November 6, 2012 Fremont High School, Issue No. 2

Homecoming highlights pages 6 and 7

What’s inside:

Science chemical sink waste gets proper drainingBy Erika Jefferson

Imagine drinking water that is polluted with toxic chemicals that can become hazardous. When under-ground tanks don’t catch all the pollutions, the pollu-tions go to lakes, ponds, and our drinking water.

Here at Fremont high school, there are under-ground tanks that catch

chemicals used in science class labs. Many different chemicals are used in sci-ence labs, some hazardous and some not so much. Some chemicals such as Lead, Zinc, and Copper can be dangerous if found in drinking water. The under-ground tanks ideally should be cleaned every couple of years but the tanks at Fre-

mont have no set clean time and one of the tanks haven’t been cleaned in nearly 10 years.

This chemical pollu-tion problem is 50 percent because of improper clean-ing and 50 percent because of student’s carelessness.

See Chemicals on page 4

College apps createcraze

Every college applica-tion season, the number one question overwhelmed students ask College and Career Counselor Lorena Villagomez is “Where do I start?”

At this moment, Fre-mont seniors are probably staring at a blank page or thinking about staring at a blank page. This is the real-ity of college applications, a process that takes months and adds a heavy stress load to those hoping for accep-

By Tali Perelman

tance to a four-year college. “You want to get every-

thing right,” senior Elisa-beth Messner said. “But you don’t know how. You don’t know what’s right.”

With higher piles of homework than ever before and perhaps dozens of extracurricular activi-ties, including daily sports practices or games, commu-

LARGE black barrels were used to properly dispose of leftover chemicals trapped in the underground pipes.Justin Hawthorne | The Phoenix

Steven Canalez | The PhoenixCAREER advisor Lorena Villagomez helps a student find the right path to college.

nity service, clubs and even a job, it seems impossible to fit anything else into a senior’s life. But somehow, every year, most seniors manage to stack college applications on top of the already teetering tower of activities.

Senior Chris Swan-son, for example, has his heart set on attending the

Naval Academy, located in Annapolis, Md. To apply to this highly selective school – whose admission rate is 7.5 percent, the sixth lowest in the country – he not only has to apply directly to the school, but also must be nominated. Swanson can re-ceive this nomination from the U.S. Representative of the district, one of the two state Senators, Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden or President Barack Obama.

“It was really cool when Representative Anna Eshoo mailed me my packet with her signature on it,” Swanson said. “I kept the envelope.”

To be a strong candi-date for the Naval Academy, an applicant must have an impressive academic record, like most other universities. However, the Naval Acade-my places more emphasis on

See College on page 4

Senioritis epidemic taking over teensBy Ruben de la Cerda

A sudden outbreak of senioritis has hit Fremont right where it hurts, commonly known to have devastat-ing effects and relentless casualties.

Senioritis, according to Urban Dictionary, is a crip-pling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.

Every senior that has been diagnosed with senioritis has a reason or excuse to not care about school anymore. The leading cause of senioritis is the thought of having the rest of the year to catch up on work. Reasons vary from pressure in AP and honors classes to not being able to take the time off work.

“Senioritis is when seniors get lazy and don’t do much,” Bianca De la Cerda, senior, said. “I have seniori-tis because I’ve been getting way more homework from all my honors classes. Now I only focus on my academic classes because they’re my ticket to graduating.”

While many say they’ve fallen for academic reasons,

See Senioritis on page 4

By Melissa Parlan

Best Buddies breaks down barriers with smiles, laughterA friend is someone

you can turn to for help, comfort and companion-ship. A best buddy can do so much more.

Anthony K. Shriver founded the Best Buddies organization in 1989 with a mission to raise aware-ness about intellectual and development disabilities (IDD), and help individu-als with disabilities to form friendships, employment opportunities and leader-ship skills.

When walking into Fremont’s own Best Buddies club, big smiles and joyful laughter fill the room. A

typical club meeting is essentially peer buddies (students) interacting, talk-ing and hanging out with buddies (students with dis-abilities). The atmosphere is meant to be relaxed, fun and positive.

“Going into high school, I really wanted to be involved in everything Fremont has to offer, so I asked my brother and sister what kinds of clubs they think I would be interested in,” Monique Santos, junior, longtime club member and presi-dent, said. “I’ve always had experience with people with intellectual and development disabilities

so they suggested the Best Buddies club.”

The students at Fremont are what make the Best Buddies club on campus so successful.

“Fremont has the best Best Buddies club out of

the three other schools I’ve taught at,” Seamus Quil-linan, Best Buddies club advisor said. “Every year the club has gotten better.” The growth in club members each year has been extreme-ly beneficial to the club and

its popularity on campus. “People know who

we are and what we do,” Quillinan said. “The kids (buddies) are well-known and respected and that’s meaningful.”

Best Buddies is an exclusive club accepting 30 students at the most. Because the club’s purpose is to promote one on one friendship, only a few stu-dents actually get paired up with a buddy.

“Sometimes it’s hard to pair buddies because some of my students don’t talk too much or think differ-ently,” Quillinan said.

Being a club member requires certain character-

istics, including complete dedication to the club.

“To be a Best Buddies member, students have to take an interest in their buddy, get to know them and respect them for their differences,” Quillinan said. Those mem-bers who don’t get paired with a buddy are called associate buddies and have the freedom to interact with all the mem-bers of the club.

The same goes for people who aren’t in the club but would like to get involved. Because the goal of Best Buddies is to help students with disabilities

Melissa Parlan | The PhoenixSTUDENTS have lunch with their buddies and play a game of Uno.

See Best Buddies on page 4