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December 12, 2014 Convent of the Sacred Heart HS • San Francisco, California Vol. 21, Iss. 4

UC regents vote to raise tuition

Parking problems

Despite student protests, University of California regents have approved a proposal to increase stu-dent tuition 5 percent for the next five years unless state legislature gives an increased fund of $100 mil-lion to the UCs or alternative funding is secured.

“I see it dramatically affect my friends and other students,” Patrick Wong, a freshman at University of California, Berkeley, said. “For low income stu-dents, they get scholarships and financial aid while working very hard and still aren’t able to cover the cost of it.”

The tuition increase, proposed by University of California President Janet Napolitano, is the first in three years and would be used to improve tech-nology, enroll 5,000 more California residents and hire more faculty, as well as pay pensions and rising salaries.

“Tuition should be as low as possible and as pre-dictable as possible,” Napolitano and regent chair-man Bruce Varner wrote in their Sacramento Bee opinion piece.

Despite the 2012 passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, which would provide a 20 per-cent increase in state-given university budget in exchange for higher taxes and a four-year tuition freeze, Napolitano and Varner say the funds are still insufficient.

“The state already plans on increasing their con-tribution to 4 percent over the next two years,” Col-lege Counseling Director Rebecca Munda said. “But they want to tie in some changes to their increase which the UC system does not agree with.”

Although nearly a third of increased tuition would be set aside for financial aid, according to Na-than Brostrom, UC’s chief financial office, it would raise next year’s tuition $612 to a total of $12, 804.

The university’s master plan of 1960 asserts Cali-fornia’s “long-time commitment to the principle of tuition-free education,” yet the UC tuition increase, if passed, will eventually reach $15,564 a year, ex-cluding room, board, and other fees, double the cost from just a decade ago.

“I don’t support the tuition increase because there are other ways we can get money,” Ayesha Sayeed, a University of California, San Diego freshman, said, referring to Prop 30. “Also a new bill was released so

The current San Francisco housing shortage has drivers struggling to find parking amid an already limited amount of parking spaces in the residen-tial area around the Broadway campus due private contractors reserving street parking near houses they are remodeling.

“One of the times I drove to school it took me 45 minutes to find a spot and I was actually late to my first class,” junior Makena House said. “I had to move it every two hours during passing period which was a huge pain.”

In residential permit areas, drivers must move their vehicle at least one block or one-tenth of a mile away from their cur-rent spot, after the time limit on the sign is up, or they face a $74 ticket, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transpor-tation Agency.

“It wasn’t always hard to find parking,” Spanish teacher Riki

Garcia said. “Sometimes I got lucky, but most of the time I had to park about four or five blocks away. It was stressful because I sometimes had a class waiting.”

Building permits, given to pri-vate contractors, automatically come with a street space permit outside of the building site be-ing worked on, according to the SFMTA.

Currently, there are a total of 58 construction spots in a two block radius of the Broadway campus, according to a Broad-view study.

“There are a lot of construc-tion spots around school,” junior Alexandra Farrán said. “I didn’t notice them until I started driv-ing to school.”

Along with the 58 occupied valid parking spots, another 104 potential spots are taken up by residence’s driveways, according to the Broadview study.

“Spots reserved by construc-tion are definitely a pain because

Construction sites limit parking spots.

2 REWARDSBusinesses transition to digital

reward programs

3 HELPFUL HEADBANDSNetwork senior creates company to fund African

education

6 STREAMINGStudents prefer to stream TV than watch broadcast, cable

8 PRACTICEBasketball team uses

preseason to build experience

12 GINGERBREADHotel builds extravagant

gingerbread house

Bea D’Amico | The Broadview

SECRET SANTA Sophomore Bella Maestas reaches into her bag to see what her Secret Santa gave her for “Wearable Wednesday.” Christmas-themed bags lined the staircase this week for the school-wide event sponsored by the Sophomore Class.

QuickReads

Inside

►►THE N IGHTMARE BEFORE CHR ISTMAS

Semester exams begin Mon-day, Dec. 15 and run through Thursday. Students may wear wise free-dress and have off-campus privileges for lunch. The schedule for exams is posted on the school website.

►►ALUMN I NOËLSThe annual Alumni Noëls

takes place on Tuesday, Dec. 16 in the Main Hall. Alumni from all four schools are invited to at-tend a reception and sing Con-vent and Stuart Hall’s traditional French noëls.

►►CONVENT CHRISTMAS The annual Christmas Cel-

ebration will be led by the Soph-omore Class Student Council on Friday, Dec. 19, with winter-themed activities. School is dis-missed at noon for Winter Break and second semester begins on Monday, Jan. 5.

►►VARSITY BASKETBALLThe first regular season home

game for varsity basketball is at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 13 in the Herbert Center against Uni-versity High School.

►►HOLA, COSTA RICAConvent and Stuart Hall soph-

omores depart on Saturday, Jan. 17 for the President’s Education-al Field Trip to Costa Rica, which includes community service, cultural immersion and bonding activities. They return Saturday, Jan. 24.

Rachel Fung | The Broadview

Liana LumNews Editor

UC students protest tuition hike of 5 percent per year over the next five years.

See Increase, p. 2

Ariana Abdulmassih Senior Reporter

See Parking, p. 2

2 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org NEWS

From Parking p. 1From UC p. 1if they weren’t there, there would

be so many more open parking spots,” Farrán said.

Some students and employees carpool to make the commute to school easier, by picking each other up and sharing parking spots.

“I carpool with Kate Carson because we both live in Marin,” House said. “I leave my house at seven and pick her up at her dance studio in Marin which is where she leaves her car during the day.”

Some drivers in the commu-nity have rented parking spots near the Broadway campus to avoid worrying about moving their vehicles during the school day.

“Driving is really convenient for me because I have my park-

ing spot but I can see how dif-ficult it can be for people who don’t have a spot rented out,” House said. “Before I had my

spot I was always stressed out about moving my car and if I was going to get a ticket.”

Fifty-eight percent of Schools of the Sacred Heart employ-ees drive, 21 percent always or sometimes take public trans-

portation and 18 percent either carpool, bike or walk, according to a survey administered by ex-ecutive assistant Donna Morgan.

“I used to drive everyday, but I rarely drive to school anymore,” Garcia said. “I either bike to school from Marin or my hus-band drops me off in the morn-ing.”

Forty-nine percent of faculty who drive their vehicles either always or sometimes share park-ing permits, assigned by the administration based off of the need of faculty or faculty senior-ity, giving them the ability to leave their vehicle all day with-out getting a ticket.

“Driving is really inconve-nient in the city,” House said. “You either have to have a spot or else it’s pretty annoying and inconvenient to drive to school.”

Julia-Rose Kibben/The Broadview

GETTING REWARDED Steve Nuzzo scans the QR code on the back of his SpotOn card to earn re-wards at the Dolores Park Cafe. Retailers are moving away from punch cards to digital loyalty programs.

PARKING MONOPOLY A sign one block away from school indicates a no parking zone due to construction at the adjacent house, yet the space goes unused. Contractors’ permits limit parking spaces for faculty and students who drive to school. Some drivers choose to get to school as much as an hour before the school day begins to find parking. Drivers must move their cars every two hours unless they have a hard-to-get teachers’ or residential parking permit.

Since Apple introduced the new ApplePay feature on the iPhone 6, digital pay is on the rise, causing businesses to draw loyalty reward punch cards and moving to digital alternatives. Businesses are picking up on more advanced digital alterna-tives, which teens find easier to use, but also makes spending money easier.

“I think I spend more money because of it,” junior Sophia Slacik said. “When it’s on my phone, it’s so easy to spend mon-ey. You don’t really know how much you’re spending when you’re reloading your card ev-ery single time you go on your phone to pay, so it’s harder to track.”

Companies like SpotOn and Belly are adding more business-es each month to their universal, tablet-based loyalty program creating a cardless rewards sys-tem that is both easy and acces-sible for the business and the customer.

“You have to talk the custom-ers through it because they try to take the picture of the card to get registered,” Amy Dean (’81), Owner of Crown and Crumpet Tea Stop Cafe on Laguna and

Webster streets said. “They ex-pect an instant gratification, like they want to know if they get a free reward for signing up. I have to tell them ‘You have to come back here three or four times be-fore you get it.’”

Businesses typically install a tablet at the cashier with a fea-ture that allows the customer to scan a QR code on the backside of their rewards card, enter their email address to log their pur-chases, or redeem their points they have earned at that location.

Companies like Belly and Spo-tOn also give the user the option to carry a card, hook a card to a keychain or use an app, but digi-tal pay is not an option.

“We get to see all the logistics behind it,” Dean said. “That’s fantastic, because if I had a regular loyalty card where you punch your card, I wouldn’t get any other information from the customer.”

Each time a purchase is logged, the app saves a history and gives the user the option to calculate how many more purchases are required to redeem rewards.

Some larger businesses use loyalty programs like these spe-cific to their chains, such as the My Starbucks Rewards pro-gram through Starbucks Coffee

Company. “The accessibility of the app

makes it really convenient and simple,” Slacik said. “It’s all linked to a credit card.”

The Starbucks iPhone App al-lows the customer to load mon-ey onto their Starbucks Card, giving them the ability to pay and tip digitally.

“I usually lose the paper ones they give me,” sophomore Chloe Yu said. “I think the punch cards could help you save money, but I always lose them so I don’t think I’ve ever finished one and actu-ally redeemed the rewards.”

Smaller businesses tend to stick to punch cards that are redeemable for a free item or discount once the required pur-chases have been made.

“I feel like rewards cards make you feel like saving money when you’re actually not because you get one free drink,” sophomore Ana Cahuas said. “But you have to buy 10 first, which is a lot to begin with.”

In addition to gathering data from customers and tracking their activity in this store, Belly allows its customers to contact users as well as track their social

media activity. Belly’s customers can offer re-

wards to other Belly users who have not yet visited their busi-ness.

Both companies allow their customers to contact users through email, text and social media platforms, and generate interactive graphs and charts.

“It’s very thorough in dissect-ing customers, like when they come in, what they do, not nec-essarily what they buy, but how often they’re there, and if they come back again,” Dean said.

Julia-Rose Kibben Senior Reporter

Pointing in the right direction

Local businesses implement digital loyalty programs.

the new plan will take the middle class scholarship away.”

The middle class scholar-ship, which this year provides about 70,000 students with grants averaging about $900, according to California Sen-ate staff members, was pro-posed to be repealed after just one year, so the money could be used to support higher education more broadly.

Fees would also increase for certain professional de-grees depending on the cam-pus and for out of state stu-dents.

“I know people who are al-ready second years and have $12,000 in debt,” Sayeed said. “Personally, if there were to be another tuition increase in four years, that would jeopar-dize my chances of going to graduate school.”

The University of Califor-nia Student Association op-poses this tuition proposal, saying that the UC must stop “forcing its students to bear the burden of the UC fund-ing gap,” putting the afford-ability and accessibility of the university is at risk.

“Most students are against the tuition increase,” Sayeed said. “We’ve been holding si-lent protests while participat-ing in library sit-ins and class walk-ins as well as crashing the regents board meeting.”

Students have gained sup-port from outside communi-ties, with UCSD receiving a letter in solidarity from Syra-cuse University and long-time rival Stanford joining UC Berkeley in protest.

“The regents decided to have the tuition hike around Spirit Week,” Wong said. “A lot of Stanford students came to sit in as well as to help us protest against tuition hike.”

Alternative plans and bills have been proposed to pre-vent the tuition hike, and Brown, who opposes it, has suggested creating a three-year degree program, offering online courses and cooperat-ing closer with community colleges to decrease gradua-tion time.

“Even with the tuition hike, the number of people apply-ing to UCs most likely will not decrease,” Munda said. “It’s still less expensive than other top branch public uni-versities and significantly less than private school tuition.”

No permanent decisions have been made, and Brown will introduce the next steps in the budget in January, ac-cording to his spokesperson in the Wall Street Journal.

“This is a huge challenge,” Munda said. “It’s reaching out to these legislators and letting them know that they are not happy with this.”

Increase in UC tuition met by protests

Parking gets tighterMany faculty and students choose to drive to school,

although there are limited parking spaces.

Ariana Abdulmassih/The Broadview

Driving is really inconvenient in the city.

— Makena House

“”

The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org Friday December 12, 2014 | 3SACRED HEART

Resale shop gets a second look

Seconds to Go, The Schools of the Sacred Heart resale store, is expected to reopen

on Monday after a one month renovation to upgrade the store’s aesthetic, making it more “in line” with other boutiques on Fillmore Street.

“I had noticed right away af-ter I started working here that the store needed to change and evolve with the neighborhood,” store manager Laura Lorton said. “It will be like you’re walk-ing into Rag and Bone or Ralph Lauren.”

New features include upgrad-ed flooring and new paint, dis-play racks and cases.

“It definitely needed some

help,” junior Stella Smith-War-ner, who volunteered at the store last summer, said. “A new way of organizing would be very help-ful for the staff and clientele.”

The renovations come on the eve of the store’s 40-year anni-versary.

“The store basically looked like it did in 1978,” Ron Banner-man, Vice President of Finance and Operations, who oversees the store, said. “We think with this relaunch we can increase the quality of donations to the store and proceeds generated for financial aid.”

The store was originally planned to reopen Dec. 5, but construction delays caused the date to be pushed back.

“We had a very aggressive

schedule to begin with, and a lot of different contractors had to coordinate,” Bannerman said. “The landlord’s contractor is doing work in the back of the building and until they have fin-ished their work we can not fin-ish the floors, and it delayed the painting.”

The funding for the renova-tions comes from the portion of the schools’ operating budget allocated for the store. The over-all cost will probably be about $65,000, part of which the land-lord has agreed to cover, accord-ing to Bannerman.

The store typically generates from $100,000 to $300,000 dol-lars a year, which benefits finan-cial aid for the four schools.

“One hundred percent of the

proceeds go towards financial aid after expenses,” Bannerman said. “We still have to pay the landlord and the electric bills.”

An event to formally celebrate the store’s reopening is planned for next month.

“The party will be sometime in early January,” Bannerman

said. “We’ll make a big event out of it, because it really is an im-portant part of the school.”

“It will look like a beautiful new boutique,” Lorton said. “We want to match the style of the stores around us and have it to be a pleasant and inviting place to shop.”

While many 12-year-olds spend free time having friends over

for playdates, Mary Grace Henry was starting her own charitable foundation to fund girls educa-tion in Africa.

Henry, a senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Conn., is founder of Re-verse the Course Foun-dation and Reverse the Course LLC, a business that sells hair accesso-ries in five states in retail stores, at holiday boutiques and on her website.

“I knew that the difference I wanted to make was to help one girl go to school,” Henry said. “I figured that would be the thing that would help her chase her dreams and be able to achieve what she wanted to achieve.”

Starting with a sewing ma-chine and an idea to make re-versible headbands, her first headbands were purchased by classmates at their school book-store.

“Initially I didn’t think it was going to work, but when I took a batch of 50 relatively decent re-versible headbands to my school bookstore, they said yes to sell-ing them,” Henry said. “Two days later they called back and said they had sold out. I saw girls wearing them in the hallways and it was really exciting.”

Senior Claire Mohun got to know Henry in eighth grade when she came to San Francis-co on reciprocal exchange and stayed with Mohun.

“She was going to try to adver-tise to people here,” Mohun said. “She came back a year later, went to a couple boutiques to spread

the word, got them to buy a few and she started a relationship with the stores.”

Henry said attending a Net-work School inspired her to take action based on Goal 3, Schools of the Sacred Heart commit

themselves to educate to a social awareness which impels to action.

“I was really inspired by the importance my school places on com-munity service,” Henry said. “I’ve been going to Sacred Heart in Green-wich since I was in kin-dergarten. We would do

Chapel for Uganda, Penny Walk for Uganda and different activi-ties to raise funds for the sister school.”

Henry took it upon herself to find out more about sponsoring education and the opportunities girls do or do not have in Ugan-da and Kenya.

“I did a lot of research to figure out what was going on there and what barriers these girls were facing in trying to get an educa-tion,” Henry said. “I researched organizations that were working in those countries with educa-tion and more specifically girl’s education.

Henry works closely with the Maasai Girls Education Fund that sponsors tribal girl’s educa-tion.

“Each primary and secondary student has a direct sponsor that we connect them to,” Zara Bott-Goins, Executive Director of the Maasai Girls Education Fund, said.

Henry typically sponsors a girl for four years of her second-ary education but can fund an additional two years to help her avoid dangerous situations.

“In Kenya girls aged 12, occa-

sionally younger, can be forced to undergo circumcision or forced into young marriages,” Henry said. “To protect them from these practices, I have to get them into boarding schools earlier.”

Henry has visited both coun-tries twice in the past four years, spending part of her summer break with the girls she is spon-soring.

“She’s not like a typical spon-sor, she’s way more involved,” Bott-Goins said. “She really wants there to be that one on one interaction so that she can sup-port them in a bigger way, show them what’s possible and talk to them about what’s possible.”

Henry is an ambassador for Girl Rising, a global organiza-tion dedicated to increasing girl’s education, and attended a UNICEF event in Oct. of 2013 on International Day of the Girl.

”Girl Rising is really excited about the issues that make me want to work on my business,”

Henry said. “They are not only helping more girls go to school, but educating people on the is-sue of girl’s education.”

As her company has grown, Henry has begun working with manufacturing companies to create her accessories that she designs including special collec-tions based on events such as In-ternational Day of the Girl. The accessories include a range of items including buttons, mono-grammed bows, ponytail frills and headbands.

“I don’t make all of them any-more but I still sign every piece,” Henry said. “I am still involved directly in the production pro-cess.”

The World of Children pre-sented Henry with the 2014 Youth Award that included a $35,000 grant for the company. Queen Latifah also donated $4,000 after Henry made an ap-pearance on her talk show, “The Queen Latifah Show.” Reverse the Course has sold over 11,000

accessories in the past six years, funding 45 girls for a total of 115 years in school fees.

“It’s important to have busi-nesses like Reverse the Course because it shows that you can make a difference regardless of who you are and how you do it,” Mohun said. “She started with a headband company and a sew-ing machine and it has grown to help so many people.”

A documentary entitled “Ma-tumaini,” meaning hope in Swa-hili, telling the stories of some of the girls Henry sponsors is set to come out in December. Henry filmed for the documentary while visiting Kenya and Ugan-da in June.

“I really want to tell the story of these girls and the amount of hope that they have in receiv-ing an education and making a difference in their communities despite all the difficulties that they face,” Henry said. “They don’t want your pity, they just want to be given a chance.”

One girl bands schools together

Kristina CarySenior Reporter

Delaney Moslander Senior Reporter

Mary Grace Henry/With Permission

GETTING AHEAD Mary Grace Henry, a senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich Conn. makes and sells headbands so girls in Uganda and Kenya will have an education and safe place to learn.

Greenwich senior creates company to create girls educational opportunities in Uganda and Kenya.

Kristina Cary/The Broadview

OPENING SOON Seconds to Go, a school-run resale store, will be reopening on Monday, Dec. 15 after a month or renovation. The store hasn’t been remodeled since it opened 40 years ago.

Seconds to Go undergoes construction for their 40 year anniversary to update their look.

HENRY

4 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org FEATURES

Madeleine AinslieManaging Editor

A lot of young kids today don’t know any religious who they can imagine growing up and being like.

— Anne Wachter, RSCJ

“

”

Sister act

Young women discussing their futures often talk of balancing a family and ca-

reer in law or computer program-ming, but rarely include the pos-sibility of religious life as a future.

While many young women dis-miss religious life, some embrace it — both despite and because of its countercultural nature.

“My vows, while they do in-volve a certain degree of renun-ciation, also give me tremendous freedom for others things,” Sister Clare Marie Tice, a 30-year-old Dominican sister who entered re-ligious life six years ago, said.

Religious sisters vow to live lives of poverty, chastity and obedience, which many young women view as a restricted life, according to sophomore Bella Kearney.

“A lot of girls don’t want to be-come nuns because they want to start a family and get married,” Kearney said. “People often as-sume that being a nun is syn-onymous with being locked up and being very restricted. Even though that’s not true, girls don’t always see the freedom in it.”

This notion may be partially responsible for the number of re-ligious sisters in the United States decreasing by 72 percent, from 179,954 to 49,883 between 1965 and 2014, according to Pew Re-search Center.

“Most people think they need stuff to be happy,” Sister Teresa Benedicta Block, a 34-year-old Dominican Sister, said. “Society emphasizes getting ahead. The message we hear over and over again is that if someone reaches the standard of success then they will be important. Living a life of poverty and vowing not to have anything is a tremendous wit-ness to the world that the treasure that we ultimately need is God and real relationships and friend-ships, not material things.”

Living a life of poverty in a community of sisters means ex-penses are shared.

“I couldn’t go out to dinner with friends and just order what-ever I want,” Sister Anne Wachter, RSCJ, the former head of Con-vent Elementary said. “I have to budget. It’s not just about my

enjoyment, it’s about living more simply. It’s a mind shift to know that I’ve thrown my life in with another group and it’s no longer just about me.”

Block says the vows contradict the lifestyles portrayed in media.

“Through obedience I promise to put the will of God first,” Block said. “We are often taught that we can’t be happy unless we have our own way.”

The decline of young women entering religious life may also partially be due to a lack of inter-action between sisters and teens, according to Wachter, the last sister to work at a Sacred Heart, San Francisco school and now headmistress at the Sacred Heart School of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“A lot of young kids today don’t know any religious who they can imagine growing up and being like,” Wachter said. “There were RSCJ at my school that were fun and young. They had a great sense of humor and it was clear that prayer and God were a big part of their lives. I could imagine grow-ing up and being like them.”

Like in most life choices, many nuns are not sure of their vocation right away, according to Block.

“All my life I knew I wanted to be a mom and have lots of kids,” Block, who entered religious life at 18 years old, said. “If some-one had asked me growing up, I would have said I wanted to get married and have a family. A turning point for me was when I understood that I had this great desire to give God everything and in a radical way I wanted to be-long to him.”

Becoming a religious sister is not a choice but rather a call from God, according to Tice.

“I resisted my vocation for a very long time before realizing that God’s will for my life is ulti-mately what will make me happy,” Tice said.

American nuns represented about 16 percent of the world’s religious sisters in 1970, but now, they make up about 7 percent of the global total, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

“Statistically there are less numbers,” Block said. “Some of it has to do with the fact that we are living in a world where Christian-ity is being challenged and our culture isn’t as Catholic as it once was. There are less Catholics to be called, but God is still calling.”

Centuries ago, women often joined religious life to receive an education as a convent was one of the few places girls were permitted to learn, according to Religious Studies teacher Rachel Bundang.

The decline of Catholic nuns began after 1965 with the Second Vatican Council, which called for all religious orders to re-examine their mission and lifestyle.

“With Vatican II and the changes that came as a result, a lot of orders who had once had more

restricted ministries expanded into other fields,” Bundang said. “That piggybacked with the Women’s Movement and women being able to have a wider range of careers beside the typical nurs-ing and teaching.”

Only 3 percent of Catholic nuns are 40 years old or younger while the median age of nuns in the survey is 65, according to a survey of 1,049 sisters in the Unit-ed States and Puerto Rico by The Los Angeles Times.

“In Protestant denomina-tions women have the ability to be ordained,” Bundang said. “I think the fact that women in the Catholic Church are not allowed to is a factor in why many girls don’t join the sisterhood. Women see that there are certain leader-ship opportunities that might be denied to them and it says some-thing significant.”

Unlike Wachter, many young women, including Convent stu-dents who haven’t had a religious in the high school faculty for the last decade, don’t have much ex-perience with religious sisters and are only familiar with their stereotypes.

“Sometimes people think it’s not good to be spiritual or devot-ed to God because doing so will make you seem old fashioned or conservative or uncool,” Kearney said. “That lifestyle doesn’t seem to be one that society encour-ages.”

Despite the countercultural mission of religious live, 87 per-cent of religious sisters are satis-fied with their lives, according to a survey by The Los Angeles Times.

“Becoming a nun is a vocation for those whose spirituality is re-ally central to their lives,” Kearney said. “They are surrounded by people who share their beliefs and passions which strengthens their faith, but ultimately most girls I know would rather get married and have kids, how much of that is from society’s unspoken pres-sure, I’m not sure.”

Five percent of Convent girls reported they have considered re-ligious life as a sister according to an online survey of 39 percent of students conducted on Dec. 4.

“There are fewer young women courageous enough to face the reality that they have a voca-tion to religious life” Tice said. “God never stops calling. Young women are so plugged into such a noisy world that they cannot, or will not, hear the small sound of God’s voice calling them.”

Sometimes people think it’s not good to be spiritual.

— Bella Kearney

“”

The steep decline in young religious women can largely be attributed to a lack of interaction with sisters, as well as the

clashing values of society and religious life.

Madeleine Ainslie/The Broadview

The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org Friday, December 12, 2014 | 5FEATURES

Leave room for JesusAlthough teens may not identify with a religion, the values

and morals that come with faith are still important.

Choose wiselyWith many charity options during the holiday season,

choosing an organization for donation requires research.

Kendra Harvey/The Broadview

DAY DEDICATED TO DUSCHENE Junior Clara Phipps re-cieves Communion from the Rev. Kenneth Westray at the Feast of St. Phillipine Duschene Mass. Earlier in the day students attended an assembly on Duschene’s life and participated in a service activity.

Sarah SelzerSports Editor

Donating to charity via cata-logues sent in the mail or agreeing to give money to

a door-to-door charity solicitor are actions traditionally associated with giving back, but donating to a cause where money legitimately benefits a charity takes more research than just looking at a organization’s logo.

Where the money goes, how it is used and how the charity markets itself are all factors that should be researched when choosing a charity, according to GuideStar, a non-profit that aims to educate people in mak-ing smart decisions regarding chari-table giving.

Individuals making donations to charitable organizations should not only look at the charity’s mission statement and what it claims to ac-complish, but look further into spe-cifically how they use their money, according to GuideStar.  

GuideStar provides a checklist for charities researched, including whether or not the charity is tax exempt, if its in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service, if its legally registered, and if the charity is misusing funds for purposes that do not match its mission statement.

GuideStar also lists the total rev-enue and total outcome expenses of the most recent year for the char-ity and how successful it has been

in terms of using its budget wisely. Additionally, GuideStar supplies the charity’s contact information and written reviews from its previous volunteers.

“Picking a charity is always a chal-lenging thing,” Creighton Helms, Charity Coordinator for Bethel Christian Church said. “It is hard to prioritize one over another. It is in-credibly important to start with re-search on the Internet, then directly call and question organizations be-fore committing to them.”

All charitable groups have differ-ent operating costs — some may use 80 percent of the total donated funds towards the actual charity, whereas others may only use 20 percent, with the remainder going towards payroll and other activities, according to Helms.

“Making sure that the charitable institutions the school associates with are trustworthy is very impor-tant,” Community Life Coordinator Devin Demartini-Cooke said about student-introduced raising efforts. “If a student club or grade wants to associate the school with a charity, a proposal then goes the Advance-ment Office to get the the organiza-tion approved.”

The student-run, non-profit Sim-ple Gifts began the process of pick-ing a volunteer organization that benefits its spring fashion show in early December.

“We make sure that the char-ity Simple Gifts picks fits in with what the school believes in as a Sacred Heart c o m m u n i t y within the Criteria of the Five Goals,” Simple Gifts co-head Hailey Cu-sack said. “Last year we chose a local organization based in San Fran-cisco called Summer Search that provides op-portunities for teens who need help getting into college, regarding Goal Four.”

Clarifying one’s own moral deci-sion as to why one is donating can be matched with a charity’s mission statement, according to Helms.

“How do you choose to provide shelter for a homeless mom and her two kids in the South Bay, knowing that the same amount of money could provide shelter for three times the amount of people in Kenya?” Helms said. “Unfortunately, there is no ‘right charity.’ All people can truly do is dig deep into their research and donate a desired cause.”

The stereotypical teenager sleeps in past 1 p.m. on a Sunday, but although they

may not be attending church, the values of religion have not com-pletely diminished in teens.

As they gain autonomy from their parents, teens increasingly determine the extent in which they are involved in a religious community.

“Teens at my church are lec-tors, altar servers and do com-munity service hours,” sopho-more Gia Monachino, who is a parishioner at Saint Cecilia Church, said. “I occasionally am a lector, but more recently it has been harder because I’ve been more and more busy.”

While some teens are be-coming more involved in their religious communities, others choose to not practice a faith.  

“My parents were both raised Catholic,” freshman Emma Bla-za, who does not identify with a religion, said. “They let my sister and I choose whatever we want-ed to do, just to let us explore and then decide what we wanted to be, if anything.”

Fifty percent of Convent stu-dents identify with a religion, according to a Broadview online survey on Dec. 3 in which 38 percent of the student body re-sponded.

“We are a school community where we are encouraging stu-dents to take seriously a per-sonal and active faith, which means determining what your faith does mean to you,” campus minister Kate McMichael said.

“With the competing stories of advertisers and movies, how to find your own compass is why we create space so you can make your choices that feels whole and holy.”

Even with a decrease of teen-age involvement in religion, 46 percent of those who identify as religiously affiliated attend a religious service at least weekly, according to a Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life, one of whom is junior Corinne Sig-mund, an Episcopalian.

“I taught Sunday School for three years and I was in the choir

for 10,” Sigmund said.   “Now I sing intermittently with the choir and I am a part of my church’s youth group. I was raised to be like this and believe in these ways, so it is a part of me.”

Convent’s four-year theology program focuses on helping stu-dents determine their religious identity.

“We try to provide an environ-ment that allows for the develop-ment of a personal awareness of faith or spirituality,” McMichael

said. “How it can be something that everyone can tailor to their own needs where religion is much more of being part of a community.”

Goal One, “a personal and ac-tive faith in God,” encourages a school environment where stu-dents can explore their own re-ligious relationships with God.

“I think that impact of religion shows,” McMichael said. “There are a number of students who are actually involved in their faith life outside of school.”

Among teens involved in church groups, the number of teens has been decreasing since 1992, according to  the “Religion and Social Trends” Gallup poll.

“Religion diminishes more and more,” senior Christina Braa, who is Catholic, said.   “Even though kids may be taught and raised to be Catholic Christian, they start to lose their faith from having different opinions than what they are raised with.”

Catholic Church doctrine often conflicts with modern culture. Sixty-three percent of teens believe that homosexual-ity should be accepted, accord-ing to a Pew Forum, but Church teaching condemns the practice, although not the individual.

“It might just be living in the City, but kids are growing up with friends who are gay, and they are surrounded by that,” Braa said. “They think that you can’t believe in gay marriage and be Catholic. That is a major cause in a decrease of teens since it is a major opposition in the Church which is one reason why people stray away from it.”

San Francisco legalized gay marriage in 2004, reflecting the City’s diverse culture.

Unlike San Francisco, teens in other parts of the country seem to be more connected to a reli-gious practice and attending ser-vices.

“It depends on where you live in the country,” Sigmund said.  “I have a friend in Texas and she was telling me that the ques-tion isn’t ‘Do you go to church?’ it’s ‘What church do you go to?’ Depending on where you are

makes for different involvement in teens and church.”

Seventeen percent of students say they now feel more religious than before coming to high school, according to the Broad-view online survey.

“Once teens reach a certain age, their parents give them more of a choice whether or not they want to participate,” Monachino said. “I feel that more teens don’t want to wake up early just to go to church or they would rather be doing something else.”

Kendra Harvey Video Editor

I was raised to be like this and believe in these ways.

—Corinne Sigmund

“

”

Madeleine Ainslie/The Broadview

6 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org FEATURES

Madison RiehleEditor-in-Chief

With Winter Finals approach-ing this Monday, so do the pres-sures of the last tests and proj-ects of the semester. Though the stresses of assignments can benefit workflow, too much can lead to anxiety and can inhibit the amount of tasks done.

Stress and anxiety differen-tiates in that stress is catego-rized by day-to-day frustration and nervousness, while anxiety comes from fear and worry, ac-cording to the Anxiety and De-pression Association of America.

“I get stressed out by my own expectations,” senior Alanna Hu said. “Expectations that I set for myself, but also the pressures to do well because of what other people expect of me.”

Stress can be caused by a physical or emotional change, or a change in the environment that requires an adjustment or response.

“It’s easier for a student to identify having stress than it is for them to say, ‘Maybe that’s not stress. I think I’m busy and I think these things are important to get done,’” school counselor Annie Egan said. “That’s a differ-ence, and there are very different tools that you can work with to curb those feelings of stress.”

Unmanaged stress can lead to an increased risk of both mental and physical problems includ-ing illness, diabetes, obesity and heart disease, in addition to de-pressive and anxiety disorders, according to a study by Univer-sity of California at Irvine.

“A way to chip away at stress, though everything is certainly case-specific, is to distill the myth of the importance,” Egan said. “It might feel that impor-tant, but in actuality, it’s prob-ably not. By really spending the time to find out why it makes you stressed versus just saying ‘It’s gonna be fine,’ is not going to be helpful for someone in that space.”

The best ways to deal with stress is to get at least eight hours of sleep, exercise, avoid caffeine and relax, according the the UC Irvine study. Identifying the source of the stress by boil-ing down problems additionally helps to get to the root of the problem.

“There is a lot of pressure to take challenging classes and ex-cel in them, which is why I ex-perience stress, in addition to college applications, homework, projects and especially finals in those classes,” senior Shirley Yang said. “It takes me a long time to commute home, so I use that time to take a deep breath on the bus and chill and try to plan out what I’m going to do for the evening and plan ahead.”

Natural stress can turn into anxiety, or an anxiety disorder, when everyday tasks or assign-ments cause irrational fear, ac-cording to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults aged 18 and older and 8 percent of teens ages 13–18, according to the Anxiety

and Depression Association of America.

“No matter what was going on in my life, I’m always extra anx-ious, that’s part of the disorder,” a senior who was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in her junior year and asked not to be identi-fied, said. “I don’t have to be in a stressful situation in order to feel the pressure and rushed feelings that come with anxiety.”

Anxiety disorders can range from Generalized Anxiety Dis-order, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder to so-cial phobia. Although there are different symptoms with each disorder, all are based on exces-sive, irrational fear and dread, according to the National Insti-tute of Mental Health.

“Sometimes with anxiety there’s a lot of physical ramifica-tions, one example is your heart-beat increases, and that itself is distracting, because often it goes into a cycle of a panic attack,” Egan said.

Similar to the feelings of stress, anxiety can be mitigated in simi-lar ways, although sometimes medication is necessary, accord-ing to the National Institute of Mental Health.

“Once you can get to your place of calm, you can actually expect your brain to do the work you are expecting it to do,” Egan said. “Stress is a single lane and to be able to branch off, and to give yourself exit ramps and de-tours, gives a certain amount of freedom to breathe.”

Video streaming becomes the norm

Aofie DevereuxWebsite Editor

After sports, hours of homework, dinner, fam-ily time and jobs, it’s of-

ten difficult for young people to find the time to watch television programs when they originally air, causing younger viewers to abandon traditional broadcasts.

Nine in 10 Internet users in the 18-29 age group watch mov-ies and traditional television programming through online streaming, leading all age groups in online video viewing, according to Pew Research Internet Project.

“I prefer to watch TV shows and movies online, mostly be-cause of commercials,” senior Anna Lyons said. “With compa-nies like Netflix, I don’t have to be interrupted every five min-utes by another five minutes of commercials. When I go online, I can catch up on the shows I’ve missed during that week, or even that month.”

Sixty-six percent of Con-vent students are opting out of watching cable and satellite tele-vision and spending their free time on streaming websites, ac-cording to a Broadview survey completed by 60 percent of the student body earlier this month. Hulu and Netflix are taking over flat screen TVs with mirroring technology from Apple TV and Roku.

“The only reason I would turn on the TV would be to watch on a bigger screen, but even with Apple TV, I can simply just mir-ror what is on my computer to the TV,” junior Serafina Cinti said. “The news that solely used to be on the TV is now on all types of social media, most of which is free, so it’s pointless to pay for something when you can get the same exact thing for free or at a lower price.”

The Apple TV box, when con-nected to a television or display, allows viewers to stream content both directly through the Inter-net or wirelessly through a lap-top or iPad.

A subscription to Hulu offers hit current and past TV series with limited advertisements, and Netflix offers thousands of movies, television series, and ex-clusive Netflix-created programs with no advertisements. Cable and satellite television average 14 minutes and 15 seconds of commercial time per hour of television, according to the Los Angeles Time Company Town report.

“Online streaming is much more convenient because you’re not spending overwhelming amounts of time channel surfing, or hoping that at the moment when you turn on your televi-sion that your favorite show will be on,” Lyons said. “With on-

line streaming I get to watch the shows that I want to be watching within seconds of going online.”

Subscribing to cable television can be pricey. DirecTV’s basic package is $49.99 per month without premium channels such as HBO and ShowTime, and Comcast is $39.99. An online subscription for Hulu is $7.99 per month and Netflix is $8.99.

“I think the price difference will play a huge role in the de-cline of television,” Lyons said. “Over the next few years, young people like me, who have gone through high school and col-lege, will be moving out of their parent’s homes. With Hulu and Netflix, young people will have cheaper options when they’re first starting out.”

Seventy-eight percent of Con-vent students or their families subscribe to Netflix, and 50.7 percent of students surveyed said they do not watch cable or dish television during a typical week.

“I watch online streaming be-cause it’s just so much easier to access for me,” Cinti said. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have a TV, I just had my computer, so it’s not natural for me to go over and turn on the TV. Through online streaming, I get to choose what I want to watch, rather than settling with what is on TV at that moment.” Rachel Fung/The Broadview

Aoife Devereux / The Broadview

Source: http://www.nimh.nih.gov

Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children.

Individuals with stress and anxiety disorders have a

higher tendency for addictions and drug abuse.

8% of teens, ages 13–18, suffer from anxiety disorders.

Only 18% of teens with anxiety receive mental health care.

40 million American adults age 18

years and older are affected by anxiety

disorders.

The U.S. spends more than

$42 billion per year on anxiety

disorders.

Stress, anxiety — even school-based — can be managed.

Teens and young adults are more inclined to watch streamed content than live TV.

Stressed out

The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org friday, December 12, 2014 | 7FEATURES

Seated with 20 other girls in downtown San Francisco, juniors Miranda Lis and

Izzie Panasci began their summer days learning and applying com-puter code while working with mentors and listening to guest speakers, ranging from the CEO of Twitter to a Pixar animator.

Lis and Panasci at-tended the Summer Im-mersion Program held by Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit or-ganization launched in spring of 2012.

“You learn some-thing new and right away get thrown into a coding pen,” Panasci, who plans on majoring in computer science, said. “It’s like a boxing pen because you get hit with all these errors in your code, and things don’t make sense, but you work with your creativity and get help from mentors.”

Gaining interest from her computer science course during freshman year, Panasci said she decided to attend the program to further her understanding of computer science and get a jump-start for the AP Computer Pro-gramming class she is currently taking.

Girls Who Code was created by by Reshma Saujani, who noticed the gender gap while running for Congress and is working toward creating a new model of female leadership.

“Our mission is to inspire and educate girls with comput-ing skills,” Salleha Chaudhry, the West Coast Regional Director of Girls Who Code, said. “That way they can pursue any opportunity they choose after college with a computer science major.”

Aiming to train 1 million girls in coding by 2020, Girls Who Code began its seven-week pro-gram, throughout the summer, combining instruction with men-torship and exposure to the field through female engineers and entrepreneurs.

“Within the program, we want the girls to gain soft and hard skills,” Chaudhry said. “Soft skills meaning their confidence levels, public speaking and networking with other women. In terms of hard skills, we want our girls to pursue their passion and hope-fully use computer science as a backbone.”

Both Lis and Panasci said the immersion program was chal-lenging and rewarding, exposing them to computer scripts such as C++, Python and Java, and al-lowing them to see the real-life applications of the skills they had learned through mobile develop-ment, web design and robotics.

Lis and Panasci plan on starting a Girls Who Code club at school

in January led by someone from Google or Twitter who will teach from an established Girls Who Code lesson plan, meeting once a week for two hours.

“Through the club, I hope more people will be motivated to fur-ther their interest and understand fully what it means to be a com-

puter engineer,” Panasci said. “I think we can shed light on all the different ways being a computer engineer can turn into a fun career that allows a lot of creativity.”

There are currently over 150 Girls Who Code clubs nationally, allow-ing a much broader ap-proach to spreading computer science, and corporations who can-not host the summer program can have their employees and engineers give back to the commu-nity by volunteering to

lead a club. Convent’s computer science

program began with a handful of students in 1969 and now has ex-ponential interest. Although less than 20 percent of AP Computer Programming test takers are girls, according to thinkprogress.org, the number of girls in the Con-vent AP computer programming class has increased 262.5 percent in five years.

“This increased response is due to a strong effort in the media to promote coding for women,” computer science teacher Doug Grant, who started the program, said. “It’s made girls realize that jobs in computer science involve a lot of teamwork, and girls re-spond well to the idea of being in a team.”

Grant says that as more women enter the field, there will be more role models for students, promot-ing the field. In the future, the growth of women in computer science will match that of science and mathematics over the past 30 years.

“I hadn’t originally thought computer science would be some-thing of interest to me,” Gina Domergue (’13), a sophomore at Cal Lutheran who is majoring in computer science, said. “But af-ter I took the freshman computer programming class at Convent, I realized I really had a talent for it, and I wanted to pursue it.”

Today women represent only 12 percent of all computer science graduates compared to the 37 percent who graduated in 1984, according to Girls Who Code.

“We have seen many different women engineers who majored in computer science,” Chaudhry said. “They didn’t pursue it after graduation as they faced hurdles such as culture fit, and they didn’t have a support system around them. We are here to change that.”

Convent prepares girls to stay confident, according to

Domergue, who has been select-ed for an interview with Google for an engineering practicum in-ternship. She advises girls to not be deterred by the male to female ratio because it should not be a determining factor in choosing a field of study.

“It’s usually me and two oth-er girls in a class of 15 to 20,” Domergue said. “I don’t really no-tice it, but I think that a challenge is I really have to prove myself a lot more to get respect. Once I show people that I’m compe-tent then everyone treats me the same.”

Despite the gender gap, Joc-elyn Friday (’09), who majored in computer science and mathemat-ics at the St Andrews in Scotland, said her professors were always willing to help out, and the school environment was welcoming.

“I knew that there weren’t go-ing to be many girls and that I would be challenged academi-cally,” Friday, who holds a masters degree in bioinformatics from the University of Edinburgh, said. “I wanted to use the skills I learned from computer program-ming as a tool for helping the rest of the world, and that interested me.”

Although computer science is often associated with engi-neers and perceived as only ap-plicable in that one field, it can serve as the basis for many other professions.

“In reality, it’s very commu-nity based, and we really push our girls to work on a project with three other girls and help the community,” Chaudhry said. “It’s not sitting in a classroom by yourself on one laptop coding. We want to change how computer science is seen.”

Applications for the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Pro-gram opens Jan. 15 for current sophomores and juniors in high school. Programs run all day from Monday to Friday and are free for all participants.

“The program gave me a sense of direction because before I was really worried about what I want-ed to do in college,” Lis said. “It really confirmed that I wanted to pursue computer science because I saw how many job opportuni-ties I could have with a computer science skill set.”

Liana LumNews Editor

Girl, get with the program

Girls express an increased interest in the computer programming field, starting to bridge the gender gap.

LIS

PANASCI

Our mission is to inspire and educate girls with computing skills.

—Salleha Chaudhry

“

”

You code like a girl

Although 74% of girls express interest in STEM

in middle school, only 0.3% of high school girls

select computer science when choosing a college major.

12% 37%

Despite the lack

of women in computer

science, a new

generation of girls

is preparing to enter the field.

3 out of 25 engineers in a room are women.

According to a Broadview survey in which 46%

of the student body responded, 60% of girls have taken or plan on taking

AP Computer Science or iPad Programming.

70% of Conventstudents take computer science for personalinterest; 23% plan on majoring in the field.

Sources: http://girlswhocode.com/Broadview online survey, Week of Dec. 1, 2014

Compiled by Liana Lum / The Broadview

Women represent 12% of allcomputer science graduates.

In 1984, they represented 37%.

01000111010101010101010101001010101011001110101010101011000110

Women earn 57% of bachelor’s degrees,

but just 12% of computerscience degrees

are awarded to women.

55% of overall test takersare girls, yet only 17% of AP Computer Science test takers are high school girls.

Women make up 50% of the U.S. workforce but only hold 25% of jobs in technical or computing fields.

SPORTS8 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org

Running describes everything for me — my work ethic, my values and the way I carry my-

self. In my busy day-to-day routine, it is the only time I get to reflect.

Through the twisted dirt-covered roads with roots sticking out and peo-ple screaming on the sidelines, I focus on finishing the race. I have stopped caring about my time and place and started caring about just getting through the race in the least amount of pain possible.

Starting sophomore year, I had a sharp pain in my knee that started out as bothersome, but increased with time. I was able to push through the pain for two seasons and it was bearable, but as my senior season approached and practices began to increase, so did the pain. I worked through it as much as I could, but on the day of our first race at Point Pinole — the moment the gun went off — I knew something was wrong.

Halfway through the race, my leg began to give out from under me. When I kicked my leg out straight it would lock, so I locked it until the end of the race when I crossed the line.

After that, everything was a blur. There was a throbbing sensation in my knee, it was stiff, and the pain clouded my mind. All I could focus on was the next step, talking to my coach.

Keeping my team in mind, I de-cided to continue running despite the risk associated. My coaches and I set up a training schedule where I could complete with minimal pain so that I could push through the season. When it finished, I would get the arthroscop-ic surgery to fix the problem.

For the few weeks that the pain was unbearable to even walk on, I still at-tended every race of the season to sup-

port my teammates watching them do what I wished I could left me feeling stuck, so I decided to ignore the pain as much as possible and compete in the last three remaining races of my senior year season. My goal was to fin-ish. Nothing more, nothing less.

During the huddle before the last race of the season, my teammates told me that this was my race to leave it on the course. With tears streaming down my cheeks, we yelled one last “Cubs!” before we lined up.

The gun went off, and all I could fo-cus on was my last race. I gave it my all, and in the last 100 meter stretch, I held my breath and pushed through the pain that was crawling up my leg. I finished, and I was part of the scor-ing five.

My community is the cross-country team, and with it I have learned the most about myself. My experience as a runner has prepared me to know that tough courses are inevitable and I will not always have my best day.

As I approached the date of my sur-gery, my biggest fear was that it might not pan out as I had hoped. I could not imagine not having my team that I learned to rely on and fully devote myself. My team was my support sys-tem on and off the course, and I could always fall back on that.

I entered the hospital ready for sur-gery with a feeling of achievement that I was able to finish the season with my team. As I began to regain conscious-ness and recover from anesthesia, I was informed that my teammates were at my house waiting for me.

I realized that regardless of my plac-ing for the team, I had completed one of the most painful seasons I could have encountered, but in the end, I came out stronger.

Paired with brand-new coaches and practice rou-tines, the month-long

basketball preseason aims at preparing players for the league season beginning Jan. 6, with varsity playing a total of 10 pre-season games and junior varsity playing seven.

“Preseasons are a great oppor-tunity to try different positions playing,” Athletic Director Elena DeSantis said. “You really know where you stand as the league comes.”

The preseason for the ju-nior varsity and varsity teams also includes games, practices and tournaments against teams in the Bay Counties League. Coaches Ren Marquette and Norman Canta are using team practices as a time to build ex-perience and confidence on the court, with both varsity and ju-nior varsity practicing together.

“The preseason is extremely important for having a chance to see how people perform under pressure and finding out what everyone’s individual strengths are,” Marquette said. “By the time we get to the league season, I have a good idea of how I want

to defend with them and how I want to use them on offense.”

Coaches often schedule pre-season games that challenge the team’s existing abilities, accord-ing to DeSantis. If competitors are too weak, coaches may not have the opportunity to address needed improvements and help the team advance.

Competing against teams that are too difficult can be just as problematic.

“If your team is not as strong as the year before and you have a really tough preseason sched-ule, you will ultimately be beaten down,” DeSantis said.

Games won during the pre-season are not counted towards the final league standing, but a positive preseason record can come in handy for teams who

have not placed high in the league. Teams with a winning record of 50 percent or higher can apply to play in the North Coast Section championships, and preseason scores can count as part of the won games.

Preseason competitions assist in giving new athletes with vary-ing backgrounds of experience, a feel for the games first hand.

“Preseasons give us the op-portunity to play against another team instead of our own players which is honestly really help-ful.” varsity player Alex Farran said. “It gives us more experi-ence dealing with refs and actual game situations, and they’re also teams that we’ll see in the fu-ture.”

Basketball is the only sport taking place throughout the win-ter season, with the preseason lasting from early November to the beginning of January.

Preseason practice will now go into the fourth day of Win-ter Break that begins Dec. 19. Despite the lengthy preseason, basketball players accept the op-portunity they are given.

“The long preseason isn’t ide-al, but I definitely understand because basketball is a big com-mitment,” Farran said.

Preparing for successJV and Varsity Basketball play in tournaments and hold practices before their regular season.

BasketballPreseason Varsity

vs. Galileo 11/21 50-47

vs. Terra Linda 12/248-46

vs. Branson 12/448-28

vs. Bay School 12/542-48

vs. Marin Academy 12/645-30

Preseason JVvs. Terra Linda 12/2

19-41

vs. Calistoga 12/433-21

vs. Roseland Collegiate Prep 12/528-36

vs. St. Helena 12/612-22

vs. Bay 12/923-21

Captains: TBD

“The best way to build a program is to have JV and varsity practice together so they

can both learn to do the same thing. The JV gets to play harder than they would in their regular season and varsity has to do everything right because they are playing

against a team that isn’t as athletically talented as them yet,” head coach Mr.

Marquette said.

Neely Metz Senior Reporter

Bea D’Amico/The Broadview

PLAY BALL Junior Isabel Armstrong practices an offensive post move with head coach Ren Marquette (top). Sophomores Ally Arora and Alyssa Alvarez play a in a one-on-one scrimmage game, while seniors Maya Melrose and Jackie Wong practice their defense (bottom).

Camilla BykhovskySports Editor

ON THE RUN

“Locked” outLearning to compete with a

serious injury.

SPORTSROUNDUP

VolleyballVarsity

vs. Clearlake 11/1227-2525-21v25-23

vs. Head Royce 11/159-2522-2525-1919-25

Captains: Alex Wood and Rachel Booth

“We improved a lot and worked really well together. We didn’t manage to get past University or as far as we hoped in

North Coast Sectionals, but we made the championship after a great win against Marin Academy and that was our goal,”

Rachel Booth said.

Cross CountryVarsity

NCS 9th place

State ChampionshipSarah Selzer: 20:33 (top 25%)

Captains: Sarah Selzer and Camilla Bykhovsky

“The season finished a few weeks ago and I think we ended pretty strong, we finished 9th in our conference which

was really amazing. We had a couple of injuries from some of our best runners

which was unfortunate, but thankfully we pulled through towards the end,” Sarah

Selzer said.

Basketball is a big committment.

— Alex Farran

“”

The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org Friday, December 12, 2014 | 9

Snack on this

Although snacking often gets a bad rep, for healthy teens munching in lim-

ited portions can lead to a more productive study time while also improving athletic performance.

Eating small, frequent snacks helps keep the metabolic rate revved up while also normaliz-ing blood sugar. Hunger causes the body to enter famine mode in which the metabolism rate slows and makes weight gain easier according to the National Institution of Health.

“I have noticed that every time I go to a grocery store with my mom, the snacks on the shelf are all super high in salt, and with training for cross-country, I tend to avoid them, but that gets to be hard since I am constantly sur-rounded by these temptations,” varsity runner Katie Newbold said.

Blood sugar levels dip every three to five hours, causing the desire to eat in mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

“Sometimes in the middle of the day, especially before and af-ter lunch, I get really tired, so I always have snacks in my bag,” junior Victoria Oestermann said. “Snacking has almost be-come a lifestyle that most teens live by. “The most common question any student has is, ‘Do you have food?’”

More than 27 percent of young adults’ daily calories come from snacks, with the largest amount coming from salty snacks and candy, according to Health Af-fairs.

Twenty nine percent of healthy snackers occasionally substitute meals with snacks, which can lead to weight gain due to the slowing metabolic rate to store energy, according to the Nation-al institution of Health.

“I cannot deny the fact that I am guilty of substituting a quick grab-and-go snack for a meal once in a while, but I always try

and keep it on the healthy side,” Oestermann said. “I try and gear away from this habit, but a quick snack here and there is hard to avoid.”

Sixty five percent of snackers indicate they are interested in healthy snacks and the health benefits included, according to the Specialty Food Association.

The Sophomore Class opened a food locker in the Siboni build-ing which contains snacks that benefit their special projects such as the Christmas celebra-tion while also saving students the hike up four flights of stairs to the cafeteria.

“It gets a little hard with the cafeteria because I am not al-lowed to buy a snack like chips after lunch, so I’ve learned to bring snacks to school,” New-bold said. “Sometimes I end up eating it even before lunch, but that’s not a problem because of our food locker.”

High-calorie foods and bev-erages, oversized portions and frequent snacking have caused the average American adult to take in almost 600 calories more per day than in the late 1970s, according to Health Group for Children.

“Only the chips are restricted in our cafeteria,” Dan Mateo, ex-ecutive chef for Epicurean staff said. “The fruits and yogurts are not restricted because the health committee it trying to go for more healthier options for snacks after lunch.”

Stacey Dunn-Emke, a regis-tered dietitian nutritionist who is on the four-school food com-mittee, has been working on pro-viding boundaries for healthier meals in the cafeteria.

“You want to get in fibers, fruits and vegetables into ev-ery meal if possible, and since it is such a long academic day,” Dunn-Emke said. “Students can-not work smart on insufficient types of foods or amounts.”

Non-diet soft drinks, cook-ies, candy, pastries, granola bars

and crackers generally contain more calories and are less satiat-ing than fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

“A couple years ago, we came in and wanted to make sure we were following the health stan-dards for nutrition at our school that the public schools need to follow,” Dunn-Emke said. “Mak-ing sure portion sizes were ap-propriate, the serving sizes of vegetables and fruits was pro-vided everyday, and getting an

adequate amount of protein and whole grains by simply getting rid of some of the extra fats and food items that were not follow-ing the guidelines for school nu-trition.”

Consuming too many refined foods can cause high blood tri-glyceride levels while decreas-ing levels of health-promoting HDL, high-density lipoprotein, also known as good cholesterol. This may contribute to inflam-mation and oxidative stress, ac-

cording to the American Heart Association.

Most students do not get home until around dinnertime which leaves a large gap between when a student eats lunch and her next meal.

“I do believe in snacking in between meals to keep the blood sugar levels high without adding extra sugars,” Dunn-Emke said. “You should not overeat, but a substantial snack to hold you over is necessary and beneficial.”

‘Waving’ hello to a new clubSurfers take to the waves, braving the Bay Area’s frigid waters.

Camilla BykhovskySports Editor

The rough waves, average water temperature of 60 degrees and location within the Red Tri-

angle, home of the great white shark, leads most beach-goers not to con-sider San Francisco a surfer’s paradise, however, students and teachers have created the school’s first Surf Club.

“It’s sometimes fun to play into the California stereotype and at least try surfing,” junior Serafina Cinti said.

The club was formed under the leadership of languages teacher Pascal Parra who grew up surfing in Biarritz, France, a popular surfing spot in Eu-rope. According to Parra, starting the club allows him to support involve-ment in the sport.

“I want to encourage girls because not enough girls have been given the opportunity or seen surfing as an op-portunity for them,” Parra said. “It has been a male-dominated sport for a very long time and only in the past 10 to 15 years has women’s surfing become more and more prominent.”

The club plans to take monthly out-ings to locations such as Bolinas, Mar-tin’s Beach and Santa Cruz, as well as a possible trip to Mexico over spring break.

Parra instructed members on the technicalities of surfing during their first trip to Bolinas on Nov. 1.

“I’m not a surfing instructor, per say, but I’ve taught many people how to surf so I have some experience,” Parra said. “Mostly you need to know that surfing is something you need to learn on your own, someone can teach you the basic things but it requires a lot of personal dedication.”

Ocean safety is a key topic the club discusses in order to prepare for dan-gerous situations such as being caught in a rip tide, as well as what to do when finding oneself in a hazardous situa-tions.

“People usually underestimate how powerful the ocean is,” club head Chloe Lovato said. “It’s really important to know what to do when you get caught in a strong current or get hit by a wave.”

Surfing requires a high level of phys-ical and mental devotion to the sport, according to Cinti.

“Surfing can be really empowering,” Cinti said. “It’s kind of like any other sport, it’s the same sort of physical commitment but also mental commit-ment and focus.”

An understanding of surfing is not a prerequisite for the club, however knowledge of the sport can benefit members, according to Lovato.

“There were a couple girls who knew how to surf, but most of the people didn’t so we were all helping each other,” Lovato said. “For a lot of people, being able to stand up on their boards was a big accomplishment.”

Surfing helps bring participants a new understanding of the ocean.

“When you finally stand up on your board, you don’t have to do anything but balance and you’re completely at the mercy of the ocean,” Lovato said. “It’s kind of like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. I’m really passion-ate about surfing and I want to make other people passionate about it, too.”

Delaney Moslander Senior Reporter

Eating frequent, healthy snacks throughout the day can have benefits.

Bea D’Amico/The Broadview

MUNCHING Juniors Anneka Dorresteyn and Katherine Burkett (top, clockwise) customize their salads from the salad bar, junior Jessica Sushansky selects the smashburger with cheese and junior Madison Stetter picks up a whole grain bagel between classes. Frequent, healthy snacks can boost learning.

Brion Hu/With permission

SURF’S UP Senior Alanna Hu (top left) sits on her board as she waits to catch a good wave into Bolinas Beach with junior Serafina Cinti (left) and sophomore Grace Apple. The newly-formed Surf Club has week-end excursions with moderator Pascal Parra who in-structs club members on form and assists in getting students familiar with the sport.

SPORTS & FITNESS

KEEPIN’ IT RIEHLE

Madison RiehleEditor-in-Chief

10 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org OP-ED

1. Ridesharing company Uber is valued at about $18.2 billion.

2. The Senate has released a detailed report 0n the CIA’s interrogation tactics.

3. Giants pitcher Madison

Bumgarner is awarded Sports Illustrated 2014 Sportsman of the Year.

4. The Bay Area is finally getting desperately needed rain.

5. Students are now allowed to wear pants as a part of the uniform.

1. Uber has had multiple reports of sexual assault by drivers and sexual harassment by managers.

2. The CIA lied about its torture methods to the American people.

3. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw edged him out of the 2014 National League Cy Young Award.

4. Heavy rain causes flooding and structural damage.

5. Students are still wearing the wrong style pants.

Teens have religious values, if not ‘religion’

Religious values are still important to today’s youth even if they are more dis-connected from a religion’s traditional teachings, according to the results of the ongoing National Study of Youth and Religion started in 2001 by Notre Dame University.

Most teens today believe in certain religious criteria, collectively known as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD), which include the existence of a god who created the universe and heaven that people go to when they die, according to a 2005 book based off the study. All of the characteristics of MTD still align with the major principles of Catholi-cism, indicating that teens do still con-nect with main Christian principles even as they forget the minutia.

Religion, or more specifically Ca-tholicism, plays an important role in our community’s unity. Even though not all students are religious or profess the same

religion, students are connected through shared principles and experiences, such as the five Sacred Heart Goals.

Our continual involvement in reli-gious activities, such as participation in Chapel, Mass and activities led by cam-pus ministry reinforces our connection to these values.   The mandatory four years of theology and morals courses also help promote a greater understand-ing of religion its importance, even if not all students identify themselves as ex-plicitly religious.

The general perception that teens are irresponsible, unmotivated and unin-volved in their communities is simply not true. Teens today are incredibly in-volved in a multitude of activities and extra-curriculars which do relate to their religious activities, such as participation in a choir or youth groups.

Even if it were true that some teens were becoming less involved in their

religious communities, there are many teens who are still very active in their parishes and churches. Religion still plays an important role in a teen’s life even if she doesn’t go to church every week, and that doesn’t mean she isn’t a devout Catholic.  

The school’s role as a religious com-munity helps students maintain respect

for religious values and makes it a steady presence in our daily lives.

As a religion-based community in an environment where teens are becom-ing more distant from religious practices, it is our responsibility to make sure that a religion’s values are not forgotten even as its orthodox customs are.  

“When I feel stressed out, I like to drink a hot cup of tea and do art to get my mind off of everything.”

— Claudia Bouchard, sophomore

“To relieve stress, I like to workout or listen to music in my room and just take time to myself. ” —Quinn Moslander, senior

“When I’m stressed, I take myself outside for a walk or run because often I feel confined indoors.” — Katie Newbold, sophomore

HOW DO YOU RELIEVE THE STRESS IN YOUR DAILY LIFE?

The perception that today’s teenagers are increasingly distancing themselves from religion, spirituality and the values that

they profess, and that teens’ religious knowl-edge is shallower than past generations’, is an unjust falsification that doesn’t accurately rep-resent our generation.

STAFF EDITORIAL

Assumptions lead to oppressionFirst impressions should not overshadow character.

After going to an all-girls school for al-most 13 years, I have pretty extensive knowledge on drama. All schools have

their fair share of rumors and gossip, though from time-to-time an all-girls environment may have a more emphasized version.

When I was a freshman I was asked to be a Safe School Ambassador, a program which aimed to curb gossip and drama through dis-creet peer intervention.

Once I was trained to notice and prevent drama, I started seeing how cruel teens can be, and how easily they judged people they don’t know without a second thought. Even I noticed myself looking down on others for the way they dressed at school.

Judging someone on a first impression is in-herent for everyone — it’s easy, and doesn’t af-fect us. We are all guilty of it, whether it is con-scious or not.

The school environment is a microcosm of a bigger problem going on in the United States.

Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and more recently Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, were all killed after being subjected to racial profiling. None of the four law officials accused of these

crimes were indicted for the deaths of their vic-tims.

Many people argue that their deaths could have happened to anyone, yet blacks are two to eight times more likely than whites to die at the hands of law enforcement, according to a study done by the FBI.

Although it doesn’t seem like much, the first impression we project onto a person can have an effect larger than just a mindless opinion. Letting our first perceptions of someone domi-nate our opinions can lead to a narrow-minded and un-empathetic life.

A change in the general happiness of our school, and even country, begins with each one of us bringing an end to judgement and first impressions. Rationalizing mean comments as “girls being girls” not only makes it okay, but also instills in us that it is acceptable for the rest of our lives, when it really isn’t.

When we make the changes in ourselves by rising above catty comments, whether said out loud or internally, we will begin to influence others within our own community and bring those stuck in an 18th century mindset into the 21st.

“I normally go swimming because it takes my mind off it and refreshes me.”

— Rosie Morford,freshman

“I like to make lists. I think it’s really important so that I can make sure to get everything done.”

— Isabelle Armstrong, junior

Rachel Fung /The Broadview

The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org Friday, December 12, 2014 | 11OP-ED

THE BROADVIEWConvent of the Sacred Heart High School

2222 Broadway St. | San Francisco, California 94115broadview@sacredsf.org | broadview.sacredsf.org

@thebroadview thebroadviewsfthebroadview @thebroadviewthebroadview

STAFF

“Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom,” (Goal 5), therefore The Broadview operates as an open

forum for free speech and student expression without prior review.

Unsigned pieces are the opinion of the editorial board. Reviews and personal columns are the opinions of the individual author and are not necessarily those of

Convent of the Sacred Heart High School or Schools of the Sacred Heart.

We encourage letters to the editor. The Broadview may publish independent opinion pieces 300 words or fewer. The editors may work with writers for clarity and to meet

space limitations. All letters must have a means for verifying authorship before publication.

Corrections and letters may be addressed to the editors at broadview@sacredsf.org

Tatiana Gutierrez Editor-in-ChiefMadison Riehle Editor-in-Chief

Madeleine Ainslie Managing Editor

Liana Lum News Editor

Camilla Bykhovsky Sports Editor Sarah Seltzer Sports Editor

Rachel Fung Art Editor

Bea D’Amico Photography Editor

Aoife Devereux Web Editor Kendra Harvey Video Editor

Senior Reporters Ariana Abdulmassih, Alyssa Alvarez,

Kristina Cary, Julia-Rose Kibben, Neely Metz, Delaney Moslander

Reporters Grace Ainslie, Charlotte Cobb,

Catherine Dana, Sophia Davari, Isabel Elgin, Asha Khanna,

Claire Kosewic, Natalie Lunbeck, Fiona Mittelstaedt,

Lisabelle Panossian, Sienna Ryan, India Thieriot, Alayna Wong

Tracy Anne Sena, CJE, Adviser

2014 Journalism Education Association First Amendment Press Freedom Award

recipient

Speaking out against sexism in social mediaSocial media’s influence can boost awareness

about sexism.

In an age where everyone’s voice can be heard through social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and

Facebook, social media often receives a negative connotation for being too of-fensive. In reality, social media can be one of the most effectively used platforms to combat gender inequality, ultimately in-fluencing individuals with the click of a button.

During a recent line in a routine, co-median Daniel Tosh was called out by an audience member who countered a rape joke, saying they are never funny, to which Tosh responded, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her.” The “joke,” on YouTube, has over 100,000 views.

Tosh passed off his remarks as part of his comedy routine, but his comments made light of an all-too-common trau-matic sexual experience.

Rape is never a joke.Many of the comments on the YouTube

video are against the comedian, although some viewers still support Tosh’s remarks, saying he made a serious subject funny.

Sixty percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police, and 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail, ac-cording to the Rape, Abuse and Incest Na-tional Network.

The fear of being judged by a victim’s community, retaliation, religious beliefs and shame can all lead to the denial of a victim of sexual assault, leaving victims feeling they are at fault.

The irrational fear of being judged can lead women not speaking out against sex-ist comments and rape jokes online, like those on Tosh’s video.

Social media is full of comments, cap-tions and posts that make fun of a serious issue.

The beginning of a retaliation for these posts begins with each one of us standing up, commenting back and setting an ex-ample for others.

On Twitter, celebrities and political figures speaking out against “slut sham-ing,” hurtful comments directed at rape victims, show and help make known that raped women are not to be blamed for

how they dress and that “No” really means no.

Campaign’s like Emma Watson’s #He-forShe movement, which now has over 122,000 followers on Twitter, illustrates a much-needed start to encourage men and women to work together to raise the sta-tus of women.

Although hashtags and retweets can be effective, true change can only occur by standing up to those who perpetuate rape culture.

Our words are permanent on the Inter-net. Each negative comment and cynical post serves as a picture to future genera-tions.

When we let others get away with mak-ing degrading and mean comments, it sends that message that it is acceptable. Our silence means consent.

By supporting social media sites like #HeforShe and countering negative feed-back, we set the example and show who our generation really is.

Tatiana GutierrezEditor-in-Chief

LIVING BY THE BAY

Nothing good happens after midnight, according to my parents, and a Vine that I thought was funny at 2 a.m. actually was a video in which two teenage boys use demean-ing slurs to make a joke about teenage girls on Twitter. By “Liking” it and having it appear on my profile, I was indicating I agreed with the content, which is far from the truth.

Not knowing which of my followers had seen the video I “Liked,” I still felt hypocritical for unconsciously supporting the degradation of women. What I thought was a meaningless tap on a screen was now grounds to judge my integrity.

I had always seen profiles as a superficial platform for conveying a self-altered lifestyle to the world through pictures and posts. Be-fore, they never seemed like an accurate repre-sentation of one’s character.

As I have gotten older, my newsfeeds on so-cial media have transitioned from awkward photobooth pictures to images and links to

articles discussing controversies such as rape culture and racial injustice.

When I am “Liking” different posts in my feeds, I find myself asking the question, “What is this really saying?” significantly more.

I have even gone so far as unfollowing a popular Viner after he pled guilty to raping his ex-girlfriend because although a few of his videos make me laugh, I do not want to give the impression I find his actions acceptable.

Regulating my actions on social media occa-sionally slips my mind when I am mindlessly scrolling through five different feeds in 5 min-utes. I should take a little longer to think about what I am sharing than have a future college or employer Google me and judge me based off of a choice I made while bored or half asleep.

I try to assume the best in people, but I un-derstand the reality of how quickly others are to pass judgement, and when my profile can be viewed by hundreds, judgement becomes even more prevalent.

Updating my conscience‘Liking’ can lead to unfair judgement.

Knowing that any photo, status and comment of mine can haunt me, I try to be mindful of what I post on social media. Until recently, I never really thought of

my profile as a representation of my beliefs and values.

Kendra Harvey Video Editor

Rachel Fung /The Broadview

12 | Friday, December 12, 2014 The Broadview and Broadview.SacredSF.org CITY LIFE

It’s all about buns, hun

What’s pumping in The City

The hasty hairstyle accommodates productivity and focus.

Pulse

Hall & Heart: Drawn to Life Rachel Fung

A long-abandoned res-ervoir with overgrown grass and graffiti on its

walls will be transformed into a 4-acre urban playground due to the efforts of Russian Hill residents.

Built in the 1860s, the Francis-co Reservoir between Larkin and Bay streets was a main source of water for San Francisco, and res-idents have talked about repur-posing it since it closed in 1940.

"In a city so small, it is sad to see a space so large not be-ing used," English Department Chair Rachael Denny, who is a resident of Russian Hill, said. “Repurposing any space is a good thing.”

Reopening the reservoir would not be safe, according to AP Environmental Science teacher Marisa Orso.

"The reservoirs wouldn't pass any seismic test today," Orso said. “The reservoirs are so seismically unsafe that they are real hazards in earthquakes. We don’t need these reservoirs any more. We've already decided a long time ago that our water was coming in from Hetch Hetchy."

The surrounding community began planning for a new park in early 2011.

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department secured the land transfer for $9.9 million from the Public Utilities Com-mision last August after three years of planning.

The Working Group, the orga-nization supporting the project,

aims to raise $25 million to help fund the renovations, expecting money will be left over. Private donors have pledged $11 mil-lion according to Margaux Kelly, a legislative aide to Supervisor Mark Farrell.

“The rest of the money is put into a separate fund and that money every year is invested and it earns a return that will then pay for the ongoing maintenance of the park.” Kelly said.

The Recreation and Parks Department and the Working Group are currently drafting a Memorandum of Understand-ing, which is a legal document outlining the terms and details of an agreement.

“[The memorandum] will de-fine how the money will be spent to renovate it and how the park will be maintained and who will be responsible for what and at what time,” Kelly said.

The community plans to brainstorm ideas in early 2015

for the design of the new park. Russian Hill is one of the

densest neighborhoods in the city, yet children do not have a safe playground. Fort Mason is the nearest park, but it has no playgrounds.

“I love the idea of some kind of playground area for the kids in the neighborhood,” Russian Hill resident Mary Macpherson said. “We already have a really great dog run, we have nice little walking trails here and there, but we don’t have a lot for the kids.”

The renovations are expected to begin in 2017, and the park will take approximately one year to complete.

“It is just going to improve the quality of life in the neighbor-hood,” Dan Holligan, resident of Russian Hill and President of Russian Hill neighbors, said. "The primary goal is just to turn this unused land into a very unique open space for the public to enjoy."

Grace Ainslie /The Broadview

HIGH-RISE HOME Crowds mill around at the opening of the gingerbread house at the Fairmont Hotel on Nov. 29 (top). The Leu-kemia & Lymphoma Society’s Child of the Year, Rhett Krawitt, and his sister cut the ribbon at the annual opening ceremony (bottom). The Fairmont Hotel has a donation box to collect money for LLS.

Fiona Mittelstaedt /The Broadview

PARK TO-BE Cow Hollow resident Udo, who declined to give his last name, walks up Larkin street to get a view of the bay. The Res-ervoir on Larkin street will be renovated within the next three years and the new park opens in 2018.

With finals around the corner and a history of lice out-

breaks, buns can be a good go-to hairstyle.

Putting loose hair up into a bun can be effective in pre-

venting the spread of lice, and helps keep hair out of the face when studying. The perfect bun can be achieved simply by tightly twisting hair and wrap-ping a scrunchie or hair tie around it.

Life-sized gingerbread houses aren’t just found in fairy tales. The lobby

of The Fairmont San Fran-cisco is adorned with a 22-foot tall, walk-through gingerbread house every holiday season.

“People base the time they come because this is going to be up,” Melissa Farrar, Public Rela-tions Director at The Fairmont, said.

The tradition that started in 2008 is a collaboration between hotel chefs, carpenters and electricians. Planning begins formally in August, with chefs brainstorming ideas and pitch-ing them to engineers, who de-termine what is possible.

“I think it’s the biggest one in the city,” head pastry chef

Kimberly Tighe said. “It’s cer-tainly the only one that’s a walk-through. A lot of places will do big ones or really detailed ones, but they’re just a façade, so the fact that guests can walk through this gives them a little more personal experience.”

The gingerbread house has a plywood frame, but otherwise is held together with royal ic-ing, made out of egg whites and powdered sugar. Candy used to decorate the house is opened a month in advance, so it will be-come stale and stick to the icing.

Since the house is walk-through, visitors often eat the candy and pieces of the house, which necessitates frequent re-pairs.

“Kids eat the candy, but it’s re-ally the adults who are the bigger problem,” general maintenance manager Larry Walten said.

Visitors are asked to make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, whose Child of the Year Rhett Krawitt performed the ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 29.

The lobby was buzzing with adults and children of all ages gazing at the 22-foot Christmas tree while anticipating the un-veiling of the house.

“It’s all about the traditions,” Becca Norton, a San Francisco resident who came to the unveil-ing with her 7-year-old daughter Amelie, said. “It’s a San Fran-cisco thing. When you live here you want to be a part of it.”

“If you can only pick one time a year to experience the hotel, ideally it’s this time of year,” Farrar said.

The gingerbread house is open to the public until Jan. 2.

Home, sweet homeA life-sized gingerbread house in the lobby

of the Fairmont Hotel boasts $9,000 of candy

Old reservoir marked for parkAbandoned reservoir to be repurposed into a park.

Fiona Mittelstaedt & Asha Khanna

Claire Kosewic & Grace Ainslie