.50

Dec. 16: Drake& Chris Brown, HP Pavilion San Jose,

$85-$170.70Dec. 10: The Smashing Pump- kins & My Chemical

Romance, HP Pavilion San Jose, $48.25-$70.00

Entertainment Calendar

The Blind Side is a refreshingly heartwarming family movie. The

Brandon McChesney records a new song for his second mix-tape.

SArAh GilchriESE / A&E Editor

and friendly lyrics. Others are well-known artists such as Drake, Kanye West, Blu and Charles Hamilton.

“I love listening to music,” McChesney explains.

McChesney grew up in the San Leandro hip-hop scene. Since he was young, McChesney has always been striving towards becoming a famous artist.

“My next tape is going to be crazier. It’s going to be good. I’m excited,” exclaimed McChesney.

He’s currently working on a second tape, following See the World Differently. Travis Mocker is helping to produce the second mix-tape titled Rise of Wyze.

McChesney hopes to have his music effect the people that listen to it in a positive way. You can find him on Facebook for his first tape and informa-tion about his up and coming second.

McChesney also hopes to have his music available on iTunes soon. You can also hear his music on the Olympian website.

Don’t go for what you hear on the radio.

If you say something, say some-thing you

mean.

“

”Brandon McChesneyAspiring Artist

By Abby ClarkStAff WritEr

Appreciate life and family with The Blind Sidemovie is based on Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) who became an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens football team.

The film documents Oher’s life as a troubled teen from the projects. A wealthy Southern woman and her family take him in. She completely changes the course of his life with her love and support. This film will make you realize that one person can change another person life by a simple act of kindness.

With his mother a drug addict and his father nowhere to be found, Oher is literally alone in the world. Most teenagers from his town and situation would resort to selling drugs, but not him. He chooses another path of survival and withdrawal from the world, becoming al-

most invisible, until one day a woman and her family see him for who he really is and all he has to offer.

The woman who found him, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bull-ock) has it together, with her teased blond hair and pearls. She doesn’t realize that in one night, driving home from a play at her son’s school, could change her entire life. She comes across Oher who is at the time homeless and she feels com-pelled to invite him to come and spend the night at her home. She is then faced with the dilemma of what her responsi-bility towards him is. She and her family show him love and kindness when they know he has nothing to offer.

To their surprise he reacts

with such appreciation they can’t help but to want to know this young man that society has dis-carded. They had given him a home and he in return has given their lives meaning other than wealth and stature.

The movie shows you that you never know when a situation may present itself that could com-pletely change your and someone else’s life. It also makes you think what a powerful gift it is to love someone. Even though by soci-ety’s view, Oher was destined to become a nobody, but Tuohy Anne and her family thought he was a somebody.

That love and faith in him gave him the dream of becoming an NFL player and college graduate, showing that with love all things are possible if you just believe.

“Waiting for the End” is not the end for Linkin Park

Linkin Park’s single, “Wait-ing for the End,” is a good mix of sounds and different musical styles.

The song starts with a short instrumental and then starts to incorporate rap slowly along with the beat.

Leading the beginning, Mike Shinoda raps one of the longest verses, and then the instruments abruptly become quiet and the

By Andie SmithStAff WritEr

song focuses on the lyrics being sung by Chester Bennington.

The long second verse brings back the beat halfway through, and leads into the chorus. The next, shorter verse is also sung and is followed by the chorus.

The chorus flows back into a second rap verse, and then into another instrumental. It is followed by a shortened form of the chorus, and is met with a final closing combination of Shinoda’s rap and Bennington’s singing.

The song ends with the combi-nation of a repetition of the first rap verse and the final line of the chorus, “Holding on to what I haven’t got.”

The song has a well-mixed variety of music and vocals, and

has a catchy beat. It has a memo-rable chorus that can relate to its listeners in times when they need to “know what it takes to move on.” The end is quick, but well timed for this song.

“Waiting for the End” is an-

other impressive, successful dis-play of Linkin Park’s ability to mesh different music together. The lyrics are memorable, the beat is contagious, and this is definitely a song worth listening to several times over.

Photo Credit: Bianca Arias Mathew Barney Abby Clark Jason Hazari Andie Smith Anna Balassone SangEun Choi Tim Pak

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This election year was quite an important one. The rise of the Tea Party, disappointment in Democratic leadership, and the differing views on the Obama administration have all played a major role in this year’s elec-tion.

Whi le the Republ icans seemed to benefit the most this year (taking the House of Representatives and picking up six seats in the US Senate), the trend was quite the op-posite in California as Senator Barbara Boxer (D) kept her seat and Jerry Brown (D) won his gubernatorial race against

business tycoon billionaire Meg Whitman (R).

In California, Democrats seemed to gain ground on the propositions as well. Prop. 25, which lowers the amount of votes needed to pass the budget from 2/3 vote to a simple majority, passed. This is a huge help to the Democratic leadership in the state.

Economics teacher David Roth Rossi believes that the change is “a step in the right direction to fixing the budget problem in California.”

The controversial Prop. 19, which would have legalized mari-juana, as expected, did not pass.

Prop. 23, which would have suspended the Air Pollution Con-trol Law (AB32), lost by an over-whelming amount.

New decision makers in CaliforniaProp. 21, which would have

required all registered vehicles to pay an annual $18 fee to go to state parks, was also shot down.

At CVHS, most had mixed feelings about the results.

“I was happy to see that Jerry Brown won, but I was pretty bummed to see that Prop. 19 didn’t pass,” said senior JC Valdez.

Teacher John Green ex-plained that he was happy about Prop. 25, but elaborated on the Republican success throughout the country, claim-ing that Democrats in this term “just weren’t delivering the goods, that is why so many voted Republican this time.”

By Dan GalvanStaff Writer

President Barbara Siegel in a school-wide memo that was cir-culated in October. Siegel stated that the union’s goal for the use of this money is primarily to prevent teachers from being laid off, along with decreasing pay cuts and end-ing furlough days.

Representatives from the district are in ongoing talks with both CVTA and CSEA about how the district is planning to spend the federal funding. While neither union has the power to actually dictate how the money is spent, they do have jurisdiction to negoti-ate how it affects their members.

“It is a fine line,” admitted Su-perintendent Jim Negri. “But the

education jobs funding needs to be put in the context of ongoing budget cuts from the state.”

While the district hopes to use the money to prevent any layoffs this year or the following one, complications with the district’s state funding have compelled officials to delay a final decision about the federal money’s use until further notice.

The district’s still-uncertain position won’t deter the union from doing their best to ensure that the money benefits teachers and school employees directly.

“The teachers’ union is going to fight to get this money back to the people who have lost jobs and salaries,” said Siegel.

MONEY: from Page 1 continuous surfaces, maxi-mizing the efficiency of the conversion of solar energy into electricity. Most of the panels would be located in parking lots and would also serve as shade structures for parked cars.

The plan would be funded by Build America Bonds, which was created as part of the Ameri-can Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The bonds would be paid back over the course of 20 years with money that would otherwise be used to buy energy from PG&E.

“I think that the installation of solar panels at our school is a great idea,” said Beryl Wang, vice president of the Smart En-

ergy Club. “They’re a necessary and highly beneficial investment that will have to be made eventu-ally, regardless of how much we need them right now.”

The panels would cost a pro-jected $6.5 million, but a PG&E incentive and a subsidy granted by the US Treasury would alleviate the cost of the project. The PG&E incentive would pay the school district 15 cents for every kilowatt-hour produced by the panels, which would cut a projected $1.4 million from the plan’s total cost. The subsidy would pay 35 percent of the interest on the bonds.

In all, the subsidy and incen-tive would save the district about $173,000 per year on the original cost of the project.

Although the proposal has not yet been passed, Bush claims that all indications point to the project being imple-mented.

“The school board is commit-ted to the district’s increased usage of renewable energy sources in order to conserve natural resources and save money to support other district needs,” said Bush. “Needless to say, I think this will be a good thing for the Castro Valley school district.”

The next step in the process is final board approval. If all paperwork is submitted by the Dec. 31, 2010 deadline, then construction will begin some-time in 2011.

SOLAR: from Page 1

A sheriff ’s officer arrested a 22-year-old former student of CVHS on Oct. 22 after he walked onto the campus and allegedly groped a girl.

“The young man was intoxicat-ed; he bothered a group of students and fondled a female student,” re-ported Principal Mary Ann Valles.

The man came to CVHS before school and an assistant principal escorted him off campus, accord-ing to Valles. But, he returned again later that day. Deputy Tim Vales arrested him upon his second intrusion onto the school grounds.

“He was grabbing my butt and I had to sit there for half an hour,” said a senior girl, who explained that the man also held her immobile by grabbing her shoulder. Because he was intoxicated, “he doesn’t even remember who I am,” she said.

The man was booked on charges of sexual battery, tres-passing on school grounds, and unlawful possession of prescrip-tion drugs.

“We have campus patrollers in the courtyard at all times, but we will evaluate our cam-pus supervision plan to assure that there is more supervision,” Valles said.

Man arrested on school grounds

By Matt BarneyStaff Writer

Lauren CruzJunior

I’m doing leg exercises that get my leg strength

back.

“

”

7

Many student athletes have been suffering from ACL injuries, one of the most widespread injuries amongst soccer, basketball, and tennis.

The ACL is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, one of the main stabiliz-ing ligaments in the knee. It pre-vents the lower leg from extending too far forward or rotating inward too much. While playing a sport, a player can tear or rupture the ACL as a result of landing straight-legged from a jump, pivoting in-correctly, or making direct contact with another player. As a result, the sports that involve extensive jumping, pivoting, or contact (soc-cer, basketball, and tennis) host the most ACL injuries.

After several medical studies, many doctors have come to the conclusion that ACL injuries are especially prevalent amongst fe-male teenage athletes.

“Females tend to land from jumps with straight legs, which puts more pressure on the liga-ments rather than the muscles,” explained Dr. Jason Ho, a physi-cian in Kaiser Permanente’s De-partment of Orthopedic Surgery.

By Anna BalassoneStaff Writer

Victory knocks on varsity volleyball team’s door

With the future looming just before their eyes, seniors have a lot of opportunities and possibili-ties at their fingertips, especially those who play sports. So where do these athletic scholars see themselves for college or the con-tinuation of their sport? It tends to differ for each one.

Juan Anderson, a senior bas-ketball player already has already signed up for his top choice col-lege, Marquette University, in Wisconsin, to continue playing.

Anderson was chosen as the first recruit for the Marquette Golden Eagles and verbally committed to going there earlier this month. He chose the Eagles over other pros-pects such as the Arizona State Sun Devils, California Golden Bears, and the Oregon Ducks.

Anderson may already have everything in place. However, his fellow peers are not quite sure exactly what they want to do when it comes to college and their sport.

“I don’t know [where I want to go to college], whichever offers me the best scholarship prob-ably,” said football and track star Damion Rosby.

Rosby has been scouted by a variety of colleges, including the spectacular choices of UCLA, UC Berkeley, and even Harvard.

He plans to continue both his sports and wants to be able to enter a college by playing one of his sports and also have the chance to gain more experience in both.

As it appears, most student ath-letes have been scouted by schools for their sporting abilities but are basing their decisions on their

scholastic future rather than the future of their sport choice.

Many others, instead, just want to use their sports to attend the best college that they can and don’t see it as a possible career choice.

Volleyball champion Kaylea Ott sees a sports scholarship as a possible way into college. “It’s one of the things I’m looking into right now,” she said.

Her choices are colleges such as UC Merced and Simpson, and she is aiming to enter there as their newest student. How-ever, due to the fact that there is no professional volleyball in the United States, Ott sees her chances of a lifetime of volley-ball very slim.

Like many of her peers, Ott knows that high school sports are not the main focus in her life.

By Jennifer PriceStaff Writer

Trojan stars seeking college offers

Cheeks streaked with more than just tears of pride when the CVHS main gym hosted the girls volley-ball Senior Night, a yearly event to honor the seniors of the varsity team at their last home game, on Oct. 28. While both the varsity and JV teams defeated the Mt. Eden Monarchs handily, with scores of 3-0 and 2-0 respectively, it was a bittersweet evening of farewells.

After JV players blew away their competition, the ceremonies for the seniors commenced. The two Trojan teams lined up on one side of the court, and the Mon-archs positioned themselves on the other. Mt Eden’s seniors were first given shout-outs over the loudspeaker. Then, armed with flowers, balloons, and pre-made speeches, the CVHS underclass-men volleyball players stepped up to deliver good wishes and gifts to their six senior teammates: Brook

DeMiguel, Theresa Ferrari, Amy Litvinchuk, Kaylea Ott, Kaelyn Stiving, and Lisa Umeh.

A f e w o f t h e s p e e c h -es paused for the speaker to choke back her tears, but all

of them ended with big hugs and an insight to the audience of just how much the seniors would be missed when they graduate from high school this summer.“I can’t imagine four years without [volleyball],” Umeh later said.

Damion Rosby (left) is fielding offers from several colleges for his athletic skills.

Bianca ariaS / Photo Editor

There are a variety of opportu-nities out there and she seems to rather want to focus on those than a life of volleyball.

On the subject of a possible volleyball career, Ott comment-ed, “I could if I really wanted to, but there are other things I’m aspiring to.”

Even some juniors already have their minds made up on the college of their choice and have planned scholarships.

Celeste Martore, a junior who play soccer and runs track, has already made firm plans on where she’s going although she still has plenty of time to decide.

When asked if she saw soc-cer as a future career, Martore replied, “I’m basically just us-ing soccer to get into a good school,” agreeing with many of her peers.

ACL injuries plague athletes

By Rebecca FongStaff Writer

But why are these ACL injuries the cause of so much concern? After a sports-related ACL injury, a player is forced to experience pain, loss of playing time, surgery, reha-bilitation, and an overall disability

of the knee for six to 12 months. Thus, high school athletes who tear an ACL are at a significant disadvantage to their healthy and able-bodied teammates.

Two female CVHS soccer players, junior Lauren Cruz and sophomore Danielle Tor-res, are local living proof that ACL injuries can serve as a traumatic hindrance on the life of a high school athlete.

Both players injured their ACLs while playing with their respective league teams near the beginning of the school year and have subsequently undergone surgery.

“I’m just trying to get my knee’s flexion and extension back,” explains Cruz. “Plus, I’m doing leg exercises that get my leg strength back since, right now, it’s as strong as a noodle.”

Because of the injury, Cruz will not be able to return to CVHS soccer this year and pos-sibly next year.

Torres, who made her var-sity soccer debut last year in NCS, will also be missing the whole soccer season this year. Forced to sit on the sidelines in the upcoming season, Torres explains that she will have to, “do whatever it takes to make a 100 percent full recovery” if she wants to fulfill her dream of playing soccer for a Division 1 or 2 college.

With the undeniable pres-ence of ACL injuries amongst our CVHS athletes, it is no secret that some preventa-tive measures must be taken. Thankfully, there are certain doctor-approved exercises and stretches that can be done to prevent future ACL injuries. These workouts, such as the PEP program (Prevent injury and Enhance Performance), include specific stretching, strengthening, agility, and jumping exercises.

It is imperative that CVHS coaches research these preven-tion programs and invest some practice time in teaching them to players before it is too late. It could make the key differ-ence in the life of a high school athlete.

Trojans face their greatest

opponent

“

Steven MenegusVarsity Head Coach

It’s always cool to see the girls

have that emotional start.”

The OlympianNovember 19, 2010

The girls’ parents were in-vited down from the stands to pose with their daughters for pictures.

Before the varsity game began, the seniors followed tradition by placing the leis, which they had received ear-lier, on their parents to wear for the remainder of the night.

The season’s final varsity home game started. CVHS quickly took the first set, 25-12. However, the teams went tit-for-tat in the second, finally ending in the Trojans’ favor at 25-20. They only needed one more set to win the match, but for a while the Monarchs led 6-13. In a last push, CVHS scored 19 almost successive points, winning their third set, 25-15, and claiming the match.

“It’s always cool to see the girls have that emotional start, but then be able to play some volleyball,” varsity head coach Steven Menegus said.

Inclement weather could not dampen the Trojans’ Homecoming spirit as the CVHS football team defeated the Tennyson Lancers decisively, 31–7. The night of Oct. 29 brought about a timely victory as the senior football players wit-nessed their first ever Homecom-ing victory.

“It feels really good to win Homecoming for the first time since I’ve been at CVHS… and it feels even better to win it senior year,” said running back Damion Rosby, expressing his ecstasy over his team’s victory over the Lancers.

Rosby was by no means a by-stander as he broke the school record for most rushes with 27

rushes for a total of 271 yards. In addition, Rosby contributed two of the four touchdowns to the CVHS victory.

Contrary to the final results, the game remained relatively close as the Lancers only trailed the Trojans

Pe rs i ste nt l y P ro d u ct i ve P l aye rs

.Julian Trevizo grew up around football and decided to join the fresh-man football team at CVHS. He enjoys the chance to meet new friends and has a fun time playing football.

“I used to go watch the Cal games and wanted to play, so I figured this year could be my year,” said Trevizo.

He plays defense, which is one of his strong points as he plays in the team. His favorite part of football is playing defense, preferably corner-back, and tackling people.

As he enjoys his freshman year, he is “deciding whether to play baseball and track” for his rest of the athletic year. Besides sports, Trevizo loves skateboarding and playing guitar.

Jessica Kruschke, a girl who’s in-fatuated with American sign language, continues to dazzle America with cheerleading.

“I just love to cheer,” exclaimed Kruschke as she started her second year in the varsity cheer team at CVHS.

“I wanted to have fun just like my freshman year and I am already having so much fun,” she said.

Her favorite part is stunting and cheering so that CVHS athletes can feel the joy of victory in every game.

Kruschke is planning to continue cheering in her high school career.

Isabella Tang joined JV tennis team at CVHS because she loves tennis and wanted to meet new people in high school. She played doubles with her partner Sabrina Li.

“My favorite part of the team is that everyone in it is really close and we always win!” said Tang. Besides tennis, she likes to swim and play badminton.

Her individual goals in the team are to “improve on my volleys and serves.”

She enjoys practicing tennis during the weekends and is ready to win her next match.

Anthony Martore has been run-ning since fourth grade and is now on the Trojans’ cross country team. He enjoys the competition, and last year he set a personal record of 15:35 for a 3-mile course.

“Cross country runners get along and we work together coop-eratively,” said Martore. He runs track and field during the spring season as well.

“I see that my hard work shows in the results as I practice more,” he said. Martore plans to continue running for college after he gradu-ates high school.

Anthony Matore, Senior

Isabella Tang, Junior

Jessica Kruschke, Sophomore

Julian Trevizo, Freshman

By Daniel ChungStaff Writer

“

Damion RosbyRunning Back

It feels really good to win

homecoming... even better to win

it senior year.”

10 – 7 by the end of the first quarter. The Trojans drew first blood as Nick Goulart scored a 43-yard field goal, quickly followed by a 44-yard rush by Rosby.

The Lancers managed to retaliate as Tomas Jimenez of Tennyson scored a nine-yard run to make the score 10 – 7. Un-fortunately for the Lancers, the Trojans marched on and never looked back from that point.

Nothing seemed capable of stopping the Trojans as Jesse Sellers contributed his 55-yard run touchdown and Moner Af-schar scored on a 19-yard pass from quarterback Christian Chavez. During the last three minutes of the game, Rosby broke out for an 85-yard run touchdown, leaving the end score to be 31-7.

Although the Trojans domi-nated the Lancers, Head Coach Nic McMaster still believed that his team needed to continue to practice diligently. “Our games need to clean up,” he said. “We need to improve every aspect of our game, especially tackling, blocking and passing.”

When asked about how his team did overall, McMaster ac-knowledged that he appreciat-ed the “much-needed energy” that the Trojans came out with during the Homecoming game.

As if to signify the end of the game, rain began to pour heav-ily as the Trojans walked off the field victoriously.

With their first Homecoming victory in a while, the Trojan football team ended this excit-ing week on a positive note.

Trojans remind Lancers who runs this

campus

By Yoon Jung / Staff Writer

M o r g a n B u n g u s (above)aggressively brings opponent to the ground, preventing a large gain in yardage.

Bianca ariaS / Photo Editor

Jesse Sellers (left) gets it done with a successful completion, helping lead the team to victory.

Bianca ariaS / Photo Editor