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BY VICTORIA YANNEWS

After reentering the competi-tive scene this year, the Aragon Robotics Team (ART) recently participated in the Silicon Valley Regional Tournament (SVR) and qualified for FIRST World Cham-pionships in St. Louis Missouri from April 26 to 28.

At the Silicon Valley Regional Tournament (SVR) on March 30 and 31, ART won the Engineering and Enlightenment Award which included $5,000 from NASA to enter the World Champion-ships. Senior Crystal Cheung said, “Having attended the Sacramento Regional in Davis, California a few weeks earlier, we knew the game and what sort of strategies

to take on.”ART advisor, Steve Ratto said,

“They have qualifying rounds, where they compete in teams of three in the Rebound Rumble Competition. They get judged on points, points scored, getting their bot to do certain things, like when it stops on a teetering seesaw.”

He added, “They have what they call an autonomous stage, which is where it’s all computer-programmed beforehand. And they also have a user phase, where they have to be checked before-hand and pass inspection.”

Senior Ivan Wang said, “Matches were more fast-paced and more action-packed than the ones we saw at previous tourna-ments. There was great diversityCONTINUED ON PAGE 12

BY ISAAC WANGNEWS

Studies show that community colleges are becoming increas-ingly popular these days. Due to the economic recession, many families can’t afford college tu-ition. Since students still want to get a good education, they enroll in a community college. Commu-nity colleges not only save a lot of money, but also allow students to transition smoothly from high school to college.

One reason many students choose to enroll in community colleges is to gain experience. Some students don’t like the idea of being so far from home, so they enroll in nearby community col-leges; they can still get the educa-tion they want while living in the comfort of their home. Senior Erika Talbot claims, “One of the benefits of attending a communi-ty college is staying close to family and friends that are also staying. When I go to CSM, chances are I will know a lot of the students

there because they also went to Aragon. I also plan on getting a job nearby, because I know San Mateo really well and I want to stay very busy.”

Senior Nicole Gilbert agrees, stating, “The transition from high school to college will be much easier.”

Nicole Yue, a freshman at CSM, adds, “Going to a commu-nity college allows you more time to decide on a major, and allows you more time to focus on other activities outside of school. How-ever, you don’t experience the independence of living on your own, and it feels a bit lonely be-cause a lot of your classmates are at UC’s or out of town.”

Another popular reason that students decide to go to commu-nity colleges are expenses. Recent studies show that tuition and fees have risen more than 8% at U.S. public colleges as a consequence of the economic recession.

Students who have graduated from high school and are unable to afford the price of tuition can choose to enroll in a community college free of charge. They just need to pay for textbooks and materials. Phillip Choi, a cur-rent freshman at CSM, says, “The greatest advantage of attending a community college is money. From tuition to living to food and transportation, going to a junior college is simply much cheaper than any university.”

Another benefit is establish-ing a good relationship with one’s professor. Since community colleges can CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

BY SANGWON YUNNEWS EDITOR

On Tuesday, April 13, the Ara-gon faculty voted to approve a proposal to implement modified block schedule in the 2012-2013 academic year. The decision re-flected months of deliberation and discussion extending back to the middle of the fall semester.

In contrast to the full block schedule currently in place at San Mateo High School, the modified block schedule, which will replace Aragon’s current traditional schedule, consists of a 7-period day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. However, 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th period class will be held on Wednesday, while 2nd, 4th and 6th will be held on Thursdays with a 1:24 p.m. dis-missal time.

The initial impetus behind the modified block schedule first arose from the Aragon StrategicCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Right: Sophomore Priyam Das replaces batteries. Above: The Aragon Ro-botics Team carry out the robot at the SVR Tournament.

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SHANNON BODEAU

Brian Switzer, former NorCal-Jazz, Borel Jazz and Aragon

Jazz director, leaves for world tour with Train.

Studying for AP tests?

Turn to page 11 for critiques of various AP review books to find the best fit for your

studying needs.

Wonder how many trees have been saved or how about

how many miles you could drive with the energy by our

solar panels? To find out, visit the attendance office. All

this information and more is displayed on a solar powered

TV.

Don’s Choice Awards

on page 5

Check out the

Aragon Improv Team’s

upcoming shows!

April 27th and 28th in the Student Lunch Room

at 7pm. Tickets are $10.

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Permit No. 782

San Mateo, CAVolume 51 Issue 07 April 26, 2012

Aragon High School 900 Alameda de las Pulgas San Mateo, CA 94402

‘Not afraid to rebuild the team’

M O D I F I E D B L O C K

S C H E D U L EA P P R O V E D f o r

2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3

munity college, students find their nicheTransitioning from high school to com-

Thinking of turning to page 7? Us too. Must be twin telepathy.

Flip to the centerspread to brush up on teen drinking.

Turn to page 2 for the GOP debate on women’s health.

BY ANNIKA ULRICHNEWS

In the United States today, women’s health is not simply an issue regarding the medical needs and rights of women. The topic has exploded and developed into a major factor in the upcoming presidential election and current GOP primaries. The issue of con-traception and how it fits in to the larger scheme of federally funded healthcare has ignited heated de-bate among candidates and citi-zens all over the country.

During the initial GOP de-bates, some Aragon students ce-mented their views on candidates based on those candidates’ views of women’s health rights. Candi-date Ron Paul, a Republican Rep-resentative from Texas, does not openly oppose the use of contra-ception, but strongly feels that it should not be covered by govern-

ment funds. Sophomore Albert B o e

disagrees, saying, “Since con-traception is a necessity for the health of many women, I believe it should be federally funded, al-though I respect Ron Paul for not taking a stance against contracep-tion.”

Conversely, Republican Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has yet to estab-lish a firm public stance on con-traception and women’s health. Says freshman Masao Dahlgren, “Romney is indecisive because health and social issues are not his focus. I think he’s a bit afraid to take a set stance on issues oth-er than the economy because it might attract criticism to his cam-paign as a whole. I don’t think he really cares that much about non-economic issues.”

GOP candidate Newt Gingrich (who is a former Georgia Rep-resentative and Speaker of the House) has taken a stance against

Obama’s contraceptive re-forms that require con-traception to be available

to all women through health insurance. He even accused Obama of “waging a war on the Catholic

Church” in February.Rick Santorum, a former GOP

candidate from Pennsylvania, was

widely known for his strong anti-contraceptive and pro-life beliefs. This concerned many liberals and moderate conservatives, and knowing he would never gain support from the middle ground was probably a factor in his with-drawal from the GOP race.

Says junior Rachel van Het-eren, “Rick Santorum’s clear anti-contraception policy affected my opinion of him. After hearing him say that a baby conceived from rape was still a gift from God that a woman should have to give birth to, I really couldn’t sup-port him at all because it showed a huge misunderstanding of wom-en’s issues. I wouldn’t want him making decisions like that for me. I think that his withdrawal from the race probably had something to do with his views on women’s health.”

While this debate may have contributed to ending Santorum’s hope for the GOP nomination, it could affect the results of the general election. Says sophomore Amy Barch, “I am supporting Obama because I don’t like how Republicans handle women’s health issues.”

Adds van Heteren, “I think all of the Republican candidates are facing difficulties getting the fe-male vote because of their conser-

vative stance on issues involving women’s health. As it happens, I read that 30 percent of women preferred Mitt Romney while 60 percent preferred Barack Obama, and I think that reflects the tough situation Republican candidates have gotten themselves into.”

Beyond the scope of the presidential election, the issue of contraception is also becom-ing a Constitutional dispute. The Patient Protection and Af-fordable Care Act (PPACA), or Obamacare, was submitted to the Supreme Court for review after it was expressed that it possibly infringed upon state sovereignty and imposed financial burdens upon state governments. The PPACA contains policies mandat-ing that all employers and edu-cational institutions (excluding houses of worship) provide con-traception for employees through their health coverage.

This clause of Obamacare in-furiated many religion-sponsored institutions such as hospitals and schools. Because these institu-tions are not directly houses of worship, they were required to provide contraception for women as part of their health insurance.

The use of contraception goes against the religious morals of many groups and can cost up

to $600 per year without insur-ance. Says sophomore Avalon Patton, “Religious institutions like schools and hospitals should have to provide contraception for all employees because that makes sure that women can decide whether or not they want to have children.”

Barch agrees, stating, “I really don’t feel like any religion has a place in politics, and that includes issues of women’s health. This is why we have the separation of church and state.”

While the Supreme Court has not yet delivered a verdict on Obamacare, many speculate on the outcome. Says Dahlgren, “There are definitely some good and bad aspects to PPACA, but I’d be careful about striking down the law, simply because a huge portion of the law that isn’t the controversial health-insurance clause is very helpful in terms of improving overall healthcare pol-icy. Personally, I think that health-care should be a universal human right.”

It is now clear that this topic is no longer an economic concern. While the cost of providing con-traception can add up over the years, women’s health will always be an issue regarding rights and choice.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1be small, one could connect bet-ter with his teacher. Masa Ota, a freshman at CSM and the Ara-gon Swim Coach says, “There are some teachers that are engaged and try to help. There is a lot of individual attention in the class-room at CSM compared to a uni-versity, so if you have a hard time understanding, some teaches are happy to give you help in office hours.”

However, as a consequence of attending community college, one is unable to take advantage of the full college experience. Tal-bot says “It’s kind of disappoint-ing that I miss out on the full college experience of not leaving home or meeting new people.” Choi states, “A big con is the fact that many community colleges

are commuter schools, meaning that unless you already know a large group of people entering the school with you, there is little time to meet new people.”

Ota agrees, saying, “There is definitely less of a social environ-ment at a community college, which is a major con. Another con is that some teachers treat it like high school. For example, they still take attendance to make sure that no one cuts class.” Sung Jin Moon, a freshman at CSM adds, “You see your parents every day, and it kind of sucks missing out on the dorm life.”

Sharing their experience, Aragon alumni currently at-tending community colleges ex-press mixed opinions regarding this track to higher education. Ota says, “I chose to go to CSM because I didn’t really have too

many other choices. I didn’t really apply to that many schools, so the ones I was left with were just not somewhere I felt like I could stay for a long time. When I finish at CSM, I want to transfer to UCI or a state school. Some challenges that I faced was the lack of mo-tivation.” Yet Choi claims, “Over-all, I am enjoying the community college experience immensely. While it has its ups and downs, the people, professors, campus, and the little things in between have offered me a very smooth and exciting transition into this next phase of life.” Current fresh-man at CSM and last year’s mas-cot Joel Vazquez adds, “[The ex-perience at a community college] is great and beyond phenomenal. Everyone is so friendly as long as you try to talk to them and get to know them.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Committee (ASC), a group com-prised of various Aragon faculty and staff members representing different academic disciplines. As Principal Pat Kurtz notes, “It’s a committee that started many years ago [that] wasn’t active for a year or two … it was to look at instructional issues that were tak-ing place in the school … that were coming out in curriculum and how [to] make changes in the school to meet the needs of stu-dents and faculty.”

Kurtz adds that a need for greater “teacher collaboration” and “support time for students” in conjunction with the fact that the traditional schedule did not facilitate this led the committee to reassess the current bell sched-ule in late fall of 2011 and explore alternative options in the early spring of this year. She says, “[The ASC] presented at a faculty meet-ing, just talking in general about [whether] there a need to move

[toward greater teacher collabo-ration], and it came out that most people were in favor of looking at a different bell schedule. And so we then brought it back to the ASC. We talked about it again and different schedules that we could look at.”

Physics teacher Steve Ratto commended the collaborative nature of the process to change the schedule, saying, “I’ve heard things at other schools where they haven’t done that. I’m happy that here they’ve allowed the teachers to kind of spearhead this and be a part of it at the forefront. Our principal, Ms. Kurtz, pretty much said guys I’m putting this on you ... You tell me what you want; I’m not going to force it down your throat because you’re going to have to be the ones to do it.”

Yet in addressing the lack of student involvement in the deci-sion to move to a block schedule, Kurtz comments, “I think the ASC talked about [student input]. But the time frame for making the

change was very short. And most of the issues deal with teachers. It’s a change in strategy. For stu-dents, you’re going to get the same curriculum, whether you got it with the schedule that we had this year or the schedule that we had last year.”

With the schedule all but set to become the default schedule for the 2012-2013 academic year, responses have been invariably mixed from different disciplines.

Ratto says of the modified block schedule, “[The science de-partment] loves it. We love having more time because it gives us the chance to do more in that period so I don’t have to set up some-thing, break it down and set it up again. Sometimes in 50 minutes we have to get through every-thing, so it’s more ‘try this and tell me what’s happening,’ when with longer time periods I can ask the

same sort of question but ask it in the form of ‘how could I get this to happen?’ And then you have to explore to try to get that to hap-pen.”

Reflecting on her time as a member of the faculty at Hillsdale High School, which also operates under a modified block schedule, AP English teacher Jennifer Wei notes that, “At Hillsdale what I did was I collaborated most close-ly with a history teacher. And we would do lessons that were totally in sync, more or less. We were more or less in sync. So we’d study Lord of the Flies, they would study World War II. We would be teaching All Quiet on the Western Front, they’d be teaching World War I … So it was a lot of that cross over; it enabled us to make curriculum that made a lot more sense to students.”

Yet she concedes, “Trying to

focus for 90 minutes is [difficult]. I think some of the reasoning for the 90 minute period is [it] pre-pares you for college when you have 90 minutes to two hours pe-riods and sometimes four hour labs. I think that’s a little artificial because while you are sitting in lecture for 90 minutes, you’re also going to those classes twice a week and not four times a week.”

Looking to the future, the faculty and staff will revisit the schedule change in January of 2013 and at the conclusion of the school year. In the meantime, Kurtz notes, “I would hope that everyone has an open mind, and that we’re going to try it. If we [elect to] go back to [the tradi-tional schedule], we can go back to it. But as I’ve said, if you go around looking at school sched-ules, you’ll find very few that are traditional.”

MONICA CUNICH

02 NEWS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

Dons continue education at community colleges

Enjoying last year of traditional bell schedule, Aragon will switch to modified block

GOP presidential hopefuls debate women’s health

BY LANDON HART NEWS

Students do have the power to make new classes happen at Aragon. A student initiative for a new class takes some talking with administration, a teacher willing to teach the course, and students who are willing to sign up for it, but it is possible. This year, some juniors and sophomores have spoken up about their interest in having an AP Physics C class next year, which has led to a petition to implement the course next year at Aragon.

Because of the fact that AP Physics C is principally calculus-based physics and therefore less accessible to students, Aragon has not historically offered this class. AP Physics B is algebra and trigonometry based, so it does not require as advanced math to un-derstand. If the class is approved, Mr. Ratto, who currently teaches AP Physics B, will teach AP Phys-ics C as well.

Mr. Ratto said that two years ago, a different strategy hap-pened to implement an AP Phys-ics B course. The administration asked for kids to sign up and this finally came to fruition last year. Ratto says, “I do the best I can to help the stu-dents get the class started. Right now the effort has about 18 kids, which is not enough for a whole class. We need about 25 for administra-tion to consider the class for next year.”

Bruce Zhang, a junior, was the student who initially started this petition. He states, “I hate AP Bio, and APES is a waste of time. Physics and chemistry are the only sciences that are fun, but I already finished both APs. But more importantly, I have noticed that we have some bright students that love math and physics which seemed like a perfect opportunity to make our school look better with an additional AP Class.”

Zhang first had to go to ad-ministration with his idea for the petition and get some support from the school. He says, “The administration mostly thinks it’s a good idea. They always want to have more APs provided by the school, and it is a good thing. They just said to make sure Ratto is up for it.”

“The petition started be-

cause I felt like making one,” says Zhang. Since this course is an AP course, college credits are earned, and many of the students taking this class are planning on taking something involving physics in college. Zhang says, “[I am tak-ing] an Engineering Major.” Jae-hee Park, a junior, says, “I plan on taking physics in college.”

Park, who signed up for the list, says his interest in physics is the biggest reason why he signed up for the course. “I signed up for the class because it sounded pret-ty interesting and new to the high school curriculum.”

Both Park and Zhang plan to take AP Physics C next year, but if it does not become a class, there are alternatives. Zhang comments, “If the class is not approved I’ll go to CSM and take the class. How-ever, that is assuming that the self-study is also not approved.”

An alternative to the class be-ing held on a daily basis is a self-study option. Zhang explains, “Self Study is when you only show up for tests. We get credits and a grade but the teacher doesn’t teach us anything unless you have an appointment. In other words, no class.”

If all these options are not passed, Park says, “I will take AP

Physics B in-stead.”

Another al-ternative for an AP science tradi-tionally offered at Aragon has been AP Chem-istry. However, individuals have speculated that part of the im-

petus behind the desire to imple-ment the Physics C now is the de-sire not to take AP Chemistry. AP Chemistry has had a reputation as being very hard, and has turned some students in a different direc-tion because of the difficulty.

Junior David Koshy says, “AP Chem’s reputation as one of the hardest, if not the hardest, class at Aragon was a factor in my deci-sion but my decision was mostly based on the fact that I find phys-ics more interesting than chemis-try.”

Koshy’s interest in the AP Physics C class is based on a couple factors. He says, “Because I’m taking Calc and Physics right now I thought that AP Physics C would be a good way to go deeper into subjects that I already found I had an interest for.

Want additional content? Visit aragonoutlook.org for more!

“If the class is not approved I’ll go to CSM and take the class. However, that is as-suming that the self-study is also not approved.”

-Junior Bruce Zhang

BY ANGELA SOLISNEWS

On March 30, Aragon Cham-ber Orchestra and Choir, along with Jazz Ensemble, Wind En-semble, and Symphonic band drove down to Disneyland and California Adventure, where they performed on Saturday, March 31.

David Martin, Chamber Choir and Chamber Orchestra director, commented on his experience performing at California Adven-ture, “I think the schedule was really smooth...it was one group after the other, so most of the groups had the opportunity to hear the rest of the groups per-form as well.

“[Orchestra] performed very well. [The audience] really liked our programming and we had a good percentage of the kids from Chamber Orchestra. It was funny how out of three basses, none of them could go initially, but one of the basses, Daniel Gorn, did end up going, which was nice be-cause we needed to have a bass,” explained Martin.

It may have been southern California, but the weather was far from sunny. “Chamber Choir just lucked out because there was rain just before, or just after, [they] sang. We were kind of go-ing, ‘Uh, what’s going to happen?’, but it ended up being clear and it went well. We had full chamber choir pieces and we had a couple duets and a couple of soloists as well. Disneyland was very appre-ciative that we gave individual kids the opportunity to perform,” commented Martin.

Sophomore Nina Canton commented, “I liked performing in front of the people at Disney-land the most. We had the oppor-tunity to share our talent in front of people other than the Aragon community.”

“The performance was nerve wracking at first, but after per-forming the first song, it seemed like another ordinary perfor-mance. I liked the pieces we per-formed because there was a lot of variety and as Mr. Martin would say, the songs ‘fit the style’ of our group. The way we sing songs like ‘April in my Mistress Face’ is en-ergetic, like our group,” explained Canton.

Troy Davis, Jazz Ensemble,

Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band director commented on his experience performing, “It was really cool. I’ve done this before, but for most of the students on the trip it was their first time per-forming in Disneyland.

“[The performance] went well. The practices paid off be-cause we had students in the band on the tour who are in three different classes of mine, so they don’t rehearse together regularly. So we had to add practices out-side of class in the morning. The time that we put into it is all part of the journey. To me, by the time we get to the performance it’s wonderful, it’s fun and the peo-ple love it, but where we’re really learning and getting the most out of it is during the rehearsal pro-cess.”

Sophomore Ria Patel ex-plained, “Performing in Disney-land was absolutely magical. The cast members who helped us out were super nice and the clinician we worked with in the recording studio was hilarious.”

“It was really cool to be up on stage in the happiest place on Earth and play music. It felt a little different than at our school performances and it was just a lot of fun,” said Patel.

The groups performed public-ly, so anyone who was in the park had the opportunity to experi-ence Aragon music. “The other interesting thing about [per-forming] was that we could be performing for anybody. Millions of people go to Disneyland every year from all over the world. So, of course there were the people who’d joined us that we knew were listening, but there were also other people who could’ve been from anywhere; all across the US, other countries and that’s one of

the things I like about a live, pub-lic performance like that,” Davis said.

Along with performing for the public in California Adven-ture, students got a look at what Disneyland is behind the scenes and what it takes to make Dis-neyland the “happiest place on Earth.” Davis explained, “[We] got to go backstage and see what most of the public does not get to see. There’s scaffolding and trac-tors and people walking around in regular clothes, and just real world stuff. It’s so weird...it’s still Disneyland, but it’s a completely different world.”

Not only did they perform like professionals, but students were given the opportunity to work with professional musi-cians and clinicians who have worked on Disney movies. Each ensemble quickly sight-read--which is reading music for the first time and playing it--and then performed clips of songs from Disney movies. The movie clip and the recording were then put together, and the groups were able to hear themselves playing the background music to well-known Disney movies.

Martin commented on the sight-reading and recording workshop saying, “[The students] got to feel the pressure of, ‘Okay, you learn something really quick-ly, you get ready and record.’”

Patel explained, “My favorite part of the trip would have to be when we went to the record-ing studios and recorded some of the music heard in Disney mov-ies like ‘Tangled’ and ‘The Night-mare Before Christmas’. It was an amazing learning experience and I feel so honored to have been a part of it.”

03NEWSVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

DONS IN DISNEYLAND AP Physics C petition draws support

Aragon Chamber Choir sings “I Sing You Sing” before a crowd of onlookers.

ALEX FU

RUYA

MARIEL WONG

BY TAYLOR WESTMONTNEWS

The satirical play The Impor-tance of Being Earnest came to Aragon’s Student Lunch Room (SLR), the first such performance by the Aragon drama department in the SLR. The SLR was trans-formed into a black box theater, where yards of thick black fabric covered the entirety of the room, blocking out all of the light. “It was an incredibly unique situa-tion to work with and it was hard develop an appropriate set, but I think we have done a great job,” said play director Shane Smuin.

As the play had a nine person cast, the audition process was ex-tremely competitive. For one, the entire cast had to speak in a Brit-ish accent. “I was continuously practicing my British accent,” commented junior Kevin Dwyer, who played one of the leads.

The small cast and crew all struggled with not having ac-cess to the Aragon Theater, as the whole area is currently under construction. “We did not need too much space for this produc-tion, so it was fine rehearsing in Smuin’s room,” Dwyer remarked. The cast could not rehearse in the SLR, though, as it is generally in use, and only took over the room the week before the performance.

“The venue dictated what I could not do,” said Smuin. As the SLR is significantly smaller than the old Aragon Theater, Smuin was attracted to The Importance

of Being Earnest since it had a small cast. Parent and student vol-unteers, along with the tech the-ater students all put up the black cloth that covered the entirety of the SLR to create the black box theater. “Principal Pat Kurtz told me it was the best use of the SLR ever,” laughed Smuin.

The Importance of Being Ear-nest centered on the ideas of love and marriage, as well as the ques-tion of identity. Cecily, played by sophomore Kira Brenner, falls in love with one of the protagonists, Algernon, portrayed by senior Sammy Shufton. Yet, she falls in love with his alter ego, who goes by the name of Earnest. Mitchell’s character has a strikingly similar situation, as she is in love with and engaged to a man she be-lieves is named Earnest, and yet whose actual name is Jack, played by junior Kevin Dwyer. The play centers on these four characters and the various chaos that result because of Jack and Algernon’s actions.

Despite the black box theater’s slightly smaller size, many people showed up for the performances. Audience members sat in foldable chairs on raised platforms. “There were 87 seats, and generally about 60 of them were full each night,” commented Smuin.

On the performance, senior Mimi Lynde said “I thought it was really impressive that the tech crew transformed where I attended a college meeting like a couple days before into this black

box theater!” The props and black cloth were

quickly taken down after the last performance on March 25. “What we usually do in a week we had to do in two days,” said Smuin. Now, the drama department is looking forward to using the new Aragon Theater this fall.

The original school’s infra-structure did not include an au-ditorium. As a consequence, the old Aragon theater was squeezed between the two gyms. This new theater will be the first space at Aragon designed specifically for the performing arts.

Though the theater is sched-uled to be ready by the fall, Smuin is worried about the technical side of the theater. “It will be inhabit-able, but the technical stuff will need ironing out, especially the acoustics and lighting,” he clari-fied.

The fall musical will hopefully be in November, but if the new theater is presents too many ob-stacles, the musical will take place in January of 2013. “The new the-ater will be equally different and exciting!” enthused Smuin.

Want additional content? Visit aragonoutlook.org!

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04 NEWS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

“The Importance of Being Earnest”

Top: Jack Worthing (Junior Kevin Dwyer) leans on Miss Prism (Se-nior Stephanie Young), mistakenly identifying her as his mother.Below: Merriman (Hayden Phin-ney), serves tea to Lady Bracknell (left-Brynn Mitchell) and Cecily Cardew (right-Kira Brenner).

05ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

Be

st TV

Sh

ow

The Big Bang TheoryNew Girl

Be

st Su

bstitu

te

Mr. BentonMr. Benton

Be

st Mov

ie

The ArtistThe Hunger Games

Be

st Artist

The Black Keys

One Direction

Best V

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e

League of LegendsSkyrim

Be

st Bo

ok

The Communist Manifesto

The Hunger Games

Best M

eme

First World Problems

Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

Breading CatsJenna

Marbles

Best Hangout Spot

Central Park Parking LotT-Pumps

Best Son

g

Pumped Up Kicks

We Are Young

Best iP

hon

e Ap

p

Penguins from the Academy

of Sciences

Draw Something

Most Annoying Catchphrase

999#YOLO

Don’s Choice Awards

Best Way to Ask Someone to Prom

Be

st Inte

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t S

en

satio

n

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, then

The Big Bang Theory came. Half an hour later, stomachs hertzing from the saturation of humor, the cast leave and argon

until the next week.

None can deny the beguiling hilarity of Zooey Deschanel’s “New Girl.” She may be “hipster,” but she did it before it

was cool.

Breading cats is the art of photographing

cats with sliced bread around their necks.

This combination has become a guaranteed equation for reactions

such as OMG SO Cuuuuuuuuute!

FUS RO DAH! Arrow to the knee? The Elder Scrolls V:

Skyrim has led to the flooding of these

references on the internet. Happy dragon hunting.

Just look at that picture. And he knows math. Does

this man’s perfection know no bounds?

When your math teacher is sick for a day, you

may see this sandle clad substitute stride into the room. Mr. Benton is sure

to bring joy and knowledge to any classroom.

With catchy tunes and British accents, this boy band has won over the hearts of

teenagers, and “That’s What Makes [Them]

Beautiful.”

Is it a peguin? Is it a cucumber? Is it a

flip-flop? No, it’s Draw Something--which

tests not only one’s artistic abilities, but also one’s creative

talents.

These books weren’t even published this year--but

who doesn’t enjoy a good ‘ole child-murder-in-dystopia story? It’s lighter than most AP

English literature.

Who couldn’t help but fall in love with a

classic romance and a Jack Russell Terrier? In a world of nonstop noise, we are happy to sit in a theater

in complete silence. “With Pleasure!”

Not only a chat ab-breviation for laughing out loud, LoL now also

stands for the real time strategy game, League

of Legends.

Parents kick you and your friends out of the

house for being too rambunctious? Head over to the Central

Park parking lot. Park-ing is free after six!

Featuring Janelle Monáe, “We are

Young” reminds all teachers that they

are old.

“Pumped Up Kicks” may be overplayed, but you’ll still sing to it in your car.

In Communist Russia,

Manifesto reads you.

Should Katniss go for the charming, sweet Peeta or the strong, caring Gale? Or maybe she should just

stay single.

Definition: A phrase used to justify

reckless, often stupid behavior, #YOLO

became real annoying real quick.

Need a 24-hour live feed of the coolest birds that can’t fly?

The catchiest catch phrase

that didn’t catch on.

He’s really, really,

ridiculously good-looking.

“It’s so difficult to find quality entertainment

on the internet.”

If you’re still thirsty, try bucket-size.

“Syllogism: I’m hot; you’re hot; we should be hot together.” –Elizabeth McSheery, junior “With your shirt on.” –Adrianne Seiden, senior

The Student Body The Outlook Editors

Best for road-tripping and

singing in the shower.

Whether you’re a guy or a gal,

you’ll find yourself laughing at her

makeup antics. Bye Spiderman!

EMILY YIP

CURTAINS BY BRIAN BARCH

06 FEATURES VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

For additional content, includ-ing web exclusives, please visit our newly redesigned website

at aragonoutlook.org.

BY SAMANTHA WONGFEATURES

In England and Ireland, it is known as the “Debutante’s Ball”; In Germany, it is called the Abifei-er; in Austria, it is called the Mat-uraball; in Sweden, it is called the Studentbalen. Here in the United States of America, we know it as the most anticipated and classic dance of high school: prom.

The word “prom” is short for “promenade,” a ceremonious opening of a formal ball. The prom can be traced all the way back to the 19th century, when formal, co-ed banquets were held for graduating classes of Ameri-can universities. By the 1940s, growing teenage culture led to the kind of prom that more resembles modern day prom.

Traditionally, the prom rep-resents a teenager’s transition from adolescence into adulthood. Thus, part of what makes prom so anticipated and exciting lies in its acceptance of only junior and senior students. Freshman Amy Chen sees it merely as a big dance for the upper classmen. “I see it as a senior class celebration because it’s their last year. They’re ending their school year on a fun note,” she comments.

Jessica Ding, a junior, discusses the excitement in the school at-mosphere regarding prom. “Ev-eryone talks about it, asking, ‘Oh, [are] you going to prom? You should go!’ It’s one of those high school experiences where your kids will probably ask you about it, and it’d be lame to say you didn’t go,” she says.

By the 1950s, the growing im-portance and fancier atmosphere of prom signified that the prom was not just an ordinary dance. Increased competition gave way to Prom King and Prom Queen nominations, and couples began to vie for being voted the “best dressed” or even the “most attrac-tive.”

Junior Mary Grace de Castro explains that modern movies tend to focus mainly on the Prom King and Queen aspect of the dance. “I thought they would be voted on what they do in school, but it’s really based on popularity and

doesn’t let other people shine,” she says of the media’s portrayal of the competition.

Not only does the media bring attention to the competition of proms, but it also emphasizes the idea of choosing and ask-ing a date. Senior Paul Chen de-scribes how he asked his date to prom this year. “During physics in Ratto’s room, I spelled out P-R-O-M-? in Christmas lights using five serious circuits and then gave her flowers and asked her when she walked into class,” he explains.

Another prom tradition that is still kept today is the presentation of the corsage and boutonniere. Back then it was customary for a man to pull a single flower out of the presented bouquet and deli-cately attach it to the dress of his date when the couple attended a formal event.

Janell Leung, a sophomore, says about corsages, “It’s nice, but it’s not really necessary because he pays for the tickets. But…I guess you can tell he cares, then.”

“It shows consideration,” says junior Sam Bunarjo. “It shows that the guy thought about the girl when getting ready for prom.”

Ultimately, both the media’s portrayal of prom and the dance’s traditions themselves set up the last dance of the year as a magical, perfect event in a teenager’s life.

However, there are certainly

those who disagree with the idea of prom needing to be precisely traditional. Junior Jyoshita Singh says, “I think prom is not all about the ‘perfect’; it should be about having fun and letting loose and enjoying the music. To me, prom is just a place to hang out and dance with friends.”

When she went to high school, Rei Jackler, a US History student teacher, attended her school’s “Un-prom” instead of prom. “We were not allowed to spend more than five dollars on an outfit. The theme was the ‘Foot Ball,’ where you had to make something crazy on your feet. I went with a tutu and roller skates,” she says. “I’m not sure why exactly my school did it, but they probably didn’t want people to be left out, like if they can’t afford dresses or they can’t win Prom King or Queen,” she adds.

Senior Megan Kain believes that prom has the genuine abil-ity to make anyone, boy or girl, feel special. “Being at prom makes you feel like you’re at a celebrity event,” Kain says. “You get to dress up, and because it’s a more formal event, you can really see people at their best.”

BY BRANDON YANFEATURES

In March of 2012, George-town Avenue residents expressed increasing concern over the neg-ative impact of parked vehicles on their street. They cited heavy student parking as one of the problems.

Georgetown resident Cim-eron Morrissey says, “A lot of students as well as construc-tion workers started parking on Georgetown, which unfortu-nately has created a lot of prob-lems for residents since residents can no longer park in front of their own homes, and some-times people are parking in front of driveways.”

She adds, “When we had construction going on and we had no place to put our cars… we had to get up to get our cars parked in front by quarter to seven. Otherwise, the first round of kids had already parked in front of our house. It’s a huge, huge inconvenience.”

Other serious issues such as neighborhood disturbance and noise have also emerged as a re-sult of the increased parking.

“We have another resident on the street who has brain cancer and he needs to sleep a lot. One day there were kids out in front of his house that were testing their speaker systems basically as loud as they could. And the poor guy… he needs to sleep, and he can’t because there are kids blasting stereos,” says Morrissey.

Some residents have resorted to their own methods to save parking spots.

Georgetown resident Becky Ashley says, “We put cones out on the street because we left dur-ing the day… we couldn’t find a place to park [upon returning], and one young lady, who is on the volleyball team, moved them and decided she could park there.”

Others have reached out to students in hopes that they would seek alternatives.

Junior Olivia Chan says, “Georgetown residents were printing out papers and putting them on student cars giving us alternative streets to park on.”

Aragon administration has responded to residents’ concerns through announcements to stu-dents.

“We went on with a message a couple weeks ago about look-ing for other places to park to give Georgetown residents some relief,” says Assistant Principal Jim Coe.

Junior Haley Bartlett says the announcements have had some success. “A lot of [students] have [moved]. Because usually when we come at this time, we have to park way further down the street but now we don’t.”

The root of the student issue lies with the sheer number of cars. Every weekday, over 1600 students and faculty and hun-

dreds of vehicles descend upon Aragon. With limited parking options on campus, many turn to the surrounding neighbor-hood as their alternative.

Most students say they choose to park on Georgetown out of necessity rather than de-sire. There have been reports of tire slashing, cars being keyed, fake tickets being issued, and vandalism to vehicles parked on that street.

Some, like Bartlett and Chan, have sought other options.

Bartlett says, “I tried parking on Oregon, but there’s no park-ing signs there, so I got a ticket, [but] that’s actually one of the streets the people who live on Georgetown recommended.” Bartlett has since returned to parking on Georgetown Avenue.

Despite the instances of crime, Chan has also returned, citing no other choice. “They don’t have junior parking in the parking lot… and all the other streets have no parking signs.”

Georgetown is also impacted by Baywood Elementary school drop-off. Ashley says, “The Bay-wood Elementary drop-off… is in the same situation. [Par-ents] can’t find parking to drop their kids, and they always used Georgetown. Now they’re work-ing on that… with the drive-in and around.”

Aragon administration un-derstands how difficult it is for everyone involved. Coe says “With four construction proj-ects, it’s very tough. I feel for the residents. I feel for the construc-tion people… and of course I feel for the students who have to also find a place to park. It’s go-ing to be congested.”

Some wonder why residents have not made Georgetown a no parking zone.

“We don’t want our street to be ruined by all these little sign posts. You do that, you have to put up those stupid ugly signs,” says Ashley.

Coe says the situation is ex-pected to improve in the near future. “In April we should have one construction project done – that’s the CTE building. So once that’s finished, there will be some relief, but there will be still be three projects going on so probably until next October, things will be busy. Luckily we’re out the end of May so the stu-dent issue over the summer will disappear.”

However, the problem seems to be far from being solved, as it will likely recur next year.

In the meantime, Morrissey hopes for better understanding among the parties involved. “We understand how challenging it is for the students and we sympa-thize. However, the answer is not to turn our street into a parking lot… we hope that the students would be very respectful of us just as we are respectful and un-derstanding of them.”

Problem-solving in suburbia

The classic high school “promenade”

VALERIE PEREZ

Seniors Keenan Woodard and Lauren Croshaw and juniors Ian Barrie and Abria Folauoo are crowned Prom King, Queen, Prince, and Princess beneath the branches of the “Tree of Souls.”

07FEATURESVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

Twins: double the trouble

B Y

BY KIRA BRENNERFEATURES

“One of our friends tried to pinch one of us to see if the other would feel the pain,” says senior Hillary Koh remembering a funny experience she and her fraternal twin sister and fellow senior Han-na Koh faced in their childhood.

Among critics of the phenom-enon of twin telepathy, in which sets of twins supposedly com-municate thoughts or feelings by

means other than the known senses, are fra-ternal twins sophomores Dani-ella and Paige Kotowitz. Daniella Kotowitz says, “There’s no such thing as twin telepathy, at least for us.”

Fraternal twin juniors Amy and Brittany Pisoni have had a slightly different experience. “A lot of people don’t believe in twin telepathy, but for us it happens a lot. We finish each other’s sen-tences,” says Amy Pisoni. Brittany

Pisoni says, “I know how [Amy] is going to react to something. It isn’t really telepathy; you just un-derstand each other so well.”

Sophomores Rachel and Lau-ren Suarez are identical twins. Ra-chel Suarez says, “We finish each other’s sentences all the time and we say the exact same thing at the exact same time. We can also look at each other and I know what

she’s thinking or how she feels in that moment.”

The Suarez twins share more than thoughts

and feelings. Lauren Su-arez says, “When we have

switched classes before our Spanish teachers haven’t noticed.”

Rachel Suarez adds, “On twin day, earlier this year, we switched classes

for the whole day. None of our teachers no-

ticed or said anything.”Twins, in addition to having a

sibling with whom they can con-nect on a deep level, are the same age as their twin and, therefore, really understand what the other twin is going through.

Sophomores Malea and Mikeala Lamb-Hall are fraternal twins. Mikeala Lamb-Hall says, “You always have someone to talk to about problems that are maybe too personal to talk to with other friends.”

Malea Lamb-Hall agrees and says, “If a twin has an issue with parents, they’ll just understand more than friends because they actually know how parents are at

home.”Paige Kotowitz says, “If you go

to an unfamiliar place and you don’t know anyone else there you already have someone to talk to.”

Hillary Koh says, “You can just walk across the hall [to get help with homework] instead of call-ing someone.”

Twins have these securities and strong friendships, but com-petition and com-parisons are issues twins cope with.

Hanna Koh says, “When we get into different colleges we forget to be happy for each other. We get jealous.”

“I’d rather us get into the same plac-es, but we try to be supportive,” says Hillary Koh.

Comparisons and competition can be fostered between the twins themselves. Hillary Koh says, “We do the comparison on our own. I compare my grades with Hanna. Sometimes I forget that it just matters how you do and not how other people are doing.”

F r i e n d s and family can also compare twins. Malea L a m b - H a l l says, “I don’t like it when friends and family com-pare us. They list off all these ways we are different… It’s annoying, people treat you like you’re supposed to be the same person, but we’re not.”

In addition to comparisons, twins are also sometimes not treated as two separate individu-als; some people expect twins to behave like one person. Dani-ella Kotowitz says, “We always tell people not to feel obligated to in-vite both of us to a social event.”

Although fraternal, Seniors Jamel and Paula Aranda some-times get mixed up in the hallway by their teachers. Jamel Aranda says, “I hate it when people can’t tell us apart.”

Even though some teachers

may not be able to differentiate between them in passing, talking to one of the twins should clear things up- Paula is pursuing a ca-reer in fashion, while Jamel is go-ing into the army next year.

Fraternal twins, no matter how different their appearances may be, are still mixed up be others who know them.

Hillary Koh says, “One time I was in the of-fices at school and someone came up to me and started talk-ing to me. I was really confused because I had never met this person before. Then I realized they thought I

was Hanna,” who is significantly taller than Hillary, “so I pretend-ed to be Hanna so it wouldn’t be awkward.”

Although, the ability to switch places with a twin has its advan-tages. Rachel Suarez says, “My first week of high school at Mercy

I tripped over a backpack and I fell onto the floor. I was bright red… I don’t even know how, but chairs flew everywhere. Ev-eryone thought it was Lauren though, that was really funny.”

Yet it seems the metaphorical scoreboard is even. “In middle school I switched with Rachel for a class so that I could talk to one of my good friends,” says Lauren, “I was talking so much that my teacher sent me out of the class thinking that I was Rachel. I got her into a little bit of trouble.”

Even with competition, confu-sion, and comparisons, twins tend to appreciate having a twin.

“I love being a twin,” says Ra-chel Suarez.

Amy Pisoni says, “It’s like hav-ing a built in best friend.”

Visit aragonoutlook.org for access to more articles, photos

and graphics.

“On twin day, earlier this year, we switched classes for the whole day. None of our teach-ers noticed or said any-thing.”

-Sophomore Rachel Suarez

“One time I was in the of-fices at school and someone came up to me and started talking to me...Then I re-alized they thought I was Hanna...so I pretended to be Hanna so it wouldn’t be awkward.”

-Senior Hillary Koh

YUZO MAKITANI

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, PubMed Health defines alcoholism when one “shows signs of physical addiction to alcohol and continues to drink, despite prob-lems with physical health, mental health, and social, family, or job responsibilities.” The causes of alcohol dependence include: genes, easy access, stress, depression, and peer pressure. On the subject of genes and their effect on drinking, “scientists say there are specific genetic factors which may make some people more likely to become addicted to alcohol” (Medical News Today; What Is An Alcoholic?). A family history of alcohol addiction se-verely increases chances of becoming dependent. Unsurprisingly, easier access to alcohol correlates to alcohol abuse and alcohol-related deaths. According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago, “more retail access correlates with higher alcohol use.” In an annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, “high stress teens are twice as likely as low stress teens to… drink, [and] get drunk.” One Aragon student says, “[Drinking] can make us feel free and release all our stress.” In ad-dition to stress, people with depression may seek to deliberately or unwittingly use alcohol as a means of self-treatment (Medical News Today). Despite whatever it is that leads to underage drinking, once they start they face a number of potential health risks. Amongst teenagers, puberty is a period associated with an increase of hor-mones which are vital for normal organ development, but, “drink-ing alcohol during this period of rapid growth and development may upset the critical hormonal balance necessary for normal [growth]” (pubs.niaa.nih.gov).

Drinking has always been a large part of American culture, although its prevalence within the teenage community has fluctuated throughout the years. Underage drinking first met resistance during the reform movements of the late 1800s, during which many women and religious lead-ers promoted temperance among youth and adults alike. The largest anti-alcohol movement was the onset of Prohibition in 1920, which was supposed to eliminate drinking in the United States. However, Prohibition did quite the opposite; instead, drinking went “underground,” and alcohol was particularly popularized among the college youth (1). In 1930, about two-thirds of college stu-dents were drinkers (2). When Prohibition was ended in 1933, states began determining the drink-ing age, and most chose 21. Although many lowered the drinking age to 18 in 1975, the Federal Aid Highway Act--which gave federal highway funds only to states that adopted a drinking age of 21--led to all states having a drinking age of 21 by 1984. However, teenage drinking persisted and even increased; in 1975, 27% of the total high school graduating class admitted to drinking before eighth grade, compared to 36% percent in 1999 (2). Although underage drinking peaked in the 70s and 80s (3), people under 21 currently drink between 11 and 25 percent of all alcoholic beverages consumed in the United States (2). Some argue that the drinking age should be lowered in order to avoid the abusive habits that followed Prohibition during the 20s, whereas others maintain that the drinking age of 21 helps to discourage drunk driving accidents, sexual deviance, and alcoholism. Regardless, the United States currently holds the highest drinking age in the world, along with Fiji, Pakistan, Paulau, and Sri Lanka (4).

Alcoholconsumptioninmanyculturesisseenaspositive.It’sinvolvedinsocialgatherings,ceremonies,rituals,andeverydaylifebecausedrinkingisviewedasanimportantadjuncttosociability.Itisseenasarelativelyinexpensiveandeffectiverelaxant,orasanimportantaccompanimenttofood.Becauseitwasseenasanormalpartofdailyliving,youngpeopleinmanyculturesareintroducedtodrinkingearlyinlife.“Theideaofaminimumagebefore[which]childrenshouldbe`protected’fromalcoholisalieninChinaandFrance;whereitisamatteroflaw,themidorlateteensarefavored....ChildrenlearntodrinkearlyinZambiabytakingsmallquantitieswhentheyaresenttobuybeer;childreninFrance,Italy,andSpainareroutinelygivenwineaspartofamealorcelebration”(Heath,D.B.,“AnAnthropologicalViewofAlcoholandCultureinInternationalPerspective”).Italians,likeJews,areagroupwhosememberstendtodrinkandtohavelowratesofalcoholproblemsbecausethey’retaughtatanearlyagehowtodrinkinmoderation.Childrenareintroducedtoalcoholaspartoftheirregularfamilylifeandlearntodrinkmoderateamountswhilestillyoung.Inbothcountries,alcoholiscommonlydrunkwithmealsandisconsideredanaturalandnormalfood.Inthesecultures,drinkingreflectssociabilityandsocialcohesionratherthanameanstoachievethem.

Finding the right balance between discipline and praise can serve to be a difficult task for parents, especially when dealing with underage drinking. BYU professor of sociology Stephen Bahr conducted a survey of 5,000 teenagers, grades 7 to 12, regarding their alcohol use. According to the research, “teens who were being raised by so-called indulgent parents who tend to give their children lots of praise and warmth—but offer little in the way of consequences or monitoring bad behav-ior…were about three times more likely to participate in heavy drinking.” (Parenting Style Plays Key Role In Teen Drinking: NPR). While at the same time, “the same was true for kids whose parents were so strict that no decision was left to the teen-ager’s own judgment.” One Aragon student says, “Some kids might start [drinking] as an escape from home life, like it’s the one thing they can do that their parents can’t control.” Additionally, although many parents believe that permitting their teenagers to drink in the home serves to deter them from less constructive drinking habits outside the home, new research suggests otherwise. An article published on the University of Washington website “suggests that allowing adolescents to drink with adults present may encourage alcohol consumption.” An Aragon junior reports, “some kids might start as an escape from home life, like it’s the one thing they can do that their parents can’t control.” David J. Hanson, Ph.D. suggests that “effective education is based on much more than telling people what not to do.” (Potsdam.edu: It’s Better to Teach Safe Use of Alcohol). He suggests getting rid of the idea that alcohol is a “dirty drug and inherently harmful” because demonizing alcohol draws teens to be more rebellious, ultimately exac-erbating the problems it seeks to solve. One sophomore clearly states that, “without the early exposure to alcohol, I don’t think teenagers will learn to control themselves when it is legal for us to drink.” According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “parents who communicated and were involved with their children at ages 10 and 11, set clear expectations for their children’s behavior, practiced good supervision and consistent discipline, and minimized conflict in the family had chil-dren who, at ages 11 and 12, were more likely to see alcohol as harmful and less likely to initiate alcohol use early. They were also less likely to misuse alcohol at ages 17 to 18” (The Role of Parents in Preventing and Addressing Underage Drinking).

Motor vehicle accidents remain the top cause of death for US teenagers. In 2009, 350,000 teens were treated in emergency rooms for motor vehicle accidents, amounting to nearly $25 billion in injury costs (americanathleticinstitute.org). A third of teens involved in a motor vehicle accident had been drinking. Teens are not allowed to transport alcohol under any circumstances, and most states maintain a zero toler-ance policy that if any level of alcohol (greater than 0.01% BAC) is detected, the license will be revoked for a year. Minors must also disclose information regarding DUI convictions on college applications (criminal-law.freeadvice.com). Other countries have different laws than the US, some more lenient and some harsher. In Australia, the blood alcohol content is .05, and lower (.02) for new drivers and those with learner’s permits. Still, numbers continue to decrease each year due to a variety of factors. Teen DUI convictions can possibly result in jail time, probation, or mandated at-tendance of a reform program. In some cases, the court orders the driver to install an ignition interlock device into the car, which is a breathalyzer type mechanism which will prevent the car from being started if the driver is under the influence of alcohol (criminal-law.freeadvice.com). Additionally, at sobriety checkpoints, police stop drivers to judge if they are driving while intoxicated.

If you’re allowed to serve your country with the risk of dying, you should be able to go to your local liquor store and buy a

beer.- Aragon Student (Male, 10)

What do you think the drink-ing age should be?

16

18

19

21

30.8%

9.5%

Alcohol has a way of bringing people together.- Aragon Student (Female, 12)

Do you think underage drinking is a prbolem at Aragon? Not a problem (11.6%)

Serious problem (.06%)

Minor problem (22%)Neutral (45.5%)Problem (14.7%)

(1) PBS(2) FAQs.org

(3) AlcoholNews.org(4) Potsdam.edu

Drinking has always been a large part of American culture, although its prevalence within the teenage community has fluctuated throughout the years. Underage drinking first met resistance during the reform movements of the late 1800s, during which many women and religious lead-ers promoted temperance among youth and adults alike. The largest anti-alcohol movement was the onset of Prohibition in 1920, which was supposed to eliminate drinking in the United States. However, Prohibition did quite the opposite; instead, drinking went “underground,” and alcohol was particularly popularized among the college youth (1). In 1930, about two-thirds of college stu-dents were drinkers (2). When Prohibition was ended in 1933, states began determining the drink-ing age, and most chose 21. Although many lowered the drinking age to 18 in 1975, the Federal Aid Highway Act--which gave federal highway funds only to states that adopted a drinking age of 21--led to all states having a drinking age of 21 by 1984. However, teenage drinking persisted and even increased; in 1975, 27% of the total high school graduating class admitted to drinking before eighth grade, compared to 36% percent in 1999 (2). Although underage drinking peaked in the 70s and 80s (3), people under 21 currently drink between 11 and 25 percent of all alcoholic beverages consumed in the United States (2). Some argue that the drinking age should be lowered in order to avoid the abusive habits that followed Prohibition during the 20s, whereas others maintain that the drinking age of 21 helps to discourage drunk driving accidents, sexual deviance, and alcoholism. Regardless, the United States currently holds the highest drinking age in the world, along with Fiji, Pakistan, Paulau, and Sri Lanka (4).

So why do underage teenagers drink if they know it could potentially harm them? One of the obvious motivations behind drinking, for many teens, is the pleasure that it elicits. Senior Hunter Muxfeldt says, “Most teenagers start drinking to seem cool amongst their peers, and American culture treats drinking as a sort of ‘rite of passage’” Another Aragon student adds, “I think the most appealing thing about drinking at this age is that it makes us feel older and ultimately more mature.” Teens may also drink as an act of disobedience against author-ity, or simply due to curiosity developed from exposure to al-cohol, as a senior claims, “I think [the reason teenagers start to drink is] a combination of the adrenaline of doing something illegal mixed with curiosity.” Biological factors may also play a role in certain teens’ decision to drink. According to the Na-tional Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, continuing development of the brain during the teen years may contribute to rash behavior such as drinking. Research also shows that, due to differences in the brain, adolescents experience the negative effects of drinking (such

as hangovers or dizziness) to a lesser extent than adults, while also sensing the pleasurable effects at higher degrees (NIAA). Additionally, heredity may be a predisposing factor for drink-ing as individuals with parents who drink have a higher chance of drinking at a younger age. The mass media serves to be a hot spot for promoting underage drinking, “alcohol is widely available and aggressively promoted through television, radio, billboards, and the Inter-net” (pubs.niaaa.nih.gov). One Aragon student says, “People see in shows that [drinking] is treated as this cool thing. I mean they show some consequences, but mostly it’s [portrayed as] fun.” Another student adds, “I don’t think that underage drinking is that big of a deal, but that is also because the media has kind of desensitized the subject by putting it in a light that makes it ok.” As far as advertisements go, “young people, ages 12-20, saw more television ads for beer and ale in 2001 than for fruit juices and fruit-flavored drinks; gum; skin care products; … or sportswear jeans” (NIAA).

One must first note that consumption of alcohol does not automatically lead to sexual assault. However, alcohol remains the largest risk factor in cases of sexual assault, which is defined by any sexual act performed against a victim’s will. While alcohol remains the drug usually associated with sexual assault, other club drugs have been rising in frequency in the date rape setting. These drugs usually are odor-less, tasteless, and can easily be slipped into an unattended drink. In any case, these influences often cause amnesia, leading the victim to be unclear of what hap-pened to him or her and increasing the risk of contracting an STI or becoming unin-tentionally pregnant. Over 70,000 students between the ages of 18-24 have been vic-tims of alcohol-induced sexual assault or date rape (Hingson, R., Heeren, T., Zakocs, R., Kopstein, A. and Wechsler, H., Magnitude of Alcohol-Related Morbidity, Mortality and Alcohol Dependence Among U.S. College Students Age 18-24. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 63 (2): 136-144, 2002.) Furthermore, the quantity of ingestion influences a person’s capacity to make good decisions. Binge drinkers (defined as having five or more drinks in a row if one is male, and four or more drinks in a row if one is fe-male) are 21 times more likely to have unplanned and/or unprotected sex (American Medical Association 2001).

The initial step towards treatment of alcoholism is making the decision to quit. Un-fortunately, those with alcoholism often fail to recognize their lack of control over alcohol use. Friends and family are crucial to notifying alcoholics of their need to acquire help, especially through making clear the aversive effects that alcohol is placing on the life of the alcoholic him/herself and the life of those surrounding him/her. Alcohol withdrawal is a serious, potentially dangerous process, the involvement of a healthcare professional is recommended. If you or someone you know may be facing alcoholism, refer to the following sources for assis-tance.

Alcoholics Anonymous: visit their website at aa.org or call (212) 870-3400.Project Intermission House of San Mateo: call (650) 969-9925U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT): call 1-800-662-HELP

Alcoholconsumptioninmanyculturesisseenaspositive.It’sinvolvedinsocialgatherings,ceremonies,rituals,andeverydaylifebecausedrinkingisviewedasanimportantadjuncttosociability.Itisseenasarelativelyinexpensiveandeffectiverelaxant,orasanimportantaccompanimenttofood.Becauseitwasseenasanormalpartofdailyliving,youngpeopleinmanyculturesareintroducedtodrinkingearlyinlife.“Theideaofaminimumagebefore[which]childrenshouldbe`protected’fromalcoholisalieninChinaandFrance;whereitisamatteroflaw,themidorlateteensarefavored....ChildrenlearntodrinkearlyinZambiabytakingsmallquantitieswhentheyaresenttobuybeer;childreninFrance,Italy,andSpainareroutinelygivenwineaspartofamealorcelebration”(Heath,D.B.,“AnAnthropologicalViewofAlcoholandCultureinInternationalPerspective”).Italians,likeJews,areagroupwhosememberstendtodrinkandtohavelowratesofalcoholproblemsbecausethey’retaughtatanearlyagehowtodrinkinmoderation.Childrenareintroducedtoalcoholaspartoftheirregularfamilylifeandlearntodrinkmoderateamountswhilestillyoung.Inbothcountries,alcoholiscommonlydrunkwithmealsandisconsideredanaturalandnormalfood.Inthesecultures,drinkingreflectssociabilityandsocialcohesionratherthanameanstoachievethem.

Finding the right balance between discipline and praise can serve to be a difficult task for parents, especially when dealing with underage drinking. BYU professor of sociology Stephen Bahr conducted a survey of 5,000 teenagers, grades 7 to 12, regarding their alcohol use. According to the research, “teens who were being raised by so-called indulgent parents who tend to give their children lots of praise and warmth—but offer little in the way of consequences or monitoring bad behav-ior…were about three times more likely to participate in heavy drinking.” (Parenting Style Plays Key Role In Teen Drinking: NPR). While at the same time, “the same was true for kids whose parents were so strict that no decision was left to the teen-ager’s own judgment.” One Aragon student says, “Some kids might start [drinking] as an escape from home life, like it’s the one thing they can do that their parents can’t control.” Additionally, although many parents believe that permitting their teenagers to drink in the home serves to deter them from less constructive drinking habits outside the home, new research suggests otherwise. An article published on the University of Washington website “suggests that allowing adolescents to drink with adults present may encourage alcohol consumption.” An Aragon junior reports, “some kids might start as an escape from home life, like it’s the one thing they can do that their parents can’t control.” David J. Hanson, Ph.D. suggests that “effective education is based on much more than telling people what not to do.” (Potsdam.edu: It’s Better to Teach Safe Use of Alcohol). He suggests getting rid of the idea that alcohol is a “dirty drug and inherently harmful” because demonizing alcohol draws teens to be more rebellious, ultimately exac-erbating the problems it seeks to solve. One sophomore clearly states that, “without the early exposure to alcohol, I don’t think teenagers will learn to control themselves when it is legal for us to drink.” According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “parents who communicated and were involved with their children at ages 10 and 11, set clear expectations for their children’s behavior, practiced good supervision and consistent discipline, and minimized conflict in the family had chil-dren who, at ages 11 and 12, were more likely to see alcohol as harmful and less likely to initiate alcohol use early. They were also less likely to misuse alcohol at ages 17 to 18” (The Role of Parents in Preventing and Addressing Underage Drinking).

Have you ever felt pressured to drink? If so, by whom?

Not pressured (61.7%)

By parents (3.8%)

By friends (28.1%)

By siblings (1.3%)

By media (0.9%)

Other (4.3%)

50.7%

9%

Alcohol has a way of bringing people together.- Aragon Student (Female, 12)

Centerspread By: Emily Yip& Editors

10 OP-ED VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

THE ARAGON OUTLOOK

Mission StatementThe Aragon Outlook staff

publishes a monthly newspa-per created for the students to express themselves on issues of interest and importance to them and to provoke thought and discussion within the Ara-

gon community.

AdvisorScott Silton

Editor in ChiefSabrina Imbler

News EditorsBrandon LiuAndrew Lyu

Sangwon Yun

News WritersBrendan Blosser-McGin-nis, Justin Ching, Landon

Hart, Matt McHugh, Angela Solis, Blake Tan-dowsky, Annika Ulrich,

Isaac Wang, Taylor West-mont, Victoria Yan

Features EditorsPaniz Amirnasiri

Rebecca HuOlivia Marcus

Features WritersKira Brenner, Katarina

Drake, Diyar Eyuboglu, Jan Galabay, Camille

Halley, Mariella Hernan-dez, Jack Herrera, Sophie Rubin, Jacqueline Tang,

Samantha Wong, Brandon Yan

Photo EditorKore Chan

Photo StaffSam Alavi, Brittney Chew,

Alex Furuya, Jason Mai, Valerie Perez, Kayla Solo-

mon, Samantha Soon

Arts and Graphics EditorBrian Barch

Arts and Graphics StaffShannon Bodeau, Monica Cunich, David Diba, Luna

Lynch, Yuzo Makitani, Mariel Wong

Center Spread EditorEmily Yip

Technology EditorDylan Wang

The Oulook would love to hear from you.

Visit us at:www.aragonoutlook.org

or:E-mail us at:

aragonoutlook@gmail.com

Editorial: The drinking age should be 19Alcohol seems especially at-

tractive to many high schoolers, being easier to obtain and seem-ingly safer than most drugs while still providing euphoric effects and, to some, a thrill of lawless-ness. As such, many teenagers choose to try alcohol before they reach the legal drinking age of 21.

The drinking age was set to 21 after the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, a law that cuts highway funding by 10% for states with state drink-ing ages below 21 years. But the current drinking age has proven largely ineffective and possibly even damaging, leading to alco-hol usage in secret by those un-der the age limit. To promote safe alcohol use, the Aragon Outlook supports reducing the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) to 19.

The current drinking age doesn’t have much power over minors. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that “Approximately 20 percent of 8th graders and almost 50 percent of 12th graders have consumed alcohol within the past 30 days.” Perhaps most sur-prisingly, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports that underage drinking accounts for 17.5 percent of total consumer spending for alcohol in the United States. With low

consequences and lots of paper-work, current drinking age laws are rarely enforced by police, with only about .2 percent underage drinkers being caught.

With drinking illegal for high schoolers and some college stu-dents, the student’s contact with alcohol is limited to unregulated and unsupervised environments such as house parties and kick-backs. Having one’s first exposure to alcohol in such a socially pres-suring and alcoholically abundant environment can lead to faster and greater consumption of alco-hol, higher risk of alcohol poison-ing, and other unsafe activities. By drinking in secret and purchasing fake I.D.s, students are also forced to make moral compromises that ultimately erode their respect for the law.

Lowering the drinking age to 19 would mean that nearly all college students can drink in the open, allowing them to have the option of experiencing alcohol’s effects in a safer and more su-pervisable environment, as well as removing any thrill of lawless-ness associated with drinking. Although the option of drinking in bars and restaurants does not completely circumvent the dan-gers of unregulated parties with plentiful alcohol, it provides an avenue for college students simply

curious about alcohol to experi-ence its effects in a comparatively safe environment.

So why 19? The majority of lower-drinking-age proponents advocate lowering the MLDA to 18, as that is when kids officially become adults. However, by set-ting the MLDA to 18, alcohol be-comes easily accessible to many high school seniors, which will inevitably trickle down to lower grades. On the other hand, a MLDA at 19 ensures that high school seniors cannot legally purchase alcohol, precluding any possibility of large scale high school alcohol distribution. Set-ting the MLDA to 19 provides a balance between the desire to restrict high school alcohol con-sumption and bringing the legal age of alcohol consumption closer to high schoolers. By making the MLDA appear significantly clos-er, more high schoolers would hypothetically choose to wait to consume alcohol instead of risk-ing the possible consequences of illegal drinking.

Of course, lowering the drink-ing age does not appeal to ev-eryone. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for example, is vehe-mently opposed to lowering the MLDA, pointing out that drunk driving accident rates have fallen since the passage of the federal

drinking age law. However, the quoted statistic appears to suf-fer from confounding factors as drunk driving accident rates de-creased among all age groups, not just 18-21 year olds, and have even decreased in other coun-tries whose drinking ages have not been raised. The US has actu-ally had a lower decrease of drunk driving accident rates than have many EU countries where the drinking age is below 21. Thus while fewer legal drinkers will obviously lead to fewer accidents involving inebriation, the mild benefits of a 21 MLDA are out-weighed by the need to reduce il-licit, and often binge, drinking.

Therefore, the Aragon Outlook supports reducing the Minimum Legal Drinking Age to 19. With such a change, college students will have a safer environment for drinking (as most will drink re-gardless of the current MLDA of 21), while high school students will have less of an incentive to drink illegally since legal age ap-pears significantly closer.

BY JACK HERRERAFEATURES

For about a week in March, you couldn’t go on Facebook without seeing at least ten posts, fifteen new groups and another 20 event invitations all asking you to buy posters, repost videos and ar-rest a defunct Ugandan warlord. You’re probably sick of hearing Joseph Kony’s name. That’s why this column isn’t about Kony—it’s about us. Why did we react like we did, and why did the hype die down so quickly?

While there was an initial wave of support for Invisible Children, the campaign quickly became controversial. Critics of the cam-paign were angered, and for good reason. People whose only knowl-edge consisted of a twenty-seven minute propaganda video were being swept up in a self-righteous fever. Many people found it hard to believe that all the supporters had actually been overcome with a sudden urge to help Africa.

To some, Invisible Children’s supporters appeared to be pro-moting themselves, rather than the campaign. The way that In-visible Children asked for par-ticipation made it very difficult to not publicize one’s involvement. Reposting a video on Facebook made it appear as if one were try-ing to draw attention to them-selves, rather than the situation in Uganda.

This was in no way true for everyone. Plenty of people were horrified to hear of the atrocities Kony and his small rebel force had committed and eager to help in any way they could.

But regardless of why the video was reposted so many times, the fact remained that the people re-posting the video were uneducat-ed about the situation in Central Africa. This raised an ideological question: should a person support a cause if they are not educated on it?

If a person can’t point out Uganda on a map, is there any-thing wrong with demanding that Kony be brought to justice? Joseph Kony is a grotesque war criminal and a theological luna-tic. While the blind support of his arrest can appear to be morally questionable, uneducated sup-porters do seem to contribute to a good cause. There are no obvious detriments to their involvement--awareness is raised for their cause, and action is taken. So what if they’re not informed about the is-sue?

One argument against blind support is that people who are not knowledgeable about the is-sue will go about “fixing it” in the wrong way. In situations like the one in Uganda, blind support is dangerous. When I began to re-search Joesph Kony and Invisible Children, I was upset with what I found. The LRA (Kony’s Army) numbers in the hundreds, not thousands as Invisible Children implied. In fact, Kony isn’t even in Uganda anymore; he’s believed to have fled into neighboring Sudan. Seeing this, I was unable to under-stand why Invisible Children was supporting the Ugandan military, an organization infamous for hu-man rights abuses including the use of child soldiers. Shocked by what I found, I began to research Invisible Children. I found that the majority of their funding goes towards advertisement and trans-portation; in short, Invisible Chil-

dren is almost entirely activism based. Only thirty-one percent of their funding goes towards im-provement on the ground in Af-rica. They do not contribute much help to the actual people suffering in Uganda.

Michael Deibert, author of “The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and De-spair,” spoke critically of the blind support for Invisible Children. “By blindly supporting Uganda's current government and its mili-tary adventures… Invisible Chil-dren is in fact guaranteeing that there will be more violence, not less, in Central Africa. I have seen the well-meaning foreigners do plenty of damage before, so that is why people understanding the context and the history of the region is important before they blunder blindly forward to ‘help’ a people they don't understand,” he wrote in The Huffington Post.

After my research, I realized two things: I still wanted to con-tribute to the rectifying of the sit-uation in Uganda and Central Af-rica. But I did not want to support Invisible Children. Since Invis-ible Children wants to see change happen on the ground in Uganda, it seems much more pertinent to support organizations that actual-ly contribute the majority of their

funding to the Ugandan people. As with all things, rationality

should overcomes zealousness. The only way to actually support a cause is with absolute conviction. One should support a cause to the level that they are involved in it, rather than to the level that it ini-tially affects them.

Being involved in a cause de-mands that one researches the situation, and comes to under-stand its intricacies. Research-ing a cause is a safety net against blind support, and its inherent dangers. It lets one decide if one is truly passionate about the cause and leads one towards finding the right organizations and institu-tions to support.

When you see something that upsets you, you should by all means take action. The first step towards eradicating injustice is through education. But that edu-cation starts with you. Before you begin advocating a cause, re-search it yourself—find out what’s actually going on, and how you can fix.

Before you repost a video call-ing for the arrest of a defunct Ugandan warlord, at least do a Google search first—if you’re like me, you’ll be surprised at what you find.

PHONY 2012

Have anything to say about the drinking age or any other content published in this issue? Send us a letter to the editor at aragonoutlook.org. Your letter may be published!

11FEATURESVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2011

AMSCO Publication is neither too gen-eral nor too detailed. It is very compre-hensive with important analyses and mini-sections on how historical interpretations have changed over years. At the end of ev-ery chapter, it includes one essay question, review questions, and list of terms. Cons: Since it is very comprehensive, reading it cannot be rushed. It will take at least two to three weeks to finish it. Moreover, it only has one practice exam and does not come with an answer key.

AP

REVIEW

BOOKS

AFTER eight months of extensive learning and late night studying, the judgment time has come. In the first two weeks on May, some students will test their knowledge in various Advance Placement classes. Besides their notes and teachers’ help, many students rely on review books to summarize the concepts for them or get a crash course days (or sometimes hours) before the exam. Based on opinions of students, experts, and teachers, the Aragon Outlook presents a critique of the best and worst review books on the shelves to help you choose.

Princeton Review is a very quick read, but to the point. It is good at summariz-ing ideas in the simplest form and getting a general view of the topics. At the end of the chapter it has a short multiple-choice ques-tion. At the beginning, it offers good strat-egies for multiple choice and essays. There are two practice exams at the end with answers and explanations. AP U.S. History teacher, Doug McGlashan says, “The Princ-eton Review is excellent. I like their quick approach and sample questions.” Cons: It is not very comprehensive or detailed.

Barron’s is very detailed and includes a chronological summary of time periods. It is great for learning specific events and terms. It also has sample questions and es-says with explanations and strategies. Like Princeton, it has two full length practice exams with answers. Cons: It is very com-prehensive and will take weeks to finish. It might also be hard to find general themes, and there are details that might not even be in the test. Barron’s will not work for a “crash course.”

AP UNITED STATES HISTORY

Cliffs AP Guides has very detailed exam-ples of multiple choice questions that help analyze passages. It also offers a short liter-ary terms list, which is helpful for studying for multiple choice. For the essays, it pro-vides examples and explanations of how they are scored. It also offers a diagnostic mini-test that assesses a student’s strengths and weaknesses. It includes five full length tests. Cons: The second edition of this book does not provide any synthesis essay ques-tions. Try the third edition instead.

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Barron’s features an overview of what students need to know about language and rhetoric. It also gives advice on how to an-swer the multiple choice questions and a guide to writing essays, including the syn-thesis essay. Scored sample essays are also included. It also has five full length tests with answers. Cons: Barron’s is most help-ful for those who struggle with the writing section.

5 Steps to a 5 provides a choice of study programs, from a preparation months be-fore the exam to last minute crash courses. It is jam-packed with strategies and tips that will help in interpreting and analyzing con-cepts and terms. It has practice tests and previous exam questions. It is written in a very simple manner but has a very clear ex-planation. Cons: This review book tends to oversimplify the multiple choice questions.

AP PHYSICS

Princeton Review is very thorough and easy to understand. It covers all of the AP Physics topics and provides a straight-for-ward approach that clearly identifies what you need to know to pass the exam. It is very concise and doesn’t take a long time to read. Cons: Some sections are explained too briefly or are not shown as thoroughly as other concepts. The “electricity” and “magnetism” sections are not as complete than the “mechanics” section.

Kaplan is a good option for testing your-self. Doyle says, “It has appropriate practice questions that are closest to the AP ques-tions, especially the multiple choice. It has chapters in different topic areas as well as comprehensive topic tests.” Cons: It might not have as many strategies and explana-tions as other review books.

5 Steps to a 5 takes a conceptual approach towards AP Physics. It breaks down the math in a way that is easier to understand from a different point of view. The practice questions are difficult but relevant to the AP exam, and the side notes and diagrams are often entertaining and hilarious. It organiz-es the concepts in a logical way that is easy to follow and only shows complicated math problems when necessary. Cons: Because it is concise, it may skip over some of the minor details on the AP exam.

AP CALCULUS AB & BC

Peterson’s is perfect if you are looking for a humorous explanation of Calculus con-cepts. For instance, in the book’s first edi-tion, the author writes, “If asked to find the derivative of f(x)=sinx + cosx, you should have no trouble by now. You wouldn’t need to furrow your brow and scratch your chin like a gorilla trying to determine how to file its federal tax return.” Overall, it explains convoluted problems in a simple manner. Cons: Some of the concepts may be harder to understand due to the satirical writing.

Barron’s is very detail-oriented and com-prehensive, and its 10 chapter review will be helpful in walking through the concepts. It includes four practice exams for AB and another four for BC. All the questions are answered and explained. It also offers ad-vice on how to make the best use of the graphing calculator. Cons: It might be diffi-cult to use for someone who does not have a good foundation of the topics in Calculus. It does not simplify the concepts, and the problems are complicated. It is similar to re-viewing the classroom textbook.

Princeton Review features a compre-hensive review of the topics and updated strategies. It contains over 400 practice questions with answers and explanations. It has five full length tests: three for AB and two for BC. The explanations are thorough, clear, and less confusing than the textbook. Cons: The questions might be easy com-pared to the actual AP questions.

AP BIOLOGY

Cliffs is very concise yet provides enough information for students to pass the exam. It also uses language that is easy for anyone to comprehend. It provides strategies for answering the multiple choice questions and free response. At the end, it has 12 laboratory AP exercises and two full length tests with answers and explanations. Cons: Since it is detailed and points out small facts, some larger ideas can be forgotten.

Barron’s has a detailed and well-organized presentation of the topics. There are free response and multiple choice questions at the end of every topic. It also provides a decent amount of charts and diagrams and an extensive laboratory section. It has three full length tests with answers and explana-tions. Cons: The diagrams can be hard to follow and may seem superfluous. It con-tains a few errors concerning classification.

5 Steps to a 5 has three customized study programs from which you can choose. It also includes practice exams that are simi-lar to the AP. It is very simple, comfortable, and humorous to read. Cons: It might not be the best for the writing sections since its explanations are brief at times. It can also be used as a supplement for a more com-prehensive and rigorous review book.

BY JAN GALABAY

FEATURES

AP PSYCHOLOGY

Barron’s has organized and concise in-formation. It offers analyses of sample es-say questions from previous AP exams and has three full-length practice exams. The flashcards version is also a good review of various terms and psychologists. Cons: It is not a good idea to try to use this a few days before the exam since it is 400 pages.

5 Steps to a 5 offers three customized study plans, which the students can choose from. It also reviews all the concepts and key terms in Psychology. It includes practice tests that are similar to the real one. It has shorter definitions and example, making it a quick read. Cons: It is not very detailed and requires that the readers already have a pretty good understanding of Psychology.

Princeton Review has mini tests to re-fresh the reader’s memory and help in self-assessment after every section. It has two full length practice exams with de-tailed answers and explanations and guides the reader on how to write great free re-sponse question responses. It also orga-nizes other Psychology information into charts and tables. Cons: It is very concise and not as extensive as other review books.

1. Aragon Robotics Team (ART) tests the accu-racy of their robot.

2. Kenzo Makitani adjusts the roller on the robot.3. Krista Neill is interviewed by NBC about SVR.4. An overview of the stands and ring area.5. Sophia Wienbar dances with other mascots.6. Brian Barch displays his collection of buttons. 7. (Center) Zhili Liang attempts to solve an issue

with the robot.

To see more photos of this event or find other photo spreads visit aragonoutlook.org!

12 NEWS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

Aragon engineers success

ARAGON ROBOTICS TEAM AT SILICON VALLEY REGIONALS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1in design and looks of robots, although they seemed to have a common thread.”

After these stages, the ART qualified to move forward to the quarterfinals and elimination rounds. Ratto says, “They were chosen on an alliance, where they team up with two other groups and then become a team to try and win the finals. What hap-pened with them was that unfor-tunately, they got knocked out in the elimination rounds and seed-ed 23 out of 50.”

Wang comments “Advancing to World Championships came as a huge surprise to us. I remember feeling skeptical as the announce-ment of the award began; but this feeling quickly turned to pride and joy when I realized we truly had the opportunity to attend Championships. I felt extremely proud of my teammates who had helped make this dream come true, and closer to them than ever before.”

Senior Sophia Wienbar agrees, “I personally did not expect to ad-vance to World through SVR and I think that everyone else on the team would agree with me. Our team is not necessarily known for being very strong on the field but this year we totally rocked and it was amazing.”

This year’s success is partly credited to last year’s ART team. Co-advisor of the ART Jennifer

Wei says, “I think that the success of the team comes largely from the leadership. We were lucky to have a group of students who were not afraid to rebuild the team.”

She adds, “Last year, the seniors were really generous in that they decided not to compete. They re-ally took it for the team. They put their disappointment aside, and I think it’s that idea that what we do is built on the backs of people who came before us; that’s very important.”

Wei also says, “Over the course of the last two years, the team has gone from not competing at all and rebuilding and struggling to exist on campus to winning an inspiration award at Silicon Val-ley Regional.”

Cheung adds, “The last couple of years for our team have been rough. Last year we didn’t com-pete due to issues finding a new teacher advisor. Our team started off as not a team at all but slowly through our six week build season and slaving over this robot, we’ve all grown. We’ve grown in rela-tionship as well as skill.”

Wang says, “Though my mind still reels over how much we have accomplished, I know that it was the result of the determination and hard work of students, men-tors, and teachers alike. Now hav-ing pulled through the hardships, we are ready to face our final competition of the year.”

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13FEATURESVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

The dangers of technology

You are where you sitBY DIYAR EYUBOGLUFEATURES

There are many types of seat-ing arrangements that work for different teachers and class en-vironments. Straight-row is the style students most encounter at Aragon. It consists of five to six vertical rows, with five to seven chairs in each. Most of the time, the teachers reinforce the as-signed seating arrangements, yet there are some teachers that per-mit free seating.

Sophomore Edgar Tenorio prefers choosing his seat. “I like it because I can just sit next to people I work better with,” he says. However, this appears to be an unpopu-lar opinion a m o n g s t teachers. “I would rather assign them myself, but usually once or twice a year I let [the stu-dents] choose, especially if we’re doing a big group project,” says English teacher Jennifer Wei. Sci-ence teacher Asif Rahman doesn’t see a problem with free seating, “I let the kids sit wherever they want unless they are misbehaving,” he says.

Sophomore Rachel Andrews is one of the few students who are against the free seating policy. “In Chemistry class we don’t have a seating chart and I was a new kid and I didn’t know where to go. It’s very uncomfortable, especially for kids who aren’t very social.”

Sophomore Claire Luong dis-agrees, “In the beginning of the year teachers should let students have free seating to understand how people learn better.” Yet Lu-ong understands its challenges. “It can get a bit chaotic when you just want to pass out papers or tests and you don’t know where

they are sit-ting if they are chang-ing their seat everyday. A lot of times people are talking in-stead of fo-cusing or not really pay-ing attention

to the task at hand because they are around their friends,” says Luong, “But I feel more com-fortable learning around people I know.” Ramon agrees, “[Free seating] hasn’t been a problem for anybody, and as long as they are behaving, I’m okay with it, and if not, then I’ll move them.”

Most teachers arrange their

seats in rows and place students strategically in order to achieve maximum learning potential. Wei only arranges her seats in straight rows when her stu-dents are taking individual tests, “I usually put them in clusters because we do a lot of group work,” she says. However, she also adds, “I let people sit where they want and extrapolate my sitting chart from what I believe to be their preferences. If their preferences are romantic, then I guess that’s the universe telling them to be together.” Conversely, Ramon ar-ranges his seats in rows. “I want them to be able to look at the board and be in the most appro-priate arrangement to take advan-tage of that,” he says.

Teachers now have to decide whether personally arranging the seats is the best option or relying on a random generator software. “I think teachers should person-ally arrange seats [rather than through a software], because then if two people have a conflict or are in love, you can know not to put them next to each other,” says Andrews. Tenorio disagrees, “I think it’s best [for a software to randomly assign seats] because it

makes the kids work with some-one they might not usually work with. If they get a choice people might choose to work with their friends instead of working with someone they work well which may cause them to not pay atten-tion in class.” Andrews admits that this can be true. “When teachers personally arrange the seats their feelings are involved, and I think that’s a flaw,” she says.

“If you don’t personally or-ganize [the seats] you don’t take into account the things that need to be taken into account,” says An-drews. Wei agrees, “I like to do it myself because I like to seat stu-dents who need to be up front as first priority.”

More than just the possibility of using a seating chart goes into creating a focused class environ-ment. The order in which the seats are arranged, as well as the arrangement of students in re-spect to each other, are important factors in establishing control in a classroom. Students walk into a classroom and know the struc-ture, but they are often unaware of the consideration that goes into making this structure the most beneficial to everyone.

BY SOPHIE RUBINFEATURES

Did you know that every time you use your cell phone, you might be exposed to poten-tially harmful levels of electro-magnetic field (EMF) radiation? Cnet reports, “Research abounds, but there still is not conclusive or demonstrated evidence as to whether cell phones cause adverse health effects in humans. The sci-ence will continue… but it can take years of exhaustive research before studies actually prove any-thing (if they ever do).”

In the meantime, questions have been raised about the dangers of everyday technology. Some side effects of us-ing a cell phone throughout the day include tiredness, mental fogginess, confusion and f r e q u e n t head-aches. A c -cord-ing to the Wall Street Journal, teens spend more than ten hours talk-ing on the phone every month. What does this mean for their health?

Several studies have discov-

ered a link between long-term (ten years or longer) cell phone use and brain tumors, decreased sperm count, and other ailments. However, the research is only be-ginning to uncover the potential harm.

According to the National Cancer Institute, “the only known biological effect of radiofrequen-cy energy is heating. The ability of microwave ovens to heat food is one example of this effect of radiofrequency energy. Radiofre-quency exposure from cell phone use does cause heating; however, it is not sufficient to measurably

increase body temperature.”

W h e n s e v e r a l

s t u -d e n t s w e r e a s ke d a b o ut t h e i r

take on cell radi-

ation, many didn’t know

what it was. Some Aragon students might have heard

of this theory, but others are completely unaware. Aragon ju-nior Diego Martins states, “I use my phone all day, everyday, and I sleep with it next to me on my bed… I am not scared of radia-tion. I have heard that radiation can cause cancer, but the sun can

also cause cancer just from every-day exposure.”

Junior Michael Wraa notes, “the WHO (World Health Or-ganization) has classified mobile phone radiation on the IARC scale into Group 2(B)—possibly carc inogen-ic… So talking on the phone for long peri-ods of time or sleeping with your phone can cause [ d a m a g e ] . Any time your phone is on you run the risk.”

The same risk also applies to other household electronics such as microwaves and laptops. Wraa adds, “When on, microwaves cre-ate an electromagnetic field. The power can give off [radiation]… same with laptops.”

Fortunately, products have been manufactured to decrease the levels of radiation emit-ted from cell phones and other electronics, including computer monitors, pagers, video game consoles, TVs, baby monitors, hair dryers, cordless phones and refrigerators.

One way to prevent radiation is to text as an alternative to call-ing; most teens prefer texting any-way. Wraa states, “Holding a cell phone 2-4 inches away from your head can lessen your risk of can-cer from radiation by 35-50%,”

making texting a safer alternative. The National Cancer Institute

states, “A recent study showed that when people used a cell phone for 50 minutes, brain tissues on the same side of the head as the phone’s antenna metabolized

more glucose than did tis-sues on the opposite side of the brain. The research-ers noted that the results are preliminar y, and possible

health outcomes from this in-crease in glucose metabolism are still unknown.”

While the world will obviously continue to use electronic devices despite the risks associated with radiation, only time will tell how serious the dangers of everyday technology are.

However, those who are un-

concerned are justified as well. Wraa says, “Cell phone radiation is over-exaggerated. Radiation is practically everywhere. The re-ward is greater than the risk.”

The National Institute of En-vironmental Health adds, “The weight of the current scientific evidence has not conclusively linked cell phone use with any ad-verse health problems, but more research is needed.”

This two-sided issue proves that while technology can help us, it can hurt us just as easily. The fact that this issue remains unresolved demonstrates that additional research is still badly needed, and in the meantime, students’ excessive texting habits may just be justified.

“I think teachers should per-sonally arrange seats [rather than through a software], be-cause then if two people have a conflict or are in love, you can know not to put them next to each other.”

-Sophomore Rachel Andrews

“Talking on the phone for long periods of time or sleep-ing with your phone can cause [damage]. Any time your phone is on you run the risk.”

-Junior Michael Wraa

LUNA LYNCH

YUZO MAKITANI

Please visit aragonoutlook.org to browse through this year’s archive of articles and photos.

Please visit aragonoutlook.org to look through past features articles relating to technology

and to check out web-exclusive events.

BY CAMILLE HALLEYFEATURES

For many students, staying in shape once meant dragging one-self off the couch for a run around the block or doing crunches in front of the TV, but with a kitch-en nearby or a convenience store around the corner, distractions made getting a real workout dif-ficult. However, as gyms become more abundant and affordable in the San Mateo area, many students have turned to a gym membership as an alternative for getting and staying in shape. Al-though making trips to the gym is not nearly as cheap as school sports or at-home exercise, many are beginning to see the physical and emotional benefits of a gym membership as worthy of its cost.

While there are a number of way to exercise that are free of cost, such as running around the park or doing push-ups at home, a sense of structure makes the gym more attractive to many students. “It’s very discouraging to not have a place to go,” says senior Maddy Hudak. “There are people around and machines they might not have access to at home.” For Ara-gon science teacher Leigh-Anne Ecklund, who attends the gym ev-ery weekday at four a.m., “It’s the convenience of having it be open 24 hours a day. It’s a safe place

where you can exer-cise in the middle of

the night.” The gym

itself can also serve as a motiva-tor. As ju-nior Alicia Fernandez says, “When you go, you have to [ex-e r c i s e ] . ” Ecklund of-

fers similar opinions. “It’s an appointment that I make for myself, kind of like a dentist appointment. You wouldn’t bail out on a dentist, unless you want scary teeth, so I don’t bail out on my gym ap-pointment.”

For many, working out at a gym makes exercise more enjoy-able and sometimes even some-thing to look forward to. “We so-cialize,” says Fernandez of her and her friends. “We go with people. I guess it’s sort of like bonding.” For others, going to the gym is more about alone time than socializing. Ecklund says, “I listen to music [and] I watch TV. [When I exer-cise,] sometimes I plan for the day ahead. It’s a good time for me.”

Working out at a gym certainly pays off for students, both physi-cally and mentally. Some students use the gym in addition to play-ing school sports. Hudak, who ran on the cross-country team this season, says, “I switch [be-tween] running outside and going to the gym – it’s kind of like an enhancement to my workout. I do running for cardio and for toning I use the machines.” For junior Haley Bartlett, the gym prepares her for sports. “I wanted to start working out to get in shape for soccer.” The addition of the gym fulfills its purpose, according to Hudak. “I’ve definitely seen re-

sults this past year.” Alicia Fer-nandez says of her and her gym buddy, “We’re getting strong…It feels so good.” To some, the emotional benefits of going to the gym are equally important as the physical benefits. Ecklund says, “If I go in the morning, my men-tal outlook is totally different.” Gym trips serve as stress-relief for many. “I go a lot of the time when I’m stressed out,” says Hudak, and Bartlett agrees. “It does help a lot with my stress level,” she says. “I always go home and am proud of myself… It makes me feel like, ‘Oh I’m healthy now.’”

Many gyms in the area, such as the YMCA and 24 Hour Fitness, offer free fitness classes as a part of membership. Junior Melissa Matthews, who is a member of the YMCA in San Mateo, takes advantage of some of the ameni-ties offered. “I like to do basket-ball,” she says. “It’s always fun.” Bartlett, who also attends the YMCA about twice a week says, “I do yoga. It makes you more relaxed.” Matthews, who attends the class with Bartlett, adds, “The old ladies are so much better than us!” Junior Claire McNally occa-sionally attends yoga classes at the Y as well. “[The class is] very slow and quiet,” she says. “I don’t like how if you make one small noise everyone glares at you…it’s hard for me to stay quiet.” She adds, “But I love it because it’s so relax-ing and after one class your head is completely cleared.”

The recent popularity of gyms has transformed the lives of many Aragon students and teachers. The gym has made exercise easy, efficient, and fun for many who once disliked exercise, and physi-cal and emotional health has become a priority in the lives of students. While it may be difficult to find the motivation or energy to go to the gym, the gym al-ways proves itself to be worth the struggle. Says Hudak, “Once I’m actually there, I’m glad I went.”

BY JUSTIN CHINGNEWS

After suffering a 1-6 defeat to Carlmont on Monday in the PAL Championships, the Aragon boys’ varsity tennis team failed to quali-fy for CCS, but individual match-es will continue. Aragon closed out the season with a 10-4 stand-ing. Ranked third in its league standings, the team recently over-came Burlingame High School’s varsity team 4-3 in an extremely close playoff game last Friday.

Coach Dave Owdom says, “The only word I can use to [de-scribe them] is that they have overachieved. We are a fairly young team so I never know what to expect [with them].”

Besides self motivation, a large portion of the team’s success lies upon its perseverance. Owdom says, “I gave them a tough sched-ule to start off with. They played very good people off the bat and got beat pretty solid.” Owdom ar-ranged several games for the team early on in preparation for future

games. He says, “You get beat up to get better.”

While some tennis teams may arrange their singles and doubles player matchups during games in an attempt to gain an edge, the team’s strength seems to lie solely on its players. Owdom says, “We’re strong enough in singles. Our doubles are strong. We are strong in both areas because we have depth. It is hard to manipu-late ladders [with us] to win.”

Last Friday, Aragon faced Bur-lingame in a vital playoff game located on home courts. Though Aragon’s varsity team won, vic-tory from either side was not clear from the beginning. The high heat brought in an increased level of fatigue for players from both sides.

Of the four doubles matches, three singles matches, and single exhibition doubles match, several did begin and end with strength. For instance, Aragon’s top ranked doubles players seniors Thomas Pauly and Alex Zha established a lead quickly in the first set of their match. Pauly consistently responded to Burlingame’s serves.

The result was Aragon comfort-ably remaining up by three, win-ning the first set. In the second set, however, Burlingame out-played Zha’s close distance game and won the set.

Though Aragon’s top ranked doubles re-established domi-nance with a victory in the third set, other players faced consider-able challenges in matches that lasted over an hour. Top singles player Junior Rahul Joshi faced Burlingame freshman Scott Tag-gart. Taggart’s 6-2, 6-0 win gave Burling game a 1-0 lead. Joshi had also received two losses previous-ly from Taggart.

Tensions rose in the num-ber three singles match between sophomore Isaac Wang and Bur-lingame junior Forrest Tsu as more matches ended and scores grew increasingly closer to final-ization. Faring a very long second set and intense heat, both players took frequent breaks to replenish stamina. Tsu’s victory in the sec-ond set brought utmost attention

to this match; both Burlingame and Aragon were tied, thus, vic-tory banked on the winner of the final set.

However, Wang responded to the pressure playing in a relaxed manner that contrasted with Tsu’s intensity. Seemingly endless ral-lies led by Tsu’s forehand abruptly stopped with Wang’s light drop shots and volleys. In this fashion, Wang won the third set, bringing Aragon to a 4-3 victory after an intensely scrutinized match.

With regards to the game, players are both surprised and pleased. Senior Evan Lee says, “It [could have been] the last time we ever [played] but we went for every shot we [could], and it worked.”

Though Aragon’s team season may be over, individual players will continue playoff matches.

BY JUSTIN CHINGNEWS

With a loss against Burlin-game High School last Thurs-day, the Aragon varsity golf team brought their record to 5-5.

With regards to the season in whole, the team has met its chal-lenges with newfound successes. Initially, the squad lost two of its best players; formerly top ranked golfer Amol Mahal graduated last year while currently number one ranked player junior Landon Hart was unable to play several matches due to a hand injury. Coach Guy Oling says “[It is] ba-sically a smaller squad this year.” Yet, the smaller squad opens up more opportunity for other play-ers. Oling says, “Everyone is a factor [and] participating more. [It is] a smaller squad and tighter bond. ”

Furthermore, regardless of Hart’s injury, team goals remain strong. Oling says, “[Our] target was to make playoffs, have indi-viduals or the team qualify for Central Coast Section, and po-tentially have top ten golfers in the Peninsula Athletic League.”

The last team game, a nine hole playoff match against Bur-lingame High School, took place at the Burlingame Country Club in Hillsborough. The top two ranked players Landon Hart and Jeremy Hardy were unable to play, resulting in a slight shift in ranking that placed Kenny Lin, Ali Imani, and Joey Constantino at the top respectively. Players were split into foursomes that involved two players from each team facing off against each other.

Both Lin and Imani began their match positively, hitting either close to par or their op-ponents for the first six holes. With the initial lack of wind, Aragon and Burlingame players all displayed powerful drives that would precede approach shots.

However, overall performance shifted beginning at the seventh hole. Of a higher difficulty than other holes, yet of a low par, the seventh hole consisted of a wind-

ing, hilly, and narrow path edged by clusters of trees. Imani began with a powerful, strong drive, but Lin’s drive on the same hole veered drastically right toward a tree, resulting in an added stroke. Amidst the rising wind, Imani faced issues overshooting with-in the green which again added strokes to his score.

During the eighth hole, wind levels rose noticeably and again impacted performance from both sides. Players were unable to cleanly drive the golf ball on their first strokes; thus, both Ara-gon and Burlingame’s top ranked players required two strokes on their drives. Compared to the previous holes, Imani and Lin finished the ninth hole, a par three, with relative ease.

The game ended with an overall score of Burlingame’s 211 to Aragon’s 257. Out of Aragon’s players, number three ranked Constantino scored the lowest on the team with 43 strokes total. The team season ended with this playoff loss; however, most of its players will continue playing in the upcoming PAL individual match.

Thus, many of those playing did not regard this loss as their final match. Constantino says, “We are still practicing as a team. If we feel like it is the end already, it is not a good mentality. We want to feel like it is just the be-ginning when we are going into the PAL tournament.”

Looking for additional con-tent? Visit aragonoutlook.org for an archive of past articles!

14 SPORTS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

Have you scheduled your gym appointment?

Boys’ tennis finishes second in PALs

Golf advances to PALs

SAM

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Senior Thomas Pauly hits a forehand shot in a doubles match against BHS.

Junior Bruce Zhang putts in the match against Burlingame.

Junior Melissa Matthews exercises at the San Mateo YMCA.

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15SPORTSVOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26, 2012

The bounty system in the NFL

Dons take to the water, oars and paddles in hand

BY BLAKE TANDOWSKYNEWS

A couple of months after the NFL season, a story broke that the New Orleans Saints defensive coaching staff had been running a bounty system. A bounty system, according to the NFL, is a system in which a defensive player will get rewarded cash for injuring an opposing team’s offensive player. After hearing these allegations, the NFL punished Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, Head Coach Sean Payton, and Greg Williams. Payton was suspended for the whole NFL season while Williams (recently hired as Head Coach for the St. Louis Rams) was suspended indefinitely.

Probably the most incrimi-nating piece of evidence was the audio recording that surfaced in early April in which Greg Wil-liams revealed that he targeted 49er players for specific injury, like Kyle Williams’ head (Wil-liams suffered a concussion weeks earlier), and Vernon Davis’ sprained ankle.

Let it be known that paying players for injuring an opposing player is wrong. Injuries are a part of football, but they should be accidents, not premeditated assaults. The New Orleans Saints coaching staff should be held completely responsible for this

error in judgment, but it should also be noted that they acted as part of a bigger culture of vio-lence in the NFL.

All fans of the game at one time or another have gotten out of their seats after a big hit that left a player laying on the ground in agony. I fell victim to the big hit celebration, when 49er’s Dashon Goldson hit Pierre Thomas in the Divisional Playoffs, forcing a fumble and concussion simulta-neously.

When players hit each other, especially NFL super athletes, in-juries happen. They are a part of a billion dollar corporation that prides itself on physicality. These players are like any other Ameri-can working to support them-selves and their families. They need money like anybody else and the fact that a coach would call for reinjures to take a player out of work is sickening.

As disturbing as the Saints “war like” culture is, it is used in professional and amateur locker rooms across the country in a va-riety of sports. The competitive nature of sports can strip some coaches and players of their mo-rality. Most athletes will tell you that they have had at least one coach whose competitiveness got the best of them. Coaches will be quick to describe their players as “warriors” or “gladiators” allud-ing to the battle like approach these specific players have on the playing field.

Violence has become a bizarre subculture of sports and espe-cially the NFL.

As a response, in recent years the NFL has taken a headstrong approach against concussions to protect both the leagues’ and players’ financial longevity. New rules have been put in place to protect players’ heads. When a player gets hit in the head, it is

now protocol for a player to be checked by a doctor certified in understanding the signs of con-cussions.

It is this movement towards safety that makes the Saint’s vio-lations more devastating.

But this is where the NFL’s protection stops. The NFL can’t change the way they play the game or lower the quality of ath-letes who come into the NFL. They must just keep their head down and slap the wrists of play-ers that perform illegal hits. The product for the NFL is too solid to change.

Steeler’s linebacker James Harrison has been fined for hits to the head more than any player in the NFL. His hits on offensive players have left players with con-cussions for weeks, yet the NFL routinely chose to fine Harrison, not his Defensive Coordinator or Head Coach. If safety were the priority for NFL coaches, Mike Tomlin (Steelers Head Coach) would have benched Harrison a long time ago. By fining Sean Payton and Greg Williams, Rog-er Goodell is indicating that the NFL is changing and wants to protect its players.

But will the NFL really ever feel the need to do more? Chanc-es are this whole “Bountygate” situation will blow over because the NFL is thriving right now as the most popular sport in Amer-ica and fixing an unbroken car is unreasonable. Yes, Williams and Payton might never receive the respect they once had or coach again for that matter, but the cul-ture of physicality and violence will continue to stick in the NFL.

BY BRENDAN BLOSSER-MCGINNISNEWS

At Aragon, paddling and crew aren’t mainstream sports like bas-ketball, soccer and track are, but their existence at Aragon is wide-spread.

Though Aragon doesn’t have a dragon boat team, many Aragon students participate in the youth branch of Dieselfish, an estab-lished bay area Dragon Boat team.

In essence, a Dragon Boat is a large 20-seated canoe traditional-ly carved and painted to resemble a dragon, hence its name. These large boats are raced on 500 meter long stretches of water. The sport of Dragon Boat racing originated in China 2000 years ago, and tra-ditionally occurs during the Chi-nese Duanwu festival. Dieselfish, however, races year round.

The Aragon Dragon Boat Club is led by Senior Lori Ross. The team is comprised of ten Aragon students, along with students from Mills, Leiland, Pioneer and Bellarmine High School.

“We’re like a mosh pit of schools,” jokes Ross, about the composition of the Aragon club.

“I joined [the] dragon boat [team] in my freshman year of high school with the Asian club,” says Ross, describing her first ex-periences with the Aragon drag-on boat team. “The Asian club’s dragon boat team fell apart… because not enough people were coming out to practice to sustain the team… but I really liked the sport, so in my sophomore year I contacted my old coach, and he referred me to this team called Dieselfish. I started up the Aragon team through them.” Ross has led the team ever since.

“[Dragon Boating is] really fun,” says Ross. “I like the sport because it's a total team sport. You can't pull a 1000 pound boat by yourself, so it's a collective ef-fort by all 20 people… I used to be really shy, and through being captain I’ve come out of my shell, and I have better communication skills now. I'm also working with students who are also shy, and so with Dragon Boat I can see them grow up and mature and come out of their shells as well.”

“Lori is a really good leader,” says senior Heather Hamaguchi, who has been on the Dragon Boat team since her sophomore year. “She supports everyone, and she’s

really nice.”On Saturday, April 21, Die-

selfish Youth dragon boat team raced in the California Dragon Boat Association's eleventh an-nual youth tournament on Lake Merced in San Francisco and got second place in their division.

"In the makeup of our team, we're mostly 50 percent new pad-dlers, so for the makeup of our team we did really well," says Ross on how her team performed, "Now that we know how we per-formed at the race we know what we need to work on to get better for the next races."

Dieselfish's Aragon branch plans to race in the Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival in late July, and the San Francisco Interna-tional Dragon Boat Festival, often considered the largest Dragon Boat meet in the United States, at Treasure Island in September.

Along with Dragon Boat, Ara-gon students are also members of Crew teams. Aragon students are on the Northern California crew team NorCal Crew.

A much broader sport than dragon boat, Crew is essentially boat races of all shapes and sizes. There are many different sizes of boating teams, from single to octuplet. There are two types of rowing: sweep-oar rowing, where each rower rows with one oar, and sculling, where each rower rows with two oars, or sculls. All races, or regattas, are categorized under those two variables.

“[Our team is comprised of] a lot of people on the peninsula,” says junior Samantha Bowman, one of the few Aragon members of the NorCal Crew team. “Here [at Aragon,] my brother [Miles] and Simone [Jacobs also] does it.”

“It seemed interesting,” says sophomore Miles Bowman, on why he chose to participate in Crew. “I joined in spring of eighth Grade; my sister was doing it at the time.”

“I’m essentially the assistant coach,” Miles. “I'm the second in command. I run classes, I or-ganize things, make sure every-one's where they need to be, as well as taking care of teammates, and moderating what goes on at practice.”

“We try to advertise,” says Sa-mantha, on why so few Dons row “It’s a pretty expensive sport, and it’s high demanding: it takes a lot of your time and effort.”

Have anything to say about this column or other content from this issue? Send us a letter to the editor through the aragonoutlook.org and we may publish it.

Above: The Dieselfish Youth dragon boat team warms up on Lake Merced.Bottom Left: Senior Lori Ross, row one, lunges to take a stroke setting up the time for the rest of the boat.

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16 SPORTS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 07APRIL 26 2012

Aragon Dons batting at the plate

Baseball and softball pictures listed from left to right: Junior Aldo Severson focuses as he prepares to bat; Junior Lauren Matias pitches underhand for the Aragon softball team; Senior James Egan pitches for the Don’s boys; Senior Maureen Duddy bunts the ball.

Baseball photos by Jason Mai; Softball photos by Sam Alavi

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Curious about Aragon’s past sports history? Visit arag-onoutlook.org to read about the Don’s sports teams of the past and much more.

Sophomore Griffin Tietz rips a wave at Princeton Jetty.

BY MARIELLA HERNANDEZFEATURES

“It started in Hawaii with big one-hundred-pound boards and came to California [with] guys from Santa Cruz College,” fresh-man Luke Eveslage explains on the origin of surfing. Surfing has been around for centuries – kids, teens, and adults ride waves from all over the world, and its addic-tive maneuvers and tricks have caught up with some of Aragon’s students and teachers.

The mystery is how it all start-ed for these people. Sophomore Griffin Tietz shares, “My parents and I grew up on the beach so I’ve always liked it. After a while I got really into the water and surfing and now I really like the sport.” Aragon mathematics teacher Nate Kundin shares, “When I was younger my family would travel to New Jersey, where the ocean was warmer in the summer, to go visit my grandparents. My dad [and I] always went to the beach, and it started with body surfing, then progressed from there.”

Many surfers develop an affini-ty to the ocean. Eveslage says, “I’m definitely passionate about surf-ing. It’s not even a thing to just do anymore. Now it’s like I know I’m going to surf – there’s no question about it.” Kundin also says, “I love being in the ocean and being in nature, especially now that I have a child. I don’t have a lot of time to do things so whenever I have time, surfing is usually the first on my priority list.”

Explaining his attitude for surfing in-depth, Eveslage says, “I enjoy the feeling that you get from it, like a rush, like floating…it’s just addicting. And I like the feeling of accomplishment that I get after, and when I’m out there it just relieves stress for me.” Kun-

din also says, “ When you catch a really nice wave it’s probably like any other sporting achievement, like hitting a home-run or shoot-ing a basket to win a game. It’s really exciting, you’re in the mo-ment, and it just feels good.”

Tietz also shares what he likes about the sport. He says, “I like how it takes you around the world to see different spots to surf like Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Paci-fica, Mexico, pretty much every-where down south, and Hawaii.”

Wherever the case, though, the precautions of surfing are the same. Kundin says, “It’s really easy to get in over your head if you’re not careful. Hopefully you’re a good swimmer and nowadays it’s really easy to find the weather and surf forecast online. So just check the conditions before you go and

if the waves are big and you’re not comfortable you have to know when to stay in and out.”

Other tips to surfing can be learned at a popular camp known as Surf Camp Pacifica. Eveslage says, “The instructors are really personal and help you out. I still surf and keep in touch with the person who pushed me into my first wave when I was seven and taught me the basics. I learned at that surf camp and now I teach there so I know everyone and it’s a great place to learn.”

Tietz also attended Surf Camp Pacifica and now has advanced to become a surf competitor. He says, “I compete in the NSSA, Na-tional Scholastic Surf Association, and they have contests from up here all way down to Hunting-ton that [take place] every couple

months. And you just compete in your age range and surf no matter what the conditions.”

As with any type of athlete, surfers face certain stereotypes. Eveslage explains, “Everyone thinks were stoners, that we talk like “brah” or Hawaiian-ish or that we all have long, blond hair. Sometimes people think it’s a pastime, that it’s not really that serious, but it is a sport – a really great sport. There is a drug influ-ence on the surf scene for sure but I don’t feel that influenced by it.” Tietz agrees that the pot-smoking stereotype is influence saying “Most people think surf-ers are hippies or really laid back, like pot smokers or drug addicts. I think there is that part of surf-ing in some towns, but there’s others where most people are just

passionate and don’t surf for that kind of stuff.” Kundin mentions that the scene is also different on the professional level. “A lot of the professional surfers take really good care of themselves and exer-cise a lot so they’re not so much of the stoner, drop-out kind of dude,” he says.

No matter the reason, whether it be passion, leisure, or exercise, surfing is a wonderful activity for individuals and for groups. It’s a chance to learn something new or to improve on existing athletic skills. It is a sport, and a fun one at that.

Surf’s up

BY MATT MCHUGHNEWS

Dons baseball beats WestmoorLast Thursday’s home victory

against Westmoor had a scary ending. With two outs in the bot-tom of the sixth inning, senior Greg Lyons hit a ground ball to short. When the Westmoor first baseman reached for the ball, he and Lyons collided and both play-ers fell to the ground.

Lyons emerged with only bumps and bruises, but the West-moor player was on the ground for almost fifteen minutes before getting carted off. No official di-agnosis was given, but the player was sitting up and talking. The game was called after the play and the Dons won 5-1.

Junior Aldo Severson was the starting pitcher and allowed only one hit through 4 innings. Sever-son also went two for three at the plate. “Just another normal day,” he joked after the game.

Severson, led the pitching crew in strikeouts last year as a sopho-more. This year, he has pitched extremely well, with a complete game shutout against Terra Nova

on March 10, and a one-hitter against Mills on March 20.

Last year, Aragon struggled with an overall record of 9-16-2 and a league record of 3-11. The team finished last in the Bay di-vision, and moved down to the Ocean division for this season. However, as of April 26, they have a 9-8 overall record, with a 4-3 league record. They are cur-rently in fourth place and a game and a half behind division leading Woodside.

Other than the division switch, head coach Lenny Souza believes the team’s improved maturity level has helped boost their place in the standings. He also says, “This group is very capable of high achievement when they play the game to their capability, and it shows with results.”

Centerfielder Davarian Redd, a senior, says “We were a little shaky at first, but now we’re starting to play together as a team.”

Junior pitcher Joe Roias agrees, saying, “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but we have been stepping it up over the last few games.

The Dons have ten more games remaining in the regular

season, and are still trying for CCS. Roias says, “We’re planning to keep playing in CCS this year.”Lady Dons make a comeback against Capuchino 7-6

The Dons came from behind to snap their three game losing streak with a 7-6 victory over Ca-puchino. The Dons were down 6-3 to start the bottom of the sixth inning, tied the game after a rally led by back-to-back triples from senior Brooke Ramsey and senior Elena Bowman. After a sacrifice fly from freshmen Jessica Doss, the Dons led by one, and held on to win in the top of the seventh inning.

After the game, Bowman said, “It feels really good to come through for the team, and I feel like we can carry this momentum throughout the season.”

Senior Maureen Duddy said, “We just needed one game like this to get us going. Today it wasn’t just one player that got us the win, it was everybody.”

This year, the softball team has a 6-12 record and is in sixth place. Bill Laskey, the head coach, says, “We started the season very slow-ly; we played very good softball

and we’re 6-12.”Laskey was a starting pitcher

for the San Francisco Giants from 1981-1986, and is currently an analyst for CSN Bay Area, the Gi-ants network. He also does private lessons and helps out with the Aragon Baseball team. This year is Laskey’s fifth year coaching soft-ball at Aragon.

Bowman had two of the team’s four home runs last year, and hit .413. Duddy, also a senior, had a home run and hit .449. Duddy is continuing her great play this year with a .561 batting average.

The most formidable team in the Bay division this year is Carl-mont, with an overall record of 10-1 and a league record of 2-0. Laskey says, “Carlmont gets 40 or 50 girls trying out every year, due to the great feeder system in San Carlos.” In San Mateo, the softball players are divided into San Mateo, Hillsdale and Aragon,

but most of the San Carlos players play at Carlmont.

Laskey was frustrated with the disappointing turnout of players this year. He says, “It’s sad that not as many girls try out considering all of the talent here at Aragon.” Normally there are 25 or 30 girls trying out every year, but this year there were less than 20 girls try-ing out.

Laskey believes that the sur-prisingly small turnout was due to girls playing other sports instead and lack of a strong feeder sys-tem. Because of that, Laskey says, “I am considering leaving Aragon after this year. Not because of the school, but because there aren’t enough girls willing to play.”

Still, the Dons look to finish out the remaining games strong. The team will take on rival Hills-dale next Friday, May 4, at Chan-teloup Field.