We all know what isn’t healthy, like a double cheeseburger from McDonalds (490 calories) or a medium-sized coke (65 grams of sugar), yet so many Americans still opt for unhealthy food choices.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, on average, males consume a total of 2,475 calories every day, while females consume 1,833 calories. Thirty-three percent of the calories consumed come from fat—high compared to the recommended 27.5 percent.

Kids from 2 to 18 years old lead lifestyles with diets that are composed of 40 percent empty calories—calories from foods without any real nutritional value.These empty calories mainly come from meal items that include soda, sugary fruit drinks, desserts and pizza.

Reward Response

Despite learning all this in Health Class, sophomore Alex Kuo still eagerly awaits his weekly pepperoni pizza order from Spot’s Pizza Place.
He immerses himself in the familiar aroma of the kitchen. To him, the pizza shop is a home of sorts. It’s where he spends a lot of his time ordering food that, while not the healthiest, is the most convenient.

If it tastes good, makes him feel good and is relatively inexpensive, it’s definitely an ace for this tennis fanatic. Moreover, savoring each slice of pizza gives him no uneasiness about his decision.

His adoration for eating out at Spot’s represents a characteristic typical of many Los Altos High students. Thirty-six percent of students (200 students polled)eat fast food at least once a week, with another 15 percent returning more than once to the local McDonalds or Jack in the Box before the school week is over.

Despite Alex being well aware of the immense amount of calories saturated in the grease and extra cheese topping, $5 for two delicious slices of pizza is too good to pass up.

However, Alex does have his gripes about eating out too often.

“Just don’t do it every day,” Alex said.

But it’s more than just convenience and price that drives Alex to come back to the same pizza parlor every week. Eating his pizza provides him some mechanism to stop contemplating, to stop worrying about other distractions at school or in life. For those 20 divine minutes, it’s just him and the pizza.

Dr. Clyde Wilson who teaches Human Nutrition at Stanford notes that this “feel good” stigma that comes from eating high-calorie foods is typical of teenagers.

Comfort foods loaded in sugars, fats and calories generate a sort of reward response in the brain by releasing chemicals such as serotonin, which is responsible for generating feelings of happiness.

“Teenagers tend to be more impulsive, meaning following their reward response, than older adults, but many older adults eat by their reward as well,” Wilson said.

Whether it’s impulsive behavior or the reward response, food entails its own living culture of what we eat, how we eat it and with whom we share it. More often than not, the health aspect of what we eat is not the most predominant factor in our choices in diet.

Sophomore Tony Tran represents the world of convenience. He’d rather kick up his legs on a couch and indulge in the world of junk food than waste precious minutes on a stove actually cooking. Food is his medium to connect with his alter-world: Call of Duty.

“I kinda don’t care about what type of food I get,” Tony said. “Food is good.”

As a football player and a track runner, he works off any of the empty calories he eats and balances out his cravings for rather unhealthy food.
That’s not to say he doesn’t desire to eat healthy. Rather, Tony’s cravings for all sorts of food leads to something that might be worse than his cravings—lethargic behavior.

“Laziness is infectious,” Tony said.

He doesn’t know whether his semi-lethargic behavior found its roots in his lazy ways of eating or rather, if his lazy eating amplified his lethargy.
All he knows is that he’s perfectly fine with it.

With a broadening grin on his face, he only has a single word to describe Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with some chips and a pizza.

“Heaven.”

Preparation

While Alex and Tony devour what’s at hand with little or no question over what exactly is in what they’re eating, junior Mohan Avula takes a different approach with his food. Although his cooking has not always been and is still far from Iron Chef level, his continuous effort in improving his cooking skills has helped him develop a more intimate connection with the food he makes and eats.

“Initially when I made food, I felt even less inclined to eat it,” Mohan said. “But I’ve gotten better and now appreciate how hard it is.”

Whether it’s just preparing sandwiches for lunch or the occasional preparation for dinner, Mohan feels like his work does not go unappreciated. He eats and appreciates his food more because of considerable effort that he puts into his preparing his meals.

The process of preparing his own food puts him face to face with choosing what ingredients go into his food: brown sugar versus refined white sugar, real butter versus a substitute.

The fine details in choosing and preparing ingredients gives him more incentive to make healthier decisions than he would’ve with pre-made food.

However, not all students are given the healthier choice or can even indulge in what they eat every night. Students like junior Caroline Deng simply eat “what’s there.”

A normal school night for Caroline consists of over 30 pages of USHAP reading and another AP Language and Composition assignment.
So instinctively, she grabs a bag of potato chips and makes herself a cup of ramen noodles. She knows that these choices aren’t the best, but she can’t help herself.

The cup of ramen noodles only requires one minute in the microwave, so it seems to be the best time-saver.

“I go for really unhealthy foods when I’m stressed,” Caroline said. “I don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t want to go into the kitchen to make something with more nutritional value.”

While Alex, Tony and Caroline’s choices of food may not be the healthiest, eating alone and what’s simply there reflects 41 percent of students: 15 percent of whom never have dinner with their family and 26 percent only sometimes.

These numbers are reflective of the ever-growing trend of eating alone in American culture, which is just as unhealthy pyschologically as high-calorie content foods.

According to a decade-long study of family eating patterns published in 2005 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, kids who do eat with their families every night are 40 percent more likely to maintain A’s and B’s in school than kids who don’t.

Furthermore, minimal emphasis on family dinners is also an increasingly American trend. Researches also found that foreign-born kids are more likely to eat with their parents.

Junior Margherita LaCapra comes from a household which is deeply rooted in Italian food and culture. She usually prepares her meals from scratch with her family, making rich foods with ingredients such as basil, olive oil and a variety of cheeses to make delectable pastas, lasagnas and tortellinis.

“I always have breakfast and dinner with my parents every single day,” Margherita said. “I find it really important to keep a strong relationship with my parents and having dinner together only strengthens the connection we share.”

Not only is a sense of family instilled through having family dinners, Margherita says, but they also help her make healthier eating choices.
“We never accomodate food for just one person, so we all eat the same things,” Margherita said.

Lunch Time

Whatever freedom students have at home when it comes to their meals dramatically decreases at school.

Sophomore Kelsey Kawaguchi spends five minutes every night preparing her turkey sandwich, saying the pizza from the pizza cart is “too greasy.” In addition, students like junior Steven Dittmer shy away from the cafeteria, thinking “the food is kinda gross.”

Shying away from cafeteria food, many students eat lunch outside of school at places like Chipotle or McDonald’s.

However, while food from the cafeteria may not be the best-looking to some, there are no doubts when it comes to its health and nutritional content. The school, along with all other public high schools in California, follows Senate Bill 12, which requires individually sold entrees or meals to qualify under the federal meal program, have fewer than 4 grams of fat per 100 calories and 400 total calories overall.

The Healthy Beverage Bill passed in 2007 requires fruit-based or vegetable-based drinks to contain at least 50 percent fruit juice. Milk products and an electrolyte replacement beverage must also contain fewer than 42 grams of added sweetener per 20-ounce serving.

A common hot meal sold at the cafeteria during lunch, like spaghetti with meat sauce, strictly follows these state guidelines through a specifically provided recipe. The ground beef found in the weekly spaghetti contains no more than 20 percent fat, parsley, basil or garlic. Containing minimal amounts of saturated fat and total fat, each serving is only 322 calories.

However, these strict food requirements do not affect students like junior Sean McLoughlin. He goes off campus and buys a pizza at New York Pizza every day because it is “easy to get” as he returns from Freestyle.

While not apparent, getting a $3 meal from the cafeteria is healthier than going off campus to places like McDonald’s or Chipotle.
However, regardless of personal preferences and lifestyle situations, there is no black and white in what is the correct, healthy way to eat.

“If [students] have goals that nutrition can help them with, they should engage their mind in how they are eating so that they can get what they want out of life,” Wilson said.

Going Green

The sentimental classic, “Charlotte’s Web,” by E.B. White inspired sophomore Sophia Drobny to eat organically, a lifestyle she has kept up for the past five years.

As a co-founder of the People for Animal Welfare (PAW) club, Sophia is concerned with the treatment of farm animals because of the inhumane conditions in which the animals live. She started to abstain from eating meat in protest of their conditions.

“They live in really tiny cages and they can get infections,” Sophia said. “It really disgusts me.”

Green Team Co-vice president sophomore Sarah Jacobs also feels strongly against how animals are treated in industrial farms. In fact, Sarah raises her own chickens at home. Sarah’s three chickens live in a chicken coop in place of the family’s old play structure and provide fresh eggs during the spring and summer.

Her mom really wanted to try raising chickens.

“It’s kind of like a family project,” Sarah said.

Sarah’s family has been involved in the organic and local scene for as long as she can remember. Ever since fifth grade, Sarah, a vegetarian, has focused on making her own diet fresher and more organic.

As part of their goals for a healthier diet, Sarah and her family grow several types of vegetables.

Once they grew 14 different types of tomatoes. She even wakes up at 7 a.m. to go to the Master Gardeners Tomato Sale in San Jose with her mother and younger sister to hunt for some more of their favorite tomatoes.

“It sounds like a really dorky thing to do,” Sarah said, with a laugh. “There are like 2,000 people … There are lot of crazy gardening people there.”
Science teacher Greg Stoehr is another longtime customer of the farmers’ market. During his years at UC Berkeley, he would bike around campus and stop at the local markets to buy his fruits and vegetables. Despite the price difference between regular supermarkets such as Safeway and organic stores or farmers’ markets, Stoehr thinks it’s worth it for all the benefits.

“If you care about the environment, the people working on the farms and your health, those are the three things that play into buying organic food,” Stoehr said.

Stoehr chooses to buy organically because it keeps the soil richer and the workers safer. He knows organic fertilizer is used and pesticides are banned on farms that grow organic food. As the teacher of the AP Environmental Science class, Stoehr is well versed in the effect of industrial farming on the environment, having read books about food and making sure that he’s “up to speed” on the material he teaches in class.

Since all organic food contains limited amounts of chemicals or no chemicals at all, the produce is safer and more nutritious to eat.
Tomatoes grown by large farms are regulated with a growth hormone. This hormone causes growth conditions that aren’t optimal during the season or on the particular farm.

Sarah’s home-grown tomatoes and the ones bought at the market have no hormones that were used in the growing process.

By buying locally from farmers’ markets and organic stores, residents are able to support the community and boost the state’s economy. According to newscientist.com, buying locally promotes biodiversity “at every level of the food chain” and “can benefit the wildlife” as well. For example, Whole Foods supplies local foods that according to their website, is only a seven hour or less car or truck drive away from the store.

Supporting local farms means fresher produce, and the smaller travel time means that the environment benefits as well. The travel time over an ocean or cross-country brings an older version of produce, often traveling a week to a few weeks.

Compared to a seven hour drive, those weeks seem like an extremely long time for food to be carried around in a cargo hold. Preservatives are often used to keep food edible when traveling long distances. This makes it less fresh than local food and not as healthy as organic food.

With fresher ingredients and healthier market options around Los Altos, students are bound to meet the proper nutrition values per day and have a better chance at fighting diseases and other health problems.

The celebrations begin after the sun is out of sight. Once it hits the horizon line the jubilant colors burst out, friends and family unite, fire crackers sparkle in the dark sky and the smell of exotic spices fills the elated atmosphere. The sunset marks the arrival of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

Diwali, in the Hindu culture, marks the day when the kings and queens of the Indian city Ayodhya returned back to their kingdom. Ever since, it has been tradition to light diyas, oil lamps made out of clay, to celebrate the light and the happiness that life has given us. Every year on Diwali, junior Nisha Ramesh reads these tales to refresh her mind and remind herself of the joy that she has been bestowed.

For Nisha, Diwali is the day when good triumphs over evil, happiness prevails over sadness, and light reigns over darkness. Nisha’s family and friends reunite under the same roof, laughing, giggling, savoring the scrumptious variety of mouth-sizzling South Indian curries. Little children crowd her house and parade in lenghas, gaghras, kurta pajamas and chudidhars—traditional Indian dresses. They huddle, adorned in intricate jewelry and gems, indulging in the wide variety of glorious sweets.

Nisha sits with her friends in a circle and squeezes a thick mixture of mehendhi (henna) out of a tube and draws elegant designs of peacocks and lotuses on her friends’ hands. Guests stop to notice the intricate rangoli pattern on the door step, drawn out of chalk to create a masterpiece. Diyas are lit all around Nisha’s house and in the driveway leading to the doorstep, inviting any visitor to join in the festivities.

Nisha and her family also perform a pooja, a religious ceremony performed to the deities to commend them for their bravery and perseverance. The polytheistic culture calls for vivid pictures, paintings and sculptures of the gods and goddesses all over the deity room. Colorful saris and clothes drape the marble figures. The smell of incense sticks fills the room with the smoke rising to the top.

Nisha sits diligently on the floor, legs crossed, while her mom and dad recite mantras to the gods. She puts her hands out straight in front of her, clasped together in the prayer position, as she relaxes her mind, chanting “Om, om, om,” meaning peace. She prays for happiness.

After the pooja, guests pour into Nisha’s house, greeted by the massive marble sculpture of Krishna, the incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, the God of the Protection, playing the flute. The celebrations begin, the diyas are lighted and Nisha’s prayer has been answered—happiness has arrived.

Centuries after Nisha’s ancestors celebrated the kings’ and queens’ of Ayodhya arrival, Nisha continues to follow in their footsteps. She pours a couple of drops of oil into her clay diya, and then dampens a cotton wick in the thick and fluid liquid. Carefully, she strikes a match, bringing it closer to the wick, lighting the wick on fire. Step-by-step she walks to her driveway, already ablaze with the numerous diyas that lay all over the front yard, and finds the perfect place to leave her own. With newly mehendhied fingers, she places it on the cold ground, marveling at the magical moment instilled in the dark night. By doing so, she lives up to the essence of Diwali—the Festival of Lights—the celebration of happiness and life.

Dia de Los Muertos: November 2

Pan de Muerto bakes to a honeyed brown and as the oven chime rings, junior Vanessa Barajas awakens, excited for the day to come. The aroma fills her home, sweeping the rooms. It’s the morning of Wednesday, November 2, when Vanessa will join her family and friends in celebrating Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.

Family members chatter as Vanessa walks past the calaveras, sugary decorated skulls, that line counters and shelves. Wispy, bright tissue paper strung between ceiling rafters hangs down into the room and around the furniture. Draped across couches and the dining room table, the vibrant pink, green and blue streamers make the living room come alive.

Unlike the typical connotations of fear that are associated with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos celebrates the lives of those who have passed away. Originally an Aztec festival, Dia de los Muertos was influenced by the arrival of the Catholic Spanish, who added their cultural traditions to the holiday. It provides a time for families to remember and cherish those who have moved on to the other world.

Senior Salvador Chavez begins his preparations by going to Market Marlen to buy freshly made Pan de Muerto and bright cempasuchil flowers. His family sets the flowers up in their house to serve as beacons to the dead spirits, guiding them home.

The day before Dia de los Muertos, Salvador sets up the altars, which are made of two steps meant to lead the dead to heaven. Pictures of lost relatives stand upright in their frames, with children placed on the bottom step and adults on the top. A crystal vase of water sits nearby to drive away the evil spirits that threaten the loved ones’ journeys back. Lining the rims of the elaborate altar beside shining skeletal figurines, candies and sugar skulls are laid out as food for the spirits to enjoy upon their arrival.

On Halloween night, Salvador lights the thick white candles that rest upon the altar.Salvador, his parents and his brother get on their knees in front of the altar, praying for lost cousins, nephews and uncles. His grandmother clutches an old rosary to her chest, speaking to the spirits, reminding the dead to visit the living in the world they had left behind.

The first day of Dia de los Muertos focuses on the children that have passed away. The jingling notes of classic children’s songs play from the speakers of the disc player as Salvador draws a card from the Loteria deck, a picture-matching game similar to Bingo, and matches it to the winning space on his playing board. His brother screams with glee as Salvador’s parents shower their children with candy. Salvador’s parents smile as they think about the children that have passed away and how happy their spirits are playing the game with their friends from the mortal world.

Chicken tamales, with hot steam rising from their golden wraps, initiate the second day of Dia de los Muertos. This day is dedicated specifically to adults who have passed. Salvador’s cousins dance folkloric steps in dazzling colorful dresses as the classic mariachi, an upbeat and lively tune played with blaring trumpets and cheerful guitars, fills the house. The couples spin and sway to the energetic, rhythmic tunes as family members clap in excitement, munching happily on arroz con leche, a rice pudding.

The cheerfulness of the holiday is perhaps uncharacteristic of its celebration of death, but for Vanessa and Salvador, it is a time not for mourning, but for celebrating the lives and memories of those who are now in a better place.

“I knew [death] should be a sad thing, but it’s going to happen, so we should just enjoy the time that we have,” Salvador said. “Dia de los Muertos is a way to remember the dead and not forget about them.”

Eid-Al-Adha: November 7

Her sister lifts the tube of henna and carefully dips the tip onto the back of junior Sana Raza’s hand to create the last dot amongst the brown ink. The henna decorations climb up her hands in swirls, forming intricate petals, complete with every last ridge of a leaf and fanned out segments with dots at the ends.

Smiling while admiring their hands, Sana and her sister Sara Raza ‘10, snap a quick picture before donning their salwar kameez, the new clothes that they received for Eid-Al-Adha, one of the four major Islamic festivals in the year. The clothes, bought from festival the Saba Center, Sana’s regular mosque, are traditional Pakistani-Indian wear. The loose pants and long top are embroidered with patterned flowers and leaves in three shades of burgundy.

According to tradition, Sana wears a head scarf into the mosque to attend the day’s special morning prayers. The 500 people all around her meld into a sea of colors as they walk in assorted bright colors before going into the separate sections for men and women in the mosque. People line up in rows, praying and the maulana, the priest, gives inspirational sermons and reads poems about the holiday; they are celebrating the Prophet Abraham’s devotion to God. After two hours, the prayers end and Sana’s family is ready to get together for a halal lunch with all of the relatives that live nearby.
Sana’s family also prepares food for snacking after the lunch.

Sana’s mother prepares one of Sana’s favorite dishes, potato curry, using spices like turmeric, red pepper, garlic powder, paprika and salt and pepper. The base of onions and tomatoes brings the flavor together as the curry and meat simmer.
The special food of the holiday is a rich rice pudding called “kiev.” Sana helps her mother prepare the kiev through an intense process of mashing rice and continuously mixing to prevent the rice from clumping. She considers the mixture of rice, heavy cream, sugar and milk as one of her favorite desserts.

After spending the rest of the day at her own house or one of her relatives’, Sana and her family leave for the mosque for the night celebration, this time with the women dressed up with studs, bangles, small necklaces and even colored glass bangles up to their elbows.

Vendors sell Americanized foods with a twist. Because their religion calls for halal meat, Sana and those in her mosque would normally have to pass on things like pepperoni pizza or fried chicken, but can enjoy the specially-made versions.

Living in America, Sana finds it hard to balance the traditions of Eid-Al-Adha with schoolwork and other aspects of her life.
“In between the times I’m not at the mosque or saying my prayers, I try to make as much time as I can,” she said. “It’s really difficult especially because my family goes all out for this as much as they can.”

Although Sana considers balancing work and celebrating stressful, the most important part of the holiday is spending time with her family.
“My whole family gets together and that never happens,” she said. “It’s really unique to me [because] it’s the one part that we never, ever do.”

Thanksgiving: November 25

It’s 7 in the morning. sweet potato peelings and garlic skins line the kitchen sink, while a rolling pin sits on a mound of pie dough. Junior troy hetzler, his brother and parents are getting to work.

By 9 a.m., the entire house is filled with the aroma of sage, sautéed onion, pumpkin pie and turkey roasting in the oven, making everyone’s mouth water, even though they had just eaten breakfast.

For the Hetzlers, Thanksgiving means setting aside time from the football game on television, playing computer games, or running errands. Their family of four has only a few hours to produce a spectacular, home-cooked Thanksgiving feast that will wow the relatives from Minnesota.

By noon, giblet gravy bubbles on the stove top and in the second oven, yellow loaves of cornbread and a casserole dish of caramelized yams bake. Together, they set a festive table, complete with a linen tablecloth boasting fall colors, the fine china and crystal, and the real silver tableware. The grand centerpiece, as is their tradition, will be the golden brown turkey.

Before the Hetzler family and their relatives begin the meal, they each take turns to comment on the things in their lives for which they are grateful.

“I’m thankful for my family, my health as well as my family’s health, the education I receive, my close friends, and the house I live in,” Troy says.

While the Hetzlers devour the delicious meal before them, senior Ali Dyer’s family wonders how their “turkey experiment” will turn out. Every year, Ali’s parents attempt to cook the Thanksgiving turkey in a unique way, including turning it over halfway through the roasting process. While Ali’s ancestors, who first landed at Plymouth Rock, may not have tried to roast a wild turkey upside down, they have passed age-old recipes onto the Dyer family cookbook.

All the relatives have arrived.

While the kids run off and the mothers continue cooking, the men in the family rush to the couches to watch the day’s football game. Thanksgiving football is an integral part of the celebration, with “all these random relatives so no one knows exactly who’s actually related and how,” Dyer says. By noon, the smell of sweet potatoes and lemon meringue pie drifts through the house, drawing hungry guests on both sides of the dinner table.

To both the Hetzlers and Dyers, Thanksgiving is the day devoted to friends and family. No matter what the custom may be, whether it is following honored traditions or experimenting with new ones, Thanksgiving is a day for reflection and gratitude.

Hanukkah: December 20

The sky is dark, first few stars coming out to shine. The sound of the city of Rosario, Argentina—the roar of taxi engines and shoes on cobblestones—slowly dies down as she reaches the impressive building.

Senior Gabi Hamlett opens the large wooden doors of the synagogue and her vision is instantly flooded with light. An impressive menorah in brushed gold stands at the front of the cavernous space. Faded and rusted in certain areas, the menorah shows its history—it has watched Jews congregate in this very synagogue for over one hundred years.

People crowd into the old room, speaking animatedly in Spanish amongst themselves. Everyone knows someone, and Gabi and her family join in the commotion. They sit together, despite the structure that was made to segregate men from women when the synagogue was first built.

The Rabbi begins to speak; all are silent. He tells the story of Hanukkah: The Jewish people were living in the Syrian empire long ago. The Emperor of the time, King Antiochus, was cruel to them—he punished them for celebrating Jewish customs and destroyed their temple. A small rebellion of Jewish soldiers led by a brave man named Judah, fought back and miraculously won. When the Jews returned to the holy city of Jerusalem to see their synagogue, they found it ruined and defiled. Amidst the rubble, they found one flask of oil that could only last for a day. The true miracle of Hanukkah is that the menorah stayed lit for eight days.

When the service concludes, friends pass around mugs of mate, an herbal tea customary in Argentina. Gabi follows her aunt out of the door and back into the commotion of the city to her aunt’s apartment. With excitement in the air, they run up the many flights of stairs to the rooftop garden.
As a family, they light the fourth candle on the menorah using the middle candle, the shemash. They say prayers, one for the night and one for the miracle and then pass around small pieces of chocolate.

Spread on tables are plates heaping of a mix of eastern European Jewish delicacies and Argentinian treats. Empanadas sit in gilded bowls next to trays of latkes, the Jewish potato pancake that tastes like french fries. Alfajores, made of fluffy dough and the caramel dulce de leche. A plate of flan is quickly devoured, while chorizo, barbecued meat, come straight from the grill positioned near the edge of the balcony. Smoke mixed with smog swirls above the heads of the visitors.

From their garden, Gabi can see other gatherings around the blocks, all full of people celebrating something. Her aunt sings the tango, and the rivulets of sound through the ears of all. When she tires, Carlos Gardel’s lively tones blast through the speakers instead.

Gabi smiles contently. She has no immediate family outside of California. Her whole family is here. Her synagogue is here, and the feeling of connection, of being whole, sweeps through her. But, her community is not limited to just Argentina. Next year, when she lights the candles in Los Altos, in a sleepy suburban town, she’ll be able to think of Argentina, of her relatives “lighting the same candles.”

We have grown up to witness and inherit a decade of choices and policies that an older generation has made in response to that day. There is no escape from the shadow September 11, 2001 has cast over our entire generation. Ten years ago, we had no voice in the decisions to invade Iraq or pass the PATRIOT Act. Today, war and the limitation of basic rights have become our reality.

Soon the reigns of a post-9/11 nation will be given to us. We will have a choice in whether to continue down a spiraling path of militarism and discrimination or take on a higher road of education and awareness.

War

Eli Brown is a veteran soldier of the Iraq war. He joined the United States military in 1999 at the age of 19. He joined because he felt out of place in college, because he wanted to see the world. He did not join out of some profound love for his country.

“I figured learning to shoot and blow things up and jump out of airplanes would be super fun. It was very fun,” Brown said.
When Brown enlisted, the US had not been at war for nearly two decades. People enlisted for their own reasons, be they for glory, country, or curiosity. After 9/11, an influx of new recruits enlisted–hoping to become a part of the force that would protect the nation from terror.

This is true for senior Peter Sobrino, who plans to join a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program upon entering college.

While 9/11 was not the only factor in Peter’s decision, he said it was “definitely one of the things that pushed me when I was leaning in that direction… It was kind of a wake up call. I was seven years old. I thought the world was safe and everything was good. But this affected everyone, no matter how good your neighborhood was.”

Upon completion of training, Peter will most likely be commissioned as an officer and will thus begin active military service.
When his own training was complete, Brown saw his first real combat in the firefights of Afghanistan. After being deployed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia before the start of the Iraq war, he had two tours of duty in Iraq–the first lasting for 17 months, and the second for 15.

“I can tell you what it was like physically, we did not get to shower for the first 2-3 months we were there, the most we got was, washing our arm pits, groin butt, hands and face with baby wipes and pouring water over each other with 5 gallon drums… we had layers of dirt from sleeping in holes we dug called Ranger Graves, the charcoal from the inside lining of our chemical protective suit that we had to wear and gunpowder residue from firefights with the Iraqi military.”

Unlike most, who lose track of the lives they take in the chaos of war, Brown is plagued by awareness. As a designated marksman–more commonly known as a sniper–Brown knows his numbers with far greater certainty.

“I know for a fact that I did kill people,” he said. “I will not say how many I know I killed because it’s tough to live with the fact that I know for sure. The majority of soldiers have no idea… My thoughts are that I killed somebody that was trying to kill my friends and I, so better them than me.”

While the skills of war may be joyous in their primal nature and the ideals for which we fight are noble, the execution is grotesque. Brown feels this is a soldier’s reality.

“War is a dirty, chaotic, shitty experience and if somebody says they like it, they have deep seated mental issues.”
For the American people war seems to have been so far removed as to become an act of ideological vengeance, rather than the physical and emotional strife of real people.

Junior Sam Lodestro comes from a family with military background and has a cousin who served as a marine in Afghanistan and Iraq. Following in his cousin’s footsteps and inspired by the 9/11 attacks, Sam plans to enlist in the Marines’ MOS 0317 scout sniper division, and wants to be able to aid in the war on terror.

“I definitely want to make a difference,” Sam said. “When I’m on the field looking at someone, and I see that they’re threatening my country, friends, family, or my fellow patriots in any way, I feel like that person doesn’t have the right to be on this Earth.”

While wishing to lend aid to one’s country is undoubtedly a noble and selfless motivation, the places it leads us are not always so wholesome. Some wars are necessary, but none are holy. Ours happens to be neither.

Perception

There is a war, but where are the battlefields? Many people have become confused–finding a culprit amongst American citizens themselves.

Since the September 11 attack led by al-Qaeda, Islam has become a scapegoat on which America vents its fear.

As people began to comprehend the calamity that shook the country on September 11, they sought strength through unity. But many acted out of panic. In doing so, the US did not become one, it became two: us and them.

“I feel that racism came after 9/11,” Sam said. “Almost everyone [became] united. If you looked American, you came together. But if you looked Middle Eastern you were pegged as an automatic threat. You have Americans being discriminated against.”
As a Muslim, senior Elaheh Salehi is one such American. She considers herself religious; she dresses modestly and had a private religious education up until high school.

While many people act normally when they find out Elaheh is Muslim, she has sometimes recieved “strange looks,” particularly when she is with her mother, who wears a headscarf.

“After 9/11, it was a lot worse,” she said. “They don’t say straight out, ‘oh, you’re a terrorist,’ but you can tell from something like the way that they look at her.”

Elaheh doesn’t feel that she’s been discriminated against directly, but she feels like she’s been viewed under the lens of inaccurate generalizations. “It seems like whenever I’m with my whole family … we literally look like outsiders,” Elaheh said.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the US census estimates that up to two percent of American citizens practice Islam. Between two and seven million people are outsiders. Foreigners in their own homes.

Junior Kashaf Irfan has never been called a terrorist, but her brother has.

“I get mad,” she said. “I’m glad my brother stands up for himself and… if someone did that to me I would too.”
Kashaf doesn’t wear a hijab (headdress worn by Muslim women) because she is afraid of what people would say. “I know my cousin’s been called a towel head and… I would break down with that, I just don’t feel strong enough or ready to wear it. But I want to someday,” she said.

Both Kashaf and Elaheh feel that measures taken after 9/11 have caused divisions in the United States by alienating Islamic culture.

“We’re still tortured by it,” Kashaf said.

The father of one of Kashaf’s Muslim friends died in the attack of September 11. “Imagine what she’d feel like, she’s being blamed for her father’s death, and that’s horrible.”

Elaheh believes that ignorance plays a prominent role in the discrimination against Muslims. Learning more about Islam could fix that.

“Know a little bit about religion, know what Islam is, know what Muslims do, know that if we’re wearing a headscarf we are not here to bomb you,” she said.

Kashaf agrees that education could upend the ignorance that laces fear.

“Islam itself … means peace in Arabic, and even if they just figure out that … how can they say that the person who caused 9/11 believes in Islam?” Kashaf said. “‘War on terror,’ should say ‘war on Islam’ because that is exactly what they are doing.”

Policy

History teacher Robert Freeman agrees with Kashaf’s statement, calling Islam “a vastly overstated boogeyman that the government uses to convince us to give up our rights and our wealth, in order to pursue an agenda that it wants to pursue.”
America’s relatively nascent discomfort with Islam may have been spurred by the events of September 11, yet it has truly been the reaction to those events that have defined the country.

“It’s made us less safe, less free, less prosperous and more hateful,” Freeman said in reference to the USA PATRIOT Act.
The USA PATRIOT Act section 201 claims the authority to intercept wire, oral and electronic communications thought to be related to terrorism. Section 412 of the same Act bypasses the constitutional right of habeas corpus for suspected terrorists. Section 809 of the PATRIOT Act claims that there is no statute of limitations for certain cases of terrorism. Conspiracy aside, the government has the power to arrest and detain those whom it deems fit.

“That’s a society that is dramatically less free,” Freeman said.

Brown’s perspective coincides with Freeman’s. “It is unfortunate that [habeas corpus] has been revoked and the fact that it proves the point that it is being poorly executed… [Furthermore,] the government gave ‘private military groups’ a blanket immunity for anything they did. This not only gave them the idea that they could get in our way, but it pretty much assured that they so did with no repercussions,” he said.

An increase in understanding of governmental policy and the rights we have as citizens, says Freeman, will spur the amalgamation of individuals into organizations. Groups that can launch protests, in whatever form, with a meaningful impact.
With education comes the ability to facilitate communication.

This discourse was most recently obvious with the death of Osama bin Laden this past May.

Senior Zack Ström believes bin Laden’s death was a good thing because it “held [bin Laden] accountable… I was pleased because it had a good effect on patriotism.”

Imprisoning bin Laden, he says, would have been “impractical.”

On the other side of the spectrum is senior Milena Lacayo. Unlike Zack, she doesn’t see any major benefits that can be attached to bin Laden’s death.

“I totally understand that Osama’s death was a relief to the families of the 9/11 victims, but to be honest, all it was was a vengeance killing and probably pointless in regards to the greater aftershock that is very likely to come in the future,” she said.

Disapproval is swathed with euphoria. Both Milena and Zack felt that the atmosphere at school was a lighthearted one. But at the same time, this casual reaction was balanced with more serious philosophical concerns.
For some, bin Laden’s death was the close to a decade of suffering. For others it was a political assassination with no real impact.

What now?

September 11 was a turning point in the history of America, from which the country has fallen into the topor of violent debauchery with increasing inertia. In their acts of violence, those who would harm our country drew the furious anger of the sleeping giant. We have become better terrorists than they ever were.

The US was founded on the ideals of innovation and creativity. Yet, we have devolved into the mindless slaughter of a war machine. Soldiers can’t be blamed for the mistakes of the apparatus’ designer; they are good people fighting for good causes swamped by the miasma of twisted justice.

Whether America decides to recapture its essence or forge itself anew, it needs to excavate itself from ignorance. Without the intellectual tools of education the country cannot progress..

“Students can’t do anything about [our situation] until they know about it. The first thing to do is educate themselves, on both the elements of civil liberty and on the elements of the economy,” Freeman said.

It is the duty of teachers to provide their pupils with the courage and wisdom to make a difference on their own, and if teachers do not or cannot provide the education necessary, it is the duty of the students to seek it themselves.

The Talon explored the high school culture of sex, with its mix of no-strings-attached hook-ups, committed relationships and broken hearts. But we didn’t cover the consequences beyond just the bedroom and gossip: No matter how passionate the love or powerful the lust, teens can’t escape their biology, whether an embarrassing case of chlamydia to a life-changing pregnancy.

(We also didn’t cover abstinence.)

But understanding these consequences isn’t easy in this day and age. Bombarded with competing viewpoints, teens are navigating a media landscape of double standards and contradictions. In the quagmire of mixed messages, teens may overlook the physiology and functions of their bodies.

While teens may find empowerment in their sexuality, they first must understand the possible consequences.

The Teen Health Van, Planned Parenthood and STDs

In the Teen Health Van parked on the drop-off curb on Almond Avenue, Doctor Seth Ammerman has seen it all when it comes to teen sex.

While rates of teen pregnancies have decreased over the past decade, rates of STD infection have been on the rise, now affecting around 10 to 15 percent of high school students in California. As a founder of the outreach health program and a Clinical Professor at Stanford University, Ammerman sees cases of STDs as well as a few teen pregnancies, usually working with under-served and uninsured students.

However, changing attitudes—both by teenagers and educators—have begun to address safe-sex as a whole. The move from abstinence-only education to comprehensive sexual education, Ammerman said, has led to teens making smarter decisions.

Nonetheless, social attitudes and cultural barriers can still prevent access to contraception, Planned Parenthood Worker Laura said. Both Planned Parenthood and the Health Van provide access to birth-control if sexually active students can’t obtain them through their parents or primary caregiver.

(Names have been changed throughout this article when necessary to provide anonymity.)

Finally, health workers need to address teenage sexual spontaneity—what teens would call horniness.

“There’s not a lot of plannedfulness about sexual activity,” Ammerman said. “You may know on some level ‘Boy, I shouldn’t have unprotected sex. But because of the impulsivity being dominant you’re not going to do anything about it.”

As a result, when it comes to safe sex, doctors and educators find trouble in not only getting teens to use contraceptives, but to use them consistently. Furthermore, when on contraceptives, some teens opt not to use condoms, Laura said. She added that teenagers with multiple partners aren’t being screened for diseases in between partners.

Consequently, that facilitates the spread of STDs.

Beyond the symptoms of the infection, whether curable, manageable or fatal, STDs take a long-lasting toll on the psyche, Ammerman said, because nobody ever expects to get an STD, and hearing the diagnosis shakes up all aspects of life.

“Say it’s something like chlamydia, which is generally easy to treat,” Ammerman said. “We can treat it from a medical point of view, quite easily, fortunately. But it kind of almost makes you feel bad about yourself; it makes you feel upset, makes you feel anxious, makes you feel bad about your sexual partner.”

“It affects your quality of life.”

Pregnancy Part I: Teen parenthood

Of all the consequences of sex, though, perhaps the most intimidating and life-changing is becoming a teen parent. Across the board, teenage motherhood puts teenagers at great disadvantages, Ammerman said, such as socioeconomic disadvantage, poor education and poor health.

Such outcomes, Ammerman noted, aren’t guaranteed. It is possible to be a teen mom, college graduate, have a well-paying job and raise a healthy child. But doing so isn’t just a matter of the mother’s dedication and sacrifice for the baby—it takes a village to raise a child, and in this case it takes outside help and lots of it.

“[Succeeding as a teen mom] requires a lot of social support,” Ammerman said. “You have a family that’ll really help you out, you have an educational system that can help you get where you want to go, despite being a teen parent.”

“But that’s not the usual,” he added.

There have, however, been promising trends in teen pregnancies. In 2008, the California Department of Public Health reported a record low in teen pregnancies, with 35.2 births for every 1,000 females ages 15-19. This is nearly half the rate of teen births in 1991.

But the story of teen pregnancy isn’t just told in statistics and clinics. It’s told in the lives of teen moms and their children.

Following a breakup with her boyfriend of two years and six months, Amanda found out she was pregnant, following a missed period. She and her boyfriend had been using the patch as birth control but had stopped, because the patch left an uncomfortably sticky and dirty section on her abdomen.
She hadn’t become pregnant, so they continued without birth control.

“When I found out I was pretty scared,” Amanda said. “Peter [my boyfriend] and I weren’t together when I found out … It was just really complicated because I feel like I forced him into [fatherhood].”

When she approached Peter with the results of her home pregnancy test, he told her to get tested at Planned Parenthood to be sure. Unable to get an appointment for another month, Amanda couldn’t disregard that first positive.

The month passed with Amanda praying for a different result. Peter was unwilling to commit to anything until the results of the Planned Parenthood test came back, so Amanda was left to worry alone.

Again the result was a positive: Amanda was 14 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

She considered abortion, but because she was in her second trimester, surgery would be required. Amanda made the difficult decision to keep the baby, a decision that came at the cost of her home and family.

Amanda knew her parents, particularly her dad, would react badly, so she and Peter decided to tell his parents first in hopes they could cushion the blow to Amanda’s parents.

But still suspecting she would lose the support of her family, Amanda went into her room and packed. Her suspicions were confirmed: Her dad told her she was no longer welcome under his roof and ceased contact with her. With no place to go, Amanda turned to Peter, whose family invited her into their home.

Half a year after being kicked out, Amanda’s day consists of waking up with baby Diana at 9 or 10 a.m., changing her diaper and feeding her, in addition to the usual household chores of cleaning around the house. Then, the MVLA Youth Parent Program (YPP) comes and picks her and Diana up; Diana goes to daycare at the school while Amanda attends classes.

The YPP is a specially designed program where teachers like Jessica Lucas dedicate themselves to help students like Amanda continue their education.
As an educator of working with pregnant teens, Lucas sees many students who were on birth control when they became pregnant or used condoms only sporadically and thought “Oh, it will never happen to me.” None of the students were prepared for the changes about to occur in their lives.

Amanda, like all YPP students, starts the day with her child in the care center for “parent education time.” Mothers play with each other’s children while discussing how their children are changing, and the problems and happy experiences they’ve had.

In addition to tutoring in typical high school subjects such as Algebra, English, and Civics, students have individual independent studies appointments once a week. For the YPP, 25 hours of homework a week are required, but since Diana only sleeps for a few hours during the day, Amanda struggles to keep up with her academic workload.

Students also have once a week sessions of group counseling, a parenting class, and child interaction time for activities such as “painting, reading books, playing with toys or playing outside.”

After school, Amanda is back on baby duty and helps around the house while watching Diana. Later in the evening, it’s bath time for Diana. Then comes another battle: bedtime. Amanda sighs deeply as she recalls the valiant attempts to put Diana to bed.

But even with these milestones, a regimented routine such as this makes it hard for Amanda to have time to enjoy being a teenager. As much as she would like to hang out with friends and go to parties, there are limited chances for Amanda and other parents like her.

“Old friendships pass by the wayside,” Lucas said. “Young parents often find themselves subjects of cruel gossip instead of being supported and thought kindly of for keeping their babies and choosing to be responsible.”

Students lose freedom, friendships and the typical high school life when they become parents. Lucas said that financial problems and “having to stay home and clean and cook, do laundry, shop for food and so on rather than go out with friends” save little time and energy for other activities.

“Taking care of their child comes first,” Lucas said.

But it’s not all struggles and hardships. Woven into her daily routine are milestones for both Diana and Amanda that make those battles worth the fight.

“She’s just trying to crawl and I think it’s just too early for that,” Amanda said, her face lighting up at the thought of the little moments that keep her sane. “I love her, she’s just amazing.”

While Amanda has found support with Peter and his family, the lack of support from her own family has only made things more difficult.

However, a month after Diana’s birth, Amanda’s dad had a change of heart. He saw her for the first time since she had told him of her pregnancy six months prior.

“He put a very serious face on and told me he didn’t want me to be a high school dropout,” Amanda said.

Both Amanda’s older siblings had dropped out of high school and a similar fate was his biggest fear for Amanda. Amanda told him she had every intention of graduation with her class come June and continuing on to college. Now she sees her family every week or two, and Diana has two sets of doting grandparents in her life.

However, Amanda’s parents have not welcomed her back into their home and are no longer supporting her financially. Although Amanda and her dad have begun to bridge the gap, there is still much more building to be done.

“I do love my daughter,” she said. “But it’s difficult living with someone that’s not your family. It’s hard being a teen mom—your whole life changes.”

Pregnancy Part II: Abortion

When it comes to pregnancies, keeping the baby as Amanda did isn’t the only option. Adoption and abortions are ways to avoid the life-changing burdens of raising a child, but they aren’t without their own consequences—both short-term and long-term. Teenage girls who choose to terminate an unexpected pregnancy often experience overwhelming guilt and regret.

“These are complicated decisions,” Ammerman said. “If you don’t [become a mom and give up the baby] you’re still going through a whole psychological process and social process that’s going to take a lot of time and energy to sort out.”

This was the case for LAHS ’10 graduate Lacy. She was a high-achieving teenage girl her junior year: 4.0 GPA, great friends, and a recruitment by a top university for her athletic achievement.

Lacy and her ex-boyfriend-turned-casual-partner Shane were always safe when it came to sex, but one week she got sick with the stomach flu, and she unknowingly threw up her birth control pills.

After three months of morning sickness, she finally took a pregnancy test in the Walgreen’s bathroom. When the test came out positive, Lacy broke down in hysterics.

“I just laughed,” Lacy said. “Like a psycho.”

But her troubles weren’t over. Once the school year began, Lacy was required to take a drug test for her school sport. Not only did her coach and mother find out about the pregnancy, but she also got kicked off the team, ending her scholarship for university.

And then came the actual abortion itself.

Lacy had just entered her second trimester when she took Mifepristone, known as the “abortion pill.” However, Lacy was unaware that the pill only worked for women less than two months pregnant and suffered two days for nothing. In addition to constant vomiting, Lacy said that “it feels like someone has reached into your lower back, cracked open your whole body and is beating on your intestines.”

Miserable, pained and still pregnant, Lacy made an appointment for an abortion with her family doctor. As the abortion date got closer, Lacy’s strong façade began to disappear, and she became overwhelmed with emotion as reality hit her.

“Pregnancy is supposed to be joyful and you’re supposed to tell all your friends and be really happy,” Lacy said. “But that’s 10 years later—not when you’re 16 or 17 years old.”

Even though a part of Lacy wanted to keep her baby, she felt that she couldn’t raise a child when she wasn’t even an adult. At four months pregnant, Lacy went through with the abortion, and said it was “the most painful thing that [she had] ever felt.”

As she reflects back on the abortion, Lacy’s eyes fill with tears and her voice begins to quiver.

“What no one tells you is that you can leave everything behind but you take yourself with you,” Lacy said. “I went away and was living a life I couldn’t live if I had [the baby], so [I felt] guilty. It gets harder before it gets better.”

For junior Sara, the pain of the ordeal of teen pregnancy was compounded because she had to face it virtually alone.

Sara was 16 when she came face to face with a positive home pregnancy test glaring back at her. It had been two weeks since her missed period, and the test result confirmed her worst nightmare. At the time, she was in a two-year long relationship with her boyfriend and they had been having sex without birth control for over half a year.

“I was devastated, just knowing that I, out of all people, got pregnant,” Sara said. “At first it was shock, then disbelief. Afterwards the guilt just kept eating away at me … I remember going to school the next day and just breaking down in the bathroom during brunch.”

After breaking the news to her boyfriend, who was speechless but supportive, they scheduled an appointment at the local Planned Parenthood center that Friday. At the clinic, Sara faced a crowded room filled with mothers and their young babies. (Planned Parenthood provides counseling and low-cost medical attention to those who cannot afford insurance.)

“I sat down next to a young mom, who looked like she was only 20 or so. She had a baby carriage next to her, and inside was the cutest baby girl,” Sara said. “Right away this feeling of guilt just overcame me.”

After waiting for half an hour, Sara was called in by a counselor. Inside the patient room, he confirmed that her urine sample was positive. He asked her when was the last time she had unprotected sex. It was the day after she had come off her period; they didn’t bother using a condom because they thought there was no way for her to get pregnant that soon.

“Basically, [the counselor] told me that this was the biggest myth out there,” Sara said. “Actually, you are most fertile right after your period.”
Sara was at five weeks and three days pregnant. By law, the counselor had to enumerate her options: continuation of the pregnancy, adoption or termination of the pregnancy. She decided to terminate.

After the appointment, Sara scheduled another date for the ultrasound. Because of Planned Parenthood’s busy schedule, the earliest appointment she could make was in two weeks.

“Those two weeks were the worst of my life,” Sara said. “Literally everyday I would break down into tears. But I just couldn’t tell anyone. The silence hurt the most.”

Besides the emotional suffering, Sara and her boyfriend faced one more challenge: paying for the abortion itself. Even though Planned Parenthood offers low-cost health care services, the procedure would still cost $600. After searching on the Internet for welfare options, she found out she could apply for MediCal, and obtain a temporary free form of insurance sponsored by California. After applying for and receiving it at the local MediCal center, Sara went in for her ultrasound.

“[The doctor] asked me if I wanted the screen facing me or away,” Sara said. “Of course I chose away. I just couldn’t take that pain of seeing the baby that I was going to kill.”

Because she was so early in her pregnancy, she decided to have a non-surgical aspiration that uses a hand-pumped vacuum that sucks the embryo out and would only last two minutes.

“They gave me in a little paper cup some Valium, Tylenol and antibiotics,” said Sara. “I took it and returned to the waiting room along with three other teenage girls. We all sat super far apart to avoid eye contact.”

Instead of the Valium kicking in and giving Sara some sort of peace, she reacted violently to it. Sara became extremely nauseous and rushed into the bathroom
three times to throw up.

After waiting four hours for her turn, the doctor finally called her back in. With her boyfriend squeezing her hand, the doctor began the procedure.
“I just laid down and closed my eyes and tried not to cry,” said Sara.

Before she knew it, the two minutes passed and the procedure was over.

“I thought I would feel a huge sigh of relief, but I didn’t,” said Sara. “Before I just wanted to get everything over with, but really, I felt even more depressed than ever.”

Like Lacy, the depression haunted Sara for months afterwards. She and her boyfriend broke up and went their separate ways.

“We broke up because we couldn’t face each other anymore,” said Sara. “It was too painful just to look into each other’s eyes after going through everything.”

What ultimately hurt the most, Sara said, was that she had to keep everything to herself. Besides her boyfriend, she couldn’t speak out to anyone: her parents, her friends. To this day, she still keeps the story bottled up.

Conclusion

It was 4 a.m. and senior Amanda couldn’t sleep.

Her water had broken. It was time for Amanda and Peter to become teen parents. Amanda went into labor.

“I got the epidural. I could not handle the contractions—they were pretty bad,” Amanda said, her eyes widen as she recalls the pains of early labor.

But something wasn’t right. Amanda broke out in fever, and her labor wasn’t progressing. Her cervix wasn’t dilating, which meant there was no room for the baby to come out. A nurse had to reach in with both hands and physically pull her daughter into a position so the vacuum could pull her out the rest of the way.
Amanda waited in agony as she listened for the sound of her daughter’s first cry.

Once she came out, there was only silence. Peter cut the cord and still Amanda heard nothing from her daughter. Amanda kept crying out and asking why she couldn’t hear anything.

“I’m such a bad mom,” she said, sobbing. “What did I do? Mom, did I kill her?”

Finally, at 1:31 a.m., Diana’s first cry rang out.

“I actually liked him while he liked other girls and I’d just have to listen to him go on about them,” Jane said with a laugh. “Then, he finally realized that I liked him and he asked me out.”

Things patiently ramped up from there; as a young couple in middle school, their relationship wasn’t very serious and mostly platonic at the start. Jane and her boyfriend then discovered they got along as a couple just as well as they got along as friends. Their bond as best friends developed into mutual romantic affection.

When Jane entered high school, the atmosphere around the relationship changed. Since they had been a couple for so long and were now young adults, their friends would openly tell them that they were expected to be more physical.

“There was a lot more pressure from everyone for us to do more intimate things,” Jane said. “I felt pressure from all the guys he was friends with and my friends too.”

However, Jane knew what she was comfortable doing and stuck to her values; she was simply not comfortable with having sex. And throughout all this, going against the stereotype of the horny teenage boy, Jane’s boyfriend supported her choice as well and never pressured her about sex.

While they were not physically intimate, Jane and her boyfriend were emotionally as close as can be. Their relationship lasted for a long time, and they were abstinent for the whole time.

“People don’t understand how we lasted so long,” Jane said. “I think it’s because we were best friends as well as girlfriend and boyfriend … we meant a lot to each other.”

Senior Phoebe has also refrained from sex, which has made her outlier among her sexually active friend group. But she’s not naive about sex. She often takes on the role of caretaker; she’s bought her friends Plan B and taken then to Planned Parenthood in order to prevent pregnancies and STDs. While she is open to having sex with the right person, she is constantly reminded of several of the consequences. This year, she has seen her class engage in “more partying” and forget to have protected sex.

“They think it’s definitely worth [the risk], but I don’t know,” Phoebe said. “I only see the negatives and I don’t get to see the positives.”

From a young age, her mom has been open about the issues of sex in relationships, telling Phoebe that she should be open to explore sex in relationships before marriage, but do so in a meaningful way. When her mom discovered condoms in her sister’s room, and found out that her friends started having sex sophomore year, she put Phoebe on birth control, which she has since stopped taking.

Phoebe often feels like an outsider for remaining a virgin, especially given her sexually active friend group. When her girlfriends are talking about sex, it sometimes gets her down when she can’t engage with them in the same way, but she does acknowledge that “a lot of their experiences haven’t been awesome either.”

In any event, Phoebe’s friends are supportive of her personal choices, telling her she’s lucky that she’s waited.

“They’re usually really jealous that I’m one of the last virgins on this earth,” Phoebe said.

For Phoebe, it has been hard at times to enter relationships as a virgin. She has declined sex both in relationships and in party situations because it hasn’t felt right to her.

“There’s definitely an aspect of I don’t like telling people that I’m a virgin, because that is also really intimidating,” Phoebe said. “It’s hard to go into a relationship with me … because I’ve never done it with anybody, so obviously they have to pass a certain quota.”

The clothes we wear, from stained hoodies to haute couture, can be our personalities bubbling to the surface. Whether filled with baggy sweats or floral dresses, a wardrobe is inherently expressive, and for sophomore Jacqueline Scher fashion is a conscious reflection of her disposition.

“[Fashion is] depicting your personality and mood in a creative way,” Jacqueline said. “It shows the way I’m feeling that day.”

But clothes can reflect more than a good day. Personal styles reflect the individual, and the little things that make us who we are. Watching TV, reading magazines, digging through Mom’s closet and simply walking down the street can shape our concept of fashion.

This influence can range from a subconscious desire to imitate a new trend or a drive to be a trendsetter.

Seniors Rishi Raman and Mack Johnston, in an effort to start “Prep Day,” came to school wearing bow ties.

Prep Day wasn’t an instant success, but the two weren’t discouraged from wearing other unique clothing. As Prep Day went on throughout the year, Rishi said that for every negative comment he receives on his clothing, he receives three or four compliments on them as well.

“Once you start wearing enough stuff, people become more tolerant of future endeavors,” Mack said. “We could wear much more outrageous stuff now than we could have in freshman year.”

And the next Prep Day, a few more people were wearing bow ties.

Granted, mastering the art of fashion takes practice; intuition about what looks good builds over time. Fashion is more than throwing on whatever you want; it’s about understanding basic aesthetic rules, but more so it’s about understanding what each piece says.

Sophomore Miles Contreras draws inspiration from movies like “The Godfather” for fashion, but it’s more than just outfits he can’t refuse. Clothes can come from anywhere.

From military straps to oversized buttons, from feather earrings to leopard print, each detail finds meaning from background of catwalks, movie stars, history and culture. Or sometimes, it can just come from the bottom of the closet, a rediscovered treasure.

“I wear sweaters like my great grandmothers’,” Miles said while holding up the sleeve of his handmade sweater.

Senior Lauren Johnson also likes to revive styles of the past, with a twist.

“I like to wear my mom’s clothes, and when I wear it, I change it into something that looks vintage,” Lauren said. “I like to turn something old-fashioned into something hot and new. I think it’s fashionable to be able to be unique with your clothing.”

Pulling together these threads is what makes fashion so challenging, expressive and thrilling. Jacqueline shares this feeling that much of the expression stems from the creativity behind designing the outfit.

“It’s like an art in 3D. You can really work with your hands and create things that are beautiful,” Jacqueline said. “It’s like a hobby of mine to make clothes or put together outfits … I’m obsessed with clothes, I have to confess. It’s something that is timeless.”

The clothes we wear, from stained hoodies to haute couture, can be our personalities bubbling to the surface. Whether filled with baggy sweats or floral dresses, a wardrobe is inherently expressive, and for sophomore Jacqueline Scher fashion is a conscious reflection of her disposition.

“[Fashion is] depicting your personality and mood in a creative way,” Jacqueline said. “It shows the way I’m feeling that day.”

But clothes can reflect more than a good day. Personal styles reflect the individual, and the little things that make us who we are. Watching TV, reading magazines, digging through Mom’s closet and simply walking down the street can shape our concept of fashion.

This influence can range from a subconscious desire to imitate a new trend or a drive to be a trendsetter.

Seniors Rishi Raman and Mack Johnston, in an effort to start “Prep Day,” came to school wearing bow ties.

Prep Day wasn’t an instant success, but the two weren’t discouraged from wearing other unique clothing. As Prep Day went on throughout the year, Rishi said that for every negative comment he receives on his clothing, he receives three or four compliments on them as well.

“Once you start wearing enough stuff, people become more tolerant of future endeavors,” Mack said. “We could wear much more outrageous stuff now than we could have in freshman year.”

And the next Prep Day, a few more people were wearing bow ties.

Granted, mastering the art of fashion takes practice; intuition about what looks good builds over time. Fashion is more than throwing on whatever you want; it’s about understanding basic aesthetic rules, but more so it’s about understanding what each piece says.

Sophomore Miles Contreras draws inspiration from movies like “The Godfather” for fashion, but it’s more than just outfits he can’t refuse. Clothes can come from anywhere.

From military straps to oversized buttons, from feather earrings to leopard print, each detail finds meaning from background of catwalks, movie stars, history and culture. Or sometimes, it can just come from the bottom of the closet, a rediscovered treasure.

“I wear sweaters like my great grandmothers’,” Miles said while holding up the sleeve of his handmade sweater.

Senior Lauren Johnson also likes to revive styles of the past, with a twist.

“I like to wear my mom’s clothes, and when I wear it, I change it into something that looks vintage,” Lauren said. “I like to turn something old-fashioned into something hot and new. I think it’s fashionable to be able to be unique with your clothing.”

Pulling together these threads is what makes fashion so challenging, expressive and thrilling. Jacqueline shares this feeling that much of the expression stems from the creativity behind designing the outfit.

“It’s like an art in 3D. You can really work with your hands and create things that are beautiful,” Jacqueline said. “It’s like a hobby of mine to make clothes or put together outfits … I’m obsessed with clothes, I have to confess. It’s something that is timeless.”

Staple pair of boots
Boots, boots, boots! Just like men, they come in all shapes and sizes. Between color, material, brand and length it can be impossible to find the right boots for your wardrobe. When you do, however, finally find these suckers you’ll know. (As will the rest of the store, depending on how loud your “Eureka!” shrieks are). Pair them with jeans, tights, or even nothing, I don’t care. As long as you’ve got your size eight prized possessions, yes boots are like gold, you and your feet will be happy.

Your own version of “LBD”
Although its little, its makes you feel big (and by big I mean important, stylish, classy—not fat.) Every girl needs a standard dress to play up or down with different accessories. Formality becomes flexible when you add a scarf or belt to your own version of the “LBD” [little black dress], making it a perfect option for almost every type of occasion.

Leggings/Tights
Its windy outside and your iPhone weather report tells you today is partly cloudy with a chance of rain. You stare at the summer-y blouse and black mini you have picked out—the perfect outfit, or so it seemed last night. Tights are the answer to weather troubles. Although they occasionally rip and might be itchy, tights (whether patterned or plain) add some flare, and warmth, to your morning ensemble. Leggings when decent do the same but are less sexy, more comfy.

Formal
The basic formal stuff is a necessity. We’re not saying tux or even suit, but at least know to wear dress shoes with a nice outfit (No sneakers to Homecoming!). For that matter, you need black socks to go with the dress shoes, because nothing ruins a nice pair of black shoes with black pants than blindly white socks with dirt stains on them. Pair this combo with a good button down and a nice standard, go-to tie and the outfit is bound to look good– if worn the right way. Things should fit, should be somewhat form-fitting, fit nicely around the shoulder and waste area. Please just wear things that fit! I think you get the picture.

Belt
Okay, sagging is out. Sagging was never in, but just in case you ever though it was, its out. Wearing a belt not only says fashionable, but it also makes jeans fit around the hips and seem more form fitting so that the world can see your legs and butt actually do exist.

The accessories
The wallet and the watch. Nothing says “I’m a man,” like a nice sophisticated watch and a sleek leather wallet (not the duct tape kind or the BillaBong Velcro kind). These two things are classy and timeless (no pun intended) and will instantly impress any lady.

A haircut
And a comb! The bed head look is not hot, and even if Edward Cullen wears the messy look, it is not cool. Show you care about yourself and get a regular haircut, please!

Like most other teenagers we’re broke, so we decided to clothe our subject in his own wardrobe. There had to be something good beneath the heaps of free T-shirts, mud- colored pull-overs and too-tight wrestling attire. Next came the good, the bad and the ugly.

Starting with the ugly.

For Max’s “before” outfit, the main flaws we pointed out were in terms of fit and mismatching colors. Too-short anything never looks good, especially on a boy, and when floods are introduced it is all bad. (Floods are when jeans don’t fit well and land just above the ankles, making it look like the jeans have been rolled up to walk through a flood.) Paired with running shoes, although practical, this isn’t stylish with any outfit. We repeat, no running shoes unless you’re running.

Max’s other fashion no-no’s included clashing colors and out-of-date apparel. Take, for example, the terribly faded Indians hat. Baseball hats can work, but not when matched with the same worn-out, faded mud-color shirt that Max was sporting.

Oddly enough, though, we were able to create some magic with the same pile of clothes that wreaked havoc on our fashion senses earlier. Makeovers aren’t about changing identity. They’re just about presenting yourself in a more appealing way. There’s a reason that Max’s “after” shots are free of skinny jeans and American Apparel Hoodies. Those may be stylish for some (hipsters), but that’s not Max. We had to show him that fashion is an art, a personalized art, but personal expression is not a license to dress like a clown.

The first step was finding clothes that fit properly. Jeans that hung low around the waist and ended at the feet—not sagging or “flooding”—instantly made Max seem more well-built. Paired with the casual-formal shirt and jacket, Max’s outfit screamed “take me on a date!”

Flannels, which have gone in and out of style since the 90s, are in right now. Paired with some accessories, like a belt or watch, and we’ve got an insta-stylish teenage boy. (They do exist!)

When it comes to fashion, you don’t have to be an expert to give a makeover. All you really need is an awareness of color (orange and turquoise will never match) and a moderate sense of sizing (yes, there is a difference between a 2 and a 12).

Aside from these basics, you should know that fit matters in all styles, and that too tight or too loose anything rarely looks good. Stay within your comfort zone in a makeover, as the point of the fashion transformation is to weed out the good from the bad, even if you’re tackling a whole lot of bad.