Career Speakers' Day by Eduardo Soria

On July 21, 2013 many people from many different careers got to visit the Hillbrook Breakthrough campus to talk to Breakthrough students about their different careers. The visitors explained what their careers were all about and how they got to where they are. As students, we also could ask them any questions we had about their careers or their lives. Some of the people whom we met worked in the corporation SAP or at Silicon Valley Bank.  

Also, for Breakthrough students it was a day in which they could help Breakthrough with their goal of getting every Breakthrough student to a 4-year university by showing the people  their determination for going to the university of their dreams. Many of the people that came to visit the Breakthrough campus gave us really good advice for us to succeed in life. 

An anonymous speaker advised our group that "if you have something new to do and you don’t understand it don’t give up and if you get really good at it try something new." This really relates to many of the students in the program because we all study really hard and when we know something really well we change our subject. 

We were able to interview one of the career speakers. His name is Jason Mok and he works in Silicon Valley Bank as a banker. The first question we had for him was what he thought he wanted to be when he was a little boy. He responded by saying, “When I was small I wanted to become a professional soccer player or I wanted to become a video game designer”. 

The second and last question that we could ask before he left was what he thought was the part of finding job. He responded by saying, “The hardest part of finding a job is a job that you like and that balances your life”.

Travyon Martin Case verdict by Adal Zeratsion

In Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012 George Zimmerman killed a 17-year-old boy who was walking back to his house.  Trayvon Martin was a football player for his school and George Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator.  Martin’s English teacher described him as an A and B student.

           As Martin was walking home he was wearing a hoodie.  George thought that he was a robber/murderer so he decided to follow Trayvon.  As this is all happening Trayvon is talking to his best friend on the phone, Rachel Jeantel.  They were talking about their future and what they were going to do with their lives.

 

            Later on, Zimmerman was still following Martin, so Martin told Jeantel about it. Within a couple of minutes, Martin and Zimmerman had started fighting.  Zimmerman ended up pulling out his gun and shooting Martin near the heart.  George ended up with a few scars on the back of his head and a swollen and bloody nose.  Two days later Rachel heard about Trayvon’s death, and she couldn’t believe it.

            Zimmerman received murder charges, and his trial started on June 10, 2013. Zimmerman told the court that it was all self-defense, and that Martin attacked him first.  The defense were against Jeantel’s testimony for a while because of all the phone records that she had with Trayvon.

            Some people may of thought that Zimmerman should go to jail and be guilty and others thought that Zimmerman was just using self-defense and should not be guilty.  The verdict made a decision and they said that Zimmerman is not guilty.  The verdict believed that Zimmerman was using self-defense to protect himself from Trayvon Martin. 

“Zimmerman should have gone to jail,” said Thomas, a cousin of mine. He thought that Zimmerman should have been guilty and should have went to jail, which did not happen.

 Most people thought that Trayvon’s family was going to win the case, but unfortunately they didn’t.  Many people also thought that Trayvon’s family didn’t have too much evidence.  “I think it was because they had a weak lawyer,” said Thomas.

            There has been some protesting but nothing is getting out of control in terms of violent behavior.  Trayvon’s parents are heartbroken and don’t believe what has happened is fair.

Colorado Kidnapping by Angel Gonzalez

Ariel Castro is facing 977 charges of kidnapping, in Cleveland, Ohio. Castro is a 52 year-old school bus driver.  He was being accused of holding 3 Cleveland females hostage for more than a decade.  He faced almost 1,000 rape, kidnapping, and sexual abuse charges.  He is going to trial on Aug 5, 2013.  

Castro faces 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape and 7 counts of sexual abuse.  He was charged with 2 counts of aggravated  murderer, for beating a women to lose her pregnancy.  He also faces 6 counts of assault. Michelle Knight was the first female to disappear. Amanda Berry was the 2 one missing and Gina DeJesus was the 3rd. Berry gave birth to one of Castro's children, while Knight was pregnant 4 times, but lost her pregnancy by being hit in the stomach brutally by Castro.  These women were raped and sexually abused many times.  Amanda Berry was forced to give labor, also her child was 6 years old when they found the women captive. We have interviewed Joseline Gonzalez from Crew 8, who teaches writing and dance.

"I can't believe that there are people who do bad stuff like this to other people.  We should definitely provide psychological help," Gonzalez said. "I don't think he deserves death sentence. Because NO ONE has the power to take someone's life." 

"I'm really angry at how the girls were treated because like I mentioned before no one should be able to take someone's life or hurt them," said Gonzalez. 

Do you think Castro deserves the death sentence?                                                              

The San Jose Fairgrounds Circus by Ashley Sanchez

    One Breakthrough Silicon Valley student went to the circus at the San Jose Fairgrounds. She went on Sunday June 14, 2013. She went because her father has never been to a circus before. We tried to get in touch with the student but we only got a hold on her younger brother Anthony Sanchez who also went to the circus. We started the interview with a few questions.

We asked him to name three words to describe the circus. He said, “Awesome, insane, odd.” Also we asked him if he would go again and he said, “No, because I’m scared that someone is going to die ‘cause the last act was so deathly.” He also said, “But I will tell people about the circus because they should have the experience, too.” The circus has different times for each of its shows. 

There are many different types of animals there like, camels, zebras, and miniature horses. The line wait was very short. There were many varieties of food to choose from. Anthony said, “It was great, but they don’t give refunds so once they take your money it is gone and you will never see it again.” So in conclusion, that was the San Jose Fairgrounds Circus.