November Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone is well-adjusted to school and is enjoying the year so far! There are many events coming up, as well as Thanksgiving and Winter Break. As fall is drawing to a close, remember to wear warmer clothes and bring an umbrella to school!

Sincerely,

The IGDVS Newsletter Team

---

Why Should We Get The COVID-19 Vaccine?

Even now, more than a year after the start of COVID-19, there is still a lot of controversy about vaccines. Here are some reasons why you should get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to better protect yourselves and others around you.

• Even if you yourself may not be in danger of getting very sick from COVID-19, vaccines could also protect the other people around you, especially those who are vulnerable

• The vaccine does not alter your DNA. It is based on mRNA technology, so it does not enter the nucleus of the cell where your DNA is located

• With COVID-19 vaccines, herd immunity can be fast achieved, and life can soon return to normal

• COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, as numerous studies have shown; the risk to your health of getting COVID-19 is far greater than getting sick from the vaccine

• There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility

These causes are all the more reason to get the vaccine as soon as you can. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe!

Sources: Benefits of Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine | CDC

Virtue of the Month: Respect

By Tessa Jahnke

“You should respect each other and refrain from disputes; you should not, like water and oil, repel each other, but should, like milk and water, mingle together.” -Buddha

“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” -Clint Eastwood

“Never respect men merely for their riches, but rather for their philanthropy; we do not value the sun for its height, but for its use.” -Gamaliel Bailey

Fun Fact

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is located on Northern and Central Pomo land.

Crossword

By Kaitlin Harness

https://crosswordlabs.com/view/happy-thanksgiving-99

Senior Spotlight: Rachel Blythe

Conducted by Veronica Tee

What was your inspiration for coming to this school?

I actually came to visit the campus and shadowed the k-1 class when I was 5. And, from there onwards, I was pretty much destined to come here. And, it was also because my mother had a dream about the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. He was leading a group of students and as he passed by her, he nodded at her. My mother told me that even though he didn’t say a word to her, she knew that the Venerable Master was telling her to send her children to DVGS. I’m actually very very grateful to be able to learn and grow up in such a beautiful environment and along with supportive people. So, thank you all teachers and friends, and I love you mummy, daddy and Heidi <3

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

A single 27 years-old (I already planned not to marry) who is happy with the decisions I made in life. (Would you say that this goal is too idealistic or that it’s good to have goals like this? Regardless of what you say, I would say to follow whatever you believe in. But of course, things are easier said than done, but is it though?)

If you were in a classroom taught by a second-grader, what would you learn?

How to self-love.

What is your advice for the students currently studying in the school or future students?

My advice is no advice. You just have to learn as you go along the way. There’s not one medicine that can cure everything, right?

What is your favorite subject and why?

I have TOO MANY. But my current favorite is the US Government class. I honestly walked into the class saying that I hate politics and want nothing to do with it since I find it very confusing. However, Ms. Kravitz has made the class SUPER fun and interesting and I especially love having debates with my classmates about political issues and learning about the Constitution and how some Supreme Court cases shaped the laws today.

Also, let me tell you this: once an APES student, always an APES student. I cannot tell you how much I still LOVE the APES class I took in my junior year. It has definitely shaped my views and positively impacted the choices I make as I have become more aware of what I take and give back to the world. I must say that Dr. Vega’s master plan to recruit students for his “Green” army is definitely working quite well hehe;)

What is your favorite school lunch?

Okay. *Spicy* Noodles soup is hands-down my favorite meal ever, and no one can tell me otherwise. But, since the dining hall has not been serving that as a school lunch, I would say that the dining hall curry, pizza, quinoa, pasta, anything cheesy or spicy are all equally delicious. I mean, do you live to eat or eat to live??

What has been the highlight of senior year so far?

Sipping coffee, sleeping, and learning.

Just something that I have learned this year so far: Applying to college is so much more than just getting accepted. It is the process of figuring out who I am, what I care about, what are my super-strengths or what I need to improve on. And, this will make me more aware of myself and carry me so much far beyond college.

If you could change one thing, what would it be?

I have no clue what to change but no matter how tempting it is, I would not change time. Also, on that topic, I think the school needs to have some working clocks in the classrooms because most of them ran out of battery.

What is something you hope will continue even after leaving?

I encourage everyone to follow their passions and explore their interests. We are all so young and there is so much room for growth. Just know that there is nothing stopping you from doing what you want (literally!) I mean, wouldn’t you agree that the easiest person to fool is yourself? So why not seize the opportunity rather than regretting not trying at all?

In addition, I sincerely hope that our school’s Basketball team will survive despite the small number of members.*

*Not sponsored by the Basketball Team.

If a movie was made of your life, what genre would it be, and who would play you?

What if my life was a Science-Fiction movie and I’ll let Frankenstein play as me?

Senior Spotlight: Jiajia Ni

What has been the highlight of senior year so far?

Our class went out for a kayaking trip together. We had fun and more time to bond with each other. We didn’t really have any class trip before, so it was treasured by us even more.

What is your advice for the students currently studying in the school or future students?

It’s okay to not know what you want to do in the future. Explore more and do what you enjoy.

What is something you hope will continue even after you leave?

I hope we can continue to have ASB welcome back parties, as it’s a rare opportunity for the whole school to get together and really prepares us for the upcoming school year.

What is your favorite school lunch?

It’s hard for me to choose one, but this year’s school lunch is amazing. Love the Ayis and Fashis who are preparing lunch for us!

What is your favorite part of the school?

My classmates are amazingly caring and supportive. We have been through a lot together and we can definitely continue even after we graduate from her. love them a lot.

What was your inspiration for coming to this school?

Shine and I just came for summer camp and decided to come to school together. We saw a lot of deers and squirrels (that I thought were cute).

What is your favorite subject and why?

Math. As we had Ms. Wang for my Geometry and Algebra 2 teacher, and Dr.Yu for Calculus BC teacher, both of their classes are fun and I have learned a lot of things from them. Generally, I just like math (without any specific reasons).

If you could change one thing, what would it be?

We can have parties together as a school more often, so we can have little surprises more often which adds more fun to our school life.

Style → Files

By Katie Finnegan

Festive Outfits!

This week I'm going to do a few festive holiday outfits for every occasion possible! many important events coming up soon and no. way to make spending time with family more fun than feeling cute:>

Friends-giving!! Thxgiving~formal~

Ice Skating :> Christmas Caroling

•Going Shopping• NEWS YEARS PARTY!!!

The Orbit

By Cherry Ngo and Kaitlin Harness

Elements

Traditionally, the universe is understood to be made up of 4 different elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. These elements can be applied to people’s personalities in the form of different characteristics and temperaments. These traits will vary depending on the emphasis on certain elements in your horoscope. For instance, even if you have a fire sign as your Sun sign, if the rest of your chart has a lot of earth signs you might display many prominent earth sign traits. The signs under each element are as follows:

• Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

• Air: Libra, Aquarius, Gemini

• Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

• Earth: Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo

Elementary States

The different elements each occur in one of three states, cardinal, fixed, and mutable. Think of it like this: water, an element, occurs in solid, liquid, and gaseous states. The different signs within each element are associated with an elementary state.

Cardinal - leaders, initiators, takes action based on their aims and goals

Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn

Fixed - builds on what is there, organization, takes action in response to given circumstances

Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio, Taurus

Mutable - like to seek change and renewal, easily replace one thing with another, takes action according to process as it happens (goes with the flow)

Sagittarius, Gemini, Pisces, Virgo

Scorpio Season

DISCLAIMER: some of this might be true but don’t take it personally please.

Intuitive and spiritual (believe in their intuition very strongly, can notice things that most people won’t)

Private (may seem like an open book but they aren’t the type to disclose anything that really matters to them)

Competitive → Jealous (do I even need to explain??)

Biased (since they belong to the fixed signs, when Scorpios like someone they hardly see any faults in them no matter what anybody else says.)

Book Recs

By Heidi Blythe

Elementary Book Recs

When You Trap a Tiger

“After the death of her father, Lily, her grouchy older sister, and their mother are all moving in with their eccentric grandmother. Arriving at the house—an eccentric, vine-entwined place towering high on a hill—everything seems fairly normal. Until Lily spots the massive tiger in the middle of the road. Lily soons finds out that long ago, her grandmother stole something from the tigers and now, the tigers want it back... in an exchange that may cost Lily her grandmother’s life.

This is a beautiful story about family and the ties that bind, even when circumstances and personalities tug and threaten to pull those knots loose. Infused with folklore, an amazing read for readers interested in Korean culture and myth.

“But I believe in me. When you believe, that is you being brave. Sometimes, believing is the bravest thing of all.”

High School Book Recs

The Garden of Evening Mists

Judge Yun Ling has spent forty years prosecuting the same Japanese war criminals that held her and her sister Yun Hong hostages in a World War II prison camp located in the depths of the Malaysian jungle. Merciless and resentful, Yun Ling loathes everything Japanese. However, things change when she seeks out Aritomo, the rumoured former gardener of the Emperor of Japan, to fulfill her dead sister’s wish of creating a Japanese garden.

Centered around a magnificent garden called Yugiri, which translates to “evening mists”, Tan Twan Eng crafts a beautiful and quiet story of love, hate, anger, peace, war and humanity into an adhesive mesh of memories. But the ending is incomplete, a reflection of the characters’ unfulfilled lives, proof of the temporariness of time. Whether it's people or places or memories, time leaves everything behind.

“Feel your body expanding as you breathe: that is where we live, in the moments between each inhalation and exhalation.”

Where Does All the Food Go?

1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually, this is enough to feed 3 billion people. Americans discard almost 40 million tons of food, that’s 30-40 percent of America’s food supply. Food waste is causing irreversible destruction to the environment. It wastes water and energy, as well as generating 11% of greenhouse gases. Production of food waste in the United States is equivalent to the greenhouse emissions of 37 million cars, according to the World Wildlife federation.

How you can help:

• Grocery shop efficiently

• Freeze food that can be eaten later

• Be deliberate when eating out

• If you have more food than you can use, donate to a local food drive

• Plan and meal prep

• Eat leftovers

• Compost remaining food scraps

Upcoming Dates:

Thanksgiving Formal: November 23

Thanksgiving: November 25

CSC Homeless Packed Lunch: November 27