October - The Burlingame B

THE BURLINGAME B
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
SPREAD
Issue 2 Vol. 97
Controversy over
graduation gown colors
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKI COMMONS
WHAT’S
INSIDE
1 Mangini Way, Burlingame, CA 94010
By: Isabella Ko
SENIOR REPORTER
right to choose
what color we want
that statement to
be,” another anonymous senior said.
For most seniors, graduation
is an important
step in concluding high school,
and preparing for
a new chapter of
life. For others, it
is their first step
towards becoming
more independent
Do you think that all seniors should wear and gaining more
only red graduation gowns?
freedom.
By removing
A new development is brewthe choice of which color gown
ing within the BHS administraseniors will wear, “the school
tion concerning what color the
seems to undermine that
graduation gowns will be for
transition,” another anonymous
the class of 2016. While plans
senior said.
are still being made, there are
On the other hand, there is a
strong opinions coming from
small percentage of seniors who
the student body that many
view a single color of caps and
believe are worth considering.
gowns as unifying and non-disThe Burlingame B conductcriminatory. They argue that
ed a survey about the seniors’
tradition can be updated, just
preference for the color of the
like any other societal tradition,
graduation caps and gowns, and and doing so can improve the
a common opinion emerged.
overall environment.
Most seniors feel that it is
While arguments continue,
more visually pleasing to see a
the final decision about the colmixture of red and white gowns or of the caps and gowns will be
than having only one color. The
made by the Principal Advisory
seniors also feel it is very imCommittee, which will meet
portant that they have a voice in on October 20. This debate is
choosing either a red or white
not new. Last year, when the
gown. Out of the 73 responses
PAC decided to purchase all
received, 93 percent of the sered gowns, there was an error
niors thought that there should
in the order which resulted in
be both red and white gowns,
receiving both red and white
while seven percent thought
graduation gowns. Now that
everyone should wear the same
the topic has arisen again, the
color gown.
administration is reaching out
The general feeling was
to as many seniors as possible
summed up by one senior who
in order to obtain a solid cross
said, “breaking that tradition
section of responses on the
[of having both red and white
issue.
gowns] will rip away any enthuThey are doing so “rather
siasm for graduation.”
than just listening to one group
It has been a tradition in this who is very outspoken,” Assissenior’s family that all the girls
tant Principal Valerie Arbizu
have worn white graduation
said.
gowns, and she wants to see
Arbizu wanted to make it
that tradition continued.
clear that the Principal AdSenior Tori Smith vocalized
visory Committee will make
her desire to have a choice by
sure that “[the decision] will be
citing the First Amendment.
reasonable [and] rational.”
“The decision to make everyone
She said the school will not
wear red graduation gowns goes force any student to wear a
against the First Amendment’s
color that he or she dislikes.
right of Freedom of Speech
However, there has still not
along with the right to freebeen an official decision.
dom of choice and expression,”
For an informational update
Smith said.
on the final decision for the
To the graduating seniors,
graduation cap and gowns go to
“our graduation gowns are the
theburlingameb.com. We will
last statement we make about
publish the news as soon as we
ourselves. We should have the
receive it.
YES
NO
What do dreams mean? Burlingame
B Staff members Lauren Bodenlos,
Claire Morrison, and Colette Weese
have collected data and written about
the meaning of dreams, the science
behind them, and the myths and
truths that surround dreams. Read all
about it on pages 6 and 7.
FEATURES
Marc Benioff (left) recently visited his
hometown and high school here at
BHS. Read about the Ribbon-Cutting
Ceremony for the new library, written
by Staff Reporter Allie Atkeson. Page
3.
Did you know that there are 52 clubs
at BHS? Senior Reporters Rachel
Greenwood and Mallory Jones have
selected six clubs to profile. Page 4.
OPINION
Is student leadership under appreciated at BHS? Art Director Evalynna
Ong explores what it takes to be a
good student leader and its importance on campus. Page 8.
INDEX
•
•
•
•
•
•
News: Page 2
Features: Pages 3-5
Dreams Spread: Pages 6-7
Op-Ed: Pages 8-9
Entertainment: Page 10
Sports: Page 11-12
RELAY 2015
It’s not too late to sign up for
Relay For Life!
Updated event details:
Saturday, November 21, 2015
10 a.m.- 10 p.m.
Washington Park
850 Burlingame Ave., Burlingame,
CA 94010
Firefighters look at the destructive fires tearing across California.
California copes with
worsening drought and
By: Taylor Cotchett
SENIOR REPORTER
The annual hot, Indian Summer weather is upon us, but this
year California is literally on fire.
Nearly two dozen wildfires have
damaged over 134,000 acres. This
is due to the historic drought that
has left vegetation parched for
years. These fires have affected
the lives of many, including students at Burlingame High School.
BHS has drastically cut back in
its water usage and the city of
Burlingame continues to promote
water conservation.
The Valley Fire in Napa County is one of the largest California
fires. This fire hit the wildlands
north of Cobb Mountain and
Pope Valley, forcing the evacuations over nine thousand homes.
The majority of the residents
living in Cobb were sent to an
emergency evacuation center in
Calistoga. About 1,200 people
are staying there, not knowing if
their homes are still standing.
BHS Junior Lena Banchero
has close connections to Cobb
Mountain and said that “it’s an
area that’s had its ups and downs,
but this is by far the worst event
to strike the already economically
unstable environment.” Tents
have been set up for those who
are staying at Calistoga, and the
community has gone through
great measures to provide food,
clothes, and medicine.
The majority of fires, including those in the Rocky and Butte
areas, have been contained. The
Valley fire is 95 percent contained
and is closely watched by firemen
who risk their lives in order to
stop it.
There have been thousands
of lightning strikes over the past
several weeks, igniting hundreds
of small wildfires in the northern
part of the state.
“The drought has turned much
of the state into a tinderbox,”
Calif. Governor Jerry Brown said.
Calif. is hoping that the heavy
rain from “El Nino” will reduce
the amount of dry vegetation.
Californians from all over the
state have been affected by these
fires, including students at Burlingame. Banchero vacations with
her family at Pine Grove Resort
on Cobb Mountain. Her extended family has vacationed there for
over 50 years and the area is very
sentimental to them. Thankfully,
this resort did not burn down,
however the surrounding area
has been completely devastated.
“My family and I are bewildered at the good fortune that
these cabins did not burn down,
but deeply saddened by the
destruction to the infrastructure
and wilderness of Cobb,” Banchero said.
BHS had a quick reaction on
cutting back on their water usage.
“An aggressive approach was
taken at finding and repairing any
broken sprinkler pipes, sprinkler heads and drip irrigation,”
said BHS’s Plant Manager, Ricky
Carrillo. The lawns are now being
watered twice a week instead
of four times a week. They also
replaced urinals throughout the
school and swapped them for
water less units, saving 760,000
gallons of water a year. The
plumbing at the Burlingame
Aquatic Club was rerouted, saving 1.8 million gallons of water
each year. A plan for the future
is to install the latest sprinkler
controls, which will help limit the
school’s water usage. The new F
building currently has these new
units installed, and so will the
rest of the school within the next
four months.
The city of Burlingame has
also made efforts of conserve
water and is promoting water
conservation by putting up signs
around town. Burlingame’s website has tips on how to conserve
water in places like the kitchen,
bathroom, laundry room, and all
around property. The devastations of the fires all comes back to
the drought, and Californians are
trying their hardest to help in any
way they can.
You too can help by visiting
www.burlingame.org/drought.
News
2
PHOTO BY: ERIKA TAYLOR
BHS kick in the kindness week
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
“KIK week brings happiness not only to help our seniors destress, but further welcome the freshmen to our school.”
By: Erika Taylor
SENIOR REPORTER
Kick in the Kindness week is
back at BHS, starting October 19
and hoping to once again promote kindness on and off campus.
Senior Jenna Al-Yassin is taking
the reigns of the special week
that was created last year by 2015
graduate Anna Kurzrock.
Al-Yassin has high hopes for
the event this year.
“KIK week brings happiness
not only to help our seniors destress but further welcome the
freshmen to our school,” she said.
KIK week was first started to
mimic the worldwide Random
Acts of Kindness Day that occurs
around early November each
year. KIK week falls close to that
date and has different activities
for each day of the week. They
will mostly be following the same
structure as last year, but a few
changes have been made. The first
day, Monday, Oct. 19, is Peace
Necklaces Day. On this day, the
Leadership class will pass around
necklaces to students and teachers
that complete an act of kindness
to someone around them. Tuesday is Find Your Paw Day, when
students can find their name on
a paw around the school. Following that, on Wednesday there is
a new event called the Posters of
Kindness Day. On this day, the
first 20 students to arrive at the
stage during lunch and write a
kind message about a student
or faculty member will receive a
sunflower. Thursday is another
new addition, Hippie Day, when
students can dress up like the
hippies of the 1960’s and 1970’s
who promoted kindness and love.
Lastly, Friday will mark the end
of KIK week with a picnic on
the front lawn accompanied by
music. Last year, students really
enjoyed this week.
“I loved KIK week last year,
it adds a lot of positivity to our
campus and eating lunch on the
lawn is always a fun way to relieve
stress,” senior Tianny Lu said.
Al- Yassin also noted why KIK
week is so special.
Jenna Al-Yassin poses next to the Kick in the Kindness board.
“Rallies at our school tend
that sometimes get overlooked,”
to focus on certain groups like
she said.
the sports teams or excellence in
All in all, Panthers should
academics or community service, look forward to KIK week as it is
but KIK week acknowledges
a unique event that promotes a
everyone, students and faculty
good message to all BHS students.
The day humanity washed ashore- Kurdi and the Syrian Refugee Crisis
By: Andrew Battat
STAFF REPORTER
PHOTO COURTESY OF NILÜFER DEMIR
Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi carried onto shore by Mehmet Ciplak
Over the past few months,
millions of refugees in Syria have
been displaced all over the Middle East and Europe in an attempt
to escape the political violence of
the Syrian civil war. The refugee crisis has recently sparked
responses from nations and
civilians all over the world, with
some being here at Burlingame
High School. The Syrian civil war
has produced more refugees over
the last four years than any other
conflict in the world. However,
the refugee crisis was only recently put on the world stage. It took
a photo of a three-year-old boy to
remind the world of a conflict
that many agreed had run its
course in the media.
On September 2, three-yearold Aylan Kurdi washed ashore a
Turkish beach face-down on the
sandy shore. He was dead. Kurdi
was on a refugee boat headed to
Europe in an attempt to escape
the Syrian civil war when his boat
capsized, killing him and six others, including his older brother
and his mother. When the photo
of Kurdi went viral, media coverage of the conflict skyrocketed,
many European countries began
opening their doors to refugees
and people from all over the
world began to aid the millions
of refugees still in need of help. It
was the world’s call to action.
Like many other refugees, the
Kurdi family was fleeing from
their home, taking one of the
many dangerous boat routes from
the Middle East to Europe. Kurdi
is one of the estimated 200,000
citizens that have died as a result
of the Syrian civil war and one of
2,500 that have died this summer
alone attempting to cross the
Mediterranean Sea into Europe.
Almost half of these deaths are
children.
Kurdi and his family originally
lived in Kobane, a city in Northern Syria. When Islamic State
radicals took over the city, they
attempted to flee to Turkey by
crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Reports suggest that the family’s
final destination was Canada,
where Kurdi’s aunt lives. Despite
this familial connection, Canadian authorities denied the family’s
refugee application, forcing them
to resort to illegal immigration.
Under the 1951 Refugee
Commission’s Law, once a refugee
(someone forced to leave their
country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster) enters
a nation’s border, that nation
cannot return them to their
country of origin. Therefore,
the EU figured that the best way
to discourage refugees from
immigrating was to indirectly and
passively make the journey from
the Middle East to Europe extremely dangerous. The European
Union has reduced the number
of rescue boats patrolling Greece
and Italy as well as the distance of
water they are allowed to patrol.
European officials have publicly
stated that fewer rescue missions
will discourage migrants from
taking the risk, therefore leading
to fewer deaths. Statistics have
proven that this has not deterred
refugees from immigrating and
has only increased the death toll
of refugees attempting to immigrate to Europe. Refugees know
the dangers of making the trip
to Europe, yet they feel Europe is
their only safe place to go.
Some students here at Burlingame High School have taken the
initiative to help Syrian refugees.
Seniors Cuyler Crandall and David Zhou have formed a club to
raise money and awareness to aid
refugees. They appropriately call
their club “Operation Lifeboat.”
When asked what motivated
Crandall to start the club, he
replied, “recently the crisis has
become visible, but it was always
there. When the photo of Aylan
Kurdi circulated, it sparked a
movement that encouraged
myself and others to help the
refugees.”
Crandall stated that “as tragic
as the photo of Kurdi was, it came
at the right time. The photo became a symbol for the crisis and
reminded the world of a conflict
that many of us had given up on.”
Operation Lifeboat plans
to donate its proceeds to the
Migrant Offshore Aid Station,
the United Nations, and the Red
Cross. If you would like to donate
money or join Operation Lifeboat, you can find the club in Mr.
McDemott’s room A135, Wednesdays at lunch.
On September 3rd, 2015,
Aylan Kurdi’s father told reporters
“[his two sons] woke me up every
morning to play with them. They
are all gone now. Now all I want
to do is sit next to the grave of my
wife and children.”
While it is too late to help
Aylan Kurdi, it is not too late to
aid the millions of refugees in and
outside of Syria.
By: Lauren Bingham
STAFF REPORTER
There will be a Special
Olympics soccer tournament at
Hillsdale High School, Friday,
Oct. 30. This event involves special education programs from
around the San Mateo Union
High School District that allows
the students to have a fun day of
participating in sports with other kids who have special needs.
Special Olympics is not new
to BHS, as our school hosted the
2014 Special Olympics basketball tournament, which was a
great success and had a large
turnout of supporters. This year
the event can be expected to be
just as succesful and enjoyable.
“I think the same day, that
evening is when we’re going to
be having the Halloween dance
going on.” Special Education
teacher Jared Abbott said about
this year’s tournament.
The Special Olympics Organization’s website says that “Special
Olympics is a global movement
of people creating a new world
of inclusion and community,
where every single person is
accepted and welcomed, regardless of ability or disability. We
are helping to make the world
a better, healthier and more
joyful place -- one athlete, one
volunteer, one family member at
a time.”
Matt Hillman, a student at
Burlingame University, likes the
tournament not only because he
is the coach, but also because he
likes the sport as well.
“It’s going to be really fun,”
Hillman said.
PHOTO BY: ISABELA ACENAS
Burlingame University will compete in Special Olympics
Another
teacher for Special Education,
Greg Spidiado,
feels that “it’s
a good chance
for the kids who
really do like
sports to play
with their own
level. It gives
them the sense
of being on a
team, playing
as a class, on
a team sport.
They enjoy it. It
makes them feel Burlingame Univeristy students enjoy an olympic-style field day.
like they are a
on-campus sports, Special
Through these Olympics and
huge part of the school.”
Olympics gives the Burlingame other sports events, the students
Although they may not
University students a chance
are able to obtain valuable skills
always participate in other
to participate and have fun.
while enjoying themselves.
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
Features
Marc Benioff funds new library learning lab
3
His teachers Saito and Willard
inspired Benioff and many others
to grow and preserve as students.
“The reason why Mr. Saito and
Mr. Willard were so instrumental
in my career was because they really took the time to help me learn
on an individual basis,” Benioff
said. He later added in his speech,
“our big system of education is
amazing, but at the end of the day
it really takes individual instruction and it takes a commitment
and loyalty and love from great
teachers to make things happen,”
Benioff said.
Thanks to Marc Benioff, BHS
now has a new and improved
learning environment for current
and future students to expand
their own horizons and find their
calling.
Benioff offered some wise
words to students.
“I think that the most important thing I can say to BHS students is that BHS is a great school
and you can do anything you
want. You just have to decide what
it is that you want to do, and then
once you make that decision you
need to be passionate about it and
really go for it, and be unwavering
in your focus, no matter what
anybody else says.”
By: Chelsea Lopez
SENIOR REPORTER
Hay muchos jóvenes que no
entienden cuanto sus papás se esfuerzan para que ellos tengan una
vida mejor. Sin embargo Priscila
Tapia, una junior de la escuela de
Burlingame, no es uno de ellos.
Ella sí aprecia los sacrificios y el
trabajo que sus padres han hecho
por ella.
Priscila Tapia nació en los
Estados Unidos y tiene una vida
normal viviendo en Burlingame
y asistiendo a una de los mejores
colegios de California. Pero eso
no se hubiera podido hacer sin
sus padres. Yo le pregunté a Tapia
como sus papás vinieron a los
Estados Unidos y que es lo que
los motivó a dejar su pais donde
habían crecido.
Según Tapia, “mi papá vino
illegal cuando tenía ocho años y
mi mamá vino después buscando
un trabajo en que pudiera ganar
más dinero. Ellos se conocieron
por medio de mi tía cuando eran
muy joven.” le continúe preguntando sobre los obstáculos
que tuvieron que confrontar sus
padres viniendo a un país que fue
tan diferente al país en que habían
crecido. Tapia expresó que “si, fue
muy difícil para ellos. Mi mamá
vino de México donde ella había
tenido buenos empleos trabajando en bancos y empresas pero el
cambio cuando vino a los Estados
Unidos fue muy drástico. Ella
tuvo que comenzar desde abajo y
hacer los trabajos que los demás
no querían. Ella trabajó en una
panadería y eso fue para ella muy
vergonzoso, pero lo hizo porque
sabía que todo iba a mejorar. Por
eso la admiro mucho porque es
una mujer muy fuerte.”
Muchas de las personas que
vienen de otros países como la
familia de priscila tienen que
comenzar desde abajo e intentar
construir sus vidas. Priscila dijo
“es verdad y por eso estoy muy
orgullosa de ellos porque después
de haber inmigrado ellos superaron todas las dificultades y los
obstáculos que se les presentaron.
Por ejemplo, mi mamá fue estuvo
sola por un tiempo antes de haber
conocido a mi papá y a pesar
de tener que trabajar más ella lo
hizo, los dos enfrentaron muchos
problemas y los superaron”. Le
seguí preguntando a priscila de
cómo superaron sus problemas y
llegaron a tener tanto éxito en sus
vidas a tener un hogar tan bueno
y estructurado. Tapia dijo “cuando
vinieron mis papás vivían en casas
que estaban llenas de gente con
toda la familia junta y después de
trabajar y trabajar mi mamá hizo
su propia guardería de niños y mi
papá su negocio de mecánico y
pudieron construir nuestro hogar”.
Es inspirador ver cuánto tienen
Priscila Tapia y su familia sonríen para la camara.
que confrontar la gente hispana
adolescentes no valoran lo que
que viene de otros países y ver que tienen, o aprecian lo que se les
pueden superar todos los obstácu- da. Yo creo que es porque no ven
los.Es impresionante, porque estas cuanto sus padres se esfuerzan por
personas llegan a un lugar descon- ellos. Por suerte yo tengo papás
ocido donde se tienen que adaptar que sí se esforzaron pensando en
a los nuevos alrededores. Tapia
el futuro de mis hermanos y yo.”
recalcó que “he visto que muchos
complications arose. He went
into a coma for about a month
due to severe infections and
inflammation in his pancreas.
After he came out of the coma,
he continued to go to frequent
checkups and tests to see if he
had cancer and did not experience any complications for about
a year.
About a year after his first
chemo treatment and a few
months after being in a coma,
Munoz’s leukemia came back.
This time, the doctors decided
to use a stronger treatment. He
received a combination of a bone
marrow transplant along with
radiation therapy.
Despite all of the harsh
treatments, the cancer relapsed a
second time. Munoz continued
to receive chemotherapy and
radiation treatment.
“It’s crazy, I couldn’t imagine
having to fight through that.
Jorge’s story is truly inspirational
to anyone, not just to people
who have had to fight the disease
itself. My best wishes go to him,
and I hope he’s able to fight
through this,” BHS junior Joseph
Howard, who has been following
Munoz’s story since he was first
diagnosed, said.
Munoz is currently in remission but is still undergoing chemotherapy to kill the remaining
cancer cells, as well as physical
therapy to get back on his feet.
Despite this positivity, the cancer
has impacted him and his family
in ways beyond getting treatments for his disease.
Munoz’s page on gofundme.
com says, “My dad works nor-
mally, but as a busser. My mother
does not work and is always
next to me to help me check
my blood sugar. The hospital is
about an hour away and also the
therapy place every 2 weeks takes
up time and money. Recently
my manager raised our rent for
400 dollars and a 1000 dollar
deposit.”
Despite all that has happened
to him, Munoz has not let his
disease define him. He plans to
attend college and then pursue
his passions in a career.
“My goals in life at this time
are to get back on my feet and
start walking like before. That
is my main goal as of right now,
and when I complete it, I plan to
go back to college and transfer to
a university to study some sort of
business” Munoz said.
Una historia sobre los desafíos y triunfos de una familia
PHOTO COURTESY OF PRISCILA TAPIA
Marc Benioff founder, chairman, and CEO of saleforce.com graduated from BHS in 1982.
ing Benioff writing to the wife of
[a letter] to the wife? And he said have stock in the company. And
the CEO of Tandy Corporation,
because the president, the CEO,
remember, that is as a freshman,”
the parent company of the now
he is not going to read it but his
Saito said.
extinct Radioshack, which had
wife will read it,” Saito rememBenioff ’s high school developrefused to fix Marc’s first personal bered. “And I said, how did you
ment, however, spans far beyond
computer, a TRS 80.
get the address of the CEO of Tan- purchasing his first computer
“I said, why are you writing
dy Corporation? And he says, I
and writing his first program.
PHOTO BY: DAVID ZHOU
By: Allie Atkeson
STAFF REPORTER
Fellow Panther and CEO of
Salesforce, Marc Benioff, recently
donated $100,000 to the BHS library in order to honor his two favorite math teachers, Walter Saito
and Thomas Willard, and help
BHS continue its track record of
producing innovative and technologically aware students. Benioff
graduated from Burlingame High
School in 1982, a time when the
district owned only one computer,
but his generous donation has
funded a new learning center that
is fully outfitted with brand new
Dell computers.
Benioff ’s journey to success
began early.
“Marc was the classic nerd in
high school, but he had his fingers
into a lot of different things. He
was writing computer programs at
a very young age, selling computers, and in business with other
companies,” Willard said. He
continued, “you would have never
known where he was going to end
up, but you knew he was going to
go somewhere.”
“I said to myself, this kid is going to go places. He is going to do
something with computers and he
will be a businessman,” Saito said
after recalling the story of catch-
Jorge Munoz is in remission and shares his cancer story
By: Alex Lee
WEB EDITOR
On November 2, 2011, former
BHS student Jorge Munoz was
diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He is currently
in remission but has undergone
a long journey, full of ups and
downs, that he is able to reflect
on and share with us now.
Leukemia is a cancer of the
blood and is one of the hardest
cancers to treat because it is not
a solid tumor and thus cannot be
removed by surgery. But Munoz’s
diagnosis was not just leukemia,
it was acute leukemia, which is
a fast growing kind of cancer in
which the immature cells proliferate, and thus the body becomes
swarmed by futile, non-functioning cancer cells.
Munoz immediately received
chemotherapy treatment, but
But Jorge cannot do it all
alone. As explained earlier, his
treatments cost money and so
does transportation. Jorge has
a gofundme.com page that has
reached 3780 dollars of his 5000
dollar goal.
Jorge has still retained a
passion and love for BHS and
its students and wants to give a
few words of advice that he has
learned from his own experiences.
“Something BHS students can
take away from my experience is
to never give up and believe in
yourself. I told myself since the
beginning of my chemotherapy I
would not give up and I haven’t. It’s been 4 years and lots of
bumps in the road and I’m still
here. You can do anything you
set your mind to. Go Panthers!”
4
Club Profiles
By: Mallory Jones and Rachel Greenwood
SENIOR REPORTERS
As we move into a new school year, it is time for clubs,
both old and new, to begin their club activities. If you want
to meet new friends, pursue your hobbies, or participate
in community service, join one of the many clubs at our
school.
Mountain Biking Club
Adventurous
Led by President Thomas Masterson and
Vice President Anthony Bellanti, the Mountain Biking Club introduces students to new
friends and a new sport. The club, which was
founded this school year, meets on Tuesdays
in C205 and discusses various mountain
biking trails around the Bay Area. They
then bike on these trails over the weekends.
Some trail favorites are Water Dog Park in
Belmont, Skeggs Point in Corte Madera, and
Purisima Creek in Half Moon Bay.
This year, the club hopes to bike several
different trails and maybe order t-shirts.
“[We’re focusing on bringing] together
members of [the] biking community,” senior
member Nick Kniveton said.
If you’re interested in biking, stop by C205
to meet new people who share the same
interest as you. All skill levels are welcome.
Dance Club
Expressive
Led by two-year president Katie Papazian, the
dance club is open to anyone who is interested
dance and wants an outlet for dancing. According to Papazian, the club has been at Burlingame
High School for a long time and has been teaching “the art of dance” ever since. Because there
is no dance class at BHS, the club provides an
opportunity for students who like to dance.
Each meeting begins with a few warm ups
that lead into practicing the choreography.
“Every member is in charge of choreographing,” Papazian said.
Currently, the dance club is in the midst of
collaborating with the newly formed dance team.
While the dance team, which is led by Ariel
Hsieh, and the dance club are separate entities,
they will hopefully collaborate for a group dance
at the Little Big Game in November.
There’s a huge crossover between the dance
club and dance team that has resulted in a “melting pot of choreography,” Papazian said.
If you have an interest in dance, come to
dance club, which meets on Tuesdays in the
theater studio.
“We really would love more people,”
Papazian said.
Features
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
We asked each president to describe their club in
one word, and they said...
Soccer is Life Club
Amazing
All soccer enthusiasts and even people
who do not like soccer are invited to join
this club, which watches soccer matches in
Mr. Medine’s room A115 . Founded in 2014,
the club was started by junior soccer players
who love the sport and wanted to share their
passion with the Burlingame High School
community. Some of the club’s favorite teams
include Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and
Bayern Munich. According to Senior Miguel
Figueroa the club is “amazing.”
“All of us gather and watch the sport that
we love,” Soccer is Life president Adrian
Caballero said.
Future plans for the club include a potential soccer tournament at the end of the yearworld cup style.
Math Club
Creative
This year, math club is in the hands of sophomore
Diego Escobedo, who took over this year. Math club
provides an outlet for students who are interested in
mathematics and want to challenge themselves with
difficult math problems. Every meeting, they select
a different math problem and attempt to solve it as a
group, sophomore Brad Song said.
At a recent meeting, the club members had a
heated debate about a particular math problem, and
it turned out that they were all wrong. Despite getting
the wrong answer, the club was still happy to be actively engaging in mathematics.
In addition to solving complex math problems,
the club hopes to participate in some local math competitions. The competitions include events at University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and
Santa Clara University.
“If you like math, you’ll love it,” Escobedo said.
Here’s a math problem that the club tried to solve.
There is an equilateral triangle formed by the lines:
x=7
y = 7 + √3/3x
Unknown, but passes through the origin
What is the perimeter of the triangle?
If you can solve this, definitely come to math club.
If you don’t know how to solve this, come to Math
club on Thursday’s in C110 to find out. All skill levels
are welcome.
Key Club
Service
Key Club was created at BHS four years ago
and officially recognized by the International
Kiwanis Organization, three years ago. Kiwanis
clubs are found helping their communities, in
80 nations.
During a typical Key Club meeting, the 40
members, “discuss upcoming service events
and possible fundraising ideas,” president
Natalie Somers said.
Sometimes they do hands on activities
during meetings as well. For example, while
they were helping with the Scare for Hunger
food drive in 2014, the members prepared bags
with information to leave at houses in the area,
since “the idea was to literally bring the fundraiser to people’s doorsteps,” Somers said.
Their goals for the future include participating in the event hosted by San Mateo Key
Club, at K-mart, where they will help take under-privileged kids shopping for clothing. Also
this year, the Key Club members hope to help
at the Special Olympics at De Anza College in
May, for the second time as a group.
Key Club “motivates students to help the
community and participate in service events
they wouldn’t usually do by themselves,”
Somers said.
Students in Action Club
Empower
Students in Action Club, led by co-presidents
Sophia Shapiro and Rachel Battersby, has been a
part of the BHS community for many years.
During a normal SIA club meeting, all 40
members are busy with discussions regarding
different events and fundraisers.
In the future, the club plans to start the Give
A Goat fundraiser. By collecting water bottles
on campus and sending the proceeds to Free
the Children, they help provide for families in
Africa. They are currently designing a t-shirt to
spread awareness about the Give a Goat campaign, and a pre-order of t-shirt requests will be
published very soon.
In addition, SIA club is initiating the ABC
Canned Food Drive on campus, from October
18 through November 2. BHS will compete
against Aragon High School as well as Capuchino High School to try to collect the most
canned food.
“Please collect cans, Panthers!” Shapiro and
Battersby said.
Students in Action club accepts members of
all grades and strives to “make a difference in
our community and abroad,” Shapiro said.
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
Features
Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Relay date change
Ever, which takes place
Burlinis many cities across
game High
the country. This year
School also
the most notable concontributes
cert will feature Rachel
towards the
Platten and take place
movement
in Washington, D.C.
of cancer
Furthermore, the
awareSusan G. Komen
ness. Every
foundation frequently
October,
hold 5K races and
hundreds
3-day walks. The
of students
Komen foundation has
participate
reported that, “Thanks
in Relay
to events like Komen’s
for Life.
Race for the Cure, we BHS students celebrate at the 2014 relay for life event
This all-day
as regular mammograms. Educathave invested over $2
event includes students taking
ing women about the early signs
billion to fulfill our promise…”.
part in activities to support the
The American Cancer Society of breast cancer have thus helped research and awareness of cancer.
reduce the development of the
has reported that “death rates
Participants must raise at least
cancer.
from breast cancer among U.S.
one hundred dollars in order to
Organizations like the Ameri- partake in the event. All funds
women have gone down 2.2%
each year between 1990 and 2007.” can Cancer Society, Komen4wom- raised goes towards the American
en.org, Cancer.gov, and Webmd.
Many contribute the decrease
Cancer Society.
com have made information about
in breast cancer to the fact that
Relay for Life usually takes
cancer symptoms and treatments place during October in honor of
awareness campaigns have succeeded in educating women about more accessible., along with rais- National Breast Cancer Awaretaking preventative measures such ing awareness about the disease
ness month. This year the event
itself.
PHOTO BY: DAVID ZHOU
By: Victorya Cintra
STAFF REPORTER
Along with Halloween and other autumn traditions, the National
Breast Cancer Awareness campaign and the Relay for Life event
here at Burlingame High School
falls under the month of October.
However, it has been announced
that Relay will no longer be taking
place in October but will instead
fall on November 21st.
Breast Cancer Awareness
month began as a one week
campaign in October 1985, and its
goal was to alert people to focus
on breast cancer, among other
forms of cancer. The event eventually evolved into a month-long
recognition of breast cancer.
According to the National
Breast Cancer Foundation, the
month “is an annual campaign to
increase awareness of the disease.”
The October campaign raises
funds that support breast cancer
research through fundraising
events such as marathons and
concerts. Events include the popular benefit concert, Breast Concert
5
was scheduled to take place on
October 10, but the Relay committee decided to change the date
to Saturday, Nov. 21.
Junior Diana Daniels, one of
the three head student coordinators of the event, provided explanation for the date change.
“We had to change the date because the park had double booked
the area for that day,” she said.
Nevertheless, the coordinators
are sure that Relay will be just as
successful as in the previous years.
When asked if the date change
was met with any opposition,
Daniels stated, “Everyone was
on board with the event change
because now there is more time
for participants to sign up and
fundraise, and also for us to create
an even better event!”
Be sure to sign up for Relay for
Life and participate in National
Breast Cancer Awareness month.
The Robotics Team gears up for a new school year
Games at Lynbrook High School.
Wade said it was a good chance to
train new members and help the
team learn from their mistakes
in early competitions to be better
months of preparation go into one
moment- that’s Robotics.”
The team has created and
begun mentoring teams at
Burlingame Intermediate School
and Odyssey Middle
School in San Mateo. This
program is part of the
team’s S.T.E.M. outreach
program in spreading
education and awareness
for science, technology,
engineering, and math.
The essence of Robotics can be summed up in
one quote from Wade:
“We’re asking students to
do tasks for professionals,
tasks that professionals
would struggle with.
These kids learn so much
in such a little time. It
amazes me to watch them
succeed.”
If you would like to
join Robotics you can find
the engineering, programming, and business
team meetings on various
days throughout the week
at lunch and afterschool
in room C106. For more
information on Robotics
and to find out when each
Robotics group meets
individually you can go to www.
burlingamerobotics.com or find
them on Facebook at Burlingame
Robotics.
PHOTO COURTESY OF: BHS ROBOTICS
By: Andrew Battat
STAFF REPORTER
As one of the largest and most Robots scored points by stacking ing the robot. The programming
active clubs at Burlingame High
trash bins on scoring platforms,
team is in charge of programing,
School, many believe calling
capping those stacks with recywiring and electronics. Finally,
Robotics a “club” doesn’t capture cling containers, and disposing
the business team is in charge of
the essence of the organization.
of foam pool noodles. While the
maintaining Robotics’ website
The Iron Panthers have
67 members, an annual
fundraising goal of $30,000
and numerous awards and
accolades. Their success
in robotics is a result of
the countless hours the
team puts into perfecting
their craft. Ms. Wade, the
Robotics club advisor, says
the motto of Burlingame
Robotics is “the power of
design- think of what you
want and create it.”
As experienced as most
members of Burlingame
Robotics are, most join
Robotics with little to no
experience. Wade says
new and old members
alike are not just building
a robot- they are learning how to build a robot.
Every challenge is unique,
so every robot is unique.
Every season, an exciting
challenge is created by the
head Robotics organization
First Robotics. Robotics
The engineering team designs its latest prototype
clubs all over the world
then spend the next few months
premise was simple, building a
and Facebook, soliciting sponsors,
designing and building a robot
robot that can perform this task
and organizing fundraising and
to best accomplish the given task required months of hard work.
outreach events.
in the shortest amount of time
The club is broken down into
On September 19, Robotand race against other robots. The three teams: engineering, proics participated in the Chezzy
challenge that Burlingame Robot- gramming, and business. The
Champs competition at Bellarmics most recently participated in
engineering team is in charge of
ine College Prep, and on October
was the Recycle Rush challenge.
designing, prototyping, and build- 2 and 3 the team attended the Cal
prepared for their major events
later in the year. Co-Captain Lucy
Cummings believes the competitions are by far the most exciting
part of Robotics because the team
gets to see its robot succeed or fail.
As she put it “You haven’t experienced stress until you’ve witnessed
Service Commission’s annual pancake breakfast
By: Dara Phung
STAFF REPORTER
Service Commission will be
hosting its third annual pancake
breakfast from 7:30 a.m.-8:30
a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28. The
breakfast is a community event
that gives staff and students the
opportunity to get together and
raise money for Service Commission. The money raised will
be used to purchase Service
Commission hats as well as food
for students who work at after-school events such as Back to
School Night and Open House.
According to the San Mateo
Union High School District’s
Wellness Policy, school fundraisers are not permitted to involve
food or can use only foods that
satisfy a series of rigid nutrition
and portion size standards. The
guidelines also encourage high
school fundraising activities to
promote physical activity and
health awareness. Ultimately,
school fundraisers are meant to
reflect the district’s commitment
to student health and wellbeing.
In order to comply with these
strict food rules, Service Commission will be pre-selling
tickets to the pancake breakfast
at lunch. Because the event will
occur prior to when Burlingame
High School’s cafeteria sells food,
Service Commision is free and
clear in terms of what they can
serve and sell that morning.
One ticket to the pancake breakfast buys three pancakes, bacon,
and a drink of either juice, water
or coffee. Fruit may also be available for the first time. Students
will be provided with healthy
and hearty options to start their
Wednesday morning.
Tickets to the fundraiser
can be purchased for $5 from
Student Commissioners. Be sure
to keep an eye out for them at
lunchtime ticket tables.
6
By:
Senior Reporter, Lauren Bodenlos
Design Editor, Charlie Jones
News Editor, Claire Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Colette Weese
Dreams
Do dreams have
meaning? Let’s ask
science.
By: Colette Weese
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dreams -- they’re funny things, like little
movies that play in our sleep, but do they mean
anything? Keeping with the movie metaphor,
are our dreams life-changing documentaries
that reveal the common root of obesity, global
warming, and the Big Bang? Or are our dreams
silly chick flicks and movies about bachelor
parties -- funny and sometimes weird, but ultimately meaningless?
But first, we should recognize that dreams
have always been a big deal to humans. The
Ancient Greeks believed that they dreams were
so ethereal and mysterious that only a god
could create them, and they attributed them to
the god Morpheus. Dreams are mentioned in
the Bible over 30 times, and each dream seems
to bring some important message that guides
the dreamer to, you know, stay and raise baby
Jesus, write down the itinerary for the Apocalypse, etc. etc. There are entire books dedicated
to the meanings of symbols in dreams, some
of them incredibly detailed. For example, such
dream interpreters-turned-authors would say
that if you lose a tooth in a dream, it means
that you will lose money in your real life.
Weird, right?
You might be wondering, what is the origin
of this belief that dreams have a profound
meaning? The most common version of that
theory comes from an old fellow named
Sigmund Freud, who is regarded as one of the
most influential psychologists of the modern
era.
In 1899, Freud published a book called The
Interpretation of Dreams, in which he wrote
that dreams are the brain’s mechanism of
wish-fulfillment. The manifest content, or the
things that the dreamer remembers, is based
on the events of that day, while the underlying meaning of the dream is the wish that the
dreamer wants fulfilled.
So, if you told Freud that you lost a tooth in
your dream, he would probably answer, “Ah,
you should pick up some extra hours at work,
Most of us have a
dream
every 90 minutes,
and the longest
dreams occur in the
morning.
7
Myths, Science, and Culture
A spiritual take on dreams
and also star your 401-k because you’re subconsciously stressed about your finances,” and
you would continue on with your day thinking
that you had a newfound understanding of
your true being.
As nice as this theory sounds, it’s probably
not accurate, simply because Freud developed
his theory when scientists knew next nothing
about the human brain. He died in 1939, 20
years before scientists discovered the electrical synapses, the most common method of
communication between neurons in the adult
brain. There was no way for Freud to know that
the human brain is the most active and most
likely to dream during Rapid Eye Movement
sleep. He could not have developed a theory
about dreams when he wasn’t even aware of the
most basic mechanisms of the human brain.
Today, there are several theories based in
cold, hard neuroscience that disprove Freud’s
long standing and widely accepted ideas. The
new theory that has the most support in the
scientific community is called the Activation-Synthesis Model of dreaming. Born in the
late 1970s, researchers have been adding to the
model ever since. Activation-synthesis sounds
fancy, but the basic concept is actually quite
simple. It says that the brain is most active,
firing the most synapses and signals, during
REM sleep, and this activation spreads to all
parts of the brain. The regions of the brain that
control emotion, memory production, information compartmentalization, vision, etc., all
fire signals. Those signals go to the cerebral
cortex, which then tries to organize them into
a chronological story line that we can comprehend. However, because so many of the fired
signals are random, these storylines can get
weird and we might lose teeth in our dreams.
The next time this or some other out of the
ordinary event occurs in a dream, don’t worry.
It’s probably just your brain being active. Keep
on dreaming, Burlingame.
Every face you see in a
dream is a face you’ve
seen before.
Dreams in pop
culture
MUSIC
Dreams // Fleetwood Mac
Sweet Dreams // Eurythmics
Wildest Dreams // Taylor Swift
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart
Makes // Cinderella
Teenage Dream // Katy Perry
Dreams // Beck
When I Live My Dream // David
Bowie
FILM
Inception
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Wizard of Oz
Take Shelter
Vanilla Sky
The Matrix
Shutter Island
Alice in Wonderland
By the time we die, most
of us will have spent 25
years asleep, six or more
of which will have been
spent dreaming, but most
dreams are forgotten upon
waking.
By: Lauren Bodenlos & Claire Morrison
SENIOR REPORTER & NEWS EDITOR
Some believe that dreams have little to
no meaning, as Colette says in her article.
We, Lauren and Claire, disagree and say that
dreams do in fact have a significant meaning.
When you dream, your body is still, but
your mind is wandering. Some dreams feel
like hours, but in reality you can have multiple
dreams a night, each only lasting a few minutes
or a few seconds. These few moments might
show you something that is hidden beneath the
surface.
There are two clear sides to this dreamsand-meaning argument: scientific research and
romantic notions.
Dr. Morton Reiser, a researcher from Yale
University, believes that dreams have meaning
‘’because they harbor clues to the psychological
issues and earlier conflicts in a person’s life.’’
However other neuroscientists, like Dr.
Graeme Mitchison of Cambridge University,
believe that “the function of dreams... is to
‘unlearn’ or purge the brain” by getting rid of
unused synapses. This process has nothing to
do with letting go of emotions or experiences, and everything to do with simply making
room for new information. In other words.
some researchers describe dreams as a sort of
“housecleaning” of the brain.
The science behind dreams leaves us wondering why nightmares occur if our brains are
able to cleanse themselves?
Just about everyone has experienced the
fear and stress of nightmares. For children,
nightmares can be a regular experience, but
for adults, they are generally less common.
Many believe that nightmares are a reflection
of inner thoughts and feelings. In other words,
nightmares are a manifestation of the dreamer’s fears, traumatic experiences, and anxious
emotions.
Blind people dream.
Their dreams are
auditory if they were
born blind. If they
become blind at an
early age they dream
in visuals that they
remember.
Recurring Dreams, like nightmares, are
probably a sign that there is something in the
dreamer’s subconscious that they need to resolve, and once resolved, the dream should go
away. The very existence of recurring dreams
suggests that they have meaning.
Lucid Dreaming occurs when you are aware
that you are dreaming and can control your
actions in dreams. Not everyone can have lucid
dreams, but some people have trained themselves to have absolute control. Lucid dreaming
can help conquer nightmares, and sometimes
relieve fear from real life. It’s pretty cool to
think that you have the power to control something when you are not even awake.
Not all dreams are connected to negativity
in life. Sometimes, dreams act as sources of
inspiration. Google co-founder Larry Page said
that the idea of Google came to him in a dream
he had in college. Hollywood director and producer James Cameron also said that the idea
for the movie Terminator came in a dream.
Even one of the most influential inventors and
scientists of our time, Albert Einstein, confessed that he thought of his theory of relativity
in a dream.
It would be nonsensical to think that everything our brain produces while we are asleep
has a deep meaning. However, the details of
dreams may shed light on subjects we need to
address or solve. It is common for science to go
against spirituality, but some dreams are past
the current scope of science, leaving room for
debate and unanswered questions.
*Research for this article is from several
sites. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/10/science/do-dreams-really-contain-important-secret-meaning.html?pagewanted=all
Sources
“Black and White TV Generation Have
Monochrome Dreams
Sleep and Dreams: 101 Questions
about Sleep and Dreams.
8
Op-Ed
skills that will prepare them for
the 21st century. Therefore, many
suffer from depression. According
to a survey from the Centers for
Disease Control, 16 percent of
students in grades 9-12 at schools
in the United States reported
seriously considering suicide, 13
percent reported creating a plan,
and eight percent reported trying
to take their own life in the 12
months preceding the survey. If
those students can identify with
role models, then they may see
life in a positive light and seek to
grow intellectually, socially, and
emotionally from emulating role
models. Another study, conducted in 2002 by the Los Angeles
County Department of Health
Service, found that “having a role
model, particularly an individual
known to the adolescent, was also
associated with higher self-esteem
and higher grades.” Inspiration for
students can further help schools
produce not only a more self-motivated student body but also a
more accomplished and enlightened one.
Arranging for public speakers
often involves significant financial
resources and time; these hurdles, however, are worth the cost
because these events ultimately
serve to instill passion in students
about following their dreams.
Learning about other people’s
failures, lessons, and success stories is education in its own right.
Many might even be surprised to
discover that some very successful people in their city, state, or
country are alumni of their school
district, such as BHS alumni Marc
Benioff, the founder and CEO
of Salesforce, and Kevin Longa,
an entrepreneur who created his
award-winning documentary
series TASTE. Learning about
others’ lives can broaden students’ horizons and teach them
that everyone has an opportunity
to succeed, regardless of background, race, or ethnicity.
Students will be thrilled to hear
success stories from their alumni,
recent college graduates, local
celebrities, and company CEOs.
Physical proximity to a person
creates an energy that makes people feel more connected. Seeing
these people in person and asking
them questions create both special
opportunities and memorable
experiences. Biweekly or monthly
assemblies of relatable speakers
discussing their career paths will
further build on the educational
experience of high school student.
A wealth of exposure to various
career paths is necessary for a
“coming of age” because in high
school, students have already
started to consider their future
identities. A pump of motivation
from speaker series may lead to
engaged learning and ultimately
produce not just goal-oriented
scholars, but also future leaders
and innovators for our society.
Fantasy Football: just a fantasy?
away indifferent to the player’s
injury.
Is this what we’ve come to
as fans? Have football players
become walking statistics, only
deserving praise when they
perform well and lead our fantasy
football teams to victory? Well, as
a fantasy football manager myself,
I wholeheartedly admit ‘yes’ to
this question.
The world of fantasy football
is a complex one to say the least.
Drafts, waiver wire pickups,
trades, bye weeks, and busts -these are just some examples of
the fantasy lingo that may evoke
a sudden twitch of attention from
fantasy players like myself. But it’s
this focus on the science of the
game that begs the question, “is
fantasy football dehumanizing the
players of the game?”
Let’s consider the typical logic
of a fantasy football manager. In
every player, we have to consider
what he can do for us--can he sustain a high completion percentage
on red-zone passes, get first down
touches, or maintain a high yards
after catch on passes more than 15
yards? The issue here is that rather
than seeing young
players as
the first
in their
families
to have
a steady
income,
or celebrating a
seasoned
veteran
in his
journey
for fabled
glory, we
see players
as statisINFOGRAPHIC BY: EVALYNNA ONG
By: Cameron Kelaita
STAFF REPORTER
I write part of this piece as I sit
in the Levi’s Stadium 501 Club,
lounging in a comfy swivel chair
and listening to the conversations
that surround me. A man wearing
a tattered Joe Montana jersey and
San Francisco Giants cap walks
past me eyeing a television screen,
which is currently televising the
Washington Redskins game. The
camera zooms in on an injured
player. The intrigued man stares
quietly.
“That guy. That guy on the
ground. Sucks for whoever owns
him,” says the man as he walks
Student leadership
By: Evalynna Ong
ART DIRECTOR
It has been a longtime issue at
Burlingame High School that a
significant number of students are
not fans of the spirit-based and
student leadership activities at
the school, though it is not a very
outwardly spoken opinion. This
epidemic of spiritless students
expands from the absence of enthusiasm at rallies to low participation during lunch time events.
Almost every privilege that we get
to enjoy at our school is student-run. For example, the yearbook and newspaper are entirely
student produced and homecoming is put on by the cheerleaders.
But why is this important?
Student leadership is an
important aspect of schools and
the student body should take this
more seriously. Whether a person
is the student body president or
the leader of a club, his or her contribution has a significant impact
on the well-being of the school as
a whole.
According to ASB president
Tyler Vanderley, “you have to look
at everything in very meticulous
detail,” when it comes to planning
school events, as well as, “the
timing and the minutes and who
exactly is doing what.”
Many people don’t realize all
the details and issues that come
up with planning events. Being
a student leader is much more
than being given a title to put on
a college resume. To be a suc-
cessful student leader, one must
have motivation, drive, and the
ability to talk to a wide variety
of people. Being able to talk to
adults, and even one’s peers, while
maintaining confidence and
professionalism, is something that
not all people master during high
school.
According to Ryan Hong, a
senior at San Mateo High School,
“leadership plays a huge role
in creating the atmosphere the
school has, however it is more of
an amplifying instrument for the
basis that the student body sets.
The students must already have a
spirited type attitude for Leadership [class] to push on.”
Beyond the roles of the actual
student leaders are the roles of
the student body. It is one thing
to have a student leader who has
drive and ambition, but developing a supportive following is
another thing. There are a lot of
ambitious and driven people at
Burlingame High School, but
because of the boundaries created
by cliques and social stigmas, it is
hard to develop large and cohesive
events. In order to improve the
overall spirit levels of the school,
the student body as a whole must
learn to become more accepting
and supportive of each other.
Understanding the hard work that
goes into each other’s projects
and events is what will encourage
respect and enthusiasm within the
student body.
PHOTO BY: ISABELLA KO
By: Christopher Hu
SENIOR REPORTER
Many people relate education
as a gateway to future success. To
some extent, however, students
feel a lack of purpose in life.
While schools challenge students
to perform their best, many
students question how they can
improve society with the accumulated knowledge. Students puzzle
over whether they can apply the
content they acquired in class
to real life. Students’ confusion
becomes obvious when they ask
questions like, “Why do I need to
learn calculus?”
High school should be where
students hunger for more information. To help them become
productive citizens, perhaps
schools can invite locally, regionally, and nationally influential
people to speak to students regularly, serve as role models, and
help motivate students to achieve
their life goals.
Role models particularly
inspire young people, who dream
to achieve that level of success.
In The Innovators, author Walter
Isaacson mentions, “Only in
storybooks do inventions come
like a thunderbolt popping out of
the head of a lone individual in a
basement or garret or garage” and
that “creativity comes from drawing on many sources.” Role models help inspire student creativity
and provide ideas to pursue in
their future. Role models especially benefit those facing adversity,
such as teenagers with negligent
parents, poor health, or economic
conditions that hinder them from
achieving their potential. A lasting
impression from an admirable
figure can inspire students and
motivate them to view school with
a greater purpose.
Today, high school students’
biggest challenge is feeling confident that they are learning the
most relevant knowledge and life
PHOTO COURTESY OF: JISC
Students benefit from role models
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
Burlingame High School seniors cheering at Welcome Back Rally.
tics, constantly having to work for
us. It’s this patronizing attitude of
ownership that often goes unnoticed in fantasy circles. It perpetuates the notion of players being,
well, just players, and not people
with social lives, children, friends,
and families.
Players themselves, in the wake
of poor on-the-field performances--and subsequent poor fantasy
outputs--have weighed in on
the state of fantasy football by
addressing their “owners.” Most
recently, C.J. Anderson of the
Denver Broncos, viewed by many
fantasy football experts as a consensus star player, addressed his
owners’ complaints on his subpar
performances this season.
“I don’t go to other people’s
jobs and tell them: ‘Hey, you suck.
You’re trash.’ I laugh. I just black it
out and laugh...I couldn’t care less
about fantasy” Anderson said.
While players typically distance
themselves from the drama of fantasy, it’s reactions like these that
suggest that football as a sport is
in a state of limbo. With fantasy
sports websites growing at insane
rates, our obsession with fantasy
football is growing exponentially,
and has found its way down to
students here at BHS.
“All people want out of their
fantasy players is how many
points they score...even if that
means risking their health and
risking their lives,” senior Tristan
Seymour said.
Seymour, who has played fantasy football throughout his time
at BHS, reiterates the point that
fantasy’s flaws aren’t a matter of
whether or not the players-- that
is, the fantasy team owners-- are
playing ethically, but rather are
an inherent part of the game that
simply can’t be removed overnight.
So the next time you’re setting
your fantasy lineup or overhear
a friend ranting on his fantasy
team, consider this: professional
football players-- much like other
professional athletes-- are some
of the most objectified people our
society has ever witnessed. We’re
losing a significant motive for why
we even watch football-- to root
for our teams as a collective group
of fans, not to parse out individual
players to scrutinize as owners.
When it’s all said and done, fantasy football is simply a game within
a game; to treat it otherwise is a
disservice to the sport and a harm
to the players.
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
The problem with pink
By: Felicia Azzopardi
STAFF REPORTER
Every October, Breast Cancer
Awareness month begins with
pink merchandise hitting the
shelves at stores nationwide, all
branded with claims that they
support the fight against the
disease. Since it gained the status
of a household symbol in the
early 1990’s, the pink ribbon has
become a call for action, but it is
also a highly successful corporate
technique.
It is estimated that one in eight
women in the United States will
be diagnosed with invasive breast
cancer in her lifetime. The life
altering effects of the disease have
motivated the battle cry for medical research and trials for years.
Foundations, walks, and merchandise promise to be dedicated to
finding a cure.
The constant barrage of pink
ribbons leads the community
to believe that it is part of the
cure, and improves the images of
corporate businesses looking to
boost revenue. As beneficial as
awareness is, American consum-
ers are not reading the fine print
and in some cases, they are paying
for CEOs’ high salaries, not life
changing research.
Some organizations have
different goals. Instead of funding a cure, they aim to increase
awareness about Pinkwashing: the
act of using breast cancer as an
advertising technique. Companies
often cap their donations, don’t
donate directly, or don’t donate at
all. There are no laws that regulate the use of the pink ribbon,
so companies can legally use it at
free will. The public eats up their
ad campaigns, a true testament
to the popularity that comes with
fad-culture in the media.
We, as a consumer base, want
to feel better about the way we
spend our money. What better
way to do so than wearing a pink
ribbon pin on your backpack,
right? Wrong.
Organizations are losing sight
of the complexity of breast cancer,
and are instead focusing on
surface-level and easy-to-stomach
9
Op-Ed
issues. Campaigns boast
slogans
like “I Love
Boobies”
and “Save the Boobies,” which
completely skirt over the fact that
survivors who have had their
breasts removed to save their lives
cannot wear the bras used as an
awareness technique. The trivialization of the disease is difficult
for survivors to watch because
they have seen the darker side
of it, a side that doesn’t include
frivolous gimmicks.
Not only is the trivial view of
breast cancer difficult for survivors, but it also gives the public a
dangerously incorrect view of the
disease. Special bras for women
who have undergone mastectomies often cost upwards of 100
dollars, and selection is limited.
Women who have been through
cancer treatment and mastectomies rarely get the chance to buy
matching bras and underwear,
and cannot wear the low cut shirts
and camisoles sold in mainstream apparel stores. This gives
them two options: dish out large
amounts of money, or give up the
confidence-boosting items many
women take for granted.
With the focus going largely
to supporting mammograms,
and not actual medical research,
the public has begun to lose sight
of the real issue. Prevention and
awareness are valuable, but the
women who receive the serious
diagnoses need breakthroughs in
treatment, not rubber bracelets
that become fads among middle
schoolers excited about the word
“boobies.”
These items can also contain
harmful carcinogens directly
linked with cancer. Cosmetic
and household companies are
often the largest culprits, cranking out pink bottles and labels
on mass-produced merchandise
full of confirmed carcinogens.
In 2009, Susan G. Komen for
the Cure released a perfume
called “Promise Me,” aimed at
women who wanted to increase
awareness. However, it contained
chemicals not even listed on the
labels that were known to be toxic
and harmful, and it promised no
donations to research or programs. Instead of just ignoring the
need for prevention, the perfume
was hurting the cause.
Before you spend your money
in the pink-overloaded aisles this
October, remember that some
companies are more cunning
than they are charitable. There are
honest organizations, including
the American Cancer Society and
Avon walks, and more meaningful
ways to honor those who have lost
the fight.
Rather than taking drastic
and widespread measures, Liu
suggests starting from the source.
In terms of domestic terrorism,
Liu supports stricter gun control
measures.
While gun control is only one
instance of preventing terrorism,
there are other methods that can
be taken to ensure the safety of
citizens. True terrorism threats
need to be perceived as such,
while potential threats should be
carefully considered and analyzed
by the government before extreme
action is taken. Governments
around the world must reclaim
the value of human lives, thus
ensuring safety without causing
excessive harm.
The War on Terrorism: ensuring safety vs. causing harm
Recently, stories in the media have reflected an imbalance
between ensuring the safety of
citizens and harming them with
drastic safety measures. This
widening division is the result of
certain governments implementing extreme safety measures that
are meant to prevent and reduce
terrorist activity, but have actually
backfired on innocent civilians.
One reason for these excessive
security measures is the international threat of terrorism and
terrorist attacks. Terrorism poses
a threat to nearly every country around the globe and while
every government has dealt with
different levels of terrorist attacks,
every nation has had a similar
response. Most nations, including the United States and Egypt,
have issued preventative measures
to eliminate the loss of human
lives and the widespread physical
damage in the event of a terrorist
attack. However, they risk alienating their citizens when these
preventative strategies become too
extreme. Some nations may now
be attempting to stop non-existent terrorists attacks, which has
the potential to both isolate and
offend citizens.
In September, Ahmed Mohammed, a fourteen-year-old in
Texas, was detained at his high
school after the clock he had built
was wrongly mistaken for a bomb.
Mohammed’s clock beeped during
English class and his teacher per-
INFOGRAPHIC BY: EVALYNNA ONG
By: Rachel Greenwood
SENIOR REPORTER
ceived the noise as a safety threat.
Mohammed was handcuffed and
interrogated by the police about
his invention. While Mohammed
has received praise from the likes
of President Obama and Mark
Zuckerberg, he has been permanently alienated from his high
school, and declined continued
enrollment within the Irving
Independent School District.
While America should be
praising young teenagers like
Mohammed who are creative
and intelligent, the precautionary terrorism measures inhibit
their aspirations. Mohammed’s
treatment may be justified in that
bomb threats pose serious danger,
but should a fourteen-year-old
boy who is scientifically curious
be handcuffed at his high school?
By taking such extreme safety
measures to prevent terrorism, nations around the globe have also
inadvertently jeopardized human
lives. Several governments seem
to prioritize safety from terrorist
attacks over the value of human
lives and many citizens have
paid the cost for these high-risk
measures. It seems as though the
world is in agreement that the loss
of human lives and the destruction of the environment is a small
price to pay for a supposedly safer
society. In this overprotective
effort to prevent terrorism from
killing people, the government is
actually killing people themselves.
In September 2015, Egyp-
In addition to
Egyptian civilians, Mexican
tourists were
also killed,
creating an
international
diplomatic crisis. The Egyptian Security
forces believed
they were making Egypt safer,
after all, Egypt
has become an
increasingly
dangerous
place since the
Arab Spring in
2011. Nevertheless, taking
the lives of
innocent civilians seems like
a big price to
pay for a safer
nation.
Burlingame
High School
senior Jerolynn
Liu believes
that “safety
measures [to
combat terrorism] are a
good thing, but
not when they
affect every
aspect of my
life.”
tian security
forces killed
12 people and
injured ten in
Bahariya when
a tourist van
was mistaken
as one belonging to Islamic
State militants.
Entertainment
10
By: Charlie Jones
DESIGN EDITOR
Burlingame High School’s
production of How to Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying
opens Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
How to Succeed was first published
as a book by Shepherd Mead in
1952. BHS will be putting on
Frank Loesser and Abe Burrow’s
production, which first opened in
1961. The show follows protagonist J. Pierrepont Finch, played
by senior Ben Howley, a window
washer in New York City who
tries to climb the ladder of success
with the help of the book How to
Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying.
The musical also stars senior
Jenna Beressi as Rosemary Pilkington, junior Sydney Kaufman
as Smitty, senior John Peceimer
as Bud Frump, and senior Liam
Metzcus as JB Biggley.
Rehearsals began in late August
after a brief but arduous audition
process for both the auditioning
cast and Director Cindy Skelton.
Junior Diana Daniels described
the audition process as “really fun
because it was a big group dancing
and singing and it was really
welcoming. It already felt like a
family.”
Daniels is performing in her
first musical at BHS. She loves the
opportunity to dance and act that
she doesn’t get otherwise. The environment is something different
from what she’s used to, with a
group of people sharing a similar
interest and the joint desire to
create a great finished product.
Ben Howley noted one of his
favorite things about being in the
musical was being able to sing and
dance and be weird. He said that
being in the shows at BHS allowed
him to express himself more freely. There are many aspects of the
musical that are difficult and take
a long time to master. Howley said
the hardest part is memorizing
the lyrics, dances and blocking for
songs.
Daniels said, “The hardest part
is trying to figure out who your
character is and trying to become
them so you can really fulfill your
role by playing the character as
best you can.”
In the end, it’s a rewarding
process that Howley described as
“meditative.”
Kaufman is also excited to be
back on stage. One of her favorite
things about drama at BHS is the
sense of family, which is something she believes is not matched
by many other groups on campus.
Kaufman also mentioned the cast
dinners that occur after every
performance as a key bonding
time and fun way to relax after the
shows.
With 144 cues to memorize,
mandatory attendance at each
rehearsal, and a personal relationship with the entire cast and crew,
Stage Manager and junior Sam
Hale has arguably one of the most
difficult roles. Hale began stage
managing last year as Assistant
Stage Manager in both Once Upon
A Mattress and Radium Girls.
The responsibilities of the stage
manager include, but are not
limited to: being in charge of the
entire crew, calling out all cues to
the crew on the intercom during
performances, and making sure
all costumes are ready and all hair
and makeup is done correctly.
When asked if her job is stressful, Hale said yes, but, “I love it.”
While the musical often draws
a large crowd of students, friends
and family members, the majority
of the audience does not fully understand what goes on backstage.
Backstage is calm but tense at the
beginning, and as the show goes
on it becomes more loose and fun.
PHOTO BY: LAUREN BODENLOS
How To Succeed in drama at BHS
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
BHS students practice at dance rehearsal this September.
Cast and crew members enjoy
traditions and rituals every year.
Hale mentioned one of her
favorites.
“All of us [the tech crew] eat
Swedish Fish at intermission.”
Freshman Dalton Gilmartin
is as excited as anyone for the
upcoming show. In his first year in
the show, he has already made lots
of connections and friendships
with upperclassmen and freshmen alike. Gilmartin mentioned
that the drama family has been so
welcoming and kind to him right
from the beginning. The way that
fellow auditioners came up to him
during auditions to introduce
themselves and wish him good
luck attribute a lot to the altruism
of these students.
When I asked Gilmartin if he
will try out for more shows at
BHS, his response was, “definitely.”
Performances will occur Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m.
on Sunday. The following weekend
will have the same show times on
Friday, Oct. 30 and Sunday, Nov.
1, but there will be a matinee show
on Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31.
General admission tickets are $15,
and students, seniors and children
tickets are only $10. Tickets can be
bought during school at the box
office, or at facebook.com/BurlingameDrama.
Come see the show this week
or next if you wish to see the
hard work of more than fifty BHS
students pay off in what all of
the participants are sure will be a
fantastic performance.
BHS Kindness Corner
Rebecca Ezersky, you are super
sweet and smart! Keep being you!
Malia Smith is a great band conductor, teammate, friend, and
student! Her smile can make your day instantly!
Charlie Jones is one of the
coolest dudes around. He is
such a great presence, and
he is calm yet passionate
about everything he does.
He is going to change the
world.
Mr. Balmy has a big heart and a wild imagination. He has taught me
more about compassion than than I could ever learn in a textbook.
Mrs. Murphy is an
incredibly understanding
and kind teacher!
Liam Metzcus is such a star
in every way.
Priscila Tapia always makes
my day, whether it is simply
giving me a hug, or telling
me how proud of me she
is. I never go a day without
appreciating her actions. She
is someone who truly cares
about everyone around her,
and I don’t think she gets the
recognition she deserves. I
love you Jan!
Roxy Urbani is one of the most charitable, humble,
genuine, and beautiful people in this entire school.
People don’t often look past how gorgeous she is
(because it is seriously unreal), but her personality is
so refreshing and wonderful and she makes everyone around her better versions of themselves.
Mr. Sullivan, the legend himself.
Sophia Stroud is such
a bubbly presence with
a great sense of humor.
She is genuinely so great
to be around and doesn’t
get the recognition she
deserves. She is so mature
and stylish and witty, and
I am so glad to know her.
Kimberly
Wang, you’re
the best friend
I could ever
ask for.
Mr. McDermott is a great
asset to the Panther Family and teaches his students
with passion, excitement,
and good stories.
Cammie Jew is super sweet and
a friend I’m glad to have!
Mrs. Miller,
Mary Perez is president of
Tristan Seymour is the highlight of my day!
BIG congratuthe Good Deeds club and
lations on Baby
never has anything mean to Whenever I’m feeling down, I can count on
him to turn my day around!
Maven!!!
say about anyone. She’s also
a loyal friend. Her optimism
is admired by everyone and Diana Daniels works so hard at everything she does and puts in 110%. I
never fails to bring a smile really admire that she never lets anyone tell her that she cannot do someto anyone’s face.
thing. Her bubbly personality is such an addition to our school, and she
always shares a smile in the halls.
Solena Aguilar is an incredibly supportive person and has a positive attitude about every situation. She has a smile that can brighten your day and a hug that makes you never want to let go.
Keep on being amazing, Solena :)
Emily Tam is very nice and supporting and really easy to talk to. I met her in 6th grade and we’ve never
talked a lot until now. I find her very out going and super nice and smart. We met through chem tutoring and she’s always making sure I get my stuff. Also I’ve noticed she’s like this with everyone which is
why I think she should be nominated for her humbleness and humanity.
Drew Friedeberg is so smart and has a great
attitude about everything. #elcarne
Lena Banchero handles
caffeine like a boss
Kelsey Andrews is über modest and I
wish I could be more like her!
Rachel Greenwood, even though you sometimes
are harsh with your words, I still keep you around
because you rock my socks off!!
Teacher Adviser:
Melissa Murphy
Editors-in-Chief:
Colette Weese
David Zhou
Design Editor:
Charlie Jones
Copy Editor:
Noah Lazers
News Editor:
Claire Morrison
Graphics Director:
Evalynna Ong
Web Manager:
Alex Lee
Business Manager:
Renata Servulo
Staff Reporters:
Alexandra Atkeson
Felicia Azzopardi
Andrew Battat
Lauren Bingham
Ariana Chin
Victorya Cintra
Sofia Guerra
Priscilla Jin
Cameron Kelaita
Emmy Kuniy
Oliver Lane
Stella Lorence
Dara Phung
Jillian Rolnick
Benjamin Rosenberg
Jason Rundle
Kaili Shan
Senior Reporters:
Lauren Bodenlos
Taylor Cotchett
Rachel Greenwood
Christopher Hu
Mallory Jones
Isabella Ko
Chelsea Lopez
Erika Taylor
with the San Mateo Union High
School District. The Burlingame
The Burlingame B is a student-run newspaper with the sole B does not discriminate against
race, political orientation, ethnicpurpose of providing an open
ity, religion, gender, sexual orienforum for student expression.
tation, or disability. Although The
Anything printed represents the
Burlingame B will never refuse to
opinion of the writer, but not
necessarily that of the The Burlin- publish student guest submission
based on the aforementioned facgame B staff, the administration
tors, we reserve the right to edit
or faculty of Burlingame High
or not publish them.
School, or any person affiliated
Policy Statement:
Letters to the Editor:
Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the room A120 or
email them to <theburlingameb@gmail.com>. Letters may be considered for publication. The Burlingame B reserves the right to edit for
clarity, length and accuracy. We welcome all comments.
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
By: Jillian Rolnick
STAFF REPORTER
Though the volleyball team
has had a rocky start with an
overall 7-11 record, there is still
a good chance they will qualify
for the Central Coast Section
playoffs.
Senior Co-captain Emily
Drake had a comment about the
team’s predicament and progess
this season.
“Having lost five seniors really shocked our team. We are still
trying to get the chemistry back
on the court,” Drake said.
Head coach Nilo Mauricio
expressed his disappointment in
the team’s game against Sacred
Heart Cathedral earlier this
season.
“The girls needed more energy at the game. They didn’t have
the passion to play” said Coach
Mauricio.
Last year’s successful season of
a 23-8 overall record, where the
team placed fourth in CCS, will
be difficult to top.
Drake added, “I’m going to
step [up] as a leader by trying
to encourage the rest of the girls
and trying to give them constructive criticism as much as
possible.”
Even still, many players show
a lot of promise that could help
the team fight for a win. Sophomore Julia Haupt, has 157 total
kills (hits that lead directly to
points) so far this season, which
is the second most in the league.
Junior Siobhan Healy has scored
25 aces, (serves that lead directly
to points) which is the third most
in the league. Both girls, along
with the rest of the team seem to
be filling the roles left behind by
their graduated teammates. The
team overall is above the national average in kills per set, with
an average of 11.4, and hitting
percentage (kills in relation to
attacking attempts) with .242.
Senior Co-captain Amanda
Miller said that the team has “the
drive and fight to succeed,” and
hopes that this will begin to show
11
PHOTO BY: JASON RUNDLE
Volleyball’s leaders and
skills make it a strong
CCS contender
Sports
Three varsity volleyball players prepare to make a play in the Sept. 22 game against Aragon.
later this season.
The volleyball team also attracts many fans to its games.
“I love cheering for them [and]
I go to as many games as I can”
volleyball supporter Tori Rick-
man said.
She added that volleyball is a
“fun sport to watch. [It’s a] facepaced and exciting game.”
The volleyball team hopes
to turn its unfavorable record
around and qualify for CCS.
Support the volleyball team at its
next game here at BHS, on
Tuesday, Oct. 27, when the
Panthers will face off against the
Menlo Atherton Bears.
Cross Country aims for CCS two years in a row
By: Oliver Lane
STAFF REPORTER
PHOTO COURTESY OF: SIMON GREENWOOD
Cross country season is well
on its way, and although the
girls team finished in 7th place
at its first meet at Westmoor,
the runners were still hoping to
lower their times as they look
towards PAL championships. At
the Sept. 15 meet, sophomore
Jillian Jordan was able to secure
5th place out of 84 girls with a
time of 15:45 on the 2.4 mile
course. Senior Kyle Voigtlander
finished highest among the BHS
boys, placing 30th out of the 106
boy runners with a time of 14:22
on Westmoor’s course.
At the Half Moon Bay High
School meet on Oct. 13, Jordan
placed 5th once again with a time
of 15:20 for the 2.33 mile course.
Senior Thomas Masterson finished first among BHS’s varsity
boys, with a time of 14:07.
Junior Jackie Greene, who
finished 14th at Half Moon Bay,
described how Peninsula Athletic
League meets, which are happening now, differ from Central
Coast Section championship
meets by saying that “[the league
meets] get you prepared mentally
and physically, but how well you
do isn’t very important.”
She emphasized that what
really matters is that the team
places high enough to qualify for
CCS, then puts all of its effort
into the championships.
However, senior Drew Maxwell
believes that there is still more
work to be done.
“The regular meets are very
crucial in providing the team experience for the more important
meets. We learn to run as a team
and practice different in race
strategies to find a groove that
works well for all of us,” Maxwell
said.
While BHS has had some
solid showings as a team, the
focus is still on improving individually. There is only one more
meet, which will be on Oct. 29 at
Crystal Springs Cross Country
Course, until the championships.
The course is also called Hallmark, but due to its difficulty,
By: Renata Servulo
BUSINESS MANAGER
polo games.
Head Coach Paul felton has
coached many several successful
teams and holds each group of
athletes to high expectations.
However, these expectations are
not focused on winning, they’re
focused on each player improving.
“I don’t think wins and loses
define the success of a season,
for me our goal is to get better
throughout the season so that
we are peaking and playing our
best water polo at the end of the
season,” Felton said.
Other than league games, the
team also plays in many non-
league tournaments on weekends
against schools from all over
northern California. The tournaments allow the girls to have
more practice and experience
for league games, and they also
provide additional time for water
polo-centered team bonding.
Felton said that his goals for
the team are “to be as competitive as possible and qualify
for [tbe Central Coast Section
games].”
In order to make it to the
CCS games, the Panthers have
to be one of the top three teams
in their league. So far, the team’s
stellar performance has guaran-
some runners call it “Hellmark”.
When asked about the team’s
odds of advancing to CCS,
Maxwell replied that “the girls
have good shot to make CCS, as
they are returning almost their
whole team that went to CCS last
year. Kyle Voigtlander also has a
decent chance to repeat his CCS
run of last year.”
Voigtlander, a veteran runner,
also commented on that, adding,
“we think we have a really good
shot at CCS and even state. We
just have to keep our focus and
really work hard these next few
weeks.”
Each runner is aiming to get
their racing times down in order
to qualify for the PAL championship meet, which is rapidly
approaching and will also be held
at the Crystal Springs course, on
Nov. 7. If the runners qualify to
race past that, CCS championships are one week later. which
will also take place at Crystal
Springs Course.
Girls’ Water Polo’s focuses on improvement as it heads to CCS
Sophomore Jillian Jordan finishes in fifth place at the Oct. 13 meet in
Half Moon Bay.
of responsibility, and I think it’s
The girls’ varsity water polo
really about taking leadership in
team has started its season
the pool.”
with success, having won all of
Part of that leadrship means
the games it has played so far,
guiding the team throught tough
and senior co-captains Claire
workouts. One of the team’s keys
Morrison and Amelia Milne are
to success is conditioning. It has
working hard to maintain the
two morning practices a week
team’s undefeated record.
along with afternoon practices
The players are especially excited five days a week. At least two
that they beat their long time riof the seven practices are spent
val Menlo Atherton High School on swim conditioning. Many
in last week’s game on October 7. water polo players are also on the
When asked what it’s like
Burlingame High School swim
being a captain, Morrison
team in the spring, which helps
replied that “it’s definitely a lot
them with speed during water
teed it a spot in this year’s CCS
games.
On Oct. 14, the Panthers
played a very important game
against Casteleja that determined whether or not the team
would remain number one in the
Peninsula Athletic League Bay
Division. The team lost 9-4 and
is now tied with Castileja for first
place in the league.
Catch girls’ water polo at its
next home game, Oct. 28 at 5:15
p.m., against Mills.
Sports
12
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
Football is undefeated so far, prepares for tough competition ahead
By: Benjamin Rosenberg
STAFF REPORTER
PHOTO BY: RACHEL GREENWOOD
The varsity football team practices handoffs in preparation for several tough games in the coming weeks.
Support the football team at its upcoming games.
Panther tennis looks to carry
Once again, the BHS varsity football team is off to an
excellent start, having won each
of its first five games. They
opened league play with a 35-21
victory over local rival Aragon
on October 9. The 5-0 start has
given the team tremendous confidence as they prepare to face
much stiffer competition in the
PAL Bay Division. Goals for the
season include contending for
the division title, making a run
at a CCS championship, and of
course, capturing the Paw for the
sixth straight year with a victory
over San Mateo in the Little Big
Game.
In order to achieve these
goals, the Panthers undergo tremendous preparation six days a
week. Coach John Philipopoulos
leads the team through strenuous workouts, from individual
drills to full scrimmages.
“We start out with our
stretches, then we’ll do a walkthrough of the other team’s
plays,” senior captain and center
Alex Furr said. “Then we’ll finish up with a scrimmage.”
The Panthers also spend a lot
of time in the film room to scout
a specific opponent. In doing so,
they hope to be able to predict
what strategies their opponent
will utilize and counter them
accordingly. They look for the
tendencies of that week’s opponent and how the other team
positions its players, both on
offense and defense.
“We’ll look at their defensive
schemes, and who’s going to be
running the ball when,” Furr
said. “You also want to look at
the guy you’re going to be up
against, and his strengths and
weaknesses.”
Through all of the team’s
workouts, the Panthers have
been able to build camaraderie
and bond together as a team.
They are an extremely tight
group and the coaches and
captains have created a strong
and supportive working environment for the rest of the players.
Other activities that the team has
participated in, such as going to
a 49ers game, have also helped
the team grow together.
“I think our team is pretty
close anyway,” coach Philipopoulos said. “As much time as we
spend together, it’s hard not to
become closer.”
The team hopes to carry all
of its hard work and preparation
into much tougher games coming up. They play at Sequoia,
which has played several tough
games already, on October 23,
and the following week the Panthers will travel to Sacred Heart
Prep, the only team they lost to
in the regular season last year.
They will then host Menlo-Atherton on November 6 before
the Little Big Game, which is
November 14 at San Mateo.
“They’re going to be a lot
closer than games we’ve had so
far,” senior quarterback Cameron
Kelaita said of the upcoming
schedule. “But no matter the
outcome, they’ll be just as fun to
play in, if not more fun.”
Note: At the time of publishing, the team was scheduled to
play at Terra Nova on Friday,
Oct. 16. For the result of that
game, look for our next article
on theburlingameb.com.
Having won eight of its first ten Peninsula Athletic League matches, the girls’
tennis team seems to have a locked spot in
the playoffs. Sitting in second in the tough
PAL Bay division, the Panthers are aiming
to secure the first seed.
Led by strong senior players, the team
just went on a five game winning streak,
dating back to September. Head Coach
Bill Smith has his players working hard as
playoffs approach on Oct. 28 and 29.
“As we go towards the playoffs, it’s all
about who’s improved,” Smith said. He continued, “There have been some freshmen
who have made dramatic improvements,
there’s been some change at third doubles.
It’s all about who’s playing the best when
playoffs come around.”
For the most part, there has been consistency with the top four singles players,
who have remained strong throughout the
season with a combined record of 30-10.
Senior Natalie Somers, one of those
four, has had a very solid season in the
second singles position, while sophomore
Halle Martinucci is leading the team in the
first singles slot. Martinucci has a chance to
make it to the individual PAL tournament.
Somers believes that the team has shown
a lot of improvement, both individually
and as a team.
“I think after the Battle of the Bay
Tournament, we had a much more cohesive
team. We’re all getting along really well,
and it’s been a lot of fun,” Somers said.
As the season wraps up, Somers is trying to
make the most out of her final few games,
as are the other six varsity seniors.
“I kind of just want to relax a little bit
and enjoy the last few games,” Somers said.
“I think that earlier in the season I was really stressed out about winning and helping
the team, but I think I’ll just enjoy myself
because it’s my last year here, and just have
fun with it.”
The doubles players have not been pushovers by any measure, but come playoff
time, they need to be in top form.
“We’ve won matches carried by singles,
but we’re looking to get more play out of
the doubles players,” Smith said. “There are
probably ten kids that can play those six
spots, so we’re trying to find out what the Senior Monica Millet prepares to return the tennis ball to an opponent in the Oct. 13
match against Woodside.
best mix is to get three solid pairs.”
The final two matches of the season will
be critical to the Panthers’ playoff seeding,
Girls’ tennis has just a gew more matches before PAL games.
with matchups against Carlmont and San
Mateo, both of whom have are very tough
competitors. Although the Panthers were
able to secure 4-3 victories over the two
teams earlier in the season, there is the
possibility that those teams could win in
the next rounds . The Panthers will need
to play their best tennis heading into the
homestretch, but it looks like they’ll be
headed to the playoffs once again.
Catch the volleyball team in one of its final games before it heads to CCS.
Catch boys’ water polo in the remaining games.
PHOTO BY: COLETTE WEESE
By: Oliver Lane
STAFF REPORTER