October 2013 Highlander

TheHighlander

www.scotscoop.com October 2013, Vol V Issue II

Screamin’ Scots in full school spiritpage 16

What’s inside

Are you addicted to your cellphone?page 13

Carlmont’s cultural diversity exploredpage 8-9

By Veronika DvorakovaArt Director

“He won’t hurt me,” thought the female Carlmont senior, just like the victimized girls in scary movies do.

Her new “friend’s” bedroom reeked of marijuana as the other two people in the room climbed to the top bunk to hook up.

She was left alone with the boy who lived there. Looking back on that night, she said: “He kept try-ing to make moves on me, and I kept pushing him away. The other two were too high to notice my struggle.”

“When he pinned me down on the lower bunk, I realized I shouldn’t be here with him. I wanted to scream but all I let out was a little squeak; I was so scared,” she said.

She fought against his weight on top of her as he fought against her zipper. “He tried making out with me and to [get into my pants], but I pushed him off,” said the student.

“I told [the other boy in the room] that I need to talk to him and ran outside. He never followed me out, and so I just waited in the parking lot alone, in the dark, cry-ing. Finally, my aunt came to pick me up.”

There are many others who have experienced close calls because of misjudgments regarding their safety. Many such situations can be prevented.

Not all victims are girls; anyone can be attacked anywhere. Brent Staples, an author and editorial writer for the New York Times, takes precautions when in public. Describing himself as a “youngish black man--a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billow-ing hair” in his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” he explains how being perceived as a threat by others puts him at risk. Staples

Students need to be wary

Closed campus frustrationBy Gabriela d’SouzaScotcenter eDitor-in-chief

In Sept. 1998, Carlmont closed its gates during lunch, and the school officially became a closed campus.

“In order to keep our students in a supervised, safe, and orderly environment, the Board of Trust-ees establishes a ‘closed campus’ at all district high schools effective September, 1998. Once students arrive at school, they must remain on campus until the end of the school day unless they have brought written authorization from their parents/guardians and received per-mission from school authorities to leave for a specific purpose,” states article BP 5112.5 of the Sequoia Union High School District Policies database.

This decision caused uproar among the students who soon began to sneak off campus during school hours.

“People leave campus all the time,” said senior Jeanette Chow, “usually to get food, but reasons vary.”

The main objection to open campuses is safety, a top priority of education officials who are liable for students during school hours.

“There are fewer problems and potential issues with students [on a closed campus],” said Instructional Vice Principal Ralph Crame.

Many Carlmont students feel strongly about wanting to leave school for part of a day, which explains why some of the most cov-eted days of the year are minimum days.

“It would be nice to have an open campus,” said senior Jeanette Chow, “but it’s understandable that we don’t, a lot of kids would not come back to school after lunch if we did.”

A recent study by Shirlee Lichtman, of the Department of Economics at Stanford University, found that “in conditionally open campuses, [privileges based] on stu-dent grades/test scores or behavior, produce a positive effect on student tests outcomes, when compared to a closed campus policy regime.”

A conditionally open campus would entitle those students who meet specific requirements, whether it be a grade point average or grade level, would be allowed to leave campus during lunch while other students would not.

“I think [a conditionally open campus] isn’t a bad idea, it’s just logistics and how it would be en-forced and keeping it fair and con-sistent that would be my concern,” said Crame.

The study also found that dropout rates decrease when high

The race for teacher recommendation lettersLike most juniors towards the

end of the 2012-2013 school year, Jeff Wagenseller had two things on his mind: college applications and teacher recommendation letters. He began to panic.

His junior English teacher was only willing to write a set amount of letters and he didn’t think he had a shot because he wasn’t the top of the class. He was afraid his senior teachers had a negative impression on him. Some of his past teachers were not capable of writing him a strong letter to help him gain ad-mission to the competitive colleges of his choice.

“I just did not do really well my junior year. Putting forth effort and participating helps compensate grades at times, but I did not go out of my way to participate, either, for the most part last year. After much hesitation, I decided to ask one of my senior teachers,” said Wagenseller.

The search for strong recom-mendation letters from teachers have caused some seniors to panic this year because some teachers have

refused to write them. “I don’t write recommenda-

tion letters for seniors not because I don’t want to, but because I rather spend my time helping them with their college applications,” said AP English Literature and Composi-tion Joseph Hill during a lecture. He later explained that it would be more beneficial for him to provide students with college essay tips rather than writing a mediocre letter for them after only knowing them for several months.

Other teachers have set a limit on the maximum of letters they will write.

“I already have to write 15 letters this year, which is way too many. I usually tell myself that I will not go over 20 letters, unless there is a special circumstance,” said AP and AS Chemistry teacher Felix Guzman.

However, others have found themselves carrying the burden of writing over 20 letters this year. Math and AVID teacher Andrew Ramroth said that he has to write between 25 and 30 letters for his students this year.

“I don’t set a limit on how many I write. I really should, but

the kids who ask me generally are the ones whom I have a strong re-lationship with and that I would be happy to write for,” said Ramroth.

Most private colleges require a guidance counselor recommenda-tion letter, along with one to three letters from core subject teachers. Students who plan to major in Math or Science- related subjects are often required to have at least one Math and Science teacher recommendation letter.

As courses, grades, standard-ized tests and the college essay are crucial components of most college admissions decisions, students thus tend to overlook a potential source of powerful testimonials to their

stories: letters of recommendation from counselors, teachers, coaches, and mentors.

At smaller to midsize competi-tive colleges and universities, which have more wherewithal to conduct a thorough/holistic review of appli-cants, the recommendations matter more.

“The Ivy Leagues have accep-tance rates of less than 10 percent, and almost all the students applying have high test scores and grades. I need to make sure I get good letters so I increase my chances of getting into the schools of my choice,” said senior Alexandria Liu.

According to a New York Times

By Sabrina LeungeDitoriAl Director

~Continued on pg. 14~

~Continued on pg. 14~~Continued on pg. 14~

Photo by Veronika Dvorakova

Photo by Ryan Freeman

OpinionPage 2

The Highlander Features:Ashley Kawakami

Campus:Karissa Tom

Online: Sarah KlievesShira Stein

Faculty Adviser:Justin Raisner

Art Director:Veronika Dvorak

The mission of The Highlander is to accurately and honestly cover communal as well as school events. As a student run open forum newspaper, we strive to incorporate multiple views and represent the diverse community at Carlmont.

Ayesha AbbasiJessica AdairMichael BastakiReggie Chatman Jr. Gabriela D’SouzaTara EbrahimpourGraham GodwinClaudia LeistConrad May

Staff Writers:Isabella ParagasJohn RussellKat SavinScott SchulzeDaniel WangMaxwell WareGrace Yi

Follow us on twitter @ScotScoopNews

Editor-in-Chief:Ryan Freeman

Editorial Director:Sabrina Leung

Business Manager: Kristen Friis

News and Opinion:Arianna Bayangos

Entertainment:Dominic Gialdini

Sports:Kellan Mcdonough

The Highlander October 2013

House Republicans drop the ballBy: Michael BastakiStAff Writer

#Ignorance on TwitterBy: Karissa TomcAmpuS eDitor

Editorial: Why the move of EPA students to MA was a good idea The District’s decision to allow EPA students to attend any school of their choosing is a very solid ruling as it will be beneficial to all students, even those not directly affected by the changes. Space permitting, every graduate of the Ravenswood City School District will be allowed to attend Menlo-Atherton High School (MA) or any other school of their choosing.By moving all the students to Menlo-Atherton High School or other schools, these changes will obviously decrease the amount of time it takes for them to get to school, but where the real value of this decision lies is in its consequential effects on the remaining Carlmont student body.Carlmont is overcrowded and there is no way around it. Classrooms are running out of desks and students are unable to take the classes they want due to classes filling up; however, the new changes will allow our school to absorb the growing enrollment and even expand if needed. Of course there will be the sudden extra space resulting from the vacancies left by the departed EPA students which will allow more local students the opportunity to attend Carlmont through the district realignment or through transferring from the other local high schools. In general, having more students who live close to a school is beneficial to the learning process. Group projects can become very difficult when one or more students in a group live 25 minutes away from the rest of the members as it is inconvenient for them to work together. If all the students live locally, they can more easily work together and not cre-

ate a situation where one or two members disproportionately contribute. The more students con-tribute, the more they learn and understand the material and thus receive a more solid education.Staying after school to get individual help from teachers is one of the key ways to keep up in classes that one is struggling in. As the early bus leaves almost directly after 7th period, those who must take this bus have no way to get this extra help after school. If the struggling student only lives five minutes away, staying a few minutes after school is not nearly the hassle of waiting an extra hour or so for a later bus or having to drive in an hour of traffic to get home.Another, less consistent issue that can arise from having to commute is the limited window of opportunity that the students have to make it to school on time. Every once in a while, most students will have a morning where they are a bit late to school for whaever reason. For a student that lives locally, their own car or parents will probably be around five to ten minutes later than they normally leave. Missing the buses in EPA mean either putting someone else who has a car in a tough situation, or waiting for a later bus and arriving to school late. Sometimes, even when students make it to the bus stop on time, they still may be tardy due to the bus itself being late or there being a lot of traffic. Even though the students receive late passes, they still are missing valuable class time. You can’t learn if you are not in class, thus missing parts of it can easily become an issue.For those students who are able to make the daily commute without any issues, the right is still theirs to remain at Carlmont, but luckily for those who cannot, the District has a solution. In general, the District’s decision will be a success as it benefits practically everyone involved.

The madness is over.Our government has re-opened.With the Senate voting 81-18 and the House voting 285-144, Congress passed a deal which kept the government open until Jan. 15 and raised the debt ceiling until Feb. 7.Now that we have been graciously saved in a last-ditch effort from a global recession, it’s important to understand who put us, the American people, in this situation to begin with.The answer is simple: House Republicans.And no, I’m not talking about the whole, unified House rising up and deciding to turn the lights off at our nation’s capitol.I’m talking about 80 extremist House Republi-cans presenting their speaker, John Boehner, with the outrageous idea to shut down the federal gov-ernment if the Democrats, specifically the Senate, refused to halt Obamacare for one year.Boehner, who previously stated that a govern-ment shutdown wasn’t an option, abruptly changed face and pushed forth the extremist’s bill, condemning us to 16 days of no govern-ment.Now, how much damage can be inflicted in 16 days?A Standard and Poor (S&P) report estimated that this government shutdown cost our nation $24 billion.Considering that there are 2,200 students at Carlmont High School, that’s enough money to give each student over one million dollars.Now, let us examine the 80 House Republicans who committed this act against our nation.Seventy six of them were male.Seventy nine of them were white.In other words, they do not represent the diver-sity in America.A 2013 study done by the U.S. Census Bureau found that the majority of children under age

five were from a non-white background and predicted that white Americans will become a minority by 2043.However, as the country becomes more diverse, House Republicans are being elected into dis-tricts that are becoming increasingly dominated by whites. David Wasserman, a prominent political analyst, found that in 2012 the average House Republi-can district became two percent less diverse. A lot of this is due to gerrymandering, which is the re-drawing of district lines in order to ensure a political party receives a majority of votes.Essentially this is the heart of the problem: be-cause these radical House Republicans are guar-anteed re-election in their respective districts, they are free to create the most illogical and extreme ideas without opposition from anyone.And when these 80 extremists came marching to Capitol Hill, amid the turmoil of a divided House, all the House Republicans fell for the same trap: they all allowed a blissful bubble of political ignorance to encircle them.This explains why the House Republicans believed that the Democrats will gladly roll-over and allow them to defund Obamacare, the very staple of Obama’s presidency.This explains why these 80 House Republicans, representing 18% of America’s population, were able to shut down the government.This explains why Wednesday night, Oct. 16, this bubble finally burst.As the House Republicans re-adjust to the actual world the rest of us live in, look at their approval ratings and exclaim, “What have I done!” the rest of us have a much more serious topic at stake.If the House Republican Party is so unstable and divided that a radical faction can come in and do as they choose, what outrageously catastrophic bill will be passed next?And next time, will we, as a nation, be able to save ourselves in time?

I haven’t always been afraid of birds. But at some point, I started to realize that they were maniacal demons who were looking to use the world as their toilet. Seriously, it’s scary when they swoop down and try to use your head as a target.I’m not sure where my fear originated, was it possibly from seeing Big Bird on Sesame Street or from seeing giant vul-ture cartoon birds carry their prey away?I know, I know, laugh all you want but trust me they are evil. And if you live Redwood Shores, two words: hissing geese.No, I swear I wasn’t trying to attack your geese family. Please, please don’t hurt me. I surrender. But then in 2006, Twitter came.Oh, yes. The famous social network. Home to grammar rebels and ignorant fools.More recently, Twitter has become my modern bird. According to Statistics Brain, there are currently 554,750,000 active Twitter us-ers. That’s 554,750,000 people with the power of speech under 140 characters. Twitter has evolved into a platform to state opinions. Twitter has become a place where typing an opinion with ease comes with a price: ignorance. More recently, the biggest mistake that Twitter users have made was making snap judgements about Miss America 2013. Once Nina Davuluri was crowned the new Miss America, Twitter instantly reacted. Many people had made snap judgements about her ethnicity claiming

that she was a terrorist or Muslim.@Blayne_MkItRain tweeted, “Congratula-tions Al-Qaeda. Our Miss America is one of you.”They believed that she was not “American” enough.@LukeBrasili wrote, “9/11 was 4 days ago, and she gets Miss America.”Maybe these tweets are simply a reflection of America’s culture. But I think that Twit-ter has become a place where people can gain quick satisfaction that their opinion was right. That they are right. Never get into a Twitter fight with a Beli-eber. It’s scary stuff. Actually, don’t try to get fights with fangirls in general. And never, ever offend their ships. Ever.#ScaredDespite all of these terrors and all of the ignorance, at least Twitter can’t poop on your head.

Photo used under a Creative Commons License

News Page 3


By: Max WareStAff Writer

Infographic by Arianna Bayangos

Carlmont courses help students gain skills for their careers

Nearly every day, a common complaint of a student can be heard: “What does this have to do with the real world?” While some may decry this as typical teenage whining, it is actually a valid ques-tion, and is certainly on the minds of not only students, but also the educators. And, thankfully, they have some answers.

“Any teacher’s goal is to prepare (students) to be productive citizens and lifelong learners. That’s defi-nitely one of our jobs,” said Lisa Simpson, a teacher of Computer Applications, Film Critique and Video Production, and English I at Carlmont.

Simpson said, “Computer Appli-cations is probably one of the most practical classes a student could take at Carlmont High School.

Editorial: Why the move of EPA students to MA was a good idea

They learn the entire Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Access, Pub-lisher, and Word). Most students think they know Word, but in my experience, they don’t know it at the depth that I’m going to teach it.”

Both Computer Applications and Film Critique are Career Technical Education (CTE) classes, offered to students specifically to prepare them for real- world careers in various fields. Every student at Carlmont is required to enroll in at least one year of CTE courses.

According to Simpson, this is highly beneficial to students, not only in the work world, but in col-lege as well:

“Many students, once they leave Carlmont,, they will email me and say, ‘Mrs. Simpson, thank good-ness I took your class, because one of my professors said we had to do an Excel spreadsheet graph, and a lot students didn’t know how to

High school really does prepare students for lifedo that, but I knew.’ Colleges are expecting more and more students to have these skills.”

“I personally think every student at Carlmont should come to take Computer Applications, because then they would be prepared for whatever they do beyond high school.”

Simpson also said that this was evident by those working adults who are finding troubles due to not having the level of experience they need in many practical computer programs: “[Recently] we had the eighth grade parent night, and a lot of the parents said, ‘I wish I could sit in on your class,’ because they have to try and find a way for their companies to pay for classes to learn” the same computer applica-tions that are taught in the class.

Simpson also mentioned a class that Carlmont offered in the past, Career 137. “We offered it going

way back in part of this medical science magnet program, and it was a career exploration class, designed for students who were specifi-cally interested in medical and the science professions, and that class was extremely helpful for those students. Most of those students did go on to major in biology, physiol-ogy, and other fields.”

Simpson said that she was look-ing into getting such a class reinstat-ed at Carlmont in some form.

As far as working with other teachers to help better prepare students for their future career pros-pects, Simpson said, “We work with the Academy Business Technology teacher, Elizabeth Chun because she’s teaching similar classes, and we do everything in connection with one another. We definitely try to bring in guest speakers and take the students to Cañada college on a field trip” to see their course

pathways in Multimedia Art and Technology and Computer Science.

This experience is an asset to stu-dents because it gives insight into the nature of the careers that the CTE courses are giving the students an introduction to.

Simpson gave advice for Carl-mont students, “Students should prepare themselves for the demands of the 21st century. What we’re offering here to learn technology, to learn the software applications, is free. Once they leave here, they’re going to be paying money to learn it. Find out what’s offered on cam-pus, and seize the opportunities.”

“Colleges are ex-pecting more and more students to have these skills.”

Features

Page 4


Being scared: frightful or fantasticBy Reggie Chatman Jr.

StAff Writer

Halloween season brings scary houses, ghouls, goblins, and ghosts along with many other spooky things that strike fear into the hearts of people from ages nine to ninety. It brings up the question, why do people like getting scared?

Students like Hildebrandt love the feeling of getting spooked by things and people at events like Halloween Haunt which is an event held at California’s Great America park in Santa Clara. Halloween Haunt, which began this year on Sept. 27, transforms the park from a family friendly outing to a scary, fright filled place sport-ing their usual thrill rides, spooky mazes and also designated scare zones.

According to Great America’s website, Halloween Haunt is “not for anyone under thirteen” during it’s scary hours from seven pm to midnight on Friday’s, Saturdays and Sundays.

“When you walk in, you see the true nature of people when they get scared. You get to see who they really are. It’s so much fun to see other people get scared,” continued Hildebrandt.

According to sciencedaily.com “people experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously -- people may

actually enjoy being scared, not just relief when the threat is removed...‘The most pleasant moments of a particular event may also be the most fearful.’"

Although many enjoy the thrill, junior Mathilde Zanelly said, “I don’t see why people like being scared...I hate being scared.”

“I do not like being scared because I am startled by it. I’m really bad with people startling me and I act out of reflex so I just scream or my hands go flailing,” said junior Veronica Pontis.

This reaction caused by the body perceiving that it is in danger, is widely referred to as the fight-or-flight reaction. It is a general discharge by the sympathetic nervous system.

According to livescience.com, a person’s like or dislike of a being scared actually depends on their “terror tolerance scale.” The site states that “some adults and most young children are unable to correctly gauge a threat, perceiving it to be higher than it is...This is why children become scared so much more easily than adults. Having less experience at gauging the safety of the spooky things they see, from a gory monster costume to a talking skel-eton lawn decoration.”

According to a CBS poll, 48 percent of Americans believe in the presence of

ghosts. This presumption keeps an extra thought in the back of peoples minds as they witness and see different things.

“I do believe. I’ve seen things, heard of things and I’ve heard of stories of other people seeing things,”said senior Nick Newberry.

“I don't believe in ghosts but do love scary movies,”said senior Christian Gon-zales.

The fear is present even when watching scary movies, and reading scary books. Even the casual scare from behind a bush to playfully spook another person creates a sense of danger.

“I hate watching scary movies. They make me want to pee my pants. And then I can’t sleep. Then it just stays in my brain and I then I forever have a fear of [whatev-er scared me]. I get really bad nightmares,” said Pontis.

Gonzales offers a different perspective saying, “I have a laugh at it ... I already know it is just a movie and that it is not real and I laugh about the fact I was scared.”

The opportunities available to get scared are available year round, but when the ante jumps during the month of October, an American holiday that has seven billion dollars spent on it annually, getting scared is almost inevitable.

Zombies

Werewolves

Witches

Zombies are a form of dead humans which are raised back to life by witchcraft. The practice of voodoo in Haiti is what sparked the belief of zombies. In Haiti, zombies are a serious issue rather than just a folktale like in America. There are many cases of zombies appearing in Haitian villages. In pop culture, zombies are commonly seen in movies, video-games, and comics, and were inspired by the Haitian zombie sightings. Zombies are known for coming back to life, usually mutilated, and being flesh-eating monsters.

During the 15th century in Switzerland, shape-shifting creatures known as werewolves were theorized. Werewolves are mythological creatures that can transform from a human into a wolf and even a mix of the two, creating a hybrid human-wolf. Werewolves are known to shift from their human to wolf shape dur-ing full moons. Not only do they shape-shift, but they have better speed, strength, reflexes and senses than humans. These creatures are rumored to attack livestock and even some-times humans.

The idea of witches arose in the 1500’s. Created from ancient religion, these beings are sorcerers, who cast spells, and even conjure the dead. For as long as the myth of witches has existed, many people accused of witch-craft were killed, usually burned at the stake. In books and plays, witches are displayed as medicinal and leaders of rituals. Witches are potrayed as both good and bad in literature and movies. In pop culture, witches are most famously displayed in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Photo by Veron Dvorakova

Some love it, others hate it, what’s the appeal?

Features

Page 5


The supernatural surrounding usBy Sarah KlievesScot Scoop eDitor-in-chief

The truth in the legends and supernatural stories

These days, the idea of ghosts and vampires has become exceedingly more intriguing, especially to teenagers.

There are a variety of things that may be leading teens to buy into the idea of the supernatural.

Carlmont senior Miles Coe said that the supernatural offers teens an “easy way to get out of their lives for just a while.”

Likewise, senior Marcella Haddad said, “People turn to entertainment in general to escape their lives, and those everyday problems everyone faces. So when you read or watch something involving the supernatural, not only are you traveling into another world where you can forget your problems, that other world also hap-pens to have magic and shapeshifters and adventures that you would never experi-ence in your normal life.”

Due to societal pressures, a way to put one’s life on pause seems like a pretty solid reason for wanting to get involved in the idea of the supernatural.

Popularity is another simple explanation for teens involving themselves in the idea of the supernatural.

Eleven percent of students polled said that people like the idea of the super-natural because of its general popularity; meaning that the idea of the supernatural is popular due to people jumping on the bandwagon. This is easy to do with the

media pumping up the latest book, televi-sion show, or movie.

The media plays a key role in contribut-ing to the success and popularity of many things, including the supernatural.

Senior Michelle Kohlmann said, “The media has tons of influence. It gives people kind of the evidence they need in order to believe.”

Coe stated, “Society and the media plays towards the interest of people. If there’s interest in zombies, they make a zombie movie. If there’s interest in ghosts, they do something with that.”

Another reason teens might buy into the idea is because it’s a generational thing.

Teenagers grew up reading the “Harry Potter” series in elementary and middle school. Later, they read the “Twilight” se-ries and became enchanted with the story’s vampire characters. Many other stories and movies offer this experience as well.

However, “Twilight” and “Harry Pot-ter” are both written by adults, Stephanie Meyer and J.K. Rowling, respectively. This may mean that the theme of supernatural doesn’t only attract teens, but also adults. After all, there are shows like “True Blood” that are made for an adult audience.

If adults are also intrigued by supernatu-ral themes, teens might be trying to act more like adults, therefore buying into the idea of the supernatural.

Coe said that it’s not so much teens try-ing to act like adults, but “it’s actually the opposite. Rowling wrote ‘Harry Potter’ to

of course make lots of money, but to also gain a part of her childhood back.”

Our childhood is a driving force behind teens buying into the idea of the super-natural. Halloween is perhaps the biggest factor in this because teens have grown up carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating in costumes year after year.

According to history.com, historically, Halloween is “a time of celebration and superstition.” It originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Samhain was a time where people would “light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.”

This holiday evolved into All Saints’ Day (Nov.1) and the night before became known as All Hallows’ Eve, eventually becoming the Halloween that everyone knows today.

The traditions involving ghosts date back over 2,000 years, and the idea of ghosts has propelled even more in today’s society. However, Halloween has “certainly been overly romanticized and commer-cialized compared to its Pagan origins as a celebration to honor the deceased. But instead of contributing to our love of the supernatural, it only imbues us with a vaguely unsettled feeling as we experience only a slightly more spooky night,” stated Haddad.

Kohlmann said that “the ideas and legends behind Halloween could make people think that anything is possible.”

By Shira SteinScot Scoop eDitor-in-chief

As Halloween approaches, some people question their belief in the supernatural world around them, while others become more vocal about their beliefs.

Creatures such as the Loch Ness mon-ster, ghosts, vampires, Bigfoot, and many others are associated with Halloween. Sci-ence has not proven whether any of them do or do not exist, but there are people who believe in these creatures.

“It kind of depends on the creature. I would not call it active believing, just be-ing open minded to the possibility until it has been factually proven that there truly is not anything out there,” said sophomore Alex Irby.

Like many of her fellow students, Irby does not deny that these creatures could exist.

Senior Sarah Burry said, “Something started the legends, and maybe they got exaggerated, and or maybe the creature is now extinct. Those stories have roots to them.”

Some people compare the myth of crea-tures like the kraken to a colossal squid or a dragon to an ancient relative of the Komodo dragon called the megalania.

When asked in a poll, 45 percent of the students said that they do not believe in supernatural creatures. In contrast, 18 per-cent said they do believe in supernatural creatures and 37 percent said they believe in some of them.

“I only believe in ghosts and the chu-pacabra, because those are the only ones that science has proven,” said senior Aaron Goodwin, who then proceeded to give factual support for the existence of these creatures.

Farmers in South and Central America have been complaining about the “goat sucker” or chupacabra, since the 1970s. They said that it would suck the blood of goats and other livestock, which sounds somewhat similar to vampires.

The legend of Bigfoot is a story that is commonly known by many people and Bigfoot is described to look like an extremely tall and furry man, linking back to the Neanderthal.

Bigfoot hunters search the forests of Northern America for any sightings and attempt to communicate proof with one another and the general public. Groups like the Bigfoot Field Researchers Orga-nization (BFRO) talk with one another about finding concrete evidence that Bigfoot exists.

Although the majority of the student population at Carlmont believes that some form of supernatural creature exists, there are still students who do not.

Junior Adam Cobb said that “there is not enough evidence to support [the exis-tence of supernatural creatures].”

Evidence such as blurry photos and videos, abnormal footprints and hairs, and large excrement is seen as proof for some believers, but for skeptics, this only proves their point that supernatural creatures such as Bigfoot do exist.

Students such as senior Billy Lash only believe in certain creatures, “I have always been in love with the spookier sides of supernatural and fantasy creatures. I will believe anything that is not overdone, such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.”

Vampires

Ghosts

Mummies

Vampires, most commonly imitated in popular movies and television shows like the Twilight Saga and Vampire Diaries, are myth-ological creatures which feed off of human blood. Vampires are in the form of humans with fangs and in many folktales can even transform into bats. In many myths vampires cannot go in to the sun and can be warded off with garlic. The concept of a vampire was created in the 18th century in Europe, later popularized by the character Dracula in the 19th century.

Ghosts are the most popular mythological creatures in pop culture today. Seen in movies, television shows and books, ghosts are a mani-festation of a human soul or an animal soul. Ghosts are credited with many unexplained occurences in every day life. These souls ap-pear or communicate with the physical world. In America, there are 2,000 active ghost hunting groups, some even seen on television. The concept of ghosts has been a subject for a millennia and contine to be a subject of great controversy today

In the 2600 BC, in Egypt, mummification of humans and animals began. The process was supposed to preserve the skin and organs of the human or animal chosen. Mummies were normally pharohs who were burried with many priceless items. In pop culture, mum-mies were associated with curses making them similar to zombies. Like zombies, mummies are undead creatures which attack humans, however mummies are not rumored to eat hu-mans. This Egyptian ritual was turned into a monstrous topic for the use of entertainment.

Infographic by Zoe Wildman

Photo used under a Creative Commons License

Supernatural histories by K

at Savin

Campus

Page 6


Carefree casual or fancy formal?By Kristen FriisStAff Writer

Traditions of homecoming StAff Writer

By Ashley Kawakami

It’s that time of year again when the controversy between a formal and casual attire homecoming dance emerges.

Many schools around our area have formal homecomings such as Woodside, Hillsdale, Menlo-Atherton, and San Mateo High School.

Out of a poll of 139 Carlmont students, 47 students prefer a casual dance, 44 prefer a formal dance and 48 don’t mind.

“I would prefer a casual dance because it’s way less expensive than a formal dance,” said senior Logan McPherson. “Its also so much fun to go with a group of friends and just have a great time!”

According to the ASB Dance Commission, Homecoming tick-ets are only about $10-$15, compared to Winter formal tickets which usually start at about $30, as well as Prom which starts at about $70.

Casual dances only cost $10 to $15 a ticket, and students can basically wear what they wear to school.

“I prefer a casual homecoming because it’s way less expensive and less effort,” said junior Komei Wang.

Another reason students may prefer a formal attire is because of the excitement and anticipation around the preparation for the dance.

“I prefer a formal dance because I love it when there are chances to dress up,” said senior Evan McClain. “It’s really nice to be able to look very nice and it makes you feel more mature.”

Some students believe that the location of the dance affects the overall experience.

“Formal dances are more exciting because when it comes to winter formal or prom, you get to dress up and it’s in a very nice venue,” said junior Jasmin Riedel.

However, Carlmont’s homecoming dance is a chance for students to show their school spirit through casual wear. For example, students can show school spirit through standard Scots apparel and home-made t-shirts.

“We have two formal dances a year so I really like having one of the dances as casual,” said junior Elise Dimick. “It’s also really fun to make shirts with your friends so you can all go matching.”

Although some students may prefer to have a formal attired homecoming dance, a casual dance has always been our tradition.

“The Carlmont homecoming dance has always been known to be casual, and I think we just want to keep it that way,” said ASB Dance Supervisor Megan Guillermo.

It is all around campus: homecoming is coming.The signs are up, the football team is ready, and school spirit is

at its highest.Homecoming is an iconic American tradition, and is in every

single high school movie. The homecoming celebration is so present in American society, but what is homecoming? Everyone knows that there is a game, a dance, and a court is crowned, but what is the point?

Homecoming was originally started as a tradition for colleges and their surrounding college towns to come together and wel-come back alumni and former residents to create a bond between them and the existing populations.

It’s not completely certain which college started the homecom-ing tradition but it comes down to three schools, Baylor Univer-sity, the University of Illinois, and the University of Missouri. All three schools claim to have had the first homecoming celebration around 1910.

According to Baylor University’s website in 1909 three profes-sors invited the alumni back to campus to, “renew former asso-ciations and friendships, and catch the Baylor spirit again.”

This idea was the driving force behind homecoming, to rally current and former students together and generate school spirit.

Homecoming was originally popular in the 1920s around colleges and universities but as the years have gone on they have become a staple American tradition in high schools all over the country.

In many high schools homecoming is a huge event centered around a football game. However, that is not the only thing that happens during homecoming, there are many school groups that take part in the iconic tradition by performing, as well as a parade or rally.

At Carlmont there is a homecoming assembly where differ-ent clubs and groups have a chance to perform in front of the school to rally school spirit and show off some of the school’s talent. There is also a parade during the game’s half time, where the different classes decorate a themed float and drive them through the stadium throwing beads and candy.

Another tradition that is a huge tradition when it comes to celebrating homecoming is the crowing of a King and Queen and sometimes a whole court including the Prince, Princess, Duke, Duchess, Lord, and Lady.

Every year Carlmont crowns a boy and a girl from each class to be part of the homecoming court. The court is nominated beforehand but the votes are cast on the night of the dance and the results are announced later in the night.

Homecoming may seem like another hyped up football game however it’s a way for students to support their school’s team and help increase spirit and pride.

There are only a few dances a year in high school, and even less for the underclassmen. At Carlmont, homecoming is an informal event, whereas at many schools it is formal. This reason is sometimes the tipping point if students do or do not want to go to the dance.

For many going to homecoming doesn’t seem like a big deal at all.

Junior Kyle Pease said, “I never got into the habit of going to school dances in middle school and I’ve never gotten a good reason to start going in high school.”

On the other hand, many students enjoy going to the dances because of the school spirit. In addition there aren’t that many school dances,especially for the underclassmen, so many people jump at the chance to go to one of the only dances of the year.

Junior Omid Afshar said, “I just really enjoy going and being part of the spirit. We also don’t have many dances so it’s

fun to go because it they don’t happen often.”In correspondence to the long time American tradition

Carlmont is getting ready to root on their fellow Scots in the homecoming game on Oct. 25 and the crowning of their homecoming court on Oct. 26.

The culture of homecoming links back to college alumni

Infographic By Karissa Tom

Picture By Karissa TomEmma Lin sells tickets to the annual homecoming dance.

Campus

Page 7


StAff Writer

By Scott Schulze

The story behind Monty the ScotMost schools across the country have their

own mascot. Here at Carlmont our mascot seems to have become forgotten by many students.

Even though the Carlmont Wikipedia page shows the mascot as being “Scot,” the name of our school’s mascot is Monty. Monty is the bag piping Scot that is painted on the outside of the main gymnasium wall.

Even though he is very active at a lot of the sports games, a large percentage of students are unaware of what Monty’s name is.

In a recent survey of Carlmont students, they were asked if they knew “who is Carl-mont’s school mascot.” The answers received mostly consisted of “Scots” or the “Highland-ers.” Out of the 139 students surveyed, only 11 percent answered the question correctly.

Senior Robert Zuniga has an idea why stu-dents do not know the name of the mascot. He said, “The people in charge of the rallies and social events should incorporate the mascot more.”

The reason why Carlmont chose Monty the Scot as the mascot is because of the area of land where the school was built. According to the Carlmont Wikipedia page, because the

school was built in “this hilly area [which] is also referred to as “the highland,” the school team was named “The Scots,” and the mascot is a kilted Scottish highland warrior.”

Better marketing of Monty would help students to recognize him more. If his image was on the Carlmont website, or newsletters, or posters, then more likely than not, more students would know of Monty.

Zuniga believes that more students would have known who Monty was if the use him in the announcements or posters for sports games. Zuniga said that for the announce-ments, they could say, “Come cheer for our football team with Monty our school

mascot.”Junior Andrew Wach also said that Monty

needs more advertising.Wach believes another contributing factor

is a lack of student involvement. He said, “I think it’s important to be active

in school activities because it’s a great way to meet people and incorporate yourself more with the school itself.”

Zuniga considers the mascot to be a large part of high school. He said, “having a high school mascot is a big part of high school because it follows the high school tradition. They are there to uplift the crowd and just make games and social events even more fun.”

Infographic By Karissa TomInfographic By Karissa Tom

The Highlander

Page 8 Coming to AmericaBolivia to California: Kenneth’s transition to the U.S.

By Arianna BayangosneWS AnD opinion eDitor

This is going to be my new home till I graduate.

This was Kenneth Chen’s first thought as he got off the plane from Santa Cruz de la Sierra with his parents.

Chen said, “I accepted the fact that I am no longer in Bolivia. I’m in a whole new environ-ment right now.”

He was greeted by his sister who he has not seen since he was five years old because she left Bolivia to study at UC Santa Barbara. Even though he was tired from the long flight, he was happy to see her for the first time in years and meet her husband.

Chen also felt weird because he didn’t know how to interact with his sister and her husband.

He commented, “I didn’t really know what to say because when you’ve been far apart from a person for such a long time, you feel like you don’t really know the person.”

Chen moved to California to reconnect with his sister and spend more time with his family in California. He lives in Belmont while his sister lives in San Carlos. He said, “She comes every night to visit us, but her husband and her mother-in-law come over for special occasions. I feel closer to her now. Now, I can interact with her and I don’t feel uncomfortable when talking to her anymore. It’s a closer relationship now.”

Chen’s transition from Bolivia to California was a tough one.

Chen had to transition from a predomi-nantly Latino community to a more diverse one and found himself struggling with speak-ing English all time at school.

Even though he has lived in Belmont for two years, he is still adjusting to the environ-ment and figuring out if his move was for the best.

Although his parents left their life in China

to live in Bolivia, Chen was still raised in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Chen said, “At home, I speak Cantonese with my mom, but I usually speak in Spanish with my dad because we are used to that.”

He was born in La Paz, Bolivia and lived there until he was in seventh grade.

“I remember it being chaotic. People didn’t like the government and there were protests and marches. People threw rocks and firecrack-ers at buildings and police officers. I remember watching the protests on television and being scared,” said Chen about La Paz.

Afterwards, he moved to Santa Cruz de la Sierra for a few years. He described the envi-ronment of Santa Cruz de la Sierra as relaxed.

“Imagine Belmont but expanded into a big town. There aren’t a lot of tall buildings around Santa Cruz de la Sierra. I lived on one of those main streets, called Monseñor. Every weekend, you see people on the mainstreet at res-taurants, eating, drink-ing, and listening to live music playing at some restaurants,” added Chen.

Chen believes Santa Cruz de la Sierra is defined by their traditions.

He stated that there is a carnival every year in Santa Cruz where people throw paint at each other and each district in the city performs a certain dance.

Even though people were constantly party-ing on weekends, Chen enjoyed his schooling experience in Bolivia at Eagles’ School and Cambridge College.

Chen said that the schools in South America are generally smaller than schools in America.

Chen commented, “Everyone gets to know each other especially people from the same grade through the block schedule. You have classes with the same people which gives students an opportunity to develop strong relationships between classmates.”

At school, his classes were conducted in English. However, at recess and lunch, his friends and he would speak in Spanish to each other.

One of Chen’s favorite memories in Bolivia was the end of the school year. “Every last day of school in my school in Santa Cruz, people threw their old school supplies away and ripped their uniforms,” he said.

Chen left his life in Bolivia for one in the quiet suburbs of Belmont which he described as peaceful.

He said, “I remember saying to some of my classmates that I was from Bolivia. They said back to me, ‘No seriously, where are you from?’ They couldn’t believe I was an Asian person whose first language was Spanish.”

Chen remembers his first day of school at Carlmont. His English learners teacher, Jenny Bonjardim, took him to his first class, Chinese Three.

Chen said, “The teacher walked me to the Chinese classroom and she yelled at my class-mate, Grant Chen, to tell me where to go next. At first, it was awkward but it got better. We transferred from the English learners class into a regular English class. Ever since then, he has been my best friend here.”

Chen noticed that students in California are more stressed out about school.

He commented, “There is obviously a lot of competition in America trying to get into a good university or worrying about stan-dardized tests.”

In California, he feels stressed out about working on his college applica-tions.

Chen said, “In Bolivia, we don’t really worry about college until after we gradu-ate. We don’t have to think ahead about what major to pursue or

what university to go to.”As Chen ends his senior year, he hopes

to be accepted into one of the UC’s par-ticularly UC San Diego, but is currently undecided on his major.

Chen also noticed that California is a melting pot of all cultures.

He said, “I was amazed at the amount of dif-ferent ethnicities in California. My old school in Bolivia was diverse, but here in California, it is more diverse.”

He compared Bolivia to California, “Asians are in the minority of course. Most of the people there are indigenous to the place.”

Chen feels that he is able to embrace his Asian culture more in California even at school where he is part of the Chinese Culture Club and the K-Pop Club.

“I feel more in touch with my Asian roots here.” Chen said.

Even with the diversity, he also noted that America is a place with close knit communities regardless of the different ethnicities represented in each neighborhood.

“America does a better job (than Bolivia)

at creating close knit communities. You get a chance to know people from around the neigh-borhood,” Chen noted.

Page 9

October 2013

Imagine packing up and leaving every-thing behind, taking your established life in a place you’ve lived your entire life and saying good bye.

Meet Carlmont junior, Luke Horst. Aug. 11 of this past summer, he left his home of Egham, England and moved to San Carlos. Horst moved from England to come live with his dad in California. “The most dif-ficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Left all my friends and my old way of life.”

Coming from Egham to San Carlos is a massive change in itself. Both are located on commuter belts to larger cities, London and San Francisco respectively, but that’s where the similarities stop.

Egham is a small English town, about a quarter of the size of San Carlos with a main street and a few residential areas. Horst described it as, “A quiet place with lots of places to eat. Having a college right next to Egham attracts a lot of teenagers to the area.” One huge difference is the Bay Area climate, which Horst gave high praise, “I ap-preciate this good warm weather after living in a miserable damp climate 24/7.”

Horst listed off the general adjustments that he’s had to make in his short time in America, “What people do for fun here, the massively different food, and the fact that people drive on the wrong side of the road.”

Perhaps the biggest adjustment Horst has had to make is acclimating to the bus-tling academic life that comes with being a junior in an American high school. Horst is enrolled in everything mandatory for a junior plus biotech and a online Modern European history class.

Being thrown right into the storm that is

Coming to AmericaLuke Horst: Crossing the Atlantic

Being able to see life through multiple lenses is something not many are capable of doing. Carlmont students Noor and Hiba Dahbour are fortunate enough to have and use these lenses of life.

“I’m a lot more open minded about things after growing up in two com-pletely different cultures, ” said sophomore Noor Dahbour

Originally the Dahbours are from Pales-tine but due to problems in the country both mother and father relocated. With a father from Kuwait and a mother from Jordan, the Dahbour sisters have quite a bit of culture mixed into their lives.

“It’s always fun to hear about their lives

By Ayesha AbbasiStAff Writer

Retaining cultural awareness in a new place

junior year, Horst has had to adjust to the toilling workload, “The schoolwork here is four times what I did in England, but here its absolutely essential to graduate. In Eng-land, you can get away with passing the one and only exam at the end of the year.”

Horst had been to two schools through his high school period back in England, one private and one public, and both required uniforms.

“The private school was very strict, but the state school I attended was much more relaxed and work could be done without struggle,” said Horst.

Socially, Horst has also had an adjust-ment. “I had a real life over there, so its re-ally hard to leave that and have to start from scratch,” he said.

Although he does feel like he has become close friends with a few people, overall he feels like he is not fully settled yet. Horst said that for the most part teenagers in America are easier to get along with and generally more laid back.

When asked what Horst did for fun in his old home, “Partying is up there, people like to have a good time, but generally just hanging out and having a good time with friends.”

In coming to America, Horst also had to abandon his spot in the Aldershot Town Football Club’s youth academy. “I had a spot in the academy. We would play prestigious teams such as Arsenal, and travel as far as places such as the Netherlands and Spain.”

Horst was also an avid

supporter of the London based club, Tottenham Hotspur. “I still follow Tottenham here in the United States, but I’ve also started to watch a bit of American football.”

Horst explained that his new found allegiance lie with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, “mostly because they have England in their name.”

Horst also explained his interest in playing soccer for the men’s soccer team here at Carlmont, and has attended numerous off-season workouts.

“So far things in America and Carlmont have been un-predictable, but I’m looking forward to staying the course and growing as a person in my new home.”

By Graham GodwinStAff Writer

DahbourThis kind of attitude is deemed true with

many children who have first generation immigrant parents. A study published in Sep-

tember/October issue of Child Development journal showed that when sec-ond generation students, which are children who are born in the U.S. to ei-ther one or both

foreign-born parents, were com-pared to “third generation” chil-dren, who are native-born children to native-born parents, did significantly better in STEM fields such

as math and science.The difference between the two

cultures never comes as a disadvan-

tage, “We get the best of both worlds with American Jordan culture,” said Hiba Dahbour

Having a physically prominent cultural tie to their Jordanian side is what really pinpoints the sisters in a crowd, “Our headscarves are a tie to not only our culture but more importantly our religion and we take wear it with pride every step of the way,” said Hiba Dahbour.

Another benefit for these sisters is being aware of surroundings and different types of people. They know how to deal with all types of cultural and religious discrepancies. “I’m a lot more open minded about things after grow-ing up in two completely different cultures,” said Hiba Dahbour

At the end of the day the Dahbour sisters don’t see a foreign parents as something to be ashamed of as Hiba Dahbour says, “The best

part of having foreign parents is that you’re different, you’re unique, you’re tied to your culture”.

Lifestyle

Page 10


Designing a careerBy Isabella Paragas

This clothing line was founded February of this year by two ambitious freshman from Carlmont, Liam Jocson and Daniel Wehara. Their company, named “Mint,” sells unique hoodies, crewnecks, sweatshirts, and t-shirts, as they remind their customers to #Stayfresh.

How were you, personally, involved with the creation of the clothing line?

Scots fashion their first collection

Students spend countless hours complaining about homework, but only an hour or two actually doing it. However, there are those with an actual sense of time management and responsibility who dedicate their lives to creation and definition. As Picard would put it, they make it sew. Here are the contents of their craft:

StAff Writer

Nectar Streetwear co-founder Andrew Jung, designer Emma Lin, and co-founder Stefan DismondPhoto by Scott Schulze

Nectar Streetwear

Free one hour consultation for Scots families!

[email protected]

Visit us on Facebook facebook.com/KristenRudgerLandscapes

[email protected]

Free one hour consultation for Scots families!

Mint Clothing

Liam Jocson: I was involved in the cre-ation just as much as my colleagues. We all met during math class and decided to start up a clothing line.

Why was this clothing line created in the first place? Were you trying to send a mes-sage?

Daniel Wehara: This clothing line was created to provide cool clothes to people that didn’t want their money to go to huge com-panies that already have a gigantic amount of money. We also created this to get a taste of how to grow a business, which will help us later in life. Our message is to be productive with your life.

Jocson: We created this clothing line as an entrepreneurial experiment, and a good way to make money. In a way, we were trying to send a message. During the chaotic startup weeks, we were shunned and people told us that we wouldn’t make any money. But we showed them through hard work that we can be successful.

Why did you decide to get involved in this project? Why is this important to you?

Wehara: I was a bit low on money and it was a super fantastic idea that could be pulled off. Mint is important to me because it shows that you can do whatever you want if you put

in the work for it.Jocson: I wanted to experience the ex-

citement of retail just like my colleagues. This is important to me because it teaches me business skills and math and selling clothing is a very fun experience.

How do you contribute to the project? Such as, one of the designers, or helping with the business aspect, etc.

Wehara: I help design and sell, which all of our members do pretty much equal-ly. The only person who does additional stuff is Naser Abdelrahman, who is a magician on the computer and he does all the work to get designs onto a computer.

Jocson: I act as the “leader” of Mint clothing. I oversee that everyone is on task, whether it is making designs or do-ing a profit count, and usually make the executive decisions.

About how long does it take for a de-sign to become ready to be sold?

Wehara: It can take anywhere from a week to a month, depending on the complexity of the design.

Jocson: It usually takes about two weeks for us to create a new array of 3-5 designs.

Does the name of your company have any particular meaning?

Jocson: We got the name while watch-ing the film Super 8. In one scene, a boy says, “Dude, that’s so Mint!” We began using the phrase around school and one day in math class we thought it’d be cool to start a clothing company called Mint. There is no meaning to it, we just thought it sounded cool.

A clothing line founded in this summer by two students of Carlmont, now seniors, Stefan Dismond and Drew Jung, who were later joined by classmate, Emma Lin. Dubbing their “petite” clothing company, “Nectar” -- “to make our customer’s lives a little more sweet” -- the trio designs, prints, and sells their custom t-shirts and sweatshirts at affordable prices.How were you involved with the creation of the clothing line?

Emma Lin: Stefan [Dismond] and Drew [Jung] originally thought of the idea and I joined later.Why was this clothing line created in the first place? Were you trying to send a mes-sage?

Lin: I decided to become involved be-cause it seemed like an exciting project. We all love to draw, so they invited me to join them, and since I’ve never done something like this before.

Why did you decide to get involved in this project? Why is this important to you?

Lin: It’s important to me because it has actually been succeeding. The fact that the school newspaper is interviewing us means that we’ve made enough of an impact to be considered an actual clothing line/company/business. Plus, it’s pretty cool to see your own hand drawn designs worn by people around school. I think we’re different because our designs are original and hand drawn. We also have a huge variety of options in terms of shirt/sweatshirt colors, styles, ink colors, etc. A customer could basically choose all the aspects of the shirt/sweatshirt and it could

be completely one-of-a-kind. Normally, custom-made clothing is very expensive but we sell the products at the same price no matter how much it’s customized.How do you contribute to the project? Such as, one of the designers, or helping with the business aspect, etc.

Lin: Me, Stefan, and Drew all create designs. We enter them into a poll for the general public to vote on our website and the winning designs--either 2 or 3--become actual shirts people can buy. This way, the designs are chosen not by us, but the cus-tomers, who are the ones who will buy the designs in the first place.

About how long does it take for a design to become ready to be sold?

Lin: We all contribute to running the website and social media (Facebook, Insta-gram) and selling. Once we draw a design, we enter it into the poll, which lasts 1 week. Then it’ll take us about a week to prep the screens to be printed.

If someone was interested in buying clothes from your line, where could they order them?

Lin: To buy clothing from nectar, someone could talk to one of us in person, order online on our website, leave a post on our Facebook page, message us [over Facebook], leave a comment on our Instagram , or call/text. New designs are released every month or so, and we’ve expanded our choices of shirt and sweatshirt styles, introduced gradients, and we might do some new things with the way we print.

Mint Clothing co-founder Liam Jocson Mint Clothing co-founder Daniel WeharaPhotos by Minh-Han Vu

Lifestyle

Page 11


The niftiest iOS 7 featuresThe new iOS 7 is more than a pretty face

With the launch of the iOS 7 last month, it’s one of the most radical updates that Apple’s mobile iOS has ever

By Tara EbrahimpourStAff Writer seen. While the overhauled

interface and bold new look is getting all the attention, iOS 7 comes with a buck-etload of new features and enhancements that make it

easier to use. Need to catch up? Here are a few features just waiting to be discovered in your free time-some of which you might not have even known existed.

iTUNES RADIO

This feature is free, and is automati-cally added to the Music app when you

upgrade to iOS 7. iTunes Radio lets you listen to songs in an entirely new way for

people who haven’t heard of Spotify or Pandora. It is similar to other music streaming services, but it focuses on songs that iTunes has to offer. It allows users to customize stations, listen to pre-made stations, and purchase songs from those stations. Like Pandora, this service only allows a certain amount of songs to be skipped per day. The new photo filters feautures you even

more choices to take pictures limited only by your creativity and how well you can lean

on your hips. It is similar to the Photobooth software and Instagram filters, and allows users

to add special effects to their photos. You can take a picture in black and white or use one of the other seven fil-ters offered to alter your pictures. These filters include Noir, Chrome, Instant, Tonal,Transfer, Mono, Fade, and Process. With Instagram, users have to first take a picture, and then put the filter on it, but with this feature, the filter is built in, making it faster to post a picture.

PHOTO FILTERS

TURNING TOGGLES ON/OFF WITH SIRI

Siri is no longer only used for finding directions to your favorite coffee shop or restaurant, to call a friend, or check the

weather, now, with iOS 7, Siri can be used for other things as well. Because you’re too good to hold a button, Siri can be used to

turn on/off certain settings such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode,Do Not Disturb, and Accessibility among others. This feature is helpful on days when you just aren’t in the mood to change your settings by hand, or are in a rush.

How-to: In order to activate this feature, you must press and hold the home button to activate Siri, then, simply tell Siri what application you want to open or close and it will automatically do so.

CONTROL CENTER

Possibly one of the most convenient new features that comes with the iOS 7 is Control Center. This feature allows

users to access applications and tools more easily. Users can access these gadgets from the lock screen, while in the past, the

gadgets that could be used through the lock screen where limited. Such gadgets include the screen brightness, camera, clock app, system volume, and many others that can be used even when your iPhone is locked. Through Control Center users can also enable or disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb, and System Mute.

How To: Accessing Control Center is simple. All you have to do is slide your finger up across the screen, and The Control Center tab will pop up.

“There are so many genres of music to listen to, and it allows me to listen to music I wouldn’t normally hear.”

-Jared Fitzpatrick

“The photo filters are kind of like Instagram, but built into the phone. I don’t love them, but it’s nice to know they’re there.”

-Emily Rudger

“The new Siri function is easy to access and also saves a lot of time.”

-Cody Campbell

EntertainmentPage 12


Drugs in the media:By John RussellStAff Writer

By Kellan McDonoughSportS eDitor

Consequences of usingWhen many people think of a stoner, they

think of the TV generated caricature of a per-son that doesn’t care about school and spends every waking minute getting high. Failing all their classes or not showing up to school at all, the druggie stereotype has come to mean high school drop out.

The reality is, however, that there are high performing students in AP classes that smoke and go to parties.

Senior Amelia Tupou said, “I know for a fact there a kids that do drugs and perform well in school. Those kids have their priorities straight and know that school is important. Just because a kid gets good grades doesn’t mean they don’t go to parties, drink, or smoke.”

For some, functioning in school while under the influence is indeed possible and a reality.

An honors Carlmont student who asked to have his name withheld said, “A kid in my chemistry class would take every test while he was high and he always got a better score than me.”

When students do get caught, there is a long series of disciplinary measures.

At Carlmont High School, students receive different punishments depending on whether they got caught with drugs inside of school or off campus.

S.O.S. Coordinator and Crisis Counselor Shelley Bustamante commented, “If someone is suspected of being under the influence on campus, security will bring them down to the office and they will be subjected to a search. If they see any drugs or paraphernalia they will be suspended for five days. Two of those days

will be held in abeyance. This means, if they come to my ‘alternative to suspension’ pro-gram, they can come back after three days.”

For a student to be considered off-campus, they must have gone home before going to the destination in which they used a drug. If a student goes straight from school to a place off campus to smoke, they are still the school’s concern since they came from the school.

Getting caught does mean that the school and probation officers can interfere and check in with the student periodically. Privacy is not a concern.

Bustamante continued, “If you get caught off campus, you're subjected to the police and their own actions. It could be a search and ar-rest or probation. We have kids seen a lot by probation officers because they were caught using or selling drugs. The probation officers make sure they are attending all their classes. They do urine testing. They do room checks in which they go to their house and check their rooms.”

Bustamante’s program is not only to get the kids to stop using drugs, but to talk to them about why they are using in the first place.

Bustamante commented, “I try to figure out what they're using and why they're using it and if it's an addiction and how bad that addiction might be. I think Carlmont is not any different than any private school or public school with people who are using. I try and find out if they really want to stop.”

If a student’s grades are good, while going to class high or taking tests high, will they necessarily want to stop?

Although using does have a direct correla-tion with poor grades, for some, it does not make a difference in academic performance. It all depends on the student and the student’s motivation.

We all like to think of ourselves as strong-willed, opinionated people, impervious to suggestion and swaying to cultural norms. When it comes to something like drug use, those who avoid drugs credit it to their own strength of character; those who do engage in the behavior claim they do so for conscious-ness raising purposes. Whatever the pretense, it is almost impossible to argue that mass me-dia in our society has not influenced people in some capacity.

This debate is almost as basic as nature versus nurture; that we would be foolish enough to believe that something like drug use is either entirely genetic predisposition or cultural dogma is impossible, but one cannot discount that the expansion of the scope of mass media contributes to the desensitization of our youth when it comes to drug culture.

Rappers almost unilaterally support drug use; the lexicon of teenagers is influenced made up of hip-hop culture. Increasingly, social media has become the central vein through which information flows among youth, this path unencumbered by the cen-sorship of other forms.

It’s not that these forms of exposure have caused drug use necessarily, they have raised the baseline of “safe” behavior. Where mari-juana use was once stigmatized, it is almost nothing to teenagers at this point; the prolif-eration of “Molly” and other hard substances has become the new horizon.

This shift in what is acceptable and what is edgy is due to mass media, and the paradigm

shift that distribution has gone through in the past decade.

Senior Erika Kubisch said, “The media thrives off of showing celebrities drinking and smoking. Whether in a negative or positive light, it still puts the idea in kids’ heads that drugs are something to try.”

Kids themselves do not think they are susceptible to such influence, but when asked about their drinking and drug-taking habits 53 percent said they thought the media made drug use seem more acceptable.

It makes sense that one would not realize they are being socialized, no one wants to ac-cept the fact that their thoughts and behav-iors are not entirely their own. Teenagers do not want to accept the fact that the underly-ing causes of some of their more harmful behaviors are due to the fetishization of drug culture by our media.

Even the traditional “media,” with its steps taken to raise awareness about the effects of drugs, cannot stem the tide of online culture. More and more, television is beginning to look antiquated in the face of social media.

And this is where the youth of today live, online. It’s the frontier, the unmitigated flow of ideas that define the popular thought of today’s youth. It is a culture that is articulate and intelligent enough to bring drug culture to youth. This new breed of drug culture proponents have effectively come out ahead against traditional, conservative factions look-ing to clamp down on drug use.

The media, in all its forms, has a net effect of pushing kids towards looking at drugs in a more objective light, evaluating the upsides as heavily as the possible downsides.

Image used with Creative Commons License

making it seem OK

Infographic by Kristen Friis

This poll was answered by of 141 students during the beginning of October.

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Entertainment Page 13


Trapped in the world of gamesBy Jessica AdairStAff Writer

Does media make money matter?By Daniel WangStAff Writer

When you turn on the TV, clips of lavish houses and designer clothes are displayed, and at the grocery store, magazines lining the aisles depict wealthy men and women wearing $10,000 watches and clutching silk handbags.

These images may seem insignificant and unattainable to the average American, but some students tend to feel motivated by them.

Junior Maru Streets said, “I think that when the media emphasizes money and ma-terialism, many high school students want to have the things mentioned in the TV shows and magazines and be like the celebrities in the shows.”

Lisa DiMarino, a psychologist for Pacific Wellness Center, said, "I think that teens are absolutely influenced by the media in their expectations for wealth and success.”

As a psychologist, a large portion of DiMa-

rino’s work is counseling students. “The bulk of my practice is made up of students who are very successful academically and athleti-cally, but who are doing so under tremendous stress, and as a result, are very unhappy,” DiMarino said.

DiMarino believes that the source of the stress for students she councils is often derived from the media. DiMarino said, “Our TV culture is dominated by reality shows about extremely wealthy people who live very grandiose lifestyles and it is hard not to get the impression that this is the norm. Therefore, teenagers then end up compar-ing themselves to those better-off people and strive to be like them.”

Mackenna Galicia, a junior at Carlmont High School, is motivated by the media, but not for the reasons described by DiMarino and Streets.

Galicia stated, “There are a lot of news stories about people who do inspirational things and try to make a positive impact on society. Those stories are inspirational to

young people like us.” But, with positive stories come negative

stories. Galicia added, “However, there are also a lot of negative stories in the media such as drug abuse and violence. Students might also be motivated to do those bad things in the media too.”

On the other hand, one student who isn’t moved by the media is junior James Xie.

Xie said, “Consequently, most high-achieving students are self-motivated... Nobody should be motivated to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, but should instead be driven to be the best they can be as an individual."

While Xie did admit the media can pres-ent students with role models to look up to, he still believes that the ultimate motivation still comes from within.

Having the media serve as motivation or not, many students still work hard, with hopes of getting into a good college and achieving so-called “success,” which revolves around the notion of money leading to

happiness.Instead of focusing on money in particu-

lar, DiMarino stated, “I would like to see students create a broader definition of success, one that includes more than just wealth and power, such as positive relationships and strong connections to friends and family.”

In the age of advanced technology, a virtual world is right at our fingertips.

Teenagers will spend hours upon hours playing games on their phone, even to the point where their academic and social life is compromised. There is no psychiatric term for the ad-diction to phone games, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.

Games like Candy Crush have become so popular because of their visual appeal and the levels the player has to pass in order to continue with the game.

Monica Bayasgalan, a junior, said, “I became addicted to playing Candy Crush because whenever I passed a level, I just wanted to keep going and I never really noticed how long I’d been playing.”

Other games like Fun Run allow you to compete against other players as well as your friends.

“I play Fun Run all the time because it was a fun way to compete against all my friends and win bragging rights over them,” said junior Peter Brydon.

“The games available nowadays are very attractive and appealing to young people; there are so many bright colors and cute characters that make the game more interesting. Also, [young people] can easily access these games right off their phone and most games don’t cost anything,” said Lianne Avila, a marriage and family therapist with a degree in clinical psychology.

Whatever the reason for playing the game may be, a harm-less habit can easily turn into a toxic addiction.

“Whenever the focus of a person’s life becomes the game, that’s when things start to fall away. Their grades can start to fall and even their social life as well, if all they’re worried

about is playing the game,” said Avila.Many students even compromise their academic lives and

cause added stress just to keep playing their phone games. Brian Palma, a junior, said, “On multiple occasions I have

played the games instead of doing homework. Sometimes, I even stay up an hour later or do my homework at school. I find that it relaxes my mind and keeps me from stressing out. However, in the end I just stress out more because all my time has been spent playing games.”

But when is the obsession for playing games considered too far? In some instances, people actually pay money in order for them to reach the next level of the game. Some spend hours looking at their tiny phone screen and neglect everything else.

Bayasgalan said, “I have paid money so I could get more lives in Candy Crush because I was tired of being stuck on the same level and I wanted to move on.”

Some people think the addiction becomes too far when a person is surrounding his or her whole life with the game. But even the addicts recognize that this is a step too far.

“Even though I like playing games, I would never play them when I’m out with my friends. I’d rather be talking to my friends because I enjoy their company. If a person cares more about the game than their friends, that is crossing the line," said Palma.

Avila said, “The addiction becomes too far when it be-comes just that-an addiction. If a person becomes defensive or irritable when they are asked to put the phone away or if they forget responsibilities, then it is a step too far.”

Even though phone games can easily become a time-suck and can cause young people to compromise many aspects of their lives, Avila believes that the addiction can be contained.

“If their parents are concerned with their addiction, they must be open to talking about it. Also, they can make goals to limit the amount of games on their phone to resist the urge.”

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interview with Harvard’s Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsim-mons, “Students’ strength of char-acter, and their ability to exercise good judgment are critical factors in the admissions process that are revealed not by test scores but by...the testimony of teachers and guid-ance counselors.”

Letters of recommendation play an important part in the admissions process, allowing admissions officers to see the applicant from an outside but close perspective. Through the types of letters one sends, one can show their strengths and provide contextual interpretation of their academic performance. They can even help explain irregularities or shed light into key factors that define one’s learning environment in certain cases.

“I felt that it would be best to ask my math teacher from my sophomore year because I want to major in computer science. I also did well in her class, and I found that class to one of my more enjoy-able ones,” said Wagenseller.

In light of this growing con-cern, Carlmont Principal Lisa Glea-ton proposed a plan to the admin-istration this year for teachers who are writing recommendation letters. Gleaton said that for teachers who write more than 10 recommenda-tion letters, they will be granted the option to take a day off anytime during the year. While granting a day off won’t decrease the workload for teachers, Gleaton explained that it is a way to help teachers manage

their time between lesson plans and writing the letters.

“I’m not surprised if there are teachers here who will do write over 50 letters this year. It comes with the job. I can’t pay the teach-ers for writing them, but granting them the day off is like a token of appreciation for their work,” said Gleaton.

In terms of substitute teachers, Gleaton added that parents and students would not have to worry about teachers being absent all on one day due to this policy.

“The teachers would be able to pick any day they want off in the year, so we would make sure that not all the teachers would decide to miss a certain day,” said Gleaton.

Guzman noted that while having a day off would be nice, it would not be much of an advantage for him.

“I personally would not be able to write 10 letters in one day be-cause I put a lot of time and effort when writing them,” said Guzman.

However, other teachers have noted that having the day off would

Teacher letters from pg 1schools have open campuses.

“If we had an open campus, many students would probably feel like they have more freedom. But also this freedom means you have to keep up with school work and other things so there would be incentives to do better in school,” said Chow.

For Sequoia Union High School District to have an open cam-pus, the board would need to be convinced that open campuses, or provisionally open campuses, are better for each school’s academic standings.

help them ease the workload. “It may take me more than

20 hours to just write my 25 recommendation letters, so I am going to use the day to lock myself in a room and concentrate on writing those letters,” said Ramroth.

In the future, Gleaton noted that teachers who write more than 10 letters can schedule a meeting with Instructional Vice Principal Ralph Crame and her to see how they can work a plan.

As the administration con-tinues to work with the guidance counselors and teachers to resolve this issue, teachers noted that the best way for students to ensure a strong recommendation letter is by building a relationship with their teacher early on.

“Students should talk to their teachers about their hobbies, inter-ests and show that they care about the class. Teachers will only be willing to write you a letter if they know you well as a student and have built some sort of connection with you,” said Ramroth.

said: “Where fear and weapons meet--and they often do in urban America--there is always the pos-sibility of death.”

However some students believe that in this instance, gender makes a difference. Junior Nathan Klebanov said, “Men are less vulnerable than women. There are overwhelming statistics and physi-ological evidence suggesting that women should take extra precau-tions.”

An example of such evidence is that according the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, 1 in 6 American women will be victims of sexual assault in her lifetime.

Even more applicable to Carl-mont girls is the fact that women aged 16 to 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted

rape or sexual assault. (NCVS, 2000)

Alison Marsh, a junior, said that she “avoids going to weird places alone and encourages others to dress in a more grandmother-like fash-ion.” She believes that one should find a balance between living freely and safely.

According to WomenOnGuard.com, a website that was founded to prevent violent crimes against wom-en, “Wherever you are...stay alert and tuned in to your surroundings. Trust your instincts. If something or someone makes you uncomfortable, avoid the person or leave.” Being aware of one’s surroundings is the first step to avoiding confrontation.

Jeeyna Wozniak, a senior, said, “One must keep in mind the pos-sible consequences of all actions and think of how they will play out before it’s too late.”

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Sports Page 15


Graduate of the 2013 class, Michelle Swarovski placed fifth in the world in the Olympic distance triathlon for the 18-19 year old division.

Triathlons are race competitions that include a swimming, biking and running section.

Swarovski participated in both cross country and swim-ming at Carlmont, even though her best sport was not offered at Carlmont.

Even though she excelled at both, she felt like a mix be-tween the two was the best fit for her.

Training since she was 12, Swarovski felt like there wasn’t much of a spark when she played other sports. Her friends

After years of chasing his dream, runner Timothy Layten, a Carlmont class of 2013 alumnus, became a Division I college athlete this year when he signed with the University of Kentucky (UK) for cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.

For years, Layten dedicated much of his time to running in order to become good enough to compete in college.

“During junior year, I became very dedi-cated to running and training. This included spending an extra hour and a half after practice to build strength from core work-outs and various other running exercises to get in the best shape that I could. I would

get up at around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. to go for a quick 20 minute jog just to get strength. I continued this dedication all the way through senior year,” said Layten.

To begin the process of finding a college that he could run for, Layten emailed coaches at about ten different schools during the summer before senior year. He said, “Only a few coaches emailed me back. One of them, Jason Dunn from UK, told me that I have a lot of potential and that he wanted me to fly out to Lexington, Ky. for an official visit of the school and campus. The last day of my visit, the head track coach offered me to sign a letter of intent, which would declare me to be on the team at UK.”

Just as Layten’s dream was about to turn into reality, a major drawback almost caused everything to come crashing down on him.

“I really wanted to sign it because I had decided that I wanted to go here. However, my parents said that I couldn’t because the tuition was too expensive and that the only way I could make it happen was if I got a

scholarship to make the cost equivalent to paying in state tuition in California,” Layten said. “I told the coach over the phone and he said that I could only get a scholarship if, at a track meet, I ran as quickly as a college runner could run. At the end of May, I ran 1:52 in the half mile at CCS championships, which was good enough for the coach to offer me a 25 percent scholarship to run at UK. My parents approved and I signed my letter of intent.”

Now a college athlete, Layten enjoys the many perks that come with it. “I’m almost treated like a professional. They give me all my running shoes and, whenever they are worn down and done, I just ask for a new pair form our equipment manager and I get them for free. I also get a whole new wardrobe of running clothes made by Nike because our school has a sports contract with them to provide all our athletic gear.”

Equipment isn’t the only thing Layten is allowed to take advantage of. He said, “At the track building, there's a nice locker room

for us and a trainer’s room to go when we are injured. The staff even does our laundry for us every day.”

Layten described the myriad of academic support given to him as an athlete: “I am required to spend eight hours a week in the Center for Athletic Tutoring, which is where UK athletes can go do schoolwork and to study whenever they want to. I have six tutor sessions per week.”

Practicing about 15 hours per week and go-ing to multiple tutoring sessions in addition to his classes leaves Layten with little time to spare. However, he is extremely proud of himself and is glad that he persevered and be-came a college athlete: “Some of my coaches and fellow teammates said that I wasn't a good enough runner to compete at the col-legiate level, and my parents thought that there was no way they could afford one of the Southeastern Conference schools without a scholarship, which they didn't think would be possible for me to obtain. I was so excited that I could prove them all wrong.”

recommended that she try triathlons.Swarovski said, “I cannot express how much triathlons

changed my life, but all I know is that triathlons are a part of my everyday. It’s what keeps me sane because it acts as my outlet and my source of happy.”

She noted that the World Championships and the Iron-man, which 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running, were the highlights on her triathlon pathway.

Swarovski trained herself for the World Championships and was able to participate in Team USA, winning fifth place in the world.

Swarovski said, “training in my life is not really an option, I just basically am in constant training mode.”

Junior and senior year Swarovski trained before school, went to cross country practice after school and then went to an out of school swim team after practice.

When she first started, Swarovski had a trainer that would lay out the plans of the workouts for the week, but now she plans it all herself.

Originally suggested by her friends, Swarovski turned from experimenting with triathlons to having triathlons become a way of life.

As years pass, Swarovski has not only gained experience, but she also has gained more love for the sport, she said, “my pas-sion for the sport continues to grow.”

Swarovski intends to keep her passion alive and continue to compete in triathlons.

Graduate Michelle Swarovski excels at triathlonsBy Conrad MayStAff Writer

By Dominic GialdinientertAinment eDitor

Tim Layten moves on from Carlmont to become a D1 athlete

Photo provided by Tim

Layten

Layten racing in his Ken-tucky blues.

Screamin’ Scots look to revive Carlmont school spiritScanning the bleachers, all the

other school could see were rows upon rows of students with blue and gray costumes and blue and white` faces. The bleachers were filled with students screaming, “Whoop Whoop! GO SCOTS!”

In every home football game, students dress in Scots gear to sup-port and cheer for the Carlmont football team. They are equipped with decorated megaphones used to enunciate screams, and dressed in school colors, blue and gray. The main goal of Screamin’ Scots is to cheer as loudly as they can for their football team.

Junior Amber Governale stated, “They’re loud and obnoxious, but in a good way, if you are a part of it. I'm sure the other schools don't appreciate it, but it's fun.”

Additionally, Junior Anna Shutovska said, “Screaming Scots is a group of the most spirited students at Carlmont who aim to support their school's sports teams in the loudest way possible.”

The ASB council not only encourages Carlmont students to come to the home football games but also becomes screaming mem-bers on the bleachers as well.

Shutovska said, “In the Scream-ing Scots section [of the bleach-ers], it’s so much more fun because you're standing and cheering your team on! My voice is always gone

after a game!”Some say that the costumes are

crazy while others say that the cos-tumes are part of the complete look of Screamin’ Scots.

Screamin’ Scots wear blue tutus, Screamin’ Scots hats and sweat-ers, and blue and white face paint. Governale commented, “Depend-ing on the person, some people come looking like normal students while others show up looking like

Lady Gaga.”Shutovska said, “You’re only in

high school once, you might as well enjoy it and bleed blue.”

Screamin’ Scots have also partici-pated in the Katy Perry contest in which high schools could make vid-eos covering her new song, “Roar.” The high school that wins has the honor of having Katy Perry perform at their school on Oct. 25.

“Since Oct. 25 is our homecom-

ing game, we thought it would be phenomenal if she could come [and perform],” said junior Elise Dimick.

Carlmont’s video shows one stu-dent ostracized because of his differ-ence. However, when one student stands up for the bullied student, everyone else accepts the student for who he is. This video can be seen on YouTube titled, “Carlmont High School ROAR!”

Although Carlmont did not win

the Katy Perry “Roar” contest, Carlmont continues to be enthu-siastic and carry out their undying school spirit.

If students want to join Screamin’ Scots, all they have to do is ask ASB president, Reggie Chatman and attend all the football games and other Carlmont events.

“Screamin’ Scots are really spir-ited and they make me proud to be a Scot,” said junior Donna Ghaemi.

By Grace YiStAff Writer

Expectations for the homecoming football gameBy Claudia LeistStAff Writer

For schools all over the country, Home-coming is the kickoff of the year and it solidifies the legacy of each school’s spirit and especially of the football team.

“I think Homecoming is so popular be-cause it shows the pride and dedication that

students have not only to the football team, but to their school,” said junior Dominic Blanks Jr. “It is just a fun experience overall.”

Not only does Carlmont create excitement for the Friday night football game, but it is an invitation for Screamin’ Scots and families to come together and cheer their hearts out for their school.

“In my opinion, Homecoming is such a big

deal because it is an opportunity to try and raise school spirit, and that is something our school definitely needs,” said junior Willie Te’o.

Considering the size of Screamin’ Scots has increased drastically this school year, Carlmont is looking forward to a spirit-filled Homecoming night. From face paint to touchdown push ups, Carlmont has tried

Photo by S

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to make the Homecoming football game an attraction for a vast majority of Carlmont students, families and alumni for years.

The Carlmont varsity football team, while preparing for the crazy crowd, is more focused on reaching their goals in their big game against Jefferson High School.

"I am confident that we can hold Jeffer-son's offense because we have solid defense," said Te'o, "but we need to focus on scoring because we screw ourselves over with mental breakdowns and penalties."

With flags and fouls being called against them fairly often so far this season, the team’s plan is to play a clean game and set the pace from kickoff.

"We always start with a good tempo but we need to maintain it and control our mistakes," said Blanks. "We tend to screw up on snap counts and have dumb penalties for holding and unnecessary roughness."

Overall, Carlmont football players have a better feeling about this year’s varsity football team than last year’s team due to their ability to keep their heads in the game and play as a unit.

"I think the varsity team generally has more talent than last year and we are more focused on playing to get somewhere with football, not just to play as a random hobby," said Blanks.

The majority of Carlmont’s population has seen perseverance and a rise in effort in the team this year. Players have been getting injured on the field often, but not too many of the injuries have been season-ending.

Generally, every high school in America has a Homecoming night centered around the varsity football game, but Carlmont’s Home-coming has it’s own plans to make the night enjoyable for everybody. With the school’s improved spirit, more focused football team and bigger game turnouts, it is safe to say that Carlmont does Homecoming the right way.

Carlmont Bleeds Blue

Evan McClain demonstrates his Carlmont spirit by running out onto the field before a game.

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October 2013 Highlander