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June 11, 2010
Judy Wu
Fremont’s Earth Day Fair celebrated Earth Day’s fortieth anniversary, April 24. It also featured the WHS New Leaf Club as one of the eco-friendly exhibitors.
The fair was held at the Teen Center in Central Park. The fair offered free admission and was coordinated by Fremont environmental specialist Chanel Kincaid.
“I was thrilled with the fair’s outcome. More schools participated this year compared to last year,” Kincaid said. “There was also music which entertained the guests.”
WHS New Leaf Club had a booth with games, such as spin-the-wheel, hangman and a water game with toy cars. They gave out brownies and Capri Sun coin pouches as prizes. The club also sold plants and lemonade. They will use profits to buy plants for the planting. Sophomore New Leaf vice president Bharathi Gandi asked senior Christopher Valdez to play the guitar to attract guests to the booth. Many WHS students came to represent the New Leaf Club and earn community service hours.
“The booth looked like a success. We earned a lot of money from selling plants, lemonades and brownies,” New Leaf president junior Julien Malard said.
Other Fremont high schools participated in the fair. Kennedy High School’s Green Ventures Academy sold healthy, organic food. They will donate the money earned to Tri Cities Food Bank. Irvington gave out plants and brought the hybrid bus the school won from America’s Greenest School contest.
American made paper and sold the paper cutouts for $1. They will adopt trees with the money earned. Fremont’s Got Talent vocalists Levi William, Ciara Lunger and Derek Chan also performed some original songs to entertain guests.
“The Earth Day fair was nice. I thought Levi William was very talented,” Gandi said.
Union City Transit, Alameda County Water District, Tri City Ecology Center and other corporations set up eco-friendly booths. The corporations gave out brochures to inform guests about being environmental friendly. Some corporations gave out free tote bags, pencils and other goodies to attract guests.
There was a native tree giveaway, bicycle safety check up and a lamp exchange. People could exchange their old 300-watt halogen floor lamp and their PG&E bill for a new energy-saving version for free. The Union Sanitary District hosted a pharmaceutical disposal and mercury thermometer exchanges.
There were also activities for children such as a puppet show and arts and crafts. Guests were also invited to vote for Earth Day fair posters designed by Kennedy and Washington High School students. Finalists included students from Washington, juniors Steven Lee and Cheng Tan.
The fair was a way for the city, high schools, non-profits organization and the county to provide event-goers with educational outreach about local programs or how to get involved in various environmental topics. It emphasized the importance of giving back to the planet.
“The planet provides water, air and so much more for us. We should be thoughtful in return on how we are impacting those resources that we so readily rely on,” Kincaid said.
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April 29, 2010
Sarah Delanda and Htoo Htoo Lu
The hat policy enacted by the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) this year caused quite a stir among students. On WHS campus, students protested by wearing hats to school.
For some students, such as senior Christopher Valdez, the hat policy was only a minor annoyance.
“I’m not really a hat person, so it didn’t affect me personally. However, it limited students’ rights to express themselves,” Valdez said.
But for others, it was much more than that. Student activities officer senior Sean Chadha contributed to the nearly one thousand signatures presented to the district on a petition.
“I have been caught multiple times and even have received a referral for my hat-wearing but I continue to do it ,” Chadha said. “Staff should turn their head the other way and not encourage stupidity.”
The district policy states that a student or a group of students can file a complaint to the district if they feel their rights are being infringed upon. They will be given a hearing within three days of their claim if their claim is valid.
Other schools across the country have developed alternatives to ignoring their disgruntled students. In Cambridge, student representative Cody Doucette convinced his school to allow students to wear hats for a trial period after a long-time tension between the school and the students. If hat-wearing was proven to not be a problem- which it eventually was- students would be allowed to wear them for good.
After a protest against the hat rule at Bakersfield’s Ridgeview High School, administrators agreed to meet with students. While they did not change the policy against non-school hats, they did allow students to design the hats.
It is unreasonable to be angry at our school administrators for enforcing a school rule that we do not like. However, it is not unreasonable to be irritated at the lack of responsibility being taken for the rule. It’s a blame cycle. The students blame Washington staff. Washington staff blames the district. The district blames the police, and the police blame the students. If no one is going to stand behind the rule, why is it so difficult to have it revoked? No one is willing to step up to the plate to stand behind their position except for the students, and even still, we aren’t being listened to.
How many gang members would take the time to make a petition for hats? Hats do not cause gang fights.
Hats do not hide the identity of a person. If anything, one can identify someone by the familiarity of their clothing. They might be considered disrespectful to wear in class or even an instrument to cheat on tests, but then why can’t we wear them on non-test days? Or take them off in class? Or between passing periods?
There is a fine line between protecting students and infringing on their rights. While taking hats away is not comparable to taking away our right to a trial by jury or our ability to vote, it is not fair that the students are still easily mistrusted and not given enough say in the district policies.
Photo Credit: Raphael Ghieuw Sien
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December 19, 2009
Nicole Pham
Students packed the gym for the winter assembly Dec. 18, but the annual event was cut earlier than in previous years. Student activities director Helen Paris released students ten minutes before first period was scheduled to start, explaining the gesture as a type of holiday reward.
The assembly, though shortened, maintained its usual sequence of events. Athletics director Mike Tripp announced the $2,500 check awarded to the football team for their entry in a video contest. Balancing athletics with academics, vice principal Lance Miller acknowledged those with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
After the administrators’ announcements, the festivities began with senior Kimberly Chatterjee singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Sports team members and teachers appeared as Chatterjee sang about each “day”. English teacher Debi Pavlecic (pictured) was among the six teachers acting as the “geese a-laying”. Students played games with seasonal themes, competing within classes. The school band, conducted by senior Christopher Valdez and band teacher Duane Mitchell, played sets of holiday music between the various games.
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