71 students responded to a Facebook survey:

Are you going out of town over winter break?

Raven ReportDream Club gives students funds and hope for future

By CAROLINE LEMPERTLayout Editor

Volume V, Issue 4 1201 Brewster Ave. Redwood City, CA 94062 December 14, 2011

Sequoia High School

Bunny bridges cultural gaps

Feature: Feature:Students get into holiday spirit Page 4-5

48 %: No, I'm staying home30% Yes, out of the city 22% Yes, out of state

Sequoia’s Dream Club raised over $4000 for the Dream Club Scholarship Fund at an event on Nov. 8, where students shared videos, skits, and speeches about the struggles of being an undocumented student to an audience of over 200 students, teachers, parents, and Sequoia community members.

“It is a big injustice for [un-documented students],” said senior Roberto Pablo, president of the Dream Club. “Some of them are in my classes, some of them are taking IB classes and working extremely hard. To see that they cannot receive finan-cial aid or be trusted and get to college is unfair.”

An estimated 25 to 30 per-cent of Sequoia’s student popu-lation is undocumented, and the Dream Club provides them with resources and support. The mission of the club is to fund raise scholarship funds for se-

Gay-Straight Alliance club gives students support Page 3

nior members’ college tuition while promoting awareness of immigration issues.

Although the California Dream Act, signed by Gov-ernor Jerry Brown this year, grants AB540 students the ability to attain financial sup-port, undocumented students are still extremely limited in opportunities for the future.

“In terms of advocacy, we are much more interested in the Federal Dream Act. Although everyone is happy about the California Dream Act being passed, it is very money based,” said Dream Club adviser Jane Slater. The federal act, which has yet to be approved by Congress, would give minors brought into the United States under the age of 16 the same education and employment privileges as a legal resident.

Students active in Sequoia’s Dream Club are passionate about this cause.

“[Getting the Dream Act passed] is important because

we have as much potential and capacity as other kids. We have gotten the same education as everyone else so far, and we should be able to get to the next level,” said an undocu-mented Sequoia senior.

Once undocumented stu-dents graduate high school, meeting the same require-ments as their peers, they are no longer given the rights of a United States citizen.

“You would think that we blend in, but this is the limit,” said an undocumented Se-quoia senior. Graduation from high school ends the American lifestyle that undocumented students have become accus-tomed to, often forcing them into the world without a col-lege education or employment.

“One of my friends tried really hard in high school and got a 3.8 GPA, but he couldn’t go to college because he was undocumented,” said sopho-more Edgar Hernandez. In the

Go to DREAM, page 6

Math whizzes multiply their potentialBy LAUREN KIRKPATRICKFeature Editor

For seniors Austin Mier and Connor Wake, big time math skills equal big time bucks. Mier and Wake are two out of 12 high school seniors nationwide who won scholarships in the regional round of the DemandTec Retail Challenge. Along with $2,500 in college scholar-ship prize money, they also walked away with tickets to the DemandTec Grand Championship round in New York City for a chance at winning a $10,000 prize.

Seniors Huuvinh Tieu and Bhavin Tandel also placed third at the regional round, winning $500 each.

Looks like these math whizzes are off to a square start.

By CAROLINE LEMPERTLayout Editor

Roaming Sequoia’s hallways this year are freaked out freshmen, stressed out seniors, and a stuffed bunny from Finland.

Mozelle Da Costa Pinto’s IB Art class is participating in a cultural exchange program with an art class from Vantaa, Finland, who sent a stuffed bunny named Osku to Redwood City, and received Kali, an American rub-ber chicken, in return. Throughout the year, students from both classes are updating a blog with pictures of the animals doing daily activities in each country. So far Osku has been documented at a football game, a pumpkin patch, and even reading the Raven Report.

But this project will involve more than just photos of these stuffed animals this year: Both teachers have a goal of connecting the two countries.

“We’re trying to look at different ways to bring to-gether different experiences and understand each oth-er,” said Da Costa Pinto. All components of the project will convey the life in each country through art.

“The goal of the project is to intertwine the cultures of America and Finland and make students more aware of the cultural similarities in our daily lives,” said senior Sarah Singh. Through the blog, students are able to get a glimpse of daily life in a foreign country.

“Through the pictures, we show ourselves, our coun-try, and our culture; we pick what we think is impor-tant and share it with the world,” said senior Mary Patiño Mota.

Although the students cannot understand each oth-er’s languages, they can communicate through art.

“Art class is art class anywhere. Art class doesn’t have a language, and people can understand each other through it,” said Singh.

PHOTO BY MARIA FERNANDEZ

Senior Adrian Esqueda was one of the many students at the Nov. 8 event challenging the coumminity to support immigrant youth.

To follow the adventures of Osku and Kali, go to korso-sequoia.blogspot.com/

2 NEWS

Giant contributions for Kenya

A bag of survival put to-gether by students in hairnets. A lesson in hunger as they see how privileged Americans are.

Students, parents, and oth-er volunteers from the com-munity gathered at Sequoia High School Dec. 3 with one common goal in mind: pack 130,000 meals for starving children in Kenya as part of the Something To Eat event. Students stood in assembly line format and scooped vita-mins, vegetables, rice, soy, and protein powder into labeled bags. These bags then moved on to be weighed and then to be sealed all with manpower.

With music jamming in the background, motivation was not needed. However, spend-ing the day on Sequoia’s cam-pus was the man that h e l p e d to bring this day to Redwood City. Gi-ants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt helped distribute rice and gave encouragement to all participating as he shared his reasons for beginning this project.

He started the organiza-

tion Genera-tion Alive in which chil-dren pack-age meals for less fortunate children. The main point of the orga-nization is to show these children that they can make a difference. This organi-zation along with Youth-Front brought the program “ S o m e t h i n g To Eat” to Se-quoia. One FutureProfits class raised about $1400 towards this campaign and in turn got to

chat with Af-feldt one on one.

A f f e l d t cong ratu-lated the s t u d e n t s

and let them know their im-pact. “They are eating dirt be-cause they are so hungry,” he said of the Kenyan children. “That’s who you are helping.”

He told them of the un-conditional love they were ex-

Stuffy classrooms. No fresh air. Endless rows of desks. As the population of students increases at Se-quoia, new measures had to be taken. Portables, or mod-ules, were recently added this year next to the baseball field at a starting price of ap-proximately $40,000.

Social studies teacher Nancy Berry had to share her room for the first two months of school.

“My disorientation must have affected [the students], and I was not on top of my game,” said Berry.

Unlike other teachers, Berry luckily had all her classes on the same floor, in rooms 122 and 130. She shared her original room with social studies teacher Rob Poulos, and had to switch rooms for five peri-ods.

One room was intended to be a storage unit, but was turned into an English de-partment office while the other is now Poulos’ room.

“You recognize that most of the teachers are affected. Everyone is trying to make the best of the overcrowd-ing,” said Poulos.

Module relieves madnessThe modules were built

at a separate location and later brought in by a crane to be installed. Getting the permits to start building was the most time consum-ing part of the entire proj-ect, but the whole process took more than five months.

Instructional vice-princi-pal Lisa Gleaton confirmed that two or three modules will be built by the end of the year.

Choosing which teach-ers are next to move into the new modules is based on the departments.

How many teachers they have and the number of pe-riods they teach are all put into an easy math problem. Ironically, the math depart-ment is the next one up. Essentially, the intention of the modules is to make ev-eryone’s lives easier.

“The most domino-effect of good is our goal,” said Gleaton.

“[The project] actually was planned before over-crowding; it ended up being some relief,” said adminis-trative vice-principal Sean Priest.

Although adding the modules took a lot of time and money, in the end it was a good investment.

By ARACELI EFIGENIOStaff Reporter

By LAUREL DEARBORNNews Editor

“It’s this weird joy. This is what my soul longs to do.” —Jeremy Affeldt, Giants pitcher

pressing. “This isn’t a charity meal that you guys have done. You’ve sustained life,” Affeldt said. “We don’t celebrate life because we are so concerned about death.”

Sequoia is the first Cali-fornia school that Affeldt has partnered with in doing this project; however, he has done it before in his hometown of Spokane, Wash.

“It’s this weird joy,” Affeldt said. “This is what my soul longs to do.”

Students and members of the community packed 130,000 meals for Kenyan children.

PHOTO BY JENNI INGRAM

Alright, you already know a lot about online safety when it comes to your personal and financial info on sites like Face-book. But right now is a perfect time to remind yourself why you have to be careful when you’re online.

Here’s a quick review of the one stupid mistake people con-tinue to make: posting trouble-some pictures, videos or com-ments on your social network sites.

Thousands of scammers moni-tor what we do on social net-work sites. And maybe even worse, thousands of legitimate companies monitor the sites, too. A picture of you simply looking out of control in a

Sequoia Federal Credit Union: your credit union

Doing A Basic Online Safety Review

party picture can persuade some companies not to hire you. Posting “My parents are out of town for ten days, so I’m partying!” is an open invite for house robbers or worse to try to join the party.

Scariest new twist in social net-work monitoring: nowadays, some insurance companies (think car insurance and health insur-ance) track what you do on social networking sites, too. Have lots of party pictures on there? Don’t be surprised if your insurance is hiked.

Is that fair? Probably not. You could be drinking water all night at a party and still look crazy. But the law right now is on the side of the insurance companies: they can use whatever criteria they

want to set rates. So, what do you do? Duh! Edit your pictures or untag yourself.

Other easy but smart tips:1. “Lock–down” your Facebook account. We walk you through a simple procedure here: “Facebook and Your Privacy.”

2. Check your firewall and anti–virus programs. You do have a fire-wall, right? And a virus program? If you haven’t updated those pro-grams, do it now. Just Google “se-curity updates” in your browser.

3. Get possessive with your per-sonal and financial information. Don’t store sensitive information or passwords on your computer or on websites.

o Don’t assume all websites are safe websites. Before even clicking on links in a strange website, use a search engine to check the website out. For in-stance, Google “problems with [name of the website.]” If the reviews are uniformly bad, stay away from the site.

4. When making purchases, use a credit card. Don’t use your debit card. Credit cards give you some protection.

5. Brush up on “pharming, “phishing” and “smishing” scams aimed at people our age. This article will help: “Identity Theft.”

So head to your social network-ing site and edit those pix!

feature 3

Robotics beep bops up at first tech competition

By CATALINA MARESStaff Reporter

By ANNA DAGUMFeature Editor

Brandishing purple capes and crowns, roaring cheers erupted as Sequoia’s robotics team “Purple Reign” crushed their competitors in the team’s first ever competition, Sunday, Nov. 6, in Newark, California. Ranking seventh out of twen-ty eight teams, Purple Reign made history for Sequoia .“ C o m p e t i -tions always end up being really loud and fun,” said senior Con-nor Wake, a member of the robotics team. “I’ve lost my voice at many of the events so far.”

The competition was for the FTC or FIRST (For Inspi-ration and Recognition of Sci-ence and Technology) Tech Challenge. There is also a di-vision called the FRC, which

stands for FIRST Robotics Competition.

The FTC is a competition dedicated to the creation of smaller robots, measuring just

1 ½-square-feet. The object of this competition is to com-plete a task given to the teams via video towards the begin-ning of the season. These tasks are typically simpler than those of the FRC, and adhere to the basic programming techniques of smaller robots.

The FTC is generally less stressful than the FRC, and the bots are easier to make.

The FRC, deals with the stereotypical

metal-clad fire-spitting ma-chines that we know from Star Wars and Dexter’s Labo-ratory.

“I started sophomore year, and I didn’t really know what it was about,” said Wake.

“After I found out that we

were working with giant five footone-hundred-t went y pound robots; I got sucked into it from there.”

Sequoia has two robotics teams: Team 4475, which is

composed of solely Sequoia students and creates robots to compete in the FTC; and Team 100, which is a combi-nation of students working to-gether from not only Sequoia,

Students watch Kurt and Blaine’s relationship develop on Glee. They flock to the Pride Parade in San Francisco. But behind the smokescreen of this gay celebration, Se-quoia’s Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) club is meeting every Wednesday and discussing se-rious topics such as the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, strug-gles with sexuality, and how to survive when fellow class-mates negatively label you as different.

English teacher Amie Ra-num is taking over for Teen Resource Center Director, Judy Romero, as the advisor of the club for this year. Ranum said she has seen much prog-ress over 14 years.

‘“[Being homosexual] was kind of not talked about,” said Ranum. “LGBT [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender] stu-dents had to deal with it on their own.”

“I had a student one of my first years at Sequoia who han-dled it so beautifully. When he walked down the hall and people would say ‘fag’ and call him names, he would say re-ally loudly: ‘No you can not have my number!’ He sort of came up with his own way of response and way of dealing

GSA works for a better day

with it that was really power-ful, but there wasn’t a group or school based community he could turn to,” said Ranum.

LGBTQ students are not alone anymore. “On Club Day we got 123 signatures,” said junior co-president Amanda Willett.

“Everywhere you looked there was a rainbow,” said Willett referring to the face painted rainbows they were offering on club day.

Unfortunately not all the signatures lived up to their potential.

Now there are only eight students who regularly attend GSA meetings, six of whom

are students on the board. That is still a very positive change compared to last year.

“I would see posters [for GSA] but no action,” said ju-nior co-president Aureliano Davila.

This year the co-presidents and members are definitely doing the most they can to make a difference.

“The way we were thinking of structuring the meetings this year is to sort of educate ourselves and then think what can we do to bring this into the school community as a whole,” said Ranum.

See GSA, page 8

With the homework load from IB classes, college application deadlines, and a recent 10-page pre-cal-culus Internal Assessment, IB students are not getting enough sleep or free time to enjoy with their families and friends. Many are won-dering at this busy point in the year whether taking these rigorous courses are worth it.

From a teacher or ad-ministrator standpoint, the IB diploma is a great idea and worth it in the long run because of the benefits in college. Sequoia promotes this program and many stu-dents come here for it.

English teacher Emily DeVoe completed the IB diploma in high school.

“I’m definitely happy that I did the IB program because it made me a more independent and well-rounded student,” said De-Voe.

However, DeVoe’s school followed the AP curricu-lum, so to finish the IB re-quirements, she had to stay many hours after school to complete the IB diploma.

The diploma gave her 33 college credits at Vanderbilt

By JARRETT CROWELLStaff Reporter

University, which amount-ed to about a year of classes.

“This allowed me to study abroad and take class-es that I really wanted to take,”said DeVoe.

At some schools, stu-dents do not get as many credits as DeVoe got, but still feel like the IB diploma was worth it.

“Having the diploma gave me some class credits in college so I had more freedom to take the classes I wanted to,” said West-mont University freshman Caila Parodi, who gradu-ated from Sequoia in 2010.

The IB diploma can also prepare a student for the rigorous classes in college.

“Writing is so easy in college,” said Parodi.

On the other hand, the IB diploma might not be the best idea for every stu-dent.

“Doing the IB diploma is not for everyone,” said DeVoe. “It is a lot of work. However taking IB classes prepares you. It is a person-al choice that comes with a cost.”

Many people opt to do the IB certificate instead of the full diploma because they want to stick to a pas-sion like music or drama.

See IB, page 7

but Carlmont and Menlo-Atherton as well. Team 100 builds robots to compete in the FRC. The FRC bots re-quire the use of specialized tools that an avid roboticist would use later in his career, as opposed to the simpler tools used to build the FTC bots.

“I’ve never even touched a tool before; I’d probably snap the thing in half,” said Wake regarding the FRC bots. Wake is a programmer for the robot-ics team.

It’s a learning experience. “I knew absolutely nothing about programming before I started,” said Wake.

Their 15 science elective credits are well deserved. When preparing for a com-petition, the team, on aver-age, spends approximately 18 hours on the weekends and three hours after school work-ing on their robots.

“I know it sounds crazy,” said Wake, “but you truly do get sucked into it. It’s a huge time commitment, but we have a lot of fun.”

IB students and alumni reflect on experience

PHOTOS BY ANNA DAGUM

Sophomore Claire Spickerman works hard on her robot.

Photo by Catalina Mares

GSA students meet at lunch weekly on Wednesdays to dis-cuss important issues like the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Happy Holidays!

What do students want most? What have they treasured?

• “I got my camera, a Nikon D300, which is my most prized possession, almost one year ago. I nearly cried when I got it,” sophomore Molly Shea said.

• “I received a pet rat,” said junior Martin Arnon-tel.

• “Close friends give small gifts that are cheap but have humor in it,” said physics teacher Ben Canning. “Friends have gotten lighter fluid and juggling balls for me because they know I like to juggle fire.”

• “I received a McDonald’s happy meal toy from my great grand-mother,” junior Marissa Sando-val said. Even things like this can make anyone happy.

• “I got a wheelchair for Christmas, because my parents thought I would get hurt dirt biking,” said junior Chris King.

• “The most valuable gift I’ve ever received was when my brother gave me all of his mechanical pencils ,” said sophomore Abbey Wilkerson.

• “The most valuable gift I have ever received was my grandmother’s necklace. It’s my favorite thing in the whole world,” said sophomore Gra-cie Cardenas.

—Compiled by Cole Dunbar, Matthew Morrow,

and Bogart Sandoval

Cheery smiles, warm hot cocoa, Santa’s rosy cheeks. On Dec. 3, Hometown Holidays, a family friendly event, took place in downtown Redwood City.

There were activities for everyone to enjoy, with ice skating and pictures with Santa. It was also an event where different clubs and orga-nizations from around the community came together to help raise money for their cause and donate their time during this special time of the year.

“We sold hot cocoa, the profits help the board set up events that we have, and they help provide supplies for the teen center,” said sophomore Harley Parada.

Every year the Key Club partners with their sponsoring organization, the Kiwanis Club, to run a hot dog booth. They also had a free face painting booth for children.

“I think students are starting to understand

Gift-giving became a lost art when plastic gift cards and money stuffed in an envelope became acceptable for birthdays or holidays. I can’t lie, I love gift cards and money. It

means that I have money to go shopping for something that I know that I want. Some-times when I go shopping with a new gift card, though, I’m slightly saddened by the fact that the person who gave me the gift card didn’t take the time to pick out some-thing special just for me.

Gift-giving used to be special when I was a child. People actually used to go out and spend time looking for the perfect gift to buy someone. Nowadays, people just head around the corner to Safeway, where their wall of gift cards is like a safe-haven to last-minute shoppers. Gift buying used to take time and thought. When I buy presents, I al-ways try my best to think, ‘What would they really want and use? What would they like?’

Of course, gift cards do have some values that regular gifts don’t. Instead of buying a CD with only a select few songs that they like, why not give them an iTunes gift card so they can buy the songs that they really want?

However, with gift cards, gift-giving seems to lose its purpose. If you give them a CD, though, every time they hold that CD, they can think, ‘I remember [insert name here] giving me this!’.

Along with gift-giving, the art of gift-wrapping has been lost to time as well. Now that gift cards are acceptable, you can simply slip it into an envelope and write happy birth-day. Gift-wrapping used to take time; it too was something that took care and thought. Now, though, the age of pretty wrapping pa-per and bows has been destroyed along with the hope of getting an actual present to un-wrap and cherish instead of a plastic card to use and then throw away.

The magic of gift giving has been lost too. What do you feel when you get a giftcard, versus an actual gift?

So, with this knowledge, give someone a gift this year. Not a gift card, but a gift, with nice wrapping paper, and a ribbon on top. It will be worth your time when you give it to that someone, and see their face light up because they are holding a package, not just an envelope.

Macy’s tries to draw me in with cheery people in ugly sweat-ers. Kohl’s tells me I need their once-in-a-lifetime discount. As I watch Charlie Brown and Snoopy decorate

the Christmas tree, the channel switches to a commercial break and I learn that “every kiss begins with Kay” and that it will only take “15 minutes to save 15 percent or more on car insurance.”

Honestly though, it works.I never mute the cheesiness. I can’t get

enough of the paid actors. They convince me that I need their product and that I can’t survive without it. When did this start? And why? I think materialism has gone a step too far.

We all love gifts, and with the holiday sea-son right at our fingertips, the obsession is just beginning. It’s not like this obsession doesn’t exist in the other eleven months, but some-thing must be programmed in the human brain to go haywire the day after Thanksgiv-ing. Who in their right mind would get up at the crack of dawn the day after a family get-together to save a few bucks? The Wii’s not that great you guys.

Some may try and tell you that nothing in life is free. Don’t be deceived. Many holidays are completely centered around giving each other store-bought items, not love.

Sure, at the moment I open a gift, I am very happy. Beyond happy you might say. Then days pass and clothes that were once shiny, new, and fashionable, collect stains, get holes, and become out-of-style. Games lose pieces, toys break, and gift cards are used. Instead of thinking about the time my fam-ily spends together as a present itself, when the grandparents come over to exchange gifts this holiday season, the first thing I’ll do is check the tags on the gifts placed under the tree.

I never want people to really know every-thing I truely want because I don’t want to be percieved as greedy, but then again, isn’t everyone? I want to be that person that people look to as an example. I want to not want a lot of things. Do I need that iPhone? No, But I want it. Am I going to die with-out those boots on sale? No, but when has that stopped me from buying them before? When am I going to realize that life will go on? Probably never.

Life is indeed an endless mess of stuff, things, and materialism. I can’t even watch the Ellen DeGeneres show without seeing the Pillsbury Dough boy and his biscuits. But then again, maybe this year when a mysteri-ous black felt box appears and I find a choco-late diamond laying inside, I’ll just return it to Kay Jewelers and get my holiday kisses some other way.

that community service is about meeting a need in your community, as opposed to I’m just doing it be-cause I need hours for something,” said Key Club ad-viser Tessa Yeager.

The band pro-vided fun, free holiday music for the event.

“We [played] several medleys of Christmas carols, such as Jingle Bells, Silent Night and Frosty the Snowman, as well as a few other holiday themed songs,” said sophomore band member Devon Schmidt, a flautist (someone who plays the flute).

“Last year we played ‘The Eighth Candle’

which celebrates Hanukkah,” said band teach-er Jane Woodman.

“I try to aim for a all-inclusive variety,” said Woodman. “We always get around 25 kids who are very excited about participating.”

Hometown Holidays brings cheer to communityBy TAISHA GRIFFIE andSOPHIE MILLERStaff Reporters

I am a h o l i d a y h y b r i d r u n i n g on a com-b i n a t i o n of matzo

ball soup and egg nog. I have one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish parent, which al-lows me to participate in all the holiday fun. Presents for both Hanukkah and Christ-mas? Awesome! But while celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas clearly has its perks, sometimes it feels like the yamaka gets lost under the Santa hat.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. The presents, the smell of the tree, the warm fires, and all those lovely home knit sweaters we all love to re-ceive (don’t laugh, it actually happens to people).

But, what about the Jew-ish people that only celebrate Hanukkah and aren’t from a hybrid family? What happens to them?

When you’re young and you think of Christmas, you immediately think, “Ooh!

Santa! Presents!” You write a list to Santa Claus containing all your material desires and the occasional request for world peace, and mail it off to the North Pole. Once it gets there, the elves make all the toys you asked for.

There are no Hanukkah elves in Bethlehem or Rome or wherever else people think Mo-ses or the Hanukkah fairy lives.

Contrary to some peoples’ belief, Moses does not come in the window where you place your Menorah and leave you presents for eight days straight.

Shocking… Moses doesn’t even have anything to do with Ha-nukkah, actually.

Hanukkah is a celebration of the Jewish people regaining con-trol of their temple in Jerusalem from the Syrian-Greeks.

In order to purify the temple once again, the Jews burned rit-ual oil in the temple’s menorah. They only had enough oil to last one day, but to their surprise the oil burned for eight, which is why Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days.

This year, with Hanukkah starting on the 20th of Decem-

ber and overlapping Christ-mas, it can feel like the Christmas cookies are crush-ing your matzo. Christmas is THE holiday for Christians and shoppers alike, and when you’re not invited to the Yule Tide Ball it’s easy to feel left out.

Christmas is everywhere you go – it’s even got it’s own season, of course. It’s on TV, and Santa is in every mall.

When I was a kid I had a hard time understanding how Santa could be in every mall at the same time. Heck,

I still have a hard time under-standing how he does it.

And then there’s Black Fri-day; the start of the Christmas shopping frenzy. It’s supposed to be a day of good saving, but is actually a day of danger for innocent bargain hunters who may literally be trampled in the name of discounted goods.

It’s obviously difficult to ex-pect people to get into the spir-it of Hanukkah when less than two percent of the U.S. popu-lation is Jewish. Just because not as many people celebrate it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t get attention.

I am eagerly awaiting the day when a giant menorah is placed in the center of a mall, along side the giant tree and a clone of Santa. Where’s the Jewish Winter Wonderland?

This holiday season we should all turn off that Macy’s commercial and start recog-nizing that there is another holiday buried under all those Christmas sweaters and Santa hats.

So spin your dreidels, eat those latkes, and embrace the eight wonderful days of Jewish celebration.

Ho ho Hanukkah! Holiday fights to share spotlightBy HANNA BOLAÑOSStaff Reporter

By TIFFANY AH TYEOpinion Editor

PHOTO BY SOPHIE MILLER

Dear Santa...By LAUREL DEARBORNNews Editor

“Thank the people who come here and

discover America.”— Chemistry

teacher Te Ton-Tho“Eating as a family

dinner at the table.”—Sophomore Edwin Rosales

“Making pumpkin pie.”—Freshman Angelica Mendoza

“Spinning the Dreidel and eating latkes.”—Junior Connor Grossman

SEQUOIA SAYS

The holidays have come around once more and the semester is drawing to a close. Cheery tunes fill the radio and Rudolph enchants the TV. Hot chocolate with marshmallows are contained in mittened hands while Santa’s cookies bake in the oven. At the Raven Report, we couldn’t help but feel the holiday spirit as well.

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

During the holidays, I wish I wasn’t so greedyGive thoughtful

gifts not thought-less gift cards

Special Feature

Comics by Hanna Bolaños

Band members provide entertainment at Hometown Holidays.

4 5

6 Opinion

Staff Editorial

Sequoia High School

Raven Report2011-2012

Editor-in-Chief Sarina GrossLayout Editor Caroline Lempert News Editor Laurel Dearborn

Feature Editors Anna Dagum and Lauren KirkpatrickOpinion Editor Tiffany Ah Tye

Staff ReportersHanna Bolaños Peter Bugos Erick Castro Jarrett Crowell Ty Dewes Cole Dunbar Araceli Efigenio Taisha Griffie

Catalina Mares Sophie Miller Matthew Morrow Bogie Sandoval

AdviserKim Vinh

Mission StatementThe Raven Report strives to provide Sequoia High School with

informative, engaging, and relevant news. The staff will exercise integrity and adaptability while promoting justice and transparency through

professional reporting about the school, the community, and the world.

Letters to the EditorThe Raven Report welcomes letters to the editor from students,

parents, or community members, sent to Room 308 or by email to ravenreport09@gmail.com. Letters must include the writer’s

full name and ID number, and the staff reserves the right to edit for space and style.

Respond to what you read about in our issue, suggest a topic, or participate in a survey! Search for Sequoia High School Raven Report on Facebook and like our page.

Dear Editor,Sequoia’s German language pro-

gram, which was being phased out due to budget cuts, is being given an-other chance. This year, to the disap-pointment of many scholars, German I was not offered as a class and the German program as a whole was to be phased out. This coming year German will be continued if 45 students regis-ter for the class. Offering German as a language is important to the history of Sequoia and to the International Baccalaureate Program as well. It provides unmatched advantages to Sequoia’s students.

The option to learn German has been offered to Sequoia’s students since Sequoia’s beginning and is an important part of Sequoia’s history. Knowing German gives Sequoia’s students an advantage in the work-place and helps them stand out. I am ecstatic about the return of the German program. The return of the German program also guarantees the continued relationship with Sequoia’s sister school located near Frankfurt Germany. Sequoia’s exchange pro-gram with the Kopernikusschule in Freigericht has provided both Ger-man and Sequoia’s students with the chance to share culture. Every other year German students travel to Ger-many, stay with families, and even go to a German High School

To continue the German program 45 students need to register for Ger-man. Please help preserve this piece of Sequoia’s culture by telling every 8th and 9th grader who would be interested.

If you have any questions, come to Mrs Meyer-Kispersky’s room (25).

Logan Billman, juniorGerman Club President

Letters to the editorDear Editor,

My son brought home the No-vember 10, 2011 Raven Report and absentmindedly left it on the coffee table. The clean, sharp layout of the cover page caught my attention so I grabbed it and began to read. It was the first time I had ever seen the Ra-ven Report much less read it.

I was blown away! Without a doubt, it is one of the best papers I’ve seen in ages--great variety of topics, well written and beautifully laid out. At a time when newspapers are disap-pearing and merging into oblivion (as with the San Mateo Times), the Raven Report stands out as beacon of what this generation has to offer. In its columns, I saw the hope of a gen-eration smarter than the last, a genera-tion who are engaged and motivated-despite oppressive cultural pressure and who are remarkably capable.

I want to give a great big shout out to the paper’s staff and to those who ensure that the Raven Report sur-vives. Thank you for believing in the power of the printed word to inform and engage and to build community. I wholeheartedly commend you.

Kate Comfort HarrSequoia High School Parent

PS: Wasn’t Cinderella AWESOME!

In the article, “Students encour-aged to argue in debate club” (Issue 3), the Raven Report did not fully recognize two adults assisting the club. Parent Virginia Chang Kiraly and study skills teacher Karol-Ann Coleman both volunteer with the speech and debate club for several hours a week.

Correction

countless stories similar to this, the restraint forced upon students by their lack of documentation strips them of their future. However, these students are limited when trying to change their situation alone.

The Sequoia Dream Club gives voice to undocumented students who are limited in their ability to say their opinions because of fear of being deported. Through the club, undocumented students can speak out together and inspire members of the community to advocate for their friends and classmates.

“I have more opportunities because I have documentation. I feel that it is a necessity and moral obligation for me to help them out,” said Pablo.

If you have documentation, you have the freedom to support class-mates and speak out about immigra-tion issues. Through participating in events sponsored by the Dream Club,

you can get the community involved in advocating for undocumented stu-dents and bring awareness to their struggles and the importance of the Dream Act.

“Generally, when people hear about immigrants in the news they think, ‘Oh, they’re taking away our jobs, do-ing illegal drugs, etc.’. But when they know about this side of the picture, they can see that it’s not all bad stuff. Awareness about these issues helps to break the stereotype,” said Pablo. Although Redwood City is diverse and generally familiar with issues sur-rounding immigration, activism with-in the community will give more local students the funds they need to go to college and spread awareness about the need to get the Federal Dream Act passed.

“People tend to be pretty liberal, but they are not always fully aware of the situation,” said Pablo. “I feel that the community in California is gener-ally open, but this is a topic that needs to be discussed more.”

DREAM from page 1

Due to an 18 percent tuition increase introduced this year, students applying to UCs this fall are hurrying to finish their financial aid applications. Because of an esti-mated $753 million budget short-fall, both current and prospective students must, unfortunately, pay the difference. This is of particular concern to Sequoia’s students, con-sidering that the UCs are some of the most popular universities that our seniors chose to apply to. Be-cause of these tuition hikes, many college students have been par-ticipating in peaceful demonstra-tions across various UC campuses to express their opposition to the increasing fees. These protests have recently been stifled by campus police, where students have been pepper sprayed, discouraging the act of protests across California.

Besides protesting and writ-ing letters to our representatives, students are encouraged to apply for scholarships and financial aid. Seniors Austin Mier and Connor Wake recently won $2,500 schol-arships in the regional round of the DemandTec Retail Challenge. Sequoia’s DREAM Club helps

undocumented students find funds for higher education. Close to two-thirds of students who apply to UCs receive some financial aid, averaging approximately $14,000. Through loans, grants, and scholar-ships, the seemingly impossible-to-pay tuition fees become much more accessible, and hopes rise again for incoming freshmen.

Even small scholarships can make a difference. You can get a few hundred dollars for simply sub-mitting an essay or just submitting an application. Naviance notifies students of prospective scholarship opportunities and provides direc-tions and information to apply.

We encourage all students to take advantage of the scholarship opportunities made available to them and to find these opportuni-ties. Scholarship and financial aid opportunities present themselves in many different ways, and taking ad-vantage of these is vital for paying for higher education. Even though college applications have been sent, finding funds and applying for scholarships is just as important for Sequoia’s seniors over the next few months.

Scholarships help subsidize in-creasing cost of higher education

W h e n we were four we hid be-hind our b l a n -k e t s . W h e n

we were eight we hid be-hind our parents. When we reached middle school we hid behind the latest style trends. Now we hide behind our M.A.C. foundation and Sephora’s bright eye shadows and blushes.

For some high school girls, it’s impossible to feel confi-dent unless they look per-fect, which often just means covered in foundation.

S o m e s p e n d hours and hours ap-plying their makeup and some even refuse to leave the house without it. What do you gain from try-ing to look perfect? Who are you trying to impress? If you ask me, it’s pointless. Natural beauty is more beautiful than thick black eyeliner and gooey mascara.

There is a code that comes into effect once a child reaches high school. It’s looming around the corner, when you check out your friend’s cute older broth-er. It’s yelled in your face when you flirt with your friend’s girl-friend. It’s star-ing right back at you in the mir-ror, when your best friends tells

you that dress makes you look gross. It’s the code.

“Bro” is the title given to a friend who follows the “bro code” and who you trust with anything. The “bro code”, for those who don’t know, is a code between guy friends that states certain things that should not be done between two friends.

This includes some rules like, “bros before hoes,” that a bro will not go out with his friend’s sister, and if your friend likes a girl, don’t go out with her. The rule of “bros before hoes” does not mean that men are better then women at all, nor does it mean that all women are hoes, it’s just the only word that rhymes with bro. In-stead, a bro should know that if he is given the choice between a true friend and your girlfriend, whether she is mean or not, he should help his friend. This is the number one rule. This rule cannot be broken and if it is, there are consequences.

In the girl code, gossiping, lying, and backstabbing is not allowed. Have you ever seen a girl go to the bathroom alone? Of course not. Women travel in packs. Sharing an embarrassing se-cret to the whole school, which you swore you wouldn’t do, is just ridicu-lous. But most importantly, you will never be looked at the same if you buy the exact article of clothing that your friend has been wanting forever.

One of the extreme consequences is “dis-Broment,” which would mean the end of a friendship.

“If you don’t [follow the bro code] you could get people mad,” senior bro

Yordy Velasquez said.Not following these rules in a bro-

lationship can cause serious damage to the friendship. It could cause friends to stop talking or could end the trust between friends.

If you recently lost a friend from breaking the girl code it may seem important now, but that will not always be the case. High school drama is dumb and unnec-essary. Everyone knows love usually does not last for-ever in high school so before you dump your friends for the “love of your life” remember who lis-tened to you babble about all of the other ones before him. If you did ab-solutely nothing and the people who you thought were your friends decide to cause drama because they’re just bored with their own lives, they did you a favor.

“Stop being dramatic you high school girls,” English teacher Katie Karlin said. “Drama between friends

is a waste of time.” Despite the reason after a couple

weeks, the tiff will blow over and you’ll have a cool story to tell your kids some day.

“Girls are really emotional. [The code] has to do with being loyal to

your friends,” said sophomore Sa-mantha Peyton.

Compared to girls, boys seem to have been born able to turn their feelings on and off. Guys have the incredible ability to forgive almost immediately af-ter beating each other up, while a fight between

two girls can seal their friendship shut forever.

“There are parts of it that I think are very valuable,” Social Studies teacher Corey Uhalde said. “A lot of what it’s about are kind of standing up for oth-er people and respecting people.”

These are main points of the bro code, to respect your fellow bro and to stand up for your friends.

Makeup conceals insecurities

I understand that for some girls, applying makeup is an art. You may use it to feel bet-ter about yourself or to express yourself. I’m all for self expres-sion, but makeup shouldn’t define who you are as an indi-

vidual. You also

should not depend on it to the ex-tent where

you refuse to leave the house without it.

It’s easy to be influenced and inspired by celebrities to look and dress a certain way.

However, we sometimes start to dislike the way we look without makeup and cute clothes.

Therefore we do every-

thing in our power to try to fix that and we load up carts at Sephora. Some of those ce-lebrities are very insecure, and use their image and material-istic items to cover it up.

We need to embrace who we are. I know it’s easier said than done, (I have my mo-ments when I feel like a hot mess too), but if you start tell-ing yourself, you’re beautiful and some days you wear a lit-tle less makeup, you’ll become less dependent on it.

Try something, tomorrow come to school all natural. No eyeshadow. No foundation. Nothing! And when you wake up in the morning look in the mirror and tell yourself,you’re beautiful, but actually believe it because you are!

Feature 7

By TY DEWESand ARACELI EFIGENIOStaff Reporters

By TAISHA GRIFFIEStaff Reporter

Unwritten code builds respect between friends

Bro code rules:1. Bros don’t hit other bros in the groin.2. If a bro gets a dog, it must be taller than his knee.

Girl code rules:1. Girls are ALWAYS right. 2. Shopping always makes you feel better.

Photo illustration by taisha Griffie

Female students cover up what they don’t like with makeup.

IB DIPLOMA(continued from page 3)

Many people opt to do the IB certificate instead of the full diploma because they want to stick to a passion such as music or drama. Many students can find ways to complete the diploma while still doing their elective, but they might have to take a class over the summer or com-plete and independent study. Senior IB student Matt El-liott decided not to do the full diploma because he liked band.

“If you have an elective that you like, stick with it. While the IB diploma is a great way to show colleges that you took the most academically rigorous classes at your school, it is also a good thing to be a well-rounded student,” said Elliott.

Some students are not even sure whether they want to do the whole IB diploma when they start junior year.

“My mindset was that I was going to challenge myself, but it wasn’t a big deal if I didn’t get it,” said Parodi. It all worked out in the end.

“I got the IB diploma and it was very rewarding,” said Parodi.

Natural beauty is more beautiful than thick black eyeliner and gooey mascara.

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Sports

Six members of the cross country team ran in the eighth annual Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore. on Dec 3 for the second year in a row. These six members included sopho-mores Ty Dewes and Zoe Kriegler-Wenk, juniors Gaia Bouchard-Hall, Mariah Driver, Warren Van Vel-kinburgh and senior Manuel Avila Jr. These members were selected by the cross country coach, Andrew Hutchinson.

“It was a combination of our top performers and people I felt were young and up-and-coming and could really benefit from a trip to Oregon,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson and the selected mem-bers travelled via van to the Portland Meadows racetrack in Oregon.

According to Hutchinson, the team was able to finance this trip because of help from Sequoia’s ASB, selling ban-ners at Terremere Field, and donations

By DANIEL BLACK and ERICK CASTROStaff Reporters

from parents.“I didn’t really think that as a junior

I would be able to go,” said Driver.This year, the 47 runners in the

cross country team finished in sixth place in the Peninsula Athletic League standings for the boys team and fifth place for the girls team.

“The biggest problem obviously is that we’re not able to take everybody,” said Hutchinson, “but I think the peo-ple that are going are definitely excited about it. It’s a big deal.”

“I definitely wanted to be able to go with the whole team,” said Driver.

“It was more of a size issue, we couldn’t get a bigger van,” said Boucha-rd-Hall.

Last year, only three Sequoia boys went to Portland. These three includ-ed Manuel Avila Jr and Warren Van Velkinburgh. Because of this, the four other members that went this year did not know what to expect.

The annual Nike Cross Nationals race has been held at Portland Mead-ows in Oregon since 2004 and began with 21 boys teams, 20 girls teams,

and an estimated 4,000 spectators. This year, it had 22 qualifying boys

teams and 22 qualifying girls teams.The race included participants from

the East Coast and other regions of the country.

Before the nationals race, all run-ners took part in the open race, in which everyone who wanted to can run.

The race was 5-kilometers long and took place in the muddy inside of the

Cross country runs its way through nationals

Portland Meadows racetrack. Nike decorated the track with obstacles such as hay bales and hills that were constructed on site.

After the community race, the na-tionals race was held, in which Sarah Baxter, a girl from the Simi Vallery Cross Country Club in California and Futsum Zeinasellaissie, a boy from the Midwest Cross Country Club were named the 2011 Nike Cross Nationals champions.

8

From left: Ty Dewes, Manny Avila, Gaia Bouchard-Hall, and Warren Van Velkinburgh sport Sequoia purple in the Nike Cross Nationals open race.

GSA

(continued from page 3)

Last year the GSA took part in the National Day of Silence, which is an event where thousands of students across the nation take a vow of silence to bring attention to homophobic name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools. The GSA also went across the street to the Sequoia Station to lobby their views on Prop 8 and to inform people on how to vote. The GSA’s efforts have had an effect on how Sequoia functions. GSA members said they have not witnessed any public acts of ho-mophobia, though they do say they still hear “That’s so gay” or “fag” said in the hallways and classrooms. “If you were gay you tried to hide it, now if you’re homophobic you hide it,” said Davila. The GSA realizes that there is still much work to be done, though. “I think it’s beneficial for students to realize that they’re all going through the same thing even if it manifests itself in different ways because all teenagers are figuring out their identity, whether that’s your sexuality or what group you belong with or who your friends should be or whatever,” said Ra-num. “It’s a common struggle and so everybody in a school commu-nity should support each other in that struggle.”

Girls volleyball aces out senior boys

Girls Varsity Volleyball beat the senior boys Powder-puff team 3-1 Thursday, Dec. 9 in the second annual face-off. After its successful debut last year, the se-niors spent this fall in practices for the much antici-pated game. It went out with a bang before officially leaving the match to their underclassmen to remain in Sequoia tradition forever. As to be expected, the game was filled with Sequoia spirit, encouraging signs, and cheering fans. Most importantly, each team put up a good fight. Good work, seniors!

—LAUREN KIRKPATRICK

Photos by Lauren Kirkpatrick