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Freshman looks brightly forward after winning cancer fight
Editorial board: On class rank, district needs to be all-in or all-out
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Adam Erickson tops sports staff ’s Top 10 Spring Athletes list
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EYE OF THE TIGER Roseville High School’s student-produced publication
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1 Tiger Way, Roseville, CA
MAY 26, 2015 | ISSUE 13, VOLUME 13
DIVERSITY IN RJUHSD
A lack of reflection RJUHSD faculty diversity lags behind that of student body BY ROBBIE SHORT
r.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
Whenever Keshila Jones walks into a meeting in the Roseville Joint Union High School District – where she has worked as an Academic Lab teacher since 2001, at three sites – she feels “isolated.” Jones is one of two African-American teachers in the 499-teacher district. Since she began her RJUHSD career at
AP gaps nearly all closed
Granite Bay High School 14 years ago, she has been among an ethnic company that has numbered only as high as four certificated staff members (and, to her knowledge, only as high as two teachers). She said she has experienced racism, filed complaints and expressed concerns about the lack of faculty diversity in a district in which almost 40 percent of students don’t identify as white. (452 of RJUHSD’s current teachers – or
about 90.5 percent – marked white on their demographic forms this year.) She said she has seen little change. She said the personnel responsible for hiring “haven’t extended themselves in terms of outreach” and that concerns about a lack of diversity are stifled by district leadership, which she said operates with an attitude that is “hush-hush.” Jones’ concerns are hers. They represent years of what she perceives as ETHNICITY | Page 4
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Academic Lab teacher Keshila Jones (above) is one of just two of 499 teachers in RJUHSD who identify as African-American. She said she has experienced feelings of isolation and prejudice in the district, which hosts a 40-percent-non-white student body and a 9.5-percent-non-white faculty.
ONE TEAM TRIUMPHS – ANOTHER FALLS The end
of class rank?
Year with EOS to bring 650+ new students to program in ‘15-16
District leaders weigh overturn of system
BY SEIÉNNA PAPINI
a.smith@eyeofthetigernews.com
BY ANDREW SMITH
s.papini@eyeofthetigernews.com
After working with Equal Opportunity Schools for the past year, Roseville Joint Union High School District has met its goal of closing or nearly closing all of the gaps in equity of representation of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds in AP and IB courses. The gaps at Antelope, Oakmont and “Many Granite Bay are com- schools are pletely closed, and the reluctant gaps at Roseville and to improve. Woodcreek are nearly RJUHSD is closed. RJUHSD, not.” with the aid of EOS – Partnership accomplished this by director Eddie encouraging more Lincoln than 650 students districtwide to join AP and IB programs. Meeting these goals allowed both EOS and the district to reflect on how they were able to get where they are right now, as well as how to move forward. Partnership director between EOS and RJUHSD, Eddie Lincoln, has remarked on what an excellent job the district has done in attempting to meet the goals set a year ago. “The last four years, San Jose’s high school school district has been the model of this work, and now we talk about Roseville in the same level every single day as we talk about San Jose [Unified],” Lincoln said in the Board of Trustees meeting on May 12. “For us, [the district] has been a model partnership.” Lincoln also pointed out why he thinks RJUHSD was able to meet their goals so quickly. He said, in EOS’ experience, most school districts are scared to have an outside group come in to their own environment and tell them what they’re doing wrong, but RJUHSD, and Roseville High School especially, was not ashamed or embarrassed and instead embraced the opportunity to correct their faults and shortcomings in the education they provide. “Many schools are reluctant to improve,” Lincoln said. “RJUHSD is not.” GAPS | Page 2
BASEBALL CAPTURES SECTION TITLE; VOLLEYBALL OH SO CLOSE AGAINST WHITNEY RHS’ two remaining playoff teams both completed their sectiontitle runs within the last week. Last Thursday, the varsity boys volleyball team battled the Whitney Wildcats to five games but ultimately lost the fifth by a score of 17-15. Yesterday, the varsity baseball team captured its second section title in four years after ace pitcher Adam Erickson (top) pitched a seven-inning shutout and carried the team to a 1-0 victory over the Vanden Vikings. Stories Page 13.
How to get ahead – without falling behind Balancing needs for tech, maintenance BY MIKAYLA STEARNS
m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
The small gym (above) is one of the facilities RJUHSD leaders are worried about abandoning as they look to push money into tech.
The Roseville Joint Union High School District board of trustees is currently discussing how to balance funds between both maintaining its facilities and updating classroom technology. The board held a meeting deliberating the district’s budget on May 12, partially in response to California governor Jerry Brown’s proposal back
in January for a new budget that seeks $6 billion for K-12 schools and community colleges. During the meeting, the board discussed the possibility of each student receiving their own device in the future and the potential cost associated with such a move. At the same time, they also recognized the need to invest in maintaining facilities and infrastructure. According to Roseville High School site technology coordinator Mike Purvines, finding BALANCE | Page 3
The Roseville Joint Union High School District is considering a move that would abolish the class rank system currently in place at its five comprehensive schools. The district has not yet made any final decisions and is still researching THE DETAILS its options. Any Would earliest change would affect C/O 2017 start with the Leaders believe Class of 2017, at change would ease the earliest. pressure, provide equity Those who support the move Val/sal system claim the current would remain in place system doesn’t allow for equity across the district. For instance, a senior in the Granite Bay High School Class of 2015 with a 4.0 weighted GPA would currently rank 129th in the class, whereas a senior with the same GPA at Roseville High School would sit at 58th. RANK | Page 2
Admin to push LCAP support
Communication, expansion priorities of second year BY RACHEL BARBER
r.barber@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School administration is planning to continue the services for disadvantaged students it extended this school year, improve communication about those services and explore the implementation of new programs next year using funds from the second year of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Roseville Joint Union High School District leaders recently completed an outline for the district’s next three years of Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) funds extending from the LCAP | Page 3
INSIDE: Upcoming Events....2 | News....2-4 | Español....5 | Ad....6 | Features....7-8 | Opinion....9-10 | Entertainment....11-12 | Sports....13-14 | Read more at eyeofthetigernews.com.
page 2 | news
may 26, 2015
Eye of the Tiger ROSEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 1 TIGER WAY ROSEVILLE, CA 95678 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robbie Short NEWS EDITOR Isabel Fajardo FEATURES EDITOR Marian Abdelmalek OPINION EDITOR Olivia Hillman ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Marc Chappelle SPORTS EDITOR Nick Espino Daniel Ryan COPY EDITOR Rachel Barber Mikayla Stearns ONLINE EDITOR Awfa Al-Rakabi Marc Chappelle ESPAñOL EDITOR Elizabeth Morin BUSINESS MANAGER Grant Esparza FACULTY ADVISER Bobby Ritter
STAFF WRITERS Ryan Andrada Logan Ash Catherine Barber Amran Bisla Chase Blatnick Matt Brackmann Joslyn Carrell Marina Efstathiu Adam Erickson Luz Flores Haley Guardino Eve Hill George Hughes Michelle Im Brad James Delphine Kyubwa Lauren Leal Max Modeste Sophia Mogannam Devin Orr Netzy Ortega Seiénna Papini Carlie Reader Cesar Sanchez Nick Sapp Haylee Sex Andrew Smith Arturo Sotomayor Madie Whalen CONTRIBUTING CARTOONIST Catherine Barber
The mission of Eye of the Tiger, a news-gathering organization run by Roseville High School students, is to inform, entertain and serve as a public forum for student expression. We will accomplish our goals by reporting unbiased news while offering student perspectives in our columns and editorials. This includes, but is not limited to, prominent issues, changes and events that have an impact on the students and communities of Roseville High School. We will strive to report with depth, accuracy and timeliness. It is not our goal to evoke controversy or sensationalize issues. We do not push moral values or political agendas. Views expressed in the opinion and entertainment sections, columns and letters-to-the-editor are those of the individual author, and do not necessarily belong to Eye of the Tiger staff, this publication or Roseville High School. All letters-to-the-editor must be signed and are subject to review by the editorial board before inclusion in the newspaper. We reserve the right to edit submitted work as needed for space limitations and content. Nonattributed editorials reflect the opinion of the staff and must be approved by the entire editorial board.
Comments? Criticism? Story idea? We want to hear it. Write to us at info@eyeofthetigernews.com
RACHEL BARBER EYE OF THE TIGER
RHS principal David Byrd said the school would continue to recognize a valedictorian – as it did senior Beth Morin (above) this year – and salutatorian if RJUHSD ends up moving forward with a proposal it’s considering that would do away with class rank and put the district on a decile system.
RANK: Leaders on board, but now exploring effect on admissions CONTINUED FROM FRONT
Other district leaders are concerned about the pressure they believe the ranking system places on high-achieving students, which they said discourages them from pursuing their own interests – whether they be taking certain AP courses but not other or participating in other electives – for the sake of being able to stack up to their peers. Concerns regarding class rank were first brought to the district during a board of trustees meeting April 15. During the meeting’s public comment portion, Annina Hanlon, a senior at GBHS and valedictorian of the school’s Class of 2015, argued that the system isn’t fair to students on both ends of the achievement spectrum and fails to accurately reflect student ability. RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson agreed, and believed that students should take what is right for them. “For the average kid taking a few AP classes, I would feel better if they didn’t feel compelled to take four or five when really to fit the rest of their life two to three made sense because they wanted to get to 21st in the class,” Severson said. According to Severson, the debate over class rank is still in progress and nothing has been set in stone. To begin their decisions, the district contacted counselors at each site and got their opinions. Different sites and individuals each expressed various views suggesting to rid of class rank altogether, keep the system the way it is or put in a decile system which would tell students what percentage in the class they fall. According to RHS principal David Byrd, RHS is generally on board with the elimination of class rank. “We are leaning towards getting rid of class rank,” Byrd said. “We feel like there are some good arguments being made and we are questioning how important is it.”
Byrd also added that he thinks that the schools in the district would still have access to the rank internally should they need to send it to colleges. Severson said the district’s main priority is not hurting students chances of getting into colleges. He said he and his staff will make their decision based whether or not they are able to ensure that. “What we don’t want to do is anything that is going to harm kids, so if dropping you know ranking is going to cause harm to kids and their ability to get money or anything like that than we will probably do nothing with it,” Severson said. “If there is no harm than whether we go to a decile or eliminate it altogether, we will rely on the best advice from the [counselors] that are helping our kids.” Hanlon, who first brought it up to the district, believes the ranking system is inaccurate in measuring a student’s capability. “It’s not an accurate way of comparing students and it’s not something that should be on transcripts that are distributed to colleges because it doesn’t reflect how great these students are in comparison to their peers at other schools,” Hanlon said. Hanlon investigated how colleges see class rank and prompted the district to expand the search. The district reached out to more than 38 colleges seeing if they take it into account, and Severson says that so far they have not found any colleges set so that they require it for students to attend. According to an article by the College Board, more than half of high schools no longer report class rank. The district has also interviewed a number of high schools in California with the class rank system in RJUHSD, without class rank at all, and some using the decile system. Supporters of the current class rank system feel like it motivates students to perform well and challenge themselves. RHS Junior Kevin Carlson is one of them and
feels like healthy competition is important and if it were gone there would be less motivation to get a higher GPA. “Without class rank, there is no sort of competition, and I think it actually motivates people to work harder, take more AP’s or challenge themselves,” Carlson said. Carlson also believes that just having a basic understanding of where you rank, regardless of if colleges use it or not, is useful. “Even if colleges didn’t take class rank into consideration, and some don’t, I would still like to have the class rank there, and kind of have a general idea of where I am among my classmates,” Carlson said. There were additional concerns that not having class rank would leave students in the dark, and uneasy about not knowing where they stack up in their class. Some feared this could be potentially more troubling if the district decided to keep the valedictorian/ salutatorian program in place as students would not totally be sure if they are in the running for val/ sal positions. Despite this, Byrd still supports keeping the valedictorian and salutatorian titles, and believes students will still try to push themselves regardless of class rank. “I do think there is some value in that, obviously that would be telling us who the number one and two students are, and again I think those students are always going to be pushing themselves to do the best they can,” Byrd said. However, Byrd also feels students may be missing out on getting real world experience by loading up on APs to boost GPA. “I do think there is a whole other side to going to school here for four years, that you should be pushing yourself towards, and that’s becoming a well rounded student and a well rounded student and citizen,” Byrd said. “Those things don’t always show up in GPA and class rank all the time, but those things are healthy.”
POWDER PUFF
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
After advancing through the first round of Powder Puff competition last Thursday, the senior and sophomore teams competed in the championship bout Friday evening on Hanson Field at 7:30 p.m. The sophomores ultimately reigned as champions after beating the seniors in a 22-0 blow-out.
CORRECTIONS
In our May 11 issue, we incorrectly identified Delaney Strong as a junior. She is actually a sophomore. Eye of the Tiger regrets the error.
GAPS: Sites to employ various strategies to support new students CONTINUED FROM FRONT
RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson is excited about the gaps being closed and agrees that admitting that there actually are shortcomings and faults is a huge first step – one that takes a lot of courage. Severson believes that RJUHSD truly let the data speak for itself in order to take correct actions to fix the problems shown through doing so. He also believes that one of the most valuable pieces of information supplied by the surveys that were administered last year is finding out who the trusted were on campus, according to the students themselves. Lincoln also says he saw a lot of leadership and efficiency in chain-of-command in all of the schools in RJUHSD. He took notice in the fact that Severson was able to take constructive criticism and relay it down to the principals in the RJUHSD, who then implemented the steps needed to be taken in their schools and in their teachers and students. Both Lincoln and Severson agree that one of the biggest, and perhaps, the most important thing that sets RJUHSD apart from any other school district that EOS has worked with is that they have a vision of what they want to be and where they want to go. As far as where that is, Severson said the district plans to focus on building the improvements it’s made into its schools to comprehensively change the way they educate students. This will include implementing programs that will support the nearly 650 students and many teachers who will be new to the rigor of AP and IB classes and may need help adjusting RJUHSD has officially set aside $60,000 of the Local Control and Accountability Plan spending to support the partnership between EOS and the district over the next three years and in the next year, the LCAP plan says that the RJUHSD will use the $20,000 for 2015-16 to “hire the services of Equal Opportunity Schools to continue supporting and surveying future AP students in order to recruit target students to the AP and IB programs.” Both Severson and RHS principal David Byrd agree that closing the gaps is not nearly enough. “We don’t want to merely
SUPPORT PROGRAMS UNDER CONSIDERATION Study groups Early-intervention system Student-teacher sessions Peer tutoring Survey intervention Summer programs
close the gap and let our students ‘sink,’” Byrd said. “We want them to swim.” Lincoln says that some ideal programs that EOS recommends to the schools they work with include one-on-one sessions between teachers and students, peertutoring and summer programs. However, because all students, and consequently, all schools differ in what kind of programs will work for them, Severson has proposed some new ideas for these new students. Some of the things that Severson suggests are AP boot camps before school starts in the fall, formalized study groups, survey intervention and an earlyintervention system for students who may be at risk at falling behind. Above all, however, Lincoln puts emphasis on the importance of being able to identify and nourish the “growth mindset” in students, which include importance qualities essential to success, including determination, leadership and responsibility. According to Lincoln this “growth mindset” is essential to success in AP and IB programs, within teachers and students, and RJUHSD’s main goal is to encourage this “growth mindset,” as he said it should be. On the logistical side of things, Severson recognizes that because RJUHSD has such a large influx of student coming into AP and IB courses next year, the district will need to start training teachers that are interested in teaching AP and IB courses, hiring more AP/ IB teachers and purchasing more AP/IB books and materials. Severson also hopes to visit San Jose and observe some of the programs and techniques they utilize. Over the next three years, RJUHSD will continue to work with EOS, with the goal of becoming a better, more equitable school district ‒ not just in numbers, but in success. “Our main goal is to create a culture of success,” Severson said.
news | page 3
may 26, 2015
BALANCE: Board to focus on upkeep, rather than investment CONTINUED FROM FRONT
a balance when budgeting for technology and also campus upkeep is ideal, rather than placing more importance on one or the other. “You can’t do all facilities and ignore tech, just as you can’t do all tech and ignore facilities,” Purvines said. “There has to be a balance. Both are needed and there is a limited amount of money out there and so they have to allocate as best they see fit to make it work.” According to RJUHSD assistant superintendent of business services Gary Stevens, the varying ages of RJUHSD campuses (ranging from seven years old at Antelope to over 100 years old at Roseville), along with the size of campuses, increases the rate of needing to maintain facilities, he said. “The reality is that we have over one million plus square feet of facilities under roof,” Gary Stevens said. “The facilities at Roseville are not 100 years old, there has been modernization and new buildings put in on that campus, but we’ve got this huge wide range of age to deal with.” To highlight the need for maintenance, RHS may host a board meeting in the near future to give board members a first-hand look at some of the oldest facilities in the district. “The main reason is to allow the board to walk through the different kind of things that can occur on a campus,” Gary Stevens said. “We chose Roseville because it’s the oldest campus and it probably has more elements that would illustrate the types of things that
need to be repaired.” Sophomore Crystal Wells’ experience reinforces the idea that RHS’ facilities need to continue to be maintained. “It’s always like wet and damp in the girls locker room, especially when the class is swimming,” Wells said. “It gets really hot, there has been rats in there and a ton of bugs and everything. It’s definitely not great or clean at all.” Physical Education teacher Melissa Stevens finds that the small gym, as well as the girls locker room, is problematic when teaching. “The locker room is just outdated and it could definitely be updated,” Melissa Stevens said. “And I know, that for the small gym, same thing. It’s just not a very efficient teaching facility with the sound, the air ventilation, everything.” Still, according Gary Stevens, the district facilities are not currently in a desperate state of disrepair and already has an approximate budget of around $1.2 million for “synthetic grass fields, all-weather tracks and general maintenance throughout the school.” “We, generally speaking, and especially comparing to other districts that have a similar demographic, have facilities that are in good repair,” Gary Stevens said. “You get to a certain point and you start having to fix things and repair things.” Along with looking to repair any deteriorating facilities, the board is also constantly looking to update the technology available to students. The integration of mobile devices, such as the
Chromebooks at RHS, and use of the Internet in curriculum will continue into the future as both technology and education progress together. “Technology is really looked at as being an accelerator of learning,” Gary Stevens said. “What we’re finding in this day and age is that we want to incorporate technology into our curriculum in the greatest extent that we can. The expansion of technology, especially when we start talking about 1:1, is to provide a more equitable use of technology and availability of technology to all of our students.” The board hopes to eventually be able to fund a 1:1 student/staff to device ratio. “Right now we have the Chromecarts on a checkout basis and they don’t get used necessarily as effectively as if every students had a device every day – [for that] I would alter my classroom and the way I would run it, versus dealing with our checkout sort of system,” Purvines said. “And yet, there’s also the needs of the staff to consider and we don’t have enough money to do 1:1 at this point.” Though a 1:1 ratio would offer a change in curriculum, it should be approached cautiously, says Purvines. “I think we have a lot of people that are using technology because it’s technology, not because it’s making things better, or it’s increased student engagement, learning or understanding,” Purvines said. “I would like to see technology more integrated into learning rather than forced into it.” Ideally for the 1:1 device ratio,
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Because the RJUHSD board of trustees believes RJUHSD’s facilities are not in unusable conditions, their plan is to focus more on providing, like a Chromebook, to each student and staff member, rather than investing majorly in modernizing aging facilities. RJUHSD instructional technology coordinator Marie Criste (above) is a champion of this type of policy. the device would belong to the student for all four years of their high school career, according to Gary Stevens. “Our vision would be to provide a Chromebook for every student, to say, in the freshmen class,” Stevens said. “The students would then keep those Chromebooks, that would be their Chromebook, so to speak, for four years. The next year we would have a new freshmen class, so at that point and time we would be providing a new mobile device.” Sustainability for a long-term investment in classroom devices is one of the qualities most considered by the board when discussing balancing the budget. “You can’t just purchase now with the idea that the items will
last all four years, but everything’s gone and you don’t have any pennies to sustain that into the future,” Gary Stevens said. “We have to make sure that we not only purchase wisely to begin with, but that we have a plan and a mechanism in place where in future years will allow us to replace and provide items and devices for future students.” According to Purvines, money earmarked for technology cannot be solely dedicated to establishing a 1:1 ratio, as the current allotted tech budget at RHS is often not enough to sustain the current technology. “The budget that I get for technology on this campus isn’t even enough to support what we have already, but, I get it because
there’s always money that needs to go to other things,” Purvines said. There exists a possibility that RJUHSD will instate another bond to fund the upkeep of facilities and tech, funded primarily by voter-supported financing, alongside the bond for the developing sixth high school in the district that has already been implemented. The board has hired a bond surveying firm to help scout out the likelihood of voter support. “That’s the type of thing that is critically needed to determine what kind of course we can take and the like,” Gary Stevens said. “We’re going through this process to help us make a viable decision as to what to do next.”
LCAP: ‘The ultimate goal is to improve student achievement’ CONTINUED FROM FRONT
LCFF. Passed into law by Governor Jerry Brown last year, the LCFF provides public school districts in California with the financial support they need to support underprivileged students at their sites. Some of RJUHSD’s main goals are to start doing more home visits to underprivileged families, to pay for all sophomores to take the PSAT free of charge, to explore the possibility of dual enrollment courses (which would let students earn high school and college credit at the same time) and to set aside more money for college visits. The district hopes home and college visits will inspire students to be more involved at school and
more invested in their futures beyond graduation. Dual enrollment classes would be taught by teachers already within the district with master’s degrees. These courses would be every day and would take up one class in a student’s schedule. According to RJUHSD executive director of curriculum and instruction Suzanne Laughrea, the district wants the PSAT offered to sophomores in order to help them prepare for their future. To get ideas for new programs and feedback on those already existing, RJUHSD sent numerous surveys out as a Google Form. District staff also met with school site council and handed out paper surveys. With these combined efforts,
RJUHSD was able to obtain over 900 responses to their questions from teachers, parents, students and staff members. “We’ve got a ton of input over the course of the last year, on all sites,” Laughrea said. From there, the district took the compilation of survey answers and decided what the majority of people would like to see LCAP funds spent on. “A big group of a us got into a room, where we had two big whiteboards,” Laughrea said. “We had to synthesize that information and say, ‘What did we see that kept coming up again and again?’” RJUHSD is also heavily focusing on communication. According to Laughrea, they have been exploring the idea of a communi-
cations coordinator, making sure that all announcements are available in multiple languages and administrators are using social media to keep families informed. Within the district, they will also try to make sure that all counselors and teachers are constantly well-informed as well. The eight schools in the district will be given some discretionary funding to support individual students at their own campus or site. “They’re giving us more money this year than they did last year, since we still have the same amount of money, plus some, what we’re going to do is keep the same services that we’ve had and then decide what we’re going to add,” RHS principal David Byrd said. According to intervention
counselor and English learning coordinator Nancy Munoz, RHS’ LCAP funds will be used to focus on English Learning, low-income and foster students. “Part of LCAP is to help close the achievement gap, especially for sub-groups,” Munoz said. To do so, RHS would like to expand professional development for teachers, programs like Tiger Tutoring and after school services. Byrd would like to focus on students with problems outside of school, so that they may perform better academically. “We want to help them get through that, so they can focus on school,” Byrd said. Current RHS teacher AnnaMarie Clark will be the school’s AP coordinator starting this
fall so that she can concentrate more time with students. “She’s going to have two additional release periods, where she’s not teaching in the classroom,” Byrd said. “We’re gonna give her time to focus on improving our AP programs, and our support for kids.” Although RHS has not made concrete decisions about any other ways to spend the LCAP money, all schools in the district share a common objective. “The ultimate goal is to improve student achievement across the board: We want all kids moving up,” Laughrea said. “Probably all the kids who’ve been under the radar the most. You want to guarantee that every student has skills that they can take with them when they graduate.”
wished they had been aware of the threat as soon as possible. “I don’t think a lockdown was necessary if they thought they had the situation under control,” freshman Claire Oretly said. “But the public deserves to know, it should have at least been brought to people’s attention.”
one less class period, and continue to teach PE and Recreation Administration. Dodds hopes to make the transition to AD smoothly. “[My] current goals are to make the transition as easy as possible for the athletes and programs,” Dodds said. “The transition is gradual. I’m stepping in to take over events/items that relate to next school year.” Dodds looks to preserve Roseville High School traditions and continue to adapt to RHS athletics being in Capital Valley Conference. “Next year, I plan on continuing with things set in motion last year, for example the Hall of Fame, and sharing our athletes across programs,” Dodds said. “RHS has plenty of traditions, but we need to build on these traditions. Our first year in the CVC has brought us a lot of success through hard work and I would love to see that continue along with getting more students out to the games to support our teams.”
THENEWSINBRIEFS
POWELL TO LEAVE
RHS opts out of lockdown during bomb threat
FILE PHOTO ROBBIE SHORT
Longtime teacher Paige Powell is leaving after 18 years at Roseville High School. Starting next year, Powell will be an assistant principal at Pioneer High School in Woodland. Powell applied for the position several weeks ago and was offered the job the next day. Powell taught every level of English except AP Lit and English 10 Lab and was School Site Council president and WASC coordinator this year. “[Leaving] make me really sad,” she said. “I love RHS. I sent out an email to staff [Friday] and said, ‘For 18 years, this has been like my second home, and staff’s been like my second family.’”
Last Wednesday morning, the Roseville Police Department and SWAT team responded to a bomb threat posed by local business owner Collin John Box. After Box was accused of threatening to kill several police officers and bomb several Roseville locations, including Roseville High School, RPD issued a warrant for Box’s arrest. According to police, Box claimed in calls to officers that he had access to explosives. Later that day, they took Box into custody. RHS decided not to implement a lockdown on campus. “We did not want to do a lockdown because we didn’t feel the threat was that imminent,” RHS’ youth service officer Carlos Cortes said. “We knew he wasn’t anywhere near the vicinity, but we still posted up officers around the high school, and officers were waiting in the [nearby] neighborhoods.” Some students felt that they were left out of the loop and
Dodds to assume position as athletic director Physical Education teacher Emily Dodds will serve as Roseville High School’s athletic director next year. She will assume the role that varsity football coach Larry Cunha served in an interim capacity after former AD Jaime Bunch’s departure this fall. Dodds found out about her new position a couple days after she went through the interview process. “I’m ecstatic to be the new AD,” Dodds said. “It has always been a job that I saw myself at one point doing since I was in high school.” With her new AD responsibilities, next year Dodds will teach
- Compiled by Rachel Barber and Mikayla Stearns
news | page 4
may 26, 2015
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE
FILE PHOTO ROBBIE SHORT
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
From left to right: GBHS assistant principal Sybil Healy believes RJUHSD leadership fails to adequately address issues of diversity and discrimination, a problem she sees as the root of a “de facto” racism she believes pervades the district. RHS math teacher Miguel Quinonez thinks students of color need role models at school who come from the same background they do. RHS sophomore Billie Minnard, who recently transferred from a diverse community in Louisiana, sometimes has difficulty relating to her white teachers and would like to see RHS’ staff reflect a level of diversity on par with its student body’s.
ETHNICITY: Effects of gap go beyond demographics CONTINUED FROM FRONT
racism and a lack of administrative concern. But other staff in the district – both nonwhite and white, teachers and administrators – find the 30-percent gap between RJUHSD’s student and staff diversity levels alarming. A lack of staff diversity isn’t unique to RJUHSD – in 2014, just 18 percent of US public school teachers were nonwhite (compared to 42 percent of public school students), according to the National Education Association – but the situation in the district is such that RJUHSD would need to have 151 more teachers of color on the payroll for the diversity of its staff to accurately reflect that of its student body. The story behind the numbers According to several district and Roseville High School staff members, many factors – including a perceived lack of diversity in the applicant pool, a generational lag, the difficulty of attracting minority teachers to a majoritywhite district and a self-fulfilling prophecy that keeps people of color from getting into teaching in the first place – play into the gaps RJUHSD’s schools currently see in the diversity levels of their students and staff. RJUHSD has not collected data about applicants’ ethnicity since at least 1996, when the California electorate passed Prop 209, which effectively outlawed affirmative action within the state’s public institutions. The district’s board of trustees still has a policy on the books, but it’s been defunct since 209 passed. Steve Williams, RJUHSD assistant superintendent of personnel, said the district administration plans to remove it when it cleans up RJUHSD’s board policies over the summer. Williams, who is responsible for directing the district’s hiring process, admitted he “[doesn’t] have all the answers,” and, lacking applicant ethnicity data, neither he nor RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson would do more than point to the applicant pool as a potential source of low staff diversity. But the credentialing programs at two of RJUHSD’s main feeder colleges, CSU Sacramento and CSU Chico, both reported recent minority student enrollments well above the district’s employment rate of approximately 9.5 percent. Over the five-year period between 2009-10 and 2013-14, approximately 26.5 percent of the students in Chico’s credential program identified as people of color, and just 38.8 percent of Sacramento’s program in 2012 identified exclusively as white. RHS principal David Byrd believes a phenomenon he refers to as a “generational lag” is responsible for that discrepancy. “If California was a more white state 20 years ago and at that time you have a bunch of people go into teaching, they’re still teaching,” Byrd said. “And so they’re 20 years into that job and we have a workforce that – maybe, every year, with some people retiring and some people coming into this profession – will shift to eventually mirror the current
demographics, but I think it takes almost a generation before, just demographically, mathematically, statistically, those shifts catch up to each other.” However, Byrd also referenced a “sea change” washing toward education, largely as a result of the baby boomer generation retiring, that he thinks may signal that now is the time for change. There are currently 34 staff members in the district who began their careers in RJUHSD before 1990 – nine of whom work at least parttime at RHS. “There’s gonna be these opportunities and openings,” Byrd said. “The question is always going to be, do you have the applicant pool – do you have the people who are coming to you – who maybe match the demographics a little bit?” Credentialing schools aside, another reason Byrd – and RHS math teacher Miguel Quinonez, who is one of 37 Hispanic teachers in the district, who collectively comprise about 7.4 percent of the total teaching force (RJUHSD’s student body is nearly 17.8 percent Hispanic) – gave as to why those people may not be coming to us is one of preference: They may rather work in a district with a student body even more diverse than RJUHSD’s. Byrd experienced this firsthand at his former site, Monterey Trail High School, which last year – his last as its principal – hosted a student body that was just 5.8 percent white (albeit, he admits, also a nearly 60-percent-white faculty). “When you work in that environment, I think I did detect that we were more likely to get applicants who matched that [level of diversity],” Byrd said. “We attracted African-American candidates because they knew they wanted to work with the African-American community. They had expertise in that area. And so sometimes your school’s demographics might be attracting similar demographic pools for that reason.” Quinonez also said that the current and historical lack of nonwhite teachers in both RJUHSD and education in general may have contributed to the current lack of diversity through the cycle of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If minority students don’t see minority teachers as role models, he said, it’s not as likely they’ll go on to become teachers after they graduate. “Kids that are very motivated to do well, they’re envisioning the future where they’re gonna be – and this is why they’ll do well in school,” Quinonez said. “For you to envision yourself, you have to pick a role model – whether it’s real, or a superhero, or some movie you saw. It’s all deep in our subconscious, where we can see ourselves. So, for minority kids who aren’t doing well here, they’re not envisioning themselves. Sure, there’s one math teacher who’s a minority. Sure. I’ll buy that. But, for them to really envision it, they have to really buy it.” Though RHS sophomore Billie Minnard – who identifies as African-American and “noticed the lack of diversity [among
RHS’ teaching staff] right away” after moving to Roseville from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in August – doesn’t see herself going into teaching, she agrees with Quinonez in that it can be hard for minority students like her to always relate to white teachers. “It would be hard to explain,” Minnard said. “It would be difficult for me to get them to see what it is I see … I mean, you have the n-word being dropped like nothing. That’s irritating. I hate it when– I just hate it.” The effect of the numbers: “De facto” racism? According to Jones and other minority staff members who feel isolated because of RJUHSD’s faculty’s lack of diversity, the issue goes beyond a demographic one. GBHS assistant principal Sybil Healy, who is RJUHSD’s only black administrator, claims RJUHSD fails to adequately discuss diversity – about which she said district staff, particularly district leadership, is “fairly ignorant” – and that that contributes to a kind of “de facto” racism. “When you ignore and don’t do anything, then it becomes a habit – it becomes a tradition – so then it becomes, in fact, a racist practice or a prejudicial or stereotypical practice,” she said. “Because nothing happens.” Like Jones, Healy – who began her career in RJUHSD when she was the only non-district teacher hired to help open GBHS in 1996 – said her attempts to open a dialogue on the gap between the district’s student and staff diversity levels have been met with silence and a lack of action. She questioned the effectiveness of the cultural competency training RJUHSD recently put its administrative and counseling staff through (which she admits she did not attend) and said the mindset and preferred practice of RJUHSD leaders is most often one of choosing to not engage. “Training is okay, but training doesn’t encourage to embrace or make changes,” Healy said. “Training is that, okay, so, if anyone asks, we’ve done due diligence. That’s the difference. So there’s that mindset where, yes, let’s say we did it, and there’s a true mindset of embracing and understanding and really accepting diversity – as opposed to, ‘Yeah, let’s check it off our list. We got everyone training, so let’s move on to the next thing’ – which is kind of our district’s mindset.” Jones agreed with that assessment. “If you’re a racist, you’re a racist,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter what type of training you go through.” Jones’ experiences with racism in RJUHSD – which have mostly come about during interactions with other staff members, including an occasion last year when a district assistant principal made “a suggestive comment that black students are dumb” – have made her feel that district leaders only address diversity and racism issues “if they’re made to do something.” “They apologized, if you want to call it an apology,” Jones said,
referring to the assistant principal. “They apologized for me hearing that statement. It wasn’t necessarily that they made it. I think they felt comfortable making that statement because they obviously made statements like that before around other people. So I think it just came out, and them not realizing that, you know… So, basically, nothing happened.” Though Healy said she has not experienced the kind of discrimination Jones has, she feels the district’s lack of action contributes to something that approaches narrow-mindedness. “If you don’t engage and have people from different backgrounds on your staff, then you become very narrow-minded,” Healy said. “It’s by default.” Both Jones and Healy pointed to an incident that occurred at Oakmont High School in November of this school year as an example of this narrow-mindedness. On Nov. 24, Roseville Police Department officers received a call that someone had sprinkled cotton balls on the lawn of a black Oakmont student, according to the Roseville Press Tribune. After an RPD and Oakmont investigation, the officers eventually identified 13 Oakmont students as responsible for the vandalism. FOX40 reported this month that text messages between some of the students responsible included the phrase that it is a “good day when you put [n-words] back in their place.” Jennifer Kawatu, the mother of two Oakmont juniors who are biracial – Kawatu is white; her husband is black – and a close friend of the family whose son was targeted, raised concerns about an apparent lack of action on Oakmont’s part at a Feb. 24 meeting of the RJUHSD board of trustees. According to Kawatu – and Nyoki Sacramento, whom FOX40 identified as the mother of the victim – the school didn’t take any action to discipline the students besides giving them the opportunity to apologize, which Kawatu said only three of 13 did. That, Kawatu said, was a mistake, especially in light of other issues she believes Oakmont has had with a lack of understanding. She and her family moved to Roseville from Rhode Island before her sons started their freshman year, and she said that, “when they moved here, they were confronted on a very regular basis.” “Over time, the stories they came home with became more and more concerning to me,” Kawatu said. “Being called the n-word. Just ignorant comments made, like, ‘Wow, you’re really smart. You’re the smartest black guy I know,’ or, ‘You’re not really black, because you act so white,’ or, ‘How come you’re not good at basketball? You’re black.’” Comments like these eventually drove Kawatu to meet with Oakmont principal Rob Hasty in spring 2014. She said she called the meeting to “express her concerns,” but that Hasty didn’t seem to take them seriously. She said this became especially frustrating after the cotton ball incident, which she believes the district didn’t do enough to respond to. “I think it was a perfect ex-
ample of privilege, where these students were given the benefit of the doubt,” Kawatu said. “They kept telling us that ‘these students are good kids. These are really good kids. They must not have meant anything harmful by it. They couldn’t have said those racist things that students are telling us were said’ … They were very hesitant. And I think that was a big mistake, because … I don’t think a clear enough message was sent at that point.” According to Williams, since the incident in November, Oakmont High School has taken, among others, the following actions to improve the level of cultural sensitivity among students and staff: placing cultural sensitivity goals into its WASC plan; meeting with leadership teams like Student Government and School Site Council to discuss issues of cultural sensitivity; encouraging its English Learners to put on the program’s first ever Cultural Encounter Night; developing two videos encouraging acceptance and clarifying school expectations; establishing a Cultural Club that includes parents, students and teachers; holding schoolwide assemblies to establish expectations of school culture; and reviewing schoolwide curriculum to assess the cultural diversity of literature and history courses. Williams noted that this list is “living” – as the school reassesses its campus culture, the list will change “as new pieces are included.” He and Severson both disagreed with the idea that the district leadership doesn’t pay enough attention to issues of diversity and discrimination, pointing to the steps taken at Oakmont and in the district at large as evidence of that. For instance, Severson referenced the cultural sensitivity training – delivered by consultant Curtis Acosta – as a way for the district to train “everybody to be more understanding, knowledgeable, educated and sensitive to the fact that not everybody grew up the way you did, and what [students] celebrate and what they value” can be different from what administrators value. He rejects the notion that it was done to “check a box.” He also said that many administrative practices – “from [the] Federal Program Monitoring reviews” the district annually conducts of its EL program to “the ways we break down and discuss data” – show that district leadership is very committed to keeping ethnic diversity issues “regular points of discussion at the district office and at the sites.” He also pointed out that diversity issues comprise an “area of focus” in the district’s EL master plan and Local Control Accountability Plan. “There’s not gigantic differences, but there are differences in cultures, and if you’re gonna teach kids and lead them, you need to really grow those skills … I think it’s valuable to have experiences that are diverse with people that think and act and look differently than you do,” Severson said. Byrd also argued that establishing a level of mutual understanding is a process that can transcend ethnic definitions, especially in
the case of white teachers who can relate to students on a level of socioeconomic similarity. He believes the district works hard to accomplish that. “I do think that, when you get the people, supersedes the whole argument of, ‘I wanna find people that look like me,’” Byrd said. “The ‘look like me’ part is an initial phase of that – and I’ve talked to a lot of kids about that, and I know that’s a real thing – but, with time, there are kids who will say, ‘We look completely different, but you understand me, because I know a little something about you, and you grew up in a place similar to what I grew up in.’” Where to go from here Though Williams, Severson and Byrd all expressed concern at the idea of tying the lack of diversity in RJUHSD’s staff to one cause, they all identified expanding recruitment outreach as a potentially effective way of improving the diversity of the district applicant pool – a step Jones, Healy and Kawatu are all on board with. As the district’s head of personnel, Williams currently attends career fairs at teaching schools in the Sacramento area – like CSU Sacramento – as well as closer to the Bay Area – like CSU Sonoma. He said he may look at expanding his trips to include more diverse areas, particularly those in Southern California, and that recruitment fairs provide an opportunity for him to steer his efforts toward the district’s need for more diversity. “It’s against the law to ask somebody what your gender is and what your ethnicity is on an application, so when you’re in the room and meeting people as they come up and hand you a resume, you can very quickly make that determination,” Williams said. Quinonez said expanding the recruitment net would help the diversity on both the level of student and teacher. Even though he enjoys working at RHS, he agreed with Jones in her assessment that being one of few minority teachers can be isolating. “In all the other schools I’ve been to, I’ve always been the only Latino,” Quinonez said. “I think I’ve just kind of accepted it: Oh, this is what it is. So I think I’ve kind of embraced it. ‘Yay,’ you know. ‘I win the lottery.’ But it’s also very isolating, in a way that I haven’t really dealt with.” According to Williams, Severson and Byrd, the district’s goal is to minimize that feeling on the part of staff – as well as any feeling of discrimination or prejudice on the part of staff or students – by working with the district community to come to a sense of understanding. Kawatu said that sounds like a plan. “I want everyone to feel like we’re trying to work together – because I am,” Kawatu said. “I’m trying to work with them. I’m trying to work with them to make positive change. There’s no point in working against anyone.” See Page 10 for a personal reflection on this investigation by the reporter who conducted it.
Español
el 26 de MAYO de 2015
NOTICIAS Una falta de reflexión BY ROBBIE SHORT
r.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
Cuando Keshila Jones entre en una reunión en el Distrito Escolar de Roseville Joint Union - donde ha trabajado como profesora de Academic Lab desde el 2001, en tres sitios - que se siente “aislada”. Jones es uno de los dos maestros afroamericanos en el distrito 499-profesor. Desde que comenzó su carrera RJUHSD en Granite Bay hace 14 años, ha estado entre una compañía étnica que ha numerado única tan alto como cuatro miembros del personal titulado (y, a su conocimiento, solamente tan alto como dos profesores). Dijo que ha experimentado el racismo, presentado quejas y expresado su preocupación por la falta de diversidad de la facultad en un distrito en el que casi el 40 por ciento de los estudiantes no se identifican como blancos. Preocupaciones de Jones son de ella. Representan años de lo que ella percibe como el racismo y la falta de preocupación administrativa. Pero el resto del personal en el distrito - los profesores y los administradores no blancos y blancos, - encuentran la brecha de 30 por ciento entre los estudiantes y el personal de los niveles de diversidad de RJUHSD alarmantes. La falta de diversidad del personal no es única para RJUHSD
- en 2014, sólo el 18 por ciento de maestros de escuelas públicas de Estados Unidos no eran blancos (comparado con el 42 por ciento de los estudiantes de escuelas públicas), según la Asociación Nacional de Educación - pero la situación en el distrito es de tal manera que RJUHSD tendría que tener 151 profesores más de color en la nómina por la diversidad de su personal para reflejar con precisión al de su cuerpo estudiantil. La historia detrás de los números Según varios miembros del personal del distrito y la escuela secundaria de Roseville, muchos factores - incluyendo una supuesta falta de diversidad en el grupo de solicitantes, un desfase generacional, la dificultad de atraer profesores minoritarios a un distrito de mayoría blanca y una profecía autocumplida que mantiene a la gente del color de entrar en la enseñanza en el primer lugar - jugar en los huecos de las escuelas RJUHSD ven actualmente en los niveles de diversidad de sus estudiantes y personal. El efecto de los números: ¿Racismo “de facto?” Según Jones y otros miembros del personal de minorías que se sienten aislados por la falta de diversidad de la facultad de
RJUHSD, el problema va más allá de una demográfica. GBHS subdirector Sybil Healy, quien es administrador único negro de RJUHSD, afirma RJUHSD no discutir debidamente la diversidad - sobre la que dijo que el personal del distrito, el liderazgo en especial del distrito, es “bastante ignorante” - y que eso contribuye a una especie de racismo “de facto.” Experiencias de Jones con el racismo en RJUHSD - que tienen en su mayoría vienen alrededor durante las interacciones con otros miembros del personal, incluyendo una ocasión el año pasado cuando un asistente de distrito director hizo “un comentario sugestivo que los estudiantes negros son tontos” - han hecho de ella sólo se sienten que los líderes de distrito abordar cuestiones de diversidad y el racismo, “si están hechas para hacer algo.” Desde el incidente en noviembre cuando trece estudiantes de Oakmont espolvorearon algodón sobre el jardín delantero de un estudiante negro, la escuela secundaria de Oakmont ha adoptado, entre otras, las siguientes acciones para mejorar el nivel de sensibilidad cultural entre los estudiantes y el personal: la colocación de los objetivos de sensibilidad culturales en su plan de WASC; reunirse con los equipos de liderazgo como gobierno estudiantil y el Consejo Escolar para
discutir cuestiones de sensibilidad cultural; alentar a sus Estudiantes de inglés para poner en primera Cultural Encounter Night del programa; el desarrollo de dos videos alentadores aceptación y aclarando expectativas de la escuela; el establecimiento de un club cultural que incluye a los padres, alumnos y profesores; la celebración de asambleas escolares para establecer las expectativas de la cultura escolar; y la revisión de planes de estudio en toda la escuela para evaluar la diversidad cultural de los cursos de literatura y de historia.
Nueva línea de ropa
Los tres amigos
BY ISABEL FAJARDO
BY CATHERINE BARBER
Durante el verano, estudiante del tercer año de la escuela secundaria de Roseville Joy Valdez planea iniciar su propia línea de ropa, Organum, y donar el 50 por ciento de las ganancias a la caridad. Organum, con sede fuera de la palabra latina para “órganos”, cuenta con órganos bordadas a mano en los artículos sobre la ropa. Valdez empezó a bordar de hobby, pero se dio cuenta de que quería ayudar a otros con su talento. Debido a que el diseño bordado será un órgano específico, que espera que el dinero se destinará a una organización benéfica que ayudará a beneficiar a esos órganos. A pesar de que no tiene una organización de caridad creada en mente, ella tiene la intención de utilizar la American Cancer Society como referencia. Valdez esboza primero el órgano sobre la camisa y luego se cose a mano sobre el contorno.
Por lo general los estudiantes de secundaria deben decir adiós a sus mejores amigos cuando salen de la universidad. Sin embargo, tres mejores amigos de RHS están optando por asistir a la Universidad Estatal de Chico donde planean vivir juntos. Estudiantes del útlimo año Grant Esparza, Mike Mulligan y Sam Herron se reunieron entre sí en un entrenamiento del fútbol americano el verano antes de su primer año de la escuela secundaria. A lo largo de la duración de la escuela secundaria los chicos continuaron y ampliaron su amistad. Ahora que van a la misma universidad, que no tendrán que decir adiós a la otra. A medida que los años pasaron, los tres crecieron de conocidos a los “hermanos.” Durante su tiempo libre que les gusta pasar el rato, andar en bicicleta y tocar la guitarra, entre otras actividades. Rara vez nunca van a ir más de unos pocos días sin vernos.
A dónde ir desde aquí Aunque Williams, Severson y Byrd expresaron sus preocupaciones en la idea de vincular la falta de diversidad en el personal de RJUHSD a una causa, todos ellos identificaron ampliar el alcance de reclutamiento como una forma potencialmente efectiva de mejorar la diversidad del grupo de solicitantes de distrito - un paso Jones, Healy y Kawatu son todos a bordo con. Como jefe del distrito de personal, Williams actualmente asiste a ferias de empleo en las escuelas de enseñanza en el área de Sacramento - como CSU Sacramento - así como cerca de la zona de la bahía - como CSU Sonoma. Dijo que puede mirar a la ampliación de sus viajes para incluir más diversas áreas.
pÁgina 5
NOTICIAS
REPORTAJES Estudiante supera el cáncer BY MARIAN ABDELMALEK m.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com
Entrando en el primer año, Madison Dodson finalmente había construido una base sólida para sí misma. Vio la escuela secundaria como un nuevo comienzo, se rodeó de grandes amigos, participó en el teatro y se sentía como todo iba bien. Sin embargo, todo cambió cuando encontró un bulto en su lado. Después de ver el bulto de su lado, mostró su madre, Jill Dodson. Luego fueron a un médico y se enteró de que Dodson tendría que soportar la cirugía con el fin de realizar una biopsia de la masa. Dodson tuvo su primera cirugía el 24 de septiembre de 2014, donde una biopsia congelado resultó maligno. Dodson fue diagnosticada con sarcoma sinovial, una forma rara de cáncer que se lleva a cabo bajo la piel y por encima del músculo. Sus padres se enteraron el 28 de septiembre y se les dijo Dodson el 4 de octubre de 2014. El siguiente paso se llama para
una cirugía mayor, que tuvo lugar en octubre 24. La cirugía se llevó a cabo aproximadamente 5 pulgadas de largo y 3 pulgadas de ancho de su músculo, y la dejó con márgenes claros - que estaba libre de cáncer. Aunque estaba libre de cáncer, la cirugía la dejó con una pérdida de fuerza y el dolor. Aunque Dodson es ahora libre de cáncer, ella está experimentando problemas de salud de su radiación. Su radiación causó su músculo se inflama, que le dio una cojera, y le obliga a hacer terapia física. A pesar de las dificultades que tuvo que soportar, la familia de Dodson tenía una sorpresa para ella - ella era la que un niño de deseos para este año. La familia Make a Wish concede Dodson su deseo: un viaje a Nueva York. Dodson siente que todo lo que ella experimentó le ha dado una nueva perspectiva de la vida. Ella está más abierto a la gente, aventurera, amable y aceptar de buenas, cosas amorosas lo que era antes.
i.fajardo@eyeofthetigernews.com
c.barber@eyeofthetigernews.com
DEPORTES RECOPILADA POR EL PERSONAL DE DEPORTES DEL EYE OF THE TIGER sports@eyeofthetigernews.com
#2 Arturo Sotomayor Sotomayor compite en los eventos de atletismo de la y la milla y el 800 metros, y ha recibido una beca completa a la UCLA. Esta temporada, el mejor tiempo de Sotomayor en el evento de 800 metros era de 1:51.54, y un mejor tiempo milla de 4:13.02, los cuales son los récords escolares. Sotomayor también tiene el récord de la escuela para la prueba de relevos 4x4 con un tiempo de 3:32.01. Sotomayor está clasificado actualmente en el noveno lugar en la nación y en segundo lugar en el estado.
Keshila Jones es uno de los dos maestros afroamericanos en el distrito RJUHSD. Ella piensa que la falta de diversidad en el distrito conduce a una cultura de silencio cuando se trata de conversaciones sobre la diversidad.
REPORTAJES
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Después de vencer el cáncer, estudiante del primer año Madison Dodson sigue adelante con su vida y está lista para empezar su segundo año de la escuela secundaria con el apoyo de sus parientes y amigos.
DEPORTES
Los 10 atletas mejores de la primavera
#1 Adam Erickson Número uno es el lanzador del último año Adam Erickson que tuvo un ERA de 2.81 en su tercer año. Él recibió la distinción de primer equipo de toda la liga. Este año tuvo un ERA de 1.36. Adam asistirá la escuela de iniciación Sac City el próximo año y espera continuar su carrera de pitcheo con la esperanza de conseguir finalmente a un D1.
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
#3 Trevor Pratt Número tres es el jugador de voleibol Trevor Pratt. Pratt tuvo una temporada muy exitosa y terminó la liga juego de Capital Conferencia Valle al ser nombrado MVP de la liga. Pratt muestra la excelencia en su bloqueo. En la temporada Pratt tenía 173 bloques, que es la cuarta mejor de la nación. Él tiene 319 kills con una porcentaje de kills 0,444 de la temporada, que eran los dos máximos equipo. En su sirve tiene un 85% de tasa de servir. #4 Devin Orr Número cuatro es el jugador versátil de béisbol Devin Orr. Orr juega la posición de parador en corto junto con ser uno de los mejores relevistas de Los Tigres, a la vez que la obtención de uno de los más altos promedios de bateo del equipo sentado en 0.333 y 14 RBI. Además, Orr lleva al equipo con ocho dobles y tiene la segunda mayor cantidad de carreras anotadas con 21.
#5 TréShon Woods TréShon Woods es un atleta del equipo de atletismo. Compitió en las vallas de 110 y 300 metros. Rompió el récord de las vallas de 300 metros con un tiempo de 38.56 segundos. Él siguió adelante a los finales de la liga CVC y más tarde a los secciones. Colocó quinto en los 110 metros y segundo en los 300 metros. #6 Josh McCown Número seis es el nadador de Roseville, Josh McCown. Este año, terminó sus eventos en el primer o segundo puesto casi cada vez. Uno de los mayores aspectos más destacados de esta temporada McCown fue cuando rompió el récord de la escuela con el equipo de relevos estilo libre de 400 yardas. #7 Emily McFadyen Emily McFadyen es una mediocampista de fútbol y es el número siete de la lista. Esta temporada, marcó seis goles y tres asistencias. McFadyen asistirá a la Universidad del Sur de Virginia jugando al fútbol en la universidad en el ámbito de la División III.
#8 Megan Fereira Número ocho es Megan Fereira que hace atletismo y compite en el evento de salto con garrocha. Ella rompió el récord de la escuela del salto con garrocha. Antes de que ella empezó su carrera de atletismo ella compitió en gimnástico. Ahora, ella sostiene está clasificado en el octavo puesto en el estado por su evento. #9 Naomi Monahan Número nueve es el lanzador y bateador Naomi Monahan para el equipo de sófbol de Roseville. Monahan, quien asistirá a la Universidad de Hawai en una beca de sófbol, terminó este año fuerte en ambos lados de la pelota con un promedio de carreras limpias de 2.28, 7-5 record, promedio de bateo de .318 y cinco jonrones. #10 Chad Alves Número diez es el receptor Chad Alves. Terminó la temporada con un promedio de bateo de .333, 11 carreras impulsadas en 18 hits y 54 turnos al bate y un porcentaje de embasarse de .438 en la liga y de continuar en las post-temporadas.
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
El equipo de voleibol varsity jugó contra Whitney en el partido campeanato de la sección CIF el jueves pasado y perdieron 3-2. A pesar de eso, ellos jugarán contra Deer Valley en el campeanato CIF.
Equipo de voleibol varsity se queda corto POR CHASE BLATNICK
c.blatnick@eyeofthetigernews.com
Después de ganar partidos contra Jesuit y Granite Bay para avanzar a la sección final del jueves pasado, el equipo de voleibol de los muchachos del equipo varsity Roseville perdió por sólo dos puntos del título de la División Joaquín Sac I sección. El partido, jugado en Capital Christian en Sacramento, estaba en contra de Whitney. En el partido de campeonato
los Wildcats comenzó bien, ganando cada uno de los dos primeros sets, 25-18 y 25-19. Los Tigres regresó y tomó las siguientes dos sets, 25-19 y 25-20. Eso creó un quinto y definitivo set que se jugó a 15 para determinar la sección de campeón. En este partido, el vencedor tendría que ganar por que con el fin de reclamar el título. Al final, Whitney cerró el partido 17-15. Los Tigres jugarán contra Deer Valley hoy a las 7 de visitante.
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may 26, 2015
Features
may 26, 2015
page 7
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Freshman Madison Dodson has relied on her mother, Jill Dorning, and brother, Mason Dodson, for support as she has progressed through her recovery.
“I was like, this is a horrible situation, but this is temporary, this is a small portion of my life, this is not forever... “This was not gonna put an end to all the plans I had for myself.”
TURNING A PAGE After beating cancer, freshman Madison Dodson looks to future BY MARIAN ABDELMALEK m.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com
Entering freshman year, Madison Dodson had finally built a strong foundation for herself. She saw high school as a new start, she surrounded herself with great friends, she was involved in theater and she felt as everything was going smoothly. However, it all changed when she found a lump on her side. After seeing the lump on her side, she showed her mother, Jill Dorning. They then went to a doctor and found out that Dodson would have to endure surgery in order to biopsy the lump. Dodson had her first surgery on Sept. 24, 2014, where a frozen biopsy resulted malignant. Dodson was diagnosed with Synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that takes place under the
skin and above the muscle. Her parents found out on Sept. 28 and told Dodson on Oct. 4, 2014. “I was gonna take her to the surgeon so that the surgeon could give her all the facts,” Jill Dorning said. “She’s very much a facts girls so I waited for the surgeon so we could tell her together so Madi could have all the medical facts, so it wasn’t just an emotional response.” For the first few days after finding out, Dodson only looked forward. She did not cry or get scared, she simply wanted to know what was going to happen next. The next step called for a major surgery that took place on Oct. 24. The surgery took out approximately 5 inches long and 3 inches wide of her muscle, and
left her with clear margins – she was cancer free. Though she was cancer free, the surgery left her with a loss of strength and pain. “I felt like I had hope but I felt like this was an endless thing, like this sucks but at the same time I was like, this is a horrible situation, but this is temporary, this is a small portion of my life, this is not forever and I am going to be able to get out of this and get through this,” Dodson said. “I had to live with not being okay for a while.” While her margins were clear after the second surgery, Dodson still had to endure radiation in order to assure that her cancer was gone. Dodson started her seven week radiation treatment in San Francisco on Nov. 25. Dodson and her mother drove to SF Monday through Friday for Dodson to receive radiation, which took from 20 minutes to an hour. “It was an exhausting experience,” Dodson said. “Through my whole process, and even now I’m still kinda going through some stuff with it, I always felt very supported by my community and by my parents, especially. Like my mom and I got so close being in a car everyday for four hours together.” Though Dodson’s dad and brother drove her to radiation once or twice, Jill Dorning felt that she needed to be the one to
do it, even it was hard, she didn’t want it to be anyone else. Their days were busy, leaving them little time to cope with everything emotionally. “I felt like if I had normalcy, she would have more normalcy,” Jill Dorning said. “The times I struggled the most were at night. There were so many nights that I couldn’t sleep because I just felt like my insides were being ripped out of me and then the relief that you get when you realize they’re cancer free now.” Though Dodson is now cancer free, she is experiencing medical problems from her radiation. Her radiation caused her muscle to be inflamed which gave her a limp, and requires her to do physical therapy. “It’s not over for her,” Jill Dorning said. “Fearing you’re gonna die from cancer is probably over for her but the aftermath of having to deal with the fact that she had cancer [is still there].” Despite the hardships she endured, Dodson’s family had a surprise for her – she was a Make a Wish child for the nonprofit’s Northern California branch this year. Though she was at first reluctant to go, the family attended Make a Wish’s food and wine festival, where she would be granted her wish. The Make a Wish family granted Dodson her
wish: a trip to New York. While sitting at the event, a documentary on Dodson started, leaving her surprised. She was then brought onto stage to be granted her wish and told the things they had set up for her to do in New York. “I was really happy, I was really excited,” Dodson said. “I was kinda just like in shock, it was very overwhelming. It was a really nice thing my family did. It was a really nice experience.” Dodson wanted to go to New York because she hopes to travel when she’s older and felt that New York was the perfect place to start her traveling adventures. Throughout everything, Dodson says her family and friends were very supportive of her. Dodson’s older brother, RHS alumnus Mason Dodson, created a short western film based on when he took his sitter to radiation treatment. The film is about a brother trying to save his sister from a gunslinger, which represented the fear they all had, but in the end the sister comes and saves the brother. “The fact that I spent so long trying to protect her and there’s just something that you can’t save anyone from,” Mason Dodson said. “So her optimism and her just strength really like saved me." Even though she is still 15
years old, Jill Dorning was not surprised with how her daughter handled everything. “She’s an amazing person,” Jill Dorning said. “I feel like sometimes she's misunderstood. People either look at her and have a preconceived judgement of her but she's like the most amazing person ever. She’s so creative, she's so strong, she’s so funny like if you know her. There’s never a dull moment in the house with her. She’s just full of it all the time.” Dodson feels everything she experienced has given her a new perspective on life. She is more open to people, adventurous, kind and accepting of nice, loving things than she was before. Now, Dodson is looking towards the future. While she is still enduring reactions from the radiation, she is slowly building back the health she once had. “I’m really glad that I came out of it knowing who really loves me and that I am a genuinely loved person, it makes it so much easier to rebuild the foundation that has been burnt to the ground,” Dodson said. “I have an amazing relationship with my boyfriend, I have amazing friendships that I’ve managed to build since then, my family is fantastic. This was not gonna put an end to all the plans that I had for myself.”
Junior Joy Valdez to start clothing line to support charity by ISABEL FAJARDO
i.fajardo@eyeofthetigernews.com
COURTESY JOY VALDEZ
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Left, junior Joy Valdez embroiders organs into t-shirts for her clothing line, Organum, which she is starting up this summer. She willl give the money to charities that benefits the health of the specific organ she features in each piece.
Over the summer, Roseville High School junior Joy Valdez plans to start her own clothing line, Organum, and donate 50 percent of the profits to charity. Organum, based off the latin word for ‘organs,’ features handembroidered organs on articles on clothing. Valdez first started embroidering out of hobby, but realized she wanted to help others with her talent. “I saw an inspiration on someone’s shirt, and I thought, ‘Maybe I can embroider that onto a shirt,’” Valdez said. “I want to be a nurse, but at the same time, I want to help people in some sort of way, in a different, not medically.” Because the embroidered design will be a specific organ, she hopes that money will go toward a charity that will help benefit those organs. Though she doesn’t have a set charity in mind, she is planning to use the American Cancer Society as a baseline. “It’s an amazing organization and I definitely love how they have different selections of cancer you can donate to,” Valdez
said. “They don’t have specifics that go with what I make besides lungs. So, I’d donate to lungs and mainly cancer research.” Valdez first sketches the organ onto the shirt and then hand-sews over the outline. “I get frustrated when I mess up because when you don’t loop it one time, everything will come undone and you have to start over,” Valdez said. “It’s stressful. For my boyfriend’s shirt, I used a different style of sewing. I just did lines, and it was horrible. It took me three days.” Because Valdez traces over the outlines of the organs, she is able to familiarize herself with the organs to help her with her future medical career. “I don’t like to make cartoon stuff, I like to make it more realistic and you can learn about the creases in the lungs or what’s in the heart,” Valdez said. Initially, she had doubts about starting her own brand, but her boyfriend, junior Elijah Tucker, encouraged her to move forward with her store. “I started about halfway through last year,” Valdez said. “I had the thought of it and I felt, ‘I can’t do this.’ And then my
boyfriend kind of motivated me. He’s like, ‘You can do it, I know you can do it.’ So, then I started and I made him a shirt and everyone loved it. And he was like, ‘Everyone kept asking me to buy one for them and I was like ‘Oh my god, I’m not ready yet.’” Tucker also has a clothing line of his own. Valdez hopes to collaborate with him sometime in the future. “I asked him, I was like, we should collab, and he was like, ‘Yeah sure,’ but things happen and we’re still working on it,” Valdez said. Valdez hopes to expand her line to more than just t-shirts. “I hope to start soon, very soon, when I get my embroider[y] machine and I hope to save up over the summer and I hope to be able to buy a lot of shirts, like different colors and stuff, and hats,” Valdez said. “Then, [I want] to start working on them and then I’ll start posting them on my website and have a big release on Instagram to spread the word. I’ll see what goes from there.” Valdez hopes to open her store near the beginning of next school year.
may 26, 2015
page 8 | features
Trio not saying goodbye Seniors to carry friendship into college dorm by CATHERINE BARBER
c.barber@eyeofthetigernews.com
Typically, high school students must say goodbye to their best friends when they leave for college. However, three best friends from Roseville High School are choosing to attend Chico State University, where they plan to live together. Seniors Grant Esparza, Sam Herron and Mike Mulligan met one another at football practice the summer before their freshman year. Throughout the duration of high school, the boys continued and expanded their friendship. They hang out every day at school and most days outside of school. Now that they are going to the same college, they won’t have to say goodbye to each other for at least another four years. “I think it would have been hard to say goodbye to them,” Herron said. “We’ve been really
good friends since freshman year, so I would definitely miss them if we were going to different colleges.” As the years passed, the three grew from acquaintances to “brothers.” During their free time they like to hang out, ride bikes and play guitar amongst various other activities. Rarely will they ever go more than a few days without seeing each other. “We know each other really well, so when we do something we usually do it all together,” Esparza said. “They’re really close to me and I guess they’re my brothers from some other mother.” Besides sharing a love for sports, the boys also bonded through other similarities. They even plan on majoring in similar fields and pursuing similar career paths. Though their specific fields differ, all three plan on studying
something in the realm of engineering or science. “Grant and Mike are really good in math, so they will be able to help me with my homework – and I can teach them how to cook Top Ramen,” Herron said. While applying to college, each student had their own aspirations and priorities, but, after they each applied to several different colleges, the boys realized that they all got into Chico State University. It didn’t take long for them all to solidify their decision. “We were all pretty stoked,” Mulligan said. “It’ll be good to have some friends that I care about and who’ll have my back.” In addition to its academics, Chico’s location also appealed to Esparza. The opportunity to go through the new experience of college living and schooling with his best friends by his side also
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Seniors Grant Esparza (front), Mike Mulligan (second from front) and Sam Herron (back) have been friends since the summer before freshman year and plan to continue their friendship next year when they room together at Chico State. helped Chico become his first choice for college. “It is definitely a big bonus – a big reason I picked it is because it is a decent distance away, but now that we are all going, it is also nice to know someone,” Esparza said. “And I can see them for the next four years. Instead of requesting a double
dorm with two occupants, the boys opted for a triple so that they could all live together. “We all had our computers together for the application for housing, and we completed it at the same time.” Esparza said. “[Our dorm room] is going to be a complete pigsty and is going to be really messy and gross.”
Esparza, Mulligan and Herron are all looking forward to experiencing college and learning new things, all while growing closer to one another. They said they think their friendship will take on entirely new facets – ones they couldn’t have imagined when they met back in their freshman summer.
Sophomore works on album Munoz strums in “National Lines” by MARIAN ABDELMALEK & LAUREN LEAL
features@eyeofthetigernews.com
COURTESY CJ MUNOZ
Sophomore CJ Munoz is in a band with his aunt and uncle, Kimberly and Tim Peter, and close friend, Josh Minor. The band, National Lines, recently wrote and recorded an album. They plan to release it in September.
ROSECHELLA
Sophomore CJ Munoz and his band are hoping to make their music career a reality with their upcoming album. The band, National Lines, consists of Munoz and his aunt and uncle, Kimberly and Tim Peters, and close friend, Josh Minor. The four got together last year and have been making pop, rock and jazz music since. With Munoz on guitar, Minor on drums and the Peters’ singing, National Lines traveled to Chicago to record eight songs for their album. “The process has been really
amazing and has gone really well,” Munoz said. “ I’ve laid down all my guitar tracks and it’s pretty cool since it’s the first time ever recording my music” The band recorded and worked with a producer for less than two weeks and recorded a song every day. The process taught Munoz the importance of playing on time, as well as the generality of how music is made. “I pretty much learned how music’s made,” Munoz said. “I can never listen to a song the same again.” Munoz has written the music for three songs and gets his inspiration from current bands that he is listening to. His music
aspirations include hearing something he wrote get professionally recorded and made into a song. National Lines’ album is set for a September release. The band will sell the CDs for $5 and hopes to get their music on iTunes. In the future, the band hopes to continue playing gigs and record again. Individually, Munoz plans on continuing his music career in the future at a music school. “I kind of want to study something that isn’t completely music related because music is a really hard thing to be successful at and pursue and is a big risk so I mostly just want to write songs and record them and see how it goes.” Munoz said. “I would love to pursue a career in music especially something with guitar.”
FASHION COLUMN: SOPHOMORE DANNY WHALEY
1990s skater meets 1980s dad
by marian abdelmalek
m.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Rosechella, the event Student Government introduced this year to replace the previously annual Ton O Sun, came to RHS Friday and featured four stages set up around campus. Current students and alumni performed different musical genres that ranged from rock to pop to hip hop in the 900 quad, on Campo St., in Senior Square and in the amphitheater.
How would you describe your style? It’s like a mix between a 90s skater and an 80s dad. When did you realize you like that kind of style? It started a couple months ago. My friends started to kinda like that stuff, so it peaked my interest and I started to go with them when they went to go buy clothes and I ended up just really like the style. What’s your favorite thing to wear? Really long shirts – like, this shirt goes all the way down to my thighs and I just really like tuck-in shirt things. Just anything retroish. Do you wish you were born in the 80s? Why? Pretty much, yeah. Or if I could go back and take all their clothes and come back. The clothes that come from that time era have a lot of really nice patterns and really nice colors. A lot of fashion today is really afraid to show a lot color and the way I dress, it displays the nice patterns and colors and things that are aesthetically pleasing. How are you changing your style for summer? I never been in summer with this style but how I’m gonna do it is [going] from jeans to shorts. I’m gonna get shorts that are shorter than regular shorts and bright colorful t-shirts and stuff like that.
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
Sophomore Danny Whaley tucks a long, thrift-shop t-shirt into Arizona jeans. He pairs his outfit with Adidas shoes and his dad’s belt. Do you have any fashion icons Do you consider price when or inspirations? shopping? Um, no. It’s usually my friend Usually, with the style that I group. They are young photograhave, it doesn’t really have a phers in San Francisco and they price. Usually the stuff is really have really nice style and just cheap because no one wants everything about them. I like to them, other than my crowd, or be inspired by them. they are just really old. Price isn’t Do you like the SF vibe? Why? usually a problem, unless you’re Yes. I love San Francisco so at, like, American Apparel, where much, just everything about it. I a thin blue sweater is like $26, don’t know. It’s just like, when but if I have the money I buy it. you go there, the community is But, like, usually it kinda scares just really open-aired and they me away if it’s really expensive. have a lot of really nice places to Why did you want to dye your eat and they have neighborhoods hair blonde? that are really bright-colored. It’s I’ve been thinking about it since just really nice to look at. first half of this year and I like Where do you shop? kinda wanna do it just to mix it I really like American Apparel, up a little. I don’t know, I just but that’s really expensive, and decided, like, it’s high school. I also just like going to to thrift If it’s bad, then I can just dye it shops. I used to shop at Urban back and no one really cares. I Outfitters, but it just got too only got positive feedback, so I stereotypical. just kept it.
Opinion
may 26, 2015
page 9
EYE OF THE TIGER’S VIEW
On class rank, go big or go home
A
s Roseville Joint Union High School District leaders move forward in their consideration of the class rank proposal currently before them, they need to keep one thing in mind: Go big or go home. The change, which is still tentative, would eliminate the current system of class rank and – pending input from site administrators, counselors and College and Career Center staff – potentially replace it with a decile system or, in the extreme case, do away with any kind of ranking whatsoever. District leaders began considering the possibility of a switch when Annina Hanlon, a Granite Bay High School senior, argued before the school board April 15 that the current system is “not an accurate way of comparing students.” Her argument goes like this: The competitiveness of the respective student bodies at RJUHSD’s five comprehensive sites differs, and so the system of class rank disadvantages those students who attend the more competitive schools, like GBHS. On the face and whole, this makes sense. Though we would argue that schools everywhere would need to abolish class rank for there to be true equity – RJUHSD students aren’t the only ones competing for spots at top
CATHERINE BARBER EYE OF THE TIGER
colleges – it doesn’t seem fair that a GBHS senior can have a 4.0 and a rank of 129 while a Roseville High School senior enjoys a spot at 58th with that same GPA. The other major argument Hanlon made – and one district administrators have been quick to support – is that eliminating class rank would ease some of the pressure that compels many highachieving students to load up their schedules with AP courses at the expense of ones they’re actually interested in taking (most often, elective courses). We, of course, also agree with the theory behind this. It’s good
for students to find a passion for something, and many students find their passion within the structure of an elective program – and, for many students, passion translates to purpose. (None of us would spend as much time as we do putting together this newspaper if we didn’t actually care about it.) However, the problem we have with the district’s proposal is that we only agree with it in theory. This is where “go big or go home” comes into play. Though district leaders claim that easing pressure on overstressed students is one of the
main reasons they’re pushing for the switch, the move they are considering leaves out a crucial component of any proposal that would seek to rectify the problems of class rank: the entire abolishment of weighted GPA as an RJUHSD construct. Currently, students in this district who earn an A in an AP (or, in some cases, honors) course receive a 5.0 bump to their GPA (as opposed to the 4.0 they’d receive for an A in a regular course). We understand this is news to hardly anyone, but it’s important to point out because the 5.0 mechanism is, in fact, the entire reason for the
flaws of the class rank system – at least in terms of encouraging student stress – in the first place. (It’s also important to note that this is not universal practice. We choose to do this.) The reason high-achieving students overload their schedules with APs is so they can compete in the world of class rank. But the reason that world exists at all is because our district has, for so long, employed a system that awards students for taking AP and honors courses with the shallow reward of the 5.0 bump. Eliminate class rank without eliminating weighted grades, and that world still exists, just under the surface. High-achieving students are generally conscious enough that they’ll know where they stand even without Aeries telling them, and they’re generally driven enough that they’ll continue to overstress and underexplore even without two numbers (as opposed to one) telling them to. Everyone always says go big or go home. If RJUHSD’s leaders really want to affect positive change on class rank, they’ll need to go big – otherwise they may as well just go home. (This article represents the views of the 2014-15 editorial board.)
We make-up for us – not for you
W
hile cleaning out my room the other day, I ended up coming across my old middle school yearbooks, chock-full of all of us at our most awkward phase. I was comparing my friends’ pictures, even laughing at my own. Our genetics hadn’t yet decided what they were trying to do with our faces. And as I looked at sixth grade me in the yearbook and current me in the mirror, the largest difference I noticed was the face full of makeup I now wear. Makeup is something I originally struggled with technically. My eyeshadow back in the day was just God-awful. If you show me the old pictures of myself with grotesque eyebrows and purple eyelids, I will probably faint. Though that struggle was impressive, the larger problem I had with makeup was the idea of it, or its “morals”, if you can call it that. Many negative perceptions revolve around the beauty and cosmetics industry. Most people
BY MIKAYLA STEARNS
m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com
think of makeup as a mask for insecurities, which is sometimes true, but more often isn’t. Makeup is also thought of as a way girls try to get guys, which is even more ridiculously untrue. People who wear makeup know people who don’t couldn’t care less what color eyeliner is in right now. And I always hear how sad it is that girls wear makeup and “feel the need to conform to the status quo.” Makeup-wearers are “weak”, and sheep to big corporations and magazines. Hearing this for the first time kind of sent me into a tailspin. I wasn’t insecure about my facial
features, but I started becoming insecure about wanting to wear makeup. At first I tried to make cosmetics I was wearing unnoticeable, because I didn’t want people to judge me for it, or think I was fake and weak. After some hardcore reflection, I now know makeup is a sort of art, so these criticisms are just plain offensive. No one whom I have talked to about this looks in the mirror in the mornings and says, “I hope [insert name] like my contour!” It took me a long time to finally be okay with liking cosmetics. I now tell people, “It’s not for you, it’s for me.” I hear people who don’t wear it feel superior to those who do, because “they don’t need it, like those other girls.” Guess what? We just like it sometimes. No one should act superior over each other just because of the kind of colors and goop they do or don’t put on their face. Love each other. Do what makes you happy. I like liptsick, so deal with it.
Junior class color: Time for a change?
E
very class is assigned a class color as they enter Roseville High School. The freshmen are blue, the sophomores green, the juniors yellow and the seniors purple. Lately, some members of the junior class have been trying to change their class color as the majority of the class have been wearing different colors. In a recent school rally a vast majority of the juniors were seen wearing white as an attempt to change their class color. When the Class of 2016 wore white to the last class color rally, the students seemed to be more of a unit and the students were involved more than in past rallies. Yellow is not the most pleasant color that we have here at RHS, while blue, purple and green are common in clothes. It is hard to find yellow clothing attire for the
BY MARINA EFSTATHIU & CESAR SANCHEZ opinion@eyeofthetigernews.com
rally when yellow is not very popular at many stores. For the other three colors you can find clothes on a normal shopping trip. You don’t just randomly show
up to school accidently wearing the color yellow, as it is uncommon, but the students would be more likely to wear the color white for rallies on accident as they are more common with everyday attire. With the juniors wanting to change their colors to white, I say let them do it and have fun in high school. It will be better for the rallies to promote white for the juniors instead of promoting yellow and only having a handful of students wearing yellow. This change may not be able to happen though. The class colors have been around for a while now and if we changed our color to white we would be breaking tradition. But if we could switch from yellow to white it might allow for some more excitement to go to the rallies from the junior class.
CATHERINE BARBER EYE OF THE TIGER
Clubs are for enrichment, not titles
D
uring my time at Roseville High School, I’d like to say I’m wellversed in club hopping. I’ve accidentally found myself in a Science Olympiad meeting. Peeked in during a Key Club meeting once or twice, or too many times to count. Took a picture in a club photo for the yearbook, but never actually went to the meetings. The clubs at RHS are very versatile, and I have to say that I’m extremely glad that we’ve got the number of diverse clubs that we do. When I walked down the hallway last Monday during lunch, I happened to pass by a bustling and busy classroom, with only passing words of “AP Club” to answer my curiosity. A little peeved (but not really — senioritis, you know?) that the seniors wouldn’t have the opportunity of an AP Club, I went on my way to International Club’s last meeting of the year, which only six members attended, myself included. As my high school career winds down, I’m beginning to reflect on my actions and what I’ve done and haven’t done. And, I realized now that I’ve never actually attended a club meeting after Club Rush in which all the seats were consistently full. While this specific incident for International Club may be attributed to lack of notifying students
BY ISABEL FAJARDO
i.fajardo@eyeofthetigernews.com
ahead of time, I think that students should be interested in what happens to the club and check in every so often to see what’s happening with it. The sentiment of the thing is that students come of their own accord, free will, interest. Throughout my four years, I have seen various clubs rise and die — Asian Culture Club, MEChA, Gay/Straight Alliance — due to a lack of effort, participation and (partially) popularity. Though these clubs aren’t exactly related to any academics, they still enrich a student’s experience and provide a place where people can connect to people they normally wouldn’t talk to. I, personally, wouldn’t be as close to my friends if I didn’t join FBLA or International Club. During the school year, I remember ROSE Club reaching out to find people to help with one of their community service activities when they didn’t have enough volunteers. The officers of Inter-
national Club reached out to others outside of the club for booths during the VAPA festival. Even though these clubs are beginning to dwindle down in size, there’s a reason that students still apply religiously to CSF. There’s a reason students still show up to a preemptive AP Club meeting. I have thought of various ways to attempt solve this anomaly, yet none of them really make sense. If the allure of free food doesn’t attract kids, then what does? As admin begins to encourage a more rigorous course load for students (we’re talkin’ APs on APs on APs), I’m beginning to wonder if it’s reflecting in the students’ choices for extracurriculars. Of course, if AP Psychology has taught me anything, correlation does not equal causation — but I think even a small correlation is enough to raise a few concerns. Academics should not be what students solely focus on and shouldn’t be the only thing that our school is able to offer to them. I’m worried that our future Tigers will be unable to discover their unknown passion for business, community service, or discovering other cultures. High school is about growing and discovering who you are and growing some more. To deprive our students from exploring their options would be a disservice.
opinion | page 10
may 26, 2015
Senior musings: Life is not a final. It’s daily pop quizzes. “H ow sweet it is.” This phrase was the lens through which my great-grandfather viewed everything. It was his frame of reference in life. How could anything really be bad when you take the time to appreciate the sweetness of it all? This was also my mantra as I entered high school, as a scared little freshman who hadn’t quite hit puberty yet. How sweet it is. The fear, the challenges. The excitement, the opportunities. Let this function as a message to all of you who have faced or will soon face these same adventures: the hardships will pass and you will prevail. School gets tough, but you can still make the best of every circumstance. Get involved. Take advantage of these years before it’s too late. High school goes by fast – and whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you – but allow yourself the chance to savor each sweet part. Take deciding between colleges for example. It’s this major decision, but you should feel lucky to have the blessing of choice. The struggle to stay motivated in school only makes you stronger. Drama with friends teaches you who’s really there for you. Balancing extracurriculars provides experiences unlike any other, and friendships you wouldn’t have any other way. Homework … I’ll get back to you on that one. Time goes by both too slow and too fast. I graduate in only a couple days, and I’m itching to begin my life in college, but I’m also wishing I could experience high school all over again. I’m not trying to tell you that these are the best days of your life. Because,
BY OLIVIA HILLMAN
o.hillman@eyeofthetigernews.com
frankly, they aren’t and shouldn’t be. All I’m saying is that high school has so much to offer if you’re willing to pay attention. The learning opportunities you are exposed to in high school are broader than just classroom content. High school teaches you so much about yourself. Somewhere along these four years, you are thrust into a situation where you must learn to balance academics, jobs, family problems, boyfriends, girlfriends, “best” friends. Extracurriculars ensure that you’re home less and less, chores get forgotten, homework assignments are thrown to the wind, disciplinary action is taken and the vicious cycle continues. This balancing act is a thrill to some, but can lead others down a path of stress, fatigue and insane caffeine consumption. I was a student of the latter variety. I’ve endured long, late nights of essay-writing, attended many-a-study session at Panera Bread and fallen victim to the triweekly Netflix binge-watch. Throughout my four years here, I had such an amazing support system of school counselors, teachers and friends to help me survive all that. They provided insight on life, planning, friendships. They never ceased to amaze with their genuine excite-
ment for their students, and were always willing to move schedules around to make time to meet with us about career plans, courses, study sessions. They shared study tips, stories from their lives and the occasional stress-eaten waffle. There are some things we will never forget – Lake Cunha by the 900s, Addington’s Friday kilts, Powell’s kind heart and outstanding fashion sense, Skye Stevens (#neverforget). Others we wish we maybe could forget (like our school’s recent reputation for arson and those embarrassing Spanish presentations freshman year). As these four years pass, we reflect on the things we did, didn’t do, should’ve done. I’m glad to say I’m leaving high school with no regrets (or, rather, #noragrets), but sometimes I wish I had done some things differently. Maybe if I had joined more clubs, asked that guy out, said yes to that other one, met more people, went to all the football games, my experience would have been different. But I didn’t, and here I am. High school developed me as an individual, free of depending on another person for identity. It works out the kinks in our personality until we become the people we’re meant to be. The choices we make over these years define us. We can choose to drink, party, study, create drama, end it, or all of the above. Many choices were tough, but they each helped bring us to who we are today. Your heart will be broken, by colleges, parents, siblings, best friends and that cute boy in your fourth-period class. It’s how you choose to view these situations
CATHERINE BARBER EYE OF THE TIGER
that grows you as a person. To each of the classes: I’ve been there. I get that it’s hard. If I could tell every one of you something, it’d be to find that great support and look for the sweet parts in every day. Even though we wouldn’t admit it, we’re all struggling. That’s something common to all of us. Each day brings challenges, but so long as you’re willing to keep working through, it will get better. I’m sure your mom once told you that and you rolled your eyes so far back into your head you had to physically retrieve them, but just keep moving forward. Incoming freshmen: don’t be afraid to ask questions. We know you’re lost. We’ve all been there. Be prepared to be intimidated, but face it anyway. Freshmen: challenge yourself.
Use this time to build your repertoire of experiences and try things out. See what you like and what you don’t, before you don’t have enough time to test the waters. Sophomores: brace yourselves. These past two years have been kindergarten compared to what you’ll go through next year. But, trust me: it’ll be the most rewarding year yet, and once you survive that, everything else will be easy. Juniors: contrary to popular belief, senior year really isn’t much easier. I challenge you, however, to rise to the challenge and pursue your options for the future. Sure, it’ll take more time and effort, but ward off the curse of senioritis as long as you can and you’ll do well. I didn’t end up where I thought – far from it, actually – but I’m so glad for that. To the seniors
that will be graduating alongside me this Friday night, congratulations. There’s a big, scary, glorious world out there waiting for us to enter it. These four years have come and gone, and maybe we should’ve put ourselves out there more and tried for that job or taken that chance and asked that person out, but now we have the opportunity to turn those maybes into realities in these coming years. I’m so proud to be graduating in a class full of such inspiring, talented individuals, and I know each and every one of you is off to do amazing things in this world. I challenge all of you, no matter your grade level, to choose to see the bright side of every challenge so that, years from now, we can look back and reflect on truly how sweet it is.
Create your own high school experience; one size doesn’t fit all
A
lthough my four years at Roseville High School have not been particularly “the best years of my life,” as so sincerely promised by countless adults, I will certainly look back on them in a few decades and have somewhat warm, fond memories of those four years. However, although hindsight is 20/20, I believe that high school could have very well been the best four years of my young life, if I had known what I know now. This year, especially because seniors are on the homestretch of this journey, I have seen many tweet that it is important to “make the most” of the last few days. However, “making the most” of the remaining time seems to imply that everyone should go to football games, basketball games, school dances, take part in spirit days, and do all things “essential” to the high school experience, Contrary to popular belief, however, these things are not the only way to make the most of your high school years. In my time as a high school student and
BY SEIÉNNA PAPINI
s.papini@eyeofthetigernews.com
as a Tiger at RHS, I have found that high school is not a one-sizefits-all experience whatsoever. I came into RHS, not only as a freshman, but as a completely new student. I was convinced that in order to have a normal high school experience and ultimately, a fun one, I had to go to every sporting event, every dance, and take part in every spirit day. But, because I knew almost no one, I spent most of my time at these events with a fairly unsatisfied feeling, which I now know was me wishing I was doing something more enjoyable to me. The simple fact is that for some, Football Fridays and Tacky Tourist Tuesdays are what some of our
Tigers live for, but it is important to realize, especially for our young Tigers to realize that partaking in what would be referred to as “the cliché high school experience” is not the only form of an extraordinary high school experience out there. This is not to say that any given high school experience is better than the next, but there definitely are more ways to enjoy one’s best four years of their life. It took me all the way up until my senior year, and even then, about halfway through, to get that, although I do undoubtedly enjoy school dances and repping purple for class color rallies and dressing up as the occasional Tacky Tourist and of course, repping orange and black at a football or basketball game, these things are not all that is out there. My regret, although I do not like to have them, is that I wish I would have known this. My advice to incoming freshman, underclassmen and even upperclassmen, is to try everything – and I mean everything. Experiment.
Push yourself to achieve academic success, but remember that the experiences both high school and youth have to offer. Balance yourself between the two. Maybe sacrifice an AP class for that elective class you’ve always wanted to take, but never had room for. Go to Club Rush. Nourish your interests with connectedness between yourself and your peers. Do not drop the friends you have to find new ones, but, instead, say hi to the girl in your first period and the guy in your third period, in hopes of broadening your circle or maybe even finding the group of friends you truly click with. Furthermore, do not limit yourself to what your school has to offer you. Get involved in your community. Get a job and help your set of real-life skills flourish. High school is a time — perhaps, the best time — to find one’s true identity, to find one’s true friends. A Tiger is a Tiger, no matter how they spend their high school years.
CATHERINE BARBER EYE OF THE TIGER
Post-investigation, a reporter reflects on diversity, understanding This article was written as a reflection on an investigation that starts on Page 1 (“A lack of reflection”).
T
his article represents something very unusual for me, for this newspaper and for traditional journalistic practice in general. This article represents me stepping away from the unbiased reporter podium and giving my full, unrestrained opinion on a story I personally reported on. I am writing this on deadline, on the heels of completing what is both the lengthiest article I have ever written and also the last one – besides, of course, this – I will ever write for this fine newspaper. As the italics above state, the article starts on Page 1. It contin-
BY ROBBIE SHORT
r.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
ues on Page 4. You will wish to give it a read if you hope to glean anything coherent from this final messy bunch of words. Assuming you have, let’s ditch the formalities: It is exceedingly clear that, for lots of reasons – many of which are historic and complex and difficult for any organization to overcome – there is a serious staff diversity problem in this district. Namely, there isn’t
any. This is, of course, bad for anyone who is a minority teacher in this district or who is a minority student in this district or who knows the struggles of a minority teacher or a minority student in this district and has half a concern as to the condition of other human beings. Feeling isolated – like Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Healy and Mr. Quinonez do – is not good. Feeling like you can’t relate to the people who are supposed to be your mentors – like Billie does – isn’t, either. But, of course, we know this. Bad feelings are bad, and diversity is a good thing. These concepts are not new, nor are they anything less than self-evident – so I don’t know why it took me writing this article to realize how real this sit-
uation is. In my fourth-period Government class, there is a quote hanging on a board hanging on the wall. It’s Marx: “History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is people, real, living, who do all this.” I look at this quote sometimes when I’m bored in class. I like the way it flows – the “real, living” structure speaks to me on some literary level I sometimes forget I have. It reminds me of what Marx intended it to: the immense capacity human beings have to affect societal change. Tonight, it reminds me of the immense capacity human beings have to suffer. During every interview I conducted with a person of color
for my story (as well as Jennifer Kawatu), the interviewee mentioned how discussions about race – and, invariably, discussions about racism – are, in minority families, little more than a fact of life. Mrs. Jones told me that, even though she finds Roseville a good place to raise her kids, “there is racism here.” Billie said that, in elementary school, she learned to bite her tongue when people made discriminatory comments – because, as her mom told her, “[she’d] be in trouble and they wouldn’t.” Like the other realities above, this is obvious. Of course racism still exists. Of course minority families talk about it. I knew this on a conscious and unconscious level before writing the article.
What I didn’t know is how much it hurts. I still don’t. I’m white. But when you’re sitting across a desk from someone who starts crying when they realize they’ve been the only Mexican teacher at every other school they’ve taught at, or when you tell someone else about a hate crime directed at a member of their ethnicity at a nearby school and see their face and arms tense up, it suddenly comes into some kind of focus for you. When we talk about diversity and demographics and ethnicity and race, it is not numbers we are talking about. It is people, real, living. It is people who breathe and people who feel and people who hurt. And I think I knew that. But now I think I understand it – at least a little bit.
Entertainment SUMMER IN PREVIEW
page 11
may 26, 2015
Even though this is Eye of the Tiger’s last issue of the 2014-15 school year, we on the entertainment staff still want to guide your journey through the entertainment world this summer. These are our recommendations for your break.
WHAT TO EAT
WHAT TO SEE
By George Hughes and Andrew Smith
By Delphine Kyubwa
Raspberry & Lemon Gelato (Piccolo, $3.75)
MIABELLA GELATO - This perfect blend of sweet and tart flavors creates a refreshing dessert sure to please anybody during the hot summer months. Served in a small cup, this cool treat packs a surprisingly flavorful punch, despite its simple presentation.
Strawberry Cheesecake Shaved Snow (REGULAR, $3.95) 32 DEGREE ICE SHAVERY AND TEAS - This beautifully presented dessert is a blizzard of flavors packed into a mountain of shaved ice topped with a sweet strawberry sauce and fresh kiwis. The kiwis add a nice, tart kick to the dish, while the shaved ice counters the sourness with a cool temperature.
Insidious: chapter 3
jurassic world
INSIDE OUT
In the series’ newest installment, teenager Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) seeks help from gifted psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) after sensing contact with her late mother. With support from two parapsychologists, Elise finds a powerful demon with an insatiable craving for human souls. If you’re looking for a scare, watch out for this one.
Set a full 22 years after Jurassic Park, when the genetically engineered Indominus Rex and other dinosaurs go on a rampage, visitors in the park have to run for their lives. Isla Nublar is a “fully functioning park” and biological reserve featuring real dinosaurs and a luxury resort. Its visuals entail an exciting thriller.
This is unique Pixar addition due to its novel premise centered in the psyche of a young girl. Guided by her anthropomorphized emotions, turmoil ensues when Riley struggles to adjust to a new life in San Francisco. The storyline is not only unique, but also features Pixar’s second female protagonist. I anticipate it being an adorable classic.
dope
PAPER TOWNS
fantastic four
An academically promising high school senior, Malcolm (Shameik Moore), and his friends bond over 90’s hip-hop culture, their studies and playing music in their own punk band. A chance encounter with a drug dealer unfolds a wild, unprecedented adventure. The film visually encapsulates the 90’s vibe well and is sure to be hilarious.
In this cinematic adaptation of John Green’s novel, perplexing Margo (Cara Delevingne) leads her friend Quentin (Nat Wolff) on a nighttime journey throughout their hometown after she disappears and leaves behind a series of clues for him to decipher. As with most other John Green works, expect to be moved.
This comic reboot is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original superhero team. The four must learn to harness their new abilities and work together in order to save Earth. Rising stars Miles Teller (Divergent series) and Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) are worth looking forward to, as is the rarity of a black superhero.
(JUNE 5)
(JUNE 12)
(JUNE 19)
EL PARIAN In terms of authentic Mexican food, you would be hard-pressed to find a taqueria in the area better than El Parian. Its happy hour, essential for a taqueria, is one of the best we’ve experienced. Between 3 and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, El Parian sells top-notch soft shell tacos for $1.50 – a perfect summer snack. Its menu also offers a wider variety than we have seen at similar places in the area and makes us want to go back for more.
(june 19)
FOUR SISTERS CAFE With school out, summer is definitely the time to try some of the breakfast joints here in Roseville. And instead of going to the humdrum IHOPs and Waffle Barns of the world, why not head over to Four Sisters? They have a much more expansive menu and everything we have had there, from Eggs Benedict to the Paradise Waffle (heaven on a plate), has been awesome.
(July 24)
(aug. 7)
WHO TO SEE By Netzy Ortega
RUN TOUR
CARRIE AND LOWELL TOUR
CHOICES TOUR
After releasing its second studio album, RUN, AWOLNATION will be going on tour this summer to celebrate the release, as well as to promote the 14-track album. Expect to hear songs like their hit single ”Sail,” as well as all those on the new album, all with the high-energy, playful style AWOLNATION is known for.
This summer, Sufjan Stevens will be singing the songs of his new, extremely personal album, Carrie & Lowell. As Stevens deals with the death of his estranged mother through his music, fans can expect to see him share his private memories but also sing in the genre-blending style that’s unique to him.
Promoting his new single, “Choice (Yup),” E-40 is set to perform his most recent singles, but also classic hits from the 90’s, in this summer’s Choices Tour. As he celebrates his 25th year in his hip hop career, you can expect to feel nostalgic about all his favorite songs and excited for his new ones.
The show starts at 8 p.m. at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, June 2.
The show starts at 8 p.m. at The Fox Theater in Oakland on Friday, June 5.
The show starts at 9 p.m. at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz on Friday, July 31.
AWOLNATION
SUFJAN STEVENS
e-40
may 26, 2015
page 12 | entertainment
WHAT TO LISTEN TO By Rachel Barber
JASON DERULO EVERYTHING IS 4
MEEK MILL DREAMS WORTH MORE THAN MONEY
FRANK OCEAN BOYS DON’T CRY
JUNE 2 - Jason Derulo is famous for his interesting blend of hip hop and pop, and his upcoming album continues to follow that reputation. He will release the record in June. It is a promising collection of songs that will most likely be overplayed on the radio, but will be summer hits. Derulo released leading singles “Want to Want Me” in March and “Get Ugly” and “Cheyenne” in April.
JUNE 16 - Meek Mill promises summer party and rager anthems with his upcoming record. He set the hip hop album for release in September, but upon the revocation of his probation, he was hit with a three-to-six month jail sentence, halting the album’s production. However, because of this, I have high expectations for the album, since he must have had a lot of free time to think about each track while he was incarcerated.
JULY - Frank Ocean dropped his unprecedented and popular album, Channel Orange in 2012, and fans have been waiting for his next ever since. This is the long-awaited, surefire follow-up and will be released in July. Ocean’s divulged no further release information other than hints on social media, so his upcoming work is one to keep an eye on to see if he has recreated his music style in his three quiet years.
WHAT TO WATCH
THE APP PULSE
By Mikayla Stearns
TIMEHOP
THE WHISPERS (June 1)
This show plays on most adults’ worst fears: an unknown force warping their children against them. It seems to play on a sort of supernatural element, keeping the “whisperers” ambiguous, making the film even more frightening. The pilot will bring children who end up doing horrible things. Are the whisperers aliens? Ghosts? Demons? Whatever they are, I fear for my kids, and I don’t even have any.
While most of us would like to pretend that sixth-grade Facebook was not a thing, it was – all of those posts from back in the day are still there, chillin’ on social media. If you are a senior looking to cry, check this out, because it is honestly pretty funny for people who have been active over the years and can really hit the feels. Every day, you will get a “timehop”: a list of past social media posts with the date (and even replies from your friends) attached.
- Andrew Smith
HANNIBAL (JUNE 4)
Grab your forks and knives and be prepared to cover your eyes, because Hannibal returns for its third season on June 4. We last left Will Graham laying over his slaughtered friends and Hannibal on a luxurious plane ride to somewhere far away. This show messes with your head – and messes with Will Graham’s, too – and is gruesome enough to make your stomach turn and also keep you watching.
INCUBATE Unlike Timehop, which looks only to the past, this app creates a relationship with the two periods of time like never before. Upon request, the app schedules picture and video messages for up to 25 years down the road. As life moves more and more quickly, this is a valuable companion. You can set up a picture of your high school graduation to go off the day you expect to graduate college as a nice way to remember the past, but also look toward the future.
- Netzy Ortega
BECOMING US (JUNE 8)
Following the recent fascination with the transgender community, ABC is producing a reality show following a teen boy and his transitioning father, premiering on June 8. It’s exciting to see transgender representation in the spotlight, but if the show ends up being obviously scripted or playing up dangerous stereotypes, I’ll drop it.
Sports
may 26, 2015
page 13
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
SFL isn’t only league with talent BY LOGAN ASH
l.ash@eyeofthetigernews.com
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
CHAMPS! BY LOGAN ASH
l.ash@eyeofthetigernews.com
I
t all started with one common goal for the baseball team and that was fulfilled last night by beating Vanden High School 1-0 to capture the Division II Sac Joaquin Section Championship in a hard-fought pitcher’s duel. “It’s what we’ve been working for all year and we finally got it and it’s a good feeling,” junior third baseman Justin Robbins said. The game was a hard fought pitcher duel between senior Adam Erickson and Vanden which gave up a combined five hits. However, the real difference were the respective teams’ defenses. The Tigers had one error, while Vanden had two. Heading into the game, Erikson knew it was going to be the guys behind him that would make the difference in outcome.
“Going into the game I knew they could hit and I wasn’t able to throw it past them,” Erickson said. “They put the ball in play quite a bit but the defense was too solid tonight.” Erickson had his back against the wall on two different occasions during the game, but he was able to escape both times. The first incident occurred when Vanden had an infield hit and that runner advanced on a fielder’s choice. He then proceeded to steal third with one out. Erickson came at the next two batters with a vengeance by striking the next two batters out to escape the inning without giving up any runs. “I knew I had to strikeout the first batter or else the run would have scored,” Erickson said. “The defense gave me the confidence I needed to be able to throw it over the plate and get some outs.” A few innings later, Vanden
FILE PHOTO ROBBIE SHORT
ON STRENGTH OF CVC MVP ERICKSON, TIGERS TRUMP VANDEN TO NAB SJS TITLE was able to get an infield hit accompanied by a bunt to put runners on first and second. The next batter then popped out to Erickson on a bunt attempt. However, Erickson was able to force a ground ball that shortstop Devin Orr initiated into a double play and the Tigers escaped the inning unscathed. “We were in a tight spot and when I saw the ground ball I knew it would get us out of the jam,” Orr said. The Tigers first, and only, run came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior Max Modeste started off the inning by getting walk followed quickly by another another walk to put runners at first and second. Junior Justin Robbins then hit an RBI single that dropped behind the third basemen which ultimately allowed Modeste to score the run for the Tigers. “I knew it was going to be a
fight and I knew they were a good team,” coach Lance Fischer said. “I didn’t think one run would get it done. One run doesn’t win a lot of games.” Going into the game, Fischer did not know what to expect from the Vanden’s team or their pitcher. “I didn’t really know anything about their pitcher,” Fischer said. “We have gotten to just about anybody that we have faced this year and their kid easily threw just as well as Adam, but we were able to put a hit together with a guy on second base.” According to Fischer, it was prevalent that Adam threw a great game to put the Tigers on top after the seventh inning. “It could not have been a better time to throw such an incredible game for us and I am happy for him,” Fischer said. At the end of the day, the Tigers have now captured two banners in the 2015 baseball sea-
son leaving a legacy for years to come. “I’m proud of these guys,” Fischer said. “We are going to miss all these seniors next year.” The Tigers advanced to the section final after defeating CVC rival Oakmont in a best-of-three semifinal. The Tiger took the first game of the series against Oakmont 210, but then fell 5-3 in the second game. That result set up a winnertake-all third game that started just 30 minutes after the conclusion of the second game. Junior Andrew Hanson took the mound in that game and led his team to a 4-3 win to secure a spot in the finals. Prior to the Oakmont series, Roseville opened the section playoffs against American Canyon. The Tigers took that game, which features a two-run homerun by Modeste, 12-5.
Volleyball close enough to touch – but not take – title Five games against Whitney Wildcats just not enough for Tigers to grab victory BY CHASE BLATNICK
c.blatnick@eyeofthetigernews.com
After recording upsets over Jesuit and Granite Bay to advance to the last Thursday’s Section final, the Roseville boys varsity volleyball team fell just two points short of a Sac Joaquin Division I section title. The match, played at Capital Christian is Sacramento, pitted the Tigers against CVC rival, Whitney. The Tigers had taken two of three previous meetings versus the Wildcats, including both league matches. In the championship game the Wildcats came out strong, winning each of the the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-19. “We started off very shaky and couldn't manage to get things going early on which made things tough on us,” senior outside hitter and CVC MVP Trevor Pratt said. The Tigers, however, came charging back and took the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-20. That set up a fifth and final set that would be played to 15 to determine the section champ. In this match, the victor would have to win by to in order to claim the title. In the end, the set went to extra points and the Wildcats closed out the match with a 17-15 set win. “The emotions were so high that I think we played a little tense in the end and we let the game slip
away from us,” Pratt said. “It was a tough pill to swallow but we have a strong team and we will bounce back.” Despite the loss, The Tigers still advanced to the CIF NorCal regional championship tournament. Their first game is tonight against Deer Valley at 7 p.m., away. After sharing the CVC championship with Ponderosa (who advanced to the Division II final), Roseville entered the tournament as the five seed. In the first round, the Tiger scored an easy 3-0 win over McClatchy. The next two rounds, however, presented the Tigers with much more difficult opponents. In round two, Roseville travelled to Carmichael to take on Jesuit. The Marauders came in as the the four seed, boasted an undefeated league record, and had beaten the Tiger in a pre-league match earlier this season. Despite Jesuit’s impressive resume, however, Roseville swept the Marauders in straight sets, 25-19, 2520, 25-23. For the section semifinal, the Tiger faced old SFL rival Granite Bay. It was the first meeting of the year between the two teams. The Grizzlies are the number 33 team in the nation, according to Maxpreps, and finished out SFL play with an undefeated 12-0 record. Once again, the Tiger were able
to play up to the level of the competition and eliminated the Grizzlies from the playoffs with a 3-1 victory. “It's always great beating Granite Bay, and its even better knocking off Jesuit,” Pratt said. “Those two wins were very important to our team and really boosted our confidence as we continue to move on through the playoffs.” Pratt hopes to prove the team’s confidence during the Deer Valley game tonight. “We have NorCal championships coming up and we are hoping to get back to where we were and show the whole state what we are all about,” Trevor Pratt said.
ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER
The Tigers are looking to avenge their loss with a win against the Deer Valley Wolverines, whom they play tonight, away, at 7 p.m.
A few issues ago, I wrote an opinion article that displayed my stance on how the Central Valley Conference (CVC) stacks up to the Sierra Foothill League (SFL) and I honestly do not think there is any difference in the top few teams for each sport. Even more recently, our volleyball and baseball teams have made a sizeable dent in the playoffs in our first year in the CVC. In volleyball, we were seeded fifth going into the Division I tournament, in which past SFL rivals Del Oro, Nevada Union and Granite Bay were placed. In the semi-final round, the Tigers played the top-seeded Granite Bay Grizzlies and beat them three sets to one to secure a spot in the championship round. Furthermore, the CVC’s third place team, Whitney, also made it to the championship round, displaying the raw talent of the CVC in volleyball. Ultimately, the Tigers fell to Whitney in overtime, but the match-up still displays how good the CVC was this year. Also, the CVC runner up, Ponderosa, made a run in the Division II tournament by making it all the way to the championship round. On the baseball side of this article, the Tigers played Del Oro in their second game of the season and beat them 12-5. In addition, no SFL team has made it to the the championship round this year, leaving them in the dust behind the Tigers and the CVC. Granted, the difference in CVC to SFL is mainly visible when you look at all the well rounded schools that have so many dominate sport programs like Granite Bay, Del Oro and Folsom. The reason I mentioned these schools, is due to the fact that no matter what sport you go to, they are excelling in popular sports like football and basketball and they are dominate in sports like wrestling and golf, which happen to be less popular. This is normally not the case with schools in the CVC, including RHS. When you go into the CVC, there is not one school that stands above the rest as far as dominant play, for every school has a sport they are good at (besides Del Campo; they just suck) and everyone has a sport they are not so good at. I think the biggest difference in the two leagues is the flat-out dominance of one school that the SFL offers, for you know whenever you play Folsom or Del Oro it will be a battle to win. However in the CVC, each school has their “specialty” sport, whether it be a popular sport or a lesser-known sport like golf or tennis. From my perspective right now, I am making a bold prediction. When the current sophomores are seniors, during the sports season that fall within the 2016-17 academic year, I think Roseville will turn into such a powerhouse school that the entire CVC will tremble when they see the Tigers on their schedule. The reason why I see this happening is all the raw athletic ability that the freshman and sophomore class have. (I point to this year’s varsity basketball team as a shining example of that.) As long as they keep playing multiple sports and diversifying their talents, Roseville will become dominant in every single sport.
Sports
page 14
may 26, 2015
EYE OF THE TIGER’S
COMPILED BY:
TOP 10 SPRING ATHLETES
1
adam erickson Coming in at number one is senior varsity pitcher Adam Erickson. Erickson had a very impressive junior year in which he achieved a 2.81 ERA in a tough SFL and also made first team all-league. With last year in the books, he looked to dominate once more in the Tigers’ first season in the CVC. Dominate is just what he did. Erickson went 5-0 with one no decision and an ERA of 1.36. He led the CVC in ERA and was one of the biggest pieces to the Tigers’ success. “Without Erickson we wouldn’t
4
devin orr
Senior Devin Orr lands at number four by being a versatile player for the varsity Tigers baseball team this year. Orr plays shortstop and is also one of the Tigers’ best relief pitchers, all while obtaining one of the highest batting averages on the team, sitting at .333. Orr has also racked up 14 RBIs. In addition, Orr leads the team in double, with eight, and has scored the second most runs, with 21. In the field, Orr is nearly un-
7
emily mcfadYen Sliding into number seven is senior midfielder Emily McFadyen. She led RHS to a playoff run this past season. Over the course of the season, McFadyen scored six goals and three assists for the Tigers. McFayden’s position as outside midfielder allows her to get the ball up the field and score often. “She makes good passes, which gets her a lot of assists,” junior Sam Ludovina said. “She is also really good at cutting the ball.”
10 chad alves
At number 10 is senior Chad Alves, first team all-league catcher for the varsity baseball team. Alves has emerged as a powerhouse producer for the team this season, catching fire in the back half and finishing with a .333 batting average, 11 RBIs on 18 hits and 54 at-bats. He has an onbase percentage of .438. “Chad has really picked up his game as a catcher,” senior outfielder Connor Blatnick said. “His blocking
be where we are today,” catcher Chad Alves said. “He’s been the heart of this team.” There is no doubt he is the ace and has done wonders for the Tigers. He keeps calm under pressure and finds a way to win regardless of the circumstance. “Adam has been tremendous,” o u t fielder J o h n K i d - d e r said. “When we are down, he brings us back, and when we are up, he pitches great to keep us there.” Adam will c o n tinue his pitching career at Sac City College this fall. He hopes to eventually move up to a D1. stoppable. He has committed very few errors over a total of 27 games played. While pitching, Orr comes in to seal the deal for the Tigers by dominating the seventh inning time and time again. “He has contributed both on defense and offense in many ways,” catcher Chad Alves said. “We need his bat in the lineup and he is a leader on our team.”
Coach Paul Stewart noted that she was able to contribute in multiple way throughout the season. “She is a leader both on the field and off,” Stewart said.
McFadyen will continue her soccer career at Southern Virginia University, playing at the Division III level. “McFadyen was a captain who brought the best out of others,” Stewart said. has improved from last year a lot and that really helps us out when he’s saving us runs and free bases. His hitting has come around, too, since the beginning of the season and now in playoffs, too.” According to coach Lance Fischer, Chad was well deserving of his spot in the first team all-league selection. After winning the starting catching spot for the Tigers, Alves seemed to find a switch and bring his game to another level.
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arturo sotomayor Coming in at number two is senior track star Arturo Sotomayor. Sotomayor competes in the 800-meter and mile and has received a full-ride scholarship to run at UCLA. According to teammates, Sotomayor was great to have on the team and an inspiration to watch compete. This season, Sotomayor’s best time in the 800-meter event was a 1:51.54. His best mile was 4:13.02. Both times are school records. Sotomayor also holds a share of the RHS record for the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:32.01.
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treshÓn woods Coming in at number five is senior TreShón Woods. Woods is on the track and field team and was a vital tool for the Tigers this season. He competed in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles and broke RHS’ 300-meter hurdle record with his time of 38.56 seconds. “TreShón i s a great athlete
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Megan Fereira Coming in at number eight is junior track athlete Megan Fereira. She competes in pole vault on the varsity team. Fereira broke the school record for pole vault by jumping 11’7” at the Nevada Union Invitational May 8. Before Fereira started her track career, she had some experience competing in gymnastics. Unfortunately, she suffered a devastating wrist injury that led her to her deciding to stop doing gym. It was not until September of 2014 that she began to learn how to pole vault.
Sotomayor is currently ranked ninth in the nation and second in state in the 800. According to fellow runners, Sotomayor is very down-to-earth and helpful. “When you talk to him and train with him, he doesn’t make you feel as if you were below him, and he really tries to bring you up,” junior Brayden Leach said. Sotomayor won the 800-meter title in the CVC finals May 15. He was also part of the 4x4 relay team that came in second. Sotomayor competed in the trials Wednesday to qualify for finals. He competed in the 800 and ran a time of 1:57 to qualify for the next round. and is definitely Division I material,” senior teammate Arturo Sotomayor. “I have loved being his teammate for three years he has done track.” Woods moved onto the CVC league finals. After that he moved onto sections where he placed 5th in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.38 seconds.
He also placed second in the 300m hurdles with a time of 39.63 seconds. Woods’ speed and pure athletic ability will be missed at RHS after he graduates this week.
Ryan Andrada Nick Espino Logan Ash Brad James Chase Blatnick Max Modeste Matt Brackmann Daniel Ryan Marina Efstathiu Cesar Sanchez Nick Sapp
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has an 85% success rate. “He leads by example, holding athletes accountable, and is very positive captain,” coach Jason Cole said. “By far, he could be one of the best volleyball players in the area.”
trevor pratt
Coming in third is senior outside hitter Trevor Pratt. Pratt had a very successful season and ended CVC play by being named league MVP. He is a four-year volleyball player for RHS. Pratt started his volleyball career back in seventh grade at Buljan Middle School. When he’s not playing for the school, he plays for a club team. Pratt shows particular excellence in his blocking, with 173 blocks in the season, which is the fourth best in the nation. He has 319 kills and a .444 kill percentage on the season, which were both team highs. On his serves he
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One of the biggest highlights for McCown this season was breaking the school record with the 400-yard freestyle relay team. Another top moment for McCown was at the league finals, where he finished fourth in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100yard butterfly. He also placed 13th in the backstroke and 21st in the 200 individual
josh mccown Coming in sixth is senior swimmer Josh McCown. He was easily the top swimmer for RHS this season. He consistently finished first or second in nearly all of his events this year. He is a fouryear swimmer for RHS and also swims competitively for an area club team.
medley at sections. “Josh was an asset to our team and gave us a lot of first-place finishes,” senior swimmer Kevin Gard said.
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Though she was new to the sport this year, Fereira was able to find almost-unprecedented success above the beam. With the help of her coach, Kent Rhodes, this season, Fereria has managed to break the school record and her own personal record and achieve a ranking of eighth in the state for her age group. “She did incredible for her first year of pole vault and was constantly improving throughout the whole season,” fellow pole vaulter and junior Sabrina Baioni said. “She is one of the hardest workers I know, and it shows.” Fereira should be a major contributor in points to the Tigers next season. She hopes to improve upon her school record.
naomi monahan Sliding in at number nine is senior Naomi Monahan, pitching ace and cleanup hitter for RHS’ varsity softball team. Monahan, who will attend the University of Hawaii on a softball scholarship, finished this year strong on both sides of the ball with a 2.28 earned run average, 7-5 record, .318 batting average and five homers. Monahan’s devotion at a young age allowed her to be where she is. “She has worked hard since she was little and has made her a really good player,” teammate Kayleena Gonzalez said. Monahan is also dedicated
to physical fitness in general. “Monahan ... has been in crossfit for many years to ensure that she would be in the best shape she can be in,” senior teammate Shaylyn Borowiak said. Borowiak also credits Monahan’s mental approach for her success. “She has a really positive mind set, which allows her t o not let setbacks or distractions get to her,” Borowiak said. “She pushes herself everyday to reach goals she has for herself.”
2014-2015 Top 10 athletes (XC, track)
4. Nick Sapp
(Water polo, swim)
8. Devin Orr
2. Bryce Crouch
5. Abby Jensen
9. Ben Zanhiser
3. Adam Erickson
6. Trevor Pratt
10. Hayden Simpson
1. Arturo Sotomayor (football, basketball) (baseball)
(volleyball)
(Volleyball)
7. Emily Botnen (xc)
(baseball)
(football, track) (Wrestling)