Eye of the Tiger (Issue 1, Volume 13) by Eye of the Tiger

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College and Career tech Kim Moses prepares to bid adieu to RHS

Five reporters take on controversy surrounding dance royalty

Freshmen Rachel Barber, Anuya Kamath test additions to Roseville’s boba scene

Varsity football adjusts to new year, new league, new game plan

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EYE OF THE TIGER www.eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School’s student-produced publication

1 Tiger Way, Roseville, CA

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 | ISSUE 1, VOLUME 13

Academic support expands BY MARC CHAPPELLE, ISABEL FAJARDO AND MICHELLE IM m.chappelle@eyeofthetigernews.com

Starting today, Tiger Tutoring will reopen and library hours will be extended until 4 p.m. The Roseville Joint Union High School District will also provide a bus for the students who attend and need transportation home starting sometime in the future. This change comes as a result of Roseville High School’s new Local Control Accountability Plan. LCAP stems from a new state funding formula that allows California public schools greater spending flexibility in their ef-

forts to better serve underperforming students. According to the LCAP, the main goal is ‘for every student to be able to compete at their highest ability.’ For Roseville High School, that means providing an after-school support program. For the past two years, Tiger Tutoring has provided students with before-, during- and after-school help. Though RHS teacher Lisa Vaccaro founded and ran the program for the past two years, she was only able to do so for two days a week, as she also had to meet her coaching obligations for the cross country team. Through the first five weeks of the

school year, Tiger Tutoring was unable to run for lack of an adviser. Vaccaro was anxious to leave Tiger Tutoring without sufficient support, believing that all of her students deserve the proper attention and care to grow. “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day,” Vaccaro said. “Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. My [tutors] wouldn›t just show [students] how to solve a problem: They were role models.” RHS teachers Miguel Quinonez and Denise Weis recently volunteered to take over the  SUPPORT | Page 2

FILE PHOTO MADISON MACHA

Beginning today, RHS students will have access to expanded Tiger Tutoring services, as well as extended library hours, thanks to new funding from the school’s Local Countrol and Accountability Plan.

Financial lit course delayed No longer requirement for RHS Class of 2015 BY MICHELLE IM

m.im@eyeofthetigernews.com

Last spring, the Roseville Joint Union High School District announced that it would introduce an online financial literacy course that would serve as an additional graduation requirement for this year’s seniors. However, because the course is not fully developed, the requirement will not affect the class of 2015. According to RJUHSD superintendent John Montgomery, the class is still being piloted. “It’s not going [into] effect until we have piloted it,” Montgomery said. “The seniors for this year should not have to worry.” The financial literacy course’s technicians released information last year about the new online class: the class would be implemented through Blackboard, worth one credit of units, include 15 to 20 hours of course material and cover topics such as large expenses and avoiding fraud. According to the district, the Financial Literacy curriculum was meant to be finalized by Aug.,  COURSE | Page 2

REMEMBERING HIS MOM BY ROBBIE SHORT

r.short@eyeofthetigernews.com

ast Tuesday, junior Colin Richardson sat at a small table in downtown Roseville’s Bunz Sports Pub and listened as a woman he’d never met called out name after name and handed out prize after prize during a raffle held to benefit him and his siblings. Richardson’s mother passed away less than two weeks before. The woman calling names was Judy Ramey, a coworker of hers. Bernadette Richardson was taken off life

support Aug. 27 after suffering extensive neurological damage following an accident at the family’s home. Shortly after dropping Colin off at school Friday, Aug. 22, she was lifting a bike out of the trunk of her SUV when the car’s parking brake failed and the vehicle rolled over her, crushing her lungs and depriving her brain of oxygen for 11 minutes before emergency personnel could respond. She was 54. Since his mother passed, Colin, as well as his four siblings – Aaron, Hazel, Tyrone and Simon, all Roseville High School graduates –  RICHARDSON | Page 8

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Various members of the RHS and Roseville community have reached out to support junior Colin Richardson and his siblings after their mother passed away several weeks ago.

RJUHSD ‘clarifies’ PI status

Montgomery says community comments ‘inaccurate’ BY MADIE WHALEN

New staff join RHS’ ranks BY MADIE WHALEN

m.whalen@eyeofthetigernews.com

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

One of the most prominent members of RHS’ new staff class of 2014-15 is principal David Byrd, who took up the school’s top spot this year after serving as principal at Elk Grove’s Monterey Trail High School.

There are 12 new members on Roseville High School’s staff this year. This year’s hiring has been one of the largest in recent years with ten new teachers and two new administrators. New teachers include Scott Brink, Bradlee Crockett, Kevin Fagan, Grant Hamilton, Katherine Meza, Richard Mowrer, Samuel Pope, Dallen Ross, Sandra Schmatjen and Katrina Wachs. RHS’ new administrators are David Byrd and Stephanie Malia. Last year, many staff members, students, and parents participated in a discussion of what RHS needs in a principal. According to assistant principal Jason

Wilson, the group discussions’ purpose was to unify the school under what RHS wanted and needed in a leader. “What our district did is they provided our school site the opportunity to share and voice what our wants and needs were in a leader for Roseville High School,” Wilson said. This process resulted in the hiring of RHS’s new principal, David Byrd. Byrd has had experience as both a teacher and principal. Byrd was a teacher for eight years, administrator for five years and later became a principal at Monterey Trail High School for the past four years. Byrd admits to being a bit intimidated  HIRE | Page 4

m.whalen@eyeofthetigernews.com

Four years after Roseville High School became classified as a Program Improvement (PI) school, Roseville Joint Union High School District issued a letter clarifying RHS’s educational standing. In January 2014, RJUHSD issued a letter to inform students and parents of RHS’ PI status. In June, another letter was released, further clarifying what the PI label means for RHS and “refers the community to an authoritative response,” according to John Montgomery, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. “There were comments in local community meetings that were inaccurate in their representation of Program Improvement, particularly for Roseville High School,” Montgomery said. Byrd believes the PI title is a stigma and negative label, giving the impression that RHS a bad school. “It’s unfortunate, because it’s a local school doing a great job, providing a great education for  PI | Page 2

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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 Thalia Bennett PHOTO EDITOR Sheila Sharma ONLINE EDITOR Awfa Al-Rakabi Marc Chappelle ESPAñOL EDITOR Elizabeth Morin BUSINESS MANAGER Grant Esparza FACULTY ADVISER Bobby Ritter STAFF WRITERS Logan Ash Catherine Barber Rachel Barber Amran Bisla Connor Blatnick Spencer Bracco Matt Brackmann Joslyn Carrell Nathan Cimino Bryce Crouch Fouad El-Chemali Adam Erickson Jillian Fang Zack Farr Luz Flores Haley Guardino George Hughes Michelle Im Brad James Anuya Kamath Delphine Kyubwa Max Modeste Sophia Mogannam Devin Orr Netzy Ortega Seiénna Papini Neilson Powless Monique Rea Carlie Reader Nick Sapp Haylee Sex Arturo Sotomayor Mikayla Stearns Madison Telles Madie Whalen CONTRIBUTING CARTOONIST Emily Bakken

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

september 15, 2014

COURSE: Release date unknown CONTINUED FROM FRONT

but Montgomery believes the Financial Literacy course is too raw to be released as of now. “It’s still a little premature because it is still in the piloting stage, but as soon as we have more information on it, I am sure that everyone is going to be made aware of what the details are,” Montgomery said. Senior Randy Pay, a student who would have enrolled in the class, is glad of the extra time he possesses due to the unavailability of the financial literacy course. “I have bittersweet feeling with the financial literacy class,” Pay said. “I didn’t like how we

were originally going to have to take the class. On the bright side, we aren’t required to take it anymore, but it would have been nice to learn some things from that online class.” According to lead course developer Mike Fischer, many people also expect positive things from the finalized financial literacy course. “We’ve had parents, alumni and board members go through the entire course, and they’ve been pretty positive in their responses,” Fischer. “Of course, there are some minor changes that need to be made, but regarding the content; they’re reported that they like it.”

Fischer believes that the content and curriculum in financial literacy is essential to students’ careers and education. “How can it not help students,” Fischer said. “Everyone, adult or teenager, needs to be aware of how best to handle their money, so any education about this topic is very useful, and it’s obvious what the benefit is: more dollars for you to use in managing your life.” However, no information as to when the course takes action is known. According to Fischer, the district leadership and the school board are the main factor to this decision.

PI: Despite label, RHS population grows CONTINUED FROM FRONT

our students,” Byrd said. The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001was intended to increase schools’ success by setting high federal standards in English-Language Arts and Math. NCLB required schools to reach standardized goals each year by passing federally administered test, such as STAR tests. If a school does not reach their goal, they are classified as a Program Improvement School. NCLB measures Math and English-Language Arts performance only. According to principal Byrd, the goal of NCLB was the complete success of each student. “They basically said over the course of ten years, eventually, 100 percent of your kids will meet their standards,” Byrd said. “Along the way, every year, we’re going to give you a goal and say this is what you’ve got to do to meet that goal.” For the last four years, RHS’ Socio-Economically Disadvantaged students did not meet the Adequate Yearly Progress targets in English-Language Arts and Math on the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Likewise, RHS’ English Language Learners did not meet the graduation requirement. Despite this, RHS has API (Academic Performance Index) that has come close to the state target for many years. As a group, RHS students have “achieved a 792 API score (STAR Tests),

maintained a 94.3 percent graduation rate, and 71.2 percent of the graduates from the Class of 2013 met the University of California and California State University’s A-G Recommended Course of Study,” according to RJUHSD. When labeled as PI, the school is legally required to notify incoming freshmen, as well as allow students to transfer to other schools in the area who are not under the Program Improvement. According to Montgomery, the decision to rid the label is up to the federal government. “Program Improvement is in place until legislation updates and certifies a new system for API, AYP,” Montgomery said. Byrd believes that NCLB is an outdated system. With the emergence of Common Core and receding of STAR tests and other standardized testing, NCLB has less justification to assign PI labels, and to Byrd, the PI status has lost its meaning. “Everyone’s saying, ‘Can we take the flag down?’ because it doesn’t really mean anything anymore.” Byrd said. “If you look at the last four years of Roseville High School … it’s a school that has improved in every single area. But during that time, it’s been labeled Program Improvement.” However outdated, RHS administration is still trying to improve the PI status. Last year freshman seminar was introduced to our campus, as a pathway class designed to ease freshmen transition into high school.

RHS also offers intervention and support classes for upperclassmen. For example, Expository Reading and Writing Courses (ERWC classes) aid students in their prep for college. Even under the PI status, Montgomery believes that RHS is no weaker than any other school in the district. “Each school has demonstrated areas of strength and areas of improvement,” Montgomery said. “The clarification letter helps to describe the realities of continuous improvement. Every district, every school, every teacher and every student looks to get better. The general theme continues to be one of ‘Continuous Improvement.’” When RHS’ PI status was first revealed, there was a movement of kids out of RHS and transfers to other schools. However, over the past four years, the school’s enrollment has gone back up to where it was before PI. This year’s incoming freshman class has a 52 student increase from last year’s class. “People are not running from Roseville High School because we’ve got a flag that says ‘Program Improvement,’” Byrd said. To Montgomery, RHS has little to worry about, even with the PI status. “Roseville High School continues to have a strong student enrollment with the support of a well-informed community,” Montgomery said. “The numbers speak for themselves.”

Bridge renovations coming to downtown by MADISON TELLES

m.telles@eyeofthetigernews.com

The roundabout construction was only the beginning of the City of Roseville’s Civic Center project that will continue in three phases until 2018. The project includes rough grading at the site of the new fire station, extension of the existing Oak Street Class walking trail, relocation of the iconic Rube Nelson Ice House Bridge, reconstruction of the library bridge that washed out in 2012 and adding a main Downtown Bridge, which connects Royer Park to the Civic Center. “It is part of a plan to provide more connections to Royer Park and into the Civic Center,” Melissa Ruth of Mark Thomas and Company said. “That’s the overarching idea to develop the core of Roseville.” There was concern from senior citizens about the Veteran’s Hall accessibility and parking, but those issues were resolved. The history and culture of Roseville will be emulated through architectural details in all three bridges. “We’re going to maintain the character of the bridge,” City of Roseville official Mike Dour said. “The architects are familiar with the importance of [Roseville’s history].” The library bridge will have similar characteristics usually attributed to the Icehouse Bridge, and is funded by federal funding

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

City of Roseville officials showcased plans for the bridge construction project coming to downtown Roseville at a community open house Tuesday, Sept. 9.The city will renovate, build and/or rebuild three bridges downtown. sources. The Rube Nelson Icehouse Bridge will be renovated with new railings, decking and will be reoriented with direct access to the Veteran’s Hall. The history of its prior access to the PFE Icehouse is a main focus during the restoration. The most innovative addition will be the Downtown Bridge. While not fully funded yet, the city is looking for ways to bridge the gap. It focuses on the Works Progress Administration era features that are found in similar WPA projects of the New Deal period. There will also be emphasis on Dry Creek and its ecosystem. “We’ve tied in some paving

that is [meant to] accentuate the river,” Dour said. Parking lots will also be added and extended. After completion, there will be three parking lots along with the existing parking structure on Vernon Street. Construction in the park, starting this fall, isn’t expected to affect commute through the intersection at Washington Boulevard and Oak Street. Dour worked closely with Mark Thomas and Company architects and planners to ensure there would be no interference. Instead of materials and construction vehicles obstructing vehicle traffic, it will be placed in preexisting parking lots.

FILE PHOTO EVELINA KISLYANKA

Using LCAP funding, Tiger Tutoring will be able help students with individual subjects on certain days of the week. Miguel Quinonez will help with math, while Denise Weis will tutor students in English.

SUPPORT: Specific subjects targeted, late buses coming CONTINUED FROM FRONT

program. “I wanted to be able to give back to my students,” Quinonez said. Tiger Tutoring will be tentatively open from 2:45 to 4:30 Monday through Thursday, at least to start. Firm dates will be set following student opinion and response from Oakmont High School, whose students will share buses with RHS students. RHS principal David Byrd is still awaiting more information from the district regarding monetary expenses and possible routes. “Right now, [buses and transportation] doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, because it’s ninety degrees out and sunny, but pretty soon it’s going to rainy, cold, foggy, dark, all those things, so the district has been great about coming up with the bus to be able to support kids,” Byrd said. Quinonez also desires to support students, focusing on math help in Admin 1 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with AVID tutors filling in on Mondays and Tuesdays. However, on Wednesdays, Quinonez plans to transfer to the library for the last thirty minutes. Weis plans to help students on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room 935 or in other English classrooms, depending on the day. Quinonez believes each subject being in a specific space will help students focus. “I want to help create an environment where students work together and help each other,” Quinonez said. “You have to make it so there’s incentive for everyone involved.” Junior and former Tutoring Center tutor Sabrina Baioni enjoyed watching and tutoring students to learn previously struggled material. RHS rewarded Baioni for her help with pay, allowing Baioni gas money to attend these sessions. “I also play two sports, so it was a good job to have to fit around the sports, cross country and track,” Baioni said.“I also really enjoy being able to help people and teach them, and help them

clarify things from another point of view.” According to Byrd, times could possibly be extended even further in order to aid students. “You kind of do things in phases and increments, so we’ll watch that happen over the year,” Byrd said. “This year will be a learning experience for everybody and kind of piloting some of these new ideas and working out some of the bugs.” More changes to come to the school due to LCAP funding also include the implementation of Naviance – a college preparation program long considered by counselors in the past – and expanded support in the College and Career Center. Due to monetary restrictions in the past, Naviance was unavailable to RHS counselors for some time. However, after consultations with Granite Bay High School counselors, who have already used Naviance, and further indepth research, RHS counseling staff purchased Naviance during the 2013-14 school year. “[Naviance] is new to everybody for the most part, we put a lot of stuff together that was nonNaviance related, and now we have to transition in Naviance so that’s going to take a little while,” Byrd said. “Eventually we’ll have every counselor trained and some teachers [interested] and eventually we’ll get a lot of people with their mind wrapped around Naviance and figuring out what we can do with this.” Other goals for LCAP include higher standardized test scores, enrollment in advanced class and number of Seals of Biliteracy issued to RHS students, as well as fewer expulsions and suspensions throughout the school year. “We are trying out some strategies and approaches we have never been able to afford before,” RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson said. “Those that are effective, we will keep. Those that are not, we will discontinue. With what we learn this year, we will revise our plan and hopefully reach even more students and families next year.”

news | page 3

september 15, 2014

RHS welcomes largest freshman class in history BY NATHAN CIMINO

n.cimino@eyeofthetigernews.com

The 578 students of the Class of 2018 represent the largest class to have ever come through Roseville High School. Due to a 52-student increase from last year’s freshman class, as well as overall school population growth, there are now two extra full-time staff members on campus, as additional freshman level classes are being offered to accommodate the substantial size of the Class of 2018. Assistant principal Matt Pipitone believes that there is no specific reason for the sudden inflation in class size. He compared forecasting population growth to forecasting the weather; the weather being the more accurate of the two. “It’s just the nature of the beast,” Pipitone said. “Sometimes you just get a swell of students at particular grade level, and who’s to say why.” According to student activi-

ties director Lindsey Parker, the freshmen made a strong impression during orientation. “They were a great class to work with,” Lindsey Parker, RHS’ student activities director said. “They were all into the games, they were getting to know each other really well and had some great questions about the school.” Parker credits their lack of spirit at the back-to-school rally to first day jitters, and expects them to blow everyone away at the homecoming rally due to sheer numbers. Parker also noticed how there is a large number of freshmen in her leadership class. “It’s really cool and exciting because it shows that they want to get involved in the school in different ways,” Parker said. Clare Leach, a member of freshman office, stressed the tight-knit community of the freshman class. The elimination of the hierarchy in freshman office served to bring a new sense of equality amongst them. Leach believes the

middle-school rivalry between Buljan Middle School and Cooley Middle School is still present amidst the Class of 2018, yet they are beginning to come together. “I think it’s going to be a really good year, and I think everyone is really spirited,” Leach said. “I’m excited.” The large class size has an impact on athletics, as more athletes are available to compete on the school’s teams. This year, the freshman football players had to use reuse old jerseys to accommodate the 65 players on the team. Last year, there was a lack of freshman football players who decided to move up to JV. Head coach Tim McDowell understands that commitment from students varies year to year, but has only seen promising things. “They definitely have some very good talent,” McDowell said. “I have watched them practice as well. They appear to be working hard.”

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

The 578 students in RHS’ Class of 2018 comprise the school’s largest class in history, and a class with 52 more than the one before it. Due to the larger-than-normal number of students, many freshmen had to sit on the gym floor at the first day of school rally.

New gates close off Campo St. Admin pushes for safer, closed campus for RHS BY JILLIAN FANG

j.fang@eyeofthetigernews.com

In an effort to increase campus security on Roseville High School, new gates have been installed along Campo Street. RHS is one of the only high schools in the area that has a road pass right through the campus, as Campo Street divides the cafeteria and band room from the gyms, pool and admin building. “The area has been wide open for a long time,” assistant principal Jon Coleman said. Administration planned to establish gates for some time, but had to get the approval from the City of Roseville and find the funding. Once they finally found both, they began the process of installing the new gates. The

funding, however, was solely for the gates. Administration doesn’t have any future plans to alter or improve campus security, but they do wish to add security cameras in the undetermined future. Construction began last spring with the fences by the administration building. Over the summer, the gates over Campo Street were established. The new gates are to establish a more secure campus for the students and staff, allowing anyone on campus to leave, but visitors can’t access RHS unless they enter through the admin building. Likewise, for students who have off periods or ROP, the only way to get back on or off campus would be through the office. “Anything we can do to pro-

vide a safer environment for students and faculty member is important,” Coleman said. Campus monitor Christy Freight feels more secure because the gates keep staff and students in a more contained environment. “The gates give me a sense of security and I believe every school should have gates,” Freight said. Administration wants to ensure safety and enforce rules to the best of their abilities, with or without the new gates, however sophomore Sara Melchner thinks otherwise. “The gates make the school look very prison-like,” Melchner said. “The new gates are just a larger and more intimidating version of the chains they had last year; they are really unnecessary.”

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

As part of an effort to establish a more safe and secure campus, RHS administration installed two gates blocking off Campo St. over the summer. The gates remains locked during school hours.

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

During the senior class meeting that took place on Sept. 3, the Class of 2015, including Kylie Catilus, discussed a potential Sober Grad Night location change to Disneyland. The plan is currently being considered but may not be feasible due to the cost of travel.

Seniors petition for new Sober Grad BY MADISON TELLES

m.telles@eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School’s Class of 2015 has created a student-led petition to change the destination of Sober Grad Night to Disneyland. Imagined in their government class after discussing the first amendment right to petition, seniors Madison Gregory and Stephanie Gerstle decided to create and hang the petition outside room 603 to ensure the entire senior class would have the opportunity to sign it. “A lot of people have been talking about [trying to change Sober Grad Night] since junior year,” Gregory said. “Disneyland sounds more exciting since everyone has been to San Francisco.” RHS teacher Dana Dooley witnessed the beginning stages of the petition in her fourth period government class. “I always get excited when I see students take the step towards affecting change,” Dooley said.

Disneyland does offer grad nights in which the park is open overnight exclusively to recently graduated seniors. If Disneyland becomes the location for Sober Grad Night, a “gym lock in” will be considered for the night of graduation to ensure that the point of Sober Grad – keeping students safe from alcohol and drugs – is not defeated. Sober Grad Night is organized by an independent parent committee. Senior class vice president Caroline Cirrincione has been in contact with them to discuss the possible change. “Money is the main issue,” Cirrincione said. Since Sober Grad Night isn’t funded by RHS, there are logistical concerns that must be addressed before the motion can continue. Bussing to San Francisco costs $6000 and traveling to Disneyland takes three times longer than the Bay Area. The time table of the trip is fol-

lowed by the concern for needed hotels, another added expense. Furthermore, the deposit for the boat planned for the 2015 Sober Grad was already submitted last year. Though ticket price may not increase, students who need assistance in paying for the event would see fewer scholarships available, and become marginalized due to budget constraints. “Sober Grad Night offers a last chance for the seniors to be together,” Student Government teacher Lindsay Parker said. “They may not get the same experience if [Sober Grad Night] is at Disneyland.” Parker, the senior class officers and ASB officers are scheduled to meet with the parent committee on Sept. 16 to voice opinions and find out if there will be enough money to change Sober Grad. “It’s something we’re looking into,” Parker said. Next Friday, the petition will be taken down.

Senior Superlatives stirs up controversy among Class of 2015 BY MADIE WHALEN

m.whalen@eyeofthetigernews.com

When the yearbook Senior Superlatives voting took place on Sept 2., the list received mixed reviews. The list, which is produced by yearbook students, ask students to choose which students best fit categories like Super and Most Likely to Travel. The class discusses which seniors they believe would fit best in each category. Then, they narrow the potential candidates down to three senior girls and three senior boys who will represent their selected category. Yearbook students then distribute a completed list to classes, where only seniors vote which of their peers should be chosen. Though some students were happy with the list, others claimed it did not embody the senior class as a whole. Senior Adrianna Grimes is happy with the list.

Grimes was nominated for Best Smile as well as Cutest Couple with her boyfriend, senior John Kidder. Grimes and Kidder won ‘Cutest Couple.’ “I’m obviously really happy we won because we’ve been together for so long,” Grimes said. “We’re going to hit our one year on Oct. 3.” According to Grimes, despite many complaints from the senior class, the superlatives were a fair list. “I would say that everyone that won deserved it,” Grimes said. “I think it represents our class pretty well because I feel like a lot of people on the list are very well known. Everyone on this list, I’ve heard of.” Grimes believes that Senior Superlatives has nothing to do with popularity, and is instead about being known. “I feel like the people who put themselves out there more and are

more known would be more likely to get on the list,” Grimes said. “A lot of people who are quieter and shy and don’t know as many people have less of a chance of getting on the list just because a lot of people don’t know them.” Some seniors claim that many students on the list are closely associated with each other, and with the seniors who wrote the list. They also point out that a handful of students appeared in more than category. “The only way to fix that is there should be a larger variety of people making the list,” Grimes said. “The people that made [the list] pretty much know the people. I think if there were more people on the panel making this list, they would be better represented.” Still, however, Grimes does not believe any seniors on the list were wrongly nominated. “They are a part of our school, so they should be represented,”

Grimes said. “If you’re not on the list, you shouldn’t get super butthurt about it. It sucks but you’re still going to get in the yearbook.” Senior Darrian Wurster disagrees. According to Wurster, the list is biased and unfair. Wurster and boyfriend, senior Gage Sanford, have recently celebrated their four-year anniversary. Despite their long-term relationship, the couple was left off the list. “[It’s] because we’re not popular,” Wurster said. “It’s very biased.” According to Sanford, some seniors on the list deserve the recognition. “For Best dressed, Alyssa Wall goes around in heels and nice outfits,” Sanford said. “That deserves credit.” However, Wurster believes that there were seniors who deserved the credit that did not make the cut.

“[Joey Costa] is on the Junior Olympics and he’s competed on several accounts, and yet he’s not on Best Athlete,” Wurster said. The two do agree that the Senior Superlatives do not represent the senior class at all. “It represents the main people that are popular,” Wurster said. “There are people who don’t get out there much, but they could still be a great dancer or are still the best athlete.” Wurster believes that lack of acknowledgement could result in more than certain students becoming upset. “If someone who feels like they tried their best and doesn’t get on the list, I feel like it could lower a lot of self esteem,” Wurster said. To Wurster, her relationship with Sanford was not about making the yearbook. “It doesn’t really matter if we made it in the yearbook or not,” Wurster said. “It’s just a picture

honestly. It’s high school.” Some seniors have also criticized the list for having irrelevant categories such as ‘Most Likely to Travel,’ as well as hurtful categories such as ‘Cat Lady.’ Other students complained about the time of day seniors were asked to vote. Superlatives were distributed during fourth period, a period that many seniors take off. Some senior students also didn’t get to participate if Yearbook didn’t make it to their fourth period class. The general concern with creating the Senior Superlative list stems from who gets to contribute to the list. Many students believe a school wide nomination process, a process similar to dance court nominations, instead of leaving the process up to the select few seniors who are in the yearbook class. Yearbook teacher Tammy Kaley refused to comment.

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september 15, 2014

STAFF: New hires bring new programs, perspectives

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

coming into such a prominent position at a new school. “This is an awesome school and it’s always a little challenging when you come in and you’re the principal,” Bryd said. However, Byrd saw his situation as the new principal of a school of established teachers as a valuable resource. “I step onto this campus and there are people who have been teaching longer than I’ve been a teacher and principal combined,” Byrd said. “Those are the kind of people that I want to get to know really well and pick their brain and talk to them.” According to Byrd, there are a lot of changes happening this year at RHS and being a new principal is almost an advantage when the school is already experiencing change. “Now’s the time to embrace all of this new stuff because for me it’s not any more difficult to change what I’m doing,” Byrd said. “It’s all new to me.” Byrd says that many people ask him what he will bring to our school, but for now, he doesn’t have an answer. “You can have all these great ideas, but until you know the school … first of all they may already have it, they may already be doing it,” Byrd said. “Secondly, your great idea may not fit. Right now one of the things I’m trying to do is get a sense of what RHS needs, and that takes a little bit of time.” One thing Byrd wants to bring to RHS is greater enrollment in AP and Honors courses. Byrd believes that there are more students that can succeed in higher level courses than people think. “I want to find that group of students that have that AP/Honor ability, but aren’t taking the AP Honor class and shift them to taking at least one AP Honors class before they graduate Roseville High,” Byrd said.

From left to right: (Row 1) Scott Brink, David Byrd, Bradlee Crockett, Kevin Fagan. (Row 2) Krissy Frates, Grant Hamilton, Stephanie Malia, Katherine Meza, Richard Mowrer. (Row 3) Samuel Pope, Dallen Ross, Sandra Schmatjen, Katrina Wachs. RHS’s other new administrator is Stephanie Malia, who has experience as a teacher, assistant principal and as a dean. Malia was the assistant principal for the last nine years at Spanish Springs High School. According to Malia, compared to her old school, RHS has many similarities and differences. “The demographics are very similar to my old school, which I liked, but the fact that it had the history and the tradition of being a school that’s over a hundred years old appealed to me,” Malia said. Despite starting her RHS career this year, teachers and students alike have been affable to the new assistant principal, according to Malia. “I like that fact that even though I’m brand new, I can say hi to kids and they’re really excited to say hi to me,” Malia said. “I like the fact that teachers appreciate when I do walk throughs and come in to their classrooms and send emails. I felt very welcomed. I don’t want to come in and step on toes as I’m finding my way. People have just been really open and receptive.” Malia is coming to Roseville from a different school, city and even state. However, she feels the

change has been worth the risk. “This was a big change for me, professionally, personally. It was big risk to leave my comfort zone,” Malia said. “I was fairly well established because I’d been in that district for so long, but I can honestly say that the risks and evenly the difficulties now … have been worth it. I really feel like I’m home here, and I wouldn’t say that that would be the case just anywhere.” Sandra Schmatjen is also now joining the staff as a permanent fulltime employee this year. She worked part time last year team teaching with geometry teacher Mike Fischer. When assistant principal Jon Coleman temporarily left for a hip surgery, Fischer was asked to step in. Schmatjen was then asked to step in for Fischer. Schmatjen, however, was unavailable to cover all five days. Nonetheless, Fischer and Schmatjen were able to work out an effective schedule Last year Fischer accepted a job as an assistant principal at Granite Bay High School, leaving Schmatjen a full time position teaching their jointly taught class. Schmatjen took the offer and is now teaching full time at RHS. Even before last year, Schmatjen

was not completely new to RHS. Schmatjen taught math at RHS full time from 2000 to 2006. According to Schmatjen, this school year was a beneficial time to come back. “Coming back after seven years, it kind of feels like you’re a new teacher starting over,” Schmatjen said. “But it happens at a time now where all the math teachers feel like new teachers because they’re starting new curriculum with all new books. So I feel like we’re all in it together, and I’m not trying to figure it out by myself.” Also new to RHS is math and computer science teacher Bradlee Crockett, who is instructing two programs new to RHS. Crockett teaches Tiger Tech and Exploring Computer Sciences. According to Crockett, being a new teacher with a new program is a challenge. “I feel like the wheels are always spinning but its coming together great. I’ve had a lot of support,” Crockett said. “Everyone here has been really nice and helpful. In other districts, when you’re the new teacher nobody really asks if you need help and that hasn’t been the case here.”

Another new teacher at RHS is Richard Mowrer. Mowrer teaches CP US History and CP World Studies and was hired mid-summer when an unexpected position became available. Even before he was asked, Mowrer had an interest working at RHS. Mowrer’s wife, Amy Mowrer has taught English at RHS for over a decade. “For 12 years I’ve been hearing Mrs. Mowrer talk about how great her school is and how much she enjoys working there,” Mowrer said. “I’d been on campus a couple times for a couple football games and a couple plays, and the colleagues I’ve met of hers were all very professional.” Byrd and the Mowrers also have a relationship. The three have been long time family friends for over 20 years. “The school I was at was a good experience but not really where I wanted to continue to be, and so when Mr. Byrd became the principal that was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up,” Mowrer said. When at Sheldon High School, Mowrer only taught AP courses, a different experience from teaching CP, according to Mowrer. “At Sheldon I taught all AP,

so it’s been a transition, but that’s part of why I wanted to take the job,” Mowrer said. “I want to improve my skills as a CP teacher, which needs some improvement. It’s been a challenge, but a good one.” Working with a close friend and a spouse is “weird” according to Mowrer, but he is enjoying the experience. “Working with Mrs. Mowrer is extremely cool because she’s awesome,” Mowrer said. “Everyone I’ve met on campus is like, ‘Oh we love Mrs. Mowrer’ and I’m like, ‘yeah I love her too.’” In general, Mowrer appreciates the overall attitude of RHS students. “I think the students enjoy being here. I think they’re proud to be here,” Mowrer said. “They have a sense of community that not a lot of high schools have. There’s something special here.” Mowrer also looks forward to changes like Common Core coming to RHS this year.” Mowrer also teaches college courses at Folsom College three times a week. The English department added Brink, Meza, Wach and Pope. Fagan and Ross are new science teachers. Hamilton will work in the math department. RHS also has a new campus monitor, Krissy Frates. New college and career and two learning support specialists will be hired soon as well. According to Byrd, students and staff of RHS simply are nice. “I think it has everything to do with the character, the heart, the compassion of the adults that work here and the kids that go to school here,” Byrd said. According to Byrd, both his previous school and RHS have similar qualities; however, Byrd could not pick one over the other. “That’s like asking which of your two kids do you like the best.” Byrd said. “But what can I say, I’m a Tiger now. Once a Tiger always a Tiger.”

news | page 5

september 15, 2014

Trends in AP pass rates vary from class to class by ANUYA KAMATH

a.kamath@eyeofthetigernews.com

While Roseville High School’s overall AP passing rates remained steady at 53 percent each of the past two years, many individual programs saw significant variance. For instance, despite a change in curriculum, AP Spanish teacher Kasey Hanna saw an increase in number of passing students to have a 100 percent passing rate. According to Hanna, the new curriculum and textbook introduced six different themes for students to focus on, and she prefers this more precise syllabus to last year’s, believing that it was a major reason for the success rate of the students. Dana Dooley, the AP US Government teacher, experienced a passing rate of 71 percent, a jump from the 49 percent of the year before. “I think it’s more [of] just continuing to integrate Common Core style teaching, that really makes learning more an experience and it helps the material resonate more strongly which makes it easier to recall in a testing format,” Dooley said. Dooley utilized resources from around the country through Internet chat forums to make sure that she was building a proper foundation for her curriculum. She feels that it paid off for her and now she has definite ideas on what and how she would like to teach the class. “Someone had asked me earlier this week what the biggest difference is in myself between last year and this year, last year being my first year and not having a pass rate to go with and everything,” Dooley said. “I would second guess myself a lot and sometimes not know if I was doing what I should be doing to adequately prepare the students and that was a big source of stress for me. But now the biggest difference this year is that I feel a lot more affirmed and validated.”

AP Art History was another class that showed large variance in passing rates, with an increase of 18 percent. Patty Leong believes that this was due to her students’ increased attendance to biweekly AP study sessions in the spring semester. In terms of curriculum, Leong says that she didn’t stray much from her normal routine. The same was true for CJ Addington, who taught the AP Physics course last year and experienced a 13 percent jump in passing rates. “That’s the funny thing, is that I didn’t really change much last year, but we still saw an increase in scores,” Addington said. One of the reasons Addington believes his students did so well is because his tests mimic those of an actual AP test. “I make sure we do multiple choices that look like the multiple choices and free response questions that look like the free response questions,” Addington said. “The problem with physics though, and that’s one of the reasons they’ve restructured it, is that there’s so many topics that we don’t even know what they’re going to ask. However, Addington is happy with the increase. “It [is] definitely a step up from the past couple years,” Addington said. On the other hand, AP Calculus BC showed a marked drop in passing scores, dropping 18 percent. “One thing that I wasn’t as strict about [was] making sure about was that the students were really solid on their fundamental skills, the correct skills and [that] that resulted in part of the decrease,” AP Calculus teacher Michelle Walton said. “That’s a change that [I] will be making this year, [to be] more on top of on those things and that those don’t become stumbling blocks for the whole year.” Walton predicts that with these small changes, along with mak-

ing her tests resemble mini-AP exams and holding routine study sessions in class, the rates for AP Calculus BC will match the years past. AP Chemistry, a science course that already faced a curriculum change last year, experienced a drop in passing rates. Robert Mahlman, AP Chemistry teacher, believes that this dip was caused by the fact that the class angle of the curriculum shifted. “It went from being, I think, more math-based to more concept-base,” Mahlman said. “But there weren’t any sample questions, there weren’t any multiple choice questions, they just gave us the curriculum, which was pretty much the same, just focused more on concept.” Mahlman also believes that the graders were trying to be more consistent with their new grading systems. This way, he suggests, teachers will have to adjust their curriculum to the new standards. Mahlman thinks that the adjustment is taking time for stu-

ISABEL FAJARDO EYE OF THE TIGER

KEVIN CHAPPELLE GRAPHIC

Though RHS’ overall AP pass rate stayed relatively the same, some individual classes saw large changes, such as AP Art History (above). dents as well. “It’s the way that they’re focusing more on concept than math,” Mahlman said. “That’s kind of the hard part – the test is given and the students are used to seeing a certain type of question. And on the test they take, the question is

[the] same concept, just a different angle. But I’ll make changes there, deemphasize math and [put] emphasis on concept. ” However, now that he has more experience, Mahlman expects to see his class’s passing rates increase.

Implemented ROAR program aims to encourage good behavior by MADIE WHALEN

m.whalen@eyeofthetigernews.com

ROAR, led by RHS Peer Helping teacher Valerie Erb and assistant principal Matt Pipitone, is a new program that reinforces good behaviors and character education through the use of a reward system. ROAR stands for “Respectful,” “On task,” “Aware” and “Responsible.” Students will now be rewarded with tickets for these characteristics. Recipients can then turn in their tickets and enter in a raffle to win prizes that range from free Taco Bell to, potentially, a new iPad. Student Government advisor and active ROAR participant Lindsey Parker believes ROAR is a great way to support positive things that students do. “To me, ROAR is a way of putting guidelines and having more information in pace about things that we already do here on campus,” Parker said. “It’s all about rewarding positive behavior and making sure students are being recognized when they’re making the right choice or going above and beyond.” PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support) is the district wide program name for the character education program. PBIS has been a districtwide initiative for several years. Other elementary, middle and high schools in the district have had their version of PBIS at their school for several years. Roseville High’s version is ROAR. ROAR has existed on campus as an idea for over a year, but it wasn’t until this year that the program had really launched. ROAR and PBIS focus on rewarding positive behaviors rather than reprimanding bad ones. Students will still be punished

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Peer Helping teacher Valerie Erb first introduced the ROAR program to student on the first day of school. The program, which focuses on the characteristics of ‘Respectful,’ ‘On Task,’ ‘Aware’ and ‘Responsible,’ rewards students for demostrating those qualities in class and around school. for breaking rules; however, the PBIS students who do good will receive positive feedback. “The thing I like about it is it gives us all a chance to look for what students are doing right,” ROAR’s administrative coordinator Pipitone said. “I think too often it’s really easy to look at what students do wrong. You very rarely hear the stories about all the good things students are doing.” ROAR’s staff coordinator, Valerie Erb, was recruited last March to direct RHS’ new program. With her involvement in Peer Helping, Erb was happy to expand her contribution with character education on our campus. “Because it was about bringing character to school and acknowledging and promoting positive behaviors, I felt like I’d love to be a part of it,” Erb said. According to Erb and Pipitone, Peer Helping has helped our school come out on top compared to other schools in the district.

“Peer Helping has been doing the Respect Assembly with the freshmen for years,” Pipitone said. “It’s nothing new, it’s just going school wide and getting everyone talking about it. It’s all the same kinds of things - we’re just putting a name on it.” ROAR has been closely compared to Erb’s existing character development class, Peer Helping, though it is not an extension of the program. The goal for ROAR is to unify the school and to promote behaviors that RHS encourages. “It’s the idea of getting everyone on the same page of being respectful and caring,” Erb said. “It’s something I think the whole school could care about.” In three weeks, ROAR has accomplished several tasks. On Aug. 25, Erb started a contest to see which class could return their class compacts first. “I emailed all the staff asking ‘who’s the most on task and

responsible’ and who could turn in their forms first,” Erb said. “It was a way again, to reinforce the staff.” Second period classes AP Calculus and Critical Reading and Writing were rewarded with treats two weeks ago for being the first classes to win Erb’s competition and turn in their class compacts. In addition, art has formed a mural club, dedicated to painting murals, one of which will represent ROAR. Anyone can sign up to contribute to the mural. Some students wonder if ROAR will catch on, but to one student, receiving a ROAR ticket held “more meaning.” Senior Mateo Mondragon received a ROAR ticket from counselor Philomena Crone for being a responsible student. “She said that I’m a breath of fresh air,” Mondragon said. “She said it’s times like the situation we were in that made her job

special because she sees that I’m pushing myself and I’m trying to achieve my goals. And that those were the things that motivated her to become a counselor; to help the people that really need it.” Crone explained the definition of ROAR to Mondragon, and took the time to express to him why he deserved the reward. According to Mondragon, when Crone took the time to justify to him why he deserved the ticket, it made the experience much more meaningful. “It made me feel real good because I’ve never experienced that with any of the other teachers on campus,” Mondragon said. “They’re all nice, but they never went out of their way to tell me how much they care and about the impact I had on them, if I had one at all.” There has been concern that students will start doing good deeds for prizes, rather than being genuine. Parker, however, doesn’t see this as a problem. “If it becomes a habit to throw away trash when you see it, or if it becomes a habit to say ‘Hi’ to people when you see them in the hallway, then eventually it won’t be for the prize, it’ll be because it’s a habit,” Parker said. “So you’re no longer doing it for the prize.” According to Parker, there has been a positive response from staff, with most teachers asking for more tickets. There is also a possibility that teachers could enter a separate staff raffle, using the tickets they gave to their students in the drawing. Raffle drawings will be every other Friday, and winners will be announced on TigerCast News on the following Monday. Parker is also planning a mass raffle drawing of tickets collected all year.

THENEWSINBRIEFS

Homecoming, Homelink undergo changes

HC to feature Disneyland Roseville High School’s Student Government class is incorporating the Happiest Place on Earth theme into this year’s Homecoming dance. Disneyland, a theme the Class of 2015 has been hoping for since last year, had the most votes. Each class has a different land that’s represented at Disneyland. According to ASB president Emma Slack, the new specificity of theme does not make the decorating harder, because the lands offer a variety of options for decorating. Float building is different this year as well. Construction will be at a volunteered house as it has been before, but building and decorating the float will be on campus. “We’re hoping for the most participation from the school,” Slack said. “It’s easy if it’s here so everyone knows about it.” Seniors have a Fantasy Landinspired float, juniors have Adventure Land, sophomores have Frontier Land and the freshmen will decorate their float with a Tomorrow Land theme. Another concern for this year’s Homecoming festivities was the gates which are in the way of the parade’s usual route. The gates were erected over the summer to provide higher safety for the students and staff on campus. “They have to be wide enough to fit a fire truck through for anything like an emergency, so it will be fine,” student activities adviser Lindsey Parker said. “I freaked out at first, too, but it will all work.” Homelink login process altered Over the summer, the Homelink account creation and login process changed. Students with existing accounts were sent an email before the summer began, informing them of the changes starting on June 28. Roseville High School’s collaboration with Google for Education pushed for the login and email change. RHS was selected to participate in Google’s efforts to make widespread educational technologies common in classrooms. This expansion also influenced the change in the Homelink login. Roseville administration intends for the student email to be the only form of email associated with the school’s online programs. “It’s because [personal emails] will not link with Blackboard, with your teachers and with the Homelink,” registrar Cindy Travasso said. “We had to change it.” For some students, however, there were contradictory experiences with the login instructions. “I didn’t have to change mine,” sophomore Kayla Kwong said. On the other hand, sophomore Savanah Smith’s experience matched others’. “[The change] was really hard; I had no idea about what to do,” Smith said. “I had to ask like five different people because some people would say ‘Oh, it’s your last year’s one, it’s the same one.’” However, Travasso has tried to keep up with each bug fix in the method, while also helping the student body remain informed about how to proceed. “If people would just read and follow the instructions as was given, it goes really smooth,” Travasso said. “I do not mind all of the problems that we’ve had, because with all of the problems that we’ve had I am becoming more knowledgeable to help the students and teachers and parents with what they need to know.” - Compiled by Haley Gaurdino and Mikayla Sterns

el 15 de septiembre de 2014

NOTICIAS LCAP provee más recursos para estudiantes POR MARC CHAPPELLE, ISABEL FAJARDO Y MICHELLE IM m.chappelle@eyeofthetigernews.com

Empezando hoy, Tiger Tutoring empezará de nuevo y las horas de la biblioteca extenderán hasta cuatro por la tarde. El distrito secundario de Roseville (RJUHSD) proveerán un autobús para los estudiantes que necesitan transportación a casa que va a comenzar en algún momento en el futuro. Este cambio es un resultado del nuevo Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) de la escuela secundaria de Roseville (RHS). LCAP es una programa de financiamiento del estado que permite las escuelas publicas en California más flexibilidad de gastos para que las escuelas puedan ayudar a los estudiantes en apuros. Según LCAP, el principal objetivo es “para que cada estudiante

sea capaz de competir al máximo de sus capacidades.” Para RHS, este significa que es importante proveer apoyo después de las horas de escuela. Tiger Tutoring estará abierta provisionalmente de 2:45 a 4:30 el lunes al jueves. Según el director David Byrd, las horas de tutoría pueden ser extendidas aún más para ayudar a los estudiantes. Es posible que más cambios puedan ser implementados debido a financiamiento de LCAP como el programa de Naviance—un programa usado por consejeros para apoyar estudiantes con su preparación para la universidad. Más metas de LCAP incluyen calificaciones más altos, más inscripciones en clases avanzadas, más estudiantes que pueden hablar más que sólo uno idioma, y menos suspensiones y expulsiones.

La clase sobre educación financiera no va a ser implementado este año POR MICHELLE IM

m.im@eyeofthetigernews.com

Una clase de educación financiera no va a afectar la clase de 2015 contrariamente a reportajes del año pasado. La idea de una clase como esta fue introducido en el año escolar de 2013-2014, y tenía la intención de ser un requisito de graduación y ser completado durante las vacaciones de verano. Sin embargo, según el superintendente del distrito secundario de Roseville (RJUHSD) John Montgomery, la clase todavía está siendo probado y revisado. El año pasado los técnicos de la clase lanzó información sobre la nueva clase en línea: la clase se

REPORTAJES

llevaría a cabo a través de Blackboard, vale un crédito, incluye de 15 a 20 horas de material del curso y cubrir temas como gastos grandes y evitar el fraude. Según el distrito, el currículo de la clase se suponía que iba a ser finalizado en agosto, pero Montgomery cree que el curso no está lista para ser lanzado todavía. “Todavía es un poco prematuro porque está en una etapa de desarrollo, pero tan pronto como tengamos más información sobre el curso, vamos a informar el público con los detalles,” dijo Montgomery. El distrito y el comité escolar son el factor principal para esta decisión.

Español Director assistente Stephanie Malia

POR ARTURO SOTOMAYOR a.sotomayor@eyeofthetigernews.com

El año escolar de 2014 a 2015 ha traído muchas nuevas personas a la escuela secundaria de Roseville. Una de estas personas es el director asistente, Stephanie Malia. Este año es su primer año como un administrador en el estado de California y por eso ella quería familiarizarse con la escuela y el distrito. “[Mi meta principal es] ver donde puedo contribuir a las necesidades de los estudiantes y los maestros,” dijo Malia. Su trabajo anterior fue trabajar como un director asistente en la escuela secundaria de Spanish Springs, y ella ha tenido 21 años de experiencia en el campo de educación. María vivió en California por poco tiempo cuando estaba estu-

diando en la universidad, y regresó a nuestro estado en junio. Ella quería mudarse aquí porque ella pensaba que la ciudad en que vivió, Reno, era aburrido. Aquí en Roseville tenemos lo que ella quería: más recursos y diversidad cultural. Según Malia, el transición fue muy rápido y eficiente, a pesar del cambio de distritos y escuelas. Ella cree que hay mucho que aprender. Hay muchas diferencias entre los dos distritos, pero tienen la meta de preparar suficientemente sus estudiantes para la universidad. Uno de las diferencias que distinguió RHS de su trabajo anterior es el espíritu, según ella. “Yo pienso que el espíritu de la escuela es genial,” dijo Malia. “Me encanta todos los aspectos de RHS de verdad. Estoy disfrutando de todo.”

Nuevas verjas en el campus de RHS

Clarificación sobre PI

j.fang@eyeofthetigernews.com

Después de cuatro años de haber sido clasificado como una escuela de Program Improvement (PI), el distrito secundario de Roseville (RJUHSD) emitió una en línea aclarando la situación educativa de la escuela secundaria de Roseville (RHS). El distrito aclaró la situación porque “habían comentarios en reuniones comunidades que no tenían razón en su representación de PI, especialmente para RHS,” dijo el superintendente del distrito John Montgomery. En los últimos cuatro años, algunos estudiantes desamparados no han alcanzado requisitos de exámenes del estado y por eso RHS todavía clasificada como una escuela PI.

POR JILLIAN FANG

La escuela secundaria de Roseville ha aumentado la seguridad del campus por añadir nuevas verjas negras a lo largo de la calle de Campo. RHS tiene una calle que está en el campus. La administración de RHS no tiene planes futuros de mejorar la seguridad del campus, pero ellos desean instalar cámaras de vigilancia en el futuro cercano. La construcción de las verjasempezó por la primavera, y terminó en el verano. Ahora con las verjas, nadie puede entrar la escuela sin entrar a través del edificio de administración.

m.whalen@eyeofthetigernews.com

Galamgam regresa después de un batalla con cáncer

POR ROBBIE SHORT

s.mogannam@eyeofthetigernews.com

El martes pasado, estudiante en su tercer año de la escuela secundaria de Roseville (RHS) Colin Richardson estaba sentado en una mesa pequeña en Bunz Sports Pub en Roseville y escuchó a una mujer desconocida que estaba distribuyendo un premio durante una rifa para beneficiarse de él y sus hermanos. La madre de Richardson se murió menos que dos semanas antes. La mujer que estaba dando los premios fue Judy Ramey, un colega de ella. Bernadette Richardson fue retirado el soporte vital el 27 de agosto después de sufrir graves daños neurológicos después de un accidente en la casa de la familia. Poco después de llevar a Colin a la escuela el 22 de agosto, ella estaba levantando una bicicleta de la cajuela de su coche cuando el

freno de mano del coche falló y el vehículo rodó sobre ella. Este aplastó sus pulmones y privó a su cerebro de oxígeno durante 11 minutos antes de que el personal de emergencia pudieran responder. Ella tenía 54 años. Desde el fallecimento de su madre, Colin, además de sus cuatro hermanos—Aaron, Hazel, Tyrone y Simon, todos graduados de RHS, han recibido apoyo de muchas personas en la comunidad de Roseville. En el 29 de agosto antes de los primeros juegos del fútbol americano de la estación, estudiantes de la clase de Jessica Fork vendieron cintas amarillos para apoyar a la familia de los Richardsons. También el martes pasado había una rifa que recaudó más que $4,500 para ellos porque su padre vive fuera del estado. La família dice que ellos aprecia la ayuda de todos.

Moses va a tomar una posición el el distrito POR MARIAN ABDELMALEK

marian.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com

Kim Moses, el técnico de la universidad y la carrera de la escuela secundaria de Roseville (RHS) salirá de RHS al final de este mes de septiembre para hacerse cargo una posición en la oficina del distrito secundario de Roseville (RJUHSD). Moses ha estado involucrada en muchos aspectos en RHS. Ella

Fútbol varsity POR GEORGE HUGHES g.hughes@eyeofthetigernews.com

El equipo de varsity fútbol empezó la temporada con trazatiempos registrando de 0-2-3 terminando la pretemporada. Esto no incluye las dos pérdidas no oficiales contra la escuela secundaria Sheldon y la escuela secundaria de Rio Americano que fueron partidos amistosos. Según Pablo Gutierrez, el equipo ha estado luchando dado por los jugadores que son inelegibles debido a académico. Esto ha forzado al Gutierrez apuntar un gran número de estudiantes en su segundo año más que él ha tenido que hacer en años anteriores. “Esto es uno de los años inesperados,” dijo Gutierrez. “En

POR SOPHIA MOGANNAM

Los estudiantes y personal de la escuela secundaria de Roseville dieron la bienvenida a la maestra de salud, Marlin Galamgam. En el febrero de 2014, Galamgam estaba diagnosticada con cáncer de mama, forzando a ella a dejar la escuela y comenzar mastectomía y la quimioterapia. Estos tratamientos exigieron el resto del semestre para recuperar. Galamgam quería anunciar su condición a los niños y personal de la escuela. Galamgam dijo que recibió mucho sentimiento y amor de todos. Cuando Valerie Erb oyó de la condición de Galamgam, su clase de Peer Helping hicieron carteles y tarjetas con los nombres de sus estudiantes. Maestra de educación especial, Lynn Shelley, hizo un papel muy importante en la recuperación de su amiga Galamgam. Shelly

Pareja de los Mowrers

procesa registros del SAT, recopila un libro de becas del distrito cada año, programa presentaciones de las fuerzas armadas y universidades, y ayuda al personal y los estudiantes en RHS. En la oficina del distrito Moses será el asistente administrativo. Ella tiene ganas de empezar su nueva carrera, pero dice que va a extrañar ser un tigre en RHS cada día.

POR THALIA BENNETT

la forma que perdimos tres de nuestros mejores jugadores.” El equipo ha perdido tres de sus mejores defensores dado por la falta de cualificación académico y esto demuestra el efecto que tuvo al equipo al principio de la temporada. Estos jugadores son estudiantes en su último año Sergio Loza y Mixi Loza y estudiante en su tercer año Eric Pizano. El equipo de varsity enroló cinco estudiantes en su segundo año que no jugaron en el equipo el año pasado. Fue necesario que el Sr. Gutierrez añadiera estos jovenes al equipo de varsity para recolocar los juadores que habían perdido. Él también está contemplando la posibilidad de mover uno de sus mejores porteros para llenar una

posición defensiva dada por uno de sus jugadores no elegibles. El equipo empezó los juegos de la liga contra la escuela secundaria de Del Campo y empataron 3-3.

t.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com

Este año otra pareja de maestros ha entrado la escuela secundaria de Roseville (RHS), Amy y Richard Mowrer. Cuando los Mowrers se enteró de la nueva posición disponible en RHS, no lo toman en serio. Durante un tiempo, bromearon sobre la posibilidad de compartir

acompañó a ella muchas veces llevando a ella a la hospital y sus citas. Cada día que Galamgam tenía quimioterapia Shelley encontró formas que se encuentran para hacer la experiencia lo más positiva posible. Los profesores Josh Errecart, Hank DeMello y Ron Volk intervinieron para cubrir las clases de Galamgam. “Ella es una señora increíble. Me alegro de que está de vuelta,” dijo DeMello. Al regresar, Galamgam tuvo miedo que ella no pueda tener la energía para soportar el día. A pesar de eso, ella estaba feliz que pudiera pasar más tiempo con su hijo de 10 años. Ella siente que esta experiencia le dio un nuevo perspectiva de la vida, y ve que todo es posible. “No se sabe cuanta fuerza se tiene hasta que se tenga que hacerlo,” dijo Galamgam. su trabajo con otros y lo que sería como si Richard Mowrer acepte la posición. Según ellos es diferente y un poco extraño estar en el mismo lugar para trabajo, pero todavía hay algo que no ha cambiado. “Escuela es lo que hacemos,” dijo Richard Mowrer. Los Mowrers han sido casados por 20 años, tienen cuatro hijos y le gustan su trabajo mucho.

DEPORTES

Voleibol varsity POR AMRAN BISLA

a.bisla@eyeofthetigernews.com

El equipo de varsity voleibol, guiado por entrenador Ron Grove y el capitán del equipo Abby Jensen empezó la temporada contra su ex rival, Granite Bay. El equipo consiste de ocho jugadores que han regresado del año pasado. El equipo jugó su pretemporada el 3 de septiembre perdiendo 3-0. Los marcadores del partido fue 25-18, 25-19 y 25-21. Al tiempo Granite Bay estaba clasificado el segundo equipo en la sección. Pero el día siguiente en el 4 de

NOTICIAS

POR MADIE WHALEN

Escuela apoya a estudiante afligido r.short@eyeofthetigernews.com

page 6

septiembre, Los Tigres jugaron contra Los Hillmen de la escuela secundaria de Placer. Triunfaron contra los Hillman 3-0 con apuntaciones 25-23, 25-18 y 27-25. Entrenador Grove estaba impresionado con su Abby Jensen. “Abby tuvo 20 matados con solamente un error durante todo el partido,” dijo Grove. Los Tigres participaron en el torneo de Chris Craft durante el fin de semana de septiembre 6 y ganó segundo lugar. El día siguiente Los Tigres jugaron otro juego de la liga contra su rival Rocklin. Los Tigres ganaron a los Thunder 3-0. Aunque los Tigres declararon victoria contra los Thunder cada partido fue muy cercas: 25-21, 25-23 y 26-24.

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

El director de la escuela secundaria de Roseville, David Byrd, es uno de los nuevos adiciones importantes al personal de la escuela este año.

REPORTAJES

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

Kim Moses, el técnico de la universidad y la carrera de la escuela secundaria de Roseville va a trabajar en la oficina del distrito en septiembre.

DEPORTES

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

En el 5 de septiembre Los Tigres perdieron a Los Caballeros de la escuela secundaria de Rio Linda 24-14.

Fútbol americano varsity POR LOGAN ASH

l.ash@eyeofthetigernews.com

El equipo de varsity fútbol americano está adaptando a muchos cambios. Ellos tienen un nuevo mariscal de campo y están entrando en una nueva liga con competición diferente. El mariscal de campo anterior se gradúo el año pasado y por eso había una posición vacía. Según el entrenador Larry Cunha, el estudiante en su último año, Michael Dobler, tenía una ventaja clara de entrar en el verano para ocupar el puesto como mariscal de campo. Sin embargo, Cunha explicó que Adam Besana jugó muy bien durante la primavera y el verano. Besana completó 11 de 23 tentativas de pases intentados y lanzó

dos touchdowns al jugador en su último año Bryce Kasch. "Michael y Adam hicieron bien,” dijo Ryan Andrada. “Yo realmente no creo que ninguno de ellos perdieron el trabajo; es sólo una decisión difícil por parte de Cunha.” Como Los Tigres transladar al Capital Valley Conference (CVC), muchas personas personas creen que el equpio va a tener más éxito en el campo. Ellos van a dejar atrás equipos muy fuertes como Del Oro y Granite Bay. Durante los dos primeros equipos de esta temporada, Los Tigres perdieron a Chico 31-28 y 24-14 a Rio Linda. Los Tigres perdieron a Chico en el último minuto.

Features

september 15, 2014

page 7

Moses gets ready to say goodbye to RHS by THALIA BENNETT

t.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com

Kim Moses, the college and career technician for Roseville High School is set to bid farewell by the end of this September as she departs to a new position at the district offices. Leaving a legacy of four years, Moses has been involved in many aspects of life at Roseville High School. From processing SAT registrations; compiling the district’s yearly scholarship book; and to scheduling business and military presentations, Moses has lent a hand to both students and staff. “She’s like another mom to me,” senior office aide Zeze Safi said. “And she is always there to help you.” Senior Sophia Diaz was also able to enter a science internship program and apply for a few choice out-of-state universities with the devoted assistance of Moses, something that she says she is grateful for. “She has helped me a lot and I’m heartbroken that she is leaving,” Diaz said. “Mrs. Moses is such a big part of the school. She truly cares about all of the students here.” According to Moses, the hardest part of going to the District was leaving the students behind. Although she and others feel nostalgic about the move, Moses is equally optimistic for her future as an administrative assistant

at the district’s center. “While there I like to think of myself as an ambassador, “Moses said. “Because I am the first point of contact for our district when someone walks in.” Not only will Moses greet those that approach the front desk, she will also schedule incoming job interviews for those interested in the educational field through the national website, Edjoin. According to Moses, it is a challenge such as this that has gradually helped her become more tech savvy. But not everything will be unfamiliar for Moses at the district. Since Moses’ position entails closely communicating with personnel of all sorts, she will once again be working alongside former principal Brad Basham. “Mr. Basham and I both actually tend to any outer-district student transfers,” Moses said. “And it has been fun to reconnect with him.” There are many changes yet to be for Moses in this new chapter of her career, but she says that she will always remember her time spent at RHS. With visits from school alumni and chats on her student’s Facebook page, Moses is sure to touch base with the students she has assisted in the past. Since she was hired in 2011, Moses has seen the freshmen class of that year blossom into

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

College and Career Center technician Kim Moses will leave RHS by the end of the month for a position in the district office. She’s worked four years at the school. seniors. She fondly recalls her first year with handling the applications and personal statements for the class of 2014. “I love all my students but the class of 2014 will always hold a special place in my heart,” Moses said.

RHS students hold the same sentiments as well, but all the same, current seniors are somewhat anxious about the change. “Applying without Moses is going to be difficult,” senior Emma Leach said. “She has just

been so welcoming and thorough in everything that she has done.” Attendance and administration assistant, Jacquie Seider, has been hired to fill in Moses’ position. “It’s going to be a challenge, but I am definitely excited for it,”

Seider said. Though Moses will miss RHS, she will always remember what is has meant to her. “I’m gonna miss being a Tiger every day,” Moses said. “But you know what they say – Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger.”

Junior Lena Wirth: Queen of the beam ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Mowrers share love for teaching together by THALIA BENNETT

t.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com

by JOSLYN CARRELL

j.carrell@eyeofthetigernews.com

When junior Lena Wirth is not balancing homework and school, she is balancing on the beam. Wirth has been a gymnast for 13 years and reached the highest level for her age group, level 10, last year. In the last year, University of California, Davis caught Wirth’s eye after placing second at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Regional meet, driving her to reach out to the head coach, John Lavalle, and share her interest with the program and being a part of it. “Reaching level 10 was a huge accomplishment for me, and then to have UC Davis look at me for gymnastics was another accomplishment to know all my hard work and dedication has paid off,” Wirth said. Lavalle came out to watch Wirth practice at her home gym, Byers Gym in Roseville, soon offering her to visit to UC Davis. “I was very excited when I got the call from the coach, and when I got there it was so surreal seeing the girls on the team practice,” Wirth said. “He offered me a spot on the team for when I graduated in 2016.”

Wirth devotes a significant amount of time to gymnastics, spending around 22 hours at the gym a week. Her life is revolved around gymnastics, devoting so much time in hopes of getting a full scholarship. “Davis offered me scholarship money for only three years of my time there,” Wirth said. “I’m looking into other schools [that] might be able to offer me a full scholarship.” Wirth’s coach at Byers, Rhonda Hawkins, has been an inspiration for Wirth as she encourages her to work hard and reach her full potential. Wirth’s fellow gymnasts have also been very supportive of Wirth and her various accomplishments. “Lena has done gym for a very long time,” junior and fellow teammate Megan Fereria said. “She has always been one of the hardest workers in every group she has been in. I am extremely proud of all that she has accomplished thus far and I know she is going to do big things in the future.” Though Wirth wants to pursue gymnastics in college, she sees it merely as a hobby and not as a career.

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Lena Wirth practices beam during her daily session after school at Byers Gym. Wirth began practicing gymnastics 13 years ago and recently received a verbal offer from the coach of the UC Davis team.

Although uncommon in most other schools, Roseville High School happens to be home to a handful of married teachercouples. And as of this year there has been a new addition inducted into the club; Amy and Richard Mowrer. When the Mowrers first heard about the new position available at RHS, they did not take it seriously. For a while they joked about the prospect of sharing their workplace with each other and what it would be like should Richard Mowrer accept the position. “I felt as if he would be invading my little teacher world and my whole identity here,” Amy Mowrer said. Nonetheless, “talking was talking” and eventually it all became a reality for them. “We teased each other about me being here after all these years, but then thought, ‘Wow, this really is a unique opportunity,’” Richard Mowrer said. Though the switch excited students, having each other’s spouse on campus with them has proved to be a bit odd for Amy and Richard Mowrer. “I talk about my husband all the time,” Amy Mowrer said. “And part of my schtick is that I’m married to this person who knows everything. So, when I don’t know something I call him, but now he is actually this real person on campus and I can’t talk

about him as much.” But instead of speaking on the phone, Amy and Richard Mowrer have now been able to talk in person. According to Amy Mowrer, Richard Mowrer comes by her classroom each morning during her first period class. “Yeah, he just pops by and we talk and he brings me stuff from my box and sometimes makes coffee,” Amy Mowrer said. But through all of the interesting changes, one thing remains the same for the Mowrers. “School is just what we do,” Richard Mowrer said. “She wants to know content from me and I want to know method from her because she is a much better teacher than me. I think we can all agree that she is just a rockstar.” The Mowrers have been married for 20 years now, have four children of their own, and are passionate about their work. Over the summer the couple celebrated their twentieth anniversary in both Florence and Paris. Traveling to Europe less than two months ago was not their first encounter with the Western culture and atmosphere, though. “We actually spent our 10 year anniversary in Europe as well,” Richard Mowrer said. “And lived in Paris for a year as newlyweds before that. It was really incredible and Mrs. Mowrer loved reading all of the books and visiting museums.”

page 8 | features

september 15, 2014

RHS embraces Galamgam’s return After spring leave of absence, now healthy enough to be back in class

Palitti matches his outfits with his hair

by MICHELLE IM

m.im @eyeofthetigernews.com

by SOPHIA MOGANNAm

s.mogannam @eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School students and staff welcome back health teacher Marlin Galamgam with open arms after her leave of absence. In February 2014, Galamgam was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to take a leave of absence in order to receive a mastectomy and chemotherapy, which demanded the rest of the term for recovery. Although it was emotionally challenging for her, Galamgam wanted students, parents and staff to know the reason she was taking a leave of absence. Galamgam claimed that she received much loving support from both staff and students. After being told of the news, Peer Helping teacher Valerie Erb along with her peer helping classes created various posters and cards with student’s signatures and thoughtful messages, which Galamgam kept above her bed and often looked toward for encouragement. Erb also initiated a hug video, where students congregated around Galamgam for a sizable group hug. “She’s very dear to me,” Erb said. Special education teacher

FASHION COLUMN

SHEILA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

After her battle with breast cancer, Galamgam is now healthy enough to resume teaching. Galamgam says she is thankful for the support RHS showed her throughout her journey. Lynn Shelley, who was with Galamgam during the birth of her son and has been a close friend since, played a significant role in Galamgam’s time of need. Shelley accompanied her to multiple appointments and took personal time off of work to be with Galamgam. Even during a day in which Galamgam endured chemotherapy, Shelley found ways to make the experience as positive as possible. “I’d make it a picnic,” Shelley said. “I’d spread out checkered napkins, or whatever, just to make it more fun.” While Shelley helped Galamgam in her personal life, RHS teachers Josh Errecart, Hank DeMello and Ron Volk

stepped in to cover Galamgam’s classes. Throughout the term, DeMello, who took over Galamgam’s fourth period A/B class, frequently contacted Galamgam to keep her informed. “She’s an amazing lady. I’m glad she’s back,” DeMello said. While this drastic change was a challenge, Galamgam was grateful for the willingness and long-term help she received from the staff. In addition to teachers helping her, students happily embraced her return. She’s really funny and she’s super nice, freshman Summer Vanzwaluwenburg said. Upon returning, Galamgam feared that she may not have the energy to endure the day, due to

the pain and tiredness she had experienced while being at home. However, while she enjoyed being able to spend more time with her 10-year-old son, Galamgam is glad to be back in an atmosphere of students and staff members. “It was also nice getting back into a routine,” Galamgam said. Galamgam is currently on medication for 10 years to help prevent the spread of cancer cells if any are remaining. Galamgam feels that this experience has given her a whole new perspective on life, and has realized that anything can happen at any given time. “You don’t really know how tough you can be until you just have to do it,” Galamgam said.

How would you describe your style? I guess I’d kinda say that it’s not normal. It’s kinda fun to change it up every day. Somedays, I’d wear really bright, colorful clothing and other days I’d wear dark. I guess different is how I’d really describe it. Would color be an essential part of your wardrobe? Yeah, because I always dye my hair so I always try to match all my clothes with my hair. Why did you dye your hair purple this time? It’s one of my favorite colors. And I own a lot of purple and darker clothing. So it’s why not do purple? Where do you buy your clothes? I go to like Tilly’s a lot, then Zumiez is where I get a lot of my shorts, and JcPenney is where I get some of my shirts. Who and where do you go to dye your hair? I get dye from the store and then my aunt dyes it. I use the brand called Manic Panic – it’s like the brightest colors. And it fades really cool. When did you first dye your hair? How did that start? I like for a year had to beg my mom to let me dye it platinum blond. And then finally she let me do it. And after I dyed it blonde, I – without telling her – decided

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Palitti sports a dark shirt and shorts to accentuate his bright hair. to dye it teal. So then I did teal, then turquoise, then I did green, then a really dark green, and then I dyed it blue like a really light blue, and then I did it purple now. And this was like only over two months. How would you describe your current outfit now? It’s dark. It was meant to match my hair, not wearing very vibrant clothing like I usually am. When I had green hair, I don’t have much green stuff so I’d just wear a black shirt and like dark shorts. Then my hair would stand out. So even if I wasn’t matching with it, it was still fashionable.

RICHARDSON: “Everything’s gonna be different.”

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

have received support from numerous people and groups within both the RHS community and the city of Roseville as a whole. On Aug. 29, before the season kick-off games for RHS’ JV and varsity football teams, students from Jessica Fork’s AVID 10 class sold yellow ribbons to benefit the family at Tiger Tailgate, a pre-game event organized by Student Government to drum up RHS spirit. They continued to accept donations for the ribbons during the varsity game, and ended the night having raised $459 to support the siblings. Then, last Tuesday, friends, family and colleagues of their mom joined the Richardsons – as well as several RHS faculty members – at Bunz for a fundraiser night organized by Ramey and RHS counselor Jason Bradley (who had Hazel, Tyrone and Simon as students and now has Colin). That night, attendees raised a total of more than $4,500 for the Richardsons through the raffle, a silent auction and a profit-splitting fundraiser with the restaurant. (Bunz donated 20 percent of the night’s proceeds to the family.) For the organizers, the hope was that the fundraisers would ease at least the financial worry of the Richardsons, whose father lives out-of-state. “They already have struggles, and things they have to deal with and cope with,” said Fork, who does not personally know the Richardsons. “It’s nice to be able to do something for them. Pay it forward.” And the family appreciates it. “I can’t thank people enough, because I don’t know where we’d be without the support that’s come from everyone,” said Aaron Richardson, Colin’s oldest sibling, who is currently applying for guardianship of the minor. “It’s…I have no words for it. It’s almost a miracle.” There are still other wounds, though, especially for Colin. The youngest Richardson sibling was called to the office after first period the day of his mother’s accident. There, he

met Simon and Nina, Tyrone’s girlfriend, who told him briefly what happened and drove him to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where first responders brought Bernadette Richardson. “We didn’t know really what happened, but then a nurse came out and said, like, she’s stable, and so we thought that everything was fine,” Colin Richardson said. “And then a cop came out and started talking to my brothers and my sister, and then talked to me, and then we went in there and we saw her. She looked bad, but at first they told us she was going to wake up in four to seven days because she was just under drugs because of the pain or something.” Unfortunately, though, Sutter doctors later determined that Bernadette Richardson’s chances of recovering were slim to none. “A doctor pulled me aside and spoke with me separately and explained that, in his experience from incidences like this, what my mom was [early afternoon Friday] was all she was going to be for the rest of what we would call her life,” Aaron Richardson said. At that point, Aaron decided to wait until all five siblings could be together to break the news. Once Tyrone arrived from Los Angeles, he told they had “a really tough decision to make.” “I told them, ‘This is no slight accident,” Aaron Richardson said. “’This could be a fatality here.’” They were all shocked. “It’s not every day you expect to see your mother hooked up to a bunch of hoses and wires in the ER trauma room, on a table,” Aaron said. “That was pretty intense.” Collectively, the siblings decided to keep their mother on life support to give their other family members – all of whom, save their dad, live overseas – time to fly out and say their goodbyes. Bernadette Richardson passed away five days after her accident. “The first couple of days after it happened, you wake up and you were in the same nightmare that you were in the day before,” Aaron Richardson said. “You wake up, you go to the hospital

and you hang out at the hospital. You’ve got people coming and going and family flying in from wherever, and you’re just waiting to wake up from that nightmare and Mom’s gonna be fine and everybody’s gonna be home laughing and chatting about it later.” Unfortunately, though, that nightmare was real – and for Colin, too. “It hit me hard a lot, during the hospital and stuff like that,” he said. “I try to keep my mind off it now, but it’s definitely going to hit me over time, and it’s going to keep hitting me … For some reason, it just doesn’t feel like it happened.” Since his mom’s passing, Colin has tried to keep his mind occupied by living his normal routine: hanging out with friends, spending time with family, “just doing things to keep [his] mind off bad ideas.” He’s also been throwing his effort into his play for RHS’ varsity soccer team, of which he is a captain. When that doesn’t work, though, it’s all Colin can do to stop thinking about how different his life will be without his mom. About the soccer games, graduations and weddings she’ll miss. About the meals they won’t

share. About the games, especially: Colin’s mom made a point to be at every single one of his games, for both school and club, even when no one else could. “It’s really weird to look at the sidelines and see that no one’s there,” Colin said. ”Usually, she’d be there. And at the house it’s definitely weird. The house is much more quiet now. No one’s making dinners and no one’s cleaning up or making us do chores now. It’s all on us to do it. It just feels different. It’s not the same at all.” However, Ryley Kraft, Colin’s best friend and a junior at Independence High School – who said Bernadette Richardson was “like a second mother” to him – thinks Colin’s been coping well, given his circumstances. “Colin really isn’t the emotional type, so seeing him break down in the hospital was kinda hard, but right now, I think he’s doing well,” Kraft said. “I’m sure he’s still sad, but he’s being very strong and so is the whole family. He’s not showing much of it, even though deep, deep down inside… obviously he lost his mom, so he’s going to miss her.” Colin himself thinks he’s do-

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Friends and family of Bernadette Richardson and her four children gathered in Roseville’s Bunz Sports Pub last Tuesday for a fundraising event RHS counselor Jason Bradley helped organize to support the siblings. ing okay, too. He said he has to get used to the constant stream of “I’m sorry’s” and condolences. “It’s really nice when people say that, but it just doesn’t feel right because that’s not normal to be hearing it all the time, so it’s

just weird … It just doesn’t feel like normal,” Colin said. “It’s just weird to respond to, because you don’t know what to say. ‘It’s okay, but it’s not really okay?’ It’s just different. Everything’s gonna be different.”

Opinion

september 15, 2014

page 9

Royalty selection process full of flaws The columnists who contributed to this piece interviewed dozens of students, teachers and administrators to conduct their research.

ast April, after school on a Friday, the PA system declared Roseville High School’s Junior Prom court. Jaws around the school dropped. Some were surprised, some were outraged, some were dejected. 10 were ecstatic. The question we were compelled to ask was: What made those 10 different from the rest? As we began to delve into the process of being nominated, being selected and participating in RHS dance royalty, the responses we received were incredibly varied. Some were hostile, some defensive, some open and honest. The controversy that surrounded the idea for our article actually pushed us to ask: Why is everyone up in arms? Do they have something to hide? We first went to the person we thought could provide us with the most information about the royalty process, and what we found from our first interview was that the selection committee – a board of teachers who participate in choosing the five girls and five boys on court – are supposed to read the brief information on each nominee’s nomination packet. We were told that opinions in nominees cannot and should not be based on prior knowledge not mentioned in the packet. We were also told in the same conversation that students must submit a picture to jog the staff’s memory of them. The conflict between these two facts sent the four of us for a loop. We questioned why a photo would be necessary at all, if not used for the purpose of aiding the selection committee’s memory. Could the photo requirement signify bias in the selection process? The only purpose a photo on the application serves is to provide teachers with a prompt to remember who each student is and the role they’ve played in their life. In other words, a photo serves to facilitate biased selections. Because this information didn’t match up to us, we decided the next best step was to speak directly with a teacher or staff member who had participated in the process of choosing a court before. We were told that the roster of the panel is confidential, though the existence of such a committee is not. As we consulted with other RHS students and teachers, the oddness of this confidentiality statement became more evident to us. Under what law are the students not allowed to know the royalty selection committee? More im-

BY JOSLYN CARRELL, HALEY GUARDINO, SEIÉNNA PAPINI AND CARLIE READER j.carrell@eyeofthetigernews.com

portantly, why is it such a secret? Consider a political system in which government officials are elected by a group of elites. When some people are discontent with the choices the group made and set out to find answers, they are met with hostility and secrecy. As they try to uncover who is in charge of choosing the government officials, they are told it is confidential. They endure judgment and opposition. Do these things not all point to guilt in the system? If you were under a system as such, would you not desire to uncover the flaws? The political system mentioned above is a large-scale representation of the exact circumstances RHS students are currently under. Somewhere in the court royalty process, there is flaw and there is guilt. If there weren’t, students would be much more educated on the process and people involved with becoming royalty. Together we brainstormed a list of teachers and staff members we felt would fit the part of being on this board and began to conduct interviews with them. Mind you, there are some influential and relevant teachers who have not been asked to be on the panel once in their time teaching at RHS. We learned that, in past years, teachers were given a list of every nominee and a copy of the information they provided. They were expected to look over this information, and were sometimes asked to use a point system or rubric to score the student in different categories. Some of the categories we heard were sports involvement, school involvement, club involvement and community involvement. We were also told that grades, attendance, behavior and school spirit were considered. We had conflicting answers regarding whether or not a demonstration of leadership skills was an important factor while deciding court royalty. When RHS students think of the word leadership, what is that first thing that comes to mind? There’s no doubt that even teachers and administrators can have bias and prefer some students over others. Whether that’s because of a last name, a personality mesh, an interest in the same subject or whatever else, it would be impossible to compile a com-

EMILY BAKKEN EYE OF THE TIGER

mittee of staff that is completely fair and impartial. However, while researching our subject, we found that often the same teachers serve on the committee every year. In our opinion, this is a disadvantage to many students who may not be as known to the particular teachers on the panel year after year. Is it not true that a Government teacher may prefer a student who is a member of Junior State of America? Is it ridiculous to assume that the boys basketball coach may prefer the student who won him every game this season? Is it deniable to say that the activities director may prefer students who are active participants in Student Government? These facts are not the fault of any single person, group or elective. It is in human nature to desire the success of people you are close to and relate to. As we worked on this piece, we received a large amount of backlash from many students involved in Student Government because they felt they were being victimized. The intent of our article was not solely to point out the correlation between being in Student Government and being on court, but we could not ignore that three of the five girls on 2014 Junior Prom court were heavily involved in this program. Whether a student or a teacher, a campus monitor or a principal, almost everyone at RHS links Student Government and leadership skills directly together. The unfortunate thing for the hundreds

of students that aren’t in the class who possess incredible leadership skills, good grades and vehement school spirit, though, is that they have a significantly smaller chance of being represented on a dance court than a mediocre student that is in Student Government. If you asked a group of people that attend RHS if they truly believe they have a chance to get on a dance court, the majority would just scoff and say, “Of course not. Not me.” This is a problem. Any student who exemplifies the Tiger Way, contributes to the community, brings positivity to RHS and is involved in our school in some way or another – whether it be Anime Club or Tiger Ink – should not have this mindset. In 2011, a then-RHS student, Dalton Blaser, wrote an article similar to this one headlined “Court Nomination Process Does Not Reflect Students’ Voice or School’s Diversity.” In the article, we found that Blaser had done some research that demonstrates the lack of Student Government versus non-SG ratio in courts. Blaser found that out of six dances – three Homecomings, two Casabas and one Junior Prom – 35 out of 60 royalty students were from Student Government. Out of all the courts for 20122013 there were seven courts, making 70 people to of gotten on court, and of those 70 people, 41 of them had been in Student Government that year. This means that 58 percent of the court was made up again of this singular

population. To be more relevant with our findings, we found that in last year’s courts of Homecoming, Casaba and Junior Prom, the ratio for the girls was three-to-two, so over 50 percent was made up of Student Government students. For the fall term there were 45 students in Student Government and 34 of them were girls, but they made up over half the court. Does this seem like a good representation of our school if only one population dominates the courts? The RHS senior class is comprised of 484 senior students, 28 of which are enrolled in Student Government. In other words, five percent of our seniors are in the program. Where is the representation in that percentage? If students are content with that percentage, no action is necessary. But if students see injustice in that percentage, we encourage then to demand a change from the class that rules RHS. The following are our suggestions: 1. If the committee is not supposed to use prior knowledge on students to make a decision, why attach a photo? White-out the name on each nominee packet, number them and have teachers decide which candidates are most suited to represent Roseville High School without them knowing who they are choosing. After the decision is made, reveal the names that match the numbers on the winning packets. 2. Offer locations other than 606 for people to pick up and turn in nomination forms. Distribute

them to every homeroom. Students who are not in Student Government should not have to go out of their way in order to nominate someone they believe belongs on dance royalty. When they’re in Student Government territory, it is impossible not to question what anybody can be doing with the nomination forms. 3. Don’t allow Student Government students to count or record nominations unless they are being supervised by a non-affiliated staff member. No one should have to worry that their nomination form is being ripped up, thrown away or misrecorded by a student who doesn’t like them or thinks they are undeserving. 4. Don’t allow a junior or senior Student Government student to be the Homecoming Royalty Commissioner. If you don’t want your integrity to be questioned, don’t put yourself in a situation where your best friends and Student Government peers are in a competitive struggle that you oversee. 5. If you truly desire to involve more RHS students in activities, spend class time brainstorming ways to broaden the net. It is no coincidence that third-period Student Government, for the most part, remains the same class with the same people every single year. 6. The roster of teachers selecting the court shouldn’t be a secret, hidden from the student body. If they are selecting based on the criteria they promote, why should they care to keep it confidential? Students should know who is choosing the people that represent their student body on court.

Panel chooses courts based on valid qualities T

he role of Student Government in the royalty court process is one that is terribly misunderstood by the Roseville High School student body. Every year complaints circulate the campus and social media about the royalty selections based on a toxic combination of inaccurate assumptions and misinformation propagated by individuals with malicious intentions. As someone who has experienced RHS as both a student inside and outside of Student Government, I have a unique perspective that lends me authority in speaking regarding the court selection process itself, and why certain perceptions about it are held by people outside of the class. I have one incredibly simple point I will elucidate in hopes of

BY ELIZABETH MORIN e.morin@eyeofthetigernews.com

eradicating any and all confusion about Student Government’s involvement in the court selection process: the extent to which they are involved is that the nomination forms reside in their classroom, 606. It is truly that simple. Any complaints regarding the people that comprise the court should not be directed toward Student Government because they do not choose who is on court, let alone

have any remote say in the matter. Court is not determined by Student Government, but rather by a panel of teachers from a variety of subject areas and course levels, in order to ensure that all students nominated will be known by at least a few of the teachers on the panel. The anonymity of the panel is crucial in making the process safe for the teachers and free from unfair influences. It fosters an environment where teachers can feel comfortable to openly discuss the nominated students without fear of affecting their relationships outside of class. If students were to have knowledge of the panel members, a conflict of interests would be inevitable. The anonymous panel of teachers then selects 10 students (five girls, five boys) based on the fac-

tors of GPA, community service, involvement in school and extracurricular activities. These factors are considered by the information detailed by the nominated students themselves in a packet compiled with their transcript, comments from their nominator(s) and, of course, comments from the teachers on the panel. A common criticism of RHS’ courts is that they are full of Student Government members. There were four courts last year, which adds up to a total of 40 royalty members throughout the course of the year. Of those 40, only 12 of the court members were in Student Government. Twelve is certainly not the overwhelmingly large sum that people have made it out to be. However, people are correct in saying that

it is the most highly represented organization or activity on courts. Student Government members don’t get on court just because they are in Student Government. People in that class tend to be leaders and care about our school due to the nature of the class. Many of these students are involved in sports, participate in meaningful community service and achieve highly in the classroom. Involvement in school doesn’t solely equate to Student Government membership; there are so many other areas of involvement by which students can demonstrate that aspect, therefore it is a completely valid subject that the teacher panel should be sure to consider. Also included in the nomination packets are mug shots provided by the nominated students,

which aids teachers in recognizing students from classrooms, games and school events, allowing teachers to even further determine levels of involvement. Before criticizing Student Government’s role in the court selection process, it is important to realize that they don’t even have one. While the current teacher panel process isn’t flawless, it functions in the most fair way that it can, given the subjectivity of the panel’s assignment. I hope I’ve provided some clarity regarding the court selection process that will prevent any more false accusations toward the class that works assiduously to enhance our experiences at RHS. The unity of our school depends on the discontinuance of these harsh comments and senseless digs.

opinion | page 10

september 15, 2014

Make the most of freshman year while it lasts O ver the past few years I have changed in pretty much every way possible, and although I felt really lucky to have awesome friends around me, there’s definitely a lot of not so awesome moments that still happened. One thing many freshman students forget about is their grades. I guess I don’t blame them. I mean ice cream was the singular reason I actually studied in middle school. I see so many freshmen coming in being so carefree, and while that’s great sometimes, I just wish somebody told me senior year wasn’t decades away. Time has gone by so fast and I wish I had someone to tell me that what you do at the beginning does matter. The day you realize that you don’t have much to show for the past few years will come and it will be a lot sooner than you think. Try to prepare for it early so you can avoid the stress of past choices affecting current ones. Freshman year is the time to throw yourself into all the clubs on campus and make an effort to succeed in all your classes. With admission rates at several colleges coming to an all-time low, the student that showed involvement on campus will stand out against all the other students who didn’t join a single club until junior year. A strong start in high school will ultimately set you up for a successful future. AP’s are the new normal, so you have to make sure what you do your first year says something about you, since great AP scores won’t mean much with so many students who have the same scores, if not better. College ad-

BY NETZY ORTEGA

n.ortega@eyeofthetigernews.com

missions aren’t something you want to wait until the last minute for, as procrastinating on your future will only set you up for failure. That being said, don’t take AP’s or do things just because of how they look on college applications. I’ve seen many of my peers do things that they don’t genuinely want to do or enjoy. Clubs are important, but if you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to feel any better when you get rejected to your top school and feel as if it were all for nothing. You need to enjoy the journey so that the destination will be worth it. As contrived as it sounds, time spent doing something you love is never wasted. That being said, do challenge yourself. That means knowing you like a subject, and taking an AP version, or knowing you like art and setting a goal to become the president of the Art Club. These challenges are important, but need to come from you only. The day will come when your parents won’t be there to tell you take hard classes and to do your homework. The type of students that will succeed later on are those who not only succeed in what they do, but also achieve that on their own. The ability to

excel on your own will prove invaluable as you progress through life. It shows discipline and determination that will make you achieve your goals in any setting. High school is also a time where many people start to do things that build upon what they are passionate about, so don’t be afraid to talk to people who you may have already met or feel like you know. There are so many people I didn’t talk to since I felt I already knew them, only to find we had almost every tiny detail in common my junior year. People change all the time and you may find that people are not who you think they are at all, but you won’t ever know if you just dismiss them. Clubs, sports and volunteering all gives you plenty of chances to talk with people in a situation where you both have something in common. Meeting new and interesting people can be fun, but if you don’t have anything in common them you can find yourself changing for them or just not being yourself all the time. While it is important to give everyone a chance, if someone makes you feel like you’re not worth their time, you should probably try to focus your attention elsewhere. Talk to people outside of comfort zone, but don’t go as far as starting to do things you’re not comfortable with. I feel like a middle-aged soccer mom while typing this, but who you hang out with does matter. Consistency is key when choosing who you should be spending more time on. Anybody who feels like they spend hours talking about how stupid someone is can project those feelings onto

BY SEIÉNNA PAPINI

s.papini@eyeofthetigernews.com

positivity and confidence, much like I did, and then you get to the third verse and hear, “I’m bringing booty back, go ahead and tell them skinny b****** that.” The “All About That Bass” music video frequently airs on Nickelodeon, whose main viewers are young boys and girls, between the age of eight and 16. The music video’s casting is predominantly curvy women, with the exception of one curvy man and one singled-out “skinny” woman. The thin girl in the music video is used as a prop and is made to seem as if she is thinking to herself, “Why can’t I have a body like that?” Minaj’s “Anaconda” features

lyrics such as: “Say he don’t like ‘em boney, he wants something he can grab,” “F*** those skinny b****** in the club,” and “F*** you if you skinny.” Let’s break down the phrase ‘skinny b******’. The term ‘skinny’, even used alone, is one that I have always found particularly offensive. You would never say to an overweight person, “You’re so fat! Go on a diet!” but somehow it is a-okay to say to a thin person, “You’re so skinny! Go eat a hamburger, for God’s sake!” Both are derogatory terms; what is the difference that justifies a female artists’ right to include either of the phrases just to make a catchy tune that praises one specific body type and shames the other? The term ‘B******’ has a sort of sting to it. Maybe it’s the hard -tch sound. Maybe it’s the total degradation of women, when used correctly. I don’t know. I have to censor the word. Is that not a dead giveaway? Women should not be calling other women ‘b******’ – and certain-

EMILY BAKKEN EYE OF THE TIGER

you in an instant. Talk to those who speak of others the way you would want them to speak of you. If teenage girls already have a bad reputation for backstabbing their friends out of nowhere, there’s no knowing what they would do if you already see that side of them coming out from the start. What the people around you do does matter and it does say something about who you are. The final comment I want to make it that you will make mistakes. If there’s anything I’ve learned about them, is that you need to take things as a way to learn. I know you’ve heard it a million times, but I do genuinely believe is that everything happens for a reason. If it weren’t for

my less-than-perfect grade in an honors math class, I would have never known not to take AP Calculus, and that is something I am so thankful for. Call it God, fate or whatever you like, but there is something to be taken from each mistake. Too many freshmen I meet act like it’s the end of the world when they mess up, but it is so important to know that it doesn’t have to be looked at that way. It’s always an opportunity for growth. No, the world will not end. Yes, it will get better. You just need to take a step back and see what could have been done and apply that to what you do in the future. Very few things will be worth that much of your time.

ly not in a song that is meant to make women feel confident about themselves. The term already has such a negative connotation, but these female artists took that a step further to reduce all ‘skinny’ girls to that level. Trainor has experienced backlash from those who find her use of ‘skinny b******’ offensive and she swears that if you listen to the rest of the lyric, you would know that is “definitely not what she’s trying to say!” The rest of the lyric is “Nah, I’m just playin’, I know you think you’re fat,” in case you were wondering. I listen to mainstream radio (Yikes. I know.), my friends listen to mainstream radio, my little sisters, as well as many others’ little sisters, listen to mainstream radio and young girls who can’t even register the words of the songs they’re listening to listen to mainstream radio. No one, including myself, wants their little sister or their very own friends to listen to these songs and think that their body is sub-par as they’re growing up and

try tirelessly to find their identity just because Meghan Trainor says so. Having that mentality as such a young person will ultimately go to ruin her self-esteem in the long run, constantly trying to live up to the expectations of the ideal body that Minaj and Trainor set. Furthermore, I certainly don’t want my little sisters, friends or anyone for that matter to believe that any type of body is superior to the next just because Nicki Minaj says so. If both of these female artists, these so-called “body-positive advocates,” truly desire to instill in women’s and young girls’ minds that their body is beautiful and that they should be confident in that fact, should they not be extending their message to all women and young girls? My hope is that female artists will recognize the fault in their lyrics and messages in their songs and adjust them in the future to encourage all people of all builds, weights, shapes and sizes that they are all flawless and not make it exclusive to only one body type.

Rice domestic violence deserves harsher punishment

n Monday, September 8, TMZ Sports released a disturbing video of Ray Rice punching his fiancée while in a heated argument. The punch Ray Rice threw not only hit her, but knocked her out cold. Rice then dragged her out of the elevator and into a hallway of the hotel. The footage was caught live. As soon as I saw this, I lost all respect for Ray Rice and even the NFL. The reason I lost all my respect for Ray Rice was because of the fact that he actually put his hands on a woman. Any time a man puts his hands on a woman, there is something to be said about the kind of person that man is. Not only was Ray Rice a man, though, but he was also a starting NFL running back for the Baltimore Ravens. Anybody that watches the Ravens knows the importance of which Rice is to the program. Ray has been a star for his

BY CONNOR BLATNICK c.blatnick@eyeofthetigernews.com

seven-year career on the Ravens and, not to mention, had never been the hot topic of the media unless it was something positive. What he did in the hotel elevator defined who the real Ray Rice is. A woman-beater. Now let’s talk about why I lost my respect for the NFL. The NFL totally overlooked what happened that night. When Rice was arrested on domestic abuse charges, the NFL only gave him a twogame suspension and put him in anger management classes. That’s it. That punishment is basically a slap on the wrist; it’s nothing.

What Rice did was something worthy enough for at least a year suspension from the NFL and possibly jail time. He should have had way worse. I understand that some people make mistakes, but this is a mistake that was caught on footage of Rice hitting her. That’s what also irritated me: the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell claims he “asked to see the video of what took place that night” but never saw it. If he never saw the video - which I believe he did he chose to never see the video. All he had to do was ask for it. No one was keeping it from him. He saw it, or he didn’t want to see it. He is culpable either way. Anyone who saw that video and visually experienced the event would realize the action to be taken. On Monday when the video was released, not only was Ray Rice’s contract terminated by the Ravens, but he was also suspended from the NFL indefinitely. Not

Superlatives exclusive, not true to RHS spirit

Media degrades ‘skinny’ girls, promotes curves

fter Nicki Minaj dropped her new single, “Anaconda,” which is about how much Minaj and her suitors love her voluptuous figure and her large derrière, most would agree that Minaj has graduated from the ‘amateur level’ of self-confidence and positive body-image and is now residing in the ‘expert level.’ In addition, an up-and-coming breakout artist, Meghan Trainor, has also recently released a bodypositive anthem of her own: “All About That Bass,” in which she also preaches self-love for those with a curvy body type. Although both of these “bodypositive” anthems praise the curvier figure and encourage those with this kind of body to love themselves and assure them that “every inch of [them] is perfect from the bottom to the top,” they have something else in common: they both assail “skinny” people. You might listen to the first couple verses of “All About That Bass” and think about what an admirable job today’s female artists are doing to promote body-

SPECIAL TO EYE OF THE TIGER

to mention, he lost his contract with Nike and was removed from the new Madden 2015 game. Everybody is now looking at Goodell in disgust because he didn’t act on it beforehand. Goodell had the chance to make things right, but he decided to take the cowardly way out and barely punish Rice. It’s too bad that it took the footage of the video to come out, in order for all this to happen. It should have happened sooner. Now the NFL looks bad as an organization. The NFL needs to remember that they have young athletes and kids that look up to their players and they are basically telling them that it is okay to do something bad and get away with it. Youth members of our society need to grow up learning that certain things are not acceptable, and they need proper punishments to do so. If the NFL was smart they would have never allowed domestic vio-

lence in the league to begin with. I know the new rule is a sixgame suspension for the first offence and a lifetime ban for the second offense. I don’t think a second chance should even be available. They need to ban anybody that does it in the first place. That is all I have to say on the Ray Rice domestic violence topic. It is inexcusable. Rice had paraded around so long under the fake persona that allowed him to become such a role model for aspiring athletes, but then he crushed it all with this major abuse of strength, showing the flaw in his true character that had been there all along. The NFL needs to make changes, and needs to make them quick, before their organization starts to go downhill and look bad in the sports world. They need to work harder to present drastic events like this in the future that trashes their image and puts them and their players in a very bad light.

BY SADIE LEDESMA

’ve never really felt the need to voice my opinion in a public forum, but I guess there’s a first for everything. I really wouldn’t have cared so much if it weren’t for a comment I overheard from someone in the Yearbook class. I was in my AP Literature class when two yearbook committee members handed out the Senior Superlatives lists. When I saw the list, I noticed that the boys and girls for each category were already chosen – which, at first, seemed like no big deal. I look at the first superlative. The students nominated for “best athlete” seem valid, but I was confounded as to why I didn’t see the name of the student on the USA cycling team, or the athlete who had broken numerous school track records, or the student on the national taekwondo team. I vote for two “best athletes” and continue. As I move down the list, I notice that names are repeated. To affirm my concerns, I overhear a yearbook member speaking to a classmate who asked why names were duplicated. She responded, “Well, we had to put good-looking, popular people in it, because if we put in a bunch of nobodies, people would be confused and wouldn’t know who to vote for.” It took me a few seconds to register what I had just overheard. A part of me couldn’t believe it; a part of me hoped that I misunderstood. But when multiple classmates had the same bewildered look on their face, I was floored. I actually heard what I heard. Some of the things I truly admire about our school are the diversity, general acceptance and complete pride from the students, administration, teachers, parents and staff. Being accepting, respectful and impartial is all of what a true Tiger should be, and I know that many of my classmates would agree. I am disappointed by the predetermined exclusivity of the superlative selection process. All superlative nominations should be on a write-in basis, comparable to the way anyone can nominate anyone for any dance court. Anyone can try out to sing the national anthem or emcee or decorate for rallies, build Homecoming floats, join Student Government, Journalism, Peer Helping, Yearbook, sports and I’m sure this list is endless. I would hope that superlatives, too, would try to involve all of our senior class. Who each student at Roseville sees as “best eyes” or “most likely to brighten your day” is conceptual. Each one of these students should be able to democratically write in who they believe best fits, whether it’s a best friend or someone they’ve never spoken to. The yearbook should represent the entire student body and the year that passed, as a lifetime keepsake. Usually, our student body is united in attitude and direction, which allows us to move forward in exceptional ways. We act as a whole, so our behavior and decisions should portray this. However, I, as well as others, feel what we have been handed and asked to vote upon is not equitable and does not represent Roseville High School. I am hoping Yearbook will take these thoughts into consideration and reevaluate what RHS is truly about. Ledesma is a senior at RHS.

Entertainment

september 15, 2014

page 11

BATTLE OF THE BOBA

Two new boba houses joined Lollicup on the scene in Roseville over the summer. Freshmen Rachel Barber and Anuya Kamath tried out all three restaurants to find out where you should go for your boba fix.

LOLLICUP

TAPIOCA EXPRESS

QUICKLY

Sometimes, the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” really does apply. Though the atmosphere of Lollicup was decidedly average, the venue had excellent service and crisp, refreshing drinks. Lollicup still remains our go-to tea and coffee house in Roseville. Even though Tapioca Express and Quickly challenge the venue with the sheer novelty they bring to the table, Lollicup’s consistently great taste and service over the years puts it at the top of this comparison.

Tapioca Express’ menu differs from that of the other two shops; a fully established selection tea, coffee, and various Asian-inspired dishes populate it. We were disappointed with the quality of the milk tea. Ours had a watered-down flavor, but the boba was surprisingly well made. Our peach tea tasted much better; it was clean with minimal aftertaste. The employees were friendly enough, also serving our drinks in a timely manner.

Quickly was by far the most compacted shop we visited, with very little decoration. To us, the place looked quite shabby The beverages were quite flavorful; the boba acquired the taste and flavoring of the drink well. Their boba came in two sizes, small and large, but we found that regardless of the size, the amount of pearls upset the balance of the drink. Quickly was more expensive than the other two shops, but not by a large difference.

Lollicup is located at 1253 Pleasant Grove Boulevard, Ste. 120, in Roseville. It is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon. through Sat. and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun.

OVERALL

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Tapioca Express is located at 1132 Galleria Blvd. in Roseville. It is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mon. through Sun.

OVERALL

«««««

Quickly is located in the Westfield Galleria Mall in Roseville. It is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon. through Sat. and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun.

OVERALL

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Football flick captures high school essence “My Everything” ranges from up-beat to ballads

BY MADISON TELLES

m.telles@eyeofthetigernews.com

The tear-jerking inspirational movie of the summer, “When the Game Stands Tall,” has lived up to the hype of intense high school football under the Friday night lights – and wicked Southern California sun. Based off of the New York Times best seller, Coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) of De La Salle High School drives his team to 151 win streak and 12 consecutive state titles, then must overcome devastation and diversity in the following season. The coach and the players, holding each other accountable, focus on “perfect effort.” Their pre-game ritual of “goal cards” creates an unbreakable brotherhood amongst the team, even after the perfect streak ends, a relationship similar to that of our very own Roseville Tigers. Loneliness and heartbreak weave their way through the film. When a respected member of the team tragically loses his life and another player’s mother loses hers, the family of the Spartans lifts their spirits to new heights. They even rally around their beloved coach after his life threatening heart attack. The Spartans biggest challenges come at the beginning of their season. Despite losing their first two games, the boys show their resilient spirits, they come back and beat the top rated high school team in the country,

BYCATHERINE BARBER c.barber@eyeofthetigernews.com

COURTESY TRISTAR PICTURES

“When the Game Stands Tall” transcends sports movie stereotypes and explores family relationships, teen life and football. defying the scorching heat and incomparably large opposing team. For any child whose parents are coaches, they will find relational comfort in Ladouceur’s son Danny (Matthew Daddari), who is overlooked on the field and finds a coach in his father, but no father in his coach. As high schoolers know, parents’ egos are soon to get in the way of an athlete’s ability. Mickey Ryan (Clancy Brown),

Chris Ryan’s father, wants his football-star son Chris (Alexander Ludwig) to break the California touchdown record more than Chris himself, a common parental vicariousness. While the movie is certainly moving and inspirational, the blatant Nike advertising goes overboard and detracts from the overall tone of the movie. When all of the other players are wearing their De La Salle High School Football shirts, and a kid

stands up in a Nike Air branded shirt, the intimate moment becomes lost. Not to mention the giant Dick’s Sporting Goods signs sprinkled throughout the movie, even though you couldn’t actually find one in the bay area in 2004, the time of the movie. Overall, the movie kept the audience on the edge of their seats in the most dramatic fashion, and viewers left the theater wanting to become more selfless people.

Teen pop star Ariana Grande recently released her new album, “My Everything.” The album consists of 15 tracks ranging from fun and up-beat songs to calm ballads. Grande seems to have completely left behind her former days as a Nickelodeon TV star as her new album admits a more mature sound and declares confidence and class. The first released single from the album “Problem,” shot to the top of the charts instantly. It is fair to say this song set the stage for her new album as it promotes girl power and independence while also contributing a catchy beat. “Problem” seems to be a hit among most everyone. Both young girls and grown men find themselves singing along to “I got one less problem without you,” and jamming out to Iggy Azalea’s rap solo. The song’s success is exemplified as the music video shoots upwards of 100 million views on YouTube. Another upbeat sing-along on the album is “Bang Bang,” featuring Nicki Minaj and Jessie J. The collaboration between the three demonstrates Grande’s continued interest in having rap guest stars on her album. A single off her previous album called “The Way” took the charts by storm as rap star Mac Miller

joined her in a duet. A slower R&B track off of the album is “Best Mistake,” featuring Big Sean. This song also makes its way into the rap category as Big Sean raps about how he is “the best mistake [Grande] ever had.” The track relates to everyday relationships as Grande sings about how the struggles couples face are worth it when they are in love. All it took was a sci-fi themed music video and a small, sparkly leotard to boost the next song to fame. “Break Free” featuring Zedd, promotes freedom and growth as Grande sings about how she “is stronger than [she] was before.” In the music video Grande plays the role of an intergalactic hero who rescues the galaxy from aliens. “My Everything” is a heartfelt love ballad. Its slow tune and honest lyrics gives the audience a glimpse into Grande’s love life. The chorus of the song repeats the lyrics “you are my everything.” The song’s sincerity makes it a perfect wrap-up.

page 12 | entertainment

september 15, 2014

Bridges’ performance can’t save weak “Giver”

BY MIKAYLA STEARNS

m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com

You either loved it or you hated it. “The Giver,” by Lois Lowry serves as a staple of middle school reading lists. Producer Jeff Bridges tackles the problem of producing a film for a book whose details are somehow burned into most of our minds. Was it really back in middle school that I read this? Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a teen living in a seemingly utopian society, has no troubles whatsoever because his society revolves completely around equality. He lives and laughs with his friends while commuting every day to his various community services by bicycle. The Community’s Elders choose Jonas to be the next Receiver of Memory during the annual job assignment ceremony, where he goes on to take lessons from the Giver (producer Jeff Bridges) consisting of neural feeling transfer and sights of the past. Only the chosen members of the Community have the ability to receive these memories while every other member bides their time, remaining blissfully ignorant.

COURTESY DAVID BLOOMER

“The Giver” brings Lois Lowry’s utopian novel to life, but Hollywood falls short and only delivers a watered-down version of the classic. As Jonas absorbs the lessons, tenets of the society he’s known for his whole life begin to crumble from the weight of his new experiences. Bridges pulls along the film, and gives a great performance of just the right balance of realism and “tortured soul.” Thwaites plays a starry-eyed, optimistic Jonas, which helped me forget

about the massive age difference between story-Jonas and Thwaites. The age gap is one of many details/subplots that differ from the book. I expected some sort of change to the story because change is inevitable with a transition from novel to film, so I was delightfully surprised to find that the overarching plot essentially

stays the same. Jonas’ eye color, red apple discovery and introduction to infant Gabe are noticeable but not too bothersome of alternatives to the original story. A difference, and Hollywood cliché found in many book adaptations, that did bother me is the romanticism between Jonas and his friends Asher (Cameron Monaghan) and Fiona (Odeya

Rush). Of course the directors feel the need to spice up the action between Fiona and Jonas, but the shots and dialogue with Asher suggests feelings of jealousy toward Jonas and Fiona’s relationship, even though feelings of jealousy are supposed to be eliminated with the daily injections that each Community member receives. The development of these three characters and their relationships has awkward, unexplained turns. Rush puts on a monotonous routine as Fiona, inducing groans with her attempted “inspirational” lines of wisdom and defiance. Unlike Bridges or Thwaites, who melt into their roles, Rush is clearly reciting lines and displaying practiced facial expressions. Her lack of depth in the role contributes to some confusion with the decisions that she makes. Often her actions don’t match up with her established character. Mainstream pop icon Taylor Swift fills the role of Rosemary. She has few lines, and Swift delivers what she can to the enigmatic character. Rosemary could’ve easily been played by a different undiscovered actress, and for a cheaper price than

Swift. The question remains: is the singer in the movie simply for her star power and command over teens? Yes. An aspect that teen bookworms will approve of is the color effects of the film. Jonas’ vision shifts from black-andwhite to full color, and any perspective besides his own changes back to black-and-white. This detail makes the plot a bit easier to understand for movie-goers. Meryll Streep plays an unexpected antagonist for this movie. I guess “the system” is too vague of a villain for viewers, so writers made Streep an actual, physical embodiment of the Community’s brain-washing ideologies. Her character did exist beforehand, but was not so dramatic or extreme in her opposition to Jonas as she is in the movie. Watching “The Giver” in theaters brings back both painful and happy flashbacks to reading the novel. Even if you have not read the book, you can still follow the storyline with relative ease. And if you want to read the book afterwards, be prepared for the much less Hollywood version of Jonas’ struggles.

Personalized pizza offerings set Blast 825 Pizza apart BY GEORGE HUGHES

g.hughes@eyeofthetigernews.com

If you’re searching for a tasty make-your-own pizza restaurant, then look no further. Blast 825 Pizza features a Subway-like interactive process in which you can create your own 10-inch personalized pizza for a very reasonable price of $7.95. I felt very comfortable walking into the restaurant. The staff was welcoming, there was calm music playing and the entrance was inviting with its bright colors and pictures. One of the walls was adorned with a motto of ‘Life’s Too Short… Have a BLAST!’ As you tell the staff what you would like on your pizza, they slide it further down the counter as you progress with your creation, adding more items along the way. We could decide between three types of “handcrafted” thincrusted doughs including original, artisan wheat and glutenfree. Blast offers five different types of house-made sauces: marinara, white sauce, pesto, barbeque and infused olive oil and a large selection of cheeses including feta, mozzarella, gorgonzola and Blast’s original blend. Hungry customers finish their creations by choosing a total of seven toppings, three meats and four vegetables/fruits to top off their pizza. The pizza takes only three to four minutes to bake in their advertised 825 degree heat, which is what gives the restaurant its name and originality. The restaurant also has a menu of pre-built pizzas should you choose not to build your own, though that would be avoiding the novelty of it all. The amount of different toppings featured in Blast allows for a seemingly endless possibility of flavors and options. The staff was very friendly and impressed me with their hospitality, making small talk with us while we ordered. Sadly, I was not impressed with the speed of the creation process. The members of staff took very liberal amounts of time filling our pizzas with ingredients. Although this gives me the feeling that they actually put care into my creation, it nearly doubles the total preparation time. The slow-moving staff almost defeats the purpose of the

COURTESY BUNGIE

Immersive shooter-meets-RPG caters to gamers of all kinds BY LUZ FLORES

l.flores@eyeofthetigernews.com

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Blast 825 Pizza is located at 1132 Galleria Blvd in Roseville. It is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon. through Thurs. and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fri. and Sat. It is closed Sun. quick-fire process, because creating the pizza takes about as much time as baking it. I also found it interesting that when baking the pizza, the quickfire oven was set to a temperature of 758 degrees instead of the 825 degrees the restaurant advertises. Upping the heat could possibly make the overall process even faster, also holding the place true to its name and purported claim. Although friendly and hospitable when taking our orders, the employees rarely checked on our table and the quality of our food, and we. The lack of attention we received while seated left only a figurative bad taste in our mouths, because the quick-fired food tasted great. My pizza consisted of original dough, barbeque sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni,

bacon, ham, mushrooms, red peppers and green peppers. It turned out to be awesome. Despite a couple shortcomings, I was very impressed by this new restaurant. Its customizable pizzas and novel processes bring originality and creativity to the venue. I hesitated a little bit when choosing ingredients to put on my pizza, fearing that one wrong topping might throw off the flavor balance, but it turns out that I am quite the master chef. I really enjoyed the thin crust, too. It made the pizza much easier to eat. For great tasting pizza at an affordable price, Blast 825 Pizza is definitely the place to go, as long as you don’t have a problem with waiting abnormally long for the staff to place your toppings on your pizza.

It’s safe to say that the sci-fi genre has influenced many projects in the gaming industry, and “Destiny” is no exception. Despite the clear tropes common to games that take heavily from this genre, this game has a freshness to it that keeps the player coming back for more. You play as a Guardian, one of the few tasked to protect Earth’s last city from the alien races known as The Fallen and The Hive. Because of the player’s Guardian status, much of the story’s missions have the player recover intel or take the fight to these threats in order to stave away the destruction of Earth’s last safe haven. Through all of this a small floating robot called a Ghost which guides the player. The gameplay stands, in essence, as a hybrid between Halo and Borderlands. For those unfamiliar with these franchises, “Destiny” plays like a first-person shooter and has strong RPG aspects. These RPG aspects include leveling-up, skills and equipment that affect your Guardian’s performance. These properties make the game an evolving experience that you can tailor to your liking and, unless you fight over-leveled enemies, challenging without becoming too frustrating. Before the game begins, you can customize what class you want to play as and how your Guardian looks. The classes all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. All of these classes favor a certain type of play style and it’s up to the player to choose if they want a more FPS-like experience, a more strategic experience or a faster paced experience for their Titan, Warlock or Hunter respectively.

It’s also important to note that none of the classes are too overpowered because they effectively counter each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Every class also has their own specials that play on each classes strength. The Titans take advantage of their brute strength, jumping up and delivering a powerful slam with their fists on the ground, rendering any and all poor souls in the blast vicinity decimated by its hammer. The Warlocks play on their “mage” abilities by sending out a large magic missile-like blast to eliminate their target; a better arc increases the blast’s potential to devastate baddies far across the map. The Hunters focus on their efficiency, and they receive a golden gun with limited shots, which can very well one-shotkill enemies provided enough accuracy on the player’s part. Those who like to make a unique and good-looking character may be disappointed that Bungie didn’t include more expansive character creation features, because you may come across other players with very similar Guardians, making you want to recreate your character all over again. Despite the not-so-varied choices in the character creation, I was rather happy with my badass female Awoken, looking ready for battle. “Destiny” allows the player to either play by themselves or with friends and strangers. While progressing through the story, you may come across others in your travels because players share maps. You can choose to help them or ignore

them depending on whether you want to be the lone wolf or the team player. However, the most glaring flaw of “Destiny” is rooted in the online aspect of it. You always have to maintain a connection to the internet in order to play the game; if your network is down or you simply don’t have access to the internet then you can’t even get past the title screen of the shooter-meets-RPG. This is a pretty big disappointment. The graphics are typical of a next-gen game, which is to say they are absolutely superb. The cut scenes of the game are so cinematic to the point that it appears as if I’m watching a movie. The player is truly immersed in the universe of “Destiny” by the environment and sounds in both game and cut scene. The music itself sounds orchestrated, sometimes with a mix of electrical guitar, aiding in enhancing player situations. It’s relaxing while sitting in safe havens and epic enough to get blood pumping in tense combat. The lighting perfectly complements the graphics depending on preference; it further immerses the player into feeling as if they were in their Guardian’s shoes. Sometimes I even had to stop from staring at the mountain ranges or the vast expanses of space with sheer admiration. It’s also generally satisfying to watch the dazzling patterns and lights unique to space travel while going to different planets, which is also an effective way to disguise a loading screen. From the atmosphere to the gameplay, “Destiny” offers an immersive experience that both casual and hardcore gamers can easily enjoy.

Sports

september 15, 2014

page 13

Varsity volleyball takes 2/3 from SFL teams Baseball BY AMRAN BISLA

a.bisla@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Roseville Girls varsity volleyball team, led by head coach Ron Grove and returning All-Metro and team captain Abby Jensen, started the season against a former rival and league team Granite Bay. The team consists of eight returning players from last year’s varsity team. The team played their first pre-season game on September 3 and started off with a crushing loss against former rival Granite Bay, losing the match 3-0. Match scores were 25-18, 25-19 and 2521. At the time, Granite Bay was ranked number two in the section. According to senior Kylene Landenberger, the team could improve in some areas to help them later on. “We needed to start off the game stronger,” Landenberger said. “But it was still a good fight.” However, the following day on September 4, the Tigers played the Placer Hillman. They swept the Hillman 3-0 with scores of

SHELIA SHARMA EYE OF THE TIGER

The Lady Tigers prepped for league with three preseason match-ups against Granite Bay, Woodcreek and Rocklin. 25-23, 25-18, and 27-25. Coach Grove was impressed by the standout player Abby Jensen after the game. “Abby had 20 kills and only one error the entire game,” Grove

said. “Having a game like that in volleyball is extremely rare.” The Tigers participated in the Chris Craft tournament during the weekend of September 6. The Lady Tigers started off strong by

beating their first two opponents: Folsom and Vista Del Lago. . They ended up losing to Christian Brothers 2-0 with match scores of 25-17 and 25-18. They ended the tournament swiping second place.

The Lady Tigers played across town and long-time rival Woodcreek on September 9. They swept the Timberwolves 3-0 with match scores of 25-15, 25-16, 25-20. Even though the Tigers won the match, Jensen had a few things that she thinks the team could work on to improve upon. “We need to improve on passing, also setting the ball into better locations,” Jensen said. The following day the Tigers played another former league rival, Rocklin. The Tigers swept the Thunder 3-0. Though the Tigers did sweep the Thunder, each match was close: 25-21, 25-23 and 26-24. Starting off the pre-season the Tigers played three former league rivals in the SFL. The team defeated last year’s San-Joaquin section champion, Rocklin Thunder. However, they lost to the reigning state champions, Granite Bay. When they did play Granite Bay, the match was close and the Grizzlies managed to slip away in all three matches.

JV carries on success from last season with dominating start

Overall record now stands at 3-0; last two wins come by double digits BY BRYCE CROUCH

b.crouch@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Roseville JV football team has started off the season on a strong note. They are coming off of backto-back double-digit wins. They defeated Chico High School 42-0 in the first game. The team came out strong, scoring two quick touchdowns with sophomore quarterback Colton Borowiak connecting to sophomore wide receiver Josh Clark during the first quarter, stirring up the offense and jumpstarting the team’s performance heading into the rest of the game. Sophomore running backs Jay Razzano and Brendan McMinn carried the running load with three total touchdowns, one coming from McMinn and two coming from Razzano that was broken for a 90-yard run and another receiving a pass from Borowiak. The following week they trav-

eled down to Rio Linda to look for another dominating victory, this time against the Knights. They came out strong as the offense line created large holes for the running game as each Borowiak and McMinn both scored a touchdown each and Razzano collecting two touchdowns. Also Borowiak and sophomore wide receiver James Jones connected for a touchdown capping off a 35-14 victory over the Rio Linda Knights. Early in the season head coach Tim McDowell is very optimistic about this year’s JV team. He notes that his players have a lot of speed on both sides of the ball. “We have a very well balanced team. Each week it can be someone different stepping up on offense,” Mcdowell said. “Defensively, we are very fast.” McDowell said speed would be crucial to the Tigers’ success

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

Ths JV football team has combined staunch defense with a high powered offense to open the year 3-0. In their first three games, the Tigers have surrendered just 22 points while scoring a combined 118. this year. This year’s JV team finished last year with a record of 9-1at the freshman level and are expecting to finish this year with an even better record. They lost three freshmen from last year’s team as they were pulled up to varsity: running back Joseph Flores, tight end/defensive end Jimmy Jaggers, and center

Jackson Knapp. However, the team hasn’t skipped a beat. On the defensive side, they have been quite dominating over the past two seasons, allowing 21 points in only two games last year and holding five of the teams they played to less than 10 points. The defense is anchored by safety Hayden Simpson, line-

backer Josh Bamford and defensive end Nick Tucker. This season is a different change for the team as they will be playing Thursday nights after the freshman team once league starts. “I personally don’t like the idea of playing Thursday nights because we won’t have very many fans,” Razzano said.

Returners lead the way for JV soccer; Edwards, Grannucci step up, stand out

BY BRAD JAMES

b.james@eyeofthetigernews.com

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

The JV Tigers are looking to improve upon their 8-7-3 SFL record from last year this season in the CVC.

Opening the 2014 season, the JV boys’ soccer team has played in four preseason games against former SFL opponents. The team defeated Del Oro, Rocklin and Nevada Union with their only loss coming against school rival, Woodcreek High. Jumping into the new CVC league, the Tigers started off the regular season with an impressive 6-0 victory against Del Campo High School. “Everybody we’ve played in preseason we’ve been with,” said coach Paul Stewart. “We’ve been strong and the thing is these are all SFL teams, we have three wins and a loss against SFL teams so we’ll see if we can carry that over to the new league.” The JV team had an overall record of 8-7-3 in the SFL in last year’s 2013 season and they are looking to improve upon that re-

cord this year in the new CVC league. “We’re moving into a new league and we want to do well in it,” Stewart said. Although a few sophomore players have been puled up to a young varsity squad, the upcoming freshmen have been looked upon by veteran teammates to step up and fill open roles. “We have a great mix of sophomores this year and we’ve also added some great freshmen to the team so we’ll see,” Stewart said. A few key returning players from last season, sophomores Tommy Edwards and Sean Granucci, who were defensive starters last year, have had to adapt to new positions taking on roles as the new starting forwards of the team. According to Edwards, the loss of fellow teammates to the Varsity team was huge but he is comfortable stepping up to help the team. “I hope that we finish at least a

five hundred team this year,” said Edwards. Edwards and Granucci have fit in perfectly with the formation, as the two returning veterans have become the team’s leading scorers in the first four games of the season. “I think we’ll do well this year, we’ve been playing well so far and communicate great,” freshman mid-fielder Manuel Valdez said. “We work hard in practice with conditioning and we’re ready to compete.” Valdez believes his team’s strong work ethic during practice will translate to greater success on the field during games. Coach Stewart expects his team to perform at a high level for every game and every practice throught the entire season. He hopes that by working and playing hard he can prepare his young team for the next level and having a successful varsity season for RHS in the next year or two.

gets head start on season BY NICK SAPP

n.sapp@eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School baseball will take another run at fall baseball program this year. Last year, RHS baseball tried to get a team together, but the fall coaching change prevented that from happening. With fall ball underway, the team is filled with excitement and good vibes, along with high expectations for this coming season. “So far we have been working hard, and I am really excited to see what this season has in store for us,” senior catcher Andrew Grinder said. The fall ball program has a freshman and sophomore team along with a junior and senior team. With the two teams, one team plays at home, while the other will play at the opponent’s school. RHS will face teams such as Del Oro, who went 10-5 and finished second in the Sierra Foothill League. The team will also be playing Granite Bay, Woodcreek, Oakmont and Vista del Lago. These are all teams RHS have played in the past. According to Fischer fall ball should help RHS baseball; however these teams do not have all their players due to those players playing other fall sports. “It’s an opportunity to see the guys we haven’t seen or don’t really know and get time with them,” said Fischer. This will be Fischer’s second year and he will now be able to implement his philosophy. Due to this the team should compete more in games according to Fischer. “We scratched the surface last year, there are a 100 other things we need to implement this year that we just didn’t have time for last year,” said Fischer. As of right now the fall team is very senior heavy, with returning players that know the expectations, as far as what Fischer is expecting. Some of the returning players feel that fall ball will help with team chemistry, which will in turn lead to a successful season, due to being under Fischer for the second year. “I think last year Fischer was still getting the hang of things, I think this year he will be more strict and harder on us when necessary,” Grinder said. “He knows what he’s doing and he can lead us to a winning season.” The team practices Monday through Thursday from 3-4:30 up until they start games on September 23. The games will vary depending on what week it is. RHS will play twice a week except finals week where they will only play one game that week for a total of nine fall ball games. “So far we have been practicing as if it were a real season,” senior John Kidder said. “We are building team chemistry early so we don’t have issues in the future.” An everyday fall ball practice usually consists of taking “in and out” (taking grounders and fly balls with given game situations), along with some kind of hitting or bunting drills designed to help the team produce more runs this season. After finishing last in every offensive category other than home runs, working on producing runs is a clear are for improvement this seasaon. Last season the team’s record was 8-19 and Fischer is hoping that this offseason work will help the team improve on that mark.

page 14

BIG CHANGES, BIGGER GOALS

Sports

september 15, 2014

Tigers adjust to new league, defense, quarterback – and new expectations BY LOGAN ASH

l.ash@eyeofthetigernews.com

As the Roseville High School varsity football team embarks into the 2014 season, the team is adapting to many drastic changes. The changes range from a new quarterback leading the offense to entering into a brand new league with brand new competition. With the previous starting quarterback graduating, there was a clear and obvious position that needed to be filled. According to head coach Larry Cunha, senior Michael Dobler had the clear advantage going into the summer to fill the starting spot as quarterback. However, Cunha explained that senior Adam Besana played well during the spring and summer. “I’ve been working hard all summer and it is nice to get rewarded,” Besana said. Besana started the first pre-season game against Chico and completed 11 of 23 pass attempts along with throwing two touchdown passes to senior receiver Bryce Kasch. Dobler started the second game against Rio Linda and completed a mere 3 of 5 pass attempts in the first half before getting replaced by Besana at the turn of the half. Besana finished the Rio Linda game going 9 for 15 with an interception. “Michael and Adam both did well,” senior linebacker Ryan Andrada said. “I don’t really think any of them lost the job; it’s just a hard decision on Cunha’s part.” Throughout the first two weeks Besana has accumulated 374 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in a game and a half. On the other hand, Dobler was only given 24 minutes to show his worth, and he threw for 46 yards with zero interceptions and zero touchdowns in his only appearance this season.

“It’s close enough that it may change from week to week unfortunately,” Cunha said. “I wish it wouldn’t but they are that close.” Along with offensive changes, the team has new ambitions on the other side of the ball as well. Led by first year defensive coordinator Bradley Hunkins, the team has implemented a whole new defensive system which they are still adapting to. “They have been on the field with the new system since June,” Hunkins said. “So they are still learning to run the system and be effective with it.” This will be Hunkins’ second year at Roseville (first as coordinator) and he has implemented a whole new defense. “He makes game time decisions,” Andrada said. “He sees the offense and he is smart enough to make decisions in critical points.” According to Hunkins, the first two teams they played had high power offenses with big playmakers which was hard to adapt to while they implemented the new defense. “I thought our defense played well,” Hunkins said. “We just have to play consistently well.” As the Tigers transfer into the Capital Valley Conference (CVC) many people believe that the football team will find more success on the field. “I think we can play with anybody,” Cunha said. “It’s just going to be a matter of how we play; I think we are capable of beating everyone in our league.” As the Tigers switch out of the SFL, they are leaving behind previous state champions Del Oro and Granite Bay. Even though the CVC does not obtain the respect that goes with the SFL, Cunha believes the competition is still as strong in the CVC. “It’s going to be a good league,” Cunha said. “It’s going to be a

better league and more competitive league than most people anticipate.” Another change stems from the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) implementing a new law limiting the amount of practice hours per week for contact sports. The teams are only allowed to practice for a total of 18 hours per week. “We normally put in 24 hours in the first two weeks so that hurt us a little bit,” Cunha said. “But once we get into the regular season the hours won’t be a limitation.” Fortunately for the Tigers, they took their first step in the right direction right before league play started. Last Friday, the Tigers defeated the River Valley Falcons in their first win this season by a score of 28-21. The Tigers had a well-rounded distribution of the ball throughout the game, as they had four touchdowns from four different players. River Valley put up the first points on the bored, which did not come until about mid-way through the first quarter. After a Bryce Crouch touchdown early

in the second quarter, the Tigers scored two more unanswered touchdowns before the Falcons were able to add to their seven points. Just two possessions later, with three minutes and forty-eight seconds left to play in the half, fullback Shea O’hara managed to reach pay-dirt as well giving the tigers a 14-7 lead. O’hara went on to finish the game with 96 rushing yards. To start the half, the Tigers marched down the field 78 yards for a drive that resulted in a one yard rushing touchdown by Besana. River Valley answered quickly by returning the kick for a touchdown following the Roseville score. The last touchdown for the Tigers came from a nine yard connection between Kasch and Besana to put the Tigers up 28-14. River Valley came to life early in the fourth quarter, as they managed to punch in a one yard rushing touchdown. After the River Valley touchdown, the game remained scoreless, however, the Tigers caught a break on the Falcons final series

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

The varsity Tigers earned their first win Friday after fending off a late drive by the River Valley VIkings. The team is now 1-2 on a season defined by changes. of the game, after a River Valley rushing touchdown was called back to a holding call. Through the first two games the Tigers fell just short of victory losing 31-28 against Chico and 24-14 against Rio Linda. The Tigers led Chico throughout the entire game until the final minute of the game when the Panthers charged down the field to score a touchdown with just under a minute left in the game. “We’re doing good,” senior

wide receiver Carson Miller said. “Our effort is really good we just have to learn how to finish the games.” Despite only losing by a small margin both games Besana believes they are still playing well. “I think we are playing good,” Besana said. “We started out well we are just having a couple of issues but I think we are getting them worked out and by the time league comes we should be ready to roll.”

Varsity soccer continues to struggle, relies on young talent Team down three ineligible defenders BY GEORGE HUGHES

g.hughes@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Roseville High School boys’ varsity soccer team has begun their season with a rough start with a record of 0-2-3 after finishing preseason. This does not include their two unofficial losses to Sheldon High School and Rio Americano High School in two scrimmage games before pre-season started. According to Gutierrez, the team has been struggling as a result of their lack of players due to their academic ineligibility. This forced Gutierrez to pull up a larger amount of sophomores than he traditionally has in previous years. “This is one of those, kind of, unexpected years,” Gutierrez said. “In the sense that we lost three players to grades and they are key players.” The team is down three key defensive players due to low grades and this has had a large effect on their performance early on in this season. These players are seniors Sergio Loza and Mixi Loza and junior Eric Pizano. The varsity team recruited five new sophomores this season that did not play on the team last year. These sophomores are Kyle Kellog, Keegan Ness, Tyler Netheway, Ryan Poindexter and Pedro

Rivas. All of them, except Ness, played for RHS last year on the JV team. It was necessary for Gutierrez to pull up these sophomores to the varsity team because he needed to fill in the gaps of his missing key players. He is also currently contemplating moving one of his best goal-keepers to fill a defensive position left by one of his ineligible players. Gutierrez said that the sophomores that he had to pull up are very talented and he hopes that they will be very influential throughout the season, especially on the defensive side of the field. Sophomore center midfielder and right defender Pedro Rivas is one of the sophomores that were pulled up to varsity. He feels that the lack of their key defenders has made the biggest difference of any factor affecting their performance. “I think the three defensive players has been, like, a great impact,” Rivas said, “because Mixi and Sergio are big players on our team.” Rivas said that Gutierrez had to move players around into positions that they would not usually play to compensate for their loss of their members. Rivas specified that sophomore forward Ryan Branigan and

ROBBIE SHORT EYE OF THE TIGER

This year’s team is leaning heavily on its young talent, including sophomores Ryan Brannigan (left) and Keegan Ness (right). After a winless preseason, the Tigers were able to secure a 3-3 tie in the league-opener versus the Del Campo Cougars Thursday. sophomore center midfielder Keegan Ness have volunteered to take the center-back position in previous games to further strengthen the team’s defense. In doing this, the team loses some of its offensive scoring power, which has had a large effect on the outcomes of their games, according to both Guiterrez and players. Senior stopper Nick Trezza believes that the return of

the team’s missing players will make a big difference in their performance and that they will hopefully be able to do well in the rest of their league games this season. “I feel like once they come back, it is really going to help us on the defensive side of the field,” Trezza said. “It is going to make us a lot better team. The team began their league games against the Del Campo

High School Cougars and tied them 3-3. According to junior goalkeeper Alejandro Vasquez, the team played well and fought until the final whistle blew. The Cougars were winning 1-0 at the end of the first half and, at the beginning of the second, they scored again, making it 2-0. The Tigers fought on and then junior midfielder Lucas Alcala and junior forward Colin Richardson both scored to make it 2-2.

The Cougars scored again, but then the Tigers countered it with another goal to tie the game at 3-3. Sophomore Keegan Ness thinks that the team played well because of the fact that they wanted to start off strong in league play this year. “I think the mentality had to do with a lot of it,” Ness said. “We were playing on a really nice field so, I mean, I think that helped us.”