(March 1, 2006) -- Students searched in vain through fat and muscle for elusive cardiac valves in a dissection lab for teacher Virginia Benzer's physiology class on Feb. 15 and 17. The lab was for students to learn the location of certain parts in a real heart. The dissected hearts were then used for a "practical" exam during the following class in which students had to identify flagged sections of the heart.

Benzer has taught physiology in GUSD for 13 years (five at Hoover and eight at Clark) and she has had her students dissect every year for the course. The dissection coincides with the circulatory unit in the textbook, and ironically, also with Valentine's Day.

"I want students to realize that a real heart is much more difficult than a page in a book," Benzer said. "You learn much better dissecting the heart yourself than if someone does it for you."

Students had similar views on the usefulness of the dissection.

"[A dissection] gives you a better idea of heart works by looking at the real thing instead of some '3D' diagram," said senior Vicken Janoian.

Benzer plans to have more dissections this year, including the brain, an eye, kidneys and a pig.

---

Senior Ruben Amiragov was named one of 30 semifinalists in the country as part of the The Art of Dairy(TM) "Cows & History" Art Contest, launched by Safeway Inc. in August, in which students were to create a design based on a historic event and manifest it onto the shape of a cow. As a semifinalist, Amiragov was shipped a life-sized, 200-pound ceramic cow, which currently resides on the stage in the auditeria, and now has until mid-March to use a $250 budget to purchase supplies and paint his previous design on to the cow. "I made a drawing of the Chicago Fire, as I vaguely remember there being a cow involved somewhere in the whole incident." If Amiragov's cow wins, he and Art Teacher Judith Craemer will each receive $1000 in prize money, and $20,000 will go to Clark's art department.

---

From Feb. 16 to Feb. 20, senior Daniel Drugan and sophomore Alan Janoyan and about 100 members from Crescenta-Canada Family YMCA's Youth & Government traveled to Sacramento for the 58th annual Model Legislature & Court. During the four-day program, in which more than 70 YMCA chapters of California participated in, students modeled court and legislature by passing bills through set-up committees and houses. Drugan, who has been part of Youth & Government for two years, was in the advanced court case program this year and served as a trial court attorney in a first-degree murder case. On the other hand, Janoyan is in the program for the first time and was part of the "Forum," which is essentially made up of sophomores. He was a lobbyist in a committee of education. Also at the committee were such notable speakers as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Drugan found that Schwarzenegger's address was the highlight but overall, both agree that the trip was enjoyable. "All in all, it was a good time for bonding," Drugan said.