THEMOORNEWSPAPER.COM ISSUE 1, VOL. 104

ALL-AMERICANHALL OF FAME

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

AHS Under New Prin-cipal’s Administration

2001 ‘No Child Left Behind’ Education Law Rewritten

New Kickoff Event Welcomes Freshmen

DIANA LINews Editor

After former Principal Brad Walsh left AHS, a new adminis-trator arrived to continue AHS’ legacy. Though Principal Duane Russell is new to AHS, he is not inexperienced with the roles of teaching and administrating.

Russell began his career in education in 1986, when he be-came a teacher at his alma ma-ter, Northview High School, in Covina. He later taught various subjects at Mark Keppel High School (MKHS), including so-cial studies, English, physical education and special education.

However, Russell did not limit himself to academic teaching; during his time at MKHS, he also coached football, baseball, basketball, swimming, track and

ELTON HOStaff Writer

The new school year brings along new freshmen, many who may be intimidated by AHS’ unfamiliar campus. This year, in order to make this transition less daunting, As-sociated Student Body (ASB) organized “High School 101,” a freshman kickoff event.

A week before the first day of school, incoming freshmen and their parents were invited to the event, which took place on Aug. 8. Through campus tours, dance performances and a club fair, ASB hoped to rally excitement among fresh-men about their new school.

High School 101 was cre-ated to be more efficient than previous kickoff days, which took place during the school year. With the event held in the

field, wrestling and softball. His interest in teaching was sparked by his pursuit of coaching foot-ball. He was initially named as-sistant football coach of MKHS, but later became the head coach.

Over the years, Russell has spent 17 years teaching and 12 years administrating. After working at MKHS for 24 years, he also worked at Century High School and Mountain View High School. He was the principal of both high schools, with each term lasting two years.

Russell hopes to ensure that students will enjoy their time and experience at AHS.

“I want our students to achieve, I want our students to be involved and I want our kids to be connected to Alhambra High School,” Russell said.

summer, ASB members were not pulled out of their class-es to give tours and help out.

“I did enjoy seeing the [vari-ety] of clubs and the teams per-form,” freshman Jennifer Nguy-en said, who attended the kickoff event. “They did quite a nice job [of] introducing [the school].”

High school can be intimi-dating, but ASB tries to have freshmen feel comfortable at AHS regardless. Christina Eng, ASB assistant to Commissioner of Clubs, stresses that staff and ASB members will always be available if any help is needed.

“Don’t be scared to ap-proach us because we’ll al-ways be welcoming,” Eng said.

Despite the pressures of high school, ASB hopes that freshmen will be able to enjoy their time at AHS.

DEBORAH CHENCopy Editor

Former president George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which affects how federal funds are spent in public schools, was rewritten on July 19 by the House of Representatives. This change occurred because the Republicans wanted to reno-vate the original law to reduce federal involvement in education is-sues; however, it was met with resistance from the Democrats.

The Republicans and the Democrats both agreed that, despite the suc-cesses that were gar-nered in improving achievement levels, the law was too in-flexible and required a major overhaul.

The NCLB Act required all stu-dents to have the appropriate reading and math skills for their grade level by 2014. However, last year, the Obama ad-ministration argued that this objective was unattainable. Last year, it began to offer waivers to states that created their own federally approved plans to measure stu-dent and teacher performance for college and careers, ensur-ing that students are prepared.

House Republicans voted to dismantle the original NCLB Act because they felt that the states and local school districts, rather than Washington, should be the ones creating the rules to ensure that students are re-ceiving a quality education.

The new bill would get rid of

Although the school district is still in the process of working on the changes, they have noti-fied the schools that there will be many professional changes and more timelines which to adhere.

“Overall, I just want what best serves kids,” Princi-pal Duane Russell said.

However, the Obama admin-istration said the revised NCLB law is a step backwards in terms

of the efforts to better pre-pare students for colleges, careers and im-provements to low-performing schools. Demo-crats also argued that the legis-lation would lower the spend-ing levels for education and would not hold the states and schools account-able for ensuring that the students are learning.

Though the m o d i f i e d law was vot-ed against by every Dem-ocrat and 12 Repub-licans, the revised law

still passed with a 221-207 vote.Despite their loss, the Demo-

crats are working on their own act. Their act contains similar aspects to the Republicans’ act in that it would also give the states more flexibility to ad-vocate school improvement standards. However, their bill allows the federal education secretary to be in control and to approve of any plans. Neverthe-less, it is unlikely that a Senate vote will occur until autumn.

more than 70 elementary and secondary educational programs. Instead, grant money will be given to the states and school dis-tricts to improve the areas they deem necessary. Additionally, the bill would eliminate feder-ally required testing of students and the adequate yearly progress criteria. Furthermore, the bill would encourage high-quality charter schools to expand, thus

giving parents a wider range of schools to choose from in order to find one that would suit their student’s needs.

Therefore, California and the Alhambra Unified School Dis-trict (AUSD) will have the power to develop their own plans and strategies in order to improve school and student performances.

“This will allow us to set educational goals that are rea-sonable, so that students do not get discouraged,” sci-ence teacher Daniel Hyke said.

Creatine Supplement Conflict Results in New Football Coaching StaffOLIVIA CHEUNGEditor in Chief

With less than seven weeks be-fore their first game of the season, AHS’ football team lost its entire coaching staff on July 9.

According to Principal Duane Russell, the staff was dismissed for providing seven players with creatine, an over-the-counter supplement that is used to help build muscle mass. Under CIF State rule 22B12, it is a viola-tion of the coaches code of eth-ics to provide anything other than

every morning at 5 a.m., work-ing out [...]; now it feels like the only people who were doing that with us [are] gone just like that,” said senior running back Jimmy Calderon.

Despite the incident, the team met its new coaching staff on July 15 and has been working hard since.

“At the end of the day the situ-ation is out of our hands and the only thing we can do now is [...]go show what a Moor stands for and bring a championship back to Alhambra,” Calderon said.

years playing at Alhambra,” said senior outside linebacker Chris Salazar. “These are not only our coaches, but they are family.”

A meeting was held later that same day, during which school officials addressed parental concerns.

Many parents and players criticized the unfairness

of valuing one family’s opinion more than all of the other in-volved families.

“It’s unfair [that] we put the time and effort into waking up

fronted school officials for ac-tion. According to the Pasadena Star News, Head Coach Chuck Leonardis, Athletic Department

Chair Jerry DeSantis and Russell met after practice on July 9; later that day, the entire staff was fired.

“This is our best coaching staff [that] I’ve had in the past three

“non-muscle building nutritional supplements.”

“Although I can’t make definite promises, [...] I can promise a safe learning environ-ment for [AHS] students,” Russell said. “What our coaches did was unacceptable and we need to hold them ac-countable.”

The issue arose when it was discovered that one of the players did not receive parental consent. Upon discovery, the parents con-

[W]e need to hold [our coaches] accountable.

-Principal Duane Russell“ ”

MOOR graphic by Simon Zhao

PROS:•States and local school districts create the rules instead of Washington.•The expansion of high-quality charter schools gives parents more schools to choose from.•Standardized tests set baseline standards for achievement for each grade level.CONS:•Standardized tests do not measure the broad range of skills that students acquire in the classroom.•The NCLB Act causes teachers to ‘teach to the test’.•There is a potential loss of educational op-portunities for the disabled, low-income and English language learners.•The revised NCLB Act does not hold states and school districts responsible for ensuring that students learn at their respective grade level.

MOOR graphic by GEN THIPATIMA

MOOR graphic by SYDNEY LI

The History of Sports

Every country has its own traditional sports that bring pride, passion and joy to its people. Originating over three thousand years ago, sports provides nations opportunities to

break cultural boundaries and allows its people to focus on what unites them.The world of sports has changed greatly throughout the years. For example, early sports began as

chariot races, sword duels and discus competitions that evolved into contemporary forms, such as basketball, baseball, swimming and other sports. There are currently 442 recognized sports in the world and, even though the numbers have continued to increase, the effects sports has on people remains the same.

ANHAYTE GUAJARDOStaff Writer

Over the course of history, humans have learned how to cre-ate fire, cultivate land and adapt to different harsh climates. Along with evolution, humans began to use their skills sets to demonstrate their physical capabilities in athletic events.

Sports are one of mankind’s first forms of entertainment. The earliest forms of sport, depicted in thousand-year-old cave paintings in the Middle East, included activities such as swim-ming, sprinting and wrestling. Over time, more sporting events were created. In ancient Greece, the first recorded Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C.

“It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people [to] not only to compete but to improve, and to bring […] in-spiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedica-tion”, 1960 Olympic gold medalist Herb Elliot said.

D i f - f e r e n t p a r t s of the w o r l d have their o w n v e r s i o n s o f a t h l e t i c events. In England, p e a s - ants played v i o - lent ball games, while the royalty e n j o y e d watching equestrian events and medieval jousts.

Children and adults alike began to find creative ways to play the games to develop beloved sporting games. In fact, most of today’s sports were created during the 1800s. According to a legend, the modern game of rugby was created when William W. Ellis picked up a football during a match and began to run with it. The game of baseball was invented in 1845 by Alex-ander Cartwright and is known as America’s national pastime. The game of basketball was first played with a soccer ball and peach basket.

For the next century, athletics underwent many develop-ments that shaped them into the games we enjoy today. Rub-ber bladders would become Adidas soccer balls. Converse would become Air Jordans. However, the future of athletics is uncertain as new technologies introduced to the sports world.

Sports are humanity’s way of creating friendly competition while building character and dedication. They help people gain a sense of accomplishment and establish a lasting impact on future generations.

NATE GARCIASports Editor

As human history progresses, the future brings exciting changes and innovations. The sports world is no exception. From baseball to lacrosse and tennis to soccer, sports are constantly improving and gaining more prominence.

The dynamism and pageantry sports have is what ulti-mately draws in viewers and fans. For example, the endless action that college football brings is making it quickly catch up to professional baseball as America’s second most popu-lar sport behind professional football. Soccer is proving to be a “high-demand” sport in the United States as the Major Soc-cer League is expanding with the additions of international players and thrilling match ups. Also, being recently dubbed as one of America’s fastest growing sports, lacrosse’s partici-pation rate has increased 218.1 percent in the last decade because it appeals to both males and females, according to Yahoo! Sports. Moreover, the addition of golf and rugby as Olympic s p o r t s makes t h e m b o t h h i g h l y a n -ticipated events for the c o m -ing 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. These sports are growing explosively and attracting more and more supporters. As the world’s attention turns to sports, popularity and world-wide enthusiasm will only continue to grow.

Throughout the years, advancements in athletic medi-cine, technology and equipment have improved the way sports are played. It is important that athletes are being treated with great care since they are prone to injury. Ac-cording to Forbes magazine, Canadian doctors have found more efficient ways to manage concussions, one of the most common sports injuries. In other fields of technology, Major League Baseball is currently working on revising the replay system that will give managers more power in giving calls. A recent advancement in sports equipment includes a high-tech tennis racket that uses fewer cross strings to control how a racket gives off more spin, power and force. These ad-vancements enhance how athletes can compete and prove to be gateways to each sport’s future success.

The evolution of each sport has helped the sports world thrive, improve and flourish. Empowering and entertaining fans along the way, it is only a matter of time for what is to come.

SIMEON LAM and KAYIU WONGStaff Writers

WESLEY TSAIStaff Writer

MOOR graphic by GEN THIPATIMA MOOR graphics by SYDNEY LI and SIMON ZHAO

Bare Feet to Sweet Cleats Sports Around the Clock

776 B.C. - Year of the first Olym-pics Games in Olympia, Greece.

1947 - Jackie Robinson is the first African American admitted into Major League Baseball, resulting in the rise of more minorities inspired to enter the league. His number was retired in 1997.

1876 - Spalding Sporting Goods, founded by Albert Spalding, becomes the most iconic sports brand for equipment today and has been for 137 years.

1942 - Wat Misaka becomes the first Asian American to play in the NBA during World War II. Being one of the few Japanese released from the internment camps. Misaka follows his pas-sion becomes an NBA player, serving as a role model for Asian-American youth.

1964 - Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) wins the world boxing title after being banned for nearly 3 years for not drafting into the army. Clay became the harbinger of civil rights by refusing to enter the draft.

1970 - Honduras and El Salvador play in the preliminary round of the FIFA World Cup, fueled existing tension between each country. This sparked the out-break of a war that resulted in 1000 deaths.

1971 - China invites the U.S. Ta-ble Tennis team to play to show sporting events are capable of being a diplomatic tool.

1972 - Palestinian terrorists seiz-es and kills 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, lead-ing to retaliation and bloodshed that results in 11 deaths, one of which was innocent life.

1999 - The U.S. Women’s soccer team wins the World Cup after playing against China, emphasiz-ing the importance of women playing in sports during the feminist movement.

2012 - Michael Phelps wins his 22nd medal, making him the most decorated athlete in re-corded history.

“It is the inspiration of the Olym-pic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring […] inspiration to those lucky enough to witness

the athletic dedication,”

-Herb Elliot

Through the years, advance-ments in athletic medicine,

technology and equipment have improved the play of sports.

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