Big bucks coming for CVHS arts programs

VOLUME 51, ISSUE 2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007 CASTRO VALLEY, CA, 94546

Cruncher lets teachers read student recordsBy Eva PoonStaff Writer

The Castro Valley Unified School District is encourag-ing teachers to use Cruncher, a schoolwide web-based data system that provides teachers access to all of their students’ standardized testing scores. Administrators believe that Cruncher will allow teachers to personalize their focus on each student.

“Cruncher helps [teachers] analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses so they can tailor

their teaching,” explained Cindy Puppione. “It helps us know how to best service students.”

Cruncher was introduced at a staff presentation last year along with workshops on instruction. The computer program shows teachers their students’ results on annual STAR tests and on the English Language Develop-ment Test. Attendance records, past grade point averages, and current grades are available on Cruncher.

Teachers can sort class scores by demographics, by progress, and by subject. Schoolwide scores

By Joseph WanStaff Writer

are summarized and test scores are broken down into specific sections so teachers know which areas need further help.

“[Teachers] ideally see what they need to teach according to the standards,” Puppione noted.

District officials want to make sure the school is on track with the state Academic Performance Index and federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards. The history department was espe-cially interested and underwent a pilot program of Cruncher last year.

Sauerkraut in car air vents, keyed cars, fistfights and even a near-death experience were just a few of the incidents in a series of conflicts that tarnished this year’s Homecoming com-petition. In an intense conflict between the junior and senior classes, silly pranks turned into illegal vandalism and personal fights.

“This is, by far, the worst year we’ve ever had,” commented senior ASB President Travis Northup about this year’s Home-coming problems compared to his other three years.

The rivalry’s beginning is shrouded in skepticism with each class pointing fingers at the other, saying that the other class started the dispute. The fights began on the Sunday night before Homecoming when each class had separate work parties in Palomares Hills, Northup said. Since the two parties were on the same street, one group decided to have a bit of fun by throwing water balloons at the other.

Then came students throwing eggs and yogurt at each other, witnesses said. Tensions esca-lated when a junior girl tried to run over one of the senior girls, according to Northup. The senior then pulled the junior out of her car and began “whaling on her,” said Northup.

When administrators found out about this fiasco on Monday morning, they took immediate action. They dealt with the al-legedly involved girls harshly and warned the police to keep a lookout in Palomares in order to prevent any other violent in-cidents, Northup said.

“I didn’t know Homecoming was going to go as far as it did. I thought it was just going to be all fun and games,” said freshman Jackie Ko.

Later at lunch during the junior march, the conflict ex-panded when a group of senior girls marched in front of the ju-

niors, flipping them off and try-ing to scream over their chants. From this sprang the beginning of the “SS Express,” the senior and sophomore alliance and the beginning of the car vandalism. More than a dozen cars were trashed, although most of the vandalism wasn’t permanent.

On Wednesday night, the fights peaked when senior song girls went into practice and the junior song girls used that time to trash the senior cars with washable car paint. They used the paint to defile the cars with things like “slut,” and “’09.” Some girls even went as far as to draw obscene images on a car. Since the senior cars were parked in the senior lot, the security cam-eras caught everything on tape, helping the administration single out the junior girls who caused the trouble.

“We would’ve had to cancel Homecoming if it wasn’t for the security cameras,” said Northup who was relieved to not have to announce any cancellations.

Senior girls retaliated by com-ing together and waking up earlier than usual to retaliate against the juniors for Thursday morning. They conspired to park their cars in the junior lot, leav-ing no spaces left for the juniors and forcing them to either park illegally in a senior spot, which would’ve resulted in a ticket or a towing, or to park off campus. Seniors then taunted juniors by writing “Seniors,” “2008,” or “Welcome to Seniorland” in chalk throughout the junior and senior lots.

“It would’ve been more fun if a junior car actually got towed,” said senior Rachel Nartia.

Because these pranks got so out of hand this year, the admin-istration is trying to show under-classmen that this escalated level of tension and competition is not traditional.

“It was an example of what class competition shouldn’t be,” said Principal Pete Alvarez. “Class competition should be fun and respectful and based on school spirit.”

By Michelle MatsuiCity editor

Homecoming threatened by

fights, vandalism

“[Cruncher is used to] find right off the bat what kind of students they are…with the information to help me help [my] students and address their needs,” said Jeff Goldstein, who called the program “empower-ing.”

Students are divided on the issue of teachers knowing their scores.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It’s private information,” said senior Emily Marciel.

“You took the test, got the grade, and may not like [the score] but it exists,” commented

junior Julianne Burnette. “If you screw up, then you screw up. Accept reality.”

Castro Valley High’s 2007 standardized testing scores met federal goals but were short of its API growth target for state standards, dropping three points from the previous year. The high school’s STAR scores, however, are among the top half of schools in Alameda County.

The effects of Cruncher on student performance remains to be seen but school officials are placing their high hopes on this new idea.

For the first time in a decade, the art department will be able to fund their plans for the 2007-2008 school year due to a one-time grant of $97,000 presented by the state government.

For years schools have been unable to fund their art classes, and CVHS was no exception. Af-ter years of neglect. however, the government has finally decided to give schools the funds needed to repair and even expand their art programs.

“This is my tenth year teaching and it is the first time ever,” said Jo Sutton, Visual and Perform-ing Arts Department Chair. CVHS has never been granted government money for the art department before.

In past years, growth in art de-partments had been stunted due to a lack of monetary support. For example, the music students suffered from the disrepair of several school-owned instru-

ments, and in some cases, lack of new sheet music. But now, with the money from the grant, teach-ers and students will not only be seeing these problems fixed, but also improved on.

Sutton expressed great en-thusiasm for the $97,000 grant, beaming at the prospect of being able to purchase new equipment and supplies for school use.

“The government decided it was finally time to start rebuild-ing Arts Education in Califor-nia,” she said.

First and foremost, the Visual Arts Department has decided to purchase the necessities to start an animation class: a classroom full of computers. The Theatre/Drama Department will buy a $3,000 keyboard that will open up many possibilities for both drama classes and plays in the Center for the Arts. Finally, alongside repairing old equip-ment, the Music Department will be purchasing a variety of instru-ments. Some examples are cellos, a sousaphone, a xylophone, the

long-awaited sheet music, and a set of expensive tympanis that cost over a thousand dollars a piece.

Furthermore, in addition to the one-time $97,000 grant, a second grant will present the art depart-ment with $44,000 each year.

With the money from the gov-ernment, there will be no doubt that the CVHS art department will be seeing lots of growth in various areas.

When asked what she was looking forward to the most about using the grant money, Sutton expressed her wish to see the marching band perform on the new stadium field sup-ported by a drum line – a group of percussion instruments usu-ally played as part of a marching ensemble.

“I can’t wait until I hear the marching band with their brand new drum line!” said Sutton.

Look forward to new equip-ment and further improvements in the art department as the year moves on.

Erika Woods and senior friends march in the Homecoming parade on Friday, Oct. 19. See more about Homecoming on pages 4, 5 and 6.

Stephanie Lombardo / Photo Editor

Let’s say that a mosquito was bothering me and I squashed it. It’s dead. But right in my hand, I had all the necessary parts to build it again. I can give it to top scientists to revive, zap it with energy a hundred times, or put it in a jar and wait millions of years, but the mosquito isn’t coming back to life. It’s dead forever.

Just because all the material is there does not mean that it can build itself. The first law of thermodynamics says that matter cannot be created or destroyed (this law contradicts the Big Bang, by the way). That means that there has always been the same amount of stuff in this universe.

None of the materials changed since the earth started, but it took a whole team of scientists and a lot of heavy machinery to build the Boeing 787. It did not build itself. But just a single bacteria is more complex than a space shuttle.

If there was no God who cre-ated this place, then that means a force of random chance built everything over a span of 4,600 million years. But just think of the actual chance that chance has of creating and operating this intricate, fragile planet.

The second law of thermo-dynamics says that everything

tends towards disorder. Nothing gets better by itself.

It’s called entropy. This contra-dicts evolution. Life is clearly more organized than non-life,

The Olympian is a publication of the Journalism Class, Castro Valley High School, 19400 Santa Maria Ave., Castro Valley, CA 94546.©2007

Editor-In-Chief...............................................................Malena BellCity Editors..............................................................Michelle MatsuiNews Editor..............................................................Sophiana CarellOpinion Editor..............................................................Kevin HanleyFeature Editor...............................................................Hayden FolksSports Editor....................................................................Joseph WanCopy Editors...............................................................Kyle Friedrich Laura Mitchell Becky ChaoPhoto Editor......................................................Stephanie LombardoSystems Manager.........................................................Andrew QuanBusiness Managers.....................................................Candace Wong

Esther Lee

Staff Writers: Frank Chao, Ryan Flores, Andrew Huber, Irene Liang, Brandon Lui, Erin Mundy, Lindsey Oda, Taylor Pepsin, Eva Poon, Howard Whang Advisor........................................................................Matt Johanson

Life could not exist without a creator

Buildings are proof

of builders. Paintings are proof of painter. Creation is proof of a creator!

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”and we are obviously more complex than a rock.

Things do not get better or more complicated by them-selves. A hunk of metal doesn’t become a BMW over millions of years; a cell doesn’t become all the species on earth; and a soup of ooze won’t produce life un-der any circumstance. Of the 20

amino acids in all living things, scientists calculated the chance of ten forming in the right or-der is 1 in 103113, and 1 in 1045 is already virtually impossible.

Your computer is a complex piece of man-made machinery, which can store, say, 500 gigs, and run about 3.2 trillion cal-culations per second. I’m sure that you agree that it did not come from billions of years of chance.

A glop of ooze that weighs three pounds and measures not much bigger than a soda can, known as your brain, can store more information than the Library of Congress, and has a computational speed that can run the national phone system. Why, or how, did this come from chance?

The point here is that the complexity of this universe demands an intelligent de-signer. This universe is more perplexing than your com-puter, but your computer was made with a design and this universe wasn’t?

Buildings are proof of builders. Paintings are proof of painters. You couldn’t have better proof that a painter ex-isted than to see his painting. Creation is proof of a creator! Somebody had to be smart enough to start and to maintain this delicate universe.

There is absolutely no chance of life by chance.

By Howard Whang Staff Writer

There are many video games that contain violence, drug us-age, and sex. These games are distributed throughout the U.S. and, in most cases, the world. Angry parents have been trying to get these games banned for years now. They are not taking responsibility for raising their kid; they have to blame it on someone else.

One of the games that stands out above the rest is the Grand Theft Auto series. This game contains more of the worst bad habits than all the other video games combined. You can kill

By Ryan Flores Staff Writer

Parents shouldn't blame video games for their own incompetence

“Don't ruin games for everybody

else just because of your kid.

”random people on the street, sleep with prostitutes, jack cars/planes/boats, and even get into gang shoot-outs.

Older people, mostly parents and women, dislike this game so much that they have been trying to get the game pulled off

the shelves ever since GTA 3 pre-miered. They say the games cor-rupt their children and make our society worse than it really is.

What they don’t realize is that they’re just proving that none of them pay any attention to their kids or to what they’re doing. If they could keep track of their children, I don’t think there would be a problem. Parents install programs into the TV to block out some TV shows when that should be their job, not a computer’s.

Games are rated just like mov-ies. They’re, E-everyone, T-teen, M-mature, and AO-adult only. Why do you buy these games for your children if you don’t want your kids playing them? And if they’re getting them from a stranger, why aren’t you watch-ing your kids? Don’t ruin games for everyone else just because of your kid and your laziness.

If you pull a game off the shelf, then we’re going to have to pull movies off as well, just because you are mad. Here’s a thought: why don’t we just get rid of all videos and movies? And why not even plays and musical per-formances as well? We would have nothing left -no entertain-ment- just to shelter a child for a couple of years.

It’s not like kids won’t find out things on their own anyway. They always find a way to learn something on the street or on the Internet. You can’t shield them forever. Some things you have to learn the hard way just to survive. And let’s face, it the world isn’t getting better and it never will.

Editorial:

Homecoming fun never seems to end, but sometimes having too much fun can cause drama. Girls assaulting each other and committing atrocious acts of vandalism threatened to ruin homecoming for everyone.

Homecoming was originally meant to be a fun week with the return of school, but it was never intended to start intense rivalries between certain classes that al-most got people run over.

Administrators were so con-cerned about the conflict be-tween juniors and seniors that

they even told cops to watch over the homecoming parties in Palomares Hills after school hours.

During the week of homecom-ing, many who participated or were involved in the incidents between the juniors and seniors lacked true school spirit due to all of the peer mediation and “drama” between each other, which, in turn, hurt their own classes.

Students should know better than to get in conflicts with oth-er classes, leading to the loss of their homecoming privileges and even threatening homecoming’s cancellation.

If homecoming did get can-

celed, it would only be the fault of the people who were involved in the problem in the first place.

Besides, with all the new surveillance cameras around, students who vandalize cars in the parking lot will get busted anyway, as many found out. With more than a dozen cars trashed, it was definitely expen-sive for 20 or more students who were involved.

We at The Olympian believe that homecoming should be an event that the student body can enjoy. It is wiser to focus on positive school activities than to participate in drama that leads to spending time in the peer media-tion office.

Homecoming spirit gets out of hand

PHOTOPiniOnsPHOTOPiniOnsPHOTOPiniOns

“It’s a big waste of a car” – James Lau, fresh-

man

“I find it ridiculous because its just a school

activity.” – Marisa Murphey, senior

“They’re ridiculous.” –Michael Amos, junior

“Trashing cars is a little extreme.” – Kyle

Callihan, sophmore

What do you think about the junior-senior homecoming conflict this year?

COMPILED BY Hayden Folks

Dennis Kucinich would be best prez

By Malena BellEditor-in-chEif

Sliding into tomorrowI have an ingenious idea.

The school should build a huge slide from the top of the 700 building down to the far end of the courtyard. This is a very practical and feasible idea for the administration to consider.

As you probably know, the stairs and hallways in the 700 building are very crowded. It takes quite a while to get downstairs from a second floor classroom, not to men-tion having to walk all the way across the courtyard. This slide would solve all of those problems.

Right now, there is a large window on the west end of the 700 building that overlooks the courtyard. I am suggesting that this wall be knocked out, and a platform built. There would be a large plastic slide that could fit about six people across at the end of the platform. The slide would be above the courtyard and would touch down at the front of the 200 hall. There would also be ice cream vendors on the plat-form to provide students in line with a delicious treat on hot days.

I suggest charging 25¢ for one ride, or selling a pass for $10 per semester. This is not unreasonable, and I’m sure most students would be will-ing to pay it. If 1000 students (which is much less than half of the school) bought the semester pass for a year, this would bring in $20,000 per year. The school could use that money on school activi-ties, so the money would go right back to the students.

Students would just have to go to the platform, pay admis-sion or show their pass to the ticket taker, and slide down the slide. This would be a lot faster than walking, so more students would be on time for class. It also gives students a

chance to socialize in line, which is better than them talk-ing when they are supposed to be walking to class.

The slide would make the student population healthier, and is much safer than walk-ing. People could trip over something and fall down while walking, which is not safe. Slides are better because students will walk less, so there are fewer opportunities for an accident to happen. Being on the slide is also a lot safer dur-ing an earthquake, because you are above all the things that could fall. You could be crushed by a falling tree or pole while walking, but on a slide you are practically invincible. The slide also takes anorexic people into consideration, so they don’t have to burn pre-cious calories by walking. This means that more underweight people will survive, so the school is saving lives.

This slide would also be en-vironmentally-friendly. Hav-ing thousands of people walk across the ground everyday is not good for it. People scuff up the ground with their shoes, and that makes it unpleasant to look at and walk on. The slide would leave the ground shiny and clean for future gen-erations to enjoy.

Additionally, the sl ide would raise the students’ mo-rale. Sliding down a slide is fun for most people, so students would be happier when they went to classes. They would be more motivated and probably get better grades. It would also make students more proud of their school. I’ll bet that not a whole lot of other high schools could boast about using slides for transportation.

Critics may say that the slide is unsafe because students could fall off or get pushed off. The slide wouldn’t be that high up, so falling out shouldn’t be a problem. Also, I seriously doubt that anyone at this school would push

another student off the slide or platform. We have a very ma-ture student body, so incidents like this probably would not happen. However if it did hap-pen, then the offending student would have his or her sliding privileges revoked for a week. This is a good discipline idea be-cause students would not want to lose their sliding privileges, so they wouldn’t mess around. The school could also put a sign on the platform on which all the rules would be listed.

Also, some people might be concerned that students would go down the slide instead of going to class. There is not a lot of sense in this argument, because the slide would be used for transportation, not as a play structure. Would students skip class to just go driving around with no desti-nation? Of course not! So why in the world would they go on a slide without a purpose for it? Even if some students did cut class, they would be learning about science and engineering. A slide is a very complex and scientific piece of equipment, about the same level as an AP physics class. Put one student in a boring physics class and let another get hands on experience with a slide for 55 minutes, and then we’ll see who does better on the final exam.

Some might also complain about the cost of the slide, but it wouldn’t really be that expensive. The plastic could be acquired cheaply, and for the labor costs, we could let the students build it themselves. If high school students could build those beautiful homecom-ing floats we saw this year, then they could certainly build a two-story slide in which thousands of lives are at risk everyday.

So, you see that this slide idea has almost no downsides and would benefit the school greatly. I encourage you to pressure the administration to build it. Slides are the thing of the future.

By Kyle Friedrichcopy Editor

Does the name Dennis Ku-cinich ring any bells? To most people, probably not.

He is little known and yet he is one of the top candidates for the Democratic presidential nomi-nation. Of course, what does that really mean? When most people consider the Democratic nominees, they think of only Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and maybe John Edwards. These three are the leaders of the pack, but that does not mean they are the best contenders for the job. Sometimes the little guy is the one who offers the most. Such is true in the case of Kucinich.

In all truth, I hadn’t heard of Kucinich until quite recently. And until I heard of him, I was not impressed by any of the Democratic candidates. All of them, including Obama, are too typical. They are tired, boring, and unoriginal. More often than not they say what will get them votes rather than what they be-lieve. But while I was watching one of the presidential debates, Kucinich turned my head.

His ideas are so refreshing and

he speaks of them so candidly that he hardly seems like he could truly be a candidate for president. By that I mean that he is too honest and open to truly be a politician. He is also willing to make commitments, and he is willing to state his true opin-ions without obsessing over poll numbers.

In the debate I watched, he committed to pulling all our troops out of Iraq within three months of being inaugurated. Whether or not you agree with that position, you have to ad-mit that it takes guts to make that statement. It disappoints me that most Democrats, who so openly oppose the war in Iraq, are dodgy about when our troops will leave if they are elected. Other issues lie behind smoke screens also.

With Kucinich, everything is very straightforward. The drinking age should be 18. The voting age should be 16. We were wrong to enter Iraq. There is no masquerade or tricks made to deceive the public. He is plain and honest.

By the way, only one of the Democratic candidates voted in Congress against the war in Iraq. Want to take a guess at which one? You got it; Kucinich is your man. This shows he also has good judgment.

It is not often the little guy prevails in any battle. But in America, the possibility always exists. And Kucinich has pos-sibilities.

Laura MitcheLL / Copy editor

Democratic candidate would

make a better president than the

front runners

Photos By Malena Bell, Stephanie Lombardo, Lindsay Oda and Howard Whang

Dragons spoil homecoming

Title goes here Brewer’s home, car

By Tim WongStaff Writer

Samantha Owyang races on the three mile-mile course at the Castro Valley Invitational.

Eva Poon / Staff writer

The Castro Valley High School cross-country teams have been training vigorously and their hard work has shown some favorable results.The teams had their first HAAL meet versus Hayward and Tennyson high schools on Oct. 4, at which they easily dominated.

“The other schools weren’t very good,” said junior Steven

Guzman, in a joking manner. But it was obvious to see why he thought that. The Castro Valley

They domi-n a t e d t h e competition, winning five out of the six i n d i v i d u a l races.

“

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team defeated the other schools with ease. They dominated the competition, winning five out of the six individual races.

The girls Varsity defeated both Tennyson and Hayward with a perfect score of 15. They took the top seven spots and were led by freshman Kelsey Santisteban. The boys Varsity fared almost as well, with a perfect score against Tennyson and a near perfect score against Hayward, led by senior Jack Leng.

“We did very, very well,” said coach Peter Brewer. All of the divisions of the Castro Valley team were great, but the stand-out performance belonged to the girls Varsity, who smashed their competition. The girls Varsity swept the top seven places in a single race.

The teams hope to be repeat as Varsity champions, and to advance through North Coast Regionals all the way to the State Meet.

Though Brewer was very happy about the team’s success, he had to add a final comment not regarding their new track in Trojans Stadium: “P.S. Boy, that track sure is pretty.”

Trojans fans braved the wind and rain on homecoming night only to watch Castro Valley’s football team get defeated by Bishop O’Dowd.

Energy and excitement were running high, although the first touchdown of the big game went to the Dragons, as well as the sec-ond. Then, as CVHS junior Dash Oliver rushed the ball to the 45-yard line, the Bishop O’Dowd defense took him down.

Tailback Ronnie Irvin made a 3-yard run for a touchdown with only 28 seconds left in the third

By Erin MundyStaff Writer

quarter, making the score 18-7. The Trojans offense had posses-sion of the ball for over 8 minutes in the first half of the game.

Junior Dominic Shortridge caught a perfect pass from quar-terback junior Austen Carpenter and rushed for a 57-yard touch-down with just 2:55 remaining in the game. The Trojans made the effort to get a 2-point conversion but failed, and the score stayed at 18-13, with O’Dowd ahead.

Castro Valley’s defense forced an O’Dowd punt. Then the Tro-jan offense got the ball back at 35-yard line with 53 seconds re-maining. A bad snap from Castro Valley’s center to Carpenter, pos-

The Castro Valley High girls golf team played an outstand-ing game Thursday, October 11 against the undefeated Mission San Jose Warriors. Castro Valley was victorious with a score of 222-223.

This victory tied the Trojans for first place in HAAL The girls now had to win the league tournament in order to secure the league championship.

“I’m excited the girls finally broke through and beat Mission

sibly due to the slippery weather conditions, was fumbled and recovered by O’Dowd.

Trojans fans stayed strong and loud throughout the remainder of the game, but were let down by an 18-13 loss to the Dragons.

Although it was a disappoint-ing loss for fans, they still were able to enjoy fireworks, dance and cheer performances, and the crowning of the homecoming court that made for a spectacular halftime show.

Irvin finished the game with 26 carries for 109 yards and the offense finished the game with 200 yards overall for the second time this season.

Trojans edge Warriors in golfByTaylor Pepsin

Staff Writer

San Jose. It proves to them they can win,” said girls golf coach Ed Blom.

In this match, three individu-als played exceptionally well: Tiffany Nichols, Kelsey Kong, and Lin Philpott.

In fact, it was Philpott’s score that secured the Castro Valley victory against the Warriors.,which was great for CVHS.The league tournament took place on October 22 at the Metropolitan Golf Course.So far this season the Trojans have fared extremely well outside of league play.

They participated at the San Leandro fall classic for girls golf, finishing in fourth place.

In the tournament Castro Valley beat long time rivals Carondelet and Deer Valley high schools.

The girls are hoping to meet these teams again in the North Coast Section tournament, in the hopes of securing a place in the Norcal tournament. During the HAAL championship Castro Valley took second place with a score of 432, and Mission San Jose took home first place with a score of 417.

The topic of child soldiers has grabbed the attention of celebrities such as Pete Wentz.

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”

By Frank ChaoStaff Writer

Have you ever had the breath sucked right out of you?

Regardless, you can have your breath sucked right out of you on Nov. 2 at the cafeteria.

Why, you might ask? One word: Improv. What is Improv you might ask?

“Improv is like taking a breath of pure oxygen. It’s extremely satisfying and you can’t stop laughing,” said Improv club propagandist Igor Breyman.

In other words, Improv is a competition.

CVHS has two Improv teams, Junior Varsity and Varsity. The teams compete in games against other schools in the Comedy Sportz league, whenever pos-sible, as it is not easy to plan games against other schools.

The challenges are chosen by the referees at each game, so the members of the teams must be well prepared for any game that may come up.

“You have to come to Improv to get the full Improv experience,”

There is finally an artist out there who doesn’t make you want to bang your head into something every time you listen to her music.

Hayley Westenra’s album Celtic Treasure, released in May, doesn’t involve blaring and re-petitive tones. Instead, as soon as I pressed the play button, I experienced the amazing musi-cal quality of Celtic Treasure.

Although just as smooth as classical music, Celtic Treasure is developed for contemporary society but with an angelic dis-tinction that separates it from

typical modern music that sim-ply induces neck spasms. While many teens might interpret this as a disappointment, Celtic Treasure contains no swearing or major antics of violence.

The album includes both tradi-tional favorites such as “Shenan-doah” or “Danny Boy” to newly created compositions like “Last Rose of Summer.”

Westenra sings every note with the utmost grace and precision, accompanied by a variety of singers, strings, woodwinds, bells and other, more exotic, in-struments. Melody and harmony in Celtic Treasure combine into a mellow blend of pure music.

It may be just the type of head-phones that I use, but when I lis-tened to Celtic Treasure I felt that the music was flowing around me, instead of the bone-jarring crunch that often arises while listening to some other popular teenage music.

Many of the songs are slow

Celtic Treasure is a treasure

By Andrew HuberStaff Writer

says Secretary Jason Bolich.The club regularly practices

every Monday from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. in the greenroom at the Cen-ter for the Arts and anyone is welcome to join.

“Our rule in Improv is that we are all equally uncool,” said Vice President Teresa Andrade.

She says this because even if they mess up on stage, they can still have fun.

Led by club advisors Tiffany Daily and David Judson, Improv Club has made giant strides in enrollment this year.

“Improv Club has made giant leaps since the year I took over,” said ASB President Travis Nor-thup, who also happens to be the president of Improv.

The Improv Club not only gets to play great games and compete with other schools but they also go on many field trips to view professionals improvise.

The shows, transportation, and food all cost money, but it is well worth it for the enjoyment that you get from being with your friends.

while others are upbeat; some are relaxing while others are invigorating, such as “Summer Fly.”

Whatever the speed, the music serves to expand the mind and allow the listener to reflect on the gorgeous pitches.

When listening to Celtic Treasure, I wasn’t deafened by deranged, vulgar or obscene noises.

I just heard the unpolluted sounds of real music.

The music is void of any static produced by convoluted instru-ments or an overpowering bass drum. In fact, Celtic Treasure can probably best be described by the lack of obtrusive sounds and its complete dedication to the very heart of music.

I recommend Celtic Treasure to anyone who wants a beautiful, intellectually stimulating experi-ence through music, or for those who just don’t want to go deaf by the age of 30.

At Revelation Club meetings, you can see howa Christian club really works. Club President Alex Romanova began the meeting with a prayer. After that the vice president, Jayson Rice, told all the students to go into randomly selected groups. In these groups, they could talk about their problems, triumphs, or just anything they wanted to say or needed counseling on. After just the first few minutes, one could tell that the atmo-sphere of the classroom was a positive one.

Revelation Club has been at CVHS for years. This club has inspired Christians to gather and worship together, as well as to share experiences and ad-vise one another. While passing amongst several tables you can hear people talking about them-selves and making friends with those around them. Romanova talked about Revelation Club and his thoughts on it. He said the number one reason why he joined was that he was a faith-ful Christian. Besides that, he said he has a lot of experience throughout life that could really help others.

If you ask Romanova what Revelation Club stands for he’ll respond proudly, “People think Christians are about money but we’re not. We’re here to help others.”

After first stepping into the room, you already feel welcome. By a head count you can see at least 50 people present at the meeting. Jayson Rice, a senior

who has attended Revelation Club for three years has noth-ing but good things to say about Revelation Club.

Rice described Revelation Club by saying, “In this room, God is really here.”

Members of Revelation Club have a lot to say as well. Junior Nathaniel Tseng said his fa-vorite things about Revelation Club were things like worship and testimony.

He told me he had joined the middle of his sophomore year and has attended many of the meetings since then. When asked how he’d discovered this club, he said, “Curiosity mostly.” The most important question, though, was did he like Revelation Club? He eas-ily responded yes and told me it was a good way to spend a Tuesday lunch.

Sophomore Jasmine Costa has been a member of Revelation Club since her freshman year and she has been very happy with it. She decided to join because she loved God and be-cause all the people here found common ground with God.

“Revelation Club is an amaz-ing place where you can find peace with yourself and peace with God,” said Costa.

Now what’s in store for Revelation Club in the future? Romanova said he is working towards worship nights for upcoming events, and vice president Rice is also working towards outreach events that can span across more than just our school. Revelation Club meets every Tuesday at lunch if you want to learn more.

Revelation Clubmembers see the light

By Brandon LuiStaff Writer

Living in a world where luxu-ries and leisure are often taken for granted, most forget about the world that is less fortunate. However, four CVHS students were bound to change that per-

Club tries to stir awareness ofChild soldiers in Uganda

By Irene LiangStaff Writer

ception. Enter Operation “Club Invisible Children.”

Sophomores Felicia Ho, club president, Juliane Lieu, vice president, Sophie Tang, secre-tary and Elsa Wong, treasurer, introduced Invisible Children to CVHS this year, a nationwide organization whose mission is to raise awareness for the child sol-diers in Uganda. The club’s own mission is to raise awareness for the people and child soldiers of Northern Uganda who are in the middle of a 20-year long civil war while supporting the Anaka Sec-

ondary School in Uganda at the same time.

Ho drew inspiration for the club from watching the docu-mentary Invisible Children in CCG last year and also from attending Displace Me, a nationwide event where participants watch videos regarding the issue and replicate the living conditions of the child soldiers.

“We displaced ourselves for the displaced in Uganda,” said Ho about the event.

The documentary Invisible Children was filmed in 2003 and features the lives of children living in Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel army fighting the Ugandan govern-ment, abducts children to use as soldiers.

In addition, the children are denied adequate care. This causes many children, between the ages of three to 17, to run away from their homes during the night in order to escape from becoming one of the millions of child soldiers across the world.

The topic of child soldiers has grabbed the attention of celebrities such as Pete Wentz from the popular band Fall Out Boy, Melissa Fitzgerald from the former NBC hit The West Wing and Oprah Winfrey. Both Wentz and Fitzgerald participated in Displace Me.

Invisible Children, which meets Wednesdays during lunch in Room 304, has certainly grabbed the attention of students and staff at CVHS, including the club advisor Jason Marlis.

Marlis, a World Civilizations and CCG teacher, shows the

documentary Invisible Children to his CCG classes yearly.

“I’m very excited to see stu-dents come together on their own and be proactive about this situation,” said Marlis.

Invisible Children has not only generated plenty of buzz,

I think In-visible Chil-dren has changed my life because it changed my perspec-

“

”but also success.

The club is ranked as number 11 for raising funds for Anaka Secondary School, beating the UC Berkley Chapter, which is one spot behind them.

Igor Breyman, the club’s pub-lic relations officer, said, “I think Invisible Children has changed my life because it changed my perspective of how other people live and how privileged we are in California. Just one helping hand could change someone’s world.”

Improv draws large crowds

Compiled by The Olympian staffMeet our new CVHS staff members!

“CVHS, a place full of wonder and curious oddities! Hmmm, maybe I’m thinking about Dis-neyland. Nevertheless, I find the students and staff here provide a wonderful place of learning and community. Thank you CVHS.”

Alan Archambault

“I like the energy at this school and the staff and the students seem to work well together.”

Liz Baugh

“I like teaching because it is fun. My students are great and my colleagues are wonderful.”

Kristy Boyd

“I found Castro Valley to be very friendly, and the staff to be friendly and supportive. I’m amazed at how well such a large school is run, and I’m very happy to be here.”

Karl Bowers

“I love CVHS. I think I must’ve been a Trojan at heart.”

Constance Cline

“I like the nice, respectful kids and supportive staff at Castro Valley High. I hope to make my class interesting and get the kids engaged.”

Nick Jones

“I really like to see the students succeed or improve in my class. It feels good to see my students exceed.”

Kyung (Sue) Han

“I’m very much enjoying my time at CVHS so far. I’m very happy to be a member of such an impressive English Depart-ment.”

Linda Gray

“I think the students are won-derful and I have a good relation-ship with the administration.”

Becky Grass

“I like working with students. They’re fun most of the time. I don’t like working long hours. Nobody realizes how long the teachers’ hours are.”-

Kristina Duncan

“I’m really excited to be at Castro Valley High. The energy and enthusiasm of everyone is terrific. Go Trojans.”

MaryAnn Mendonza

“Being new to Castro Valley, I have been impressed with how friendly and interesting the stu-dents are, and it makes me really love the classes that I teach.”

Jeff Knutson

“The reason I wanted to teach is because my mother is a teacher and has taught for 41 years. I try to teach my students how to be-come who they are.”

Gavin Long

“My experience this year has been incredible. The staff has been extremely welcoming, the administration very supportive, and the students exceptional.”

Melissa Marcucci

“Kids here are great. Yeah, they have attitudes, but they’re fun. Besides, what kid at this junction doesn’t have one?”

Matt Klein

“My best part of my job is face-to-face time with my students, getting to hear what’s going on in their lives, and building rela-tionships.”

Abbey Novia

“I’m also the advisor for the Portuguese Heritage Club. I like that [with teaching] I’m my own boss, kind of. [Castro Valley] is awesome. I love it.”

Christian Riley

“I enjoy being with the kids. I like [Castro Valley] better than San Ramon Valley where I used to teach. It’s been a great and wonderful year.”

Bertram Pinsky

“My Algebra classes are a blast. It’s a pleasant experience teaching here and I’m having a good time.”

Manmeet Pannu

“I decided to go teach because I got to work with a bunch of squirrelly little freshmen and sophomores.”

Carrie Roscelli

“I am very impressed so far with the students and staff at Castro Valley High School. I am very excited to get to know the freshman class this year.”

Natalie Teague

“I like my job because of the challenge of learning lots of new things.”

Sandy Stiving

“As a new teacher and football coach at CVHS, I am extremely excited and looking forward to the opportunities that are on the horizon.”

Jordan Seiden

“I have worked in the edu-cational field for the past eight years, but I wanted to get back to administrative office work. I really like it here. Every day is a different day.”

Pam Santos

“My first year at CVHS has been fantastic. I have taken the military approach to my classes and really broken the students down so now I can build them back up in my likeness.”

David Roth-Rossi

“My primary concern is for my students to be successful and happy and for them to pur-sue their interests… and I play a Warcraft druid.”

Jonathan Wolfrum

“It was a bit of a rough start, and I really appreciate the stu-dents and their work ethic and the staff as well.”

Justin Williams

“The most important thing is to learn about yourself and learn what to be responsible for.”

Jason Whiteman

“The most important thing to me about teaching is establish-ing a relationship with students. Students go through so much, I think it’s harder to be a student now…Relationship comes first, education second.”

Nick Whitaker

“I’m so excited to work with this class [freshmen], there’s been nothing but great things said about them.”

Karena Doan

“I like getting the students excited.”

Deborah Yager

Not Pictured:Kathleen Caddick

Ge t to know al l those ne w face s

on campus!