The James Logan Courier

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

In the wake of the death of a freshman this weekend, James Logan High School officials this morning deployed counselors, psychologists and others to help students and staff deal with their grief.

The school is "mourning the loss of Julian Gutierrez," Logan Principal Amy McNamara said via the school's public address system during first period. "He will be much missed by family and friends."

Later, during the daily bulletin, she called for a moment of silence in the 15-year-old's honor.

By Farah Habad, Courier Staff Writer
Habad is a member of the James Logan Forensics team.

For the first time in four years, the James Logan Forensics team was victorious at the prestigious California Invitational for the first time in four years.

Held annually at the University of California, Berkeley campus, the three days of rigorous competition during President's Day weekend brought thousands of competitors from twelve states to test their might against the best of the best.

The tournament is notorious for running behind schedule, and this year proved to be no different.

By Mike Taugher
Contra Costa Times (MCT)

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Letting some fish species die off as part of a larger environmental restoration may be the best way to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a leading California think tank says.

The recommendation in a 500-page report by experts working with the Public Policy Institute of California, is the second time this month that an influential report has suggested some fish, particularly Delta smelt, may become too far gone to save. The other was an early draft from a new state agency charged with crafting a plan for the Delta.

By Eric Carpenter
The Orange County Register (MCT)

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Frustrated by students habitually skipping class, police and school officials in Anaheim, Calif., are turning to GPS tracking to ensure they come to class.

The Anaheim Union High School District is the first in California to test Global Positioning System technology as part of a six-week pilot program that began last week, officials said.

By Dan Hinkel and Michael Muskal, Chicago Tribune (MCT)

MADISON, Wis.—Wisconsin Republicans turned to the state police Friday to find and cajole Democratic lawmakers to return to the Capitol as Wisconsin's battle between a cash-strapped government and an angry unionized work force continued.

Thousands of protesters were back to demonstrate at the Capitol in Madison, and some testified at committee hearings in the Assembly, which could consider a bill Friday that would end collective bargaining for public employees and force those workers to pick up a share of rising health insurance and pension costs.

The Senate was forced to adjourn after all 14 Democrats fled Thursday. Democrats continued their boycott Friday, prompting Republicans to ask Gov. Scott Walker to send officers to the home of Minority Leader Mark Miller to urge the Democrats to come back to work.

By Jeremy Roebuck
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

PHILADELPHIA — She wished in her personal blog that she could call students "ratlike," "frightfully dim" or "dunderheads" on their report cards. But administrators at Central Bucks High School East wish she had never said anything at all.

Principal Abram Lucabaugh assured students at an assembly Thursday that the blog posts English teacher Natalie Munroe made did not reflect the attitude of the school's faculty.

By Paul Rogers
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)

Five years into the first significant construction to restore thousands of acres of former industrial salt ponds around San Francisco Bay back to wetlands, dozens of species of fish and birds — from herring and anchovies to pintail ducks — are expanding their range across the bay, with some clearly growing in population.

That was among the key conclusions from scientists at a recent conference held at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., to assess the status of the massive salt pond project.

"So far, so good," said Jim Hobbs, a fisheries biologist with University of California, Davis.

By Kimmai Nguyen, Courier Staff Writer

During tonight's Academic Achievement Night, the Logan library will host their first ever Adopt-A-Book event.

Carla Colburn, Logan's librarian, said she would like to emphasize how admirable donating is because it would help the library grow.

Contributing in this event is easy. First, students either choose a book from a list provided by the library or let the librarian choose. Second, the student sends the library $15, then has their name placed on a donation book plate.

By Thalia Hedges, Courier Staff Writer

The first semester of Logan Live seemed longer than the required five minutes, inciting annoyance from many teachers.

“It bothers me," said Robert Eppler, a Logan math teacher. "It takes away from class time, but to be completely honest, it gives me time to get class ready and I take advantage of the extra time to get stuff ready.”

Although many other teachers seem to think otherwise and actually favor and don’t mind the extra accidentally added minutes.

By Linh-Chi Nguyen, Courier Music Editor

Humanitarian Assistance Club gathered in Colt Court yesterday to raise awareness about human enslavement and trafficking.

The idea, “Free2Play”, allows students to write onto white boards about anything that the students feel they do not have the freedom to do. The student would take a picture, which would be added together in conjunction with the many other pictures, in order to concoct a collage to be hung around the school.

“Free2Play” is an attempt at spreading awareness about human trafficking. Senior Tom Hu, who is president of the club, said that he derived the idea from a past student at Logan. In addition, many other college campuses across the nation have done the same thing.

By Kimmai Nguyen, Courier Staff Writer

The SOGo emailing system for the New Haven Unified School Distict will be switched to Google also recognized as Gmail.

The main reason for this change was user satisfaction. Chris Hobbs, directory of technology at NHUSD, said, “The biggest obstacle initially was performance and reliability, which took us several weeks to get resolved... there are also issues around features that our users are used to that are missing or non-intuitive in the new system. The combination of these led to the dissatisfaction."

Logan previously used the GroupWise system, but made the transition to SoGO last school year. However, users are still less than impressed with SoGO.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

Monday kicks off Logan’s introduction of its first-ever Academic Achievement Week to celebrate and encourage classroom success.

This year, Principal Amy McNamara replaced the annual Open House in favor of a week celebrating the achievements of Logan students all across the board.

“This is a week we are celebrating achievement and taking time to encourage all of our students to continue after graduation to educate themselves,” said McNamara in a staff email Monday.

By Julia Ortiz, Courier Staff Writer

Logan senior Tom Hu recently donned a friar tuck-style hairdo around school, both in advertisement of the school play and as a display of good humor.

Hu's enthusiasm for performance was already evident from his performance in the last play, "Taming of the Shrew". However, after earning a part in the school production of "Camelot" and spending time with his church group, Hu showed up to school with his eccentric haircut.

"I thought it would be funny and good advertisement for the musical,” he said. “And it’s fun showing my friends at school, especially teachers who are actually bald.”

By Leslie Rodriguez, Courier Staff Writer

Logan students and teachers alike attended the school's highly-anticipated Sabor Latino Dance last Friday.

The dance was energetic and lively, with people constantly going to the dance floor. By 7:30 p.m it seemed like everyone had already arrived, but people kept coming. There were girls rocking out in stilettos, with boys in boots and sombreros joining them.

By Nataniel Lazaga, Courier Staff Writer

This year, Logan students participated in the annual CAHSEE test, expressing mixed sentiments about the test's usefulness and content.

Every February, sophomores take the mandatory California High School Exit Exam, which is required for graduation and a diploma. Students who have not passed must also retake it.

By Linh-Chi Nguyen, Courier Music Editor

Logan students have the opportunity to apply at nearby community colleges Chabot and Ohlone for early decision, which offers a filling period that begins mid-February and extends until the 15th of March.

Applying early would guarantee that applicants will receive the classes they sign up for and gives priority registration for seniors rather than new students. All applicants are admitted regardless of grades or standardized test scores; the only requirement is a high school diploma.

Barbara Hart, counselor at Logan's Career Center, strongly encourages students to take advantage of this opportunity.

By Satpreet Kaur, Courier Staff Writer

Dancing, singing and laughing the night away were some adjectives describing students this year at Logan's annual Lohri Celebration.

Last Friday evening, the Logan community held a special event open to all in the tradition of Lohri, a Punjabi holiday celebrating the end of winter. Logan's Punjabi Club organized and delivered an outstanding event.

One of the most iconic ways to celebrate this holiday is by the lighting of a bonfire, where everyone gathers around and dances in traditional Punjabi Folk style (Bhangra and Giddha). A small wood fire was ignited in Colt Court, setting the mood for the entire evening.

By James McDonald, Courier Staff Writer

Logan English teacher Ross Minor has been selling lumpia at school in mass amounts for a few months.

The idea for lumpia sales comes from Minor's wife Cristel, who is a member of a group called Elpida (which means "hope" in Greek). The group has been together for three years and has a handful of members. It is generally a discussion group, but Elpida also helps the community by donating to the HERS Breast Cancer Foundation. The group has raised $400 from the past three months of sales at Logan.

Lumpia is a Filipino pastry similar to spring rolls. There are a number of different varieties. Generally, however, it is understood that the term "lumpia" refers to "lumpiang shanghai", small rolls that can be eaten as finger foods.

Rick La Plante, Director of Parent & Community Relations, NHUSD

The Board of Education on Tuesday night approved a resolution calling for a May 3 special election asking New Haven voters to approve a parcel tax to offset some of the cuts that continue to be forced on the District because of the ongoing state budget crisis.

The measure would raise approximately $3 million annually to preserve quality instructional time, maintain educational and after-school activities and minimize increases in class sizes and reductions to the school year.

By Andrea Higares, Courier Film Editor

The biggest new thing on the James Logan High School Campus happens to also be one of the smallest. Students all around school can be seen playing ukuleles all around the school.

Whether it is for show or for the soft music that it plays, it is the new "it" thing. They can come in all different size but one thing is for sure: nearly everyone has one or knows how to play them. Even some performers play them on stage, such as Nevershoutnever and James Hill.