CHANGES TO STUDENT BOARD AIM TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF PTSA

Originally published Oct. 1, 2013 on elestoque.org. 

The last Parent Teacher Student Association meeting, in senior Pooja Desai’s memory, drew four students. Two of them were Desai and senior Anton Zheng, the two PTSA student representatives for the academic year. The third was a reporter from this publication. Therefore, Desai concluded, the total student attendance at the Aug. 27 meeting was really more like one.

“It’s the P-T-S-A,” Desai said. “And there are not a lot of students there.”

Last year, PTSA members founded the Student Board to combat that very problem. Class of 2013 alumnus Preston Yeung, who served as last year’s student representative, collaborated with adult members of the PTSA to set up a 12-person student body — headed by one or more student representatives — aimed to increase student involvement.

Despite the fact that the board existed last year, Desai and Zheng agree that starting this year, they will have an opportunity to start focusing on having an impact on the school rather than on the logistics of the board itself.

“Last year was sort of testing out the waters,” Desai said. “This year, we’re trying to really make it something big.”

Finding a purpose

Ever since the Parent Teacher Association became the PTSA around five years ago, bylaws have required the presence of at least one student representative. However, according to PTSA President Jim Cunningham, the representative’s responsibilities were not clearly defined.

“The student rep himself, he was trying to figure out what his role should be,” Cunningham said, recalling an instance where one student representative presented a half-hour long PowerPoint to meeting attendees. “To me, it didn’t quite click.”

Yeung shook things up a little: He brought in additional students, including Desai and Zheng, to serve on the Student Board. The members of the board, according to Cunningham, shadowed the adult committees, including those in charge of Reflections, the Job Shadow program and Bike/Walk to School Day.

Other projects taken on by the board included organizing a Red Cross fundraiser and volunteering at A.J. Dorsa Elementary School, a low-performing school in San Jose. However, for Desai and Zheng, the board still had not reached its potential.

“What we ultimately came to at the end of last year was, we want to be involved in the community,” Desai said. “But at the very least, we want to make sure we serve our community first.”

Shaping the school

Desai and Zheng are approaching this year with two overarching goals in mind. First, they want to reduce the stress experienced by students; second, they want to help broaden students’ worldviews beyond the “Cupertino bubble.” As of now, their plans to achieve these goals include booking guest speakers to present “TED Talks” that introduce unique career possibilities and perspectives. Additional plans are forthcoming.

On a larger scale, Desai and Zheng hope to use the Student Board as a vehicle to increase awareness of the PTSA’s goals and importance in the school community.

”I think most students don’t know what the PTSA is, and they don’t know when they meet,” Zheng said. “They just know, ‘Oh, it’s that form that you get at the beginning of the year.’”

What students are not aware of, Desai and Zheng said, are the opportunities that are made available through the PTSA. Students who are members can vote on any issues that are brought up — from what to spend the budget on to what event to organize next. Clubs that need funding can also approach the PTSA to request it.

Moreover, students can run for any position on the executive board, including president. As of now, however, the only student on the board — aside from Desai and Zheng who, as student representatives, are members of the executive board as well — is Secretary junior Janaye Sakkas.

“We’re at this school for four years,” Desai said. “The least we can do is have a voice in what happens here.”

You can apply to serve on the PTSA Student Board here. The next PTSA meeting will be held Oct. 1 at 6:30 p.m. in the library.

 

Summer Never Ends dance, held Aug. 30, aimed to foster welcoming environment

Originally published Sept. 5, 2013 on El Estoque. Co-written by Colin Ni.

Welcome Back dance introduced theme, movie and change in location.

Traditionally, the Welcome Back dance is the only dance held in the rally court, while other dances are held in the gym. This year, however, that was not an option; with cafeteria constructionblocking off a majority of the rally court, an alternate venue had to be determined.

The dance, held Aug. 30 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., was moved to the gym. The shift in location was only one of many changes to the dance. Due to the efforts of Leadership — in particular the Bull Spirit and Student Life commissions, according to Leadership advisor and Assistant Principal Mike White — the Welcome Back dance featured a theme and a movie for the first time ever.

The theme, “Summer Never Ends,” was apparent: Beach balls flew through the crowd, paper-crafted Hawaiian flowers decorated the bleachers, colorful leis were distributed in the gym lobby and a video of surfers was projected onto the inside gym wall. Alternative activities for those who preferred not to dance or wanted a break included a screening of “Lilo & Stitch” outside of the gym as well as games such as air hockey and arcade-style basketball.

According to Link Leader junior Kirtana Sripathi, the purpose of the theme, movie and games was to foster a welcoming atmosphere for all students.

“That way, [the dance wouldn’t] just be for the people who want to freak, it would be something that would be fun for everybody,” Sripathi said, adding that the Link team has been planning the Welcome Back dance since the Aug. 13 Link dance, which she said was aimed at teaching freshmen proper dance etiquette.

Senior Samuel Yen felt that the dance did in fact have a better environment than in years past.

“The previous times I came here, there was that funky kind of dancing, and I haven’t seen that since I came in,” Yen said as he watched “Lilo & Stitch.” “That type of dancing was making me uncomfortable … I feel like now, people are able to do diverse stuff.”

Although a policy designed to combat inappropriate dancing has existed for several years now, according to White, this was the first dance where Leadership and Link Crew were specifically charged with maintaining that policy. White said that the key to curbing freaking lies in students’ tendency emulate the behavior of campus leaders; in other words, if Leadership and Link Leaders model proper etiquette, the rest of the school will follow.

While this new approach did not eliminate freaking altogether, White acknowledged that it’s a process.

“It’s a long history that we’re trying to change,” White said. “I don’t think [we’ll] have to work as hard next year.”

GSB economist uses big data to shake up the Internet

Originally published Aug. 23, 2013 in The Stanford Daily. 

The Internet. Economics. The two fields fall into separate departments, but according to Graduate School of Business Professor of Economics Susan Athey Ph.D. ’95, there is a considerable overlap between them.

Athey, who has worked with Microsoft to develop new theories on the effect of the Internet on advertising, news consumption and more, is one of the leading experts in the field. Her research on the convergence of big data and economics, moreover, has even shaken up the way the web works.

Digging into data

Athey first became involved as a consultant at Microsoft in 2007, while she was a professor at Harvard University. Since then, she has played an active role in Microsoft Research, the branch of the company focused on cutting-edge science.

Collaboration with industry is fairly common among Athey’s colleagues. Many professors in fields at the intersection of the Internet and economics, such as e-commerce, seek relationships with companies, according to Athey.

“Most of the research that’s taking place with very large data sets is in some way collaboration with either industry or government, because universities just aren’t creating and generating those large data sets,” Athey said.

According to economics department chair Jonathan Levin ’94, who has collaborated with Athey on research, Athey’s focus is those selfsame large data sets. Levin took classes with Athey while completing his graduate studies when she was an assistant professor at MIT.

“I think she’s always been interested in the application of sophisticated economic theory to real-world problems,” said Levin. “She has been, in her career, often very methodologically oriented.”

Causes and effects

Much of Athey’s work with Microsoft has focused on optimizing the efficiency of the algorithm that place ads alongside Bing search results and in the process generates millions of dollars in standing bids on certain keywords.

“What the job of the market designer is for these platforms is to try to set rules at the auctions and to manage the marketplace in a way that provides enough profits for advertisers so that they keep participating in your marketplace,” Athey said. “You’re also trying to make sure that you get the best advertisements to the users so that you create the most value in your market and, of course, the search engine wants to make money from these auctions.”

Athey has also done research on the impact of the Internet and social media on how people find and read news.

A future transformation

According to Athey, the evolution of the Internet is transforming the field of social sciences research in exciting ways.

“Economics has always been pretty empirical, but a lot of other social sciences have become much more data-driven once you can use Internet data,” Athey said.

In addition to allowing academics in other social sciences – like psychology, anthropology or political science – to obtain quantifiable data through mediums like social networks rather than simply through observations, big data techniques have found applications as diverse as fostering more efficient governance and administration in cities like New York and Chicago.

“The data created on the Internet came along, and it just opened up a whole bunch of new questions…and the ability to answer policy questions that weren’t really possible to address in the past,” Athey said. “It’s an incredible opportunity where professors in universities can really help push the ball forward by creating new methods and doing new research that’s going to affect the productivity of many different parts of our economy.”

Students win first place at California Association of Teachers of English writing contest

Originally published May 3, 2013 on elestoque.org

Sophomore Ann Fu mastered the art of reading in the shower when she was in the third grade. The book was “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and the methodology was simple: Place the book in a Ziploc bag. Step into the shower. Need to turn a page? Step out of the shower. Dry hands. Take the book out of the bag, turn the page, put the book back in the bag. Step back into the shower. Rinse and repeat.

Fu was a creative reader before she was a creative writer. Both sides, however, were helpful when she decided to enter the annual California Association of Teachers of English writing contest last November.

The prompt was to either reflect upon or continue the story of a favorite piece of literature. It was the perfect task for both Fu and fellow MVHS participant junior Allyson Gottlieb. Final results for the Central Section — an area which, according to the girls’ English teacher Matt Brashears, spans from Fresno to Monterey to the Silicon Valley — were announced at a luncheon on April 28. Fu won first amongst all freshman and sophomores; Gottlieb, amongst juniors and seniors.

Sophomore Ann Fu’s submission to the CATE writing contest by Amrutha Dorai

The creative process

When Brashears introduced the contest to his World Studies and Mythology and Folklore classes last fall, Fu and Gottlieb knew not only that they would participate, but also which aspect of the prompt they would address.

“I was like, bingo!” Gottlieb said. “Wait a second, that prompt is basically saying, ‘Write fan fiction.’”

For Gottlieb, there was no question as to which story she would be continuing. Her submission was a prologue of sorts to her favorite young adult novel series, “The Mortal Instruments.” Cassandra Clare, the series’ author, actually started off writing fan fiction herself.

Fu, however, struggled with the decision. While she knew she would be continuing a novel, there were simply too many options. Eventually, she chose to write a continuation of Jodi Picoult’s 2003 novel “My Sister’s Keeper.” Fu and her friends had found Picoult’s ending unsatisfying. Now, she had the opportunity to fix it.

Once they had written five pages of fiction apiece, Fu, Gottlieb and other participants submitted their stories to Brashears; students could only take part in the competition if their piece was entered by an English teacher. Although each teacher can send up to three submissions, Brashears chose to submit only the strongest from each of the two subjects he teaches — Fu’s from his World Studies class and Gottlieb’s from his Mythology and Folklore classes.

“Above all, I looked for things that I would like to read, things that were enjoyable to read,” Brashears said. “In that respect, these two pieces really just rose to the top because they were like published pieces of fiction. It was the kind of thing you might have pulled off of a bookshelf or found in an anthology of short stories.”

Junior Allyson Gottlieb’s submission to the CATE writing contest by Amrutha Dorai

A true passion

The CATE contest marks neither the beginning nor the end of the girls’ ventures into creative writing. For them, writing is more than a skill necessary for literature class: it’s a true passion.

Gottlieb writes fan fiction — she won’t say what for because it’s apparently too embarrassing — and she has also been in the process of writing a novel for the last two years. It’s 67,000 words long, which is just about 20,000 more than “The Great Gatsby.” She has also written a 14,000 word novella called “Darkest Legacy” that she plans to self-publish.

“When I was writing my novella, I was carrying around a little journal,” Gottlieb said. “I was writing every single second I got.”

The story is complex, nonlinear. It involves lost love, escaped prisoners and possible world domination. When asked how it ends, Gottlieb laughs, puts her hands on her hips and says, “I can’t tell you that.”

Fu writes often as well, setting aside two-to-three-hour blocks a few times a week to craft stories which she later posts on YouTube. According to Fu, it’s a common practice in the community of aspiring writers to publish their work in the description boxes of videos that are often just five-second stills. Fu declined to provide the name of her YouTube channel; she prefers to keep it private.

As a prize for winning the CATE contest — which, according to Brashears, operates at the regional level only — each of the girls received a certificate, a journal, a book and a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. Neither of them has decided what they will spend the gift card on. The problem isn’t that they have a shortage of books to read.

“I read when I get out of the shower, I read when I’m eating, if I’m not eating with anybody else,” Gottlieb said. “I read when I’m drying my hair.”

It’s just that they’re selective in their purchases. When they want to read a book without necessarily buying it, they know where to go.

“My dad says that I’m probably one of the last few people who still uses the library,” Gottlieb said.

“I love the library!” Fu said. She started to recite a quote engraved by the door of the Cupertino Library: “‘I’ve always imagined that a library…’” She paused, lost.

“‘…paradise would be a kind of library,’” Gottlieb finished.

The Price on Education

Originally published April 10, 2013 on El Estoque. Cowritten and designed by Anjali Bhat. 

Remembering Ruben

Originally published April 10, 2013 in El Estoque. Cowritten by Rachel Beyda and Anushka Patil. 

Spanish teacher Maria Autran will never forget the afternoon almost a decade ago when she injured her lower back. She couldn’t move, couldn’t walk; she needed to make it down to her car but didn’t know how. A fellow teacher went down to the office for assistance, and Campus Supervisor Ruben Delgado returned shortly thereafter with a wheelchair in tow.

All Autran wanted was to be taken to her car, but Delgado disagreed: she needed an ambulance and a trip to the hospital. Well, Autran said, nobody could pick her up — her sister was working.

It has been a decade, but Autran still remembers what he said then.

“You go to the hospital, because I think it is the best for you. If you cannot get ahold of your family, call me, and I will go the hospital and pick you up and take you to your home or your mother’s home, wherever you want me to take you,” Autran remembers Delgado saying, writing his phone number down on a piece of paper. “But I think you need to go to the hospital. Don’t worry about anything else.”

For Autran and so many others at this school, Delgado was an unsung hero. On the evening of March 23, he died of a heart attack. He has left behind eight kids, 13 grandchildren, 2,419 students and an empty spot between the cafeteria and rally court where he once kept his vigil over the school. To most, he was a familiar if imposing figure. To those who knew him, he was much more: a coach, a caretaker and, most importantly, a friend. To all, his absence is tangible.

According to Principal April Scott, Delgado’s job was to ensure MVHS was a safe place. As a former police officer, Delgado used his knowledge of the penal code and easy rapport with students to handle discipline issues with grace. He worked here since 1997, and was planning to announce his retirement March 27, according to Delgado’s friend, MVHS maintenance worker Chi Ma.

Delgado wore many hats over his 60 years — he would have turned 61 on March 25. But who he was to the different people in his life — and there were so many different people — never really changed. His son, Gabriel, spoke on the point at his memorial service. It was held the morning of April 1 at St. Victor’s Church in San Jose, and from the back rows of the church, the mix of people in attendance was remarkable. A few teenagers shuffled in late with mops of green and pink hair. Murmuring elderly women in cardigans. A little girl in a pink frock with a pacifier, who squirmed out of her mother’s arms and brought smiles alongside the welling tears as she tottered down the aisle. At some point, Delgado had been there for all of them.

“He never changed for anybody,” Gabriel said at the podium of the church.

In recent years, Delgado spent much time taking care of his wife, who has been battling bone cancer for almost a decade.

“Never once did you hear a word of ‘Why me?’” Scott said. “It was, ‘She is who I am, and I would do anything for her.’”

One of Delgado’s daughters, Andrea, is a paraeducator at Fremont High School. In 1998, at eight years old, she visited MVHS for the first time. “My dad brought me as a part of Bring Your Child to Work Day,” she said via email. “We started off at McDonald’s, a rare treat because he hated that place.”

At the school, Delgado took her around to the weight room and the cafeteria. “He let me run around in the quad and showed me the old film room, but the thing I remember most was that he held my hand everywhere and said, ‘These are all good kids, but I never want to lose you, anywhere.’”

* * *

In addition to being the campus supervisor, Delgado was the defensive line coach for the junior varsity football team from 2010 to 2012. Sophomore Amol Pande, a freshman when he was on the team, remembers him as “hilarious.”

“He managed to make everything about practice fun,” Pande said.

He remembers the day Delgado moved him to the defensive line when the team was short on linemen.

“Mr. Delgado was like, ‘You’re a fatty! You can do it!’” he laughed. “And then I got down and he was like, ‘Oh, you’re actually decent at this!’” Pande said. “There was a lot of joking. We’d be running, and as we ran by he’d go, ‘You know what? I’m feeling a little tired.’”

To Attendance Secretary Calvin Wong, Delgado was much the same way. One of his favorite memories of him was after a farewell dance. The two of them went to Jack in the Box like “a couple of high schoolers,” Wong recalls. They later returned to MVHS to do overnight security and make sure no seniors were on campus planning pranks. At 2:30 in the morning, Delgado played a prank of his own: he snuck up on Wong in a truck and honked his horn. Wong was frightened then but cherishes the moment now.

Even the night before he died, Delgado was still as humorous as ever. Ma, who had dinner with Delgado the evening of March 22, said that his last memory of his friend will be of them eating and laughing together.

“He never turns down food,” Ma said. “Every time we were there eating he’d be like, ‘You gonna finish that?’”

For Ma, who has been friends with Delgado outside of work for over 16 years, Delgado was not merely a friend but a mentor. Delgado’s passion for his work as the president of the Chapter 237 California State Employees Association encouraged Ma to speak up about his beliefs.

“He always told me, never be … never be afraid to be right,” Ma said, in tears. “He’s been a great inspiration for me to join the union and speak up on behalf of all the classified workers here — secretaries, custodians, maintenance people, printshop people, just a huge inspiration to fight for what’s right.”

As much as he was an inspiration, Delgado was also a listener, particularly to Andrea, who says her father always took care of her, always listened to every “story, rant, or dream” she had.

The rest of that 1998 day when Delgado brought her to work was full of fun and people, but her father remains the focus of her memory.

“The one thing I remember the most is the feeling of my dad’s hand the entire day,” she said. “And even though I’m sure I slowed him down, he never let go.”

* * *

Delgado was simply a presence at the school. He worked here for over 15 years, and the picture of him, a big, gruff looking guy watching over the rally court from his place in front of the cafeteria, is impressed in the school’s memory just as much as his deep voice. “How you doin’?” he would say to nearly every student that walked past, with a big smile and a nod.

“He was that familiar face,” Scott said. “It doesn’t feel the same because I always see Ruben standing there or directing traffic. It’s a loss when you don’t see someone you expect to see every day.”

Administration has plans to unveil a garden in Delgado’s memory; as of right now, the custodial staff has planted purple flowers and posted photographs of Delgado off the side of the gym near the tennis courts. Also in the works are a brick dedicated in his name and a service to be held on campus after Spring Break.

At the conclusion of his memorial service, Delgado’s large family filed out of the church, followed by the rows of people in the pews. There were soft smiles and nods of greeting. Outside, a friend of his for decades announced a nearby reception for all those in attendance before being corrected by a member of the family: it was a party, not a reception, because as several loved ones remembered during the service, Delgado would have wanted them to “cry a little, and then party hard.”

Much of the crowd continued to linger in the small foyer before leaving, reading the posters students signed and taking in a photo collage that runs through Delgado’s life, from a black and white picture of a boy no older than six to a beautiful photograph from only a few years ago, where the big man we all knew smiles at the camera, walking his radiant daughter down the aisle. The photos are sweet, heartwarming — epitome of Delgado’s presence at this school. In so many of them, he is wearing Matador gear.

Testing breach instigates concern for consequences school may face

Originally published April 11, 2013 on elestoque.org. Cowritten by Athira Penghat.  

STAR testing documents posted online could affect exam score release date, eligibility for school awards.

According to an email from administration sent to the staff, a few MVHS students posted photographs of STAR testing material online during the week of April 8. Following the breach, test proctors were told to prohibit the usage of all technological devices for the remainder of the testing periods. The incident has left students speculating what this will mean for the school in the long term.

At the statewide level, this is not an isolated case. 442 photographs of the exam were posted online last year, 36 of which showed actual test questions,according to the Huffington Post. As a result, the release of test scores was pushed back two weeksfrom mid-August to Aug. 31 to allow the state time to investigate whether the leak had any effect on scores. The same Huffington Post article stated that investigators later concluded that the posting of questions online had no impact.

If more than five percent of a school’s population — at MVHS, that would amount to about 120 students — violates testing protocols, the school’s Academic Performance Index score is nullified, according to California Department of Education’s STAR administrator John Boivin, who spoke to the Orange County Register after last year’s incidents. A school without an API score could lose grants or be subject to sanctions.

However, the school can still be penalized if less than five percent of students violate protocol. Boivin said that an implicated school loses the ability to qualify for statewide awards, including being named as a California Distinguished School, an honor MVHS has received in the past. For community members, this loss would mean less positive spotlight on MVHS from news organizations and the state, as well as a decrease in home value.

The penalty for the students who posted the photographs online is a “district or school-level decision,” according to Pam Slater, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education who spoke last year to the Napa Valley Register.

 

Future Practicing Physicians Network hosts Stanford University guest speakers

Originally published April 10, 2013 on elestoque.org. 

Graduate students present to club members on the field of medical research.

Science teacher Lora Lerner sat in the back corner of her classroom, watching intently as a cell divided on the projector screen before her: interphase, prophase, metaphase, telophase, cytokinesis and then back to a single cell as the clip restarted.

“Is that in real time?” Lerner asked.

The Stanford University graduate student leading the lesson, Whitney Johnson, shook her head and answered: no, the clip was not in real time.

Stanford University graduate student Shengya Cao speaks at the Future Practicing Physicians Network meeting on April 8. Cao was one of four guest speakers who presented on the research being conducted at the Straight Lab at Stanford University. Photo by Amrutha Dorai.

Johnson and three of her colleagues from the Straight Lab at Stanford University — Shengya Cao, Bradley French and Teddy Yewdell — presented to almost 30 members of the Future Practicing Physicians Network at lunch on April 8. The four graduate students shared both their own experiences in research and their advice for high schoolers interested in pursuing careers in biology.

After starting with some general information regarding medical research, the guest speakers provided specific details on the research conducted at the Straight Lab. The lab’s focus is on chromosome segregation and cell division. The researchers start by examining the cell as the whole and later perform manipulations.

“Using biochemistry, we can take frog eggs, isolate the cytoplasm from them, and then isolate the proteins from that,” French said. “We can understand what’s going on the molecular level and then relate that back to what we see on the cellular level.”

The graduate students then shared personal stories regarding their involvement and interest in research.

“When I entered college, I actually joined a diabetes and obesity lab,” Cao said. “But what I started finding was that even in that lab, the cures that we have aren’t that great. There’s a lot of things that we don’t know, which is really limiting how we can tackle a lot of the diseases. And so studying it on a fundamental level, we can actually have a very real impact on the field of medicine.”

The presentation lasted for around 30 minutes and was followed by a question-and-answer session. Students inquired on subjects ranging from what sort of people one encounters in the lab to the differences between working in academic research as compared to industry.

According to FPPN co-president senior Kathleen Miao, the club invited the presenters by emailing the professor who oversees the Straight Lab. These were the first guest speakers the club has hosted this academic year; its biweekly meetings typically consist of dissections or games. Though the club’s focus — as its name implies — is on the medical field, Miao said that anyone with an interest in science is welcome.

“Our club has a lot of members that are interested in both medicine and science,” Miao said. “So what we do is allow them to explore both aspects.”

The speakers also placed an emphasis on science in general, not just medicine.

“If you’re very curious about the natural state of things, and you want to know how things are working, you should possibly consider being a scientist,” Cao said. “Because that’s what we do.”

Students and faculty commemorate Ruben Delgado

Originally published April 10, 2013 on elestoque.org. 

Church service and memorial garden among plans to remember longtime campus supervisor’s life.

Students, faculty and family have begun planning ways to celebrate the life of Campus Supervisor Ruben Delgado, who died of a heart attack March 23.

An open memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on April 1 at St. Victor’s Church in San Jose. The school is also planning a service to be held on campus sometime after Spring Break.

Students and faculty can donate to the Delgado family through Diana Goularte, Executive Assistant to the Principal, in the Main Office. According to principal April Scott, the Delgado family has not yet decided whether to keep the money to pay for memorial services or to donate it to charity.

“With the loss of [anyone], you just don’t know what to do. So the staff said, ‘I wish we could do something,” Scott said. “So we just said, ‘If you’re wanting to do something, we’re just going to create a fund right now, and we’re going to give it to the family.’”

A photograph of Campus Supervisor Ruben Delgado is posted on a sign near the tennis courts, where the custodial staff has planted flowers in his memory. Delgado died March 23 of a heart attack, and students and staff have planned memorial services and other dedications. Photo by Amrutha Dorai.

The school has plans to set up a memorial garden and to dedicate a brick in Delgado’s name. As of right now, the custodial staff has planted flowers and displayed photographs in Delgado’s honor on the side of the gym facing the tennis courts. On Thursday, Leadership also began filming a memorial video that will be shown on the announcements and sent to the Delgado family along with posters signed by students and faculty.

Administration has hired Thomas Michaelis, who has substituted for Delgado in the past, to serve as Student Conduct Liaison and fill the role normally held by the Campus Supervisor until the end of the school year. However, a new Campus Supervisor will likely be hired for the 2013-2014 academic year.

To Protect & To Serve

Originally published March 13, 2013 in El Estoque. Cowritten with Shuyi Qi. See design here. 

At 6:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, junior Zac Burke ducked into a police car. But not the back: Burke rode shotgun.

Many of his friends were celebrating at a party on Prospect Road, a little way down from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, but Burke had different plans. He spent the final day of 2012 chasing down potential stolen vehicles, helping administer Breathalyzer tests and busting wild parties — including the one on Prospect.

The deputy who Burke accompanied had been called in due to reports of fighting. When the two and other officers arrived, the officers asked Burke to stand back. But that didn’t stop Burke’s friends from giving him an interrogation of their own.

“A bunch of people come to me and are like, ‘Oh, Zac, are you a police?’ And I said, ‘No, dude, I’m just with them,’” Burke said, animated. “‘Are you a police?’ ‘No, dude, I just told you I’m just with them!’ ‘Oh, I know, but are you a police?’ ‘No, dude, go home — but donít drive.’”

Burke is not a policeman — at least, not yet. But he has dreamed of working in law enforcement since childhood, and, through the Sheriff’s Office Teen Community Police Academy, he has come one step closer to upholding the peace.

The Academy

The Police Academy runs two 10-week sessions a year. Burke participated in the fall of 2012, attending classes every Wednesday night from the beginning of October until his graduation in December.

After filling out an application and being selected, Burke joined around 20 other high school students in attending lectures taught by four officers. Students learned to conduct traffic stops and operate handcuffs; witnessed a bomb squad demonstration; and spent one Saturday morning firing officers’ duty weapons at the gun range. They also participated in ride-alongs with officers, like the one Burke completed on New Year’s Eve.

Field trips included outings to the coroner’s office and the Santa Clara County Jail. Burke recalls walking down the hallway of the jail with criminals shouting profanities at him and his classmates. There was one inmate who stood out to Burke: while his cellmates were up at the bars, he remained calmly at the back of the cell.

“I looked at him in the eye as we were walking, and he told me simply to stay in school,” Burke said. “Not all people in there are bad. Actually, most of the people in there aren’t bad. They’ve just made bad choices.”

Broken windows, broken family

Burke’s earliest encounters with policemen were anything but positive. His parents divorced when he was eight, and it was a difficult transition for him to make; despite being on medication for depression and anxiety, he sought an alternate method to express his emotions.

His parents argued often, but Burke didnít have that luxury. So he broke the windows of his Sunnyvale home instead.

“The cops often had to come over to set me straight. And instead of being understanding, they were just kind of there yelling at me,” Burke said. “And part of me said … maybe if I become a cop, I’d be more understanding of this, and I could help people more than intimidate them.”

When he reached middle school, Burke’s family decided his behavior needed a change.

“It was hard to see him struggling, not really being able to handle life in a way that was constructive,” said Kim Rappaport Burke, Burke’s mother. “Raising him was not easy, but he turned his life around.”

For sixth and seventh grade, he relocated to Forest Heights Lodge, a treatment center in Colorado. The therapeutic environment, according to Burke, played a key role in helping him turn his life around.

After a few more school changes, Burke arrived at MVHS for his freshman year. As an underclassman, he faced bullying so severe that the perpetrator was expelled.

“Freshman year, I was kind of annoying, I was a little kid thinking I was a big kid. But I think I’ve changed that. I think Iíve matured very nicely,” Burke said. “And I still have issues with people who don’t agree with what I stand for … but I just ignore them.”

As for the windows?

“I still struggle with some problems, but I talk about them now, I don’t act them out — we still have windows in this house,” Burke said. “I haven’t done anything since I was nine or 10, but it seems sometimes like yesterday, and when I look back on it, I think, ‘Wow, that was me.’”

One of Burke’s mentors, Deputy Sheriff Jennifer Toomey, feels that the challenges Burke has had to face will, in the long run, serve as an asset.

“Kids like Zac, or kids like some other people that I know who are deputies now, that have speckled pasts — they’ve dabbled into a little bit of trouble here and there — they make really good cops generally,” Toomey said, “because when they become a cop and talk to other kids who are in a similar type of trouble, they understand where they’re coming from.”

In her years of involvement with the Teen Academy, Toomey has encountered only three students who were serious about a future career in law enforcement. Burke is one of them.

Beyond the badge

On a recent Thursday evening, Burke and his mother attended a showing of “Heroes Behind the Badge,” a documentary that details the sacrifices made by policemen.

“It was incredibly powerful hearing that a police officer in this country dies every 54 hours. That, to me, hit home when I thought about him being put in that danger every day,” Rappaport Burke said. “I did ask him if there was anything else I could talk him into doing, but he’s got his mind set on it, and there’s nothing I’m going to do to change it.”

Currently, Burke is applying to the County Sheriff’s Office Youth Cadet program. If he is selected, he will receive a uniform as well as the opportunity to participate in alcohol and tobacco sting operations and law enforcement at county fairgrounds. For his 18th birthday, he hopes to complete a ride-along in Oakland.

His end goal is to become a police officer somewhere in this area, where he has lived for the majority of his life — where he has grown from being an eight-year-old with a temper into a young adult with dreams of serving the law.

Burke recalls an encounter with a police officer from his younger, more rash days that left a strong impression. He was one of the few officers who, like Burke one day hopes to, approached him with understanding rather than intimidation.

“I remember one time a cop kind of got down on his knee and just patted me on the back and asked me in a soft tone, ‘What’s going on? Why are you acting like this?’” Burke said. “He actually seemed to care, which was a big thing.”

More recently, Burke saw the same officer at the Sheriffís Office. He couldn’t remember the officer’s name, so he didn’t say hello.

“But I’ll see him again,” Burke said. “And I’ll thank him.”