CENTERSPREAD:Go to pages 4 and 5 to find out where Aragon students went and what they did over the summer!

FEATURES:Turn to page 6 to see how four years can change a student’s outlook on school.

SPORTS:Go to page 8 to learn more about two of Aragon’s black belts and their widespread achievements.

BY OLIVIA BOCANEGRANEWS EDITOR

The new school year has wel-comed students to changes to the Behaviors for Learning rules. During the spring semester a committee of teachers and ad-ministrators composed a new tardy policy for the year.

Students will now face no pen-alties for at least four tardies, but will be assigned Saturday School for every 5 tardies. Earlier this month, assemblies were held to inform students of the system.

Math and AVID teacher Don Bush, a member of the BFL com-mittee, says, “We saw that it wasn’t a detention problem, it was a tar-dy problem. We needed to come up with a plan that was reason-able and consistent.” A flaw in the former policy was the lack of follow up in the consequences for tardies.

This topic will be further visited in the coming months to explore its effects. To share your opinion and see exclu-sive web content, go to www.

AragonOutlook.net

A NEW PERSPECTIVE: SUMMER ADVENTURES ENTHRALL STUDENTSBY RYAN YUNEWS EDITOR

Costa RicaIt’s the dead of night, 2AM.

You have had nothing to eat but rice and beans every day, every meal, for two weeks. And maybe some chicken and bananas, if you are lucky. A new round of patrol has taken over on the beach. The search continues; the search for sea turtles.

Sea turtles were not the only interesting things that Aragon students encountered on the Cos-ta Rica ecology trip this summer. With visits to local Costa Rican schools and the exploration of rainforests, not to mention con-tinuous data-collection and re-search, the sixteen students who signed up for the trip were kept busy.

The students embarked on the trip as part of a program offered by Ecology Project International, a non-profit organization dedi-cated to addressing conservation issues. Accompanied by research-ers and Aragon teachers Leigh-Anne Ecklund and Shane Smuin,

the primary focus of the students’ eighteen-day trip was the collec-tion of data on leatherback sea turtles.

“[Specifically], our research was to document the turtles and see if their numbers are going up or down, and see if their eggs are surviving out of the nest,” says senior Max Liebergesell. “The sea turtles would only come out at night to lay their eggs, so we would have to go really late to try and find them on the beach.”

But even in a country re-nowned for its vast biodiversity, finding the turtles sometimes proved harder than students thought. “Our group went out one night and we didn’t see any-thing at all, so we decided to build a sand turtle,” says Liebergesell. “So we built the sand turtle and hid in the bushes and the other group came up and the research-ers thought it was a turtle, so they held all the students back, and went to go investigate. They got tricked really, really badly!”

In addition to the trip bringing laughs, it had a powerful impact on the students as well. For many,

simply living in such a different environment brought on new in-sight on everyday matters of liv-ing. Liebergesell says, “[The trip] made me more aware of the earth and how much water we waste and the amount of resources we

use. It also made me aware of how I need to cut that down in my life.”Nicaragua

Bordering Costa Rica to the north is Nicaragua, a country featured by the international non-profit organization “AMI-

GOs,” and sharing Costa Rica’s steady diet of rice and beans. Se-nior Candice de Sauvage spent six weeks in the Nicaraguan commu-nities of Tomatoya and Cande-laria, helping

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Congresswoman shares life experiences with Aragon

Students experience the breathe-taking beauty that only an enriching trip to Costa Rica has to offer.

BY DANIEL FUCO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

Applause erupted as Con-gresswoman Jackie Speier took the podium in Aragon’s Memori-al Theater on Tuesday, August 31. Speier came to Aragon to talk to the senior class about overcom-ing challenges and her own life experiences.

Speier currently represents California’s 12th District, which includes parts of South San Fran-

cisco and San Mateo. The speech began with Speier

giving a background on her life’s winding road. She told students how she was a “three-time loser,” having lost three attempts at offi-cial positions in the past. Howev-er, she followed up by stating how “success is never final, and failure is never fatal.”

After the slightly negative background, Speier’s speech de-veloped a positive, motivational tone. She said that, despite her

failures, her belief that it is nec-essary to take calculated risks to succeed won her an election for the Board of Supervisors. Despite being shot multiple times and left for dead in the infamous Jon-estown incident, falling into near bankruptcy after the loss of her husband, she still continued to push her political career forward.

She asked the students pres-ent, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Speier listed the problems she believes will be faced in the near future, including the country’s outstanding debt to China and the high unemployment rate. She also claimed that in her youth, “there was still [a] great idealism. There was [none of the] bias that is so prevalent [nowadays] on TV and radio stations.”

Speier believes that this prob-lem of such a polarized media can only be addressed by the ac-tivism on the students’ parts. She says, “If young people push back against the trash they see on TV, [it will] change.

Students appear to have been

very receptive and appreciative towards the speech. “I like how she brought up her life story and connected it to a lot of themes. She seemed very unbiased in my opinion,” says senior Michael Mi-yahira.

Some concern arose about whether or not Speier’s final re-marks regarding Wall Street and the current political atmosphere were too political.

Principal Patricia Kurtz says that the stated purpose for Spei-er’s visit was to tell the seniors about her opportunities. Kurtz says, “I’m not really sure if she stepped over the line.” However, Kurtz adds that the Congress-woman never mentioned the upcoming elections or her own political party in her opinionated remarks.

Aragon High School is con-sidered an open forum school, where political remarks are al-lowed, but both sides of an issue must be presented. It is possible that Speier’s opponents will re-quest an audience from Aragon before the November elections.

Tardy Policy

KENAN CHAN

Speier’s heartfelt speech aroused motivation and inspiration among seniors.

ERIC TORRES

GRAPHIC COURTESY OF WWW.CLKER.COM

BY PHILIP DIMAANOCO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

From the first day people met him, they knew immediately that he was going to be a friend they would never forget. “He wasn’t the most eloquent person, but he always gave good advice,” says senior Devon Hanna. “He always told me to have fun in life and it was because he was a really easy person to talk to that we connect-ed really well.”

“We went to my dad’s house and swam a lot,” says Hanna. “We were planning on doing water polo together this year so we were training and preparing together. It didn’t matter where we were. We could be over at his house eating noodles and we would still have fun together.”

Daniel passed away in a tragic accident on June 6, 2010 on a trip to Canada with the Aragon Music Program.

It is perhaps what people can learn from Daniel as a person that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

“Even if something was wrong with him, he would always make sure everybody else had fun,” says Hanna. “That’s what made Daniel so special. He did his best to make sure the people around him were

enjoying themselves and having fun.”

“I met him at Borel the first day he was there,” says senior Joji Miwa.“ It was because he was so outgoing that he would be willing to go anywhere just to have and adventure.”

“I remember this one time Daniel and I went to the San Ma-teo County Library,” says Miwa. “We were supposed to be work-

ing on math but we ended up just playing music in front of the computers for four hours.”

“We sat next to each other in band last year,” says senior Erica Bass. “That was when he played the tuba and I was playing the eu-phonium. He wasn’t shy and he talked to me right away.”

“He had this thing where he said ‘slappin’ the bass’ and did some funny hand motion when-

ever he saw me,” says Bass. “He also called my car the ‘Bassmobile’ and he would stick his head out the window whenever we were driving together.”

“He was always willing to listen to your problems and cheer you up,” says senior Natasha Issayeva. “He made it so you wouldn’t fo-cus on the bad parts of your day but instead enjoy the good parts whenever you were with him.”

“One time I was with him and a couple of other friends in down-town San Mateo,” says Issayeva. “We were sitting in a car and Dan-iel spent 20 minutes freestyle rap-ping for us. I actually still have a recording of it.”

“I remember I was having a really bad day and I just didn’t want to go to swim practice,” says Issayeva. “I spent about half an hour just talking with Daniel in the tunnel. We were actually talking for so long that our coach didn’t allow us to swim with the team for that practice so Daniel and I just decided to swim in the little pool. He spent the whole time doing these crazy things to try and cheer me up like pretend-ing a leaf in the pool was a ship and acting like a torpedo trying to hit it.”

“There was this one time where Daniel actually walked for

five hours just to get to my house from Millbrae,” says Fung. “The thing was, he never actually men-tioned how he got to my house or why he didn’t have a ride. The thing he cared about most was just being able to hang out with his friends.”

An avid musician, Daniel’s love for music is what brought him closer to many of his friends and lead to many fond memories. “One time we went to go ‘Dumb-founded’ in San Francisco,” says senior Christian DeMartini. “We also went to the Sunset District and ate some great Thai food.”

“He tried to write me a song that day when we went to Bor-ders, Barnes & Noble and then his house,” says senior Kimberly Kwok. “It was sort of a bonding moment between the two of us.”

“He was always up for any-thing,” says senior Shorhon Gong. “We had all these adventures in Foster City where we just walked everywhere. He even swam in the Foster City lagoon once.”

“He worked really hard,” says Gong. “He stayed up really late just to finish his AP Biology homework because he always kept in mind what he was working to-wards in the end. He was so full of life that you just couldn’t help but want to be his friend.”

In remembrance of Daniel Cho

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1the communities build a school.

Apart from de Sauvage, three other students from Aragon par-ticipated in AMIGOs, including seniors Natasha Issayeva, Han-nah Hibbs, and junior Simone Jacobs. Issayeva and Hibbs were deployed to the Dominican Republic, and Jacobs went to the Republic of Panama.

AMIGOs, an organization in its 43rd year, puts high school and college volunteers in Latin Amer-ican countries to live with other volunteers in local “host families.” Volunteers improve their Spanish fluency and experience an entirely different culture from their own.

In de Sauvage’s span of vol-unteer service, however, a small setback stopped the trip from reaching its full potential. She described, “Basically, every week, we have to fill out a survey say-ing how we’re doing mentally and physically so the supervisor can make sure we’re safe,” says de Sauvage, “So while we’re filling out the survey, all of a sudden we hear three gunshots go off, right as we’re filling out ‘Do you feel safe in this community?’ So we’re not too sure what to put anymore for this.” The occurrence, while a harmless joke, sent de Sauvage off

to a different community with a different host family.

AMIGOs CEO Marty Sin-nott commented on the incident, saying, “AMIGOs’ number one priority is the health and safety of our volunteers...[In] this case, we took immediate action and removed the volunteers from the situation. They were transferred to a new community and we will not be returning to the same community in the future...[The] volunteers went on to have a safe and productive summer.”

In fact, volunteer services con-ducted in these Latin American countries did prove beneficial to the communities. “We teach camps and do a community based initiative, which is AMIGOs [rais-ing] and [giving] money to the community so the volunteers can work together with the locals to build a project. Projects range from painting a mural to building a school, so it really depends on what the community wants,” says de Sauvage. “My [primary] proj-ect was repainting the commu-nity basketball court [in the Do-minican Republic],” says Issayeva.

Like the Costa Rica ecol-ogy trip, a different environment made a difference in helping vol-unteers re-evaluate their ways of

life. De Sauvage says, “I got back, and I realized we make things re-ally complicated here. We over-pack things and we’re very mate-rialistic, extremely materialistic… It was just one of the things that made me so much stronger and my experiences just taught me so much.”

Issayeva agrees, saying, “You don’t really experience things here that you would in a third world country. It just shows how fast paced life in America is, and in other countries people just ‘chill’ and enjoy their lives more.”

Volunteering abroad with AMIGOsBY ERIC TORRESPHOTO EDITOR

The sounds of workers stomp-ing on the roofs of classrooms and jackhammers during school hours mean only one thing: con-struction.

Construction on the Aragon campus began three weeks before school started as bulldozers tore apart the two old swimming pools adjacent to Center Court.

The new pool was slated to be finished in November. However, according to Aragon Principal Pa-tricia Kurtz, there was a delay in the pool’s approval by the State of California’s Division of the State Architect, thus delaying the over-all construction of the pool.

The bid to develop the pool was divided amongst two contrac-tors – one to demolish the pool, and one to build the new one.

The construction of the pool is now expected to be complete by the end of January.

“It’ll be complete just in time for swim season,” Kurtz says. “Unfortunately, it’s not Olympic-sized, so collegiate-sized is what we stuck with,” Kurtz says.

In addition to the pool, Aragon has been installing new photo vol-taic solar panels, solar panels that use cells to absorb and utilize sun-light as energy.

At a cost of $30 million, the San Mateo Union High School District, in coordination with each school’s environmental clubs and communities, got their solar panel proposal approved and the construction is now underway.

Aragon is expected to receive most of the solar panels because of the campus’ flat roofs and opti-mal location. Currently, construc-

tion workers are reconstructing the roofs on campus to ensure the most efficient use of the solar panels.

The solar panels are expected to be completed within 18 months. Fortunately, the panels’ economic benefits will be utilized within the first nine months of their installa-tion, saving SMUHSD $3 million annually in electricity costs.

“I think it’s a necessary change for Aragon,” says senior Eric Cura.“By making use of the sun’s resources for power, I think that Aragon’s taking a step forward towards keeping our earth green.”

“I think it’s really cool that Ja-son Bade [former president of the Aragon Environmental Impact Committee] started this [project] two years ago, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to go on, but it’s [hap-pening],” Jina Lee says. “I think it’s something we should be proud of because we’re being eco-friendly compared to other schools. It’s really loud and annoying during class, but I think [it will be] worth it in the end.”

On top of the new pool and so-lar panels, Aragon has more con-struction projects laid out.

The state-of-the-art theatre, will take nine to twelve months to build.

In addition, they will construct a new “Career Technical Build-ing” at Aragon. Expected to begin in the summer of 2011 after the theatre’s completion, it will house new classrooms for biotechnol-ogy, engineering, and multimedia classes.

These new construction proj-ects are expected to begin when the 2011-2012 school year starts Kurtz believes, “It’s hard, but we’ll get through it.”

Construction rattles campus

For more articles like this, visit AragonOutlook.net

COU

RTESY OF KIRSTY M

cBURN

IE

Daniel Cho (lower center) was a member of the Aragon music program and swim team. He will be fondly missed.

Above: Natasha Issaveya at the summer program she ran with her AMIGOs partner for local children. She smiles with her students after a paint fight.

COU

RTESY OF N

ATASH

A ISSAYEVA

COU

RTESY OF N

ATASH

A ISSAYEVA

Candice de Sauvage hugs her host family after a mud fight. She spent six weeks in their town of Cande-laria absorbing their culture.

COU

RTESY OF CA

ND

ICE DE SAU

VAGE

JANICE PANGARTS AND GRAPHICS EDITOR

She examines herself in the mirror, letting her eyes focus first on her hair, then her eyes, then her nose. Slowly, she lets her gaze travel to the rest of her body. It is something that senior Zoe Bartlett does every morning, whether she wants it to happen or not. She shakes the image of herself out of her mind and goes through the process of changing her outfit multiple times. She wants to find the right clothes which will con-ceal her hips and her thighs from the rest of the world.

Bartlett never approved of what she saw. Instead, she would inwardly sigh and ask herself, “Why can’t my nose be a little bit smaller? Why can’t my legs be a little bit skinnier?” The question she never asked herself, however, was, “Why can’t I accept my body the way that it is?” This judgment, this self-resentment, had dug a hole deep into her confidence.

For others like Bartlett, self-

confidence has always been an is-sue. In this day and age, self-con-sciousness is a disease that plagues the minds of young adolescents. According to a study conducted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, “young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or los-ing their parents.”

“Our age group has a problem defining itself,” says Junior Scarlett Wilson. “The media contributes a lot to [low self-esteem] because people judge their own self worth in comparison to people who they look up to, or who they think are better than them.” As in any case, there are good role models and there are bad role models. The clothing retailer Urban Outfitters proved to be one of the worst.

Earlier this summer, Urban Outfitters released a shirt that boldly stated, “Eat Less.” This shirt, promoted by a thin model on the retailer’s website, became a topic of controversy and public outcry.

In a recent blog post, One Tree Hill actress Sophia Bush publicly

condemned Urban Outfitters, declaring, “I am sickened that anyone, on any board…would

have voted ‘yes’ on such a thing, let alone…manufacture an item with such a hurtful message. It’s like handing a suicidal person a loaded gun. You should know better.” Bush has since launched a boycott against the retail chain until the company issues a public apology.

As a consumer of Urban Out-fitters, Bartlett was also shocked at the retailer’s decision to pro-duce the shirt and voiced a similar opinion, saying, “You already see so many magazines and TV shows indirectly advertising the ‘perfect’ body, but Urban Outfitters bla-tantly encourages eating disor-ders and unhealthy diet habits.” Bartlett explains that self-image issues are not only a result of ad-vertisements and the media, but, “they also come from the student population. Judgment is inevi-table, whether we like to admit it or not, and sometimes it gets the better of us and can severely affect others.”

Nevertheless, to freshman Amanda Blake, Aragon does not

seem like a school obsessed with body image. “At Aragon, it’s not a contest of what you look like,” says Blake.

However, Bartlett disagrees. Although she is aware of the pres-ence of such self-image problems at Aragon, she does not think that “anything major can be done” to fix it. “Self-consciousness and body image issues are some-thing that students as individu-als must overcome themselves,” says Bartlett. “But I think that as a community, students ought to just accept each other for who they are and how they look al-ready because no one should be succumbed to ridicule for their weight or how he or she dresses.”

While the battle against Ur-ban Outfitters to retract the shirt rages on, the war against self-consciousness is far from over. Although the issue of self-image is not a task which is easily over-come, perhaps the world would be a better place if we would take Bartlett’s advice and “just accept each other” for who we are.

Urban Outfitters advocates self-conscious behavior

ERIC TORRESPHOTO AND TECH EDITOR

In today’s society, Facebook is an integral part of people’s lives, shaping the way colleagues and students communicate and share personal information. However, in recent years, Facebook has also become a way for adults to make judgments on minors based on their social networking profile.

There is an increasing trend with colleges using Facebook as a way to gain a better perspective of their current or prospective students. This raises the issue of whether or not it is ethical for col-leges to look through the profiles of students. College and career advisor Laurie Tezak was amazed to hear that admissions officers at Stanford took the time to look through the Facebook profiles of prospective students of Stanford. “That’s one more thing that a student has to think about when applying to a college,” says Tezak. “[Putting your personal informa-tion online] might not be a big thing to students, but it can be a big thing [to colleges and future employers.]”

One way colleges have been looking at prospective students is by using a feature on Facebook known as Pages. Pages are user profiles of businesses, public fig-ures, music artists and schools. Representatives from some schools register to create a Face-book Page. When a person “likes” or “adds” a page, it gives the page owner permission to view their personal profile. Colleges “re-quest” unsuspecting students to view their profiles, inviting col-lege representatives to view the profiles of the students who ap-proved their request.

Although it may seem shock-ing that schools may be looking at your profiles, it is not as com-

mon as it seems. Trisha Liskay, the Aragon Senior Class Advisor, explained that although scores of admissions officers are hired dur-ing application deadlines, they do not actually take as much time looking through student’s profiles as students believe. In a survey of 401 schools conducted by Ka-plan Test Prep and Admissions in 2009, only one in ten admissions officers actually looked through applicant’s profiles. More schools are beginning to develop policies relevant to using social network-ing in the admission process.

“[Students posting content on their profiles] may not be a big deal to admissions officers, but it will be a big deal for colleges,” says Liskay. “Be careful in who you in-vite on Facebook. They can see what you’re doing online.”

“They kind of almost go be-hind your back to see what other stuff they can dig up about you that they haven’t really asked you

for,” says senior Monique Beaud-ouin.

“You don’t know if the person reading the application could dis-criminate based on how you look or how your friends are, so I think that it is an invasion of privacy.” says Jessia Hoffman.

“The one positive that can possibly come out of looking at Facebook profiles is that for our [personal statement] essays… looking at someone’s picture helps put a face to a name, and so it could help the [application] reader understand the essay bet-ter… but that’s only based on if they make a good impression or not,” says Hoffman.

Ultimately, students should take precaution regarding the kinds of content they post on any social network.

Tezak sums up, “Please, don’t put anything on Facebook that your mother can’t see.”

FACEBOOK: THE NEW COMMON APP Aragon’s new faces

LUSHUANG XU

FEATURES AND BUSINESS EDITOR

What made you want to become a teacher?Ms.Sadlon: I was an engineer before. It didn’t match my personality. I love that [teaching] lets me be creative.Ms.Dost: I love working with kids because they always keep you on your toes. Ms.Yu: My family has a lot of teachers in Taiwan. I was expected to become a teacher. [One of my old professor’s] compassion about teaching inspired me.Mr.Kundin: It’s something that I have wanted to do since high school.Mr.Rahman: I became a teacher originally because I wanted to coach track and field.Mr.Reiss: I wanted to be a teacher because I like to see my students’ faces light up when they finally understand a difficult concept.

What are your hobbies?Ms.Sadlon: I like to bike and run. Anything outside.Ms.Dost: I like to cycle and run. Reading is probably my favorite thing to do . . . crosswords and baking too.Ms.Yu: I love listening to music and playing the harp. I love looking for new teaching tools online. I spend a lot of time on my work.Mr.Kundin: Surfing and spending time with my family.Mr.Rahman: Mountain biking, playing soccer and remote control cars.Mr.Reiss: I enjoy running. I really enjoy cooking. I probably spend too much money on my kitchen. I have a fascination with vintage cookware . . . and I like American heritage recipes.

What flavor of ice cream would you be?Ms.Sadlon: I would say chocolate with some kind of nuts and chips mixed. You’re never [going to] know what you get in the next bite.Ms.Dost: Mocha almond fudge. It has little surprises.Ms.Yu: Green tea, mild not sweet and calm.Mr.Kundin: Orange sorbet. Mr.Rahman: Häagen-Dazs coffee.Mr.Reiss: Salted Caramel.

Heather SadlonGovernment/ Econ

Zelikha DostInteg. Science, Biology

Sonya Yu Chinese 7/8

Nate Kundin Algebra, Geometry

Asif RahmanBiotech, Chemistry

Kris ReissGeometry

JAN

ICE PAN

GJA

NICE PA

NG

For an extended interview with the teachers, go to

www.aragonoutlook.net.

PHO

TO S

Parkour is the art of moving as efficiently as possible from point A to point B. This summer, some friends and I spent hours practic-ing parkour tricks such as back-flipping off vertical walls.-Ali Imani (11)

I was an intern for the develop-

ment team of the website study-

sync.net, which helps high school

kids with writing analysis and

writing in general. It was a very

enjoyable first work experience!

-Kevin Toy (11)

I participated in the Biomedical branch of the COSMOS program

at UC. Davis. I participated in vari-ous activities, and I even had the opportunity to observe an actual

surgery in the veterinary hospital!- Alice Liu (12)

In Coalinga, CA, it’s blazing hot,

and there isn’t much to do. But

if you keep an open mind, you’re

sure to have crazy stories to

share with friends.

- Monique Beaudouin (12)

This summer I spent a week in

Mexico on a mission trip with the

CasaBuilders program. Several

church youth groups worked

together to help construct an or-

phanage in the Tijuana area.

-Jack Guan (12)

Over the summer, my

friends and I volunteered

at Bayside Middle School,

which is where we gradu-

ated from. We helped out in

any way we could (in the of-

fice, in the classrooms, etc.)

and we even earned silver

sword points! It was

so much fun!

-Jade Barkett (9)

I helped out at a camp called Summer Soul Surf Camp as a counselor in training (CIT). Our days consisted mostly of surfing on San Onofre Surf Beach and getting acquainted with other surfers. The style of the camp is super chill and everyone acts like family. It's so fun getting bit by the surfing bug!-Sharon Borden (10)

GO DONS The 80 days of summer flew

by quickly for Aragon stu-

dents. Many traveled afar

to pursue their interests

while others took advantage

of local activities. No matter

where they went, the Dons

encountered remarkable

opportunities and brought

back exciting stories of

their summer.

LEGEND

Statistics HWSec. 5.28-8.15

1. What percentage of Aragon stu-dents traveled elsewhere this summer?

86.38% a) Create a pie chart represent-ing the various activities that stude-nts participated in during their trips.

b) Refer to part (a), this time creating a pie chart of activi- ties students pursue locally.

2010 VACATION

COLLEGE

CAMP

SCHOOL

VOLUNTEER

WORK

VACATION

This summer I spent a week in

Mexico on a mission trip with the

CasaBuilders program. Several

church youth groups worked

together to help construct an or-

phanage in the Tijuana area.

-Jack Guan (12)

I work at Aaron Brothers, where I am a certified junior Framer. As an artist, I love

working there because peo-ple bring their best artwork

to be framed. I feel honored that they trust me with their precious photos and paintings.-Sarah Manning (11)

I went to Lhasa, Tibet and

spent three days at an or-

phanage teaching English

and playing games with

children through a program

called ARCC (Adventures

Cross Country). The or-

phans, who were happy

despite their hardships,

really inspired me.

-Jacob Rennert (12)

My family went to Australia, where

we visited the Sydney Opera

House and took a tour of the Blue

Mountains. We flew to Cairns

where we swam in the breathtak-

ing Great Barrier Reef and glided

across the rainforest in a skyrail.

-Elizabeth McSheery (10)

In Spain, I stayed at the Hotel Arts Barce-lona, the best 5 star hotel I've ever been to. I took Spanish guitar & Flamenco lessons.

I visited family in Bos-ton and some friends

in Kansas. I then took a family trip to Shanghai, China to see the World

Expo. Finally, I traveled to Malibu with my friend Katherine Pavicic, and we stayed there for a couple of weeks

Riding: the art of keeping

a horse between you and the ground.-Kore Chan (11)

-Lexi Cooperstein (11)

-Igor Oliviera (10)

VOLUNTEER

VACATION

BY ALINA POLISHUKFEATURES EDITOR

The change that occurs in four years of high school is dramatic, to say the least. The difference between entering freshman year and senior year is the difference between riding a bike and driving a car, being the understudy and being the lead, or even from baby-sitting to working a part time job. However, the most dramatic dif-ference is the perspective change that most students experience.

Being a freshman in high school is a huge jump from being an eighth grader in middle school. Not only are students going from being at the top of the school to the bottom again, but high school itself is a different experience. “You walk in, you’re not knowing what to do, the seniors look re-ally old, and when you bump into people, you’re the one that says sorry,” says senior Mitchell Auer of his first days of freshman year.

Senior Sarah Agoff experi-enced similar feelings, saying, “I think freshman year I felt like people were judging me and looking at me like that ‘little fresh-man.’” However, the intimidating feeling

of being a freshman didn’t come out of nowhere, and most seniors had expectations for how high school would be.

“I thought it would be a lot like the movies,” says Auer, “I thought freshman would get dumped into dumpsters and seniors would make fun of everybody.”

Other students had more sim-ple fears about the high school so-cial scene. Agoff says, “I thought it was going to be a lot harder to find people that I felt comfort-able with, but it happened pretty quickly.”

Senior Lexi Ramil had similar qualms, however she found a way to get past them. “Since I came here knowing hardly anyone, I had to come out of my shell and learn how to make friends. It was such a new experience,” she says.

The first year doesn’t always define the entire

high school experience. Entering into a new year can be difficult, especially as an underclassman, but when it comes to being a se-nior, most students are much more comfortable and excited than they were in previous years.

“Freshman year I was nervous going in everyday, but senior year I come in and I feel like I own [it],” says Auer. This feeling of confidence can come from any-thing, be it finding a comfort-able niche, or being involved in school activities. For Ramil, it is the latter. She says, “Being on spirit squad has really helped cre-ate that typical high school expe-rience for me because my job is to be at every single football and basketball game, dress up for every spirit week, and be a

part of every rally.” As for the future of senior

year, most students are excited for the year to be “more chill and relaxed,” says Agoff, due to fewer classes and shorter schedules.

Others are ready to pump up the spirit and go all out for every school event. Although college application due dates are looming closer for the majority of seniors and anxiety is setting in, most are simply looking forward to the fun times they are hoping to have.

However, excitement and com-fort are just two of the many mixed feelings that students may be experiencing. While

freshman year may have been a monumental period of adjust-ment, senior year is essentially preparation for another monu-mental adjustment: leaving grade school.

For some, it means going off to a four year college. For others, it means working or travelling. Whatever the situation, senior year brings the end of something that has been building for the past 12 years.

For senior Chad Bolanos, the realization came at a football

practice. “Before practice...the whole team had a group bonding session by singing Colt 45, and I said to my-

self ‘this is the last year I can do this with my friends,’” Bolanos says.

A look back to freshman year can reveal the changes that have occurred in the past three years. But despite the sadness, restless-ness, joy, or anticipation that

comes with becoming a se-nior, the year hopefully serves

as a springboard for the future. As senior Alex Phinney says, “I

don’t see why people have seniori-tis already. Because this is really the beginning of the rest of our lives.”

Four years down the road

BY ALICE BEBBINGTONFEATURES EDITOR

His pinstripe fedora is the only clue to his secret identity. His classmates know he is in four band classes, and his friends might know that he wants to be a musician when he’s older, but not many people know the secret life of this American teenager: senior Cole Stillman by day, jazz-band-member and tenor-saxophone-player by night.

While being in a band may not be something people would know about Stillman, neither his music nor his band are entirely secretive. His band, Jazz Down Low, used to do monthly gigs at Lil’ Biscuit House on 37th Avenue in San Ma-teo, and he says even for free gigs, “when we put out a tip hat, the

least amount is usually $90.” An-other popular venue for the band is Dominico’s Winery in San Car-los. Stillman’s dad is “friends with the owners so he asked if we could play one night there. They gave us a shot and they just loved us.”

But Stillman is not quick to forget his roots, recalling that he may not have even joined the band if it had not been for unex-pected circumstances. Stillman loved soccer and used to be a self-declared “sports jock”, but after getting kicked off the team, he found a love for music.

He heard the dad of a friend playing with his band at the Hill-sdale Mall one Christmas. “They went up and played and I thought they were pretty good. So I said you know, if you ever need a ten-or…After back to school night

they gave me a shot…” and the rest is history.

The band’s name comes from their practice venue. “It’s called Jazz Down Low because we prac-tice in Jordan’s basement. That’s all the room we got,” says junior Henry Reed, who is also a pas-sionate musician outside school.

For Reed, Stillman is actually the reason the two now play to-gether in Jazz Down Low. “Cole talked to me at school. He’s like… ‘We just ditched our drummer [and] we need a new one’. So I go over… and I play with them once and I’m like …this may just work out,” says Reed.

Reed plays the drum set in Jazz Down Low, his “first steady band”, but he’s no stranger to the instru-ment. “I started on my birthday when I was eight years old… My dad is a professional drummer-percussionist, and he basically gave me his old drum set that his uncle gave him. It took me a while to start, I wish I’d started earlier but I figured out music is fun, [and] I want to learn how to do it.”

Yet Stillman and Reed are not the only secret rock stars that Ara-gon has been hiding. Senior Bren-dan O’Brien does bass and vocals for his hard rock and heavy metal band, Iron and Ice. When asked if he writes his own songs, O’Brien replied confidently, “I certainly do. I’m working on enough songs to put together an album by the end of the school year.”

These musicians dream big with Stillman also planning on trying to make a sample album.

“My biggest influence is Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead because he plays with a lot of distor-tion, which has a very differ-ent feel from most bass parts,” says O’Brien.

Going for a completely differ-ent feel, sophomores Marc Reichenberger and Justin Ordonez of the band Only For Tomorrow play metal core, but, “we kind of throw some techno and screamo in,” says Or-donez. They have been recording over the sum-mer, and while they have yet to play their first gig, they’re a big Myspace and Facebook band. And when asked if they would like to pursue as careers, both Ordonez and Reichenberger enthusiastically re-sponded “yes!”

“If there’s a situation where there’s potential to start something, go for it! It takes work, but it pays off,” says Ordonez. Reichenberger agrees, saying “It’s expensive… but it’s worth it.”

Whether it’s Stillman’s and Reed’s Jazz Down Low, O’Brien’s Iron and Ice, or Ordonez’s and Reichenberger’s Only For Tomor-row, student bands at Aragon are not something to be scoffed at. With three other people in his band, O’Brien has been playing outside of school for two years, as well as playing in the school band. Stillman confesses that he often

plays tunes on a whim after hear-ing them, buying them, and play-ing them on his saxophone. And Reed confides that, “it’s just a great experience to play music.”

It’s clear these musicians are passionate about their art. Reed pretty much sums it up, say-ing simply but enthusiastically, “music is fun.”

Aragon’s rising musiciansPHOTO COURTESY OF COLE STILLMAN

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F MA

RC REICHEN

BERGER

Reichenberger, guitarist for Only For Tomorrow, partakes in the age-old tradition of holding band practice in the garage.

JANICE PANG

To hear some of these bands in action, go to

www.aragonoutlook.net

Two students complete triathlonsAragon seniors take summer training to new extremes

BY DANIEL FUCO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

Over the summer, two Aragon seniors took summer training to a whole new level. Seniors Anthony Nichols and Trevor Stocker par-ticipated in and completed two

triathlons. Both students, after undergoing rigorous months of training, finished both the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island and the Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon.

Summer training is not a new concept to Aragon. Every sum-mer, Aragon athletes in basketball,

football, volleyball, water polo, track and field, and cross country are given the choice to participate in conditioning, practices and competitions. According to senior cross-country runner

Stephen Chan, “[summer training] is optional, [and] neces-sary to stay in shape, but you don’t

learn that much.”Nichols and Stocker are

two students at Aragon who have taken summer taking to an even greater level.

To prepare for the events, which consisted of a half-mile swim, a 12-mile bike ride and a three-mile run, the two woke up at 5 a.m. every day and biked from San Mateo to the San Francisco Bay, where they would practice endurance swimming.

Asides from keeping up with the regimen, the two also worked out at the gym to improve muscle tone and endurance, sometimes up to four or five times a day.

According to Stocker, the training was tough, but he enthusiastically says, “you [got to] do, what you’ve [got to] do!”

The training paid off. Both Nichols and Stocker

claim that the triathlon proved only a small challenge after fol-lowing through with their intense training regime.

For Stocker, the motivation to participate in the triathlons came from previous experience; Stocker competed in a similar triathlon in the summer of his junior year and

hoped to improve on his perfor-mance.

Stocker also says that he par-ticipated in order to stay in top physical shape to help his perfor-mance in his other sports, mixed martial arts and jujitsu.

Stocker mentions that the in-tense training for the triathlon has helped him maintain his focus in school.

Nichols’ motivation stemmed from the uniqueness of the ex-perience. He says, “[Running a triathlon] is not something that most high school students have achieved. My training has kept me in the best shape I’ve been in [be-cause] we always train for larger distances than necessary.”

Both Nichols and Stocker hope to participate in future triathlons and they have plans to partici-pate in three more in the coming months.

The ultimate goal of both is to participate in the Ironman triath-lon, which consists of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 24 miles of running. Nichols feels that the pair will not be ready for the Ironman until their early 20s, but with their rigorous train-ing, the time might come sooner than expected.

The other lives of the Aragon facultyBY REBECCA HUCENTER SPREAD EDITOR

Although the myth that teachers live in their classrooms has long been dismissed, students today still find it hard to believe that their instructors actually lead dou-ble lives outside of school. Here, we expose the secret passions and hobbies of the Aragon staff, some quirky, some practical, and all more fun than grading student work.

Kevin DoyleEvery other Friday, I drive to

Santa Cruz to play Dun-geons and Dragons with my

computer geek friends.

Doug McGlashanI’m part of a biking group

called Western Wheelers that organizes many road biking

trips. I also ride my stationary bike in my garage six days a week while reading the New

Yorker magazine. In addition, I ride my grandchildren on

my “around-town” bike when I can.

Nicole Elenz-Martin

I love acrylic painting; land-scapes in particular. I also

enjoy various water sports, such as water skiing, sailing,

and fishing.

Jim DanielI play Sequence and

Rummikub with my wife and sons.

Will ColglazierI run a lot of triathlons

because I like the competi-tive nature of the sport and the adrenaline rush. I have

participated in at least 5 triathlons over the past

year, one of which was the Escape From Alcatraz.

Katie Ward

One of my inner passions is dancing, and I’ve actually

taken salsa dancing classes in the past. In addition, I

enjoy fine wine & dining and solving Sudoku puzzles.

Troy Davis

Melissa PerinoI love scuba-diving; I was

actually scuba-certified at the Great Barrier Reef in

Australia. I’m also a huge shopaholic, but I avoid

shopping at stores with-out fair rights for LGBT.

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F TREVOR STO

CKER

Two of my widely unknown hobbies are cross-stitching and metal sculpting. I usually cross-stitch samplers as wedding presents for my friends, which usually take a couple of months to make. I like to sculpt metal figures- I actually learned how to weld while supervising the Aragon Robotics Team!"

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F WILL CO

LGLA

ZIER

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F TROY D

AVIS

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F DO

UG

MCG

LASH

AN

PHO

TO CO

URTESY O

F NICO

LE ELENZ-M

ARTIN

Having completed their previous phases of the triathlon, seniors Anthony Nichols and Trevor Stocker pace themselves and test their rigorous training regimen.

For more articles like this, visit AragonOutlook.net

BY PHILIP DIMAANOCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“When I was eight I really wanted to do something physical and active,” says senior Alex Cat-iggay. “My uncle suggested this kung fu school and that’s when it all started for me.”

Today, Catiggay is a second-degree black belt in kung fu, a striking style of martial arts that utilizes kicks, blocks, and both open and closed hand strikes to defend against attackers.

“I usually train four to six days a week,” says Catiggay. “We spar and we also do conditioning on your abs and arms. Usually train-ing regiments involve warm-up techniques and conditioning and applying it to sparring and forms. I also teach and instruct other kung fu students.”

As with any sport, the presence of a strong and admirable coach is key to success. “My instructor Sifu Meng has been with me since day one and has seen me grow and develop since I started,” says Cat-iggay. “It was his way of teaching and the way he motivated me that kept me going for so long.”

Having studied kung fu for nearly a decade, Catiggay also has a fair share of memorable expe-riences that he will keep forever. “In October 2009, I competed at

the World Martial Arts Festival in Disneyworld, Orlando,” says Cat-iggay. “I won two Grand Champi-onships, one in Chinese martial arts and one for overall martial arts. After the competition, I got the chance to perform in the eve-ning martial arts showcase as well. I was able to work behind the scenes with actual Disney per-formers because of the awards that I won.”

As expected when some-body finds a niche that they excel in, Catiggay has high hopes for his future in kung fu. “I enjoy the physical aspect of it and it also helps me with ev-eryday life as well,” says Catiggay. “I have friend-ships that will last forever because of my experiences. I never expected to continue it for so long but because I en-joyed it so much I never saw a reason to quit.”

Catiggay is not the only per-son who started martial arts at a young age. “I started eleven years ago,” says senior Alyssa Kujirao-ka. “It was sort of a family thing because my uncle ran his own school in Fiesta Gardens.”

That “family thing” eventually led to Kujiraoka obtaining a first-degree black belt in tae kwon do, a Korean form of martial arts. It is a

striking style of martial arts heav-ily focused on kicking techniques. While the style may be different, the training and preparation is no less intensive and demanding. “I train three to six days a week,” says Kujiraoka. “The things I do

include kicking and sparring drills, conditioning, speed and agility work. If I have a competition

coming up, I usually train two to three times a day.”

While Kujiraoka never had a single person to emulate as a mentor, the people she looked up to were of a different variety. “When I first started, I was always the younger one on my team since I had older teammates,” says Ku-jiraoka. “I would always look up to them and try to fight like them when I was little.”

Also like Catiggay, Ku-jiraoka has some sig-nificant memories that will last a lifetime. “In the last U.S. National in Florida, I ended up

in the finals fighting for a spot on the US National

team,” says Kujiraoka. “I lost the last match due to a controversial call. Even though I lost, I still learned a lot about my-self. I learned how to be a good sport and to be a

more gracious person. As a junior, I was noticed by

a lot of the US National coaches and I viewed that as the most im-portant part.”

Kujiraoka’s most recent competition involved fighting in the Korean Open for the US Junior

team. “In the Open Division, I finished second when I lost to Kazakhstan by one point,” says Kujiraoka. “I also finished third in the Championship Round which featured the top four competi-tors from around the world. In this case, I represented the United States, one was from Kazakhstan and the other two were from Korea. Now I’m training hard to hopefully fight and compete in the 2016 Olympic Games. That’s definitely one of my major goals in the coming years.”

Aragon black belts compete at the national level

Varsity football falls short in opening game

BY PHILIP DIMAANO & RYAN YUCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & NEWS EDITOR

Last Friday, the Aragon Dons hosted the San Mateo Bearcats in a clash of San Mateo High School football supremacy. Despite Ara-gon racking up 370 total yards of offense to San Mateo’s 323, multiple turnovers by the Dons coupled with a slew of injuries failed to convert the successes on offense into points.

The first quarter was domi-nated by defense on both sides. Junior fullback Victor Jimenez got injured on a dive play on 2nd & 4 with 5:00 left in the first quar-ter. Aragon got on the scoreboard first when the San Mateo long

snapper sailed a snap over the punter’s head into the end zone for a safety, putting the Dons up 2-0 with 1:24 left in the first quar-ter.

The second quarter began with the Bearcats driving down the field on an 11-play drive lead by San Mateo senior running back George Naufahu. The Bearcats’ power running game would prove to be the bane of the Don defense with Naufahu finishing the game with 159 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns.

The Aragon defense eventu-ally forced the Bearcats to punt on 4th down and the Don offense regained possession with 7:45 re-maining in the second quarter.

Lead by senior quarterback An-thony Nichols, the Dons marched down the field until they were inside the San Mateo ten-yard line. Senior wingback Aaron Eder then took the handoff from Nich-ols and plowed his way over left guard, only to be stopped by a mob of Bearcat defenders. In the confusion, San Mateo junior safe-ty Lemoto Filikitonga stripped Eder of the ball and returned it 90 yards for the touchdown, put-ting the Bearcats up 7-2 with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter.

“We just weren’t executing,” says Eder. “When they stripped the ball from me, the momentum started to turn in their favor.”

On the next Don possession, the offense embarked on a 12-play drive featuring senior full-back Sam Pacholuk, sophomore running back Mo Tau and junior wide receiver James Egan. Nichols proved himself by going 11 of 18 for 129 yards, but also throwing two interceptions. One of those interceptions came on a 2nd & 9 play with ten seconds remaining in the first half, highlighting the Dons’ inability to capitalize on its red zone possessions.

“We fought hard but we couldn’t pull through,” says Egan.

“We couldn’t execute on offense and that was what did us in.”

The third quarter began with San Mateo fumbling the kickoff return, only to have them regain possession shortly after due to a bad exchange between senior center Aniva Nunez-Mamea and Nichols. The Bearcats were quick to capitalize when junior running back Michael Latu raced up the middle for an 83-yard touchdown run, putting the visiting team up 14-2 with 10:51 remaining in the third quarter.

On their next possession, San Mateo continued to pound away with their running game, culmi-nating with a Naufahu 29-yard touchdown run to make it 21-2 with 9:05 remaining in the third quarter.

With hope waning, the Dons finally caught a break on a 10-play drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by junior running back Davarian Redd. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the score at 21-8 with 4:00 remaining in the third quarter.

Despite a failed onside kick, Aragon was able to quickly re-gain possession after a San Ma-teo fumble was recovered by the Dons, who got back the ball with

1:20 left in the third quarter. Ara-gon showed signs of a comeback with a 9-play drive ending in a Tau rushing touchdown on 4th & Goal. Junior linebacker and interim kicker Greg Lyons nailed the PAT through the uprights, making it 21-15 with 10:00 left in the game.

That was as close as the Dons would get, as San Mateo’s next possession featured the one-two punch of both Naufahu and Fi-likitonga, with Naufahu eventual-ly scoring a touchdown from nine yards out. The Bearcats failed on their own two-point conversion, leaving the score at 27-15 where it would remain until time expired.

“We played good as a team, but they had some strong players that stole the game,” says junior inside linebacker Nate Jordan. “I’d rath-er have our teamwork than a few players that carry the game.”

The next varsity football game will take place tomorrow, Friday, September 17, at Lincoln High School in San Jose. The next home game will not be until Fri-day, October 1, when the Capu-chino Mustangs visit Aragon for another San Mateo Union High School District showdown.

PHOTO COURTESY OFALEX CATIGGAY

PHOTO COURTESY OFALYSSA KUJIRAOKA

Junior Kevin Durhan (left) and senior Aaron Eder (right) made plays on both offense and defense.

Junior James Egan finished the game with 7 catches for 80 yards, more than double the amount of receiving yards for all San Mateo receivers.

KENA

N CH

AN

KENA

N CH

AN

KENA

N CH

AN