THEMOORNEWSPAPER.COM ISSUE 17, VOL. 104TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014

ALL-AMERICANHALL OF FAME

New ASB Methods to Promote Spirit

Lunar Neigh Year Celebration Begins

DIANA LINews Editor

The last day of January marked the begin-ning of the 2014 Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Horse. The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, typically falls between late January and mid-February because the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon’s cycle, unlike Western calendars. Though the Lunar New Year is sometimes called Chinese New Year, the holiday is celebrated in China, Japan, Korea,Vietnam and other countries.

During this 15-day-long holiday, families traditionally gather for elaborately prepared dinners. Children often receive red envelopes containing money from adult relatives.

In Alhambra, other festivities are ongoing. On Feb. 8, the 23rd Annual Alhambra Lunar New Year Celebration will be held on Valley Boulevard from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The street festival will feature over 200 vendors and booths, as well as a live kung fu performance, children’s workshops and a dragon boat row-ing station.

“What I enjoy most about Lunar New Year is getting together with all my relatives to feast, talk and laugh,” senior Joyce Hii said.

DENISE TIEUNews EditorSHELLEY LINStaff Writer

Blue and gold streamers cov-ered the grounds of AHS on Jan. 17. Paper snowmen and snowflakes adorned the campus, unperturbed by the warm, Cali-fornia sun. AHS was decorated with winter spirit and school colors for the 2014 Winter Pep Rally, hosted by ASB.

“Pep rallies have always been a great way to bring out school pride and unity,” Sophomore Council President Amy Than said.

To start off the Winter Pep Rally, ASB congregated at the Quad during the announcements of the winter sports. Later on, each winter sport gave a brief speech between performances from Cheer, Drill and Orche-sis. Lastly, the Mighty Moor Marching Band (MMMB) led the parade with the Cheer and dance teams to Third Street,

where the All-Male Dance Team performed. Afterwards, the MMMB marched around the school and finished the parade in the Quad.

“This is my first year at [AHS] and I thought the Winter Pep Rally and school spirit was much bigger than at my previ-ous school. The performances and the marching band made the pep rally really enjoyable,” sophomore Melody Luo said.

Along with the effort to pro-mote school spirit throughout the student body, ASB plans to hold class spirit weeks. Each class will have its own spirit week that will be dedicated to representing their respective year with games and/or perfor-mances.

“This idea of each class hav-ing an individual spirit week surfaced because ASB really wants AHS students to take pride in their graduating class,” Than said. “At the end of the day, it’s our peers that inspire us and push us to make our high

school lives as fulfilling as pos-sible. We want them to cherish the memories we all have shared at AHS as one class.”

The class spirit week will start off with sophomores on Feb. 3 and will be followed by the ju-nior, senior and freshman weeks.

“Class weeks are designed by their class council, which gener-ally promotes the spirit of the class,” sophomore representa-tive Kylileo Zhong said. “[The class councils] also came up with games to compete with the other classes that could further tighten our relationship.”

ASB strives for more school spirit and more students to par-ticipate in school activities such as pep rallies, sports and clubs by making posters, putting up fliers, and planning pep rally ac-tivities.

“It’s usually really fun bond-ing with everyone while making dozens of posters to promote Pep. ASB is practically a family, which makes the school pride so genuine,” Than said.

Survival Methods During Flu SeasonJACQUELYN LOIStaff Writer

Every year in the U.S. alone, an av-erage of 5 to 10 percent of its popu-lation catches the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention. January and February is the time that many people start to experience the flu or the common cold. People tend to get the flu by staying indoors from the cold weather, where germs and viruses are more likely to be contracted.

Countless studies have proved that chicken soup does have medicinal val-ue. According to Health, chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory.

“Chicken soup contains proteins and many vitamins. When people are sick, they lose their proteins. When [they] eat chicken soup, they gain back the proteins that they have lost,” AHS nurse Anita Man said.

According to Flu.gov, the best way to prevent a flu is to get a vaccination.

Those who are vaccinated are 60 per-cent less likely to need treatment for the flu. The vaccine protects the indi-vidual for

one whole flu season, which usually begins around January or February and may last until March .

“Countries work together to find out the three major types of flus for that

year, because the flu always mutates. The flu shot is the combination of the vaccine for those three flus. However, people may still get sick even after get-ting the flu shot because there are still many viruses out there,” Man said.

On the other hand, pregnant wom-en have reason not to be vac-cinated. In September 2012,

a study conducted by Gary Goldman in the Human and Environmental Toxicology Journal showed a 4,250

percent increase in the num-ber of fetal deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System during the flu season of 2009-2010. Fur-

thermore, the flu shot may also contain mercury, a metal that is

known to be hazardous to human health.“I did not know any of this before

and it’s actually really intriguing, but I think I’ll be going to go get my flu shot now, regardless of the side effects,” freshman Belinda Cai said.

MOOR graphic by SIMON ZHAO

MOOR SPIRIT WONDERLAND Drill Team and the Mighty Moors Marching Band perform at the Winter Pep Rally.

PHOTOS courtesy of TEVIN VOONG

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Despite all the progress that has been made in women’s rights over the past century, there is still one measure of in-equality that stands out: females still earn less than males who work in the same professions.

Over 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, declar-ing that it was the end of the “unconscionable practice of paying female employees less wages than male employees for the same job.” Today, however, a woman earns only 82 percent of what a man earns. It does not sound like the Equal Pay Act has exactly “paid off,” does it?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women in America are paid just 77 to 82 cents for every dollar paid to men and personally, I find that absurd. A 23 cent dif-ference does not sound like a lot, but it definitely adds up on a pay-check. Experts say that women earn less because it is a byproduct of their choice: choices to work fewer hours, enter lower paying majors and occupations or not negotiate for higher incomes in the first place. However, the wage gap is much more than personal choice; it is unfair and perennial. Forcing women to apply for high-er-paying jobs or to work longer hours does not solve or justify why unequal pay is still intact.

Currently, the workplace-equality movement is fighting Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a comprehensive bill that strengthens the Equal Pay Act for modern times. Es-sentially, it is the next step for-ward in ending unfair wages. As a country that stresses the natu-ral importance of freedom and equality, it is ironic that we are not stressing those same virtues to end this economic inequality.

We as women do not deserve and are tired of receiving the short-er end of the dollar bill in society.

JOSEPH NEY-JUNStaff Writer

In past years, the U.S. has been falling behind the rest of the world in education. Because we are a first world country, our system should be set up to make the best students in the world right? However, this is not the case, as a recent test has shown that the U.S. is far behind the rest of the world in core subjects like Math-ematics, Reading and Science.

The Organization for Eco-nomic Co-Operation and De-velopment (OECD), holds a triennial test for all 15 year old students around the world in participating countries. In 2012, 35 countries were ahead of the U.S. in mathematics. Other countries showed great improvement over their scores from the 2009 Programme for

CINDY LUOStaff Writer

It is not necessary to empha-size how influential media is in the lives of young adults in the 21st century. Nonetheless, the ar-gument about whether its impact is positive or negative remains controversial, especially when the topic is related to sensitive subjects such as teen pregnancy.

Both MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and its spinoff series “Teen Mom” have received over three mil-lion views after their first debut in 2009. Recently, a study published in the journal Mass Communica-tion and Society states that high school students who frequently watch the shows are more likely to have unrealistic and fanciful imaginations of teenage preg-nancy. Ironically, another study released in the same month by the National Bureau of Economic Re-search suggests an opposite result. The research shows that the TV series has ultimately led to a 5.7 percent reduction in teen preg-nancy in 18 months, which is one-third of the overall decline in teen births in the U.S. during that time.

However, neither criticizing the shows for glamorizing teen preg-nancy nor searching for evidence to prove that the shows deter teens solves the problem. Seeking com-fort or solutions from reality shows reflects the lack of communication between the different generations.

Experienced adults such as par-ents and teachers should be the ones who guide the naive teens. Personally teaching teenagers about the consequences of im-petuous decisions and the impor-tance of self-discipline would be more effective than leaving the youth to learn from the mixed messages that TV shows send.

Teens should at least know adults will be their main support, help-ers and counselors when facing tough situations, not the television.

SUSANNA AIGAOpinions Editor

Remember those kids in elementa-ry school who would throw tantrums if they didn’t get what they wanted? Teachers would employ a variety of disciplinary tactics, from giving a time-out to sending them to the prin-cipal’s office. However, despite the extensive training teachers have to go through, there have been incidents in which teachers and schools do not handle these issues appropriately.

According to Education News, there have been incidents involv-ing certain special needs kids being locked in solitary classrooms, given crayons covered in hot sauce and sent to emergency rooms for tantrums.

According to Disability Scoop, the parents of six New York City stu-dents are suing the city and the local Department of Education, claiming that the schools called ambulances due to a lack of proper procedures or

International Student Assessment (PISA), but the U.S. showed no such improvement. In fact, there was a drop from the 2009 score

of 487 to 481 in Mathemat-ics for the U.S. in 2012. There was a decrease in the scores of Reading and Science as well.

America was once leading the world in education, but now we

are outstripped by countries like Japan and China. Japan and Chi-na are leading scores in the three subjects. According to recent sur-

veys by the Organization for Economic Co-Oper-ation and Development (OECD), in Shanghai and the rest of China, nine out of 10 students real-ize that they are respon-sible for their futures.

Likewise, in Japan, high school is not man-datory. A prestigious high school in Japan re-quires an entry test to attend. Because Japa-nese students know that without school there is a

high chance they will not be suc-cessful, many continue on to high school. If every student in Amer-ica were given the option to skip high school, many would take it in order to be told what to do.

“It is a picture of educational stagnation,” said the U.S. Secre-tary of Education, Arne Duncan said, “according to the U.S. De-partment of Education. American students are standing still while the rest of the world moves on. Our scores either dropped or stayed the same. The other nations of the world unfortunately do not have a No Country Left Behind Act. What they see that Ameri-cans do not is the long term goal.”

If we were to push ourselves as hard as other countries, we could come back over time. Every year, more and more funding is taken out of education, creating dif-ficulties for schools to teach stu-dents more effectively. If we wish to be one of the world’s best, we can’t baby ourselves or be babied. There are students who go the ex-tra two miles, but no matter how far they go it is always possible for them to take their fates farther.

staff in place to deal with behav-ioral outbursts. The parents then re-ceived massive bills for ambulance transport and hospitalization, in ad-dition to spending hours in the ER.

It is true that many schools are struggling to accommodate stu-dents due to factors such as fund-ing cuts, overcrowding and school closures, but sending “difficult” stu-dents to the ER does not seem to be an adequate solution to the problem.

Teachers are required to participate in certain credential programs, which includes child development. The cre-dential programs have separate steps and guidelines depending on the type of teaching they are interested in. Therefore, such well-trained teach-ers should already have the tools they need to deal with “problem kids,” and not have to resort to sending kids to the ER, regardless of being understaffed.

It is not the ER’s responsibil-ity to deal with misbehavior; it is the student’s, teachers’ and school’s.

Treat Teens With Talks, Not TV

Write or Wong?

Unfair Wages Endure

KAYIU WONGStaff Writer

Emergency Rooms are for Emergencies Only

America Falls Short in Global Education

MOOR graphics by SIMON ZHAO

As high school students, there are many things we have to balance: school

work, family, friends, extracurricular activities. Sometimes having to worry

about all of these results in an imbalance of activities, yet not one of these fac-

tors can be eliminated if we wish to have a bright future and be happy at the

same time. There are, however, many ways to relieve this problem so that all

aspects of high school life will be balanced.

Managing one’s workload requires one to be on top of their homework by

recording or keeping track of what is due. A schedule helps some, as it gives a

time frame for each assignment to be completed within a reasonable amount

of time, as well as ensuring one has time for other activities, such as sports

and clubs.

As for balancing school and social life, one can always ensure that their class-

es do not stress them out too much, as well as keeping on top of assignments.

Though having a social life is enjoyable, prioritizing that above schoolwork

often results in lower grades. Therefore, one needs to analyze how much time

is needed to be allotted for homework and for their free time in order to find

a balance between the two. Creating better study habits,

such as working in an area away from distractions, also

allows for a student to get homework done efficiently and

on time.

High school is a time many students experience, often filled with drama and many problems that can naturally cause stress and more. Most teenagers are unaware of how to relieve stress and the effects that stress could bring upon a student. Stress is an inevitable problem among people, and it can affect a person’s mental and physical health. Mental stress can bring about symptoms such as being moody or frustrated, having low self-esteem and feeling overwhelmed. Physical stress can cause low energy, headaches, insomnia. Stress causes many negative symptoms to the body; however, there are solutions to managing stress. According to WebMD, the first step to managing stress is to figure what is causing stress and why, along with finding an activity to unload the stress out. A person’s environment also plays a role in their stress factor. Messy rooms and disorganized papers often cause anxiety, and the solution is to clean and organize. A hobby that clears one’s mind, such as reading or running, is an easy solution to ease stress. Sur-rounding oneself with people that are not stressed is helpful since people often mimic actions and emotions from people in their life. Stress can be very dangerous and bothersome, though it is hard to manage and deal with, there are many solutions. Resolutions that would relieve the body for a more successful and healthy future.

“You did NOT just snitch on me,” so-called friend A rages, sassily Z-snapping friend B. “You spilled my secret 17 years ago!” supposed Friend B counters, still holding onto that kindergarten hatred. A chain of drama unravels. Although not every relationship lasts forever, certain friendships last longer. There is no definite recipe to having long companionships. However, healthy friendships often have a few key components: honesty, trust and, most impor-tantly, acceptance. Honesty establishes trust; most of the human population will agree that trusting a liar is difficult. With a lack of trust comes a lack of communica-tion—opening up to each other will prove to be challenging. But above all, no matter how much honesty or trust there is, maintaining friendships requires mutual acceptance. No one has perfect traits. Accept-ing friends for their flaws—their quietness and awkwardness, their love for strange food like chili powder-covered jícama, their uncanny attraction toward gory horror movies or their lame jokes that make crows caw (they find them so funny, but they never are)—is what fuels the bond. A friend will accept our idiosyncrasies and not judge us when we need to cry on their shoul-ders. First and foremost, be a friend (both of you). The friendship will follow.

You’re a True FriendJENNY LEEFeatures Editor

Don’t Tip the Balance

ANGELA YANG Staff Writer Stop Chasing Pavements ELTON HO Staff Writer

Best Out of Stress DEREK WU Staff Writer

MOOR graphics by SYDNEY LI and

GEN THIPATIMA

On one particularly exhausting night, a high school student pauses working to contemplate: why am I losing sleep over studying? When in my life will I need to know what I’m learning? What makes me obligated to strive for academic excel-lence, rather than be content with an easier life? These questions are not always easy to answer. However, being able to say in the future that your career is meaningful, whether it is through helping others or exploring a talent that you love, is a source of pride which cannot be understated. For teenagers already struggling with maintaining friendships, overbearing parents and crippling insecurity, school can be nothing short of an enormous pain. Yet, the oft-repeated saying really is true: education is important. Students often want to see a direct link between education and success, or else school seems like a waste of time. For now, learning can be its own reward. Students have opportunities now to enlighten themselves. They could find out what makes anti-biotics work, how airplanes stay up or how to write a great novel. Later on in their life, they might not have the chance.

“But I’m hopeless as a student. I can’t become anything special,” some might say. A person does not need to be extraordinary in order to have a rewarding life. One does not have to become an astronaut, a brain surgeon or the next Steve Jobs to be considered successful. Someone is incredible as long as they strive to be the best person they can be, whether that person is a guidance counselor setting students on the right path or a t-shirt designer pleasing shoppers with adorable drawings. Figure out what you want to do with your future. Follow your dreams, and have fun in the process. It might appear to be a long shot now, but even if it does not end up working out, you want to be able to say that you tried.

High school is a well-known landmark in the teenage experience. Not only is it the place where adolescents grow academically, but it is also where students are introduced to skills that will aid them in life later on. Young high school students can never have too much advice to guide them.

Teen Woes JANET GUANStaff Writer

Varsity Girls’ Water Polo TeamDefeated After Offensive StrugglesWESLEY TSAIStaff Writer

The Moors battled it out with the Gahr High School Gladiators on Jan. 23 to make their way through preseason. Though they were swimming with smooth strokes, the Moors fell back with a loss of 4-25.

“[We need to] improve on communication, de-fense and offense. [An-other] thing we need to improve on is recogniz-ing shots sooner, and im-proving the health over the weekend,” said Head Coach Adrian Lopez said.

In the first quarter, the Moors started off with the ball. After several transi-tions from both teams, Al-

hambra managed to push and score, giving them their first point but trailing 1-4. To end the quarter, the Gladiators made an error by setting a five-meter penalty, which let Alhambra sopho-more wing Joyce Hong shoot a foul shot, giving the Moors their second point.

The next quarter quickly intensified, and it started off with fast breaks and turn-overs from both sides. Af-ter more relays between the two opponents, Gahr was called for a five-meter pen-alty and the Moors scored, making the game 2-7. Af-ter many transitions and fast breaks, the Gladiators pushed the score to 2-14.

“The Moors are good ball handlers, defend-

ers and foul draw-ers,” Gahr freshman point Hailey Rabbs said.

The next two sets were rather defensive for Gahr. Gahr senior goalie Kirsten Nevees received five blocks in the third quarter. After a turnover from the Gladi-ators, the Moors scored making it 4-25 The Gladia-tors caught the rhythm back towards the end and pushed 10 more points, ending the game in a loss of 4-25.

“We played pretty well considering we have many injured players, no true goalies and [we were missing two of our most beneficial players]. Over-all we were shorthanded, but we delivered and played well,” Lopez said.

New ASB Stamp Card Hopes to Attract Viewers to Varsity Home Gamescard must be stamped twice

at any home game, once

within the first 15 minutes of the game and the second time during the last 15 min-utes of the game. The card is also only valid during one of the three sporting seasons: fall, winter and spring, and cannot be used during a different season.

“I think that [the card] does help people go to games more; however, I think that even more peo-ple would attend the games

if they were to lower the entrance price for a var-sity game. But it is really cool that they can get an school spirit item for free,” varsity basketball player Matthew Aguilar said.

The stamp card can be picked up at the ta-ble near the entrance of any varsity home game.

MOOR graphic by GEN THIPATIMA

holder to receive a free re-ward from the Moor Market af-ter attend-ing six var-sity home g a m e s . The re-ward var-ies every once in a while, based on availability. The

Avalanche and Tea Bar-rel. The perks that come with this card are targeted to encourage Moor pride among students of all grades on school grounds.

“We [...] feel that stu-dents need an incentive to help boost Moor pride, and this card helps the students be drawn to attend games,” ASB Director of Athlet-ics Ricky Martinez said.

The card enables the

NATE GARCIASports Editor

Over the past few years, attendance at varsity home games has decreased sig-nificantly. In January, ASB introduced a new method of attracting students to home games: the AHS Sports Rewards Card.

The card is just like any other stamp card picked up at local places such as

JV Girls’ Soccer Advances Toward Newest Almont League SeasonANHAYTE GUAJARDOStaff Writer

Finishing the preseason with a 2-4 record, the JV girls’ soccer team contin-ues their already ongo-ing season with a current 2-1-3 record, after win-ning their game against San Gabriel Matadors on Jan. 23 with a score of 8-0 and the game against the Mark Keppel Aztecs with a 5-0 victory on Jan. 27.

The girls will seek to

improve from last year’s 8-2 season record this week against the Mon-tebello Oilers away at Montebello High School.

Working out from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day, the girls focus on plays, speed, blocking, aiming, endurance and many differ-ent tactics to better control the ball. The team excels during practices; however, though they feel that they made progress on their com-munication, some agree

that it is something that still needs improvement.

The team continues to constantly work hard with the guidance of JV Coach Nabor Solis in the hopes of finishing their sea-son on an excellent note.

“I think this year will end really great because at the end even though we know we are not the best, we made it our full effort to succeed,” de-fense sophomore cap-tain Blanca Mendez said.

MOOR photo by YIBEI LIUTO THE RESCUE Due to the overall lack of offense during their Jan. 23 game against the Gahr Gladiators, the Lady Moors step up defense as they embrace the last seconds of the fourth quarter.

MOOR photo by SHANNON KHATHE CHASE Lady Moors JV soccer player Brandi Barajas mightily kicks off their Jan. 23 game against the San Gabriel Matadors. The AHS team later ended the game, eventually winning with a victorious score of 8-0.

MOOR graphic by SYDNEY LI

“We [...] feel that stu-dents need an incentive to help boost Moor pride, and this card helps the students be drawn to attend games.”

-Ricky Martinez

The Alhambra water polo team plans to work on shooting in practice because according to Al-hambra senior set Mi-

chelle Guerra, only three to four girls in varsity are comfortable shooting in a game situation. In all, the team feels like they are in

a good position when the team is free from injuries and plan to work on of-fensive strategies more intensity during practice.