May 2016 - Carmel Unified School

Transcription

May 2016 - Carmel Unified School
PAGE 3
NEWS
PAGE 8
STUDENT LIFE
the
SPORTS
STUDENTS
TO SHRED IN
36th ANNUAL
SURFABOUT
SENIOR
PURSUES
CAREER IN
FILM
ROBOTICS
TEAM
COMPETES
IN ST. LOUIS
PAGE 14
Carmel Sandpiper
VOLUME XXXV
a
MAY 2016
Carmel High School student publication
www.thesandpiper.org
RETIREMENT
Changing of the Guard
Carmel High School bids farewell to long-time science teacher Mike Guardino
BY ARI FREEDMAN
Professional educator Michael Guardino using lenses
and lasers to demonstrate optics to his physics students.
After this school year, our very own Mike
Guardino will be leaving Carmel High after a
prestigious 22-year run teaching various CHS science classes with a proficiency and dedication seldom seen in the teaching world.
While Guardino has held various odd jobs
over the years—rock photographer and research
diver for the National Parks Service come to
mind—and brought utter determination to do his
best in all of them, this community will remember
him most for the enthusiasm and drive to go way
above expectations that he brings to the classroom
every school day.
His colleagues express admiration at the completely selfless and hardworking attitude he brings
to his job, including fellow CHS science teacher
Jason Maas-Baldwin.
“There is no replacing his ability and dedication as a science teacher,” Maas-Baldwin says.
“There is no one else who will show up at 5:30
a.m. every morning and dedicate every one of
their lunch periods to making sure students have
the most engaging, rigorous and supportive learning experience.”
Alright, maybe 5:30 every morning is a bit
of an exaggeration—Guardino would hardly ever
HEALTH
show up to school that late.
“I get up a 4 and I’m rarely here later than
5:15,” Guardino says of his daily routine. “To give
you an idea, this is my breakfast.” He points to a
cup of soup in front of him. “I was so damn busy
today, I’m eating my breakfast right now.” It’s 3
p.m. in the afternoon.
Between setting up and taking down demos-of which he does several every day for both his
Honors Physics and AP Chemistry classes—grading papers, creating lesson plans and making all of
his own assignments and tests, Guardino is on the
job practically all day, every day of the week.
But why put so much extra effort into a job
that for many teachers exists strictly within the
span of a school day? Guardino explains the gratification he gets from teaching.
“When you do put a few hours into putting together a demo and somebody is entertained by it
and learns something from it and says thank you,
that is a better reward than a paycheck,” Guardino
says. “So there is a lot of appreciation that comes
from the people that matter the most, who are the
students.”
You can find this appreciation in just about
GUARDINO
CONT. ON 2
LGBT RIGHTS
Student misconceptions add
to body measurement debate
Gender-neutral restrooms raise
questions of comfort and safety
Laughs, applause and approving shouts erupt from the all-female
audience when one of their own asks
the visiting body image speaker why
students are given a number in school
to represent their bodies. Caught between words like “hypocritical” and
“unfair” echoing through the CHS
Performing Arts Center, the wideeyed speaker hesitates to collect her
thoughts.
On March 23, Brie Mathers,
founder of the Love the Skin You’re
In! movement, visited CHS to speak
to the female student body about the
negative effects of the media and
compassion for one’s self as well as
others. However, when she opened
the floor to questions, she met the
scene described above.
Under California Education
Code Section 60800, “All Local educational agencies must administer the
fitness test to all students in grades 5,
7 [and] 9,” testing abdominal, aero-
In a political environment where
matters of gender equality are tossed
around like a game of hot potato, few
issues are more polarizing than the
topic of gender-neutral public restrooms. Carmel High, like other public institutions across
the nation, faces decisions relating to this
sensitive topic of
safety and inclusivity.
The influential
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community is
spearheading the push
for inclusivity. One local member, Marrock Sedgwick, is a
2009 CHS graduate who was formerly known as Tonya, and identifies as a
“gender queer transexual pansexual.”
“Defining transgender is important,” Sedgwick insists. “It can either
be seen as the ‘transgender umbrella,’
BY DELANEY KING
bic, upper body, body composition,
flexibility and trunk lift fitness.
Consternation over the staterequired Healthy Fitness Test’s body
composition measurement, which is
called FITNESSGRAM and measures an individual’s relative percentages of fat, muscle, bone and water,
has echoed from students, especially
females, who maintain that concluding the health of a person from a simple test does not take into account the
differences in body type and the psychological effects the test can have.
CHS senior Justine Kitteringham
took the body fat percentage test her
freshman year and was told she was
at risk of being overweight, which
did not seem logical to her. She then
went to her doctor, who told her that
she was completely healthy, confirming her initial suspicions. However,
she explains that if she had not had
BODY IMAGE
CONT. ON 16
BY CONNOR SUESS
which simply includes an identification with something different than
what the doctor said when you were
born, or the more specific definition
which involves a physical and mental
transformation to the opposite gender.”
In 2013, California Gov. Jerry Brown
signed
legislative
act AB 1266, a bill
that requires public
schools to permit students use of male or
female bathrooms,
showers and locker
rooms in public schools
depending on the student’s gender identification. It doesn’t, however, require neutral signage of such
facilities.
From potty-training kindergar-
GENDER IDENTITY
CONT. ON 2
THE SANDPIPER
STAFF
Editors-in-chief: Delaney King, Michael
Montgomery
Copy Editors: Jack Ellison, Zac File, Ari
Freedman, Anna Gumberg, Michael Montgomery
Layout: Delaney King, Melissa Pavloff,
Julia Sudol
Design: Aaron Kreitman
Staff Reporters: Kim Burns, Joyce
Doherty, Jack Ellison, Zac File, Ari Freedman, Anna Gumberg, Delaney King, Aaron
Kreitman, Ryan Lin, Michael Montgomery,
Evan Patel, Melissa Pavloff, Julia Sudol,
Connor Suess
Faculty Adviser: Mike Palshaw
The views expressed in The Sandpiper are
solely those of authors and are not intended to be viewed as those of the Carmel Unified School District administration, Carmel
High School administration or the adviser.
WANT TO SEND
US A LETTER?
The Sandpiper staff welcomes contributions from the student body in the form
of letters to the editor at sandpiper@
carmelunified.org. Letters should be no
more than 200 words and must be signed
with the author’s full name. The Sandpiper staff reserves the right to edit all
letters for clarity, length, libel and taste.
Carmel High School P.O. Box 222780
Carmel, CA 93922
831-624-1821, ext. 3723
[email protected]
Guardino
CONT. FROM 1
any of Guardino’s students, who harbor tremendous respect for the teacher,
despite the heavy workload his class
can sometimes put on students.
“He works us really hard, but I
think that’s good because it prepares
us for college and the future,” says
junior Madeleine Fontenay, who has
taken both his Honors Physics and AP
Chemistry classes. “We’ll definitely
remember everything we learn in that
class because he makes everything
sound important.”
But it is not only in high school that
his students are thankful for Guardino’s effective teaching style. Many
students continue to remember the effects he has had upon them for years
after graduating from high school.
“I do not have enough fingers
and toes to count the number of students who have come back to me and
have been so thankful that they had
Mr. Guardino as their teacher,” MaasBaldwin says.
One such alumnus is 2000 CHS
graduate Gabe Rosen, who took not
only Guardino’s Honors Physics and
AP Chemistry, but also Subtidal Ma-
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
2NEWS
Gender identity
CONT. FROM 2
teners to senioritis-stricken 12th
graders, individuals may legally
answer the nature’s call in a location that matches their gender identity rather than biological sex.
AB 1266 will also allow transgender children to compete on
school sports teams of the gender
with which they identify. For example, a male high school senior who
identifies himself as a female may
play on the girls’ basketball, volleyball or field hockey team. Conversely, the law provides identical
rights to females who self-identify
as males.
More recently, California lawmakers unanimously advanced a
bill that would require all singleoccupancy bathrooms in the state
to be relabeled with “all gender”
signage, making it clear that none
of those spaces are exclusively for
men or women.
All of these issues have been
raised due to the momentum of the
relatively young LGBT+ movement.
“Today’s culture is much more
accepting and gracious to people
like myself—a gay man—who
don’t necessarily fit into the typical
narrative,” says John Perez, a local Episcopal priest and 1978 CHS
graduate. “[A lot has improved
since] I was in high school and first
beginning my career.”
CHS Principal Rick Lopez explains that Carmel Unified School
District policy is in line with the
state code.
“Students are able to identify
themselves with and use the restroom that they are the most comfortable using,” Lopez states. “We
will continue to do the best we can
to accommodate them.”
rine Research, a class Guardino taught
for 11 years where he certified students
for scientific diving and took them on
over 300 dives a year. However, Rosen
remembers Guardino most for his personal mentorship in and outside of
school.
“I dove with Guardino a number
of times on college breaks, but one
of my all-time favorite memories was
when I was about 23,” Rosen remembers. “We had a great dive, then drank
ice cold beers while watching the Giants. It wasn’t until then that I felt like
a real man.”
Now that Guardino has fulfilled
his time at Carmel High, with 22 years
of inspiring and reaching out to thousands of students, he is finally moving
on, with no specific plans for the future
and few regrets from the past.
“I probably would’ve been happier spending another two years teaching,” Guardino remarks, “but that’s
probably my only regret, two or three
years.”
One of the accomplishments
Guardino is most proud of is the astounding success his AP Chem students have enjoyed on the corresponding AP exam, arguably the hardest of
the AP tests.
“You don’t accidentally get a 94
The issue of bathroom use
amid a changing landscape of social norms, specifically the national
prominence of the LGBT+ community, has sharply divided the nation.
New York City has enacted a
regulation that ensures people visiting city facilities can use restrooms
or locker rooms aligned with their
gender identity. NYC Mayor Bill
de Blasio recently signed an executive order that guarantees people
access to single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity
at city facilities, including offices,
pools and recreation centers, without the need to show identification
or any other proof of gender.
More radical activists—particularly on college campuses—advocate for complete desegregation of
restrooms by sex to ensure ultimate
inclusivity.
Opponents of measures such
as these, like Houston Mayor Ben
Hall, point to the high possibility
for abuse with measures as lenient
as these.
“These policies will imperil
and risk the safety of women and
children in bathrooms, locker
rooms and changing rooms,” Hall
states on his website. “There is
nothing in the laws that requires a
male to be transgender [to use the
opposite gender’s restrooms].”
Ongoing legal battles regarding such measures are currently
raging throughout the nation. On
the CHS campus, issues have not
yet surfaced, but undoubtedly will.
A relatively uncontroversial
solution that appears to satisfy both
sides of the debate involves the installation of single-stall, unisex restrooms. Yet transgender and nonconforming students familiar with
the CHS campus have different
takes on the issue.
Sedgwick believes that gender-segregated restrooms should be
removed altogether.
percent pass rate on the AP exam, considering that the national pass rate is
51 percent,” says Guardino, beaming
with pride.
Between helping students achieve
amazingly high AP scores, preparing
them beyond expectations for college,
getting them scuba certified or just
mentoring them with important life
lessons, Guardino has done a lot for
the CHS students that will be impossible to replicate.
“The idea of segregating restrooms by gender is outdated and
old-fashioned,” Sedgwick says.
“Restrooms should consist of stalls
with walls going from floor to ceiling to ensure complete privacy.”
A transgender student currently at CHS suggests an alternate
solution.
“On the topic of creating gender-neutral restrooms, people have
their hearts in the right place,” the
student comments, “but it kind of
alienates and spotlights students
who are non-conforming or transgender.”
Regarding unisex bathrooms,
the CHS student goes on to share,
“I think people should just be able
to use whichever restroom they
identify with. [Unisex stalls] can
definitely be helpful for people
who are just figuring themselves
out, but in general they are just
not needed. I never really had any
[bathroom decision] issues, people
were just fine with my choice, and I
am thankful.”
Other students aren’t as comfortable with fluidity of bathroom
use.
One male Carmel High student
comments, “I have no problem if a
girl gets a surgery to transition into
a boy and then uses my bathroom,
but I don’t like the possibility of
switching between bathrooms on a
whim.”
Another says, “I and many
others are embarrassed with members of the opposite sex witnessing
private business.”
One adult female notes, “The
bathroom is a place of refuge for
young women. Besides, there are
times when a young lady needs additional privacy.”
Though CHS is not completely insulated from the transgender
bathroom debate, there are currently no plans to relabel or create new
bathrooms on campus.
The hiring process to find Guardino’s “replacement” is currently taking
place, with a deciding committee that
includes fellow CHS science teacher
Joe Mello.
“We’re not gonna find anyone
with the experience of Mike Guardino,” Mello says. “He’s not gonna be
easy to replace. We have qualified
people coming in, but it’s not going to
be the same.”
Guardino flips in the aquarium’s kelp forest tank for his AP Chemistry students.
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
3NEWS
ACADEMIC COMPETITION
Carmel’s Robo-Rockin’ Bots hit national stage
BY EVAN PATEL
The Carmel High School Robotics team, the Robo-Rockin’ Bots,
headed back to the National Robotics
Competition during the week of April
26 to compete at the national level for
the second time in the past 10 years.
The team, numbered 2035, made
it this far in a different fashion from
their 2013 journey, when they won
the Engineering Inspiration Award.
This year the team was awarded with
the Chairman’s Award, said to be the
competition’s most prestigious award
given to the team that sets an example
that FIRST, the organization that runs
the competition, wants all other teams
to follow in terms of teamwork, leadership and respect.
Out of over 70 teams from the
Silicon Valley region, Team 2035 was
selected as the Chairman’s Award win-
photo courtesy of TOM CLIFFORD
Juniors Jack Brewer and Abby Lambert
National Robotics Competition.
ner and sealed a spot at the National
Competition.
Then came the big stage. After
qualifying for the national competition, the team caught a plane to St.
Louis to compete against over 700
teams across the country.
The start to the competition could
not have been better. Through their first
seven matches, Team 2035 remained
undefeated, holding the number one
spot in their division of over 70 robots.
They also competed in one of the more
difficult divisions with NASA-funded
robots. However, after a broken gearbox rendered their robot practically
immobile, they were unable to hold on
to the top position and finished with a
record of 7-3. By the time the team was
able to fix the broken machinery, it was
too late to recover from the setbacks.
The Robo-Rockin’ Bots finished
the first round in 15th position, missing a spot to qualify for the playoffs as
the top eight teams move on. Their run
was still successful, though, as they
were the top seed heading into the next
round for the majority of the competition.
This was a remarkable improvement from their last appearance at nationals, when the team ranked 90 out
of 100 robots in their division.
“It was fun to go see what other
teams had accomplished,” junior Henry Kou notes. “It was cool to see different designs and approaches to the
same challenge in the same amount of
time. I really liked competing against
really tough teams and representing
Carmel.”
Team teacher and mentor Paul
McFarlin describes some of the impact
the team has had on the community.
“We have helped start five robotics teams on the Monterey Peninsula
that include Monterey High, Seaside
High, Pacific Grove, York School and
Stevenson School,” McFarlin says.
“We have opened up our shop to these
schools and welcomed them to build
their robots in our shop alongside
ours.”
Winning the prestigious Chairman’s Award immediately guaranteed
a spot to compete at the national competition in St. Louis.
Compared to last years’ team, McFarlin explains how the team has improved.
“We have a pretty consistent team
from
year to year, but the robot varies
work intently on the robot at the FIRST
from year to year,” the teacher says.
“Last year we built a strong machine
with a poor design that performed
poorly. This year’s machine preformed
much better. This is our first win of the
Chairman’s Award.”
Prior to the national competition,
the Robo-Rockin’ Bots competed in
two regional competitions, the Sacramento Regional and the Silicon Valley Regional. At the first competition,
the team was seeded third place heading into the playoffs and was rolling
through the event. Unfortunately they
were eliminated in the sudden death
semi-finals, but had a fantastic first
showing.
At the Silicon Valley Regional, the
second competition held two weeks
later, their tremendous success was
highlighted in an area other than their
high performing robot. Throughout the
entire build season, Kou and fellow junior Jack Brewer had been working on
another aspect of the competition: the
Chairman’s Award.
They created a video and profile
for the team that highlighted the team’s
significant achievements and incredible
impact on the community. The video
can be seen on Kou’s youtube channel,
Koulkid.
The national competition was the
culmination of a remarkable season.
“All around, from our awards to
our competitiveness and helping the
community,” Brewer reflects, “we exceeded all expectations.”
McFarlin sums up the team’s role
in the community: “We have changed
the culture on campus and throughout
the district.”
RETIREMENT
Curtain falls for Michael Jacobs after 19 years at CHS
BY AARON KREITMAN
His desk and walls are littered
with scripts and pictures. On most
show nights a game of Text Twist sits
idly on his computer screen. But come
next fall the familiar sights will be gone
and with it a teacher who has inspired
his students for almost two decades at
CHS: Michael Jacobs.
“I don’t think many high schools
can say they’ve had an actual professional actor teach their drama students,”
2011 CHS grad Miles Denecke says of
Jacobs. “Having been [his] student for
three years, [I think] it was an amazing
experience to learn from someone who
had been in the theater.”
Jacobs’ casual yet intense and
professional demeanor has created an
environment fostering creativity and a
mature workplace, which is unusual for
a high school, and Jacobs has constantly strived for his program to not be a
just “high school drama program,” but
a professional acting class.
“Michael cared about all of us as
people, and he made it his business to
know what was going on in each of our
lives,” says Claire Moorer, a 2015 CHS
graduate who is currently studying theater at Northeastern University.
Jacobs first arrived at CHS in 1997
and began the process of bringing the
drama program back from the dead.
“The drama teacher before me
was evidently not a happy camper at
this campus,” Jacobs recalls. “She only
directed a show every other year. Students signed a petition to get rid of her.
I was called upon to take over, and I
said I would be happy to.”
Over the course of his 19 years at
From the stage to the Black Box Theatre at Carmel High, Michael Jacobs has
embraced a wide array of roles in his life as an actor.
Carmel High, Jacobs has worked with
hundreds of students, many of whom
have gone on to find success in theater,
like former CHS student Joe DeSoto, who recently joined the Ringling
Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus as a clown.
“Through his teaching and encouragement, I realized that performance is
what I wanted to do for the rest of my
life,” DeSoto says. “To see a mentor
practicing what they preach and excelling in every degree was hugely inspiring for me.”
And the plays once every other
year? All told, Jacobs has directed
over 80 shows at Carmel High, the
current production, “The Real Inspector Hound,” one of the first and coincidentally also the last of his tenure at
CHS. Jacobs says it’s a nice way to end
where he began.
Senior Nathanael Hayes, who
plays Major Magnus Muldoon in “The
Real Inspector Hound,” says being a
part of the last show for Jacobs is a lot
of pressure, but he feels confident in
the strength of the cast.
“It’s going to leave the audience
member feeling like they have just
watched one of the best shows the high
school has ever put on because it is
one of the most advanced shows we’ve
JACOBS
CONT. ON 6
4NEWS
www.thesandpiper.org
MAY 2016
COMMUNITY
Peninsula homeless share experiences on the streets
BY ANNA GUMBERG
Even on the Monterey Peninsula,
life is difficult for people living on the
streets. Twenty-two percent of America’s homeless population lives in California, with 2,308 homeless people
living in Monterey County, according
to the CSUMB Homeless Census of
2015.
Twenty-eight-year-old Monterey
resident Toby, who prefers to withhold
his surname, received a bachelor’s
degree in civil engineering from the
University of Montana. Up until recently, Toby was employed and married, traveling the country building
wind turbines for an alternative energy
company.
“[My wife] wasn’t paying my bills
while I was traveling around the country with my company,” Toby laughs
bitterly. “She was spending it on drugs
and God knows what else.”
After bankruptcy and foreclosure, Toby has been homeless for nine
months. Susceptible to the elements
and the will of the public, Toby spends
the majority of his time on the stretch
of the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail by the Fisherman’s Wharf.
He is joined by 38-year-old Luke.
The two men call each other “street
brothers.”
Luke is a Monterey native, onand-off homeless since he was seventeen. Born without a left hand, Luke
admits that finding a job has proven
near impossible.
“Getting a job around here with
one hand is a real pain in the ass,”
Luke says. “No one wants to hire you.
Because you smell. Because you’re
carrying a pack around. We live day to
day, so waiting two to three weeks for
a check will kill us. Literally.”
Aside from going without shelter,
clean clothes or a shower for weeks
on end, the trouble that inarguably
plagues the homeless the most is hunger. Luke and Toby rely on the money
they make begging, often for 8 to 12
hours a day, just to eat.
“We don’t even want money,”
Toby says. “We’re just hungry. We’ll
take leftovers, anything. I don’t care if
it’s a cheeseburger from McDonald’s
or a burrito—when you’re hungry,
you’re hungry.”
During the course of the interview,
the two men ask and are twice denied
the leftovers of passing pedestrians.
“If you can’t spend a $1.09 for
an effing burrito… sorry,” Toby says,
while Luke adds, “We haven’t eaten
today, and we’re starving.”
With a concentrated homeless
population, California has had to find
a balance in how much to accommodate what police departments call the
“transient population.”
In recent years, California cities
have implemented a series of antihomeless laws, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study,
which mention that 55 new anti-homeless laws have been enacted in California since 2010, including anti-camping
and anti-loitering bills.
According to Luke, he is bothered by the police at least three times
a week on improper camping charges.
He claims this is a violation of their
eighth amendment rights, protecting
citizens against cruel and unusual punishment.
On rainy days, they’ll often sit under the porch of the Monterey Custom
House, an act for which they’ve each
been issued a $198 ticket and court
date to pay the fines.
Tensions are high between the
homeless and the police, certainly, but
according to those interviewed, the
homeless face a significant threat from
others on the streets.
“We sleep in pairs,” Toby explains, “and there are certain nights
when tensions are [so] high that yes,
knives are opened. You gotta take turns
[keeping watch], even in Monterey.”
In many American communities, there is a system of assistance
for those impoverished and homeless,
from shelters to soup kitchens to accommodate those without the abilities
to feed and house themselves. But according to Luke and Toby, the Monterey Peninsula is not so hospitable.
“The community programs are
nonexistent,” Toby says. “There’s
nothing out here, especially if you’re
a man.”
On the peninsula, there are several resources for the homeless, such as
food banks, outreach centers and shelters for women, but there are no shelters that include housing for homeless men. The closest soup kitchen to
downtown Monterey is in Seaside.
“We need a shelter,” Luke continues. “Straight up, a shelter. With
showers and warm food. Somewhere
we can lay down, sleep at night, and
not get harassed. We need a shelter
that will give us showers, breakfast
and dinner to get us through the day so
that we can work.”
The stories of Luke and Toby are
common to most on the streets, though
not everyone sees vagrancy in the
same light.
Fifty-year-old Luis, introduced as
Father Luis, in his 37th year of homelessness, has been biking and bussing
around the country with no intention of
stopping. In downtown Monterey, he
holds a sign proudly stating, “Homeless, not hopeless.”
At 13 years old, Luis left his home
in Miami in pursuit of adventure.
“I got tired of the same old thing
back at home,” Luis explains. “I wanted to see something beautiful. Adventure.”
Similar to Toby and Luke, Luis
lives off the generosity of passersby
on a day-to-day basis. Having found a
$100 bill the morning of the interview,
Luis planned to bus to San Francisco in
the coming days for a change of scenery.
“I love this life,” Luis says. “Are
you kidding me? I would never give
this up.” It might be safe to say that in
this regard, Luis is an exception.
Sixty-year-old Vicki McBride,
born and raised in Carmel, has been
living in her van with her husband and
three dogs for the past twelve months.
She and her family had been sharing a house with a couple in Soledad
leading up to last May. Witnesses of
gang and domestic violence regarding
their roommates, McBride says she
went to the police to no avail. After her
husband was stabbed in the leg by a
gang member, they decided to return to
the place of McBride’s birth.
But high rent and gentrification
has kept McBride and her husband
from finding a place to live with affordable rent. For the past 12 months, the
couple has been scraping by on what
little they have saved and panhandling.
McBride will often stand on the
corner of Rio Road and Cabrillo Highway with a sign. She says few people
are willing to stop and help, and the
police will often come by and ask her
to leave.
“I shower once a week, if I’m
lucky,” McBride confesses. “And there
are signs [in Carmel] that won’t let you
park if you have a bed in your car from
6 p.m. to 6 a.m. I mean, what are we
supposed to do, drive around all night?
We’re quiet, we’re clean, and we’re
tidy… I don’t understand.”
McBride makes a similar request
to Toby and Luke’s, looking for accessible showers and bathrooms to help
homeless people get back on their feet,
giving them potential in the job market.
Of those interviewed, they all say
the same thing: Everyone should try
living on the streets for one week, at
least once in their lives, before they
can truly understand.
“Not everyone is going to have
a home all the time,” McBride points
out. “It’s not a perfect world.”
photo by MAX HAUSDORFF
This man at Fisherman’s Wharf is one of the many homeless on the Monterey
Peninsula; California as a whole hosts 22 percent of the nation’s homeless.
LOCAL
Construction of Highway 68 roundabout imminent
BY MICHAEL MONTGOMERY
As we all know, Carmel is a remote
and uninviting part of the world. Its unattractive setting deters tourists of any
kind, and traffic here is never an issue.
If only that were the case. In reality, traffic on the Monterey Peninsula
can often become quite horrendous—at
least by our standards.
In an effort to alleviate some of
this congestion, construction of a traffic roundabout is scheduled to start
later this month at the busy intersection
of Highway 68 and Highway 1, near
the 17-Mile Drive entrance to Pebble
Beach.
The Holman Highway
68 Roundabout, as it’s officially called, will replace the
current
system
of stoplights
with circular,
self-directed
traffic
flow. The idea is to
eliminate the need for a light.
“Currently cars back up for
over one mile [at the intersec-
tion],” says Ariana Green, public outreach manager for the project. “Once
the roundabout is completed it
will be much easier…to get to
and from Pacific Grove,
Cannery Row and
New Monterey.”
As far back
as 1993, the
Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n
Agency for Monterey County recognized the
need for streamlined traffic at
the four-way intersection. Their
initial plan was to widen the highway, but in 2013 the feasibility and
lower cost of a roundabout made it
the preferred alternative, to the excitement of many.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a big fan
of roundabouts,” says CHS science
teacher Kevin Buran, a Monterey resident and daily Highway 68 driver. “I
think they’re really efficient and have
proven to be good with respect to accidents and fuel efficiency.”
Others in the community are
more skeptical.
ROUNDABOUT
CONT. ON 19
MAY 2016
5NEWS
www.thesandpiper.org
STUDENT LIFE
Science-minded Padres vie for NPS internships
BY RYAN LIN
During the summer, while some
students were lollygagging in their
curtain-drawn homes living a nocturnal
lifestyle, seniors Trent Somerville and
Aaron Esparza-Almaraz were hard at
work interning at the Naval Postgraduate School.
“I machined parts and reorganized
spaces of new buildings and other people that are coming to the workforce,”
Somerville says. “I talked to [Engineering teacher Paul] McFarlin, and he was
able to hook me up with the professor. I
thought it was a pretty valuable experience because I was able to learn how
to treat other people professionally and
use higher-level machinery.”
At first glance, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey may seem
like a top-security war base for buff
and bald military kids, not a place that
facilitates science or innovation. According to experienced CHS students
WHAT IS THE
MAIN BENEFIT
OF INTERNING
AT THE NAVAL
POSTGRADUATE
SCHOOL?
like Somerville and Esparza-Almeraz,
NPS is a great place for STEM students
to get real-world experience and grow
their passion for science, technology,
engineering, and math.
Over the years, Robotics and Engineering teacher Paul McFarlin has
been CHS students’ main connection
to NPS, often sending students to the
postgraduate school with various paid
and unpaid internships.
“I do’t actually remember how I
got the connection with NPS. It’s been
a long time.” McFarlin laughs. “I do it
for the students so they can further their
career and give them life experience.”
College counselor Darren Johnston believes that NPS is a great place
for students to figure out what they
want to do with their lives and learn
things they cannot learn in the classroom.
“The primary benefit is giving students much needed real-world perspective,” Johnston comments. “When you
JOHN FLETCHER
JUNIOR
“Because it’s so close to home, I am
able to be close with the community
and that’s good networking. It also
doesn’t look too shabby on college
applications either.”
have an internship at NPS, you are suddenly responsible for things outside of
assignments and grades and tests and
quizzes. You are taking on real-world
responsibilities.”
Junior Abby Lambert was first
involved in NPS through volunteering, which quickly evolved into a fullfledged internship through the Science
and Engineering Apprenticeship Program.
“This fall, I was volunteering on a
project that worked with autonomous
UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], and
then the professor left,” Lambert comments. “Fortunately, I was redirected to
another professor who does underwater
autonomous robotics, which is a paid
internship with SEAP.”
The SEAP internship takes lots of
dedication and commitment, just as junior Emerson Hardy will find out this
summer.
“Interns get a little more than
$3000 for more than 320 hours of
QUINCY HENDRICKS
SOPHOMORE
“Getting my volunteer hours because
I’m in a volunteer internship, so I’ll
get upwards of 200 hours. It also gives
you a lot of opportunities because it
gives you connections.”
work, eight hours a day, five days a
week,” Hardy laughs. “It is straight
up a job, and I think we have to dress
up in professional attire, also. I will
probably get a car or a motorcycle.”
Esparza-Almaraz, who is going
back to NPS this summer, believes
the volunteer internship is more lenient than the SEAP program. Because Esparza-Almaraz is a resident
of Big Sur, he likes the adaptability of the volunteer program but still
sees the value of both the paid and
non-paid internships.
Junior Dylan Temple believes
that there are many reasons to take
advantage of opportunities at NPS:
“[An internship at NPS] looks amazing on college applications, it’s easier
to apply, there’s pay, you get paid better pay if you are a returning intern,
but, most importantly, you have access to NPS and all of its resources.”
HARRISON WHITAKER
SENIOR
“You get to work on a lot of interesting
projects that you would otherwise have
no idea about and get to experience the
inner workings of engineering, building
and advanced experiments.”
TECHNOLOGY
Navigating the dangers of social media
BY ZAC FILE
As many know from the recent
bomb threat incident that occurred in
February, CHS has not been immune
to social media abuse. However, as
longtime CHS faculty member Michael Guardino can attest, this is not
the first time concerns with social media have surfaced at the high school.
“About six years ago, a student
terrorized a special needs student using a Facebook account under my
name,” Guardino says. “Basically, he
was pretending to be me and just said
some very hateful things directed at a
vulnerable kid.”
The situation ended with the FBI
investigating the case for cyberbullying, ultimately leading to the removal
of the Facebook account.
In 2015 the Pew Research Center
revealed that 92 percent of teens report
going online daily, with 71 percent of
teens reporting using more than one
social network site. Most recognize
that social media plays a large part in
the life of students. Yet, in all the enjoyment social media brings, teens must also
be wary of maintaining their online reputation.
“I think our greatest concern is the
anonymous
social media apps,”
says Heath Rocha,
chief student services officer for
Carmel Unified
School District.
“For
adolescents…they have
a level of
courage and
disregard to
the impact of
their harmful
words because it’s not
connected to a username that they believe
can easily trace to them.”
High school students are not oblivious to the fact that maintaining a positive online image is important. CHS
principal Rick Lopez notes that CHS
currently has students agree to the parameters of both the Acceptable Use and
Digital Citizenship Agreements—policies which serve to protect the integrity
and online reputation of students.
“It’s important to learn how to interact with your digital footprint and
social media in a way that’s not destructive,” Lopez says.
Still, despite the best intentions of
the high school, it’s not always possible
to deter students from abusing social
media in a way that can be potentially
devastating to their future.
“We don’t have authority over
whatever happens in the digital world,”
says Lopez, who indicates that the
SOCIAL MEDIA
CONT. ON 17
www.thesandpiper.org
6NEWS
MAY 2016
PHILANTHROPY
Empty Bowls fulfills fundraising goals Jacobs
CONT. FROM 3
BY JULIA SUDOL
CHS hosted its third annual Empty Bowls event two weeks ago, and it
has been the most successful year for
the event so far.
Empty Bowls is a fundraiser for
Ag Against Hunger, a Salinas-based
nonprofit that distributes surplus produce to food banks, in which students
and parents give $20 for a ceramic
bowl handmade primarily by CHS
freshmen and juniors, along with
soup, bread and dessert accompanied
by music from the CHS Singer-Songwriters’ Guild. This event is hosted
in conjunction with the annual Carmel High open house and student art
show.
The fundraiser originated as a
freshman service project after the
students were no longer allowed to
go off campus to glean food scraps
from farms with Ag Against Hunger.
The amount of money raised during the first Empty Bowls event was
$8,000, and was projected to increase
a bit each year, but keeping within the
$8,000 range since there is only room
Student volunteers poised and ready to serve guests at the CHS Open House.
for about 400 guests and tickets are
only $20.
For the past years, a team of
three dedicated workers has created
the event by arranging the variety of
soups to be served as well as the entertainment.
“It is not really hard to organize,”
community service coordinator Diana
Vita explains. “It is just a lot of work.”
As it happens each year, a month
in advance of the evening, freshmen
and juniors hand-make bowls, and
many of them volunteer during the
event.
“We had a lot more student volunteers this year, and they worked really hard, especially those who had to
wash the dishes,” Vita comments.
CHS is excited to host the Empty
Bowls event for many more years to
come and improve however they can
each year.
“Everything was really good,
[but] there are always things you can
make better,” Vita concludes with a
smile.
ACADEMICS
Open enrollment policy, free exams
boost Advanced Placement numbers
BY JACK ELLISON
In 1990, the College
Board administered 490,000
Advance Placement exams to
around 330,000 students at
just over 900 high schools nationwide. Just 24 years later,
the College Board administered more than 4 million AP
exams to more than 2 million
students at almost 20,000 high
schools.
Why the dramatic uptick
in AP participation? Counselor Jeff Schatz believes there
are many factors, but the biggest reasons revolve around
college admissions and
credits toward a degree.
“I would say most
people are thinking
about how it will benefit their GPA or how
colleges will see the
better classes
they were in,”
Schatz says.
“Also, students
say they want the rigor and
depth that the college prep
courses may not offer.”
Much like the global
trend, CHS has also seen an
unprecedented rise in the
number of AP classes and
exams taken. Since 2008,
the number of students in AP
classes has risen 190 percent
and the number of exams
administered has risen over
250 percent. CHS’ academic
policy has also facilitated this
increase in AP participation
through an open-enrollment
policy, meaning any student
who wants to take an AP class
is able to.
“It’s nice knowing that
I’m able to take the classes I
want to,” senior Dana Elazar
says. “I’ve never had trouble
getting into an AP class. They
are definitely more difficult
and time-consuming, but I
would say it’s worth the effort.
But at many schools, getting access to those same AP
classes is much more difficult.
For
example,
high
schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District have tried
to limit students to two AP
classes
in efforts
to reduce stress among students.
Students must complete a detailed time management form
factoring in hours of sleep,
family time and other extracurricular activities. If the
form adds up to more than
the allotted weekly hours, students might not be able to enroll in the course.
Another factor contributing to the increased participation is the Carmel Unified’s
policy to pay for exams and,
in doing so, requiring every student enrolled in an AP
course to take each exam. In
2016, each AP exam will cost
$92, with a $9 rebate once the
completed test is returned.
“I’ve taken five AP tests,
so that would have been almost $450,” junior Michael
Doyle says. “I am really fortunate to go to a school that will
cover the cost of the exams
and, indirectly, some of my
college credits.”
CHS has been covering
the cost of the exams since the
late ‘90s and is the only public
school that counselor Darren
Johnston knows covers the
cost.
“At my school, not many
of the people who take AP
classes end up taking the
exams,” says Mason
Muir, a senior at Agoura
High School in southern
California. “Our teachers generally encourage
us to, but unless we feel really confident about passing,
not many people take them.
It’s a big commitment, especially if you think there’s a
chance you won’t pass.”
But despite the large increase in number of students
taking the classes and exams,
pass rates have risen as a
whole since the open-enrollment policy began. In the seven years since 2008, CHS pass
rates have risen from 62 to 72
percent, while the national average has risen from 58 to 59
percent.
“I think the pass rates
would go way up if only the
people who had to pay for it
would take it, but I also don’t
just measure everything by
pass rate,” AP Environmental
Science teacher Jason MassBaldwin says. “That’s not a
reason to stop.”
done,” Hayes says.
And it’s not only Jacobs’ students who’ve learned something.
“I’ve learned a lot about acting, believe it or not,” Jacobs says.
“I think teachers who, when they’re
teaching a subject that they’re supposedly professional in, [teach] it to
reinforce what they already know,
but they keep making discoveries,
[like realizing] ‘Oh I finally realize
what that means now.’”
However, after 20 years, Jacobs admits he is losing steam.
To his successor as CHS drama
instructor, Jacobs has the following
words of wisdom: “You are going
to get the opportunity to work with
some extremely talented and driven
students. Give it everything you’ve
got because they deserve it.”
“The Real Inspector Hound”
opens May 19 and runs through
May 22, with 7 p.m. performances
Thursday through Saturday and a 2
p.m. matinee on Sunday.
GRADUATION
Venue for future
graduations no
longer set in stone
BY MELISSA PAVLOFF
As the school year
winds down, more and more
preparations are being made
to render a successful and
memorable graduation ceremony, once again to be held
on the CHS football field, as
determined by a poll given
to all CHS seniors.
Though graduation has
traditionally been held on
the football field, the 2015
and 2016 senior classes were
given the option of football
field or amphitheater as their
graduation venue, after the
class of 2014 demonstrated
a drastic shift in CHS tradition when it hosted its graduation ceremony in the newly constructed amphitheater,
due to renovations occurring
at the football stadium.
According to CHS Principal Rick Lopez, the stadium was chosen this year,
beating the amphitheater by
a mere margin of 10 percent.
Lopez explains that last year
the seniors were not polled
because there was a general
consensus that the seniors
wished to return to tradition
and graduate in the stadium.
However, many people
seem to remember the amphitheater graduation as a
positive and pleasant experience, as notes former CHS
student Sam Gumberg, who
graduated in the 2014 class.
“I kind of think the amphitheater is better,” Gumberg says. “I don’t have a lot
to compare it to though.”
Lopez believes that in
addition to a more intimate
environment, the amphitheater provided better acoustics
and proximity to the graduates, though it was more
difficult for families to take
pictures of their graduates
during the procession.
Senior Hannah Lee appreciates the aesthetic pleasure of the amphitheater, having voted for that site because
she desired a change.
“The
football
field
seemed too spread out last
year,” Lee adds. “And you
couldn’t see the graduation
stage well.”
Others, such as senior
Kacey Redfield, think that
graduation should adhere to
tradition and voted for the
stadium because of its greater
accommodation.
CHS alumnus Nicole
Caoili, who also graduated in
2014, agrees that she would
have preferred to graduate
in the stadium: “I think the
graduation venue should be
the football field every time.”
For now, however, each
class of seniors will be given
the option of where to graduate. Lopez indicates room for
change in future venues, noting, “I like the seniors to be
able to have that choice.”
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
7
SCIENCE & NATURE
ENVIRONMENT
Local landfill breaks new ground in sustainability
BY MICHAEL MONTGOMERY
Smelly. Gross. Unpleasant. These
are all words that may come to mind
when the dump is mentioned. But here
on the Monterey Peninsula, our “dump”
is much more than just a repository for
what society throws out.
Located at the Monterey Regional
Waste Management District in Marina
and serving western Monterey County,
our dump—properly called a sanitary
landfill—is a pioneer in turning waste
into resources.
In March, Carmel High’s AP Environmental Science students got the
opportunity to tour the MRWMD facilities, as well as the neighboring wastewater treatment plant, as part of a unit
on waste.
“I love going to the landfill,” says
CHS science teacher Jason Maas-Baldwin, who has taken students there for
the past six years. “It opens your eyes
to how we can be more efficient.”
Indeed, the list of environmentally
friendly programs at MRWMD is extensive. Take their landfill gas facility,
for example, where carbon dioxide and
methane gases from the landfill are
used to generate electricity. This process of turning trash into energy offsets
using 27,000 tons of fossil fuels each
year, and not only provides all the landfill’s power needs, but also electricity
for nearly 4,000 homes, according to
MRWMD’s annual report for 2015.
For many students, the field trip is
an inspiring experience.
“It was just really cool to see what
happens to all that waste,” comments
junior Katy Anderson, an APES student and vice president of the CHS
Environmental Club. “It’s not something we think about a lot, but it’s really important.”
Maas-Baldwin uses the landfill
as a case study of sustainability, but
MRWMD could just as well be a case
study in commitment to the community, with free tours, a reused goods
mercantile, a Small Planet School
Education Program and an artist-inresidence program with California
State University Monterey Bay.
Just on the CHS campus, waste
disposal has progressed a long way
thanks to MRWMD’s work with the
Environmental Club, and CHS has
been working to send all of its compost to their on-site anaerobic digester, the first of its kind in the U.S.
Of course, CHS waste management is not yet ideal. Efforts at separating trash from recyclables have
been stunted by students’ unreliability
in sorting them appropriately. And to
complicate matters, a recent explosion in the rodent population has resulted in rats nesting in trash if it isn’t
dumped on a daily basis, according to
head custodian Jose Renteria.
But even if there’s still work to
be done on our own campus, all we
have to do is look to the Marina landfill for inspiration.
“It’s weird to think that there’s
this high-tech career in waste management,” Maas-Baldwin says of
MRWMD. “But I think it’s so neat
to think about waste as a commodity, which is what they’re doing out
there.”
So far the landfill has managed
to fund its state-of-the-art programs
without raising disposal rates, and
currently they offer more recycling
and lower fees than any other Central
Coast landfill, according to Jeff Lindenthal, director of community programs for the district.
By 2020, they hope to reduce
waste by 75 percent. “Presently we
are at about 68 percent, and with our
new infrastructure improvements
coming on-line late this year, we are
confident that we will meet the goal,”
Lindenthal says.
In a sense, though, it seems that
with its world-class dedication to sustainability, this local landfill has already eliminated the word waste from
its vocabulary.
Seen here approaching the secondary clarifiers at a Marina wastewater treatment
plant, CHS AP Environmental Science students also toured the regional landfill.
8
www.thesandpiper.org
STUDENT LIFE
MAY 2016
GRADUATION
Carmel High seniors peer down roads less traveled
BY KIM BURNS
Graduating high school may seem
like the end of one life and the beginning of another, and for these seniors,
the beginning may be even more extraordinary than most.
Morgan Koucky was accepted
into the Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Md., because he wanted to play college lacrosse and serve his country, and
he views it as his best chance to help
people and do something that matters
all the while traveling and enjoying the
excitement that the Navy brings.
“I want to do naval special warfare,” says Koucky, who didn’t choose
the Army, Marines or Air Force because he thinks that the Navy will offer
him the most opportunities in life.
Meanwhile, though fellow senior
Nick Dorn isn’t traveling as much or
as far as Koucky, he is also planning
on going big for his future career. Dorn
is doing his general education at Mon-
WHAT UNIQUE
PLANS DO YOU
HAVE FOR AFTER
GRADUATION?
terey Peninsula College and, while he
is there, he plans on building a portfolio as well as doing commercials but
already has a head start in the commercial part of his plan because he is
currently writing, directing and editing commercials that companies show
to their investors.
“I love movies, so it’ll be fun to
do what I love,” Dorn says. “See you
at the Oscars.”
Dorn was inspired when he
watched the 1994 movie “Clerks,”
written and directed by Kevin Smith.
Also choosing a career in the picture industry, Andrew Hagood was
accepted into a photography school
in Santa Barbara. He plans to become
a wedding photographer and has already received calls to take pictures of
big events.
“I have always loved photography,” Hagood says, “and I’ve known
since I was young that this was what I
wanted to do.”
JUSTINE KITTERINGHAM
SENIOR
“I’m going to Relativity School
in the fall and BYU over the
summer as a contemporary musical theater and film major.”
Senior college counselor Jeff
Schatz says that over the years, there
have only been a few people that have
taken a non-traditional route after high
school. They have traveled the world
during a gap year, become a kicker for
the Miami Dolphins football team or
even worked with celebrities on the
red carpet.
While not doing anything involving other people, Zoe Esparza plans on
becoming a beekeeper after attending
Chico State, and she recently made
this decision a couple weeks ago. Esparza saw a beekeeper in person and
knew right away that was what she
wanted to do in her future.
“I want to become a beekeeper
because bees are really important for
everyday life,” Esparza declares.
Rowan Maselli is attending MPC
with the hope of transferring to a
four-year college. He wants to major
in Philosophy, and, eventually obtain
his Ph.D. in philosophy. Maselli has
JULIET SANDERS
SENIOR
“My plan is to travel all over
the world during a gap year.”
always had a passion for philosophy
since he was little. His hope is to become a philosophy professor.
“It’s something I’ve always been
interested in,” Maselli says. “I really
only started studying it recently.”
Jose Gonzalez is someone that
has always been interested in cars
and machines, so he decided to attend
Universal Technical Institute and major in diesel mechanics. He says that
he was thinking of attending Hartnell
College, but UTI has a better program
than Hartnell; the only downside is
that UTI costs a lot more than Hartnell.
“I wanted to become a diesel mechanic because I will make a lot of
money.”
In the program, they teach about
hydraulics and refrigeration. He will
be working on yellow Tonka trucks,
just like the ones he played with as a
child.
JOHN STIVERS
SENIOR
“I am going to Harvard for
football.”
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
Jones takes passion for cinema to festivals, film school
BY ARI FREEDMAN
photo by AARON KREITMAN
While CHS senior Thomas Jones
has many interesting quirks and hobbies, from playing the ukulele and piano to longboarding and making extensive lists, one stands out in particular.
Jones is what one may call a cinephile: Not only does he have an extensive knowledge of just about every
classic film made in the last century,
but he already has an accomplished career in the art of making films himself.
His most recent cinematic accomplishment was his successful run
at festivals both locally and across the
country, with two films that he made in
Brian Granbery’s Video II class, one a
documentary about school stress called
“Making the Grade” and the other “Afterlight,” a fantasy film about someone
being interviewed about his life before
going to heaven.
“Since I knew I was going to be
applying to film school, I decided I
should apply to festivals,” Jones recalls. “So I submitted those [two films]
to ten or so festivals, and they got into
eight out of the ten. I guess the biggest
festival I got into was the All-American International Film Festival in New
York. So both of the films were played
in Times Square at the AMC Theatre
there.”
Jones had to travel to attend some
of the festivals he got into, such as
Filmmaker Thomas Jones and CHS junior Nick Griffith preparing for a scene in the
director’s new film.
the ones in New York and Los Ange- films.
les, despite not winning anything at
Ward, impressed by the dedication
either of these. However, he did win Jones puts into his work, asked him to
Best Student at the EyeCatcher Inter- direct a sizzle reel—a short promonational Film Festival in Oklahoma, tional video meant to get a screenplay
as well as Best Documentary and Best green-lit—for one of his prospective
Narrative Films at the 2015 CHS Film projects.
Festival and first place in the Monterey
“We have a budget of $5,000,
Peninsula High School Film Festival.
[and] we’re shooting in July,” Jones
This innate talent of his attracted says. “Normally, I go off $25, so it’s
the attention of filmmaker Clint Ward, kind of an upgrade. So I’m kind of
who has collaborated with Clint East- stressed about that because that’s a lot
wood, at the Carmel Film Festival, of pressure.”
which also screened both of Jones’
Jones has certainly come a long
way from his humble filmmaking origins at the age of 4, when he took over
his parents’ VHS camera they used to
film him and started making random
clips of himself, with no real concept
of movies, until he inherited his father’s Apple laptop in fourth grade and
started using its camera and iMovie for
editing.
When he got to the high school
and took Video Production with Granbery, with a real video camera and
professional editing software, he blossomed to his full potential.
“I have seen him grow enormously,” Granbery says. “During his sophomore year he took my Video I class,
and he stood out as a talented filmmaker. He has an eye for exceptional
cinematography and a brain for exceptional storytelling.”
Next year, Jones will be attending
Chapman University’s film school, a
selective program and one of the most
highly regarded in the nation. From
there, he hopes to make films that
are interesting but don’t fall into any
specific genre, ideally using his own
music, and then he hopes to basically
have the rest of his life figured out.
“I’ll probably make movies, go
live a reclusive, nature-style lifestyle
and then come back and maybe make
one more film before I die,” Jones
says, smiling. “That’s probably the
next 80 years of my life.”
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
9
STUDENT LIFE
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
Photographer Heidtke captures creativity in portraits
BY JULIA SUDOL
Self-portrait of the local photographer.
CHS sophomore Grace Heidtke
has moved on from taking photographs
of landscapes and interesting objects
to those of people in creative environments.
Four months ago, Heidtke posted
a photo on her Instagram account announcing that she was available for
$15 photoshoots, more specifically,
portrait taking. Ever since then, the
photographer has been booked almost
every weekend, shooting with a total
of almost 20 different girls from each
grade and even from different cities.
“I love photography because it is
the best way I can express myself,”
Heidtke says. “I like how it has shaped
me into seeing art in even the smallest
of things.”
Heidtke’s passion originated about
three years ago when she got an iPhone,
and a few months later, her dad bought
a Canon T4i, with which she immedi-
ately started to experiment. Today, the
photographer still uses that Canon.
When asked about her favorite
photoshoot so far, Heidtke references
a shoot in downtown Carmel about a
month ago with freshman Valentina
Anea, the shoot standing out because
“she has a unique face and is also beautiful at the same time. There is so much
to work with!”
In fact, Anea has been the focus
of many recent photo shoots and exclaims, “I love them! [Heidtke’s photography] is amazing,” Anea explains.
“I like how she does not capture everything about a person, but she picks a
specific feature and she enhances it....
She takes things that are not known to
be beautiful and she makes them beautiful.”
Recently, sophomore Hannah
Ryan has been accompanying Heidtke
on her photoshoots with the intention
of learning more about photography.
“I would say I learned a lot,” Ryan
says. “[For example,] different ways of
capturing moments…. I had my camera since I was in sixth grade, and I did
not know how to set everything up, so
she helped me with that, too.”
Ryan took part in the downtown
photoshoot with Anea, and both explain
that working with the photographer is
very relaxing and full of laughter.
As for Heidtke, she hopes to attend an arts school, keeping Parsons
College in New York and Colombia in
San Francisco in mind. Her dream job
would be to work for National Geo-
graphic as a photojournalist.
So far, the photographer is on the
right path, especially after winning
an award in the Weston Photography
Scholarship Competition.
“I think she has always had a really great eye for texture,” photo teacher
Holly Lederle comments. “It has just
become a lot more confident.”
Heidtke finishes off by sharing,
“Photography is definitely my passion, and I am glad I found it at such
a young age because, I mean, since I
am only 16 years old, there is still so
much more I have to learn about the
subject.”
photos by GRACE HEIDTKE
A shot from Heidtke’s photoshoot with Valentina Anea in downtown Carmel.
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
From linguist to violinist, sophomore beyond her years
BY JOYCE DOHERTY
Passions and interests are what define us, and in the case of CHS sophomore Kajsa Magdalena Williams, this
is clearly the case. From skipping
eighth grade and going straight into
freshman year in high school, Williams
has had accomplishments in both academics and extracurricular activities.
“My parents wanted me to begin homeschooling; however, Carmel
Middle didn’t have a cooperative pro-
gram, so my parents encouraged me to
skip a grade, as it was an easy solution
to an academic environment that I really did not enjoy,” Williams explains.
“With a few interviews and summer
textbooks, I was able to begin freshman year.”
Raised by her Swedish mother
and European father, culture and family have always been a major part of
Williams’ identity. Besides being fluent in Swedish, she is taking on French
through CHS and Russian with a pri-
Sophomore Kajsa Williams practicing one of her greatest passions: the violin.
vate instructor. After mastering these
languages, she hopes to conquer German, Spanish and possibly Italian.
“Kajsa is one of those rare people
who has a gift for learning languages”
French teacher Suzanne Marden describes. “It comes naturally to her, and
I believe her to be intellectually curious and it is motivating for her.”
An additional passion of Williams
is music. Since the age of 5, when
Williams picked up the violin, music
has always been a major aspect of her
identity. For much of her childhood,
she even wanted to pursue a career as
a professional musician. Although this
dream has been abandoned, her interest still remains.
Likewise, some of her greatest
accomplishments have been musical.
Since sixth grade, she has been accepted into Central Coast Section Honor
Group for orchestra and participated in
the California Orchestra Directors Association Honor Group.
“Kajsa is a very dedicated musician,” music teacher Brian Handley
says. “When she didn’t make CODA
freshman year, she had perseverance
and succeeded her sophomore year.
She has grown so much since then.”
With a predominantly European
family and strong cultural ties, Williams has also spent time in Europe,
particularly in Sweden to visit family.
As a result of the various visits to Europe, Williams has also considered at-
tending college in Europe. Besides the
free education due to parental citizenship, she takes pleasure in the various
cultures concentrated in such a small
area.
“I enjoy the cultures of Europe,
and especially if I study somewhere
and don’t know the native language, it
is a great way to immerse myself in the
surroundings of the culture and language,” Williams says.
Alongside her other accomplishments, the freshman lives a low-sugar
lifestyle. Williams explains she eats
fruits such as apples and papaya, where
she intakes natural sugars.
“I don’t miss eating sugar,” says
Williams, who has been on this lifestyle for about a year. “On occasion
I will use Stevia, which is a plant derived sugar, which doesn’t cause the
same inflammation as white sugar.”
Another pastime of Williams is
being in the outdoors, especially kayaking, which she picked up two years
ago with her father. One of Williams’
kayaking adventures has been a camping and kayaking trip with her father
last summer along the Colorado River—a 42-mile excursion where she became a two-class kayaker.
“Kajsa is such an amazing person,
and it is amazing to see her passion for
academic pursuits and personal ambition,” sophomore friend Olivia Myers
says. “She really has a lot of self-motivation in whatever she wants to do.”
SENIORS REFLECT ON
HIGH
SCHOOL
MEMORIES
My favorite Carmel High School memory is...
Hanging out with my
bud! - Bob Smith
t with
ng ou
Hangi
Hangi
ng oiutth
Sm with m
b
o
B
y bud!
!
d
u
b
y
-
m
eyor voll
f
s
p
i
nsh
e in
ampio e first tim
h
c
L
th
TA
two M atalina for alvati
g
n
i
S
n
C
“Win d beating
auren
L
”
.
n
ball a eight years
Bob Sm
ith
“Kick
mith
ing
obPS
dredn! - B
d! - Bob Smith
Bob Smith
bu
G
bud!
y
my
m
with
h
out
it
ing
’
w
Hang
t
s
ou
g
n
u
a
a
gi
b
tion
Han
#74 ** at the
ith my
w
t
s
u
S
a
o
ng
#Ton vagebou hoe Gam
Hangi
ga!”
“Winning MTALs with the [water]
n
- Sio d #pgca e. #pahpolo team.” - Wyatt Milne
nHang
n
Smit
Bob
e Fiefiing out
thanwith my bud!
g
a
“Prom.” - Rowan Maselli
orts to be an Iron
“Completing enough spHanging out with my bud! - Bob Smith
se
Woman.” - Tasha Haa
“Powderpu
ff. Everyo
ne had so
and it bro
much sch
ught our s
ool spirit
c
hool togeth
started da
e
r. That is
ting John
also how I
..” - Alys
sa Bethea
LA
ng to
i
o
g
s
wa
his
emory 016 with T
m
e
t
i
r
2
vo
y
s
lute fa k for We Da n Chamber
o
s
b
a
a
rea
“My
Reg
ring b LHang
es.” - ing
p
v
s
out with my bud! - Bob Smith
i
r
e
v
s
o
ave
S
b
u
Cl
Hanging out with my bud! - Bob Smith
s
ose trip
h
T
.
s
end
ill
my fri e popcorn st
h
t
i
w
d th
vies
m my
the mo re a bHang
last aning
ghawith
o
t
out
g
rin
e
n
t
e
t
i
w
K
s
“Goi
p
e
Justin
ig grou
with b s the spot.” hit
“Win
I gave Kim a piggyback ride (upon her request), and
ni
m
y las ng the so
we were laughing super hard, and she moved forward
t yea
c
r and cer MTA
which made me fall over and she came crashing down
L
some going to undefe
on top of me.” Anna Bransford
a
.”
te
C
e Rey CS was a d
wees
- Pep
bud! - Bob Smith
“Goin
g on
Burn an egg h
s.” unt w
g
N
n
o
a
S
war A ith Kim
nger- nd
i
S
bdall
a
t
ong a iends Ari a
a
s
l
a
n
fr
gi
i
r
y
o
m
n
h
Smit
ith Hang
ery out with my bud! - Bob
ing
ed a
ance w
ntgom
erform
m
“I p
ael Mo
perfor
h
’
c
s
i
r
e
M
t
i
”wr
Steve.
Hanging out with my bud! - Bob Smith
Hanging out with my bud! - Bob Smith
Hanging out with my bud! - Bob Smith
“Playing
P.G. in ba
sketball.”
Joe Curtis
h
r, laug
e
h
t
e
g
too
ce to
h way
ho dan
c
t
w
a
s
m
d
n
y
est frie intentionall l Goren
b
e
e
r
h
“T
un
che
r, and
.” - Ra
e
r
e
h
t
h
e
t
e
g
to
og
often t
“Going to We Day 2016”
- Maya Stewart
“Winning back the shoe this year
#9sa
orlife
Hangging out with
tionf
rena
#pad
my
bud!
- Bob
Smit
h vagebound.”
“We got to bond on the AVID trip durin
- Rostin Ahmadi
car rides and tried to figure out our
futures...” - Brooke Porter
www.thesandpiper.org
12SPORTS
MAY 2016
PREP SPORTS
Carmel swim teams splash big again in league
BY EVAN PATEL
Yet again, Carmel High’s swim
teams sliced through the competition,
as both girls’ and boys’ teams led the
way with undefeated seasons and another pair of league titles.
At the May 7 Mission Trail Athletic League championship meet, the
boys’ and girls’ teams each finished
first, scoring 436.5 points and 437
points, respectively, in a showing that
left their second-place competitors
behind by a respective 199 and 180
points.
The CHS teams are the only ones
undefeated in their leagues, and both
are ranked first in the county.
Second-year girls’ coach Pam
Stachelek explains how this year’s
team has become a greater team effort
than years past.
“Last year, we were more a team
that had a couple really good individuals, but couldn’t quite put it together
for a relay,” Stachelek says. “This year,
photo by MICHAEL MONTGOMERY
Senior Benek Robertson races to the finish of his 200 Individual Medley at the MTAL championship meet on May 7.
Congratulations
CLASS OF ‘16!
Combining old-fashioned
tradition and craftsmanship to create
fine handmade chocolates and memorable confections.
Now two locations:
Mission between Ocean Ave & Seventh St,
Carmel-by-the-Sea | 831.624.5852
244 Crossroads Blvd, Carmel | 831.626.3327
Also available at gourmet markets and kitchen boutiques or online at: www.Lulas.com
we haven’t had [many] individuals, but
we do have relays.”
This spring the girls swam two Central Coast Section qualifying relays, the
first consisting of sophomores Sophia Supica and Kelly Rice and freshmen Megan
Kou and Lucy Shelley. The other consists
again of Supica, Shelley and Rice, this
time joined by sophomore Eva Reed.
For the boys, four-year coach Kamaron Rianda explains how the team has improved: “We had a lot of kids that started
the year struggling who have turned into
really good swimmers.”
The boys’ season turned out extremely successful, with several CCS individual qualifiers and relays. One CCS-qualifying race of note was sophomore Gianluca
Douros winning the 500 freestyle at the
MTAL meet, in which he broke a 30-yearold CHS record with his time of 4:52.
“During the season you qualify for
CCS by posting a good enough time,”
says junior Kevan Auger who went to
CCS last year. “Then those people that
qualify for the competition get to practice
for another week and then go to the CCS
meet.”
This spring, the boys’ main league
competition came from Stevenson and
York, while for the girls it was Santa
Catalina.
Stachelek explains what she thinks
divided her team from a tough Santa
Catalina team.
“We have a lot more depth this year,”
she says. “We are not only trying to get
faster in everything, but we are trying to
get faster in more events.”
Junior Evan Crane, interviewed after
the boys’ dual meet victory over previously unbeaten Stevenson, says of the team’s
sportsmanship, “We are a very humble
team that doesn’t like to brag about our
victories.”
Crane has high hopes for next season.
“Last year we had strong senior leadership but a lot of young skill, he says.
“This year has been a transition year,
where a lot [of kids]…have really stepped
up and matured…. I think we can only
improve from here.”
The Central Coast Section meet will
take place on May 14 and 15 in Santa
Clara.
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
13SPORTS
PREP SPORTS
Boys’ volleyball serves aces in an incredible season
BY MELISSA PAVLOFF
The 2016 CHS boys’ volleyball
team has brought skill to another level
with its success this spring, having
clinched first place in the Mission Trail
Athletic League.
After a May 3 victory over Seaside High, the Carmel team finished
the season with an overall record of
19-5 and a league record of 14-0, placing them automatically in the numberone seed and securing them a spot in
the Central Coast Section quarterfinal
game.
Head coach Israel Ricardez, who
began with the program in 2009, says
that he cannot compare this season
to past seasons because this year has
brought an entirely new level of competition and intensity, as opposed to
the more relaxed attitudes of teams he
has coached in the past.
“They don’t really relate,” Ricardez says. “We’ve always…really emphasized that new kids come out here,
try the sport for the first time, have a
lot of fun [and] end up falling in love
with it.”
But while past seasons have typically been qualified as fun-first experiences, according to Ricardez, nothing
in his coaching experience at CHS
matches up to the success of this year’s
team.
“We’re usually competitive the
second time we play teams, [but]
we’ve never done what we did this
year,” Ricardez says.
Senior Joe Curtis, who has been
an unstoppable force at the net, attributes the successful season to strong
coaching and unbreakable team chemistry.
“I think [our undefeated record] is
a direct result of our excellent coaches,
who know what it takes to win, our
very strong team chemistry and the fact
that a lot of us have played together for
multiple seasons,” Curtis remarks.
According to Ricardez, strong
play has come from all across the
court, as well as from the bench players, who have helped contribute to the
team’s success. Junior Jared McNally
reiterates the fact that the dynamics of
Senior Trevor Arbab delivers a tip during Carmel’s win over Salinas on April 28.
this year’s team have directly correlated to its success.
“I feel that the team’s best
strength this year is the multitude of
players that play great offense and
defense, rather than just having players who can only do one or the other,”
McNally adds.
Several players agree that, of all
the success they’ve experienced this
season, the most memorable moment
has been beating strong competitor
Christopher High School each time
Carmel faced them, and junior Ezra
Delbick emphasizes the crucial role
of these wins in establishing the CHS
team as a viable contender for the
MTAL title.
“Before those games there was
a lot of doubt [about] who would be
the best team in the league, and by
crushing them both times, we really
proved our power,” Delbick stresses.
McNally comments that CCS
playoffs will undoubtedly be difficult
and a new experience for everyone
on the team because they will bring a
new caliber of competition. However, Ricardez has faith in the team and
is proud of the way they have proved
themselves, despite initial premonitions of not being competitive.
Curtis sums up the season with
an appreciation for how the program
has grown over the past four years he
has played and the progress the team
has made.
“About midway through my
freshman year was when I realized
how young the volleyball program
was…and I knew all the way back
then that I wanted to be a part of the
first championship,” Curtis recalls.
“To have pushed…for that banner…
and to finally get it is a really satisfying feeling.”
As of this publication, the boys’
team will have competed in their first
CCS match, against the winner of
a game between Pajaro Valley and
Archbishop Mitty, at 7 p.m. Thursday.
www.thesandpiper.org
14SPORTS
MAY 2016
LOCAL SPORTS
Carmel surfers look to hang 10 at 36th Surfabout
BY JACK ELLISON
photo by JOHN CHAMBERS
Several CHS students will be
competing in Sunshine Freestyle Surf
Shop’s annual Surfabout competition
Saturday and Sunday at the base of
11th Street at Carmel Beach.
The contest, now in its 36th year,
will run from sunrise to sunset on both
Saturday and Sunday, or until all of
the competitions have finished.
“I look forward to the Surfabout
every year because it gives us a chance
to show off new tricks we have been
learning,” former division winner Logan Davis says. “Also, it’s fun just to
hang with all of your friends at the
beach.”
The competition is divided up into
various age groups, starting with an 11
and under “super grom” category, to a
60-plus “kapuna” division. There are
also contests for bodyboarding, longboarding and distance paddling.
In the surfing competitions, a panel of judges gives the surfers scores on
the quality and difficulty of attempted
tricks, the quality of the wave and for
technique. Each rider receives a score
from 1 to 10.
“A 10 is basically unheard of,”
senior Luke Curtice begins. “The average score is somewhere between a
5 or a 6. A 7 or an 8 is a really good
score that will usually place. A couple
of years ago Logan [Davis] scored a
10. That’s really impressive.”
The surfers can also use their
Junior surfer Logan Davis outrides the barrel of a wave in the Pacific Ocean.
scores to track their personal progress recognized and rewarded for the work
and improvement from year to year.
you’ve put in all year.”
“It’s always interesting to see how
Prizes are given out based on
your scores change from year to year,” placement for the top three finishers in
says junior Jake Hubbard, a multi- each category, which in the past have
year participant. “You can finally be included surfboards, wetsuits and oth-
er beach gear.
“If you place first, second or third
you can get some really sweet prizes,”
Davis notes. “In the past I’ve won
really nice boards, wetsuits, skateboards, t-shirts, sunglasses. It’s all really nice.”
In recent years, the competition
has swelled to more than 150 surfers
and has drawn crowds ranging from
300 to 500 people.
“It used to just be just a small
group of locals, but now there are lots
of divisions and different competitions,” Curtice says. “A bunch of people come out for it. It’s a lot of fun.”
The contest is only open to people from the Monterey Peninsula, although many people come from Santa
Cruz and other communities to watch.
If the waves fall flat that day, the
surfers will still compete despite the
subpar conditions.
“It’s always a bummer when the
waves are down, even if there’s not a
competition,” sophomore James Delehanty says. “Even if the waves are
bad, it’s still fun to hang out with all
of the other surfers. If the surfing gods
aren’t on your side, there’s not much
you can do,” he jokes.
The competition is free to watch
at the base of 11th Street all weekend,
and the surfers recommend stopping
by and seeing what it is all about.
“Will it be a good time?” Davis
asks. “Hell, yeah!”
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
15SPORTS
COMPETITION
Equestrian Tuck invited back to national championships
BY RYAN LIN
While some people are sitting on
their couch watching TV on a cloudy
Wednesday afternoon, Carmel High
freshman Sara Tuck is scrupulously
working on her riding technique at the
Pebble Beach Equestrian Center.
Riding on Lincoln, a friend’s
horse, Tuck watches intently for signals from the unfamiliar horse as she
skillfully waltzes the horse in flat and
jumping training. This attentiveness
probably convinced Carmel Pine Cone
reporter Dennis Taylor to nickname
Tuck the “Horse Whisperer.”
Tuck’s diligent, thorough and extremely attentive approach has not just
been seen by passersby like Taylor, but
has also been praised by trainer and
Carmel High School alum Toni Venza.
“[Sara] is willing to practice, practice, practice on whatever horse you
give her to ride,” Venza says. “She
has a really good competitive edge in
the ring and she can stay extremely
focused, which comes naturally. She
doesn’t let the nerves get the best of
her, and that is something that you are
born with.”
Deep down, Tuck’s passion for the
sport comes from her love of animals,
which allows her to truly understand
the animals and be successful at what
she loves to do.
“Ever since I was young, I was
always around horses,” Tuck explains.
“I developed a love for horses. That
is how I got this passion because you
have to stay dedicated and have to follow through with everything. Just being connected with the horses keeps
me going.”
The freshman not only has the natural ability and attitude to be successful in equestrian sports, but also puts in
the necessary effort to elevate her game
to the next level.
“Over the summer, I practice every day of the week,” Tuck remarks.
“During the school year, with track,
cross country and school, I practice
about three to four times a week.”
And this intensity has given Tuck
something to boast about: back- toback Interscholastic Equestrian Association Championship appearances. As
an eighth-grader, she qualified for the
competition that took place in Florida.
This year, in Kentucky, she was invited
back again as one of the 40 riders from
the country who were allowed to compete in the jumping and flat competitions. All championship competitors
were first or second in their regional
competition, but, impressively, Tuck
was one of the five in her division who
got first place in both the jumping and
flat regionals.
Competing at the varsity intermediate level, Tuck placed sixth in the flat
competition and was reserve champion, or second place, in the jumping
competition. Next year, Tuck will most
likely move up to the highest level by
competing in the varsity open division.
The championships could cause
trouble because Tuck isn’t allowed to
take her horse with her. Instead, competitors draft a random horse and are
allowed only a few minutes to get comfortable before competing. Tuck was
able to rein in these hardships by connecting with each new horse.
“It takes trust, a lot of trust,” Tuck
says. “I always let [the horses] smell
me and I pet them a lot just so I can get
a sense of their personality.”
This connection that Tuck can create with horses is witnessed by everyone around her, especially her mother,
Cori, a former rider.
“An athlete can always have the
right skills, but what makes Sara exceptional is her feel for the horse,” Cori
remarks.
However, it is her family, not the
prospect of fame and glory, that first
got Tuck into equestrian sports. Today, her family and the Pebble Beach
Equestrian Center makeup Tuck’s support system that keeps her motivated to
perform her passion.
“I got into riding because my
mom rode when she was younger,” the
freshman says. “My sister rode before
me, and when I came out and watched
her, I really wanted to go out and do it
myself. [The people at the Equestrian
Center] are also like my second family
out here.”
Tuck is hoping one day to be a
professional equestrian, or at least do
something with animals.
Sara Tuck and Lincoln after training at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center.
“I want to go pro, if I can make
it there!” Tuck exclaims. “It would
take lots of years of practice, going
to the top-rated shows and finding a
good horse that can take me down
that road.”
When Tuck dismounts after the
two hour training session, she compassionately pats Lincoln on the side,
which produces a glimmer of happiness in the horse’s eyes. As they
walk back to the stables, they seem
almost to be in mutualistic symbiosis, benefiting from one another’s
mere presence.
www.thesandpiper.org
16NEWS
Body image
CONT. FROM 1
the courage to question the test results,
she can only imagine how they might
have affected how she looks at her
body.
“I was so embarrassed, and they
try to keep it private and everything,
but people know if you failed the fitness test,” Kitteringham remarks. “I
looked at myself in the mirror and was
like, ‘What’s wrong with me?’”
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Kitteringham, freshman
Lila Pendleton, who asked the first
question prompting the commotion at
the March assembly, comments that
she was just within the threshold of
the Healthy Fitness Zone but was very
close to the underweight range.
Although Pendleton knows she is
healthy, the number seemed to associate her with problems related to being
underweight, like eating disorders,
which bothered her.
CHS physical education teacher
Craig Johnston acknowledges students’ concerns but wonders what
should be put in the fitness test’s place
for those who are actually at risk of
being unhealthy.
“What do we do?” Johnston asks.
“Do we not measure anything and just
let people be unhealthy? I have mixed
emotions, and I know it’s not perfect,
and I know how sensitive it is…. I see
both sides.”
Students understand that the motivation behind the test is their health,
yet the inaccuracies in the measurement that Kitteringham and others
have experienced make it difficult for
them to accept the test wholeheartedly.
Like Pendleton, sophomore Katie
Murray asked a question at the March
assembly because a friend has had difficulties with passing the fitness test
despite being in good health, forcing
Murray to conclude that the test can
often fall short of what it aims to do.
“I think it is a well-intended system,” Murray explains, “but not everyone’s body works the same way,
and you have to account for that.”
For students the problem lies in
the poor balance between understanding California’s recommendations
about their health while also being
told to accept and love their bodies. In
response to student objections, CHS
P.E. teacher Debbie French does not
see the test as a judgement but more
as a helpful tool students can use to
gage their own health.
“We look at it as a good test,”
French says. “It’s not supposed to be a
negative test. It’s not supposed to say,
‘You’re overweight or underweight.’
[Students] should take that informa-
MAY 2016
tion and ask, ‘Do I need to do something to improve my health?’”
Despite the March assembly’s
positive body image message, French
feels as though Mathers did not cover
the subject fully, leading to more criticism about the fitness test than resolution about body image.
“I felt the assembly was not a fair
assembly,” she adds. “It did not present things in a health manner…. Students didn’t understand, and they need
to be educated.”
Mathers could not be reached for
comment regarding her presentation.
The most misleading information
and cause of grievances among students is that Body Mass Index, or BMI,
is widely thought to be the measurement used to test body composition,
when in actuality CHS, as mentioned
previously, uses body fat percentage.
Because the formula for BMI, created
over 200 years ago, was intended to
measure populations and not individuals, it has come to be known as a lessthan-accurate test, which is one reason
for student frustration.
Although there are three possible measurements that can test the
body composition portion of the FitnessGram—BMI, skinfold measurements and body fat percentage—CHS
chooses to employ the lattermost of
the tests because it is the most accurate as well as the least invasive. Body
fat percentage uses a bioelectrical impedance analysis device that sends an
electrical impulse through the body.
The age, weight, height and gender of
the student is entered into the device
and then the student holds the sensors
as the imperceptible impulse passes
through tissue and fluid.
In addition to the misunderstanding surrounding the type of test, students also tend to think that if they fail
the body composition standards, then
they fail P.E. altogether, but this is not
the case.
According to Johnston, students
must pass five of the six tests to pass
the FitnessGram and the class, but if
they do not pass P.E., then they can
take one of several other classes, including Weight Training, Yoga, and
Dance, that count for the necessary
physical education credits.
However, even after students pass
the test and earn the credits, the disconnect between its purpose and their
beliefs holds strong, with little room
for compromise in the future. Teachers are still required to administer the
FitnessGram and students still hope
for change.
“I hope that we can make some
changes because the state doesn’t
have the right to determine if you
are unhealthy or healthy because of a
number,” Kitteringham opines. “They
don’t know you personally.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE BODY COMPOSITION
MEASUREMENT IN THE HEALTHY FITNESS TEST?
BECCA GOREN
SOPHMORE
“I think it’s kind of degrading.
It’s a measurement people put so
much weight on, saying that it’s
so important, but it’s really different for everyone. To determine
if someone is healthy depending
on how much body fat they have
is just not normal for how bodies
are.”
HANNAH ALTSHULER-HANSEN
JUNIOR
“I feel like it has this very rigid
view of “you’re healthy because
your body fat percentage is this,”
but that just means most people are
healthy with a body percentage of
that. There are a lot of people who
are over or under that who are completely healthy…. It’s just not a fair
portrayal.”
YUAN TAO
SENIOR
“I think that it is a good idea to make
sure people are healthy, but not necessarily that they are good at running or
that they meet a certain weight because
obviously everyone’s body type is different. I think that it is one thing to make
sure that they can run and are physically
capable of being healthy, but not necessarily judging their bodies.”
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
17ENTERTAINMENT
FILM REVIEW
‘Jungle Book’ remastered with love, laughter and action
BY JOYCE DOHERTY
The heart-felt and memorable
story of the man-cub in the jungle is
now being retold in the latest actionpacked motion picture version of
Disney’s “The Jungle Book,” with
scenes comparable to Ang Lee’s
“Life of Pi.”
With a non-animated setting, the
film takes its audience out of their
seats and deep into the jungles of India to join Mowgli (newcomer Neel
Sethi) on his adventures. With most
of the audience being accustomed to
the beloved original of 1967, the remake is a bit of a let-down.
Although the new version follows roughly the same storyline,
many of the memorable and cunning
characters from the original are altered, detaching us from the lovable
characters we remember them as.
Luckily, Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and Baloo (Bill Murray) remain
their genial and familiar selves.
Classic characters such as King
Louie (Christopher Walken) and
Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), however,
have not.
After being threatened by the
fearsome Shere Khan (Idris Elba),
Mowgli falls into the slippery slithers of Kaa the python. Under her
hypnotizing eyes, the man-cub
learns about his past and how he lost
his father to Shere Khan and was
Social media
CONT. FROM 5
school can really only step in if social media abuse is perpetrated during school time, on a school device
or holds any nexus or connection to
school.
While students may not feel the
pressure in high school to abstain
from misusing social media, the
consequences of their actions remain very real. According to a 2016
survey from Kaplan Test Prep, 40
percent of admissions officers say
rescued by Bagheera. Rather than a
foolish snake who is completely bamboozled by everyone, Kaa is a transitional character who doesn’t serve
much importance in the plot.
Strangely, the lovable dancing
orangutan of the original Disney musical is now a massive ape whose large
size takes up nearly half of a MauryanGupta temple. King Louie offers Mowgli protection from Shere Khan in exchange for the red flower, which is the
jungle word for the flames of fire.
Unlike the Disney musical, the
wolves that raise Mowgli are allowed
more screen time. The man-cub learns
the ways of the pack and is shunned for
his clever engineering tools, which the
wolf pack leader, Akela (Giancarlo Esposito), calls “tricks” that don’t belong
in the jungle.
Like many of the several Disney
remakes of the classics, “The Jungle
Book” has been bringing in the most
money out of the recent remakes, such
as “Cinderella” in 2015 and “Maleficent” in 2014. According to ABC news,
it is the highest in box office revenue
for the second week in a row, at $60.8
million.
The newest edition of “The Jungle
Book” epically brings together, love,
passion and fear in the endless classic
of the young man-cub Mowgli, transforming from a boy to a man by facing
his fears of the jungle.
they visit applicants’ social media
pages to learn about them, which is
four times the percentage that did so
in 2008.The online scrutiny of applicants does not end with college.
A 2013 CareerBuilder survey found
that 39 percent of companies check
up on prospective employees’ social media usage, with 43 percent
of those who checked reporting
that information from social media
made them decide against hiring
someone.
As school officials corroborate,
once something is uploaded to the
internet, it can remain there forever.
photos courtesy of WALT DISNEY PICTURES
ABOVE: Mowgli looks to Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) for guidance in the savanna.
BELOW: The man cub finally encounters the enormous King Louie, uniquely voiced
by Christopher Walken.
18NEWS
www.thesandpiper.org
question and answer
MAY 2016
Jack Ellison
senior
Zac File
senior
Ari Freedman
senior
Delaney King
senior
Michael Montgomery
senior
WHAT IS YOUR
FAVORITE WORD?
conjugate
pilus
quixotic
loquacious
metonymy
WHAT IS THE COOLEST
LOCKER COMBINATION?
17-23-39
2-3-4
17-1-11
1-2-3
3-31-13
Calling
Delaney a liar
Watching “You’re
a Wizard Harry”
for the first time
Newspaper
baseball
When I wrote a story
about Don Perry and
he gave me a free
autographed copy
The first floor
of Hogwarts
Mr. Palshaw’s
room
Geirangerfjord
Kamchatka
“Lolita”
Good
“A Thousand
Splendid Suns”
Good
“8 Skilled
Gentleman”
Good and
very funny
WHAT WAS THE GREATEST Assembling the
SANDPIPER MOMENT? headline crew
WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE
PLACE ON THE PLANET?
WHAT WAS THE LAST
BOOK YOU READ AND
WAS IT GOOD?
Shrek’s
Swamp
“This is Your
Brain on Sports”
Yes
String cheese connoisseurs are ‘briething’ new life into the
debate of “Stringers
vs. Biters.”
115 CHS students
were surveyed on
their cheesy preferences and the results
are as follows.
“Old School”
Yup
MAY 2016
www.thesandpiper.org
19ENTERTAINMENT
MUSIC REVIEW
Toronto rapper Drake reverts to old ways with ‘Views’
BY ZAC FILE
In his fourth studio album,
“Views,” Drake—the meme, the prideful Canadian and possibly the most
iconic pop superstar today—largely returned to the emotional, sincere style of
his defining records, gravitating away
from the more acidic raps of his recent
mixtape, “If You’re Reading This It’s
Too Late.”
With a name like “Views,” we
might expect the album to display the
dominance of Drake, looking down
upon the world from his majestic
perch atop the CN Tower. Instead of
infectious bangers like “Jumpman” or
“Know Yourself,” we are given more
soaring compositions like “U With
Me?” and “Fire and Desire.”
Certainly, “Views” is not an album
you casually throw on before you max
out on bench or play in a championship game. Instead, its sound is more
reserved for solo drives down the coast
or setting the mood with that special
someone.
Collaborating with longtime producer and friend Noah “40” Shebib,
Drake sets the tone of the highly anticipated album with the song “Keep the
Family Close.” Singing over a powerful, mysterious beat, Drake delves into
Roundabout
CONT. FROM 4
“We’re nervous about it,” comments Carole Dorsey, director of nursing at the Carmel Hills Care Center,
which is located next to the construction site. “I just don’t know if it’s gonna
solve what they’re trying to do.”
And it’s hard to argue that, despite
an eventual outcome of reduced traffic,
construction won’t cause headaches of
its own.
his emotional woes very familiar to his
musical audience hitting with verse,
“All of my ‘let’s just be friends’ are
friends I don’t have anymore.”
It is not until the fifth song on the
album, “Hype,” that Drake even begins
to resemble the harsh rapper that let it
be known he “got a lotta people tryna
drain [him] of [his] energy.”
By no means is “Views” a bad album. It just does not seem to live up to
the “Hype” that surrounded it. After all,
this was supposed to be a continuation
of Drake’s evolution as a serious player
in the world of rap.
Still, credit is due where deserved.
In “9,” Drake reflects on his connection with Toronto over an icy, sharp
beat that draws in listeners. Rapping
“Six upside down, it’s a nine now,” it
becomes apparent that Drake’s stardom
has brought added responsibility to his
once humble life in the six.
On the title song of the album,
“Views,” Drake reminds his audience
that he is not all emotions, but still possesses the cockiness and swagger that
any rap celebrity should. Over the fiveminute epic, Drake hits unforgivingly
with lyrics like, “F*** being all buddy
buddy with the opposition/ It’s like a
front of the plane, n****, it’s all business.”
“Views” has moments of artistic brilliance and moments of plain
mediocrity. Despite its best efforts,
“Views” will always be overshadowed
by the fact that it features a familiar
style of Drake at a time when listeners are still hungry for the rap sound
that legitimized the Toronto native as
a bona fide rapper.
Take the Community Hospital of
the Monterey Peninsula, for example,
right in the middle of all that traffic.
Some employees, like registered nurse
Flo Plinck, worry about coworkers being late for work. “And I don’t know
[if there’s] room for the ambulance to
get by,” she says.
Here at Carmel High, we’ll feel
the effects most severely for several
brief periods early next school year, especially during daytime ramp closures,
according to Dan Paul, Carmel Unified’s director of facilities and trans-
portation.
“[The TAMC] knows exactly
when our bell times are,” Paul says.
“They understand the impact it would
have on [our] campus…and they’re
working with their contractor to phase
construction in a way that will minimize [that] impact.”
Construction is slated to begin in
late May and finish in spring of 2017.
During most of that time, one travel
lane will be open in each direction,
with necessary road closures happening mostly at night.
For more information or to sign up
for TAMC’s email notifications regarding road closures and conditions, visit
their roundabout homepage at www.
tamcmonterey.org/holman-highway68-roundabout.
On Monday and Tuesday there
will be two community meetings about
the roundabout, both at 6 p.m., in Pacific Grove’s Community Center and
the Carmel Council Chambers, respectively.
photo courtesy of OVO SOUND
An estimated 770,000 copies of Drake’s “Views” were purchased in the first four
days of sale.
www.thesandpiper.org
20ENTERTAINMENT
MAY 2016
THE COMICS
HOROSCOPES
Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
Cruising down life’s road you
may find bumps and blocks along
your travels. Remember your
past successes and strengths to
move forward past these hitches.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
You seem really quick on your feet.
More so than usual. As in lighting fast. Now might be a good time
to try Jeopardy!, but don’t forget
to state the answer as a question.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
As the promise of summer grows
ever imminent on the horizon, the
coming weeks may be an excellent time to bridge friendships.
BY ANNA BUZAN
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22)
Those around you may try to persuade you to go into cruise control as
the school year winds to a conclusion.
Maintain a strong internal compass
and succumb not to peer pressure.
Virgo (Aug. 22 - Sept. 22)
Things will be in flux. Be prepared to remain flexible and accepting of unanticipated change.
That or try yoga. I hear downward
dog is excellent for a tight spine.
Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)
However many energy drinks and
cups of coffee you’ve downed appears to be working. Take that high
energy and motivation and use
it to carry you to the finish line.
BY ANONYMOUS
BY SARA PHILLIPS
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)
If you had a bullhorn and soapbox, the world might just beat
to a new drummer. Should you
choose, your great ideas and intelligence can bring change.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)
Is it the kale smoothies? What
about the probiotics? Maybe
the spin class. Any which way
you are looking healthy and
happy. Keep up the good work.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)
Mixed messages may be bombarding
you from all corners. Taking time to
breathe and listen to your needs will
help soothe the haze of information.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)
When things go awry it is to best
to clear it up with simple, honest answers. Trying to obfuscate the circumstance will not
lessen your personal burden.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20)
Your aura is troubled. Hazy. Messy.
The next few weeks may be the
perfect time you so desperately
need for cleansing and renewal.
Aries (March 21 - April 19)
he choices and decisions you made
earlier are paying off in this final
stretch to summer. By managing
your time wisely, you can make
the next few weeks less stressful.
Crossword
BY AARON KREITMAN
ACROSS
1. Those, in Mexico
5. Campfire desserts
11. Sesame Street character
12. Not finished
13. Fool
14. Award winning AMC historical
drama
15. Orange potato cousin
17. Singer Smith
18. Hallucinogenic drug, abrv.
21. ___ 10, Cartoon Network show
23. Nibble
25. One of the chipmunks for short
26. Time period
27. Company executive, for ex.
28. Place to rest
29. “Very funny” station
30. Timezone in New York, abrv.
31. Sea eagle
33. Vermin
35. Highest point
BY HANS VOEGELI
OBJECTION
to SBAC testing during AP finals and exams weeks.
At this point in the year, the test is merely a distraction to scholarly students
stressed out for their AP final or exam.
The date for SBAC testing should be
changed as it is currently an annoyance
and bore to students.
- Evan Patel
37. Shrek, for one,
41. Citrusy alcoholic drink
42. Yahoo
43. Well
44. Yankees ballplayer, familiarly
DOWN
1. Slippery fish
2. Cal Poly ___
3. I love, in Spain
4. PS4 maker
5. Long vacation for students
6. Group of Massachusetts’s
health care workers
7. Not evens
8. Genre often combined with
comedy
9. Not friends
10. Like Obama before being
elected, abrv.
16. To encourage
18. A science classroom would
have one
19. Thing one gets to do on the
weekend
20. Storage format between VHS
and Blu-Ray
22. Space org.
24. It may call the kettle black
32. Tao ___ District in Thailand
34. Roman wrap
35. Atomic measurement, shortly
36. Keyboard key
38. British exclamation (often with
“by”)
39. Australian hopper
40. Not the beginning
OBJECTION
to the field trip form system
at this school. I have filled out at least 25 copies of the
exact same form with the exact same information. The
only thing that changes is the location of the field trip.
It seems like it would be pretty simple to have insurance plans and emergency contacts on file that would
save countless sheets of paper. Please, please, enough
with the redundant field trip forms. - Anna Gumberg