The two-time Emmy-award winning series follows teenagers as they strive to achieve certain goals that they have set for themselves.
 
The audition process is open to any student at the school and involves a short questionnaire and interview. Students who are interested in applying are required to fill out a questionnaire about a current goal they are “passionate” about.
 
Individual interviews will last for about five minutes. After the casting process, the staff will review the interview tapes in their New York offices and subsequently decide on the “subjects” of their episodes. If a student from LAHS is selected, the MTV staff will speak with the parent and school administration before beginning filming.
 
MADE will provide for all the financial aspects of the student’s training process, including the hiring of a personal mentor or tutor and at least one month of intensive training. Previous MADE coaches or guest stars include Tony Hawk, Snoop Dogg, Panic! at the Disco and Eddie George.
 
“It’s actually very neat,” Moran said. “I think it’s a really good self-esteem building program, and it would also be a good promotion opportunity for LAHS if someone did get casted from our school.”
 
In previous episodes, MADE has helped teenagers achieve goals such as losing weight, becoming a model, making the school’s varsity softball team, joining the dance team, becoming a rapper or being crowned prom king and queen.
 
“I remember an episode I saw that involved a young lady who was trying to get on her school’s sport team,” Moran said. “It was interesting, because they got her a physical trainer and actually taught her how to lift weights. The viewers watched the entire process until she finally achieved her goal.”
 
Applications will be available tomorrow, Thursday, March 11th in the attendance office. Interviews will be held in the Eagle Theatre at 2:45 on Wednesday, March 24th.

The Eagles did not place in their division, which had twelve teams, but did win their two matches on Friday before losing their three on Saturday.

On Friday, they defeated Bullard High School of Fresno 5-1 and swept their matches against Ponderosa High School, which is east of Sacramento, 6-0.

However, the Eagles lost against Corona Del Mar High School and Valencia High School of Southern California. In their final game against Buchanon High School of Fresno, nearly every match came to a tie-breaker, most of which the Eagles lost.

Despite their 2-3 record from the tournament however, team members said they were not discouraged by the results and felt it prepared them for league play.

“In terms of matches we didn’t do that well,” junior Nick Frangos said. “But the teams are better than who we play here.”

Nick also said that the tournament was “fun … despite being in the middle of nowhere … and kind of a bonding experience.”

The Eagles returned from Fresno to win their subsequent league matches. They now hold a record of 3-0 in league after a 7-0 victory over Pinewood High School on Monday, March 8 and a 5-2 victory over rival Mountain View on Tuesday, March 9.

Three cars were vandalized in the student parking lot today, Wednesday, March 10.

Junior Scott Casas found his black Volvo XC90 vandalized when he walked out to the parking lot immediately after 6th period. According to Scott, the message “Get the f— out of my lot” was written in orange and blue paint on his back windshield.

Scott said he has a parking permit, but he forgot to display it because he switches cars often and arrived early that day for swim practice. Nevertheless, Scott found the vandalism aggravating.

“I was kind of pissed that someone wrote on my car,” Scott said. “I mean, I understand it wasn’t displayed, but it’s just annoying to take down.”

Scott said although it did not take long to erase the defacement, it did require water in order to get it off. Scott said he suspects that the vandals were a group of seniors.

Senior Plamena Koleva’s dark green car had the message “Permit?” written on the driver’s side window in orange paint.

Junior Christine Silver’s car was also vandalized.

Complaints by students have led school authorities to request that the Los Altos Police Department (LAPD) tickets students who park illegally or without permits in the school parking lot. This will continue as the school works with the police in an effort to, according to Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson, “step it up” with the ticketing process.

Tickets issued have been between $30 and $35.

“Typically the staff at the high school will notify us when it looks like there are a lot of vehicles that are parked illegally, and we’ll go out and do some enforcement action,” School Resource Officer Mark Laranjo said.

The parking issue is “the same as it is every year,” according to Dawson. This is because parking spaces are limited, and many students with permits are not able to find a place in the lot. As a result, students have been creating illegal spots, which administrators say has angered students.

“It’s highly frustrating for people who have paid,” Dawson said. “I want [parking] to be equitable, and I want kids who come here and have a permit to be able to park. It’s fair.”

Many students who do not have permits and sophomores who have recently begun to drive are parking in the student lot without permission, limiting the spaces available to those with permits.

Because of the lack of space in the lot, several permitted students, staff and substitutes with permits or designated spots are parking illegally and have been ticketed.

“[Ticketing] is something that we’ve always done to make sure that there are students out there not abusing parking privileges,” Laranjo said.
According to Laranjo, the LAPD has received some complaints in the past. However, the officer said he considers the parking enforcement system effective.

The LAPD has a list of students with permits which they check to make sure that students who park in the lot are legally doing so.

Administrators said that they are trying to work towards a solution.

“I have to ticket so that illegal parking is thwarted,” Dawson said. “In the meantime, unfortunately, there are some repercussions.”

Many students with parking permits do not feel that it is fair for them to be ticketed in this particular situation.

Senior Adi Yogev has a student parking permit but was ticketed for parking in a staff spot.

“It’s unfair–what else was I supposed to do?” Adi said. “I’m not going to park off campus if I have a permit. I was mad that I got a ticket because when you buy your permit you are supposed to be guaranteed a spot. It sucks because I waited an hour in line and spent $25 on a permit so that I wouldn’t get ticketed, and apparently it was just a waste of money and time.”

According to an anonymous female senior who parks in the lot without a permit, “selling parking permits only on one day isn’t fair.”

The senior has never been ticketed for parking in the lot without a permit and said she “didn’t think it was a big deal because there were a lot of empty parking spaces.”

The school is currently working on a plan to combat the parking issue next year.

“The way [the administration and LAPD] is doing it now obviously isn’t preventing enough people without permits from parking in the lot and is only screwing over people like me who had no choice,” Adi said.

Social studies teacher Seth Donnelly (right) chats with local Haitians.

With dust-covered toes and calloused hands, English teacher Ryan Ikeda and social studies teacher Seth Donnelly wandered through the streets of Haiti, side-stepping rubble from fallen buildings and damaged sewage pipes.

The two teachers traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti with high school organization One Dollar for Life (ODFL). They spent 5 days of their winter break distributing $8,500 and 6 duffel bags of medical supplies to various programs.

The funds were raised by Bay Area high schools, and supplies were donated by a local nurse. These were distributed to six Haitian organizations including Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Pétionville (SOPUDEP), Fondayson KoleZepol, SAKALA, MOJUB, a Haitian medical clinic and FOPAD.

The programs serve youth activism and education, empower women, provide medical provisions and help social work services for children and families in Haiti.

“As far as the aid, phase one is kind of complete, which is the immediate damage after the earthquake and getting food,” Ikeda said.

But Ikeda said that these efforts are just the tip of the iceberg, and efforts need continuity in order to really help the Haitians.

“Even though it has moved off front-page news in the media, there is still a lot of help that is needed and a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done,” Ikeda said. “It’s a multi-year process and not just a one-month type of thing.”

According to Donnelly, although immediate needs such as food and water shortage are currently being addressed, new issues are arising from lack of sufficient shelter.

The teachers noticed that many Haitians are now forced to sleep on the ground. Donnelly said that he saw “a lot of wounds and infections” during his trip.

“Now that [the] rainy season is kicking in, the rain water will mix with the mud on the ground and the open sewage lines, and we could be looking at a major health problem,” Donnelly said.

The team slept in tents near the Port-au-Prince airport in the MediShare camp, currently a makeshift volunteer hospital in the city. Documentation of the trips to Dalmas, Pagendo and Cite é Soleil, neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, was preserved in photos and video footage that will be published on the ODFL website, www.odfl.org.

In addition to distributing funds and relief, the team helped survey the land to purchase property for new schools.

“We assessed the land damage and the building damage of different areas to make sure they were still safe,” Ikeda said.

Plans to further raise awareness include a possible student trip to Haiti in the summer. Though the trip is still pending, the teachers hope that this experience will help not only Haitians, but the students as well.

“In the aftermath of the earthquake there was a heightened interest [in helping out],” Donnelly said. “It would be a chance to really establish people-to-people ties between our students and the Haitian youth and community activists.”

At the moment, the trip’s chances of happening are still up in the air, although Donnelly is “fairly confident” that the teachers will be able to organize a safe trip.

Regardless of whether efforts for the trip are fruitful, other donations are still greatly appreciated and encouraged.

The teachers are planning on screening another film for students sometime in upcoming weeks in hopes of renewing the Haiti fundraiser.

“Even though there’s 20,000 US troops in Haiti now … we didn’t see a lot of reconstruction being done by the soldiers,” Donnelly said. “There’s large parts of the city that seem straight-up neglected where the aid’s not reaching.”

After speaking at the school during Writers Week on the night of Tuesday, February 9, Copeland expressed interest in the program and returning to the school to perform his show. Fifty percent of the proceeds generated will be donated to the PTSA, which funds Writers Week.

“This is really very generous on his part,” said Debra Strichartz, Co-Chair of the Writers Week committee. “We really want to fill the auditorium with people from the community to take advantage of this opportunity.”

The hour-long show is open to students as well as others in the community. Student tickets are priced at $15 and adult tickets are $35. A $75 VIP package will also be offered, which includes an autographed hard back copy of his book “Not a Genuine Black Man” and admittance into a reception with Copeland after the show.

The PTSA plans on forming a bigger committee with students in order to help raise publicity for the event.

“They need help … communicating with the student body,” said junior Libby Strichartz, Co-President of the Juntos club. “They want us to really publicize, and we’ll be selling tickets and hanging up posters and just kind of making [the event] known on campus.”

Copeland’s show is based off of his experiences growing up as an African-American in the Bay Area suburbs of San Leandro in the 1970s. Then 99.99 percent white, according to www.briancopeland.com, San Leandro was “considered in the 1960s and 70s to be one of America’s most racist enclaves.”

A review by The New York Times said, “Copeland’s wit is the spoonful of sugar that helps his sad stories go down.”

”He performs multiple characters,” said English teacher Galen Rosenberg, also a member of the Writers Week committee. “He even acts out dialogue between different characters.”

The Writers Week committee hopes to publicize the show in hopes of a successful turnout.

“It’s a really popular show that plays all over the country,” Strichartz said. “We’re really lucky at LAHS.”

The Art Club hosted its second annual Art Auction on Tuesday, March 2. The event was held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the school cafeteria. All artwork sold was original student work.

“Artworks are donated by students, so it is a volunteer basis,” art teacher and Art Club adviser Christine An said.
This year, the club made $2,215 in profits compared to last year’s $2,000.

Half of the profits goes directly to students, and the other half of the money goes toward the Student Scholarship Fund. The money will be providing scholarships for this year’s Art Department trip to Germany and Poland from Wednesday, April 7 to Friday, April 16.

“We want to be as inclusive as possible and allow as many students to go,” An said.

Although the event was two hours, the students spent weeks on their art.

“It’s a lot of work,” Art Club member junior Susan Gao said. “That’s why not everybody [was] willing to have their art work sold.”

The entire event was organized by students who volunteered their time to help put up fliers around the school and in shopping centers, brought food for the potluck and decided prices and tags for the art.

“You have to think about how much time and effort went into these artworks,” An said. “Students volunteer the artworks that they have created and they’re putting the event together. If we have to make $2,000-$3,000 we have to put in a lot of artworks to the auction. All the organization is done by students so it is a huge accomplishment for them.”

Many students felt satisfied with selling their artworks.

“After you sell you feel really good because you know that you are helping someone,” senior Sydney Manning said. “You know that you are making someone happy because they buy [the artwork] and hang it in their house, and you’re also helping someone else to fund their art trip.”

At the auction, items ranged from $30 to $100. Digital photos that were 8 by 10 inches cost $40 and larger drawings and paintings were $60 to $100.

A German and Polish potluck dinner was provided as a theme for the art trip. Many students said they felt rewarded by selling their personal art and photos.

“It feels good to see someone like [your artwork],” senior Helen Broering said. “It reinforces your confidence that you have the ability to make art and share it.”

In addition, the auction was a fun social event for everyone involved.

“Many art students came and socialized, so it was a nice place to talk to people you haven’t talked to for a while,” Art Club board member junior Marika Lee said. “Another highlight was seeing the reaction of students when someone buys their works; they get really happy and excited.”

An said that she is proud that her students were able to use the auction to display all the of the hard work, time and effort that they put into their art work and organizing the event.

“For artworks to be put out in public and for the public to come see, enjoy and purchase the artworks is a huge validation for the students’ effort, art skills and talent,” An said.

“Después de hablar con la administración del nivel consejario, nosotros sentimos que tenemos que regresar a nuestro horario original, porque no hemos tenido suficiente preparación, ni le hemos dado suficiente tiempo a los profesores para tomar el cambio,” dijo la Directora Wynne Satterwhite. “Además, las dos escuelas anotaron muy bien el año pasado [entre el tiempo regular del examen].”

Esta alternativa del horario incluye extendiendo el STAR por dos semanas, desde el lunes, el 19 de abril hasta el viernes, el 30 de abril. Los estudiantes hubieran recibido 2 horas en la mañana para tomar parte del examen, y luego asistieron a sus clases regulares por 60 minutos cada una.

Según la profesora de física Karen Davis, una de las razones para cambiar el horario este año era la preocupación de que los estudiantes de doceavo estuvieran fuera de la escuela, ya que el STAR les da tres días sin escuela.
“Yo lo encuentro frustrante que hubo tanto tiempo de inactividad [en la propuesta del horario],” dijo Davis. “Pero me gusta la idea de tener clase cada día.”

Varios estudiantes dijeron que prefierían el horario tradicional del STAR ya que sintían que extender el examen pudiera causarles estrés adicional.

“Yo personalmente pienso que acabar con el examen lo más pronto como posible me causaría menos estrés,” dijo Jose Villanueva. “Una vez que yo estoy en el modo del examen, estoy en la zona, y hacer eso por varios días no me funcionaría.”

Con el horario propuesto, los estudiantes de doceavo grado no hubieran sido permitidos en la escuela mientras el examen estuviera llevándose a cabo, pero hubiera sido requerido asistir a sus clases regulares después del examen. Sin embargo ahora, ya no tienen que asistir a la escuela durante el tiempo del examen, excepto para una presentación de dos a tres horas en miércoles, el 21 de abril a las 8:15 a.m. en el Teatro de las Águilas.

“Mantener el horario original me da tiempo extra para visitar las universidades en que podría estar interesado el año entrante,” dijo James Gray ,estudiante de onceavo. “Pero más importante, finalmente me permite relajarme.”

Jazz Ensemble will be hosting its annual Jazz Ensemble Guest Artist Concert on Saturday, March 27. The concert will take place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Eagle Theatre.

This year’s event will invite the San Jose Jazz Orchestra, of which Music Department Director Ted Ferrucci is currently a member. The San Jose Jazz Orchestra is a local flagship ensemble, featuring world-renowned musicians who also happen to reside in the Silicon Valley.

According to Ferrucci, the Music Department has hosted the Guest Artist Concert for the past 11 years he has been at the school and has even featured Grammy-winning artists in the past.

“I think if there’s one event that a non-musical student would want to attend, they would definitely enjoy this [concert] the most,” Ferrucci said. “It’s going to be a really high energy concert from start to finish very audience-friendly.”

The show’s first set will open with second jazz ensemble’s debut, and its first performance of this year. Over the course of the show, the audience will also hear pieces played by both advanced jazz ensemble and the San Jose Jazz Orchestra, including “The Narrows,” a piece written by San Jose’s bassist Gus Kambeitz. Other compositions to be played at the concert include “Brazil,” arranged by Michael Philip Mossman, and “Tuning Up,” arranged by Toshiko Akiyoshi.

“It’s probably my favorite concert of the year because we get to play with talented professional musicians,” senior Tim Neiman said.

Before the night concert takes place, master classes and workshops will be held during the afternoon. Members of the San Jose Jazz Orchestra will lead these classes. During this time, professionals will be teaching and working alongside students in the Jazz Ensemble.

“It’s really cool because all of the people that come to work with us on songs are close friends with [Ferrucci], and they’re super helpful,” junior Jordan Hamel said.

In preparation for its Guest Artist Concert, members of Jazz Ensemble also had the opportunity to work with Kambeitz directly on his piece.

“Right now we’re still working up our own set of music and sorting through the pieces we’re going to play, but all the groups sound really great,” Ferrucci said. “Our advanced jazz ensemble is one of the best I’ve had in all my years.”

The concert will run an estimated 2 hours and 30 minutes, according to Ferrucci. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students and may be purchased at the door prior to the performance.

The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) plans to participate in several different awareness campaigns throughout the spring. The club is looking to host the “Week of Silence” in late March and has also donated money to other causes.

Currently the club is planning for the national Week of Silence event. GSA has traditionally held a Day of Silence to represent the struggles of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community. Last year, however, GSA expanded its Day of Silence into a week-long awareness event, which the club hopes to do again this year.

“People get way more into a Week of Silence [than a Day of Silence], and they participate more the more they know about [the LGBT community],” GSA President junior Ali Nowakowski said. “It educates students about the LGBT [population] so that they can make more informed decisions on how they act.”

The week is comprised of announcements that are meant to shed light on the difficulties the LGBT community faces.
However, during the official Day of Silence students are encouraged to duct tape their mouths to show their support. According to the official website of the Day of Silence, the purpose of the duct tape is to “illustrate the silencing effect of this bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.”

“I feel that it’s important… because I think the LGBT community is limited and I believe everyone should be treated equal in society,” GSA Vice-President junior Jennifer Cooper said. “They aren’t lesser people. I feel like I should be a part of promoting that in our school and society.”

The dates for Week of Silence are yet to be determined because of scheduling issues. This is because the official Week of Silence occurs over spring break, so GSA must find an alternative time.

Earlier this semester, GSA also participated in a Phelps-a-thon event at Gunn High School. The event was organized in response to the protests of the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas against the LGBT community there.

In order to help out, the LAHS GSA raised about $45 to donate to Gunn’s GSA Club on Friday, January 29.

“The people doing the protest seemed to not have much logic, so instead we decided to donate to Gunn High School GSA directly,” Jennifer said. “We decided we weren’t going to go to the protest because we didn’t know if it would be violent, and we don’t want to get involved in that.”

The GSA has also been thinking of helping out the rest of the LGBT community by finding a teen runaway shelter at which members can volunteer.

“The shelters are for when teens or anybody comes out to their parents and are kicked out because they aren’t accepted anymore,” Jennifer said. “The shelters support kids through rough times, so maybe we would help talk to people or cook or clean or do whatever they need for our help.”

The club has been intending to volunteer since early fall but has yet to begin working on it.

“We are currently looking at helping out at Larkin Street Youth Services, which is located in San Francisco,” Ali said. “We have not spoken to them yet but will do so over the break to see how we can start to help.”

The GSA hopes to make one message clear to everybody: All are welcome, and all are safe.

“We are dedicated to helping the community, and [we make sure that anything said] does not leave the room,” Jennifer said. “We are there to support anyone and help the community in a secure environment.”