Construction began April 19, 2012 in Santa Clara on the stadium that will be the new home of the San Francisco ‘49ers. It was originally planned to be built in San Francisco but the team and the city could never agree on a suitable location. There’s still the possibility that the stadium will be shared with the Oakland Raiders for financial reasons and that the cost will be split between both teams. NFL owners already loaned 200,000,000 dollars for construction of the stadium.

The stadium will be able to seat 68,500 with expandable capabilities for big events, up to 75,000 people. The Levi company payed 220,000,000 dollars to the city of Santa Clara and ‘49ers over twenty years. Of course many SF fans are extremely disappointed that the stadium agreement wasn’t reached, while others who live outside of the city are excited and enthusiastic about the decision.

So, who’s ready for the Santa Clara ‘49ers?

Christopher was born in Oakland and later moved to San Leandro.  Many people can describe him as  a bright young man, a strong leader, and someone with really nice hair.  In his free time he loves to play soccer and sometimes play a little FIFA on his video game. His biggest pet peeves are “people who talk but don’t do the walk.” He later explain his quote by saying he doesn’t like people who act fake.

After graduating from high school, Chris plans to attend Otero Junior College in Colorado.  After he’s done with Otero he plans to later transfer to UC Berkeley. “I want to play collegiate soccer…and if God permits, become a professional soccer player.” In five years he hopes to see himself playing professional soccer in the academy league, and many people can say he’s got what it takes. Once done with college he plans to move out of the country and spend a few years in Costa Rica.

His favorite memory from KIPP will always be when the soccer team won their championship. His favorite teacher from KIPP is Mr. Kushida because Chris say’s he gives it to him like it is.  Kushida, in turn, jokes saying, “Chris enjoys hearing himself talk more than most people.” He later comments that Chris is  “very bright and has a wonderful future in front of him as a moral citizen of the world.”

Christopher’s advice to freshmen is to “really take your high school seriously because it defines you…[it’s] your chance to make a legacy.”If he could go back to his freshmen year of high school he would have dedicated more time to school and be more determined on his work.

As Christopher gets ready to leave he hopes that everyone who knew him will always remember him as Chris the soccer captain, or as someone to look up to as a leader. We expect awesome things from him because over the past four years he has grown accustomed to taking on leadership roles. He owes all of his success to his supporting friends and takes the all blame of failure for himself.

In addition to his soccer dreams, Chris also hopes to become an engineer one day. He says some people may doubt that he’ll ever be one but he wants to work hard in college and become one to prove them all wrong. As he moves on with life and travels all the way over to Colorado to attend Otero Junior College many people can say he will be missed and they hope he comes back home soon and visits often.

Ms. Thompson is known for always smiling and she has definitely passed that down to her baby, as seen in the picture. Despite being quite young (only a month old!), he is already playing teacher’s pet!

Although Ms. Thompson has been enjoying time at home, she will join us soon in the fall.

Ms. Thompson came to visit with baby Carter Friday, May 31st and he was quiet the whole time. Ms. Ashour commented, “He’s not about to get in trouble. He knows how them conduct cards work!”  Ms. Thompson also visited with some of her students and many pride members after school on Friday.

Before anyone can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, baby Carter will be a Kippster along with the rest of us.

For the quarter games we’ll be doing a whole pride teamwork relay race. The first game will be the Race to the Balloon Pop where you run 100-200 meters and after you must blow up a balloon until it pops. The second game will be the Cherry Find where you find the cherry in the cool whip, using only your face to find it. After that comes the Wheelbarrow, Water Throw, Ranking, and then Egg Toss. But the race still goes on with Name that Celebrity, Dizzy Bat, Problem Solving, Three Pointer, and it will end with the Running.

This quarter games promises to offer something for everyone – so get ready!

It has been rumored that this season will be adding new characters but at the same time taking out some old ones. The producers haven’t said any names about who may not return next season nor have they said who may or may not make it until the end of the season. What they have provided, however, was a very confusing preview showing the main character literally drowning and killing himself in the river.

The first and second season of Teen Wolf was a big hit so let’s just hope this new season doesn’t disappoint!

This semester’s spirit week took place in mid-May.  The days were organized as follows:

Decades Day: Oh My Gosh! The clothes, the hair, and the accessories were off the boom. Okay, maybe not everyone remembered to dress up. But it was all about the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. People came in with neon colors and rad hairdos. On Decades Day anyone would have a perfect excuse to dress up as Elvis Presley.

Hawaiian Day: Take a trip to Hawaii.  Here at school you saw people dressed as tourists going to a tropical island.

Disney Day: Bring out the kid in you. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy Lilo&Stich!

School Colors day: Freshmen were dressed in orange. Sophomores were dressed in yellow. Juniors were dressed in pink.  And seniors were dressed in green.

Generations Day: Freshmen were dressed as babies.  Sophomores were dressed as toddlers. Juniors were dressed as adults. And seniors were dressed as senior citizens.

So that concludes our spirit week of the year. With finals coming soon, spirit week was a nice escape, a chance to relax and remember the last weeks that were left in the year as fun and joyful as possible.

Mayra does not have the desire to go to college all across the world; instead she wants to stay by the Bay Area, at least for a while. She is determined to transfer to Santa Cruz or UCLA after attending around two years at Chabot. Although she is undecided about her future career, she knows that she will absolutely be back to help her community. Mayra is also motivated to improve her work ethic and how she treats others and herself, so she can become a better person.  “I want to mature more and become less stubborn, and be able to help people with my profession.” Mayra fondly says that her community has given her diverse points of view, that without it she would be a completely different person.

KIPP has definitely challenged Mayra for the better, and a certain teacher in particular has impacted her.  “Mr. Kushida is the teacher that changed me the most, because he was always pushing me into thinking deep about the situation he would teach us. His tests were hard as well!” Additionally, Mayra says that Mr. Smith has helped her learn in many different ways no matter the circumstance; and even when they were both frustrated. When Mayra was thinking back on how she has changed in high school she said: “I feel like I used to think that things like school never really mattered but as time has gone by everything you do has meaning and you need to take advantage of that.”

Leaving an example of a positive attitude and happiness, Mayra has advice for the freshmen.  “[What]I would do differently is focusing more on my class so that later on I would have more opportunities.” Mayra said that at first she was not a fan of KIPP King because there were not as many social people but that “the extra pressure and pushing makes you want to work hard and to do better.”

Furthermore, when asked what her super power and or spirit animal would be, Mayra said she would like to read minds.  “I want to know if people are being real with me. I’m not a huge fan of  animals, I would  probably be a monkey because they are so playful but can be mean.” Myra is proud to say she will be staying focused and organizing her priorities to continue to make her family and community proud as she moves on to college and beyond.

When asked why she first came to KIPP King, Ms. Marian talked about the great reputation KIPP has for taking education seriously.  She also added, “I wanted to move to California and wanted to learn to have patience.  I have a community I’m going to live in for the rest of my life, so I want to be able to support those around me.”  However, leaving KIPP is not easy for her.  She will miss: “Ms. LeBlanc, my crew (MVP FOR LIFE), this year’s sophomores (the class of 2015), and my wonderful co-workers.  However, I won’t miss the commute or waking up at 6 a.m. every morning.” We have no need to worry about missing her TOO much, though, because Ms. Marian plans on visiting whenever she has the free time. “If I have time to teach an enrichment class or to lead a team and family, [I will].  You guys [should] know I’m still around.”

A few of her unforgettable and favorite memories were with her pride. She recalls that one “community service, I got hit in the head with a fish pan at Glide!” Some other memories are of “leaving my pride during freshmen orientation to check the safety of my cats, getting disqualified from quarter games multiple times, and college tours.  We get to see colleges we’ve never seen before!”  Also, she will always remember “teacher appreciation week: the parents made excellent food!”

Ms.Marian is preparing to follow her new passion in life but leaves us her last words and a confession: “Yes, that picture was a selfie, and I’m wishing everyone the best of luck!  Don’t stop reading, everyone!”

When asked about the story behind the bun and other bun related questions, Mrs. Diamond laughs and laughs because of the reputation she has earned here at King. Mrs. Diamond wears the bun because her hair “is very wild” and she thinks it “looks pretty perfesh.”  She also wants her students to know that she cares about coming to work and looking professional. Also, if she came to school without the bun, she feels that it would be so weird because of the mythological bun reputation.

In all seriousness, Mrs. Diamond feels bittersweet about leaving King. “I definitely feel sad because I’m going to miss all of my wonderful students, inspiring teachers, and staff members, but I feel excited about something new coming next.”  She has many great memories from pride, as well as speeches given in class, and chats with fellow teachers. She says, “There are too many wonderful memories to mention in one article.”

Mrs. Diamond has also had a great impact on our school in various ways. First of all, she was the one who started kippkingroar.com so if you are reading this article right now, you have her to thank. She was also the founding adviser of our QSA group that has had various events during the school year to prevent bullying and promote respect for everyone, one of them being the Day of Silence.

Although she isn’t 100% sure on what is to come, Mrs. Diamond hopes to move down to Southern California and start a family since her mother won’t let her have children until they live in the same city.

The legend of the bun and unique personality of Mrs. Diamond will be missed here at King, but she does hope to drop by as often as she can.

Senior James Taylor and Junior Aziza Bowden were the announcers for the event, maintaining the students’ and staff’s attention and even throwing candy to the crowd to keep everyone engaged. When the crowd calmed, the dance off for each grade started. The freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors came up with their own chant and step off for the competition. The juniors’ elaborate and well planned out dance surprised everyone, which earned them the win. Lastly, the pep rally finished with Aziza and James thanking everyone for coming and hoping that everyone is as excited in the following years.