With a current league record of 10-0-3, the Lady Cougars are competing with Piedmont for the league championship.

In December, the Cougars defeated St. Mary’s 3-0 and won all of their games in the Tri Valley Tournament.

A series of ties – Encinal 1-1, Salesian 1-1, Piedmont 2-2 – was followed by two impressive wins over St. Joseph Notre Dame 4-1 and St. Patrick’s 4-0.

Last Friday night the Cougars lost 0-3 to the non-league Monte Vista in a difficult second half. But the first and only loss won’t get the Cougars down; conversely it intensifies the competition for a top seed in NCS.

Come support the Cougars as they wrap up the season! Womens Varsity plays St. Mary’s at home this Tuesday, January 31, at 6:00 pm.

According to director Andrea Hart, this refreshing romantic-comedy has “more depth of talent in the cast on all sides than we have had in a while.”
The zany musical stars seniors Chanel Tilghman, Daniel Goldwyn, junior Sophie Gable-Scheinbaum and sophomore Aaron Tiedemann.

Aaron Tiedemann opens the show as a man who is listening to The Drowsy Chaperone and witnesses the musical as it comes to life before him.
The story then follows Chanel Tilghman and Daniel Goldwyn as Janet Van de Graaff and Robert Martin on the eve of their wedding. A chaperone, designated to keep the couple apart before meeting at the altar, fails at his duty, giving the production its name.

The show even includes a scene where Daniel Goldwyn is forced on stage with a blindfold while dancing on skates.

Oddly enough, the storyline was originally written for a newly wed couple (Janet Van de Graaff and Robert Martin) as a scathing satire of marriage.
Although opening night isn’t until February 3, The Drowsy Chaperone has already brought the community together. Volunteers from both Laney College and the Berkeley Repertory Theater donated both their time and money to create the huge set for this production.

Opening night is Friday, February 3 at 8 p.m. The show runs the following night, Saturday February 4 at 8 p.m., and the following Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. as well. Matinee shows are on Sunday February 5 and 12 at 1 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and online at

www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222464.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students. Some AHS teachers are giving extra credit for attending the performance.

With the win, the Cougars are just several wins away from repeating as BSAL champions.

The Cougars were paced by two penalty goals by senior Gabriel Borges and a breakaway blast by senior Andre Alvarez.

Up next for AHS is Kennedy High, Wednesday February 1, 5:30 p.m. at Cougar Field.

More details to follow.

English teacher and debate coach John Bailes said, “I am very pleased with every level of our speech and debate team so far. We keep growing in numbers and maturing as debaters. We had twelve debaters–four of which were in pairs for public forum. The other eight competed in the Lincoln-Douglas format. Three debaters–James Ren, Yang Ren, Lauren Li–had winning records (3-1) and two–Felix Yoon, Wendy Li–had undefeated records (4-0),” Bailes said.

The event ran from early Saturday morning until late evening. Junior Varsity debater Yang Ren said, “Well, there wasn’t as much time to polish up arguments and speeches with finals being the week before the debate. Reviewing material for the next day’s finals really takes that chunk out of your day.”

Difficulties aside, the Debate Club plans to compete in the Stanford Invitational Debate Tournament, held on the Stanford campus in mid-February. Many of the debaters see this past weekend as a warm up for the larger event – the Stanford Debate attracts several hundred more debaters from across the country.

“I can already tell that Stanford is going to be great,” said sophomore Regina Park. “We have some great debaters this year and just going with the team is always really fun!”

For several weeks, the students had been researching environmental subjects ranging from sustainable transportation to green academies to investment in energy-efficiency.

Darren McNally, APES teacher, explained the process: “We’re building research skills, critical thinking skills, presentation skills, response to questions.”

One student, Kylie Woodward-Sollesnes, has been interning at All-in-One Fitness this year for the EDSET program. Her project, accordingly, centered on how to make gyms eco-friendly. Through interviews with the gym owner and supervisor, surveys with gym members, and data compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, she examined the feasibility and efficiency of water conservation in locker rooms, bikes with electric generators, and rooftop gardens.

Another student, Alvin Wong, looked into the environmental benefits of being a vegetarian.

“I like the environment, and the only way to take APES was to join EDSET,” Wong said. As for whether he’ll pursue a career in the field of environmental science, Wong added, “I could consider doing these kinds of things.”

Senior EDSET students, who participated in the project last year, were there to see and grade the presentations.

Anna Urias, whose project last year focused on solar energy, commented on the experience: “It was kind of cool because it applied directly to my internship and I got to go out and fix it.”

On Monday, school officials handed out the the new policy to students coming in late. It reads: “Beginning Wed. Jan. 25, all students who are tardy to any class must first go to the Attendance Office, sign in, and get a blue pass before entering any class. Teachers will no longer allow students to enter a class without a blue Attendance Office pass, whether excused or unexcused.”

“Tardiness has actually been a problem for me this year,” said social studies teacher Kevin James.

According to the administration, teachers have been expressing an increased concern regarding tardiness and how it is a significant disturbance in class both for teachers and those students who are on-time and trying to learn.

Today, some 180 students stood in a line in front of the Attendance Office waiting for their pass if they arrived after the second morning bell. The students included both those who did not step into their specific class before the bell and were sent down by their teachers and those who were stopped by the administration at the school entrances.

Many students were upset with this new procedure. “It’s not going to last. This is a ridiculous waste of time,” said one student who showed up one minute late yet returned to his class 15 minutes later due to the long line at the Attendance Office.

Vice-principal Susan Charlip put it simply, “Don’t be tardy, it’s not that complicated.”

Similar views have been expressed by other school officials who simply ask students to leave a little earlier and show up on time so there won’t be any unnecessary disturbances in the classroom.

This morning there were more than 180 students who showed up late to class and were forced to go to the Attendance Office. According to the administration, first and second periods are the most troublesome, as well as those immediately after lunch.

Principal Ted Barone explained, “The AHS faculty made it a priority to resolve the problem. And it is not a new policy, but rather a new procedure to have better accounting [of tardies].”

School administrators hope that the number of tardies will be reduced in the coming days.

With the previous coach Kitamba “Ko” Douglas retiring, Benjy Toczynski moved up from JV to take over the varsity squad.  The 2012 team, returning many players from the undefeated 2011 BSAL champions, started off this season with a disappointing record of 2 wins, 3 losses, and 4 ties.

Coach-player problems surfaced including the suspensions of starting players for key games that are seen to have contributed to the frustrating defeats. These problems escalated to the point where seniors Kian Ahmadi, Andre Alvarez, and Gabriel Borges were dismissed from the team.

Seniors Guicho Alonso and Romario Pena and juniors Felix Gonzalez and Kusha Miraftab chose to leave the team following their teammates’ dismissals.

Concerned players and parents approached coach Toczynski, athletic director Andrew Strawbridge and principal Ted Barone seeking a solution.  After several meetings the decision was made just prior to winter break to have coach Ko Douglas return for the balance of the season, replacing Toczynski.

All players who were dismissed or quit have returned to the varsity squad.

Since the coaching change, the results have been positive, with a 3-0-1 record under Douglas’s direction.

“Practices have become more productive, and we are playing harder as a team while still having fun,” said senior Kian Ahmadi.

On last Thursday evening, the Cougars took advantage of an undermanned Encinal team, winning 6-0.   Gabriel Borges and Felix Gonzalez each scored twice; Kusha Miraftab added a score on a header and junior Asitha Kaduwela scored once.

The Cougars next home game is against St. Patrick St. Vincent on Wednesday January 25.

Additionally, all students in the program participate in weekly internships and have the opportunity to “connect” what they learn in school to the work they do outside of it.

The internships were the most difficult part of CONNECT to implement because they are off campus and were not integrated into the program until last year. Juliet Chiarella, CONNECT coordinator and English teacher, has been a part of CONNECT since its beginnings at AHS. She said of the interships, “The other teachers and I have done a lot of networking to help the juniors find internships. As seniors, students have more flexibility and independence in choosing their internships.”

The internships are designed to enrich the students’ learning and provide them with real-world work experience that will be highly beneficial to them after high school. The semester-long internships make students aware of the many opportunities available to them in the future and help to develop valuable career skills.

In addition to gaining marketable skills, seniors McKenzie Giblin and Ryan Reynolds have learned about economic and social issues through their internships.

Giblin handles the intake of merchandise and stocking at Mary & Joe’s. At her internship, she has learned about the impact of recessions. She said, “I’ve seen that in a recession, retail is really hard. Princing is harder to figure. They can’t order as much because unfortunately, they aren’t selling as much.”

Reynolds, observes the growing problem of childhood obesity and its relation to sports and exercise at his internship Fairmont Elementary School in El Cerrito. As a P.E. and recess aide, he has found that, “kids need to stay active, but a lot of them usually don’t. They get in to trouble when they are not active, and some of my students are on the way to obesity.”

In some cases, CONNECT students have found employment as a result of their interships. Senior Tommy Kurtz now works at Golden Gate Fields after having an internship there last year. Last year, he primarily prepared food, but now he helps out with hosting parties and events in addition to cooking. Kurtz said of his internship, “CONNECT and my internship opened my mind to things I didn’t think I would want to do. Cooking at the racetrack helped me realize that I want to be a chef.”

The junior and senior CONNECT classes are each comprised of approximately 30 students. The required courses for juniors are English 3, US History, and Design Lab 1, while those for seniors are Senior Composition/Non-Fiction, US Government/Economics, and Design Lab 2. Senior Salman Zaman especially likes the program because, “Everything in CONNECT is related. When we’re reading a book in English, we’re learning about its context in History. We really get an in-depth understanding of each subject.”

In CONNECT classes, there is a large emphasis on group work. Students collaborate on projects, and this has brought them closer together. Zaman especially likes “the homeroom feel of CONNECT.” He added, “There isn’t one person in my class that I couldn’t talk to or ask for help. In CONNECT, everyone is a family and we all help each other out.”

Vice Principal Susan Charlip partnered with current superintendent Marla Stephenson to found CONNECT in 2006 and 2007. Charlip led a group of teachers in creating an interdisciplinary academy-style program in the humanities. Before CONNECT, many students were getting lost jumping from one teacher to another with random course sequencing. The CONNECT curriculum helps students remain focused and has helped most of them improve their grades. During the most recent budget crisis, the school board could have easily swept CONNECT from the budget. However, the board preserved it because it has been largely successful.

Charlip said, “With CONNECT,

we hoped to create a smaller learning community within the school for students not already a part of naturally forming communities at AHS.” Students within the CONNECT community can become involved in the Albany community through their internships. Charlip added, “CONNECT helps us to bring the community into the school and the school into the community.”

With a focused curriculum, the collaborative and interdisciplinary CONNECT program offers students enriching educational opportunities and allows them to become involved in their community and gain valuable work experience through internships. Kurtz said the best part of the program is that, “CONNECT just makes school and learning a lot more fun.”

Newt Gringrich responded with this provocative question after Mitt Romney stated his life’s passions: his family, his faith and his country. His statement might have been a plea to end Romney’s periodic mention of religion, which Gingrich sees as a façade, but I’d like to voice a similar phrase myself for a different reason.

All the presidential candidates have made claims about their religion and their loyalty to its principles. Great. We believe you’re faithful. But whether or not the talk is baloney, I want to see the pious conversation dropped as well.

I’d also like to remind everyone that here in America we have a separation of church and state. And though we are all expecting at least a handful of people from the Republican Party to speak, preach and propose legislation in the name of the lord, it doesn’t mean we should tolerate it. I am all for religious freedom, but I don’t believe that the law should be determined by anything but reason – if reason happens to fall in line with religion, all the better.

Furthermore, the conservative side should be least likely to impose religion-based laws. They should do the least to impose any restrictions on anyone! That’s the whole point of being conservative is having a smaller, more conservative government, which doesn’t get in the way of people’s lives. Gay marriage, for instance, shouldn’t be a federal issue at all. A national ban would be a restriction that empowers the federal government to affect people’s personal relationships; therefore, enacting one wouldn’t be very conservative. (So cool it, Mr. Santorum.)

I just recently registered to vote, and I can safely say that no one who raises the Bible in attempts to restrict a group of people’s civil liberties will ever get my vote. I’m sure many others feel the same. The possibility of someone else’s religion being the primary influence over the laws that rule my life is a scary thought.

Religion can be a set of values that influence a candidate’s moral compass, but it’s neither a foundation for legislation nor a means of justification in this secular country. Just because you expect religious debate and campaigning, doesn’t mean you have to tolerate it. Like Newt, all voters should recognize the pious baloney and ask it be dropped (at least “a little bit”).

In May of 2008, Liu — a self-described “socially-awkward thirteen year old boy” — set out on a mission to create Dragon’s Fury: Legend of the Dragon Master. For the past several years, he’s worked tirelessly on the full-length role-playing game. With the support of many others along the way, and in spite of the occasional self-doubt, he’s finally completed the 57th stage of his game.

As he addresses the audience in announcement of the completion of Dragon’s Fury: Legend of the Dragon Master, which will be packaged for release by February 2012, he devotes most of his speech to thanking the many people who have — either directly or indirectly — assisted him in his creation of the game.

Those who know Liu are well aware of his accomplishments. Whether it’s in Science Bowl, Model United Nations, or merely academics, Liu has constantly excelled in a multitude of fields. In spite of this, he’s ultimately a humble man.

In his speech, this becomes quite apparent. Liu’s announcement speech is not a salute to his own accomplishment, but rather, an expression of gratitude for all those who have inspired, influenced, and supported him in these many years. The speech is also, of course, supplemented with the communist values which comprise the essence this dynamic man.

He ends his speech with a message of inspiration, encouraging others to realize that the seemingly impossible remains within reach. This challenging journey, through dedication, confidence, and countless hours on a dying Toshiba laptop, has proven successful.