The James Logan Courier

By Gurpreet Bhasin and Kayleen Garingin, Courier Staff Writers
Editor's Note: One of the writers participated in the rally

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon at James Logan High as the whole school started to pour into the football field. As every one got seated in the bleachers, the noise level began to get louder and before you knew it, the whole school was in one spot, together, like one big family. As the rally began, class officers from all levels began to gather in different areas of the field, wearing their respective class colors. Seniors were wearing black, juniors white, sophomores green, and freshman were wearing yellow. Games were played and floats were displayed. The fact that everyone was there and showing off their school spirit felt great.

By Maria Saldana and Amandeep Singh, Courier Staff Writers

After school on October 6th, two older men attacked a James Logan student on his way home from school as he entered a bathroom at Kennedy Park just yards away from campus.

The men robbed him of some of his belongings and left him bruised and scared and terrified.

A few days later, Logan art teacher Victoria Jackson and House Three Principal Jessica Lange each sent out e-mails asking staff members to inform their students about the attack and advise them on how to keep themselves safer.

By Ann Givens
Newsday (MCT)

MELVILLE, N.Y.— Nassau County district attorney investigators are expected to arrest at least four more former high school students as early as next week in connection with an SAT cheating scandal that has gripped Long Island, sources said.

Sources close to the case say the former students have been told they will be asked to surrender to prosecutors soon. The total number of students who will be arrested in the investigation's second wave was not clear Thursday, nor was it clear whether any accused test-takers would be among them.

By Lauren Mascarenhas, Courier Managing Editor

Logan students practiced the old duck–and-cover Thursday as they participated in “The Great California Shakeout”, and their preparedness came in handy as the bay area experienced two real earthquakes later in the day.

3.8 million people in schools, communities, and businesses across California participated in the Shakeout, a statewide earthquake drill at 10:20 am. Logan students were in their third period classes when the drill started, and were instructed to walk out to the designated evacuation areas in and around campus.

By David Siders
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom railed against tuition increases and said Wednesday that the state's master plan for higher education is outdated, promising "a different narrative" for higher education by the end of the year.

It was unclear what the plan might contain or how Newsom, a Democrat, might propose funding it.

"We're going to come up with some out-of-the-box recommendations, is our hope and expectation," he told The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Bureau.

By Kayleen Garingan, Mark Godoy, Rae Atabay , Courier Staff Writers

The senior class of 2012 was a class divided between dressing traditionally and appropriately for Spirit Week.

Wednesday was originally supposed be toga day, a Spirit Week tradition for Logan seniors, but it was replaced this year by CEO day because some teachers and administrators deemed it inappropriate.

Monique Walton, the activities director, said, "I didn't want Logan students to come to school dressed in just sheets, or worse, nothing."

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Director of Parent and Community Relations

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a presentation from representatives of a group of parents, teachers, classified employees, administrators and business/community leaders advocating for the District to make another attempt to pass a parcel tax, to relieve some of the budget pressures caused by the state’s ongoing financial crisis.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Director of Parent & Community Relations

UNION CITY (Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2011) – Kevin Harper, a member of the New Haven Unified School District Board of Education for the past seven years, is moving out of the District and will resign his position, effective at the end of the calendar year, he announced at the Board meeting Tuesday night.

By Tish Wells
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

Want a challenge?

Most people are familiar with folded paper origami cranes or napkin swans. Some paper folders have graduated to folding elephants, crabs or geometric shapes

Then there are true papercraft artists whose creations are above and beyond a hobbyist's skill. In this case, you have Yee.

"Origami Architecture" is for anyone who aspires to be the type of artist who is meticulous, exacting and fascinated by complexity. A budding architect would find hours of work putting together even one of icons of world architecture in this book.

Readers might also want to keep a ready supply of Band-aids and iodine close at hand just in case the blade slips.

By Kayleen Garingan, Courier Staff Writer

Logan students and staff show their school pride during the traditional Spirit Week, which leads up to the big homecoming game on Friday night. Spirit Week kicked off this Monday with a pretty exciting turn out of students dressing up according to their class themes.

By Kim Murphy
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

SEATTLE — Bow-and-arrow hunters already have shot 17 of Montana's once-threatened wolf population since a controversial wolf hunt started at the beginning of September, while 60 wolves have been killed in neighboring Idaho.

Now, big game rifle-hunting season is about to start, bringing thousands of hunters into the mountains at a time when early snowfall will make wolves much easier to spot and chase. Conservation groups went to court Monday seeking an emergency injunction to block the hunts until a federal appeals court can decide whether they're legal to begin with.

By Amandeep Singh and Maria Saldana, Courier Staff Writers

Known by some as the “King of Technology,” Steve Jobs died on Wednesday, at the age of 56.

The death of Jobs affected people around the word and here at Logan as well.

“I’m sad about [his death] because we lost a brilliant mind and anytime that happens I think there’s a reason to mourn," said James Logan Principal Amy McNamara said, "I think he’ll be remembered forever. I think he’ll be in history books as somebody who transformed technology all over the world.”

By Bettina Boxall
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — The imperiled fish that has been at the center of California's water wars may be at its highest numbers in a decade, judging by the results of a recent survey.

Every month in the fall, state biologists tow nets in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, sampling for the threatened delta smelt to estimate the native fish's population. The September catch this year, though still small by historic standards, was the biggest since 2001, when the numbers of smelt and other delta fish started to plunge to dangerously low levels, triggering cutbacks to water customers in the Central Valley and Southern California.

By Deborah Netburn
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — Getting lost in a corn maze is supposed to be fun.

But it turned into a nightmare for a Massachusetts couple who got so turned around that they had to be rescued by the police.

It all started late Monday afternoon, when the couple entered a corn maze at Connors Farm in Danvers, Mass., about 23 miles north of Boston.

After about an hour in the maze, darkness began to fall. The couple, who were there with their 3-week-old baby, could not find a way out. As the mosquitoes started to descend, they placed a desperate call to 911 asking to be rescued.

By Paul Rogers
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Trying to learn once and for all whether a 440-foot-long oil tanker sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1941 off the Central California coast still poses a risk of a catastrophic oil spill, a team of scientists is preparing to probe the wrecked ship with high-tech gear.

MISCELLANEOUS

Need Driver’s Ed? Check out the Adult School! Cost is $125. December 19, 20 & 21, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Applications are now available in your house office, or see Mr. Caruso in Room 77 for both an application and details.

PACT tickets are on sale until Nov. 7th. Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased at the ticket window in the main office.

By Lauren Mascarenhas, Courier Managing Editor

As Logan falls into the rhythm of the new school year, the freshman in the Institute of Community Leaders settle into a different swing of things.

The Institute of Community Leaders, or ICL, which has started out with about one hundred and eighty freshman this year, runs differently from the rest of the school to accommodate its unique mission.

By Rick La Plante,
New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations
Continuing a tradition he started six years ago, a local real estate agent is making certain that every third-grade student in the New Haven Unified School District has a dictionary. For the second year in a row, Sunil Sethi and his partners are supplying the students with thesauruses, too.

And this year, Mr. Sethi – with the help of fellow agent and former New Haven teacher Steven Fong – also is inviting students to participate in an essay contest.

By Candace Laxamana, Courier News Editor

Members of the James Logan Choir, steamed after learning that their annual Spring Concert is scheduled June 1, the same Friday night as the Senior Ball, took their complaints to the Senior Class meeting Wednesday.

On Monday, the seniors of James Logan learned about the activities planned for their final year.

The Spring concert has been planned around that time of the year for about 13 years. Last year, the choir director, Erin McShane, set a date that wouldn't conflict with any of the school dances at Logan.

By Rae Atabay, Courier Staff Writer

Dozens of students Tuesday donated something precious to them — their own blood — to help people who need it even more.

Every year, sometimes even twice a year, James Logan is visited by the American Red Cross and their team of phlebotomists, surveyors, food givers, and equipment. The blood drive is usually held in the Guy Emmanuel Gym, but this year the October 4 blood drive was conducted in the the old band room.

By Jack Bragg, Courier Entertainment Editor

Traditionally, punk rock is the music format for bringing significant change and bringing scope to important social issues. Rise Against’s latest single, “Make It Stop (September’s Children)”, is the latest song to make such a strong attempt to bring a magnifying glass to the issue of bigotry against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) people.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations
A higher percentage of James Logan High School graduates enroll in a college or university than in Alameda County in general or in the state as a whole – and the trend holds regardless of ethnicity, race, socioeconomics, language or disabilities – according to data released today by the California Department of Education

Data from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) was matched with postsecondary enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). According to the results, 83.2 percent of Logan graduates in 2008-09 – the most recent data available – enrolled in a postsecondary institution in the United States. The college-going rate was 70.9 percent in Alameda County and 74.4 percent in the state as a whole.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director Parent and Community Relations

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a presentation from Superintendent Kari McVeigh about the ongoing work to create a Union City Kids’ Zone.

The product of discussions initiated by the Superintendent that led to a partnership involving the District and several other agencies and community organizations, the Kids’ Zone would provide cradle-to-career services for the District’s most vulnerable students and their families. Starting point for the effort would be the Decoto neighborhood.

By Farah Ali, Courier Staff Writer

On the night of her eleventh birthday, Martine Allen was enjoying a night with her parents, Veronica and David, in her nice home in England. That night, she had a strange dream about a majestic place of granite cliffs and green forests. She remembered seeing children running around, but all of a sudden the sky turned an angry red color, and thunder voiced the clouds. One child found a goose with a broken wing, and the rest of the children began to hurt it and torture it.

Martine squeezed through the crowd and cradled the poor goose in her arms. All of a sudden, her hands turned warm and glowed, and it immediately sent a crackling of electricity from her to the bird. The bird suddenly jumped from her hands and took to the sky. Martine felt good that she helped the goose, but the rest of the children began to chant "Witch! Witch!". Martine ran into the forest, but the children chased her. She felt a sudden warmness and a hand grabbed her, and she woke up screaming. When she awoke, she realized that her house had been on fire, so she jumped out from her window, with her parents still inside, burning alive. Martine was scarred for life.

By Hadiyah Hassan and Kayleen Garingan, Courier Staff Writers

Activities director Monique Walton says she created the new “Fear the Colts” program in order to give Logan student’s better deals and also generate money for our school.

Walton told The Courier that last year she felt like the students weren’t given good enough deals for the ASB stickers, so she created this program that includes more savings for students who buy the ASB stickers.

She said she hopes this new program will entice the student body to participate in school activities and help generate money for Logan. So far, more than 300 stickers have been sold.

By Jessica Li, Courier Staff Writer

999 : Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a Japanese text-based adventure game developed by Chunsoft for the Nintendo DS. It was released in North America last November and it is rated M for mature, or 17 and up.

By Candace Laxamana and Mark Godoy, Courier Staff Writers

Logan's campus was filled with parents rushing to and from classes during Back to School Night. James Logan High School's Back to School Night was held Wednesday, September 27, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. This is a time for parents to get to know what classes their child is talking and how to contact teachers.