A p r i l 2 0 1 5 | V o l . X X I | N o . 4K E R R O N I C L E

Alief Kerr High School | 8150 Howell-Sugar Land Rd. | kerronicle.com

Springing Back

In this Issue:

News Bond Election

Feature Gender Stereotypes

Feature Appreciating Art6

In-Focus Asthma Awareness

Q&A Daniel Gill

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4

5

6

8

Kerronicle.com

ComicCornerTaylor Ma

Kerronicle.com

In this Issue:

24

5 68

News Bond Election

Feature Gender Stereotypes

Feature Appreciating Art

Health Asthma Awareness

Q&A New Math Teacher Daniel Gill

Story

Page Design

Graphic

Photo

Icon Key

News2 | Kerronicle.com | news $$

Pens, rulers, sketchbooks, color pencils, and jumbo hardboards litter the

narrow hallway. Like their class materials, the students are also scattered: some lean against the walls for support, others crouch over their artwork, and still more lay flat on their stomachs. Their various positions are not chosen for comfort, but due to the lack of space in art classrooms.

The art students are not alone in their struggles with inadequate room: Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Theatre also encounter multiple conflicts with the problem of a lack of space – conflicts that might be resolved with the May 9 bond election.

Among the list of improvements and constructions in the bond referendum is a new Kerr Fine Arts building. Although students and teachers express excitement at the news, they remain realistic, understanding that life will still continue even if the referendum is voted down.

Theatre teacher Julie Ryan has heard whispers about the possibility of a Fine Arts expansion for several years, but the bond referendum is the first to cement that possibility into an opportunity.

“Ms. [Ashley] Siegrist and I were the ones who created the recommendation,” Ryan said. “We did a whole 38-page proposal for a Fine Arts facility two years ago, understanding that to some degree, it is already in the works, that they’ve already decided that there was a need. The District was just able to push it just a little bit further.”

Senior Peter Niño has become intimately familiar with that need in his four years as an Orchestra member, and feels relieve that the need is finally being addressed.

“Right now, we’re only given three minutes to go into one room to play a song,” Nino said. “After we’re done with those three

minutes, we need to get out, get back in a line of like 10 people, and wait, and wait, and wait for only three minutes. This has been going on ever since my freshmen year, so hearing [about the bond election] is really eye-opening. We’re finally having that chance to have that building.”

Choir members, such as freshman Pablo Herrera, have their own classroom. However, the low ceiling does not accurately reflect the sounds compared to a more practical and traditional practice room with a higher ceiling.

“We sound amazing in [the choir room],” Herrera said. “When we come out to the foyer, we have to tune ourselves a little more since it’s a higher roof and the acoustics flies everywhere and it bounces back into us. It’s like in a church, it sounds better there than like in your bathroom.”

Similarly, Cadre Kerr members are cramped inside the small Black Box, unable to regularly practice on a proper stage. The President, senior Danyal Syed, can personally attest to this.

“The Black Box Theatre would [normally] be where you practice your runs, and your actual theater would be where you perform,” Syed said. “For us, [the Black Box] is both our main theatre and our practice range. To get familiar with bigger stages, we have to borrow Elsik’s. We bring everything that we have over to Elsik, rehearse there for a day, and then come back.”

The multiple student enrollments in the art classes have overwhelmed art teacher Lisa

Canorro.“Between Ms. [Janine] Hughes

and I, we teach about 440 students a year,” Canorro said. “In first period, in order to [fit] all the people [who] want to take the class, I have to teach 50 to 60 people. My first period is packed so that there is enough room in second and third period that everybody fits in there. We’ve gotten to the point where… my students stack things up on the corner because there’s no room for drying racks, there’s no room to leave the mat cutter out for people to work with.”

With the new space, Canorro hopes to expand her curriculum and perhaps add a new teacher to balance the influx of art class requests that she rejected prior due to the lack of space.

“If we were able to get a third teacher,” Canorro said, “that would allow even more students to take

the class… I can actually spend more time with my students. We may be able to have [more] computers, a bigger lab because these technologies are huge. Hopefully, [we could also] offer AP Art History so those students who like art, but don’t necessarily want to do art, could get an AP credit in Art History.”

While Canorro plans to narrow her focus, Ryan imagines boosting her cast and crew to a new level.

“A stage will open the doors and allow us to be much more competitive,” Ryan said. “Although we’re very competitive at those schools, that extra advantage will go far. We compete with schools with a minimum of 4000 students who most of them have 40- to 50-foot wide, 40- to 50-foot deep stages. That is not including wing space, lighting units, fly systems, anything like that.”

Likewise, Nino believes that an increased availability of practice rooms would allow musicians to hone their skills even further.

Currently, “you expect to play

”““There is such a huge need for more space here. I would love to think that the people are going to pass it.”

Hanging in the BalanceUpcoming bond election to determine implementation of big changes

Kerr High School8150 Howell-Sugar Land Rd.

Houston, TX 77083(281) 983-8484 ext. 267

KERRONICLEAPRIL 2015

VOL. XXI NO. IV

The Kerronicle is published six times a year by the student newspaper staff of Kerr High School and serves as a medium of communication for its readers. It exists to inform its readers about school and com-munity, school policies and their changes, entertainment, and to serve as a forum for student expression.

Advertisers interested in placing an ad in the Kerronicle should contact the staff at (281) 983-8484 ext. 267 or 8150 Howell Sugar Land, Houston, TX 77083.

Letters to the editor are welcomed and encouraged. Letters should be delivered to room 302 or e-mailed to laura.negri@aliefisd.net. All letters must be signed.

Kerronicle:

staff reporters

editor-in-chief managing editor

story editor Amy Haokip

Yazan AbuashourCamille Nguyen

Yen Tran

Diana Vu

Kevin Nguyen

Newsnews | Kerronicle.com | 3$$$$$

one song where many other people are playing different songs,” Nino said. “It’s really fumbled. We can’t hear as well. I feel like we have more of a chance to increase our skills in playing, and have our own playing time for ourselves instead of other people’s.”

However, these improvements and plans will be put on halt if the bond does not pass.

Due to the estimated tax increase of $6.02 per month for households valued at $100,000, Herrera postulates that the probability of the bond passing is 50-50.

“Some people will go on the negative side because some people barely make it for the month’s payment for the rent,” Herrera said. “Some have years and years’ worth of money.”

To Canorro, the benefit of the new facilities outweighs the disadvantage of the tax increase, but she knows that there will be individuals who do not feel the same.

“Some people just don’t see the whole picture,” Canorro said. “They see it as: ‘they want more money, more money for what?’ If people see what we’re doing here at Kerr and at the other schools, all of the wonderful things. If we can’t help [the students] learn more, and [they] want to learn all of this things, [but] we can’t offer all we can offer, it’s shortchanging [them]. A lot of people just don’t think in terms of that.”

Still, Canorro anticipates a positive voter turnout. For sources, she turns to the most recent and successful bond election in Fort Bend Independent School District (ISD).

“Usually, it’s an indicator if it passes in one district, it’ll pass in the other,” Canorro said. “If Fort Bend’s was approved, then I’m hopeful [the Alief community] will come out and approve this, as well.”

Ryan has also decided to put her trust in the

voters and that they will understand the need and situation at Kerr.

“I am cautiously optimistic,” Ryan said. “I would love to think that people see a need for what we feel is an extreme need. There is such a huge need for more space here. I would love to think that the people are going to pass it.”

According to Syed, the key lies in raising awareness.

“We have a large body of students who are over 18,” Syed said. “They may say, ‘oh, it’s cool at one point,’ but they may not be as resolute about [the Fine Arts addition]. I’ve been talking to any seniors that I’ve known in the past, some freshmen in college basically, any people in the Houston area [who can vote].”

Nevertheless, even if the bond is voted down, Nino does not believe that it will be the end.

“Just like anything else that was shot down, it’s something sad,” Nino said. “But then again, it doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying to aim for another building.”

Syed feels the same. There will be future chances.“We’ll be disappointed,” he said. “But I don’t

think it will be so much as, ‘we’re never gonna be getting another theatre ever again.’ If it doesn’t get passed, it’s good first step. It’ll definitely get the conversation going.”

For more information about the Alief Bond and where to vote vist aliefproud.com

↑

Hanging in the Balance

In the upstairs art hallway, an overflow of students from various art classes spills into the hall as a result of a lack of space in the art department’s small classrooms. Many are concerned that the limited amount of space currently designated to the art department will not be enough to accomodate the growing number of students planning to continue taking art classes.

When to vote:

Early Voting: April 27-May 2

For home valued at $100,000

• Kerr Fine Arts Addition• School buses• Outley expansion• Olle Ensemble room• Elsik Softball field• Career Center• Entry canopies• Roof repairs• Security entrances• Pre-K program• Middle school gyms• Fire alarms replacements• Reception areas• Restroom renovations• Youens library expansion• Heating repairs• A/C repairs• HS weight rooms• Handicap availability

$6.02/month

May 9

What is included:

Tax Impact:

Fast Facts

Yen Tran

♂♂♂♂♂ feature4 | Kerronicle.com | Feature

featureA group of boys kick around a

soccer ball, passing it to their team members and securing

it from their opponents. They’re extremely focused on their moves until a girl walks up to them. Their kicking and passing stops. The girl asks if she can play. The boys laugh.

“You’re gonna play soccer?” one of the boys said. With a huff of disbelief, they laughed again.

“Yeah, why can’t I?” the girl said.The girl in this scene is

sophomore Anne Pierre. She faced opposition because of her gender when she had vacationed in her home country of Haiti a few years ago. At the time, soccer was dominantly played by boys and watched by girls.

While she may have felt discouraged, Pierre instead showed them what she could do.

“I played soccer, and I shut them up because I was better than half of them. Everyone was in shock because I was a girl.”

Women of all ages have been in similar shoes as Pierre, and many of them have witnessed or overcome the challenges of gender prejudice and stereotypes in their lives.

English teacher Kathleen Harrison remembers when gender discrimination had really impacted her. She was 12 years old at the time.

“It was a Saturday. My mom had fixed lunch,” Harrison said. “When we finished lunch, my dad told my brothers ‘It’s time to go [hunting].’ They got up and left and didn’t clear their places, didn’t clean up. I

remember I got very, very upset. I went to my room and cried.”

“My mother asked what was wrong. I said: ‘it’s not fair! It’s not fair that they don’t have to help; it’s not fair that they don’t have to clean up after themselves.’ My mother is educated and she says: ‘it’s okay. You don’t have to help me either.’ And I was like: ‘No! That’s not the point! The point is that if they eat a meal they need to clean up after themselves. We’re not the servants!’”

Harrison’s r e s p o n s e prompted her mother to react as well.

“After [my father and b r o t h e r s ] came back, my mother thought about it and was like: ‘You know what? You guys are going to do this.’” Harrison said.

From a more modern view, junior Julia Chamon says gender stereotypes have impacted her personal values as a woman.

“I believe that gender stereotypes are truly one of the greatest challenges women face- not only me,” Chamon said. “If I lose my temper for even a moment, jokes about my biology and reproduction cycle are made. My own father disregards how I feel about a situation, and laughs as he says, ‘You’ll never get a husband with that

attitude.’ ‘I don’t want my life to be decided for me, and I strongly don’t want my main aspiration in life to [be marriage].”

Even with these stereotypes, the perception of gender differences shows improvement for some. Sophomore Carlos Portela has seen this improvement firsthand as he interacts with his peers at school.

“During weights in P.E, females are seen as less by the male students because they think [the female

students] can’t lift as much weight as males when, actually, some females are super strong,” Portela said.

Senior Paula Natividad sees this change of views in her own life and her choice of

entertainment. The media portrays female characters that appeal to her a lot.

“I’ve been watching so many shows that deal with women empowerment like Agent Carter, Vikings, Orphan Black,” Natividad said. “In my childhood, there were a lot of male protagonists that I looked up to but I didn’t really know about the disparity between males and females in media. Now, there are more females being paid more attention to. It’s so great, I love it. It gives me hope that things are changing.”

Women’s History Month, a

month-long celebration in March that brings attention to the stories of women, tends to be associated with the lives of historical women. However, for some, this month is also a celebration of the lives of modern women. Portela finds female role models close to home, as he looks up to his mother and sister.

“My sister wants to be the first in the family to be able to graduate from college so she’s working hard in Florida to graduate,” Portela said. “And my mom worked hard to go all the way to college. Although she couldn’t graduate, she got that far, so I see that as women empowerment. They motivate me to do my best.”

While gender inequality still exists in many aspects of modern society, these accounts of female bravery and strength are a direct reflection of how important it is to be aware of and fully appreciate the stories of women’s lives. Chamon sees things like Women’s History Month as an opportunity for society to improve its overall perspective of women everywhere.

“Women are intelligent. They can be smart, and ability is not based on gender,” Chamon said. “Women and men are to work and live as allies. As equals. The day that [things like] Women’s History Month isn’t seen as a threat to the male reputation, but as a compliment to the reputation of women, is the day that this world will be wiser.”

Damsels in DefianceWomen overcome gender stereotypes

”“Diana Vu

“I believe that gender stereotypes are truly one of the greatest challenges any woman faces...”

featureFeature | Kerronicle.com | 5

feature Sweat quickly drips from freshman Talia Hall’s face as she waits for the judging of her clay

vessel. Meanwhile, many of her peers also at this scholastic art competition have their artwork featured in the gallery, meaning their work has received the highest rating possible. She stands there, eagerly waiting to see her vessel among the other winners.

While success at art competitions is often the primary objective for an art student, failure to place does not mean the artist is inadequate. In fact, nearly every artist who attends these competitions is satisfied with his or her work, no matter the results of the competition.

The regional Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) decides whether the student will earn a medal and have her artwork judged at the state level or go home empty-handed. The artwork is critiqued using a rating scale

of 1-4, with 4 being the highest, and 1 being the lowest. A rating of 4 means the student secures a medal and advances to the state-level competition, and a rating of 3 means the student does not get a medal and cannot advance. Hall has strong thoughts about the judging. She recently took part in VASE, but she did not win a medal.

“I was a bit upset about the judge’s reaction, but the art competitions are very competitive,” Hall said. “Of course, not all judges are going to like what piece you have.”

Still, Hall values her art. “When I do something I do it

how I like,” Hall said. “ I try my best on it. It was my first project, and I liked it.”

Sophomore Michelle Martinez received a medal with the highest rating of 4; however, her artwork was not judged for state when it was supposed to be.

“When I saw that my artwork

wasn’t in the showcase to be judged for state, I thought I didn’t get a 4,” Martinez said. “The following Monday I found out that I actually did win a medal and got a 4. It was just a miscalculation that didn’t get me judged for state.”

Art teacher Janine Hughes understands the frustrations Hall and Martinez experienced during VASE. She believes competitions can seem unfair and judging not always accurate.

“People have very strong subjective opinions about art,” Hughes said. “I know many of those judges who don’t even teach art or have never taken an art class. They are just there to make money on a Saturday.”

Similarly, Hughes also has passionate thoughts about the competitors.

“Just because one person doesn’t like your art doesn’t mean other people won’t like your art, and it

doesn’t mean that your artwork is good or bad,” Hughes said. “You don’t ever let one person, especially at VASE, determine your worth. That is ridiculous.”

Hall agrees with Hughes. She remains unaffected and tenacious after the VASE competition.

“I was satisfied with my work,” Hall said. “At the end of the day, as long as you know you did your best and you tried your best, you should be satisfied.”

Instead of allowing the competition to discourage her, Martinez feels more fervent about continuing to take art class and create art for herself.

“I love art, and I am going to continue to take it,” Martinez said. “I love what I do, even if it doesn’t end up going to the state competition.”

When Artwork Doesn’t WorkArt students remain undeterred following rejection at competition

What does your artwork mean to you?

“This is a symbol for support and encouragement. It is very valuable to me. I think it will encourage people to help each other.”

-Tommy Le, 9

“Half of the face is full of shadows and darkness, and the other is full of light. It is like a comparison between the two. It shows that each person has a good and a bad side.” -Luis Cruz, 10

“I thought it was cool to draw a wolf. The wolf represents fierceness and the flower represents gentleness, so there is a neutralization.” -Kevin Linares, 12

“I used the color maroon, because it is my favorite color. The vessel is very valuable to me, because it is my first clay piece. I made it represent my personality.”

-Leonardo Flores, 10

GQ:Yazan Abuashuor

Breathof FreshAir

Amy Haokip

Students with asthma reveal new perspective on living with

their disease

health6 | Kerronicle.com | Feature

health“I don’t ever feel like

my asthma limits me...I can pretty much do

anything that anyone else can do”

Twelve-year-old Nimra Ahad was sitting at her bedroom desk doing homework on an

evening much like any other when she nearly died.

“I was gasping for air and it wouldn’t come,” Ahad said, recalling the frightening event that took place during the cold winter in her hometown of New York City. “I felt like my breathing stopped and...I thought that I was going to die.”

Ahad, now a junior, had suffered through a serious asthma attack on that unforgettable evening. Ahad has chronic asthma and, much like the other 25 million Americans that suffer from the serious lung disease, lives a life fringed daily with the frightening possibility that at any second a life-threatening attack can occur. Those afflicted with the disease must take special precautions, medications, and care, sometimes completely changing their lifestyle to avoid serious episodes like Ahad’s. From simply practicing a few basic breathing exercises each day to having to move to a completely different state, those life changes can range from rudimentary to the extreme.

For senior Rosie Tran, asthma was the reason why she moved to Houston from her home state of Washington.

“I almost died like two or three times,” Tran said. “I would just stare at my mom and I just looked dead so she had to take me to the hospital. It got to the point where it kept happening and my mom was like ‘You know what, I don’t want to put your life in danger anymore’ so she decided to tell my family to move to a hotter state.”

Tran’s family packed up their bags, first moving to Florida, then, after a month, to Houston.

“And that’s how I came here,” Tran said. “So if it wasn’t for asthma, I would still be living in Spokane, Washington.”

In the same way, Ahad, originally from New York City,

moved to Houston because her family had decided that it was the best decision for her health.

“After [the attack] we actually moved to Texas because the weather from New York was too severe for me,” Ahad said.

Ahad’s family had made the decision to move because they put their daughter’s health over the inconvenience of starting a new life elsewhere.

“I definitely appreciate [my parents’] concern…and for making that big of a decision,” said Ahad. “I really did like New York but you know if I had to choose my health over an environment I would choose my health. If I compare the number of absences I’ve had in New York to those in Texas it would be significantly different because I’m sick a lot less…which definitely makes a difference.”

Aside from having had to move to a safer climatic environment, both Tran and Ahad had to continue to take precautions even in their new, more tolerable conditions.

“Sometimes when I feel like I can’t breathe, or I can’t catch my breath, I use my inhaler,” Tran said. “Or like right before I sleep every night I have to use my inhaler or else I cough a lot or I can’t breathe when I sleep.”

But not all cases are the same. Ahad’s asthma remains dormant for the most part of the year but can surface and flare up if triggered by certain environmental conditions.

“There’s not necessarily [a routine] but usually in the Spring season I take my inhaler twice a week,” Ahad said. “It just surfaces up whenever there are allergy seasons or whenever it gets triggered. So it’s really difficult for

me to take in pollution. But if I take proper care, which is not going into hazardous environments and that sort of thing then it can stay dormant.”

In Ahad’s case, her asthma was a bit easier to control and she was even able to train her body over time to function with less medication.

Senior Navoda Perikala actually uses two different medications for her condition, depending on the severity of the situation.

“I’m supposed to take my inhaler every day but I don’t [unless] I can tell that it’s getting worse, then I’ll take it,” Perikala said. “There’s one

that’s mostly a preventative thing and then the other is for if [an attack] happens.”

According to school nurse Carol Wiley, this routine

can change if an attack happens during school hours.

“Here at school if they need their inhaler at any time, for all medications of course, I need to have a physician’s order and the inhalers need to be kept here in the clinic,” Wiley said. “Unless there is an Asthma Action Plan.”

According to Wiley, only if the student has an AAP developed by a doctor is the student allowed to use their inhaler on their own in the classroom.

“[With the AAP], the doctor has stated the student understands their disease process well enough and can keep his inhaler or her inhaler on their person so they would use their inhaler in the classroom,” Wiley said. “Now if after they use the inhaler, it’s still not helping them and opening them up, then they need to come see me so that I can go ahead and I can listen to their lung fields to see how much air is getting in and out and see if there’s something else

that I can do.”Despite having to go to great

lengths to keep their asthma in check and under control, Ahad, Perikala, and Tran never feel that their condition makes them any different from their peers or prevents them from enjoying life in the way that they want.

“I don’t feel like my life is any different, I mean if you count not going over 40 on the pacer test then that’s a disadvantage,” Ahad laughs. “So it’s very minor. I’m content with my life. I guess the fact that I can’t do certain things has always been there but it hasn’t made much of a difference.”

Perikala sees her life with asthma in a similar light.

“I don’t ever feel like my asthma limits me,” Perikala said. “I can pretty much do anything that anyone else can do.”

In fact, Perikala took up a challenge that most people might not expect an asthma sufferer to be able to do.

“I’m in band and like band actually strengthens your lungs so it helps if you play an instrument,” Perikala said. “I play the saxophone. I do have to work harder to have the same air support but [my asthma] doesn’t keep me from doing it.”

For many of the millions of Americans who suffer from asthma, their condition is not something that limits or restricts their abilities to live a normal life and is in no way considered by them an excuse to do less than what they know they are capable of. Instead, they see their condition as something to appreciate and maybe even be thankful for ,knowing how much worse other illnesses can be.

“Asthma is not a disability,” Ahad said. “I think there are other things that are much worse. It’s just one of those conditions that you learn to live with but I’m glad I have it better than many others.”

Feature | Kerronicle.com | 7

QDanielwith

Gill

QA&

Mr.

8 | Kerronicle.com | Q&A

QAQ&A | Kerronicle.com | 9

Q: What was your college major?“I changed my major a lot and then I settled on math at the University of Houston. I had a whole lot of math credits, and I had kind of like a rough semester when I first got to UH as a lot of people do when they transfer. And so, I took like a year off, and when I went back, I looked at the credits I had, and I realized I was closest to a math major. I knew I could probably do re-ally well in that. So at UH, you’re not required to, but if you’re a math or science major, there’s a program called TeachHouston that gets you certified to teach. It’s not like an education ma-jor; it’s more like a minor. And so, the first class is only one credit hour, and they used to reim-bursed you for it, so it’s free essentially. I tried it out and I really like the program, and everybody there was cool, and they motivated me to stay with math. So I kind of fell into that.”

Q: Before working here, where did you previously work?“So, right before I started working here, I worked at the University of Houston. I was an academ-ic advisor for the college of Natural Science and Math, so I basically help council biology, bio-chemistry, and math students on which classes to take and what they might want to do in the future.”

Q: How long did you work there?“I worked there since June, so nine, ten months and before that I was a teacher in HISD for 3 years.”

Q: What are some things you miss about your old job?“Oh, gosh. I got to sleep in a little bit more be-cause I live really close to UH, and the work day started a little bit later. I wake up a little bit ear-lier. That’s been the major adjustment for me. Also, since I’ve worked there for a while, I was really close with my coworkers; I miss joking around with them. But everybody here has been really nice as well.”

Q: How do you think your previ-ous job experience will help you here?“I taught high school before I worked at UH. I taught in HISD at Sam Houston High School and also a high school for law enforcement, so I have three years of teaching experience. So, obviously, it’s relatable to here. I think working at UH, I know the inside view of how colleges work and I can help students with applications,

choosing a major, and figuring out what classes to take now so they’ll be better prepared when they get to college.”

Q: Why did you start this job so late in the year? “I heard about the opening here and know that openings don’t come up very often here because it’s such a prestigious school. I knew I had to get the opportunity while I had it. And so I did the whole interview process and didn’t really think I would get it but then at the end, they offered me the job. They said I could start in March and I said, ‘yeah, cool!’”

Q: What field of math do you teach?“I teach all maths. As far as this year, it looks like I’ll be doing Algebra and Algebra III. I really like Geometry and Calculus.”

Q: How did you find out about Kerr or this job?“I have a couple of friends who went here as stu-dents and they told me that it was an awesome high school. I know Coach [Moon] Kim, so he told me that there was an opening here.”

Q: What did you know about Kerr before coming here?“I just knew that it was an awesome school, a magnet school with great students. There are high standards. It’s a different system than most schools have.”

Q: The math center has had an all-female staff for a long time. How do you feel working with all women?“I’m used to that. Where I worked at before, at UH, it’s mostly females about 75 percent, and then there are like 3 males total, so we stepped together. Teaching before is the same thing, so I’m used to that. I mean the math teachers are really cool here, so I’m going to get along with them very well.”

Q: How old are you?“There’s four of us [in my family]: there’s me, mom, my dad, and my brother. I’m the older brother. But I look younger. I’m 29. My broth-er’s like four years younger than me, but a lot of times, people are like oh, is this your little broth-er? And I’m like, ‘Sure.”

Q: What are some of your hob-bies? Your interests?“I used to play music a lot. I don’t really do it that much any more , but I played drums and guitar. I still pick up a guitar every now and then. I can’t play drums in my apartment be-cause they’ll probably evict me. It’s too loud. And then I like exercising, staying active. I like doing martial arts as well. That’s pretty much it. And I’m trying to learn how to cook, but that’s basically just Youtube and google. Sometimes it comes out awesome, and sometimes it comes out terrible.”

Q: Did you ever consider becom-ing a musician full-time?“Oh yeah, when I was younger. I started playing guitar when I was nine or ten and I thought I was destined for greatness. I mean even up until college, I was always writing music and playing in bands and there were a couple of times when I was in bands. We were pretty good, not like fa-mous or anything, but to where we would actu-ally be decent enough to make a record and go on tour. Something happened, we fell through, and I got tired of that. You have to find people that you can depend on and sometimes in rock music, it’s hard to find dependable people.”

Q: Favorite TV shows? “One [of my favorite series] was The Sopranos, which was really good. I watched it after it orig-inally aired. My brother had all the DVDs and he’s like, ‘you gotta watch this, it’s awesome!’ As soon as I watched the first season, I was hooked! I also like a lot of animated comedies, like South Park; Beavis and Butt-Head. The show that I’m watching right now is Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, a spin-off of that.”

Q: Favorite type of music?“I listen to a lot of everything, but I really like heavy rock, punk rock, and all that stuff like that. ”

Q: Do you see this as a place where you will work for a long time?“I hope so just because the culture of this school is great. People here want to learn and the teach-ers here seem like they want to help the students as much as they can. It’s a really good place for a teacher to be in, so I can really see why not a lot of openings are here and I feel really lucky that they chose me.”

Diana Vu & Amy Haokip