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September 21, 2012 Highlights
School year begins with celebration
From left to right: Speaker Micah Jacobson motivates students to follow their passion. Faculty dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in a reenactment of Beverly during the 1980’s. ARMAN ZADEH
Brenda Mehdian Staff Writer The first back to school celebration kicked off the new school year. On Aug. 27, students spent the morning reviewing a PowerPoint presentation, listening to a guest speaker and watching a show put on by the staff. During the second half of the day, they briefly visited their classes. The administration and staff wanted to find a way to hype up the students for the upcoming academic year. “We wanted the opening day to be special and set the tone for a different kind of year. The goals were to get the students excited, let them know that we were celebrating their return and set clear expectations for all students,” Assistant Principal Amy Golden said. Twenty to 35 staff members began planning the celebration in March. Teachers selected which portion they wanted to help plan and met in groups to work on their assigned activities. “I learned about the celebration in a conference a few years ago. I organized this day at a former school and liked the results. So I surveyed the staff and they
liked the idea and wanted to give it a try as well,” Golden said. The assembly included a slideshow of the various clubs on campus and later, speaker Micah Jacobson delivered a speech discussing passion. “I thought the speaker was very inspirational and really started the school year off well,” senior Megan Yee said. “He was able to get the whole audience to interact and even laugh. He was one of the best speakers I have ever heard.” To view the PowerPoint presentation, each grade level was separated by last name and placed in a classroom of peers. The teachers discussed how to be a wellrounded student and passed out free T-shirts to help spread school spirit. According to Golden, the PowerPoint’s purpose was to show students the scholarly aspect of school and to allow students to reflect on past school years and set new goals for this year. “I found the power point presentation to be a little on the dry side. When I originally received the email from school about the celebration, I thought the day would entail more up-beat activities,” sophomore Daniella Nili said. “However,
as the presentation continued on, I became very interested in the things that it was saying. I found the presentation to be surprisingly informative and helpful.” After the presentation, students saw another side of their teachers during a reenactment of Beverly through the years. The entire school gathered in the bleachers to view the festivisites. Teachers dressed up in the clothing of each decade and danced to music that was popular at the time. Herbert Herbold narrated the event and told students facts about the school and America. “It was like a Beverly version of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. The whole show that was put on by the staff members was really interesting to watch,” senior Shawn Hakakian said. After a morning of celebrating, students visited each of their scheduled classes for 10 minutes in order to meet their new teachers. Golden believes that the school year has started off in a positive manner and hopes that the school spirit will foster in the students for the remainder of the year.
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SENIORS SENIORS SENIORS Quotes, portraits and first ads are due Sept. 28
Subway
continued from page 1 The final quarter, near the Heath Avenue entrance to the parking lots, is currently being excavated, causing a minor detour for student and faculty motorists. Attorneys do much of the work to clear the campus, “so it looks like legal fees,” Manaster said. On “lawyers lawyering,” he continued, the Board has spent about half a million dollars. However, Manaster pledges to end the spending. “We need to start shutting this down,” the vice president said. “We are pretty much done.” When Manaster becomes president of the board, he plans to strike a compromise with MTA. And when that happens, the Board maintains that MTA will recoup them for some of their expenses. “The whole idea is to ask them, very politely, ‘Guys, we have differences of opinion, but...we’ve done our job by fighting what we’re supposed to fight, as a board, for safety, and we’d like you guys to pay for that,” Manaster said. The Board has spoken with two people at MTA and is confident that it will be compensated. “There is a very, very high likely that we will be made whole on all the legal fees. We’ll be made whole on the publicity,” Manaster said. However, Manaster does not expect the district will be reimbursed on the trench itself, the most costly of the subway-related costs. “We had to do that anyway, to prepare the site for construction. That had to be done for Measure E no matter what. It just was done to a degree that was much more expensive than we thought it was going to be,” he explained. Part of the extensive costs is related to dispute among scientists. “You know what happens when scientists fight, right? They just spend more money,” Manaster noted. “We’re done, we’re really done. I’m done.” Metro was contacted but declined to comment on the issue as they do not comment on litigation. Danny Licht
Key Dates September 21: Submissions for NAHS art gallery, “Dreams & Nightmares” due to Room 251. September 22: PTSA is hosting a Practice SAT in the EDC from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. September 23: Five percent of the sales from the Beverly Hills Farmer’s Market will be donated to the BHHS ASB. September 25: Club signups will be taking place during lunch on the second floor patio. October 17: Special schedule for students taking PSAT/NMSQT. November 4: PTSA is hosting an SAT and ACT workshop in the EDC from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm.