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February 17, 2011 Convent of the Sacred Heart High School | San Francisco, California Volume 15, Issue 4
the broadviewConvent of the Sacred Heart HSSchools of the Sacred Heart2222 BroadwaySan Francisco, CA 94115
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4 Sophomore spends semes-ter at Sacred Heart school in New York City
▶ The fifth annual Simple Gifts Fashion Show is scheduled to take place in the Main Hall tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $30. Money raised at the event will benefit several charities supported by the club. The runway show will feature clothes by student designer Juliet Charnas along with outfits from stores such as J.Crew, Levi’s, Athleta, Mar-malade and L&F.
▶ Tomorrow is the last day of school before Winter Break. Classes will resume on February 28.
▶ Tomorrow during Princi-pal’s Meeting students are scheduled to watch por-tions of the documentary “Pink Smoke Over the Vati-can” and participate in a presentation about women attempting to become ordained by the Catholic Church. The Rev. Victoria Rue will be interviewed by Women’s Studies students about her own ordination experience.
10 CSH parent battles illness, inspires daughter to shed light on breast cancer statistics
6-7 Alumnae compete for jobs in complex and evolving job market
news in brief
Visiting team determines CSH accreditation, meets with students
School reflectson first semesterof coed classes
Senior Christina Perkins dis-cusses student life at CSH with David Bush, a member of the Visiting Team from the Western Association of Schools and Col-leges/California Association of Independent Schools (WASC) — an organization responsible for reaccreditation of CSH and the other three schools. More than a dozen students gath-ered in the library on Monday for a discussion with WASC visiting team members.
Introducing iPad
Rising sophomores and incoming freshman are slated to be the first
group of students participating in a pilot program integrating Apple Computer’s iPad into select classes, with the goal of making the technology stan-dard for all students within the next few years.
“I ’m a big believer in blending technology into the classroom to enrich and engage students in the curriculum,” Head of School Andrea Shurley said. “I was quite excited that we will be able to use the iPad for innovative custom content.”
Shurley has been working with a group of faculty, headed by Computer Science Depart-ment Chair Tracy Anne Sena, who first pitched the iPad pro-gram, and theology teacher Paul Pryor-Lorentz, over the last few months to develop a program that will incorporate in-class note taking, presentation slide shows and other media into the classroom.
“I’m old-fashioned, but I’m really excited about the pos-sibilities this will hold,” art his-tory teacher Sunnie Evers said. Evers, who teaches sophomore Art Foundations focused on Renaissance art added, “There is an app that allows students to make their own collection of favorite pieces of art, and to
create flashcards to study with online”
The pilot program will likely be financed by some sort of copay program in which stu-dents will share the cost of the iPad they take home everyday with the school, but the tech-nology will remain the property of CSH. Shurley said she is “cer-tainly interested” in exploring the option of allowing students to purchase their iPad from the school after graduation.
Despite the concern that technology in the classroom might prove more of a distrac-tion than a help, Shurley is confident that the precautions teachers will take will be ef-fective.
“With the iPad, unlike laptops, only one app can be opened at a time,” Shurley said. “This should keep students on the task and focusing.”
While many specifics are still to be determined, the reac-tion amongst rising sophomores has been overwhelmingly posi-tive.
“I’m really excited to get the iPads,” freshman Natalie Helms said. “It’ll be nice to take notes on it instead of trying to organize papers and manage pages of notes.”
Teachers participating in the pilot program received their iPads last Thursday and are meeting bi-monthly to build integrated curriculum.
AVA MARTINEZ | the broadview
Theology teacher Paul Pryor-Lorentz places an inventory label on an iPad for use by a faculty member. Teachers involved in the program received their iPads last Thursday and will begin curriculum development immediately.
After one semester of a coed program with SHHS, reactions remain mixed among students and administrators in the community.
“I honestly don’t know how the coed program is going,” science department chair Raymond Cinti said. “It’s great to have an opportu-nity to teach these gentlemen, and they are clearly interested, hard-working students, but there are too many variables at play here to make a definitive statement. How do we measure the success?”
Dean Rachel Simpson said she has seen a positive atmosphere develop in the recent semester.
“Teachers and students have said that they are enjoying the inter-actions with the boys,” Simpson said. “They are seeing these conversations as a great enhancement to their classroom experience.”
Initial discomfort arose with the male presence in the classroom, but according to students, many are now used to the change.
“I at first worried about raising my hand,” senior Charlotte Coover said. “I was thinking more about what I was going to say in front of
iPads to be adapted into classesZoë Newcomb Editor-in-Chief
for more on reaccreditation SEE PG. 2 ZOË NEWCOMB | the broadview
SEE COED PG. 2
news2 February 17, 2011
Two students from a school in Chile — one of whom got more than she bargained for — are auditing classes at CSH through early March.
Carolina Allende, a junior from Villa Maria Academy in Santiago, developed appendicitis and had to have surgery during the second week of the exchange.
“It was very scary, weird, and it happened very fast,” Allende said. “I was not in school for four days, but now I’m perfect.”
Her classmate Sophia Sande, also a junior, lives with the same family in San Francisco. Allende and Sande talk by Skype, an Internet video conferencing software, with their siblings and parents almost everyday.
Allende runs track and Sande plays the piano and tennis as extra-curriculars in Chile. The girls have more free time on their hands because they have no demanding commit-ments like sports so they use their free time to explore San Francisco, Sande said.
“[After school] we try to go to different parts of the city like Chestnut Street, Union Street
and Union Square,” Allende said. The girls are currently on summer vacation from school in Chile, and are using their time to take other classes in the U.S.
While Sande’s favorite subject in Chile is physics, she has found CSH history classes interesting because
they give her a unique perspective on the world. Allende favors biology in Chile because she gets to conduct many experiments, but at CSH she prefers art because she gets to express herself in different ways.
Sande said meeting new people and trying out different classes has been fun, but being new can be a challenge.
“I love being able to make new friends — some that might turn out to be friends for a long time,” Sande said. “But it is also hard to make a connection with some people because
I feel like a ‘new girl.’”While difficult, the benefits of
the experience make it worthwhile for Sande.
“I wanted to come to an ex-change because I wanted to live with a new family, experience a new culture and practice my English,” Sande said.
Both girls have inspired members of the student body about going on an exchange and how to cope with tragic things that happen away from your family.
“After having talked to Caro-lina and Sofia on the bus I really want to go on an exchange pro-gram out of the States like to Spain
or Mexico because I can get a full immersion into that language and cul-ture,” freshman Abby Newbold said.
The immersion experience has made an impression on both girls, who say the opportunity has opened their eyes to the world and the dif-ferences between cultures around the world.
“I would go on an exchange again,” Allende said. “Even if I had to go to the hospital one more time because I would not want to miss the opportunity to go into the culture and make new friends.”
Students honored civil rights activists in a performance highlighting the struggles of African American slaves and racism in American history in an as-sembly last Friday in the Syufy Theatre.
“I think it’s important to have celebrations and such to continue and remember the dreams and triumphs of the civil rights movement,” said sopho-more Jewel Devorawood.
The cast performed African Amer-ican poems, dialogues and songs that they have rehearsed for the past three months under the guidance of English department chair Karen Randall dur-ing Breakfast Club, lunch periods and after school.
“My experience has been amazing,“ said freshman Ayesha Sayeed. “At first I was hesitant with the upperclassmen, but they were really welcoming and we worked on a great show together.”
The 50-minute performance brought tears to the eyes of many
students and faculty, and the audience rose to a standing ovation after the final performance.
The performance as a whole con-sisted of several different segments — such as God Bless a Child by Billie Holiday sung by Natalie Sullivan, and Harlem Sweeties by Langston Hughes performed by several group members.
Sayeed, the only freshman per-forming in the group, gave a monologue about the experiences of Ruby Bridges — an African-American girl who at-tended a segregated school
“I hope people take away that the struggle African Americans went through to be noticed, heard and treated like human beings was long and hard, yet worth every protest and rally,” said Devorawood. “I also hope they take away the more general message that all dreams, no matter how big or small are worth the fight to achieve.”
— Julia Nemy
COED CONTINUED FROM PG. 1class.”Difficulties in the program’s im-
plementation, such as the distance between the Stuart Hall and Convent campuses, continue to be discussed by the administration.
“There are still areas of concern and evaluation,” Simpson said. “But we are working on developing shuttles between campuses. We are working on program improvements that will pre-serve the depth, breadth and variety of our programs, including providing the unique single-sex education Convent has always offered.”
Curriculum alignment also pres-ents an issue, especially in preparing underclassmen for higher level classes as juniors and seniors.
Questions were raised as to wheth-er the new environment would present distractions to students, but for many
students this has not been a noticeable problem.
“Everyone is focused because they’re in higher-level classes,” said SHHS junior Harry Conrad. “I like the coed program because I appreciate the chance to take these courses. Though it would help if the two schools worked together to try to make the course systems as similar as possible so that the girls and guys can be on the same page.”
The administration is still decid-ing which classes will remain coed next year.
“We are working to answer which classes provide for a positive platform of the coed experience,” Simpson said. “Overall we are finding a way to bring to life the concept of what is the best of both worlds, with positive coed development and aspects of Convent’s single gender academic environment.” — Mika Esquivel-Varela
MLK Jr. honored in assembly
SOPHIA REDFERN | the broadview
Freshman Ayesha Sayeed and seniors Briana Davis and Ronella Rosenberg perform in “Dedication to a Dream,” a tribute to civil rights. English department chair Karen Randall organized the production.
CAROLINA ALLENDE SOPHIA SANDE
Students who will turn 18 or older on or before Nov. 8 will be able to reg-ister and vote for mayor in the upcom-ing election which already has over 20 candidates registered for the race.
Former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s resignation upon being elected Lieuten-ant Governor of California has familiar candidates including former Supervi-sor Bevan Dufty, state Senator Leland Yee, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting and former Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier (CSH ’86, CES ’82) vying for the post.
“Bevan Dufty, Leland Yee, Dennis
Herrera and Phil Ting seem to be the top four candidates,” political consul-tant Johnny K. Wang said. “Herrera is well known for being the city attorney and his good policies. Yee has a long his-tory in politics. He is popular with the ‘left side’ and older generations. Dufty is well-spoken and is most likely going to be the swing vote. Ting doesn’t have any enemies and wants to cut excess spending.”
The deadline to enter the can-didacy for the election is in August, leaving time for more candidates to enter the race.
“This year in San Francisco a difference is that [the candidates] are focused on the economy, the budget deficit and cutting costs,” Wang said. “But they don’t want to cut pensions and public workers. In past years it has been focused on education and other social problems.”
Candidates’ platforms currently are focused on the economy, balancing the budget and cutting spending.
California residents can register to vote at sos.ca.gov. Out-of-state college students can vote in their home state’s local elections by absentee ballot.
— Becky Lee
Chilean exchange students come to SFMika Esquivel Varela Reporter
CSH community reflects on co-ed class experience this year
Plethora of candidates join in mayoral race
The four-school community hosted a committee of educators this week to assess the school’s cur-riculum, goals and running of the school as part of the accreditation process by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
“Accreditation means that the Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco meets the standards of excellence established by the CAIS, California Association of Inde-pendent Schools, and the WASC,” self-study coordinator Shiela Chat-terjee said.
WASC is one of six private, nonprofit, regional accrediting as-sociations in the United States. It is designed to help schools review and clarify their purpose and goals for students, and to develop plans to accomplish the goals.
Members of the WASC team sat in on multiple classes throughout the day. They sat in silently to watch how classes operated and hear stu-dents’ discussions.
During D period on Monday a group of students gathered in the library for discussions with some of the WASC members. Students were questioned about student life, com-munity and academics.
In addition to student volun-
teers, faculty was invited to speak with the visiting members.
Eighteen members oversaw a 13-chapter self-study report filed last December that analyzed financ-es, development and fundraising, health and safety and the academic program. Educators from private schools throughout California vis-ited the Convent and Stuart Hall campuses, hosting interviews, at-tending classes and presenting their
recommendations to the staff and faculty at the end of their visit.
“The organization comes into schools to judge if the school meets the minimum requirement in order to earn the school a distinction,” Cur-riculum Coordinator Doug Grant said. “It is a non-profit organization that strengthens schools and sets the standards of academics.”
— Stephanie Gee
Accreditation team visits CSH, 4-Schools; assesses community
ZOE NEWCOMB | the broadview
David Bush, a member of the Visiting Team from Western Association of Schools and Colleges/California Association of Independent Schools (WASC) participates in a discussion with students including senior Christina Perkins. The WASC visiting team plans to evaluate student responses to help with their assessment of the Four Schools.
SOPHIA REDFERN the broadview
Robin Juan (‘01) (left) and Kristen Harkonen (‘01) observe a plant dipped in resin between glass at the grand opening of the exhibit, “Between New Moons” at HungryMan Gallery. Both Juan and Harkonen’s mothers attended the opening of the new exhibit at HungryMan Gallery. A majority of the pieces are made from natural resources, plants and wax in particular. The few exceptions are photographs, which combine real pictures with illustrations and designs. HungryMan gallery has two locations, one in San Francisco and one in Chicago. In addition to running the San Francisco gallery, both women balance second jobs in the art field.
Two CSH alumnae have found a way to mix business and pleasure by working together
to showcase their love of art. Rather than working a typical 9-to-5 job under another artist’s name, they set out to establish themselves in the art world.
Kristen Harkonen (’01) and Rob-in Juan (’01) run HungryMan Gallery, founded by Juan in 2008. Friends and neighbors since the third grade, Har-konen and Juan developed their careers in the arts separately before reconvening under a single vision.
“It was natural for us to work to-gether,” Harkonen said. “We share the same point of view in art and curating.”
Both Harkonen and Juan credit their college experiences for building a strong foundation for their skills. Juan focused in photography and art history at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she began Hungry-Man in 2009.
“I believe that starting the gallery in Chicago while still an undergrad was
one the best moves I made,” Juan said. “I learned so much about conducting myself in a relaxed professional setting and dealing with all kinds of people. I still learn things everyday from running the gallery.”
Harkonen says her studio arts major at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) helped her find internships at galleries where she learned about day-to-day operations.
“I was able to start the student art gallery at LMU, which gave me the confidence to run a gallery in San Francisco,” Harkonen said.
After college Harkonen relocated to San Francisco, working various in-ternships and gallery jobs before be-coming director and curator at Hyde Street Gallery. Harkonen asked Juan to curate a show there, and after the gallery closed, Harkonen moved to the newly opened HungryMan. As director of operations, Harkonen helps Juan organize artists before an exhibition and discuss placement of the work, while also managing press releases and marketing for exhibitions.
“I enjoy working in a small, young company and learning about the adver-
tising and marketing world,” Harkonen said. “I get to work with artists and run my own business. It gives me the freedom to experiment and provides lots of learning.”
Harkonen also works at John Mc-Neil Studio in business development. Juan juggles jobs as well, working as a graphic designer for Wells Fargo and as a photographer.
“I’ve applied my photographic skills to something that I can actually get paid to do,” Juan said. “And then I’ve applied my curatorial skills to my photography. Everything is intercon-nected in a strange way. The disadvan-tage is that I am ridiculously busy and I am finding it much more difficult to make time for my photography. I’ve had a nonstop year. The advantage is that I love what I am doing, and I don’t think I would be happy any other way.”
While proud of their accomplish-ments, Juan sees the gallery as a starting point for her and Harkonen’s careers.
“This is definitely better than what I pictured for myself right after I gradu-ated from college,” Juan said. “It’s kind of unreal. But in terms of a whole life career goal, I’m not even close.”
Submersed in the bustling crowds of New York City, sophomore Eliza Klyce’s experience as an
exchange student for a semester at Con-vent of the Sacred Heart High School in New York City (91st Street) forced her to grapple with the issues of being an independent teenager experiencing an entirely new school.
Klyce adjusted to nine 45-minute periods per day, which was a change from her four or three periods a day at CSH San Francisco.
“There were so many subjects everyday and homework for each,” Klyce said. “My major issue was that there was no lunch period, it was just a free period if you had one — and thank goodness I did.”
Adjusting to her new school cur-riculum at 91st Street, Klyce noticed that students appeared to be very serious and competi-tive with their academics.
“It was very competitive because each person was in a rat race to get into an Ivy League [college],” Klyce said. “I had to stay on top of my assignments because it was easy for teachers to deduct points if homework was done incorrectly.”
The classrooms physical size are larger, the courses are only single sex and students seem to have more formal relationships with their teachers.
“We are closer with our teachers,” Klyce said. “At CSH they are more like mentors, but in New York they are more like college professors.”
One of the best parts of the experi-ence for Klyce was the food.
“The amazing thing was that the food was free at the cafeteria, the quality of the food was delicious and they had actual porcelain plates,” Klyce laughed while reminiscing. “It was like eating in a tearoom, but I missed those croissants.
Starting the school year in New York in September, Klyce enjoyed the weather of the last days of an East Coast summer, but by the time De-cember finals hit, Klyce found the cold unbearable while wearing the school’s strict uniform
“The problem was that you had to wear the skirt — no exceptions,” Klyce said. “There were no sweat pants,catches
or boots — only skirts and sweaters. During final exam week the weather would be freezing and your lifelines were knitted tights and the school’s gray wool skirt.”
Despite differences in the atmo-sphere between 91st Street and San Francisco, Klyce found the Five Goals to be a unifying bond between the school.
“The Goal that stands out to me the most is Goal Two, which is a deep respect for intellectual values,” Margaret Savino, Upper School Head of 91st Street, said. “It is about curios-ity, the willingness to explore various academic mediums, the willingness to teach through different strategies, and most crucial, the willingness to internal-ize that very phrase ‘intellectual values’.”
Even though Klyce focused on her studies in New York she also remained active as an athlete.
“I am an international foil fencer,” Klyce said. “I know I was in a new
place, but I researched areas and ended up at the Empire United Fencing Club and Fencers Club so that I could get some practice in.”
Klyce says having both sports and academ-ics in New York gave her a familiar rhythm that made
her feel more at home. “I think that kids should play a
sport that they love no matter where they are,” Eliza’s mother Ellen Klyce said. “Not letting them play a sport that they are passionate about is like telling them they can’t go to school because sports are as much a part of education as is math and science.”
Living in New York, Klyce had to learn money management and how to consolidate resources.
“I didn’t have the luxury to do a lot of shopping. Most of my money went to cabrides so that I could get around town or to school.” Klyce said.
Klyce said she also learned how to keep her studies under control and described it as being an “almost adult” experience.
“I had a sense of freedom and was less dependent on my parents,” Klyce said. “This exchange to 91st Street was not only a wonderful experience aca-demically, but it also taught me many life lessons that I know I will use when I go to college and beyond.”
sacred heartthe broadview 3
Sara Kloepfer Managing Editor
Isabelle Pinard Reporter
Eliza Klyce
International Aid is organizing a Global Aid Forum in March to educate students about opening
nonprofit organizations and inform them about international issues.
The club supports organizations around the world that focus on humani-tarian relief, particularly for women and children.
“Our big event each year is the Global Aid Forum,” club co-head Elena Dudum said. “We allow speakers to talk about their experience and their successes and struggles. Hopefully the speakers will inspire students to get involved or support in some way.”
Students can buy merchandise from an organization, tell their parents or donate money to help a cause accord-ing to Dudum.
“This is really important, espe-cially for high school students who tend
to get caught up in their own lives and forget that there is more than just what they are doing and there is a change they can make,” Dudum said.
Dudum emphasizes the impor-tance of action that comes along with being a member of the club.
“I want to get the members to be less talk and more walk,” Dudum said. “We want them to start participating and realize that supporting these groups is more than just donating money.”
Club members are organizing the Honduras Literacy Drive which will collect books to children in need. Se-niors Kiara Molina and Anjali Shrestha, who are heading the event, encourage students to provide reading materials for a newly-built Honduran library, pro-moting literacy in the local community.
“Students get to feel like they are a part of something,” Molina said. “They know that they are helping people become more educated by offering educational tools. They are helping people in need who live in marginalized
towns, and [students] who participate know that their efforts are promoting literacy and making the Honduran people want to read.”
International Aid has lent support to organizations like Amnesty Interna-tional, the Global Fund for Women, Lend for Peace and Invisible Children as well as the American Anti-Slavery Organization in the past.
“I believe it’s an educational expe-rience,” faculty advisor Theresa Padden said. “Being part of this club allows our students to feel empowered to do something. Here, they have a voice, a significance.”
Club members not only help women and children around the world, but also gain new perspectives through the experience according to Padden.
“We want to create global citizens,” Padden said. “It’s altruistic. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more you’re capable of affecting change. All of this work is a constant process.”
Liz Smith Asst. Sports Editor
SOPHIA REDFERN the broadview
Club encourages international outlook
Alumnae duo head art gallery
Sophomore reflects on timeat NYC Sacred Heart school
“Between New Moons” (left) is a photographic and sculptural work by Chicago-based artist Heidi Norton, and a current in-stallation at HungryMan Gallery and will hang through March 20. Other unnamed pieces by Nor-ton (below) currently on display utilize plexiglass, woodshelves, plants and other random ob-jects — influenced significantly by the 1960s and ’70s.
Heidi NortonExhibit
op-ed4February 17, 2011
1. Mubarak steps down.
2. iPhone released on Verizon wireless network.
3. Record breaking heat for February.
4. Varsity basketball undefeated.
5. Lady Gaga debuts new single
1. Egypt has no singular leader while military is in charge.
2. Phone has limited capabilities.
3. Snow is slushy in prime ski season
4. A bump to Division 4 next season could be challenging
5. Doesn’t sound anything like her
Zoë Newcomb Editor-in-ChiefSara Kloepfer Managing Editor Anjali Shrestha Feature Editor
Claire Fahy Asst. Sports EditorsElizabeth Smith Asst. Sports Editor
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Unsigned pieces are the opinion of the editorial board. Reviews and personal columns are the opinions of the author. Letters to The Broadview should be 400 words or fewer and are subject to editing for clarity and space.
Reporters Emily Bloch | Mika Esquivel-Varela
Stephanie Gee | Katy Hallowell | Aggie Kruse Ava Martinez | Ta’lynn Mitchell | Julia Nemy
Isabelle Pinard | Sophia Redfern
Natalie Garnett CartoonistMichaela Wilton Graphics
Tracy Anne Sena, CJE Adviser
The Broadview invites comments, additions or corrections on stories in the paper. Letters to the Editor should be 400 words or fewer and must include the writer’s name and a method of verification. Submissions should be e-mailed to [email protected] and are subject to editing for clarity and space.
Following the “uniform reboot” announcement at Principal’s Meeting on Friday, Feb. 4, many
students expressed outrage at the administration’s “sudden” change in uniform policy. Head of School Andrea Shurley announced stricter enforce-ment of rules found in the Student Handbook including restrictions on boots, jackets and patterned tights along with new regulations on scarves and over-sized jewelry.
No one is arguing the uniform is perfect. Students have begun to look sloppy over the past few years. Changes are necessary to bring the uniform back up to par, and the administration is willing to make some tough calls. Students are aware that in deciding to attend CSH, they are agreeing to abide by school policy, which includes the uniform. The administration is more than generous in including students in an ongoing discussion generally left
up to school authority. Shurley invited students to submit proposals regard-ing elements of the uniform they wish to change.
However, an open dialogue is a double-edged sword. The admin-istration initially instituted “T-shirt Tuesday,” allowing CSH spirit T-shirts to be worn on Tuesdays only. After numerous complaints from students and parents, Shurley repealed this pro-vision the following Monday. Although thoughtful to involve students in the process, changing policy too quickly can convince students that these new rules are only temporary.
This problem could have been avoided if students were consulted before the announcement. The week prior, the student body voted on three new uniform skirt options, and the administration decided to respect the majority’s vote to keep the old uniform skirt. If this process had been repeated with the new policy — T-shirt Tuesday
especially — the administration could have better foreseen objections and points of contention.
One huge objection regarding skirts came from the Senior Class. As stated in the handbook, skirts are to be no more than four inches above
the knee when seated. No student or teacher wants to see up a girl’s skirt while walking up the stairs, but the cut and fit of the skirt, if purchased and unaltered from Dennis Uniform, does not fall within this length range. The administration’s only suggestion to solving this issue was for students to let out the seam sewn-in by the com-pany. This is not a viable option for
upperclassmen who have been wearing the same skirt for the past few years, as the considerable fading of the skirt would noticeably contrast against the darker fabric and the seam would leave a permanent crease.
Introducing a new policy more than halfway through the school year was largely to blame for the overwhelm-ing negative student perception of the plan. Announcing the changes to the uniform in the fall would have set the tone for the rest of the year. Seniors in particular, who act as leaders for the rest of the school, are less inclined to participate in an initiative that seems trivial in their remaining time — setting a negative example for underclassmen. It may be effective to enforce strict rules on freshman who are just out of middle school, but for seniors who are legal or almost legal adults, such measures may seem punitive.
While most of the concerns voiced by students and their parents
are ideological, one of the largest issues is practical — enforcement. In order to conduct daily “uniform checks,” faculty will be forced to take already precious class time to inspect each student for infractions. Parents will be called for students who consistently ignore uni-form policy — a “punishment” that is unlikely to create incentive to follow the rules. In reality, parents — many of whom work and have busy lives, will not really care if their daughter wears a scarf to school.
Many students are inclined to simply complain about the new uni-form policy, however this is neither a mature nor productive response. The administration has proved it is willing to incorporate suggestions, as long as students cooperate with the rules by showing a “good faith effort” in the uniform. If students want the uniform policy to be revised, they must be will-ing to respect the rules that are currently in place. Forward thinking can make up for short-sightedness.
As President Barack Obama made his State of the Union Address in the House Chamber on Jan. 25, members of Congress came together in a picture of solidarity as Democrats clapped along side Republicans, ending the custom of divided seating.
“Beyond custom, there is no rule or reason that on this night we should emphasize divided government, separat-ed by party, instead of being seen united as a country,” Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.,
who proposed the new bipartisan State of the Union seating idea, said in a press release.
Members of Congress broke the tradition of divided party seating to come together in a show of solidarity after the Tucson shooting that wounded Arizona Representative Gabrielle Gif-fords. Regardless of the motivation, the motion sends an important message: to face adversity and achieve progress, unity is necessary.
This year’s school theme, Innova-tion, urges our community to make progressive change. Indeed it has, with coed classes and schedule shifts making the 2010-11 year unlike any before it. In adapting to these adjustments, we must remember to present a unified front and
set the precedent for the school’s future.When implementing plans aimed
at altering obsolete or nonfunctional methods, individuals of a group must put aside many of their own agendas and desires in order to achieve progress. Bitter divisions between parties caused displeasure among some members of Congress about the address seating ar-rangement, but most swallowed their objections and found “dates” from opposing parties. At this crucial time for our country, Congress is proving that it recognizes how having perpetual scruples accomplishes little.
Through communication and col-lective effort, the process of refining new experiences can be efficient and result in universally appealing change.
Unification symbolic to country
Dress code change creates discontent staff editorial
staff editorial
Forward thinking can make up for short-sightedess
The following errorrs appeared in the Dec. 14 edition:
• The correct number for the edition is he paper is Volume 15, Issue 3.• “Broadway/No Way” on Page 4 should have the listed the correct spelling
of Justin Bieber’s name.• Meghan Helms’ name is misspelled in “Q:” on Page 5.
Corrections
As the variety of uniform options shrink, students must be prepared to adapt to the change, or be prepared to swim with the sharks.
NATALIE GARNETT | the broadview
For original content and extended verisions of stories, see the broadview:online at http://broadview.sacredsf.org. “Convent Classified” on Pages 6-7 is featured in its unabridged form.
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It seems everyday a different adult tells me that “kids these days work too hard” and to “enjoy childhood while I can.” I certainly wouldn’t
mind throwing the books aside in favor of going to the beach with my friends. But as teenagers my own age run through the streets protesting in Egypt and are coming up with the solutions that just might save their country from turmoil, I wonder if I really should toss everything aside in favor of just having a little more fun.
In a day and age when technology is rapidly shrinking the size of the world, “being a teenager” might just be what is putting America behind.
Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Stu-dent Assessment re-leased last December ranked the U.S. as 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th in math out of 34 countries surveyed. These “average” or “below average” scores indicate a fundamental problem in the way Americans view education — as pres-sure on kids to do well seems to multiply every year, scores continue to fall short of expectations.
The burden of carrying a heavy school load and still not being good enough is exactly the type of thing that can drive students away from caring about getting an education. Maybe the issue is not how hard students are working, but what they’re working on.
Someday, technology will be entwined in every aspect of life, and while American teenagers are using it to advance their social lives, students in Egypt are using Twitter to mount a social
movement. The assumption that students are unable to
connect the things they learn in textbooks with real life applications may be the disconnect that is holding students back from success. South Korea, a country that leads the world in education, is also the first in the world to provide high-speed Inter-net to all students from primary to high school. Students in Egypt are using Twitter to mount an entire social movement. It is that sort of innova-tion that will lead the world into a new era.
Ever yday stu-dents go home and open up Facebook, Skype with a faraway friend or send a text message to a class-mate. Instead of these applications simply distracting students from school, they could be tools used in the classroom. If edu-cators and students find a way to incor-
porate the things that define this generation into the classroom, America just might see a revolution in education.
The competition among students today is cutthroat, but having to work hard for an educa-tion is a far better alternative than not getting one at all. While the American education system may not be caught up in providing all strong education to all, students can still take the initiative them-selves to take what they learn in the classroom out into the real world.
Studying instead of hanging out with friends is never fun, but somewhere along the line I forgot to be grateful for getting an education at all. So, for now at least, I’ll be keeping my nose in the books.
op-edthe broadview 5
Ever since President Barack Obama’s health care bill was introduced last year, Republi-cans have been trying to reform the legisla-
tion. In the latest incarnation, they attempted to redefine rape.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act, brought to you by spokesman for the bill’s author Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and 173 co-sponsors, aims to make the Hyde Amendment, the current provisional abortion legislation in place, permanent.
The Hyde Amend-ment, which took ef-fect in 1977 but must be renewed annually, prohibits federal money from being used to finance abortions, except in pregnancies resulting from rape, incest or situations in which the life of the mother is endangered. The amendment also bars Medicaid from paying for abortions and abortion coverage in health care plans for federal workers.
The new Act would bar people from using their health savings accounts or tax credits or deductions for medical expenses to pay for an abortion. A provision in the bill would prohibit the federal government from stripping financial support from hospitals that refuse to perform abortion-related services. The most troubling pro-visions however, are found in the initial wording of the bill — its limitations would not apply to an abortion “if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest.”
The words “forcible rape” were so inflamma-
tory that the wording was removed soon after its introduction. There is no definition of forcible rape in the bill, so many were concerned, and rightly so, that this would discredit date rape, verbal threats, and the date-rape drug. Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” harpooned this aspect of the bill on an episode appearing after the language was changed.
“By proposing this legislation, Republicans are finally closing the glaring rape loophole in
our health care system,” “The Daily Show’s” Kris-ten Schaal dead-panned. “You’d be surprised how many drugged, under-aged or mentally handi-capped young women have been gaming the
system. Sorry ladies, the free abortion ride is over.”Cutting off access to federal money will only
reduce safe and legal abortions. The point of health care is to protect people, not force them into more dangerous options. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act will accomplish nothing but harm the people who are the most in need of govern-ment support.
The fact that this bill is even on the table in the first place is downright frightening. If a woman becomes pregnant through rape or incest — in all ways it is defined or understood — the government should not limit her choice by withholding the funding she could need to pay for abortion if she chooses that option. The main concern is that we would be regressing to a time when “no” was not enough. Men — especially those at the highest level of government — should be well aware of the fact that “no means no.”
Considering the current economy and job market, are you concerned about finding a job when you finish school?
“The profession I want to go into has a huge de-mand and not many places are hiring.”
— Shannon Smith, senior
“I am not concerned, but I hope that by the time I am looking for a for a job the economy will have improved and it will be easier to find employment.”
— Natalie Helms, freshman
“There are not many job offers and most jobs want experience, but I am young so I don’t have experi-ence”
— Caitlin Martin, junior
“I’m not concerned at the moment because I am not officially on the job market, but I am concerned for the people who need a job but don’t have one.”
— Katie Stableford, sophomore
— Compiled by Mika Esqivel-Varela
just a thoughtZoe Newcomb|Editor-in-Chief
‘Fun’ does not fix problems
here’s the dealSara Kloepfer|Managing Editor
Proposed bill’s intitial wording implies dangerous intentions
The burden of carrying a heavy school load and still not being good enough is exactly the type of thing that can drive students away from caring about getting an education.
The point of health care is to protect people, not not force them into more dangerous options.
ISABELLE PINARD | the broadview
features6 February 17, 2011
ConventClassified
The current economic recession has grads rethinking traditional paths to their dream careers
The future leaders of the fashion industry are going to work in their pajamas. Fashion bloggers can run
an entire career out of their bedrooms with just a computer and an Internet connec-tion. Sonia Evers (’04), a freelance fashion writer, started her blog RunwayHippie.com over a year ago and has since been hired by Glamour magazine as a part of their blogger network.
“I started my blog while I was work-ing at a [public relations] company and found that it wasn’t fulfilling my creative needs,” Evers said. “I created my blog so that I would have an outlet to post, write and share things that inspired and interested me. I never thought that my blog would go anywhere, but I certainly hoped it would.”
After only a few months of blogging, Evers was picked up by Modelinia.com to write about New York Fashion Week. She left the public relations job and has been freelance writing and blogging since. Evers was then approached by Glamour’s publication company, Condé Nast, about writing for their “Young and Posh” blogger network, composed of 18 fashion writers.
“I was totally shocked when I first heard the news from Glamour because I never would have thought that editors at Condé Nast were reading my blog,” Evers said. “This is huge for my career as it has put me on a much bigger radar in the fashion world and online community. Tons of opportunities have popped up since the announcement of my partnership with Glamour and I only hope that more are on their way.”
In addition to blogging three times a week for Glamour, Evers pitches ideas to editors and researches her pieces.
“Whether it’s reading magazines, checking out the latest items on shopping websites or studying a designer’s collection, a lot of my time is spent reading online,” Evers said. “I love that what I do now is what I used to do when I was procrasti-
nating in college and high school. Even if I spend an hour browsing around on shopping sites, it’s all for a purpose and can go into my next marketing story or shopping feature.”
Evers says she never thought her career would involve writing. It wasn’t until she wrote her thesis as a student at Dickinson College that she realized her passion for research and writing. Her Art History major also influenced her writing.
“[My major] definitely helped me perfect my writing skills and taught me to think and write with visual eye,” Evers said. “Suddenly a look will come down the runway that reminds me of a Van Gogh painting and after interviewing the designer I come to find that he or she was in fact inspired by that artist or particular painting. And the vernacular I use is very similar to what I used in my art history papers.”
Thanks to her mother, AP Art His-tory teacher Sunnie Evers, Sonia Evers says she has always loved art and fashion. After about a month of blogging, she realized she was mostly writing about fashion, and de-cided to make that the focus. Evers advises anyone interested in fashion blogging to start their own blog.
“You never know what it’s going to turn into,” Evers said. “Just be persistent about it and write and update constantly. Even if you don’t know what you want to blog about, the best thing to do is just start and you’ll be surprised by what it develops into.”
For Evers, blogging has developed from something she did for fun into an entire career.
“The best and worst part of my job is that it’s not a steady office job,” Evers said. “I have to keep myself motivated and focused and constantly have to be ahead of the game making sure my ideas or stories get to an editor or blog before anyone else’s.”
From the desk of
Sonia EversT
oday’s job mar-
ke t r e qu i re s
more pers i s -
tence, more competition,
and more effort beyond the
traditional job search than ever
before due to a struggling econ-
omy and increasing competition
among young professionals — how-
ever, many CSH alums have found
there are many different ways to tackle
the daunting task of securing a career,
an undertaking already feared by many
seniors applying to college.
“I already feel pressure to choose a
major and I’m not even in college yet,” senior
Lizzie Leighton said. “People make it seem like
your major determines your entire career.”
But, as some stu
dents have found, having
a college degree doesn’t always mean everything.
After only one year of college, Tanaya Macheel (’08)
took time off of attending Richmond University in
London to take an 8-month internship as a research in-
tern for the International Herald Tribune (IHT) in Paris.
“College isn’t going anywhere, especially at a time
when so may people are trying to prolong their education
as much as they can thanks to the high demand for jobs,”
Macheel said. “College would still be available to me when I
decided to return, and it was just so
mething I knew would be
a worthwhile year off.”
Halfway through her internship, Macheel began to work as
an intern in the Comcen, the communication center responsible for
syndicating the paper to the European, Asian and New York Times
sections of the IHT. While it “
wasn’t the most fu
n job,” working in
Comcen exposed Macheel firsthand to the newsroom and everything
that goes into newspaper publishing.
“It’s actually pretty exciting — suspenseful — to watch the newsroom
go from cool and calm at 4:30 a.m. after the Page 1 meeting and then see
everyone get progressively wound up and high strung closer to the deadline
— especially on nights when reporters don’t get their copy in until very late
or there are calls in for last-m
inute corrections,” Macheel said.
An editor of The Broadview during high school, M
acheel viewed her
time at the IHT as a chance to “dabble” in a field that she had always been
interested in, but was not sure if she wanted to pursue as a career. Experience
in a variety of different fields, not necessarily just a college degree, is what
Macheel says make her resume strong.
“My resume isn’t exactly on a single track — I’ve got lots of great
things to show, but in many different fields,” Macheel said. “The majority of
my interviewers have viewed this as an advantage to me and in some cases
to them as well.”
Kyle Cannon (’05), a Library Assistant at Th
e Langley School, counts
herself as lucky to have gotten a job offer within a week of her interview at
the pre-school through eighth grade independent school in Virgina. In a
competitive job market, Cannon says positiv
e application processes can be rare.
“[A good experience] was not the case for many of the over 60 jobs I
applied to in the year prior to finding my job,” Cannon said. “For the majority
of my job applications there was no response at all. I am not even sure they
were read.”After graduating from George Washington University in
Washington D.C., Cannon worked at a temp agency that
placed her in a variety of short-term positions —
some positive while others were not —
that
allowed her to gain experience and
stay busy while searching for
a permanent position.
“ The job
appl ica -
tion process in this economic climate is e
xtremely competitive and is
just as frustrating.” Cannon said. “Although I am sure employers are
receiving many applications, the lack of response is v
ery hurtful and it
requires a lot of persistence on the side of the applicant.”
Depending on family and friends during the “humbling” process
and keeping busy were key in staying grounded for Cannon, who tutored
for a local non-profit and relied on job listing websites lik
e idealist.com
to continue building a resume even while not permanently employed.
Before entering any particular job field — in her case, education —
Cannon stressed the importance of knowing exactly what professional
direction to go in. Real-life experience can be the best way to find this out.
Often, jobs may not be glamorous or interesting, but can be beneficial in
developing a strong resume.
Sonia Evers (’04), a freelance fashion writer and blogger based in
New York City, looks at the job industry with a “take-what-you-can-get”
mindset, even though it may be difficult at tim
es.
“The job market is vicious rig
ht now,” Evers said. “If you don’t jump
on something immediately then someone else will. I just tr
y to look at
those jobs I don’t necessarily love as resume building.”
Like Cannon discovered, Evers says sending out resumes cold is not
as effective as building relationships and connections.
“The people who know how to build relationships and keep them
are the ones that are getting ahead,” Evers said.
Fellow New Yorker Libby Brittain (’07), a senior at Columbia Uni-
versity and Social Media and Digital Partnerships intern at the New York
Times, has had similar experiences with the importance of networking, but
says its too easy to be burdened down by doing the “rig
ht” thing instead
of pursuing the things that interest you.
“These days, you don’t necessarily have to know exactly where you’re
aiming in terms of your internships or career, you just have to be aiming,”
Brittain said. “Figuring it o
ut on the fly is part of the game now.”
Despite the challenges of working while still in college, some of the
best advice Brittain has received from a professor was to
remember to
“have the guts to start to working toward what you want to right away.”
Living a double life — both student and intern — has defined Brittain’s
college experience.
“All those people [working friends], myself included, couldn’t im
agine
their college experiences any other way, but it is tough,” Britta
in said. “It
means you have to balance a lot of responsibility — and not just a lot, but
a lot of different kinds.”
Any industry, but particularly the field of technology is not just cut
and dry when it comes to finding internships or jobs.
“Tolerating that ambiguity is really important, I think, especially
when you are interested in a field or industry that’s changing all the tim
e,”
Brittain said.
Often, ambiguity may not just be in the type of job, but also the time-
line in finding one. Adrianna Asdourian (’06), a Data Sourcing Specialist
at Google staffing, was turned down for the initial position she applied for,
but received a call nearly a year later asking if she would allow her resume
to be resubmitted for another position. After a week, Asdourian secured
an interview and soon after, her current position.
“I didn’t have an exact idea of what I wanted to do when I graduated,
but I did form a list of requirements I hoped my future job would fulfill,”
Asdourian said. “I wanted to deal with people, I wanted to have an inter-
national aspect to my work, I wanted to work in a fast-paced environment.
All of these needs are met with my current job.”
Picking just one field to focus her career in was a struggle for Asdou-
rian, who found herself interested by a variety of different industrie
s. While
deciding on what to focus in, Asdourian spoke to several professionals about
the fields they work in.
“You will learn the path they took to get where they are, what they
might have done differently, and any advice they have for someone looking
into their field.” Asdourian said.
Working in Silicon Valley, Asdourian has seen the important role
technology now plays in a variety of job fields.
“The Internet can be a helpful tool or something you regret using
later,” Asdourian said. “A friend of my frie
nd recently lost his job because of
something he put on his ‘invisible’ Facebook account. O
n the flipside, an
impressive LinkedIn can catch an employer’s attention in a good way.”
For students preparing to graduate from college and de-
cide what to do next, technology can be an invaluable
resource. Often times, college careers centers offer websites that aid students
in finding jobs.
University of California, Berkeley senior Tara Garnett (’07) used her
school’s job listi
ng website, Callipso, as a jumping off point for finding a job
after college. But while the website is a good resource, Garnett h
as found
that making direct contact with employers is often more effective than going
through job listings.
“You have nothing to lose in asking for a meeting to ‘see how the business
runs in the real world,’ and making that connection is the first st
ep,” Garnett
said. “Once you know them, if you make a good impression, you’ll b
e in
their minds for any future openings that they have or know of in the field.”
Garnett, who plans to graduate with a double major in French and Inte-
grative Biology, works in the Robbins Collection of Boalt Hall, th
e school’s
law library, organizing, testing and protecting old manuscripts. She has seen
first-hand the difficulty students graduating from college have finding a job.
Before applying to medical school in the next few years, Garnett plans
to take time to gain research in a biological research lab, but does not yet
have a specific career in mind.
“A lot of people come into college with a career goal, and most end up
changing it,” Garnett said. “Plus, career paths rarely go hand in hand with
majors. I’ve had many people tell me that the job you get after you graduate
will often not relate to what you studied in college.”
Life-guarding during high school was important in equipping Garnett
with a basic understanding of what holding a job entails. Having graduated
from Whitman College with an art history degree, Danielle Dudum(’04), a
marketing strategist at Google, agrees with Garnett th
at college majors are
often unrelated to future career fields.
“Your major has potential to set the tone for what you’re going to do, but
at the end of the day it has nothing to do with what I do now,” Dudum said.
“I personally think college is your chance to explore intellectually, challenge
yourself, learn new things.”
While Garnett and Dudum look at their college experiences as a chance
to explore different areas of interest, other choose their college majors with
a specific career in mind.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, A
ndi Yamagami (’03), Marketing
Director at Gordos Taqueria in San Francisco, majored in business admin-
istration at the University of Southern California with the intention of
returning home to work at the family business.
“I majored in business to open my own
business or expand my parents’ business,”
Yamagami said. “So it was more that my
future job was the reason why I chose
my major, not the other way around.”
However, working for her par-
ents business does not limit Yama-
gami, who has a variety of new
ideas and projects she would
like to explore.
“There are so many dif-
ferent things I stil
l want
to do with my parents’
business and when I
start my own busi-
ness as well,” Ya-
magami said.
For some
s t u d e n t s
c o m i n g
o u t o f
c o l -
lege,
de-
Innovation is key in approaching job market
Sara Kloepfer Managing Editor
featuresthe broadview 7
Today’s jo
b mar-
ke t r e qu i re s
more pers i s -
tence, more competition,
and more effort beyond the
traditional job search than ever
before due to a struggling econ-
omy and increasing competition
among young professionals — how-
ever, many CSH alums have found
there are many different ways to tackle
the daunting task of securing a career,
an undertaking already feared by many
seniors applying to college.
“I already feel pressure to choose a
major and I’m not even in college yet,” senior
Lizzie Leighton said. “People make it seem like
your major determines your entire career.”
But, as some stu
dents have found, having
a college degree doesn’t always mean everything.
After only one year of college, Tanaya Macheel (’08)
took time off of attending Richmond University in
London to take an 8-month internship as a research in-
tern for the International Herald Tribune (IHT) in Paris.
“College isn’t going anywhere, especially at a time
when so may people are trying to prolong their education
as much as they can thanks to the high demand for jobs,”
Macheel said. “College would still be available to me when I
decided to return, and it was just so
mething I knew would be
a worthwhile year off.”
Halfway through her internship, Macheel began to work as
an intern in the Comcen, the communication center responsible for
syndicating the paper to the European, Asian and New York Times
sections of the IHT. While it “
wasn’t the most fu
n job,” working in
Comcen exposed Macheel firsthand to the newsroom and everything
that goes into newspaper publishing.
“It’s actually pretty exciting — suspenseful — to watch the newsroom
go from cool and calm at 4:30 a.m. after the Page 1 meeting and then see
everyone get progressively wound up and high strung closer to the deadline
— especially on nights when reporters don’t get their copy in until very late
or there are calls in for last-m
inute corrections,” Macheel said.
An editor of The Broadview during high school, M
acheel viewed her
time at the IHT as a chance to “dabble” in a field that she had always been
interested in, but was not sure if she wanted to pursue as a career. Experience
in a variety of different fields, not necessarily just a college degree, is what
Macheel says make her resume strong.
“My resume isn’t exactly on a single track — I’ve got lots of great
things to show, but in many different fields,” Macheel said. “The majority of
my interviewers have viewed this as an advantage to me and in some cases
to them as well.”
Kyle Cannon (’05), a Library Assistant at Th
e Langley School, counts
herself as lucky to have gotten a job offer within a week of her interview at
the pre-school through eighth grade independent school in Virgina. In a
competitive job market, Cannon says positiv
e application processes can be rare.
“[A good experience] was not the case for many of the over 60 jobs I
applied to in the year prior to finding my job,” Cannon said. “For the majority
of my job applications there was no response at all. I am not even sure they
were read.”After graduating from George Washington University in
Washington D.C., Cannon worked at a temp agency that
placed her in a variety of short-term positions —
some positive while others were not —
that
allowed her to gain experience and
stay busy while searching for
a permanent position.
“ The job
appl ica -
tion process in this economic climate is e
xtremely competitive and is
just as frustrating.” Cannon said. “Although I am sure employers are
receiving many applications, the lack of response is v
ery hurtful and it
requires a lot of persistence on the side of the applicant.”
Depending on family and friends during the “humbling” process
and keeping busy were key in staying grounded for Cannon, who tutored
for a local non-profit and relied on job listing websites lik
e idealist.com
to continue building a resume even while not permanently employed.
Before entering any particular job field — in her case, education —
Cannon stressed the importance of knowing exactly what professional
direction to go in. Real-life experience can be the best way to find this out.
Often, jobs may not be glamorous or interesting, but can be beneficial in
developing a strong resume.
Sonia Evers (’04), a freelance fashion writer and blogger based in
New York City, looks at the job industry with a “take-what-you-can-get”
mindset, even though it may be difficult at tim
es.
“The job market is vicious rig
ht now,” Evers said. “If you don’t jump
on something immediately then someone else will. I just tr
y to look at
those jobs I don’t necessarily love as resume building.”
Like Cannon discovered, Evers says sending out resumes cold is not
as effective as building relationships and connections.
“The people who know how to build relationships and keep them
are the ones that are getting ahead,” Evers said.
Fellow New Yorker Libby Brittain (’07), a senior at Columbia Uni-
versity and Social Media and Digital Partnerships intern at the New York
Times, has had similar experiences with the importance of networking, but
says its too easy to be burdened down by doing the “rig
ht” thing instead
of pursuing the things that interest you.
“These days, you don’t necessarily have to know exactly where you’re
aiming in terms of your internships or career, you just have to be aiming,”
Brittain said. “Figuring it o
ut on the fly is part of the game now.”
Despite the challenges of working while still in college, some of the
best advice Brittain has received from a professor was to
remember to
“have the guts to start to working toward what you want to right away.”
Living a double life — both student and intern — has defined Brittain’s
college experience.
“All those people [working friends], myself included, couldn’t im
agine
their college experiences any other way, but it is tough,” Britta
in said. “It
means you have to balance a lot of responsibility — and not just a lot, but
a lot of different kinds.”
Any industry, but particularly the field of technology is not just cut
and dry when it comes to finding internships or jobs.
“Tolerating that ambiguity is really important, I think, especially
when you are interested in a field or industry that’s changing all the tim
e,”
Brittain said.
Often, ambiguity may not just be in the type of job, but also the time-
line in finding one. Adrianna Asdourian (’06), a Data Sourcing Specialist
at Google staffing, was turned down for the initial position she applied for,
but received a call nearly a year later asking if she would allow her resume
to be resubmitted for another position. After a week, Asdourian secured
an interview and soon after, her current position.
“I didn’t have an exact idea of what I wanted to do when I graduated,
but I did form a list of requirements I hoped my future job would fulfill,”
Asdourian said. “I wanted to deal with people, I wanted to have an inter-
national aspect to my work, I wanted to work in a fast-paced environment.
All of these needs are met with my current job.”
Picking just one field to focus her career in was a struggle for Asdou-
rian, who found herself interested by a variety of different industrie
s. While
deciding on what to focus in, Asdourian spoke to several professionals about
the fields they work in.
“You will learn the path they took to get where they are, what they
might have done differently, and any advice they have for someone looking
into their field.” Asdourian said.
Working in Silicon Valley, Asdourian has seen the important role
technology now plays in a variety of job fields.
“The Internet can be a helpful tool or something you regret using
later,” Asdourian said. “A friend of my frie
nd recently lost his job because of
something he put on his ‘invisible’ Facebook account. O
n the flipside, an
impressive LinkedIn can catch an employer’s attention in a good way.”
For students preparing to graduate from college and de-
cide what to do next, technology can be an invaluable
“Random: The first word (of many) I remember being fasci-nated with was ‘galore.’ Heard
it on a radio ad; couldn’t grok it. It starts young,” Libby Brittain (’07) tweeted to her some 764 followers on December 22.
An economic history major at Barnard College, Brittain speaks with a vernacular of quirky nerdiness and charming eloquence that can come only from standing directly over the fault between journalism and technology. As she can testify from the several internships already under her belt, an earthquake is a-coming that is about to shake up the way the world views social media.
“The technology industry has grown out of quite literally nothing, and the chance to contribute to the development of some-thing like that is so exciting,” Brittan said.
As editor-in-chief of The Broadview in high school, Brittain had previous experi-ence and understanding of journalism before college, but it was sheer happenstance that she stumbled upon her first internship in the field of new media.
“Truth be told, I wasn’t planning to work at Web start-ups at all,” Brittain said of her first college internship at Outside.in — a news aggregator in Brooklyn that collects links to blogs and websites, working with major publishers to target those link local users. “I actually only had a vague idea of what they were from having grown up in San Francisco so near Silicon Valley. Some-
what serendipitously, [Outside.in is] a really interesting company that sits right at the intersection of journalism and technology.”
Brittain now currently works as a So-cial Media and Digital Partnership intern at the New York Times, where she has seen firsthand the rapid development of technol-ogy in the journalism industry and has found much of her job to be simply exploring the uses of technology as a business tool.
“Learning about ways to integrate future-tense thinking into the news cycle, which essentially exists in the present tense, at the Times has been such a joy,” Brittain said.
A firm advocate of the importance and influence technology will hole in the future, Brittain has found that people working in the same field as her understand the signifi-cance of social.
“A lot of people like to give Twitter and Facebook and other social platforms a hard time because of how banal they can some-times seem, but everyone I’ve encountered in my work really understands how much of a fundamental shift this has been and will be in how people orient themselves toward the web and toward each other — regardless of whether or not x, y, or z company is going to be around in the future,” Brittain said.
Despite a long resume and clear idea of the field she’d like to work in, Brittain has yet to decide exactly what her future career will look like — in part, because it is difficult to
foresee where the social media industry will go in the next several years.
“I plan to do something in the realm of journalism and technology,” Brittain said. “What that will look like exactly, though, remains to be seen.”
Although she’d originally envisioned herself getting a Masters of Business Ad-ministration (MBA), Brittain has found a plethora of more “specific and interesting” graduate programs just beginning to develop that connect journalism and technology.
“I do have a sneaking suspicion that in the 5-or-so-year time frame I am looking at for graduate school there will be a whole new angle on graduate education in digital journalism that hasn’t even been created yet,” Brittain said of her future career and education plans.
As the field of social media contin-ues to rapidly expand and become more and more innovative each day, Brittain’s excitement to be apart of the widely influ-ential movement can be summed up by her thoughts walking through the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley.
“The more smart minds there are work-ing in technology, the more dots there will be to connect, and the more rich and useful all its disparate parts will be in the long run,” Brittain said. “How could anyone want to be in any other industry than this one?”
Brittain’s Tweets can be found at http://twitter.com/libbybrittain.
A note from Libby Brittain
resource. Often times, college careers centers offer websites that aid students
in finding jobs.
University of California, Berkeley senior Tara Garnett (’07) used her
school’s job listi
ng website, Callipso, as a jumping off point for finding a job
after college. But while the website is a good resource, Garnett h
as found
that making direct contact with employers is often more effective than going
through job listings.
“You have nothing to lose in asking for a meeting to ‘see how the business
runs in the real world,’ and making that connection is the first st
ep,” Garnett
said. “Once you know them, if you make a good impression, you’ll b
e in
their minds for any future openings that they have or know of in the field.”
Garnett, who plans to graduate with a double major in French and Inte-
grative Biology, works in the Robbins Collection of Boalt Hall, th
e school’s
law library, organizing, testing and protecting old manuscripts. She has seen
first-hand the difficulty students graduating from college have finding a job.
Before applying to medical school in the next few years, Garnett plans
to take time to gain research in a biological research lab, but does not yet
have a specific career in mind.
“A lot of people come into college with a career goal, and most end up
changing it,” Garnett said. “Plus, career paths rarely go hand in hand with
majors. I’ve had many people tell me that the job you get after you graduate
will often not relate to what you studied in college.”
Life-guarding during high school was important in equipping Garnett
with a basic understanding of what holding a job entails. Having graduated
from Whitman College with an art history degree, Danielle Dudum(’04), a
marketing strategist at Google, agrees with Garnett th
at college majors are
often unrelated to future career fields.
“Your major has potential to set the tone for what you’re going to do, but
at the end of the day it has nothing to do with what I do now,” Dudum said.
“I personally think college is your chance to explore intellectually, challenge
yourself, learn new things.”
While Garnett and Dudum look at their college experiences as a chance
to explore different areas of interest, other choose their college majors with
a specific career in mind.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, A
ndi Yamagami (’03), Marketing
Director at Gordos Taqueria in San Francisco, majored in business admin-
istration at the University of Southern California with the intention of
returning home to work at the family business.
“I majored in business to open my own
business or expand my parents’ business,”
Yamagami said. “So it was more that my
future job was the reason why I chose
my major, not the other way around.”
However, working for her par-
ents business does not limit Yama-
gami, who has a variety of new
ideas and projects she would
like to explore.
“There are so many dif-
ferent things I stil
l want
to do with my parents’
business and when I
start my own busi-
ness as well,” Ya-
magami said.
For some
s t u d e n t s
c o m i n g
o u t o f
c o l -
lege,
de-
Innovation is key in approaching job market
ciding whether to attend graduate school becomes a whole new set of problems.
Erin Dress (’98), an MBA student at the Wharton School at University of
Pennsylvania, worked in book publishing for three years before spending a
summer as a Brand Manager at Unilever, but left to attend graduate school.
“Brand management is like running a small business within a big
business,” Dress said. “You deal with pricing, promotions, advertisement,
packaging and new product launches. I was an English and history double
major [undergraduate]. I loved what I studied, but I didn’t have the technical
training required for business.”
Dress plans to return to Unilever after gaining the experience and train-
ing that is typical for an employee in that positio
n. Before returning to
school, Dress experienced first-hand the cutthroat nature of both the
publishing and business industrie
s. For Kristen Harkonen (’01)
and Robin Juan (’01), the competitiveness of the job industry
extends beyond business into the world of art.
Karkonen and Juan are co-Directors
of Operations at HungryMan Gallery,
an art gallery based in San Francisco
and Chicago. Both stress that
finding a full-paying job in
the art world is difficult.
Maintaining relation-
ships and working with
mentors was helpful for
Juan in developing her art
career.“Go to every art open-
ing that you can and don’t get
embarrassingly drunk at th
em
because some of your classmates
will end up being successfu
l art-
ists,” Juan said. “You also have to
socialize outside of your college
network. Essentially, diversify your
contacts.”
Even though job networking
websites such as LinkedIn make it easier
to publicize resumes, alums have found
that looking good on paper is not as
important or as beneficial in the long run
as simply making a good first im
pression
in person. — Sara Kloepfer &
Zoe Newcomb
Zoë Newcomb Editor-in-Chief
features8 February 17, 2011
Fashion show gives back to City
Mixed in among dollar bills and pictures of friends, ju-nior Brooke Thomas’s wal-
let has an assortment of gift cards she received for the holidays — most of very little value. Some are to stores she will never shop at, others with only a few cents left.
“I usually throw away my plastic gift cards when I have used up the credit, or I shred them and put them in the recycling,” Thomas said of the dozen or so unused gift cards she has at home. “Stores will also take my empty gift cards, but it’s not very clear if they are recycled or thrown away.”
Gift card purchases totaled $91 billion in 2008, but 10 percent of the cards were never redeemed, according to CreditCardChaser.com, leaving approximately $9 billion of cards un-redeemed.
California law states any card with
a cash value less than $10 is redeem-able for its value in cash. Websites like PlasticJungle.com allow the trading of gift cards with a 65 to 85 percent of the value of the card back. GiftCardDonor.com accepts gift cards on behalf of the donor’s favorite charity.
“I forget to use my gift cards sometimes and they just sit in my wal-let or on my desk,” Thomas said. “The gift cards I usually forget to use are to expensive stores I wouldn’t ever shop at or at bookstores like Barnes and Noble.”
Despite California law that regu-late fees and expiration dates on gift cards, many companies find loopholes that allow them to drain money from a card if it is past a set expiration date, according to California Department of Consumer Affairs (CDCA).
While gift cards may not always get spent or may have restrictions, many students find that the practicality of the gift is too good to pass up.
“The idea of gift cards is a good one,” Thomas said. “Just they seem so restricting because I don’t know what to do with them sometimes.”
Sophia Redfern Reporter
Senior Frankie Incerty (above right), co-president of Simple Gifts with senior Erin Minuth (below), styles senior and model Alex Ley (above left) for the runway show in a white Levi’s shirt and a green, purple and red paisley scarf.
City eases Asian Art Museum debt
Becky Lee Reporter
The Asian Art Museum an-nounced a proposal to fix its $120 million bond debt
on Jan. 6, allowing the museum to continue to host special exhibits that the City of San Francisco alone could not provide.
“In short, the proposal reduces the foundation’s long term debt, and provides a longer period for the foun-dation to repay the money it owes,” Tim Hallman, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Asian Art Museum said.
The proposal, if enacted, will change the museum’s bond interest to a fixed-rate of 4.6 percent and increase the term to 30 years from 23.
The Museum is governed by a public/private partnership with the Asian Art Museum Foundation serving as the organization’s private fundraising arm. To complete the construction of the museum’s Civic Center home in the early 2000s, the foundation adopted a common funding model, to raise funds via capital campaign then issue bonds against the campaign commitments to finance the construction, accord-ing to the Asian Art Museum’s press release about its debt.
“There is a general agreement among all of the parties to support the key elements outlined in the pro-posal,” Hallman said. “However, the plan does not become official until the Asian Art Museum’s governing boards, as well as the City Board of Supervisors vote to approve the proposal.”
The proposal was written by City Controller Ben Rosenfield, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and City Public Finance Director Nadia Sesay along with its creditors, JP Morgan Chase and MBIA, Inc.
“The Asian Art Museum Foun-dation provides additional supple-mentary financial support to [San
Francisco’s] museum, allowing it to present special exhibitions and programs to the public beyond what the City itself is able to fund,” Hall-man said.
The City of San Francisco owns the Asian Art Museum building and its art collection, comprised of more than 17 thousand pieces that covers 6,000 years.
“Because the building and collection of art are owned by the city, the museum would still exist,” Hallman said. “The city decided to help the foundation restructure its debt so it could continue to raise funds to support the programming for the public.”
The museum’s attendance var-ies from year to year, depending on the special exhibition schedule but it averages about 300,000 visitors per year, including 20,000 school children.
The freshman world history classes study some of the art the museum holds.
“There’s a very diverse, broad variety of objects such as cooking utensils, ink prints and the gorgeous art,” freshman Sophia Kelley said. “I love how they have a tea room with the tea ceremony because it is very intricate.”
The museum began in 1959 when a Chicago industrialist donated his Asian art collection to San Fran-cisco, providing the city built a new building to hold it. San Francisco voters passed a $2.75 million bond for the new museum, built as a wing of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park.
The Asian Art Museum moved from Golden Gate Park to the Main Library’s former building in the Civic Center, reopening on March 20, 2003.
“It’s a lot of art that I haven’t seen before,” junior Sarah Hegarty said. “SF MOMA [Museum of Mod-ern Art] and the Legion of Honor don’t have much Asian-heritage art. It makes San Francisco different.”
ISABELLE PINARD | the broadview
The fifth annual Simple Gifts Fashion Show, put on by the philanthropic club dedicating
its efforts to raise funds and awareness to improve the lives of women and children in San Francisco, is sched-uled for this evening.
The fundraiser features clothes from Levi’s, J.Crew, senior Juliet Charnas’ per-sonal line and other stores in the city.
Club co-presidents Frankie In-certy and Erin Minuth choose clothing lines that are willing to participate and are conveniently located to school.
“The fashion show takes the most time to plan,” in relation to the group’s other fundraisers, according to Minuth. “It requires the most leader-ship and responsibility, plus it is very rewarding. We work really hard to put everything together, but when the fashion show is all over, its rewarding to know that we’ve been able to make an
important difference.” Last year, a large portion of the
$4000 went to support Bay Area based charity Get on the Bus.
Simple Gifts hopes to make $1,000 more than last year. “Our goal for this year is to make $5,000,” Student Life
Coordinator Celine Curran said. “The majority of the money is going to be sent to Little Children’s Aid,” which assists shelters in San Francisco, St. Joseph’s Family Center, Rita Da Casia and the new 10th of Mission Center.
“LCA provides our shel-ters with meals,” LCA vice president Sandra Puccinelli said.
Simple Gifts is the first club at CSH to register as a non-profit or-ganization. The group holds several other benefit events throughout the year — usually around holidays and major events.
“We plan holiday parties for each shelter, give gift cards at Christmas, collect back to school supplies, collect winter coats and provide mother’s with roses on Mothers Day,” Puccinelli said.
Erin Minuth
Gift cards often unused, billions go unspent
Emily Bloch Reporter
ANJALI SHRESTHA | the broadview
Incerty (above right) fits senior model Sophie De Lancie (above left) for the Levi’s sponsored portion of the runway show. The Simple Gifts Fashion Show will feature clothing from J.Crew, Marmalade, Athleta and designs by senior Juliet Charnas.
ANJALI SHRESTHA | the broadview
Clothed in the flapper dresses and fedoras characteristic of the 1930s, the cast of “Caba-
ret” looks ready for a party — how-ever, the spring musical explores more complex and somber issues than in past years.
Set in World War II Berlin, “Caba-ret” follows the story of Clifford Brad-shaw (senior Christian Gehrke), a visit-ing American writer who meets and falls in love with English singer, Sally Bowles (senior Lauren Arnold).
“Cabaret’s plot is a lot darker than the movie adaptation,” director Pamela Rickard said. “It depicts people’s variety of ways that they don’t deal with the is-sues around them, there are a couple of love stories, and cultural and religious stigmas get in the way of pursuing love.”
Clifford’s landlord, Fraulein Schneider (junior Maddie Kelley) be-comes engaged to a Jewish greengrocer Herr Schultz (freshman Tannor Bragg), a risky decision due to the rising power of the Nazi party. One of the advantages of choosing “Cabaret” for the musical was its large cast and ensemble, accord-ing to Rickard.
“Cabaret has a large ensemble, so we are able to include as many people as possible.” Rickard said. “I also chose it because I like the story, the music is fun and accessible, and I had never done it before so I thought it would be fun to try it out.”
The balance between dark themes and humor is one of the musical’s strengths, according to Arnold.
“‘Cabaret’ manages to be a really fun play with entertaining dance num-bers and story lines while also being a very serious drama,” Kelley said. “It will make people want to both laugh and cry.”
The story touches on controver-sial subjects such as homophobia and religion, however the cast has worked together to focus on the story itself, not the issues it brings up.
“It hits a lot of really touchy sub-jects that other shows have not,” Arnold said. “We all have to come together and put aside our personal beliefs to help tell the story.”
Arnold said that one of her favor-ite parts of working on the show is how hardworking her fellow cast members are, allowing for smooth rehearsals.
“The entire cast is very committed, so rehearsals are moving much faster than they have in the past,” Rickard said.
The musical calls for not only a dedicated cast, but also a strong crew and musicians, according to Rickard. This year, the show is receiving some extra help from former students.
“We have four alumni working on the show,” Rickard said. “Jessica Peterson (’10) is a rehearsal accompanist, Doug Greer (SHHS ’10) choreographed some songs during winter break, and James Coyne (SHHS ’07) and Huli Curry (SHHS ’07) are members of the onstage band.”
“Cabaret” will also benefit from
a more talented tech crew, according to Rickard.
“We hired a new tech leader, Michael Schlatter, who has worked on productions for the Convent and Stuart Hall elementary schools and brought in a lot of new tech skills the our plays have not had before,” Rickard said.
Performances for “Cabaret” are scheduled in the Syufy Theatre on March 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. and March 19 at 1:30 p.m.
a & ethe broadview 9
Sara Kloepfer Managing Editor
General admission
Film industry sexist, lacks actor equality
Millions of Americans every year tune into the Academy Awards an
hour beforehand to watch the spectacle that is the Red Carpet. Whether oohing and ah-ing over gorgeous gowns or cringing at the fashion faux-pas, both viewers and the media obsess over what the female actors are wearing. Most people forget to look be-yond the pretty dresses and think about the women in business suits behind the movies that are being nominated.
D e s p i t e w i d e -spread critical acclaim for several female-di-rected films — “The Kids Are All Right” ( d i r e c t e d b y L i s a Cholodenko), “Please Give” (Nicole Holof-cener), “Winter’s Bone” (Debra Granik), and “Somewhere” (Sofia Coppola) — no women were nominated for Best Director this year. “The Kids Are All Right” and “Winter’s Bone” got a nod for Best Picture, but their female directors were not recognized among the five male directors in the Best Picture category that were also nominated for Best Director.
In fact, since the first Academy Awards ceremony 83 years ago, only four women have been nominated for Best Director, and only one woman — Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” last year — has won the Oscar. The statistics for the number of female writers, cinema-
tographers and executive producers are equally stark.
According to Women’s Media Center, a non-profit women’s media organization, only 8 percent of film writers are women and women directed only 7 percent of the top films in 2009 — the same statistic as 1987.
Where are all the women in Hollywood? Even the ones onscreen are fighting for recogni-tion. Recently it has become politically in-correct to refer to fe-males as “actresses” — they prefer to be called “actors” so they can level the playing field between themselves and their male coun-terparts. The Academy seems to have missed this memo — they still judge men and women separately for Best Ac-tor and Best Support-ing Actor, along with Best Actress and Best
Supporting Actress.If women are asking to be
recognized as actors, their perfor-mances should be judged alongside men’s. Acting is not like sports where men have a physical advan-tage — female actors are perfectly equipped to compete in the same arena as men. To effectually change the perception of women in Hol-lywood, the industry has to do more than change how they refer to them, but change how they treat them — in this case, actions speak louder than words.
what’s pumping in the city PULSECargo Jackets
Musical explores dark themes
Green cargo surplus jacket
Urban Outfitters
ZOË NEWCOMB | the broadview
Senior Lauren Arnold, who plays Sally Bowles, rehearses the song “Perfectly Marvelous” with love-interest Clifford Bradshaw (SHHS senior Christian Gehrke). Cabaret will run March 17, 18 and 19 in Syufy Theatre.
Green cargo jacket
New York CIty Vintage store
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49.99
Ava Martinez Reporter
The America’s Cup sailing com-petition that has been raced overseas for the past 18 years
is reentering the United States in San Francisco in 2013 thanks to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s win with the BMW Oracle racing team who is the title’s cur-rent defender.
Newport, R.I., Italy and Spain bid to host the 10-team competition, but the final decision will have the Presidio’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, of which El-lison is a member, host the event.
“Mr. Ellison is involved in all aspects [of planning], and very well in-formed,” Norbert Bajurin, Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, said.
Convent’s sailing team currently operates out of St. Francis Yacht Club, located down in the Marina.
“We’re going to try and get in-volved in the competition in some way,” sailing team captain Meghan Helms said. “Everything will be getting started next year with the practices, and I want to see if we can get in on the action.”
Bajurin is working with others at Golden Gate Yacht Club to make this possible for teams such as Convent’s.
“At the moment we are putting a program together for the youth in our communities to get involved,” said Bajurin.
The race is currently planned to take place within San Francisco Bay. European countries where preliminary races are taking place have created courses on the open sea. San Franciscans will have elevated views of the entire race from the hills throughout the city. Construction is also in the works to transform Piers 19 and 29 into event affiliated-areas for viewers of the com-petition.
The extent of visibility of this par-ticular event is expected to bring sailing into more homes through television nationwide.
This America’s Cup will also be premiering a new class of boats in the race, featuring catamarans for the first time. These 72-foot sail boats will be raced in various competitions until the final racing begins in San Francisco. Ac-cording to Bajurin, the boats will arrive in San Francisco in June of 2012. This is the first time mono-hulls will not be raced in the competition.
Following preliminary racing in Europe this summer the final competi-tion will take place in the Bay, the winner taking best out of five.
Katy Hallowell Reporter
ISA
BELL
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35.59
ZOË NEWCOMB | the broadview
Senior Lauren Arnold (left) and junior Maddie Kelly rehearse a scene from the spring musical. “Caberet.”
SF Bay Area hostssailing competition
health & fitness10February 17, 2011
hop, skip & a jump
Anjali Shrestha | Features EditorAs Maggie Cummings (’10) sat in Mom’s Body Shop on Haight Street waiting to have
her closed-up earlobes re-pierced, she decided to get a nose ring in the same sitting.
“I had wanted to re-pierce my ears for awhile,” said Cummings, “but as for the nose piercing, my sister had gotten one and I thought it was cute.”
Cummings says she choose Mom’s because the piercers are friendly and open to questions, but the most impor-tant consideration is whether the shop follows legal and health requirements.
Infections can occur if an area is pierced with an unsanitary nee-dle. Reputable shops use individually wrapped needles that should be taken out just before the piercing and then disinfected. A fresh needle should be used for each hole.
Reputable parlors also have clients sign consent forms and ask for proper identification. Individuals under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent guardian. San Francisco Department of Public Health should have conducted a facilities inspection within the past 12 months and practitioners must display their licenses.
Shops which regularly do pierc-ings, unlike many mall kiosks, and follow health and safety codes are often better at suggesting appropriate body areas that won’t reject the piercing.
Salt solutions and baby soap are recommended for keeping piercings sanitary and helping them heal. Even though she says she took proper care of her nose piercing, Cummings still experienced minor infection.
“Maintaining a piercing takes an equal amount of time for anywhere on your body,” Wade, a piercer at Mom’s Body Shop who asked his full name not be used, said. “There’s no real difference in where you get pierced because you’re creating a new opening to the outside world.”
Cummings’ nose developed a
bump next to the piercing and was slightly red. Althought she was able to successfully use a homemade saltwater rinse to heal her nose, some infections require antibiotics to clear the infection.
“The healing process of my pierc-
ings was annoying but worth it,” Cum-mings said. “I love my nose stud and my ear piercings because now I can go shopping for cute jewelry. The entire process for me specifically wasn’t as painful as I first thought it would be.”
Belly dancing proves surprising workout
We began slowly shaking our hips from side to side, but suddenly the instructor suddenly sped up and my simple hip isolation movements could not compare to the gyrating hips of my classmates.
“SharQui is a technique I created that fuses both fitness and the art form of belly dance,” Oreet Schwart, President of SharQui, said. The term “SharQui” means “East” in Arabic.
I could feel the fitness portion of the class because the movements commanded muscle control, specifi-cally abs and thighs.
“The belly dance workout is authentic belly dance, just kicked up a notch,” Shwart said. “The move-ments are faster and I always keep moving to ensure a cardio workout.”
Upbeat Middle Eastern beats were the soundtrack to the class. To my relief Shwart retaught each combination so each student could learn right from the beginning. We began by moving just hips and then incorporated arms and steps, all while hips still bumping from side to side with knees bent.
“Stay classy,” Schwart reminded me as I struggled to keep my knees bent and posture straight. “Keep your booty in — here we belly dance
with class.”The entire body is worked
with a focus on the core according to Shwart.
“The arms are working be-cause they are held up, the legs are [working ] because we move the legs and feet fast, and core is work-ing because we constantly keep it engaged,” Shwart said. “It is a total body workout.”
Belly dancing is not only a workout method for Shwart, but a part of her heritage.
“It is in my culture so I learned from a very young age,” Shwart said. “I am Israeli and my grandparents are from Yemen. I was initially taught by my grandmothers.”
SharQui is a cardio version of simple belly dancing, according to Shwart. The class varies from simple movements to choreography send-ing participants cascading across the floor.
I did not feel the sudden sense of exhaustion upon completing SharQui like other cardio classes have made me feel, but instead en-ergized, calm and actually enjoyed the workout. I was on my path to be the next Shakira, but with my newly learned SharQui cardio belly dancing skills.
It took just one minute and the sound of a doctor’s voice on March 30, 2009 to completely transform
Ella Rosenberg’s life. She was no longer just a woman but a statistic — just one of 118.3 African-American women diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
“When the doctor first told me, my first reaction was ‘Oh my God!’” recalls the mother of senior Ronella Rosenberg. “I was by myself when the doctor told me, leaving me in shock. I cried and asked the Lord to take over.”
Her daughter said she had no idea what to expect when she heard the news.
“I was afraid of my mom dying and I didn’t know what was going to happen with my life,” said Ronella. “I was aware that there would be a dramatic change, but didn’t know what life would be like on a day to day basis.”
Rosenberg said she thought the diagnosis was a death sentence because African-American women are one-third more likely to develop breast cancer and 30 percent more likely than other women to die from the disease, accord-ing to a study in the Journal of the
American College of Surgeons. “I went in [the doctor’s office]
not stressed, but focused on positive thoughts,” said Rosenberg, recalling when she first heard the news. “I was concerned about my children. I thought ‘Why not me?’ God picked me and I was ready to take on the challenge and combat the disease.”
The day of Rosenberg’s procedure was also the day before Ronella’s AP World History exam, but she wanted to be at the hospital to support her mother. In the days that followed, Ronella acted as a nurse to her mother who was in constant pain, often nauseous and experiencing overall body numbness.
“This situation made me realize that it is not worth it to get upset over petty stuff,” said Rosenberg. “This situ-ation opened my eyes and made me a stronger and more focused individual.”
Recovery included a year off of work. Rosenberg needed time to go through the chemotherapy, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted after each session, and unable to spend time in the sun because her skin had become extremely sensitive to direct light.
To gain strength, Rosenberg said she frequented a cancer support group specifically for women of color and “two ladies in church also have breast
cancer, so they served as mentors and I was able to ask questions about any fears or uncertainties I had.”
In the African-American commu-nity, hair is prized and very important, causing many women of color to choose not to undergo chemotherapy in fear of losing their hair. The lack of wigs for black women adds to the strain. Rosenberg disregarded social conven-tions, lost her hair and did not make a big deal about it. She said she “was concerned about getting well.”
Black women are more likely to have cancer seven years earlier than white women. The five-year breast can-cer survival rate for African American women is 69 percent, whereas it is 84 percent for white women, according to Net Wellness.
Rosenberg encourages young women to constantly do self checks.
“It is important to stay aware of one’s body and to share information with others,” she said.
“I am extremely grateful that I took the time to give myself an exam,” said Rosenberg. “I would not have been able to detect the cancer as early as I did nor be able to sit here and tell my story.”
RONELLA ROSENBERG | with permission
Ella Rosenberg was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago but is currently in remission. African-American women are one-third more likely to develop breast cancer than white women.
TaLynn Mitchell Reporter
Sophia RedfernReporter
ISABELLE PINARD | the broadview
Seeking out a reputable piercing parlor is worth the research. Sanitary needles are important to use when getting a piercing to avoid infection.
Piercings require precautions
◆Even temporary removal of jewelry from a piercing can result in a rapid closure of the channel, making reinsertion difficultor impossible
◆Homemade sea salt or baby soap solutions are best for disinfecting and maintaining a new piercing.
◆Needles are more effective for piercing than needle guns.
◆Any reputable piercing palor will have proof of safety and health inspection displayed for all to see.
◆Some bleeding, bruising and swelling is normal for a new piercing.
What you should know about getting a piercing
— Source: http://safepiercing.org
Mother’s battle against breast cancer inspires family to support others
I have always wanted to be the next Shakira, but as I walked into a SharQui belly danc-ing studio for the first time, I wondered if a
50-minute class could really give me the ability to isolate muscles in my stomach.
Fencing team looks to 3-peat
Jr Olympic hopeful chases Dallas dream
Sports Roundup
sportsthe broadview
11
KATY HALLOWELL | the broadview
Freshman Jaime Hum-Nishikado tees up a 3-pointer during varsity’s final regular season game against the Marin Academy Wildcats. The Cubs were scheduled to face the Wildcats again last night during the first round of the BCL West playoffs.
KATY HALLOWELL | the broadview
Senior India Pearce looks to dish the ball while being defended by two Lick-Wilmerding varisty players. Pearce was named a “High School Basketball Best” and profiled online by the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb 7.
SOPHIA REDFERN | the broadview
Junior Izzy Pinard practices her lunge. In addition to being captain of the school fencing team, Pinard has qualified to represent the United States in next week’s Junior Olympics in Dallas. She plans to compete in two different styles of fencing.
Claire Fahy Asst. Sports Editor
The fencing team is back train-ing for another season and are preparing to battle for their
third-straight All-City Jamboree win led by students with national and in-ternational experience.
Junior Izzy Pinard says she was named captain at last season’s close due to her support of her teammates and perfect attendance. As team leader, Pinard is responsible for a team with many members that are new to the sport, motivating her pre-season train-ing sessions.
“I want to train [the team] on footwork, their core, arms and a lot of squats — a good fencer never stands up
straight while they’re bouting,” Pinard said. “Core because of balance and arm work because the blade is heavy.”
The Cubs fencing team won back-to-back All-City Championships in 2009 and 2010, led by sophomore Eliza Klyce and Beth Levin (‘10), who placed first and ninth, respectively, in the State Championship last year. Klyce brings experience and leadership to the team due to her international fencing career.
“I think that because I do travel more and fence more seriously outside of school I am able to see things on the [fencing] strip that others might miss,” Klyce said. “I notice patterns or mistakes quicker simply because I have seen them done more often before. It all just comes down to experience though, and I know that all the other girls on the team could reach that level of thought if they con-
tinue working diligently.”Pinard, an accomplished fencer
headed to the Junior Olympics next week, knows that repeating last year’s success will not be easy.
“It’s going to be a really tough season,” Pinard said. “Most of the girls on other teams have been fencing longer [than ours.]”
Klyce, however says with a little positivity, the team still has the potential to go far.
“In my experience it is very pos-sible for an inexperienced fencer to beat a very experienced fencer simply because he or she had a better mind set,” Klyce said. “Don’t think of mistakes as failures, think of them as steps leading closer to success. I know that sounds extremely cheesy but it really does work.”
As the only girl at her fencing club, junior Isabelle Pinard practices with the guys —
which may have made her qualification for the Junior Olympics next week that much easier.
“Girls are more quick, but I would say boys are tougher competition for me,” Pinard said. “Fencing with both, I get to develop both sides of the sport.”
Pinard uses this to her advantage when she goes up against girls in com-petition.
“Izzy loves fencing camps and fencing the guys, probably because they are tougher than the girls and faster — which is perfect for her because she always pushes herself,” her father Donald Pinard said.
Pinard receives encouragement from her teammates on the school team as well as in competition and training for the Junior Olympics which are scheduled for Feb. 18 to 22 in Dallas.
“I get a lot of support from team-mates even if it’s just cheering during
competitions and tips during practice,” Pinard said. “In fencing, it’s important to be positive because your mind can psyche you out and you can lose it, and that would be heartbreaking. [My team-mates] help me get over that barrier and tell me I don’t have to win every single competition.”
Pinard helps her teammates, but they all learn from each other, accord-ing to teammate Eliza Klyce, who is an internationally-ranked fencer.
“You can always learn something —even if it is just a new perspective on something, it is helpful,” Klyce said. “She’s taught me not to be so hard on myself by shaking off my mistakes. She sets me straight. And not only is Izzy helpful to other fencers, but they can show her new things like that too.”
Fencing is primarily a mental sport that requires decision making that goes into each move, according to junior Nikki Hvid.
“You have to be able to make snap decisions,” Hvid said. “But even if you can think on your feet, if you don’t have the strength to follow through you can’t win. Izzy’s strongest skill is definitely her agility, but also her quick thinking. The
other competitors may be stronger, but if they can’t beat her speed, they will probably lose.”
Balancing school, a social life and the demands of fencing makes even find-ing time to eat hard to do, according to her mother Jocelyn Pinard.
“Fencing has definitely taken up a lot of Izzy’s social life,” Jocelyn Pinard said. “She has to manage her time as well as maintain a heavy appetite to keep her energy up.”
Pinard practices for two and a half hours, six days a week and credits her parents with helping her keep it up.
“I get a lot of support from my dad,” Pinard said. “He played sports in high school and he knows what it’s like.”
Donald Pinard says Pinard does the sport for pure passion, rather than to add to a college application.
“Izzy thinks that an athlete must have determination and guts,” Donald Pinard said. “You will always see Izzy smiling. She honestly cannot stop smil-ing when she fences.”
The Broadview will be tweeting Isabelle Pinard’s progress in the Junior Olympics. Follow The Broadview on Twit-ter @thebroadview.
Liz Smith Asst. Sports Editor
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SOPHIA REDFERN | the broadview
Junior Isabelle Pinard plans to travel to Dallas on Saturday to compete in the Junior Olympics for saber fencing. She will be competeing in both the junior and cadet divisons of the competition.
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SOPHIA REDFERN | the broadview
city life12February 17, 2011
A heavy perfume scent wafts down the corridors of the de Young museum where bursting
bouquets and picturesque flower ar-rangements fill the galleries and compli-ment pieces of the permanent collection for the annual Bouquets to Art, held to benefit the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
The five-day exhibit starting March 15 will feature 150 floral ar-rangements by various designers and garden clubs from around the world that interpret paintings, sculpture and furniture, and are placed throughout the museum. Clara McInerney (’75) is one of the independent floral designers who has worked with a team of two other Convent alumnae to interpret work.
“We turned in our requests for the work we want to interpret and the Fine Arts museum assigns us one of our choices,” McInerney said. “We are sup-posed to find out by the end of February this year.”
Bouquets to Art has attracted over 560,000 visitors and raised over $4.74 million in net proceeds accord-ing to a press release by the de Young in past years. The special exhibit funds art acquisitions and education programs at the de Young and Legion of Honor.
“Walking past all the flowers is so much fun and a very unique type of museum exhibit,” senior Sophie De Lancie said. “I go just for the flowers, but the fact that it is for charity makes it even better.”
“The number one challenge in producing the exhibit is bringing often
large works of art to scale, and ensuring the designs will last through heat and other conditions that might damage the flowers,” said McInerney.
Designers have to choose flora that will last throughout the exhibit and stay fresh. McInerney and her team will go in each morning before visitors come to check their arrangement still look fresh.
“The challenge is to bring it to scale,” McInerney said. “We have to make sure that we use things that will last because it is so hot and people going by produce body heat on top of the lights.”
The quality, appearance and vi-brancy of the arrangements each day of the exhibit speak for themselves when determining florists for the next year.
“Each year your work has to be up to par otherwise you are not asked back, it has to be good, well maintained and fresh everyday,” said McInerney. “They look at technique. If your piece is leak-ing or dead they will not invite you back
because people pay to see this.”Each bouquet uses unique combi-
nations of flowers to imitate pieces of art as closely as possibly.
“Last year we did ‘The Great Swamp’ [Martin Johnson Heade, 1904] and used Spanish moss, baby purple artichokes, miniature succulents, lily of the valley and hyacinth,” McInerny said. “It is a landscape and it is only 12-inches long by about 8-inches wide and every-thing has to be to scale.”
During the five days of exhibi-tion, the De Young will also be hosting luncheons, afternoon teas and lectures by floral designers ranging from the Bay Area to London. The exhibit will conclude with a benefit raffle featuring prizes including jewelry and clothing.
“It is well worth the price of ad-mission and the one time of the year that you can take flash photographs in the museum and see the flower ar-rangements in front the work being interpreted,” McInerny said.
Anjali Shrestha Features Editor
WARREN MULHALL | with permission
Paula Mulhall uses high-powered graffiti removal spray to clean graffiti off a city garbage can. Mulhall purchases all removal supplies, including the city’s official green cover-up paint, with her own money. In addition to targeting graffiti on her own, Mulhall occasionally hires helpers to paint over entire walls of graffiti.
It was just another drive to work for San Francisco real estate agent Paula Mulhall until she spotted a
graffiti-covered mailbox near her office building. Parking her Porche Cayenne along the curb, she busted out the paint rollers and gloves.
“Tagging and graffiti vandalism is a crime against all of us,” Mulhall said. “One person’s actions affects hundreds or thousands of other people who see it. I’ve taken direct action because I am a ‘can do’ type of person.”
Mulhall started cleaning up graffiti 13 years ago as she drove around the city and saw the unsanctioned spray painting on the sides of buildings, trees and mailboxes. She called the building’s maintenance to see if they could repaint the vandalism in the area, but they took
too long to respond so Mulhall took it upon herself to get authorized by the City to purchase the “official” city paint for grafitti cover-up.
“I was raised to respect personal and public property,” Mulhall said. “It never crossed my mind not to contrib-ute to the beauty of this city. If there is trash on the sidewalk, I pick it up — if there is graffiti, I’ll work toward remov-ing it or paint over it.”
Mulhall uses the city’s official green cover-up paint and uses a high-powered graffiti removal spray as well as camouflage paint that also works on tree bark, not letting any surface hinder her from covering up that graffiti.
After hearing about Mulhall’s one-woman graffiti clean-up the Mayor Gavin Newsom asked her to consider taking the appointment of the Mayor’s Seat on the Graffiti Advisory Board.
“I said yes immediately,” Mulhall said. “I felt that I could learn more about
this problem and help the city more by being on the board.”
Mulhall was sworn in as a board member on December 21 on the Mayor’s Balcony at City Hall.
Although Mulhall has not shown anything less than determination, she says she could not have fought her battle against graffitiests without support from family and friends.
“I am very proud of my wife and all that she does,” Warren Mulhall said. “She is making a great contribution to the city and I am behind her every step of the way.”
Having been given so much in her life, Mulhall says she wants to give back as much as she is able because San Fran-cisco is an amazing city that she wants to keep it clean and beautiful.
“I try to help San Francisco in every way that I can.” Mulhall said. “And I believe that if one sets their mind to it, anything is possible.”
ANDREW FOX | with permission
Red and orange blooms are showcased at Bouquets to Art 2006 at the de Young museum in imitation of William Brown’s “Two Figures in a Landscape.” The exhibit displays flower arrangements inspired by art throughout the galleries.
Multicolored flowers (left) are displayed to resemble Wayne Thiebaud’s “Three Machines.” Bouquets to Art is in its 27th year, with ticket sales benefitting art education programs at the de Young museum and Legion of Honor.
ZOE NEWCOMB | the broadview
The Temporary Transbay Terminal downtown acts as an alternative waiting spot while the former Tr a n s b a y Te r m i n a l i s u n d e r reconstruction. The project, begun in 2008, is estimated to be completed in 2017.
Flowers celebrate art
Construction on a $4 million project to rebuild the Trans-bay Terminal and update Bay
Area public transportation is projected to be completed in 2018 — extending Caltrain and California high-speed rail underground and revitalizing the area downtown bound by Mission, Main, Folsom, and Second Streets, where the terminal will be located.
The old Transbay Terminal was designed to connect San Francisco to the East Bay — however, even students who commute from the East Bay find little use for it.
“I take BART to school from the East Bay, but have never used the Transbay Terminal,” senior Ronella
Rosenberg said. “In fact I don’t even really know what it is.”
Students say they know very little about the updates being made to the terminal, despite the impact the new terminal will have on residents of San Francisco.
“I know the city is planning a new Transbay Terminal, but I am not entirely sure what all the services offered will be,” senior Juliet Charnas said.
Although few students are fully aware what services the update will offer, the ones who know about it say they are optimistic about the proposed project.
“I would definitely use the new terminal, because the services that are being added — especially the high-speed rail — sound really convenient.” Rosenberg said.
Plans for the Transbay Terminal
include a modern regional transit hub connecting 11 transit systems including AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, Greyhound, Muni, Sam Trans (San Mateo County buses), WestCAT Lynx (Contra Costa County buses), Paratransit and a future high-speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Aneheim.
“I am particularly excited about being able to travel to Los Angeles in only two and a half hours without having to pay for an airplane ticket,” Charnas said.
Senior Kristy Harty-Connell also says the high-speed rail connecting Northern California and Southern is the update she is most exited about.
“While the other services will defi-nitely be helpful, I think the high-speed rail to Southern California is what I am the most excited to use,” Harty-Connell
said. “It is a service that should have been available long ago.”
The new Transbay Terminal is an expensive project for California’s cur-rent economy.
“I’m not sure whether or not Cali-fornia can afford that kind of a project at the moment, but I think the benefits the terminal will bring are worth the cost,” senior Shannon Smith said.
The project will attempt to make public transportation a convenient and accessible option for those in the Bay Area, accommodating 45 million people a year, according to transbay-center.org.
“I never used the old Transbay Ter-minal because I didn’t really have a need for it,” Charnas said. “However, the new project sounds like it will be more useful, making public transportation in San Francisco easier to use than before.”
Ava Martinez & TaLynn Mitchell
Isabelle Pinard Reporter
‘Graffiti Lady’ cleans up city’s vandalism
Transbay Terminal reconstruction underway
