The October 2015 lightningboltonline.com
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Volume 16, Issue 3 www.facebook.com/sagehillschool
The College Crunch Navigating the ‘Delightful’ College Admission Process By Claire Dwyer
16dwyerc.publications@gmail.com For seniors, the pain is familiar. We want more than anything to know that we’re in to college, and we want the litany of exams, essays, applications and interviews to come to an end. But unfortunately, we’re not there
quite yet. So for those seniors who still feel like they’re lost in the quagmire of college uncertainty, the college counseling team is there to help. That’s the key word: counseling. A word usually associated with reducing adolescent stress, counseling can come in many different forms, including advice about admissions, essays, and how to stay sane during October and November. College counselors are there to help
and even to listen to our fears and problems—about college of course. Frank Smith, director of college counseling, notes that there have been some changes to the program this year. “The vast majority [of college visits] are repeat visits,” Smith said. “A few new visitors include the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Quest University Canada and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.”
Sahar Emtiaz
A Glimpse into the Future. One of more than 100 college admission representatives make small group presentation for Sage Hill School juniors and seniors the first three months of the school year in the college counseling office and in the MMLH auditorium.
Now, at this point if you’re wondering “what’s a college visit?” and you’re a senior, you’re not “done for” quite yet. “We’ve had 94 college visits so far and another 40 or so in the rest of October and November. We could still get a few more, but the vast majority have been scheduled,” Smith said. College visits are an important part of the program for Sage seniors to get to know the colleges they are potentially applying to. “Students visit with the college reps for various reasons,” Smith said. “Some hope to get answers to questions they may have about the topics in my number four answer above. They also come to demonstrate interest and let the college rep know that they’re serious about that institution. I’m happy to report that we don’t have a problem with students coming to visits simply to get out of class,” Smith said. “Our students are very thoughtful about when they can and/or should miss class. If we see a student at a college meeting, we naturally assume he/she is there for the right reasons.” And as an extra incentive to come to visits, college reps often view Sage as an exceptional school near the top of their list of schools in Southern California to visit, he said. “I met with a college rep from a highly selective university after she visited with students last week and she said, ‘I love visiting Sage! Your students always ask the best questions.’ It’s not unusual for us to hear such comments. College reps know our students are well prepared for the rigors of the collegiate classroom when they leave Sage,” Smith said. “They also value our emphasis on service learning and believe our students will continue to improve the world around them when they enroll at their schools. Since our students are willing to leave California to attend college, college reps from around the country know it’s not a waste of time coming here because there’s always a chance one student or more could attend their school. In general, we’re a must-stop for many college reps.” So do not despair, Sage seniors. In the world of the meat market of college admissions, we’re the choice cut, so they say. “We often hear students ask questions about the admissions process in addition to student life, academics with a focus on potential majors, athletics, fine arts, residence life, research opportunities and scholarships. Our students do an amazing job of engaging the college reps and asking them pertinent questions,” Smith said. So the senior class can, with a moment’s hesitation beforehand to check if we’ve done all our homework…breath. In the midst of the quagmire, the meat market, or maybe for the select few one of the most exciting times in their life so far, it’s looking like we’re going to come out alive.
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STAFF EDITORIAL
Fashion Fairness Dressing up the Code
Once pulled out of class on account of her gray V-neck t-shirt and open red cardigan, El Toro High School senior Danielle Ernst started a petition, now 8,478 signatures strong, to “Help [Her] Demand an End to the Sexist Dress Code at [Her] High School” on thepetitionsite.com on Oct. 7. After Ernst buttoned up her cardigan in response to the objection, the El Toro attendance office called her back and threatened that another dress code violation would result in detention. Ernst, however, believed the attendance office committed injustice against her student rights, commenting, “They told me I was a distraction. I felt really self-conscious. I didn’t think they had the right to make me feel like that.” The war over the necessity and fallibility of school dress codes dates back to the 1969 landmark Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District. The case involved several students who wore black armbands to protest the hostilities of the Vietnam War despite school policy. Ultimately the Supreme Court decision favored the students, stating that “in order for the state in the person of school officials to justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, a student must engage in a forbidden conduct that would materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operations of the school.” Often proponents of strict dress codes argue that clothing require-
ments prevent campus interferences by equalizing students in each other’s eyes in terms of socioeconomic and cultural differences, taking the pressure off girls to dress sexually and reducing disciplinary action and classroom distractions. Dress guidelines themselves that strive to improve the produc-
ous, powerful, and [sexualized], and that boys are biologically programmed to objectify and harass them. It prepares them for college life, where as many as one in five women is sexually assaulted but society will blame and question and silence them, while perpetrators are rarely disciplined.”
tivity and courtesy of students in an institution are not problematic. However, codes riddled with double standards that single out girls, students of color and religious students infringe on students’ rights. According to Laura Bates, cofounder of The Everyday Sexism Project, a dress code that attempts to eliminate the distractions of the female body “sends an incredibly powerful message. It teaches [children] that girls’ bodies are danger-
Many reports exist of school dress codes singling out transgender students, barring their photos from the school yearbook for wearing dresses or tuxedos to prom. Dress codes have deemed black students’ hairstyles “unacceptable,” and a paper published by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University states, “Research suggests that when given an opportunity to choose among several disciplinary options for a relatively
16saroyank.publications@gmail.com
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minor offense, teachers and school administrators often choose more severe punishments for Black students than for White students for the same offense.” Dress code infringements on religious freedom have included the suspension of Muslim girls for wearing headscarves, bans on cross necklaces, traditional dress and rosaries, and requirements that boys must cut their hair. The new online format of the Sage Hill student handbook states, “The dress code is designed to allow student expression of individuality and comfort. At the same time, Sage Hill students should wear clothing that is in accordance with the School’s policy of honor as defined in the Honor Code.” The dress code includes mandates against revealing clothing, visible undergarments, thin shoulder straps, clothing that is vulgar, obscene, libelous, offensive, or promotional of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or violent activities, and hazardous jewelry and shoes. The code also appears to include an elastic clause, stating “Any student dressed in a manner that makes any member(s) of the community feel uncomfortable will be considered in violation of the dress code policy.” Our dress code can ensure safe, abundant student expression on campus by eliminating offensive, disrespectful clothing, as long as “member(s) of the community” do not subjectively “feel uncomfortable” about students’ righteous, personal choices.
16prakashn.publications@gmail.com
publications staff
EICs: Namita Prakash, Kristin Saroyan Adviser: Konnie Krislock Executive Editors: Stephanie Min, Claire Lin, Celine Wang,Vale Lewis, Tommy Lee, Amanda Ong Commentary and Opinion Editor: Claire Dwyer Associate Commentary and Opinion Editor: Julia Dupuis Design Editor: Jackie Nam Associate Design Editor: Lynn Fong Executive Video Editor: Jo Farkas Associate Video Editor: Ava LeWinter Underclass Editor: Christina Acevedo
Assignment Editors: Catharine Malzahn, Lauren Fishman Lifestyle Editor: Jaime Dailey Photo Editor: Kandis McGee Aassociate Photo Editor: Sahar Emtiaz Assistant-to-the-Adviser: Genesis Gonsalez Sports Editors: Steven Du, Brett Super Senior Editor: Tess Hezlep Copy Writers: Jenny Wang, Niva Razin, Madison Harris-Weiner, Farooq Ansari, Sarah Kim Designers: Dana Shan, Emma Ruck Online Bloggers: Luc Levine, Jake Eckel Photographers: Sahar Emtiaz, Lauren Hausman, Dillon Graveline, Madison Nadelman
ACADEMICS
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A Catalyst for Improvement
SAHAR ROHANI
Project X. Kerry Langdale’s advisory, including Matthew Choi, Matthew Liu, Lucas Levine,William Sanderson, Paul Lam, and Neal Spencer create a chemical reaction in the lab.
By Claire Dwyer
16dwyerc.publications@gmail.com Those of us who still remember the portables know the Science Department has come a long way in the last few years. And it is starting to develop an illustrious history. Such history partially comes due to the extraordinary success of the robotics team last year. “This year, the engineering and robotics team will compete again…They will be presenting along with a professional engineer during the first section of the science lecture series on Nov. 18,” Langdale said. “In the second section of the science lecture series in the spring, we will have a scientific research poster symposium like we did last year to showcase the achievements of the scientific research class.” In a school which just four years ago ran all its freshman students through an ill-fated Scientific Inquiry course, the department has now turned out multiple graduates to MIT and other prestigious
technical and liberal arts colleges and universities. Sage students aren’t afraid to take intellectual risks in the science department. While students sometimes will grumble about a bad grade on an exam, the quality of the education is worth the
“The department has now turned out multiple graduates to MIT and other prestigious technical and liberal arts colleges and universities.” challenge. Such is demonstrated by alumna Claire Goul ’15, who recently named Tyler Zarubin an amazing teacher through MIT
awards for extraordinary teachers. “Mr. Zarubin presented biology in an exciting, thought-provoking and challenging way that made the class unlike any I had been in before. The class was geared toward teaching students how to be able to figure things out in an independent, creative way—but also to communicate and work well in groups,” Goul said. Senior Namita Prakash took three sciences this year, AP Physics C, AP Biology and Scientific research. Like recent alumna Goul, she found her love and passion for biology in Zarubin’s Accelerated Bio, which seems to be a breeding ground for young scientists. Perhaps because of the laboratory portion, in which students isolate the section of a genome of a plant and then attempt to publish the work, the class is more representative of the actual “work” of a biologist than most science classes. “I have a strong passion for the STEM fields and the Science Department has fostered this passion in me,” Prakash said. “Mr. Zarubin sparked my intellectual curiosity about biology. Now I know this is a
subject I love enough that I am confident about going into it as a career.” Prakash also acknowledged the role her other science teachers played in her love of science. “Mr. Irwin (AP Physics C) pushed me out of my comfort zone with his style of teaching. He encourages me to work collaboratively with classmates in a way I haven’t before. And Dr. Haney (Scientific Research) helped me to explore my various interests while giving me valuable feedback on my ideas. That class especially meant a lot to me because I want to be a scientific researcher,” Prakash said. Kerry Langdale, Science Department chair, is excited about the new direction the department is going. “We’re forming our first official team for the Science Olympiad,” Langdale said, “In the competition a bunch of students compete against 30 other high schools in different topics in the sciences.” This regional competition is held at UCI. After that students go to the state competition and then hopefully the national competition, he said.
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CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS
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lon l a h t eca ationa D mic Intern lub e d l C Hil Aca nesty ights e g Am mal R Club of Sa i s An ation usiast Avi Enth b b u r Clu tion Ca ss Cl Club n e a e ard nvers Ch istian G / r o Ch ate thing Club nd C ica b me a l r e e a e t D So en ltur 01 Am Do ironm , Cu ting 1 ers of s m Env d, Fil Inve Lead s e Foo shman sines y (JCL) Danc u e t i r B n F ure to ue n ma Fut Ocea r Hu l Leag tunity o Go itat f assica ppor b Ha ior Cl aith: O ature Jun p of F Liter g Lea htnin b s Lig th Clu al tion a lub Ma ck Tri ited N in Me my C n n Mo del U edia roneo ciatio M t Mo dern r Gas t Asso b Mo lecula tuden y Clu r Mo slim S Histo Mu ional phy t Na togra lub tics re Pho sics C Robo nt Sto Phy e Hill Stude Sag e Hill EA tion a g Sag E ID vesti n M SA nce I dia e e Sci ck M Sho Club Sage Ski ash at Sm tice e s s Sol War agazin r lub C Sta ck M r te u Str f Club Thea l l Sur hnica e Hil Club g Tec X Sa iness tion a e i p d c v Te Hap ecti sso A e p s t Th Per lub en m e C e r v Th ate vol e n I Th ing t Vo
y ver
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CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS
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Personal, Passionate Choices “I’m just excited to see how far we can take it and what we are going to do with this club. We’ve started it from scratch so there’s no expectations, and we are trying to see if we can make it work” -Marin Burns (Theater Club)
“Club’s Fair was a great opportunity to see what people are interested in and see if maybe we have the same interests.” -Emily Lassiter (Looking for a Club)
“The Happiness Club is just a way to bring the community together and make school more fun. It’s going to be a laid back club. There’s no big time commitment, but it’s just a way to bring students together to have a good time” -Kimia Sadeghi (Hapiness Club)
“We are the Environmental Club. We used to go by the Garden Club, but we want to do more than just garden and take care of the chickens. Our goal this year is to get more people involved and to focus on overall environmental topics. We want to have beach clean ups and also want to help other school’s gardens and not just ours” -Andrea Flores (Environmental Club)
“The main goal is to both learn and play jazz at lunch and perform at venues. Last year, we did Accepted Parents Night, and we did Multicultural Fair” -Dillon Kanne (Jazz Club)
“I think Club’s Fair was a good way to learn because the clubs are all out here at once so you are forced to see everything. I learned a lot, especially about the clubs with flyers and poster boards. It made me more interested in a lot of the clubs, and I signed up for more than I thought I would. I signed up for the Go Oceans Club, MUN, Lit Mag and Robotics” -Naya Gomez (Looking for a Club)
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ARTS
Beware of
Assassins SAHAR EMTIAZ
A peaceful display. Artists Romina Klereby and Jamie Dailey used different styles to create a “pop-out” effect in their work.
Can’t Stop, Won’t S-Stop Art Show By Brett Super
17superb.publications@gmail.com A picture is worth a thousand words, and in the halls where the S-Stop exhibit resides, beautiful stories are told with the eyes. Donna Okamura started the S-Stop project when she “realized that we had a lot of students who loved to take pictures, but didn’t have the opportunity to take a photography class at Sage.” Okamura “had a great response the first two years” but this year she extended the project to the beginning of this year and “didn’t have as many submissions.” However she plans to continue it into the future by also communicating with parents and friends who life to take pictures. “As long as my frames don’t keep breaking, I will run the exhibit.” Okamura also plans to “limit submissions to five per person so that they better self-edit their work.” This will make the quality of photos in the exhibit better and allow students to put more of themselves into each photo. Expression in a different form of art is what S-Stop is all about, Okamura said. “The goal is to showcase their best photographs.” But she knows S-Stop really serves to “give a creative outlet to those who don’t have an art class.”
SAHAR EMTIAZ
Striking a pose. Cast members of Assassins, ranging from freshman to juniors, strike a pose in the midst of a musically-based rehearsal with musical director Mike Walker and director and theatre teacher Tannis Hanson.
By Tess Hezlep
16hezlept.publications@gmail.com
The 2015 fall musical, Assassins, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, focuses on the serio-comedic aspects of tragedies that have affected our country and its history on a national level. The premise of the show begins with iconic assassins who have killed, or at least attempted to kill, the presidents of the United States throughout history. Ranging from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, the story captivates the viewer with clever music as well as a sophisticated and witty writing style. “Assassins is a great choice for this year because it takes a closer look at the circumstances in which some of America’s most famous murderers became disillusioned,” senior Seth Eaton, assistant director, said. “In light of recent current events, it’s important to take a close look at how people become marginalized and violent, and this play focuses on the minds of these historical characters.” Conversation has sparked in the community about the historical, psychological and controversial aspects of this musical and its themes. “I love the way Stephen Sondheim holds a mirror up to our society as he
tries to uncover a deeper meaning to these horrific American crimes,” Tannis Hanson, director and theater teacher, said. “I feel this show provides us as a community a vehicle to talk about some of the recent, and not so recent, tragedies around the country...The truth is these tragic ‘characters’ do exist in and around our world.
“The truth is these tragic ‘characters’ do exist in and around our world. And it can be argued in the play, that it is, in fact, our world that created these killers.” And it can be argued in the play, that it is, in fact, our world that created these killers.” The musical uses innovative and artistic choices to convey this story from mul-
tiple perspectives that force the audience, particularly the students at Sage Hill, to think about how they can tell stories that
“The story carries tremendous relevance with our society today.” will resonate with people, and therefore affect change, she said. “The creative liberties Sondheim takes when he interweaves these historical characters together in the same time and space, breaks the model of traditional linear storytelling. To me, this is such a great example for our students and community of out-of-the box thinking and storytelling,” Hanson said. The story carries tremendous relevance with our society today, shedding light on current events and issues that cause discussion among our younger generations. “With the Presidential Election right around the corner,” Hanson said. “It seemed like a great opportunity to bring the show to our stage as it allows us as educators and artists to ask many different questions about our government, its officials, and the people they lead.”
LIFESTYLE
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Social Media
the shrub
Success
Broadcast Perception of Winners and Losers
By Celine Wang
16wangcpublications@gmail.com At the birth of the 21st Century, the world was exposed to a new world of what we call “basic” technology today” such as cell phones and computers. 15 years later, we are at a point where we’ve taken the technological phenomenon to this next level through something called social media. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, social media consists of “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” What, then, exactly, is social networking? It can be defined as “the use of dedicated websites and applications to interact with other users, or to find people with similar interests to oneself.” As much as people enjoy limiting themselves to dictionaries, social networking today expands much past the borders of its definition. The past few years have seen a rise in popularity in various phone applications, websites and platforms. The typical things that come to mind include apps like Snapchat and Instagram, as well as older websites like Facebook and Twitter. Is social media, though, just about reaching out to other people or “[finding] people with similar interests to oneself?” The one thing that this definition fails to encompass is the sense of discovery that social media invokes in its users. Snapchat, for example, has something called “Our Stories,” in which a different city’s or event’s “Snaps” can be viewed by all Snapchat users. Users themselves make this feature possible, but “Our Stories” does not create direct communication between individual people. Instead, it exposes Snapchat users to various cultures, food and entertain-
By Steven Du
16dus.publications@gmail.com
Jo Farkas
QR CODE. Scan this code with your smartphone to access lightningboltonline.com, which posts three to five local stories each week. ment. It’s kind of like traveling on a three minute virtual tour through the eyes of locals. Every single social media platform, whether interactive or not, hints at some aspect of discovery in one form or another. BuzzFeed Food on Facebook, for example, brings its followers to try easy recipes that are original and often delicious. Aimee Song, a popular Instagram fashion blogger, introduces her followers to a whimsical sense of style. Video game gurus on YouTube inspire other gamers with their strategies and skills. Publications Staff here on campus has closely followed the growth of social
media, or as some people call it, the age of digital journalism. Sports games are covered through live tweets. Milestones like the first day of school are caught on video and posted onto our YouTube page. There’s also a new feature called the QR code (shown on this page), which allows smartphone users to scan the barcode to open a link in a web browser. Social media is so much more than just a tactic to bring users together. It’s an online forum that invokes a spirit of curiosity in all generations—from the millennials to great-grandparents. With the technology startup boom, we can all wonder what more features of social media are to come.
Konnie Krislock
Following the Democratic debate, CNN declared Hillary Clinton as its clear victor. The press conglomerate made sure to emphasize this point. In the several articles that ensued, Clinton was portrayed as the “dominant candidate” and “as the more trusted candidate across several top issues, with double-digit advantages over Sanders and Biden.” The company also broadcasted that she was “the most presidential candidate on stage.” CNN legitimized its claims through a poll, adding that Clinton currently stands at 45 percent favorability while Sanders is around 29 percent. While CNN’s reporting may seem to be typical journalism, the poll upon scrutiny appears to be very suspect as CNN only vaguely mentions its polling procedure. At the same time, a visit to the news website’s Facebook page reveals another Democratic debate poll open to all Facebook users with strikingly different results. In the more democratic poll, Sanders is drastically in the lead, with 81 percent of the responses declaring him to have won the debate. Clinton, in contrast, is way behind. Only 13 percent believed she had won the debate. With this revelation, it becomes clear that there was some bias involved with CNN’s reporting. In fact, this is not the only instance where CNN appears to favor Clinton. In many of the articles before the Democratic debate, CNN did not mind mixing opinion with fact let alone seemingly false information either. It would make sense for CNN to favor Democrats as the newspaper is traditionally liberal-oriented, much like how Fox News favors conservative policies. But why does CNN favor Clinton specifically? An examination of Clinton’s Super PAC reveals that Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, is a Clinton sponsor. Time Warner has so far donated over half a million dollars to Clinton. Of course its subsidiary companies like CNN would support Clinton. Any logical entity would want to protect its assets despite any unethical conflicts of interest that may arise. Not surprisingly, this is not the only conflict of interest revealed by the Super PAC accounting sheet. Clinton is also sponsored by a number of affiliates from major Wall Street Banks: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan. This just might play a factor in Clinton’s economic policies (Glass-Steagall), but given her “trustworthy” and “transparent” history, anything she may do now is fair game.
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BACKPAGE
Major Art Stigma The Inexplicable Power of a Career in the Arts By Julia Dupuis 17dupuisj.publications@gmail.com Can you imagine a world without art? Take a moment and think about it. What would the world be like without its stories? You would come home from work through colorless streets, nothing around you but the aching silence of the working world around you. No radio playing from inside a coffeeshop, no music to listen to on the bus ride home, not even a book to distract yourself. You step inside your home and turn on the television, only to be met with static. A world without art would be stark and empty. Without the stories that hold us together, our world becomes bare. And yet the simple thought of their child majoring in arts is enough to make many parents cringe. The concerns they raise are legitimate. Most people are afraid to major in art because it tends to be a competitive and restricting field. The stigma surrounding artists is one of financial instability where the struggling writer or graphic designer lives in a sad, dingy apartment and takes up a retail or fast food job.
Pursuing a successful career in any art is often considered a waste of time. It’s easy to forget the impact that art has on our world. We take things like books, television, music and graphic design for granted. It’s become so integrated into our lives that we could likely not live without it, and yet we continue to devalue those that work to keep the creativity in our world alive. Artists have the ability to make the real world relatable. It’s through creative processes that we explore ourselves and the community around us; who we are and why we are here. It’s what distinguishes us from other species, and from each other. Senior Tess Hezlep aspires to be an actress. “I don’t care what anyone thinks, because going into the arts is what I’m supposed to do. I think art saves people, and it’s really important to me.” Art majors, like Hezlep have the potential to inspire new ideas, shape a culture, ignite a social movement. With the power that art holds in our world, why is it that there remains such a negative stigma on pursuing the arts in college? Most would say that it’s the money. The issue of living in a society where art
is taken for granted, is that the work of artists is often valued beneath that of a ‘productive’ job. Crystal Yu, a junior, argues that “people are always looking for stability, but what’s the point of stability if you’re always going to be saving up for something else? What happens at the end of your life when you’ve saved up for so many things? What’s the end goal?” Reflecting this toxic, capitalistic ideal tells students they have to be financially productive. If they are not producing, not adding to the economy or moving the world forward in technology or production, they are not considered valuable members of our society. The stigma only perpetuates the false idea that artists are constantly struggling to support themselves financially. Some take part time jobs; others easily sustain themselves within their art. A creative writing major, for example, could write novels, publish short stories or poems, go into editing, publishing, teaching, journalism and much more. The opportunities are out there. Is it hard? Oftentimes, yes. But perhaps it’s better to live a fulfilling and happy life with enough money, rather than to have more than enough.
What would you rather have, as you lay on your deathbed and think back to everything you have done? Would you rather live with the knowledge that you sacrificed your life for economic success? Or would you rather be satisfied with the life you have lived, knowing that you pursued what made you happy, and that you accomplished everything you wanted to in this life? What is economic expansion for, if not to make life better? As our society grows wealthier, more and more young people choose to devote their lives to learning something satisfying and enriching, something that can make the world a better place rather than a richer one. Art has never been about the money. It’s about contributing to a feeling greater than ourselves. Art is the twisting and molding of an idea provoking thought and emotion as it’s replicated into the world around us. It is the most precious human capability, and we cannot allow society to take that away from us. Maybe it’s time we start emphasizing student happiness—the chance to truly live life to the fullest—rather than settling for a career with the biggest paycheck.
Lynn Fong