2 News Sword & Shield

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Editor-in-ChiefAlice LiuManaging EditorsKimberly KimCandice Winters

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Mrs. Julie Mayer

News EditorMaryjane VennatAsst. News EditorChristina Zhu

Features EditorAmos Kim

Asst. Features EditorAnthony Ferraro

Opinion EditorAmanda Varanasi Asst. Opinion EditorAlbert Lin

Focus EditorAna Hur

Asst. Focus EditorRegina Tahk

A & E EditorVivian YeeAsst. A & E EditorDale Bachman

Sports EditorMiguel JimenezAsst. Sports EditorJennifer Hong

Advisor

On Saturday, June 2 Univer-sity High School’s Junior Council held Prom 2007 at the American Way Cultural Center from 8 p.m. to midnight, with the gates closing to students at 10 p.m. The theme was Casablanca and the venue certainly enhanced the theme. UHS students looked glamorous as they attended the last formal dance of the year.

Prom proved very different than previous school dances this year, both because of its impor-tance to seniors as well as the broad range of activities and en-tertainment available to students.

A live orchestra played outside while the elegant sounds of the piano could be as students walked into the cultural center. Students were also able to Karaoke in an open-roofed enclosure in the middle of the venue that was de-signed to mimic the appearance of old town America. Popular

choices for Karaoke songs were “Thriller,” “YMCA,” and “If I Ain’t Got You.” Students were

also given tickets that could be traded in for chips in the casino area of the dance. As Netanel

By Elnaz Hamedani, Staff Writer Chendler (Jr.) said “Prom was great. There were so many differ-ent activities to do, that you didn’t

get bored.” The DJ was DJ Patrick. Most

students danced the night away

to a mixture of mainly techno, R&B, and mainstream hip-hop music. Throughout the dance, ca-

terers passed out straw-berry flavored drinks and small tarts and pastries to students who wished to replenish themselves before heading back to the dance floor. Many students were also ex-cited as this year’s Prom King and Queen were announced. The crowns went to Hailey Pharm-er (Sr.) as Prom Queen and Chris Weed (Sr.) as Prom King. The set-ting was very unique and romantic, and many students were able to sit down in vintage de-signed rooms, while others danced, sang, or played in the casino.

Some students even danced to the live orchestra playing outside.

“I think it was really success-

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN— It always has amazed me how the military makes the world such a small place. People’s paths come together on the other side of the globe and then diverge, and then sometimes they find a way to come together again. It was late January 2005 when my Afghan rifle company deployed to Forward Operating Base Tiger in northern Kandahar. We were attached to the US 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and assigned to pick up the se-curity presence mission in the region. 3-7 FA was a quality unit with good leaders, and this was im-mediately visible in the pride its soldiers took in their work. Beyond their own duties, they regularly offered to loan equip-ment we didn’t have, to help check and service what we did have, and just have us over to eat with them or “hang out.” In short, 3-7 essentially adopt-ed us, and in all my years in the army, I’ve never felt more “in-cluded” than during the time I spent at FOB Tiger. First Lieutenant Shane Adcock,

the ranking officer in charge of the 3-7 howitzers at FOB Tiger, was my counterpart, since his ar-tillery supported my patrols, and my patrols protected the base. We were two of only five officers at the FOB, and since we were in command of our respective units, we naturally identified with each other. Shane had been in the army for about two years, although almost half of this had been here in-country, deployed forward. He was originally from Mechanicsville, Virginia, although you’d more likely guess he was from South-ern California, given the way that he looked and talked. Being stationed at Scho-field Barracks, Hawaii, he picked up a love for surf-ing and rock climbing, and his blue eyes contrasted strikingly against his skin, darkened by a year under the Afghan sun. In fact, I think Shane looked and acted more like a Southern Cali-fornian than I ever will. Looking at his picture, it’s easier to imagine him in shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops, with beverage of choice in hand. He was definitely too “laid back”

to have any intentions of being a “lifer”—one of those guys with no other plans outside the mili-tary. In fact, he talked a lot about go-ing home to marry his girlfriend, and maybe becoming a teacher in a few years.

I remember buzzing about how energizing it is to work with young people—how “squirrelly” they can be, and how this is what makes teaching so much fun. He thought it would be too much to be a teacher and an army of-ficer at the same time. It was hard to disagree.

At any rate, the 3-7 FA guys had only a couple of short months to go before rotating back to Ha-waii, and as Shane put it, he and his guys had been shot at plenty and were good and ready for a break. Although I was envious, they had

more than paid their dues, and I wished them well. The re-m a i n d e r of my own tour passed in a blur, and by the time I got home in August 2005, I was most-ly occu-pied with getting on with life and prepa-

rations for the new school year. Little did I know that in just over a year, I would be on my way to Kansas, preparing to return to Af-ghanistan. Meanwhile, Shane did end up getting married and had just enough time to settle down a little and make some plans before 3-

7 FA was sent back overseas to Kirkuk province, Iraq. He was 27 when he was killed in Hawijah last October. However, I did not know of his death until this Memorial Day, when I had just gotten back in-country after my two weeks home on leave. I happened to pick up a newspa-per that someone had left which contained a section called “Faces of the Fallen.” It was a visual tribute that ar-ranged chronologically the 1042 deaths of US service members since last Memorial Day. As I browsed through row af-ter row, page after page of bright young lives cut short, my eyes were caught by that familiar face and those bright blue eyes. Afghanistan suddenly felt just a step away from Iraq. And an eternity from home. Images of Kandahar flooded back into memory, and I could not help but reflect on how much sac-rifice and suffering has continued to happen since. So as I considered the picnics and barbecues and everything else that we associate with the beginning of summer, I closed the paper and concluded that spend-ing this Memorial Day in Afghan-istan meant far more than it ever could at home.

ful because we reached our goal. We were happy with the outcome, and how much fun other people had with the location,” said Lau-ren Adams (Jr.), a member of Prom Committee.

Prom was held by the class of 2008 and made possible by Junior Council’s Prom Commit-tee. Students on Prom Commit-tee included Rose Pender (Jr.) as Prom Chairperson, Jasmine Rodgers (Jr.), Christina Mara-nhao (Jr.), Darin Dodge (Jr.), Chelsea Halprin (Jr.), Lauren Adams (Jr.), Diana Sevastya-nova (Jr.), Kelsey Dahl (Jr.), Carly DeBeikes (Jr.), Morgan Lin (Jr.), and Karen Lee (Jr.). Prom advisors were Ms. Jane Mitchell (Social Sciences Dept.) and Mr. David Mallis (Social Sciences Dept.). Thanks to the hard work of all those involved, a night in Casablanca became a night to member.

By Martin Chinn, Captain, Infantry, US Army

A Night in Casablanca• Prom 2007: This year the much anticipated event took place at the American Way Cultural Center in Orange.

Photo by Mona noroozi

On the dance floor, Prom attendees let go and enjoyed themselves, while an outside open-roof enclosure featured Karaoke and socializing.

Photo courtesy of Martin chinn

First Lieutenant Shane Adcock, 3-7 Field Artillery, 25th “Tropic Light-ning” Division (FEB 2005)

Thoughts of a Soldier• Here and There: Finding a Place to Belong.

June 2006 News 3

Congress’s new immigration policy favors granting illegal im-migrants citizenship as opposed to granting citizenship to immi-grants awaiting legal passage to work in the United States under the guest-work program. The bill was opened for debate on May 28.

Bush’s original proposal gave immigrants not yet in the U.S. three-year visas to work in the U.S. His new plan focuses on immigrants already in the U.S.; many of these immigrants are illegal immigrants. Along with tightening border control, Bush’s proposal on immigration rewards immigrants already in the United States and favors skilled workers with university degrees.

There are an estimated 12 mil-lion illegal immigrants currently living within the U.S. Bush’s new immigration policy aims to legal-

ize these people while tightening border control and lowering the number of illegal immi-grants nationwide.

Some immigrants and U.S. employers are es-pecially opposed to the new policy, hoping Con-gress would increase the scope of the guest-work-er program to allow more immigrants to legally be granted workers’ pas-sages into the U.S.

However, on May 24, the Senate voted to ac-tually cut the number of people in the bill’s guest-worker program by one half.

Republican Sena-tor John McCain later commented that those eventually becoming le-gal immigrants “ought to pay back taxes that are owed” from the time they started living

By Roberta Tam, Staff Writer in the U.S.Many immigrants commented

that they wish only for tempo-rary work in the United States to

Granting Citizenship• Immigration: A new bill in Congress addresses legalizing illegal immigrants.

On June 3 three suspects were arrested for planning a terrorist attack on New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, with the fourth and final suspected conspirator, Ab-del Nur, 57, finally surrendering on June 5. Now linked to radical groups opposed to the United States, these men were alleg-edly in the early stages of developing an attack using explosives on the jet fuel stor-age tanks of the John F. Kennedy and La Guardia airports, as well as on the 40-mile petroleum fuel pipeline which services the boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

“The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthink-able,’’ Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf stated.

John F. Kennedy Airport is a central hub of commerce and transportation in the East Coast, processing over 1,000 flights and 125,000 people daily. Initial estimates of the damage done by such an attack were astronomical, with casualty figures in the thousands. With the airports handling over 2.5 million tons of cargo yearly, a successful attack on the pipeline servicing both John F. Kennedy Airport and La Guardia Airport would cripple the airports for months, de-stabilizing the region’s economy.

Recordings of a telephone conversation between organizer Russell Defreitas, a 63-year old former cargo worker of Evergreen Air, and a co-conspirator revealed the symbolic intent of this attack. “To hit John F. Kennedy, wow,” Russell said. “They [Americans] love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man. If you hit that [airport], the whole country will be in mourning.”

Snuffed in the beginning stages of its conception, this recent plot provided au-

thorities a platform upon which to pro-mote new security measures and justify their often criticized role of anti-terrorism. Authorities informed the public that the targeted petroleum pipeline which winds through most corners of the city is state-of-the-art, and is designed to seal itself off when it detects heat. This prevents a deadly chain reaction from occurring, and signifi-cantly lowers the possibility that high casu-alty figures could be inflicted, even in the case of a successful attack.

Since their imprisonment, reports of the suspects’ affiliation with radical groups have been the subject of widespread specu-lation. The two Guyanese detainees, one a former member of the Guyana Parliament, have been linked with the leaders of Jamaat Al Muslimeen, a fundamentalist Islamist organization operating in South and Cen-tral America. Amidst a general state-side consensus regarding the probable involve-ment of this organization in the planning of the attack, Yasin Abu Bakr, the leader of Jamaat Al Muslimeen, has denied such claims, stating that he knew “nothing” about the alleged conspiracy.

Recent revelations by Anthony Shorris of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department have re-vealed that much of the damage could in fact be prevented or greatly minimized. Due to increased funding after September 11, more funding to security departments allowed for greater protective measures around airport facilities, with special em-phasis placed on “fuel farms” which are clusters of fuel storage tanks.

Sources:www.ap.orgwww.bloomberg.comwww.cnn.com

earn money and eventually return to their native homes. The plan

would give illegal immigrants “Z vi-sas” while working in the United States.

After paying a certain amount of fees and dues, these immigrants could eventually become permanent resi-dents in the United States. “If they want to work in the U.S. for a short amount of time, then they should be allowed to,” Mimia Wen (Fr.) commented.

California’s in-dustry depends on immigrants. Many occupations require a low level of skill.

The number of jobs that require degrees outnumbers the current

number of university graduates who are citizens. Statisticians have estimated that in 2020 33% of California’s citizens will have graduate degrees, but 39% of the jobs will require graduate de-grees. Zach Strand (Jr.) said, “Maybe the new bill can really help California’s future.”

California seems to be embrac-ing the new policy. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said that the bill would generally ben-efit America. Though some parts of the bill garnered objections, she thinks that the bill, if passed, will improve American security, improve border control and even-tually legalize the 12 million ille-gal immigrants currently living in the U.S.

Sources:www.cnn.comwww.workpermit.comwww.wpherald.com

The new bill would make green cards available to many illegal immigrants already in the United States.

illustration by Kevin chu

By Will Ji, Contributing Writer

Alleged JFK Bomb Plot Foiled

• Planned Attack: Suspects arrested for plotting to bomb New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

By Natasha Childress, Staff Writer

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) held a banquet on June 1. This ceremony included a charge of five dollars a person and also involved both the members of the MSA, their families, and even Mrs. Mary Ives (Math Dept.) and Mr. Bill Ives (History Dept.). Mrs. Ives claims that “The students were gracious and made us feel welcome. I was impressed by the students’ desire to maintain traditions in a thoughtful way and the home made food was terrific!”

A t the ban-quet, the m e m -b e r s p r a y e d together and re-v iewed all of the accom-p l i s h -m e n t s that they car r ied out this year. They also discussed the goals that they have for the next school year as well.

Members of MSA also elected new people for the board of the club. There were only two seniors in the club this year, Aminah Galal (Sr.), one of the club’s events coordinators, and Seher Rowther (Sr.), the club secretary. The families all of the members as well, cooked and brought foods such as traditional Pakistani food and Afghani food. There was a des-ert pot luck that the members participated in. Many members baked goodies such as brownies and cheesecake.

When asked about her experience with the club, Rowther said, “Even though a first, I joined for silly reasons, I really got to see the impact that the club had not just on the club members, but on the campus community as well.” The president of

MSA this year was Nadia Rowther (Jr.), and she will continue on with her role in the club next year as president. Armaan Rowther (So.), who was treasurer this year, will take Sohaib Latif’s (So.) posi-tion as vice president and the position of secretary will be filled by Nadia Nikroo (Fr.).

The members of MSA plan to hold an “iftar,” which is an Arabic word that means “the breaking of the fast” this coming Sep-tember. MSA also plans to hold volunteer programs to give back to the community.

This year they hosted a “PB&J” day at the cross-roads where p e o p l e gathered to make pea-nut butter and jelly sandwiches to donate to the less for-tunate. The club donat-ed over 100 sandwiches and also gave the

leftover peanut butter and jelly to a friend-ship house in Laguna Beach for recover-ing addicts. This was the first year that the MSA held a “PB and J” day but next year, the MSA plans to coordinate another vol-unteer program that will hopefully be just as successful.

So far, the club has been very suc-cessful at accomplishing its goals thanks to hard work and their union with the UCI Muslim Student Association. The members of MSA are looking forward to next year, and they hope their club will continue to grow. Galal stated “It’s really been a great four years. MSA has grown extensively since my freshman year. I’m really glad that so many people are getting involved because now the Uni campus knows about MSA.”

Winding Down• MSA Banquet: Members prepare to accomplish next year’s goals.

The Muslim Student Association reviewed their achievements this year and made plans for next year.

Photo courtesy of ali aKbar

4 News Sword & Shield

On May 21, Irvine was named the safest large city in the State of California in terms of large crime. On the same day this data was released, a double homicide occurred in Anaheim Hills.

It has been confirmed that the victims are Karishma Dhanak, 20, and her father, Jay-prakash Dhanak, 56. Both suffered severe burns and were discovered within William R. Mason Regional Park, near the inter-section of University Drive and Ridgeline Drive.

Irvine and Anaheim police were alerted to this incident when neighbors of the fam-ily reported a house fire accompanied by several small explosions on East Santa Ana Canyon Road. Police arrived to find Mrs. Leela Dhanak, 53, beaten and unconscious

on a neighboring lawn. Anaheim Fire, Or-ange Fire and Orange County Fire Author-ity immediately put out the flames, and firefighters verified that nobody was in the house. Maria Sabol, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department, stated, “It was a deliberately set fire.”

Early the next morning, several pass-ersby noted a brush fire in Mason Park, where police discovered the two burned bodies. Karishma was identified through fingerprinting, and the identity of the other individual was determined through den-tal records. Shayona Dhanak, 18, sister of Karishma, was found unharmed and has been placed into protective custody and 24-hour monitoring.

Leela was admitted to a hospital and treated for her injuries, none of which were life-threatening. She and her daughter, along with a number of friends and neigh-bors, are suffering from emotional trauma.

According to those that know the family, the Dhanaks were a strong and close-knit family, active in the community and devout to their Hindu religion. Neighbor Byron Shaner said, “As far as I was concerned, they were good neighbors, and they stayed to themselves.” Jayprakash Dhanak served five months in a minimum security prison for United States Postal Service mail fraud, but it hadn’t seemed to excessively affect the family in a negative manner.

The ongoing investigation has not been able to determine suspects or possible

motives for this crime. Many important details, such as when and how the two in-dividuals were killed are unclear. Anaheim Police Sergeant Rick Martinez said, “We don’t know a motive, we don’t know if it relates to their personal or professional life, and we don’t know if it was random or if the suspects knew them.” There is no clear connection at this time between the house fire and the murders, and police can-not verify that the same perpetrators com-mitted both acts. However, Orange County police and fire authorities assure the public that inter-departmental cooperation will expedite the investigation and will hope-fully yield more explanations.

Anaheim police recently arrested Shay-ona Dhanak’s ex-boyfriend, Iftekhar Mur-taza. Court papers cite that he was found with a one-way ticket to Bangladesh,

though friends claim that Murtaza loved and respected Shayona Dhanak and her family. Murtaza’s attorney, however, as-serts that the plane tickets were for a round ticket trip to visit Murtaza’s sick grand-mother. Though no connection has been made between Murtaza and the crime, he will return to Orange County for further in-vestigation and a hearing after waiving his right to an extradition hearing. As of now, he is considered a “person of interest” in the deaths of the Anaheim Hills residents.

A funeral service for the father and daughter was held on May 9 at Memory Garden Memorial Park and Mortuary. “It was a terrible tragedy that will affect us all. I hope the suspects are apprehended soon, and my prayers are with her family,” said Anton Shkel (Jr.). Sirivalli Chamarti (So.) said, “It’s really surprising that this happened in Irvine, since it’s supposed to be a safe neighborhood. It just makes so-ciety more aware that although we live in such a confined bubble, there are still events occurring that should make us cau-tious and aware of the dangerous people out there.”

Anaheim Police ask anyone who might know anything about the crime to call the hotline at (714) 765-1944.

Sources:Irvine World Newswww.ocregister.comwww.cityofirvine.org

By Lulu Wang, Staff Writer

Photo by Daniel shia

A roadside memorial honors the victims of a double homicide. The crime and its effects have shocked residents of Irvine and beyond.

The Irvine Police Department (IPD) does not always have the best reputation with University High School students, who are often over-heard ranting about j-walking, speeding or parking tickets. Courtney Gray (Sr.) commented that “[The IPD] are everywhere” refer-ring to the many police cars seen in Irvine neighbor-hoods. Similarly, Matthew Dono-hue (Sr.) said “[The IPD] breed animosity in the public through their tremendous sense of self-importance, regardless of the fact that they usually deal with minor issues.”

However, there may be more to the IPD than meets the eye. Recently, our Irvine Police Depart-ment Chief David Maggard was nomi-nated for the 2007 Ambassador of Peace Award by the Orange County Human

Relations Commission Executive Direc-tor, Rusty Kennedy. In addition to serving as the Chief of Police here in Irvine, Mag-gard also served as a Commissioner for the OC Human Relations Commission and

led the effort to build a comprehensive hate crime response throughout Orange County.

He also set up pre-sentations and orga-nized and engaged in open dialogue about the controversial is-sue of immigration. Following September 11, Maggard led the Muslim Arab Ameri-can Law Enforcement Network to establish and preserve positive relations in the immi-grant community.

Like any other community organiza-tion, the Irvine Police Department will never be flawless.

They will always be a great presence in Irvine, and perhaps Irvine teens will have a little more faith that our IPD is making some positive contributions to our city and county.

By Nick Fleming, Staff Writer

• David Maggard: The IPD Chief was recently honored by the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

Ambassador of Peace

Double Homicide• Murders and House Fire Leave Two Dead: Irvine and Anaheim police investigate suspects and motives for this serious crime.

Photo courtesy of the irvine Police DePartMent

Thank you, Chief David Maggard, for your dedication and service to Irvine.

In response to the genocide in Darfur, the U.S. government has recently imposed sanctions against the Sudanese govern-ment. The sanctions restrict 31 companies and three people from doing business with U.S. companies and the U.S. in general.

The sanctions are an attempt to keep Sudan from trying to halt the i n t e r n a t i o n a l community from stopping the bloodshed in the region as well as a U.N. resolution the President is attempting to get drafted. Joe Chou (Fr.) believes that “the economic sanctions will just make the situation worse, increasing the conflict and tension.” The U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon stressed that that the sanctions are U.S. only and that they would like more time to work with the Su-danese government .

The U.N. resolution would consist of limiting the selling of arms to the Sudanese

Economic Pressure• Ending Genocide: The sanctions will mount pressure on Sudanese officials.By Chikyung Park, Staff Writer government, prohibit the government from

conducting offensive flights over the Dar-fur area, and reinforce the U.S.’s ability to report and supervise the area. Soraya Az-zawi (So.) said, “We have to raise aware-ness of this genocide with economic sup-port, but the governments should stay out

of it; they have done enough damage al-ready.”

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 and is currently ahu-manitarian ca-tastrophe that has left approx-imately 400,000 dead and at least 2.5 mil-lion displaced. Although many people have la-beled the con-flict genocide, the U.N. has declined from doing so. “A bunch of things

can be blamed for the genocide,” said An-drew Sheron (Sr.), “but it’s mostly racial tension.”

Sources:www.cnn.comwww.time.com

illustration by Dale bachMan

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has already left thou-sands dead and continues to this day.

June 2006 News 5

Iran and the U.S.’s first offi-cial talk since 1980 occurred on May 28, 2007. The main purpose of the meeting was to address safety concerns in Iraq, not Iran’s nuclear program or the release of American detainees in Iran. Ira-nian diplomats said that they do not “[expect] miracles”, but the meeting is the first step towards renewed U.S. and Iranian coop-eration.

The issue of the detainees will be brought up in later meetings, according to U.S. diplomats. Four Iranian-Americans are currently being held in Iran under suspi-cion of working against the Ira-nian government. Another Amer-ican, Robert Levinson, who was formerly an FBI agent, has been missing since March 8. He was last seen in Iran.

Tehran has insisted that it has found U.S.-run spy rings in Iran, but the U.S. government has yet to respond to the accusations. The U.S. is also holding seven Iranians in Iraq. According to Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the detainment has nothing to do with a proposed

prisoner swap. The seven Iranians were “detained just like anybody else who has broken the law,” he said.

Iran’s nuclear program has also reportedly increased in activ-ity despite several U.N. requests to halt the nation’s nuclear energy programs. Uranium enrichment centrifuges, key tools needed to refine uranium for the produc-tion of nuclear weapons, have increased in number from 40 last year to 1,600.

A representative from the U.N. said that this number will most likely grow to 3,000 by the end of June. “Suspension [of the nu-clear program] is not a solution to Iran’s nuclear issue ... Iran cannot accept suspension,” said Ali Lari-jani, an official from Tehran in charge of nuclear negotiations.

Tehran has denied all accu-sations of uranium enrichment for the development of atomic weapons, stating instead that the program is solely for the produc-tion of electricity. The U.N. has considered sanctions against Iran in attempts to mount pressure upon the nation, and the U.S. has threatened further action. On Fri-day, June 1, Larijani said that Iran

By Marie Anand, Staff Writerwould cooperate with the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency by of-fering answers that they have pre-viously declined to give. In doing so, they hope to avoid the sanc-tions that the U.N. is preparing.

The U.N. still insists that Iran put an immediate halt to all nu-clear activity. However, Larijani’s offer was met with serious consid-eration, as insight into the reasons for Iran’s nuclear program could help clear many concerns regard-ing Tehran’s objectives.

Larijani has offered answers to a number of concerns that the U.N. has had about nuclear activ-ity in Iran, including those regard-ing the traces of uranium found at an Iranian military site and Iran’s possession of documents that de-tail the process of using uranium for large-scale weapons.

Despite tensions between the U.N. and Iran, attempts on both sides are finally being made to communicate and to remedy the situation.

Sources:www.cnn.comwww.washingtonpost.com

At 10 a.m. on May 18, Relay for Life began at Newport Har-bor High School. Relay for Life is an annual event that lasts for exactly 24 hours, in which the community youth and adults join together in teams that raise mon-ey to fundraise research, educa-tion, advocacy and service for the American Cancer Society.

Last year, the University High School American Cancer Soci-ety Youth team (UHS ACSY) at-tended the Irvine Valley College Relay for Life. This year, due to the coinciding Prom and Re-lay dates, the UHS ACSY team decided to attend the Newport community’s Relay for Life.

Despite the unfamiliar com-munity setting, the UHS ACSY comfortably settled into its campsite with the addition of several props. The team’s theme this year was “Bubble Wonder-

land,” and in concordance with this theme, the UHS ACSY created several large paper ma-che rubber ducks and used two bubble-making machines to create the illusion of being sud-denly splashing into jamboree of bubbles.

This year, all Relays attended by youth set strict youth guide-lines, in which all youth under the age of 18 were committed to raising $100 each in order to stay overnight. In a team of 25 member, the UHS ACSY team hoped to raise $2500 in order to stay overnight for Relay. The UHS ACSY succeeded in rais-ing over $3,150.

The team this year was spon-sored by Happy Nails, Twelve Stones Eng. Inc. and Design West. In addition to contribu-tions from generous sponsors, the club members personally fundraised money and also sold

Walking to Remember

• Relay for Life: Students joined the community in efforts to help find a cure for cancer.

Jamba Juice on site to the other teams. Relay for Life began with a

Survivor’s Lap, in which all those who are fighting, or have fought and won against cancer walked a lap together, sharing in the soli-darity of their experience. Dur-ing the day, the University High School American Cancer Society Youth team enjoyed water bal-loon fights, soccer, capture-the-flag and other team-bonding mo-ments.

At night, paper bags were deco-rated in honor of cancer survivors or in memory of those who had passed away from the disease. A small candle was placed in each bag, and the bags, also known as luminarias, encircled the entire track to provide light for those who continue to walk the track in the dark.

At the Luminaria Ceremony, everyone was given a candle to hold while the names of those

who had fought or were still fight-ing cancer were read aloud. Af-terward, the community walked the track together, stopping every now and then to read a luminaria or to share flames to relight the candles that had flickered out from the wind.

Relay is more that just walk-ing a track or spending a day with friends; it is meant to inspire and encourage individuals to real-ize just how much of an impact cancer has on many people, and it is meant to spark the initiative to take action and actually fight cancer.

The symbolic significance and emotional meaning of the Relay succeeded in bringing the UHS ACSY team closer together, and to bring all the community to-gether to console those who have suffered losses and to encourage those who are fighting cancer for the first time.

• U.S.-Iran Talks Begin: After 27 years, both coun- tries are finally meeting to discuss current issues.

Securing Safety in Iraq

Stephanie Kim (Jr.), Mai-Thi Pham (Jr.), Riley O’Dowd (Jr.) and Christine Chai (Jr) enjoy themselves at Relay for Life.

Photo courtesy of tina fischel

By Ana Hur, Head Focus Editor

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thankS to all our Staff writErS and PhotograPhErS for thEir hard work and dEdication!