April 5, 2012 The Wildcat
Feature
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Quiming’s tips help students lead healthier lives Joy kim Managing editor While some might say an English teacher giving workout tips and relationship advice during class is unusual, sophomores in the class of Jonathan Quiming, English teacher and fitness guru, consider such lessons as a part of the daily curriculum. On top of learning about literature and improving their writing, Quiming’s students are accustomed to seeing a “health tip of the week” on the white board and the banning of processed foods in the classroom. He has also taught his students yoga, how to make a wholesome parfait, and the elements of a healthy sandwich. “Whenever someone takes out any processed or packaged snacks, [Quiming] will question them and demonstrate healthier choices.
Sometimes he brings healthy snacks like yogurt and strawberries and shows us how to eat healthier,” said Phoebe Song, sophomore. Though some may find these attributes quirky for an English class, many students heed Quiming’s wisdom and regard him as a go-to source for health and fitness advice. For example, when teachers distributed Rice Krispies treats during the CAHSEE, Quiming’s students looked to him for permission to consume the processed snack. “It is interesting because a lot of kids take what I say and remember it. I am not expecting everyone to be as into fitness as I am, but at least I have an impact on their decisions at a young age and give them knowledge I did not have when I was in high school,” said Quiming. Quiming holds a lifelong interest in sports, having played baseball during high school and travel to Australia to surf. However, he did not always have such stringent workout routines and diet restrictions. Starting in the summer of 2008, his brother, Chris, gave him an issue of Men’s Health magazine that inspired him to transform his lifestyle. He took wisdom from other articles on the Internet and watched YouTube videos to create a healthier diet and make his workouts more
effective. For example, Quiming learned that the quality and precision of an exercise is much more crucial than the length of a workout. This also marked the beginning of the removal of processed foods from his diet and a new devotion to whole foods. “I had always lifted weights, went running, surfed, hiked, and did activities that helped me stay active and fit. But the summer of 2008 was a summer of discovery for me, and starting from that point to the present day I learned so much about health and fitness and began to design my own exercise programs and experiment with different diets,” said Quiming. After disciplining himself to his new lifestyle, he shared his discoveries with his friends. One friend from high school lost 30 pounds after the first three months of training with Quiming. Word got around about Quiming’s expertise and others soon requested his guidance. He currently meets with four men three times a week for training sessions as a hobby without pay. Emphasizing exercise variety, Quiming created 200 different workout routines for his trainees. He also takes them to grocery stores to help them make wholesome dietary choices, and records their progress as evidence of their physical
Healthy Tips by Jonathan Quiming Diet
Health
Philosophy
Cook and prepare your meals with whole, unprocessed foods and eat out less, eliminate carbonated beverages and drink only water. You will feel and see a tremendous difference in your body’s health.
Eat a good, healthy breakfast every morning within 90 minutes after waking up to fuel and stoke your metabolism. Studies show those who skip breakfast end up with larger waistlines later in life.
Stay active and invest in good health. Living an active and healthy lifestyle is free. Get creative and reinvent yourself - go outside and do something you love.
Photos and illustrations by Brandon kim, Julia Eberhardt, and Jessica yim / Wildcat
transformations whether it is weight loss, muscle gain, or other areas. As the off-season trainer for the baseball team, Quiming also offers his unique and challenging workouts to the players. They find his wisdom evident in their stronger bodies and higher energy levels. Mitch Miralaie, junior, has developed a respect for Quiming and has benefited from his mentorship. “It is obvious that [Quiming] loves us from the way he helps us. When I eat according to his diet, I have more energy and feel livelier. There is a real difference in that kind of lifestyle,” said Miralaie. Although Quiming enjoyed serving as the freshman baseball coach, he withdrew from coaching to develop his skills as a personal trainer and will pursue a professional trainer’s certificate this summer. “I realized that I enjoyed instructing fitness and designing workouts for players more so than the coaching aspect. I stepped back from baseball to prepare for a trainer’s certificate and hopefully I will work in a gym since this is becoming more of my interest,” said Quiming. Along with promoting physical fitness, Quiming also encourages students to cherish life to promote emotional health as well. For example, he has a compliment jar to foster encouragement. “Besides health tips, [Quiming] tells us philosophical things about life too. I remember he said ‘Close your eyes if you want to remember something’ and I thought it was cool,” said Song. Quiming, also known for his dating tips, encourages his male students to respect girls and helps them ask girls to dances. During the Mr. Brea pageant in Dec. 2011, he taught Josh Castillo, senior, how to impress girls by dancing and making sandwiches. By combining his passion for fitness and teaching, Quiming’s knack for helping others is evident both in and out of the classroom.
Sitt’s magnet creations, YouTube tutorials gain popularity Alex kim Staff writer Clocking in at over two million views, Ethan Sitt, senior, has achieved YouTube fame with videos of his unique sculptures, constructed entirely out of small magnetic spheres called Zen Magnets. “I first got introduced to Zen Magnets when my dad brought a couple of them home three years ago for me to try out. After I started watching videos online, I ordered a single large set of magnets and started making structures of my own. Once I got comfortable enough, I opened a YouTube account and posted videos of them online,” said Sitt. With his initial set of magnets, Sitt entered his creations into competitions and won even more sets. Gradually his arsenal grew, allowing him to tackle projects that required greater size and proportions. “When I first started, I could only make small objects like hexagons and cubes because each magnet is only about five millimeters in diameter. However, now, I have about 16,000 individual magnets, so I can build more complex designs,” said Sitt. Two years after he started his hobby, Sitt received an unexpected notification from YouTube. “I started my YouTube channel in 2009 and nothing really happened, but around September of 2011 [YouTube] sent me an offer to be sponsored. I put it off until I turned 18, so I’ve only been officially sponsored by YouTube for a couple months,” said Sitt. Through that sponsorship, Sitt earns a couple hundred dollars per month, and as of March 2012, Sitt, under the alias of EraZorX13, has over 1000 subscribers and two million channel views, with
“He’s really talented and passionate about what he does so I think he really does deserve credit for all his work.”
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Melody Sitt, sophomore each number increasing on a daily basis. “He’s really talented and passionate about it so I think he really does deserve credit for all his work. Some weeks he works more than others. Some weeks he would work for half the day after school, building and shooting, while other weeks he would just think of ideas,” said Sitt’s sister, Melody, sophomore. Some of his more popular constructions include a magnetic structure of a magnum revolver and a representation of a camera. Each video has an average of over 800,000 and 700,000 views, respectively. “When my videos started to gain a lot of views, I was pretty surprised. I had been posting samples of my magnetic constructions for a while, but all of a sudden the view count went up to 100,000 and then even 1,000,000. I just thought to myself ‘Hey, some people actually watch my videos!’” said Sitt. In addition to YouTube, Sitt is also sponsored by the Zen Magnets company and receives complementary magnet sets while the company uses his work in advertisements. “I will continue to work with magnets even during college and help pay for the costs. Basically I get paid to do something I like at my own convenience,” said Sitt. Using his imagination and innovation, Sitt has developed a talent unseen in others in something that is not only practical, but also enjoyable.
More on YouTube.com Want to see more of Sitt’s creations? Check out his videos on his YouTube channel, EraZorX13.
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Magnetic structures: 1. Sitt uses 3500 Zen Magnets in three hours to recreate “Camera Clone,” a nearly exact copy of his own camera. 2. Sitt squeezed magnets into the proper shape of a man, taking him a total of 10-minutes. 3. Inspired by biology notes, Sitt creates a microscope.
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Photos courtesy of ethan sitt