High Tide: Sept. 4, 2015

IGH H

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA June 12, 2015 Vol. XCVI Edition 1

TIDE

Into the woods Bieschke and Marco attended Earth-watch research programs

by Vaidehi Gandhi and Stella Gianoukakis From researching ocean acidification to the “ridiculously abundant” sea snails on the sea shores, senior Alina Bieschke took advantage of every opportunity during her two weeks in Maine for the Earth Watch Ignite Program.

“Working on the field was somehow both tedious and fun. We wore these special shoes meant for walking across ice, but we needed them to walk across the slippery algae,” Bieschke said. “Our head scientist called it the ‘green slime of death,’ and I was the first to slip on it.”

Despite facing homesickness, she quickly fell into a routine.

“I was also in a gorgeous national park, and if I wasn’t busy doing something, I was swatting mosquitos, so my head was pretty preoccupied. However, as the days went by, I think instead of shaking my homesickness, it just faded to the back of my mind. I missed having a lot of people and things around,” she said.

Bieschke “lost herself in [nature]” as the days went by and she became more familiar with all the new surroundings.

I had a blast. I constantly volunteered to do things-for example, I was the engraver of the project, and I probably labeled over 40 metal washers with a drill,” she said. “We also used these things called ‘quadrats’ to record changes in the intertidal zone around the peninsula and we went on little excursions like hikes. I remember on one hike we got slightly lost, and the 3.5 mile hike turned into a 6 mile hike.”

While Bieschke researched in the northernmost part of the country Junior Emma Marco was in the southernmost: Florida. She researched the diversity of caterpillars through the same program Alina was a part of.

While at the Eglin Air Force base, Marco “zooed” cat-

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Inside

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The editorial board’s take on dress code

Hip-Hop club performed in a summer dance showcase at Long Beach State University

Girls volleyball hopes to continues the succeses of the previous year

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News and Briefs

High Tide

news New Kids on the Block. 1.

Freshman Orientation

Freshmen get to know each other through a life story activity during their first high school experience. 2.

Link leaders help freshmen warm up to a new school with a massage. 3.

Students use icebreakers to meet potential new friends in a quick meet-and-greet.

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

1.

2.

3.

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

Speaking for the better

3.

Motivational speaker Kyle Scheele encourages students with personal and comedic tales

by Jon Mallen Advice: one of the greatest gifts a man or woman can ever give is a gift that provides wisdom as well as

O BY PHOT SA N D ER FIN K

guidance and support when times are tough.

Students began their second week of the school year listening to a speech from motivational speaker Kyle Scheele, who delivered advice to his audience through the use of comedy and stories.

“I like mak-

ing people laugh, that’s kind of always been the way I am since when I was a little kid,” Scheele said.

Alongside the comedy, Scheele delivers a sense of gravity in the stories he tells.

“I also like to make people think, and being able to do that in front of a bunch of people is really fun for me; there’s just something about it,” Scheele said.

Scheele always enjoys performing in front of a crowd, and RUHS was no different.

“Overall, it was a great crowd and everyone was very receptive,” Scheele said. “This was an incredibly engaged audience and I feel like everyone had a lot of fun. People laughed a lot at the funny things I said, and hopefully thought a lot too.”

Scheele enjoys speaking, but what he really enjoys most is when he hears back from those he spoke to.

“The speaking aspect is of course fun, but the coolest thing for me is when I get an email from someone saying ‘Hey, you made a big difference in my life,’” he said.

According to Scheele, people often ask him if what happened in the stories he tells are actually true because many of his stories are sure to draw attention.

“All the stuff in those stories I told really happened,” Scheele said. “People always tell me, ‘Oh, you have such an interesting life,’ and I just tell people that this kind of

stuff happens to everybody. When you start noticing these things, you realize that life is a really funny place and the world is a really funny place.”

Scheele’s ability to tell stories has always come naturally to him, whether he realized it in the past or not.

“I’ve always been the ‘storyteller guy’ in my group of friends, which is one of the signs I probably should’ve looked at that would’ve pointed me to this career even earlier,” Scheele said.

Even from a young age, Scheele had a natural talent for speech. Throughout high school, Scheele took part in public speaking through his membership in the student council, as well as other leadership organizations.

“It was valuable because I got a lot of public speaking opportunities and I got to be on the stage a lot in front of other people,” Scheele said.

After high school and into college, Scheele was introduced into the world of motivational speaking by a fellow public speaker he met who gave him the help he needed to get started.

“He took me under his wing, showed me the ropes, and helped me to build a business,” Scheele said. “It’s been an incredible journey and the kind of thing that you just figure out as you go.”

While he strives to inspire and have an

impact on others with his own stories, other individuals and their stories also give inspiration to Scheele.

“The biggest inspiration for me is somebody who has every right to not live a good story because they were just dealt a bad hand in life but who in spite of that decide to overcome those obstacles and do amazing things,” Scheele said. “Those are the biggest inspirations for me, those kids who have just had the hardest lives possible but decide their past hardships won’t define the rest of their life.”

Scheele’s outlook on life, inspired by those that inspire him, allows him to overcome his daily obstacles for the sake of his job and the delivery of his craft.

“My job is to make my speech fit into whatever time I am given,” Scheele said. “I love having more time, but I also understand the constraints of a bell schedule.”

Scheele always modifies his speeches in order to fit the timeframe he is allotted, nregardless of where he goes.

“It’s not really about me,” Scheele said.

“It’s about my audience, and making a difference to them in the time I’m given. And this applies to life too. We would all like to have more time or more money; we could do this, or we could’ve done that. But at the end of the day, you’ve gotta forget all that and just play the hand that you’re dealt.”

Sept. 4, 2015

Color coded

news

page 3

ASB hopes class colors will contribute to school spirit and class pride

by Yasmeen El-Hasan ASB is implementing a class competition system for the new school year. It will involve class colors, points and prizes.

“The goal is to promote unity amongst the classes, while at the same time increasing school spirit. We still unite under the red and white, while creating some friendly competition between the classes,” ASB advisor Brooke Mata said.

The competitions will be based on a point system consisting of wearing class colors and winning spirit battles. Spirit battles will take place once a month, in which each class will compete in group activities to try to win the most points. The number of students wearing their class color will be tallied by ASB during Classroom Connections. A point distribution board will be posted so that students can keep track of the competition.

“ASB as a whole had a discussion on how to increase school spirit on campus. We came to a conclusion that class colors would help increase school spirit,” ASB President Daniel Ferradas said.

The class colors are pink, purple, blue and orange for the seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen respectively.

“A few of us asked our other classes what colors people would like to see with this. We took suggestions and looking over everyone’s suggestions, we voted on the four colors we have currently,” Ferradas said.

Ferradas believes that in order to get the best results from the class competition system, straying away from the traditional school colors of red, white, navy and gray was necessary.

“If we stay away from traditional school colors, that gives us more freedom to dress up and be spirited at rallies, competitions

and school events, while still all being able to unite under red,” Ferradas said.

Mata agrees that assigning non-school colors as class colors is best. Traditional school colors will still be worn every Friday for “Redondo Friday.”

“We wanted non-school colors, because we wanted to all be able to unite under the red and white of Redondo. We wanted bright and vibrant colors that would stand out,” Mata said.

Co-entertainment Director Ashley Herron is confident that class competitions will increase school spirit and student involvement.

“My main goal was to fire up the student body and make them even more proud to be a part of the best high school in the South Bay,” Herron said.

Planning for the new system began last year after the boys vs. girls rally. Following that event, ASB distributed a survey to the student body with questions about how to increase school spirit.

“About 75 percent of students who responded requested that the rallies be class competitions. We just decided to go even further and make class competitions throughout the whole year,” Herron said.

Towards the end of the year, ASB plans on checking in with the student body for feedback.

“It’s obviously going to be a change and obviously some people are skeptical about change, but I have confidence in this and

Class not in session

that it’s going to be fun. The more people who get into it, the more fun it will be. We want people involved, and we’re going to try new ways to get more of the student body involved in school, and we think that this is one of the ways we can do it,” Mata said.

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

Six summer courses cut due to low enrollment this past summer

by Malek Chamas RUHS students often enroll in summer classes for a variety of reasons, whether they want to fulfill all their A-G requirements or have flexibility in their schedules for the school year. But not everyone who registers for a summer course ends up taking it. Low enrollment caused six summer school courses to be dropped last summer, resulting in about 50 students not completing the courses they signed up for.

Last summer there were two separate summer schools, one run by RBUSD and the other by the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation (RBEF). RBEF Summer School Principal Marvin Brown says taking summer courses allows for “more flexibility” in students’ schedules during the school year.

“If you knock out Health, you’re going to open yourself up for a full-year elective course. You’re most likely going to only have to take 5 classes your senior year,” Brown said. “There’s more options you’re giving yourself by taking summer school classes.”

This summer, about 550 students signed up for a summer course. Brown says that if the six courses had been run, it would have cost about $25,000 more than what the 50 students would have paid.

“Those 50 or so students would’ve given about $14,000-16,000,” Brown said. “Just two teachers’ salaries take that up.”

Brown says there were changes this summer in the total amount of courses offered and in the amount of courses that

were dropped.

“There were five additional classes that we offered this summer that weren’t offered last year. We only dropped two classes last year,” Brown said.

Students do have other alternatives in the event that their summer course is dropped, according to Brown.

“Their alternatives are to look for neighboring school districts that are offering the same course,” Brown said. “El Camino offers some courses over the summer as well.”

Brown says that a major reason why summer school is run every year is to help students who received D’s and F’s in their classes be A-G eligible.

“In the 2013-2014 school year, we had a

64.3% completion rate,” Brown said. “They’re trying to increase it by around 10%, so 75% is probably the goal for 2014-2015. And then possibly 80-85% this school year.”

Assistant Principal Anthony Bridi said that even if students graduate with D’s and are therefore eligible for graduation, they should strive to get C’s or better over the summer.

“I want students to know that they can’t just graduate with D’s and be satisfied. We want them to have C’s or better so they can have a thousand options after they leave Redondo. You won’t be eligible for a four year university if you have D’s, and a two-year university takes three years because you’re taking mostly remedial courses,” Bridi said.

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Around Redondo What do you think about the dress code?

Compiled by Christopher Paludi and Amanda Shaw Photos by Sander Fink

“

I fel like it’s pretty restrictive, and I’ve never been distracted in class.

”

“

Shari Nasrallah, 12

I think that if your stomach shows a little then it’s fine.

Billie Gianoukakis, 11

” “

If a guy is distracted by my shoulders he has bigger issues than the way I dress.

Stacey Manos, 11

”

“

I haven’t been distracted by short shorts, so girls should be able to dress for the heat.

” “

Gordon Lobins, 11

I think the dress code helps students dress with respect for themselves.

Mia Carrol, 9

”

“

Girls should be able to wear shorts if it’s hot like this.

”

Daniel Ramos, 10

“

I think it’s good because it keeps people from looking scandalous.

”

Alvin Perez, 9

High Tide

opinion

The folly of dress code Editorial

A massively muscular boy walks into English class wearing a tank top that says “Sun’s out Guns Out” across his chest. The girls in the class drop their pencils, stopping their essays to admire this boy’s beautifully toned biceps and forearms.

Entranced by his physique, they are simply unable to focus on their work.

The situation described is unrealistic and absurd. Most are not seriously impaired from schoolwork because a guy is showing off his body in a confident manner, and those who are impaired are a small minority in an expansive student body. Girls wearing clothing that is deemed “too revealing” by the school dress code should be considered similarly.

According to the dress code, “dress, grooming or accessories that are considered unsafe, dangerous, a health hazard or disruptive to the learning environment shall not be allowed.” The folly of this rule is the detail that disallows clothing that is deemed “disruptive.”

Even the most revealing crop tops are not significantly disruptive or distracting to the learning environment. A girl’s stomach is not genitalia, the same way a guy’s arms are not either. Both body parts are deemed attractive by guys and girls in similar fashions by each respective gender.

Referring back to the text of the dress code, a non genital body part being attractive is not the same as it being disruptive.

The vast majority of students have self control and don’t drop everything when they lay their eyes upon triceps or abdomens.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALINA BIESCHKE

Editorial Board vote

Clothing does not disrupt the classroom environment

agree

6

Playing devil’s advocate, assume that guys and girls do get significantly distracted by people they find attractive. Dress code does not fix this problem. Assume guys in a math class are gawking at a beautiful girl.

If the girl wore a potato sack to school, she

disagree

1

would still be a beautiful girl and the guys would still gawk at her. That same girl is just as beautiful wearing the potato sack as when she wears a top with straps that are, God forbid, only one finger wide instead of two.

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Sept. 4 2015

Letters to the

Students

Editor

If you have an opinion about one of the articles, letters can be sent to the editor at hightideonline@gmail.com.

We reserve the right to edit them for content, grammar, and space constraints. Letters must be signed and are not guaranteed to be printed. Please keep letters to a maximum of 250 words. Longer guest opinions are also accepted.

High Tide

staff

Editors in Chief: Yasmeen El-Hasan; Stella Gianoukakis

Managing Editor: Vaidehi Gandhi News Editor: Malek Chamas Opinion Editor: Christopher Paludi Features Editors: Lizzie Fauver; Zach

Hatakeyama; Caterina Hyneman; Jon Mallen; Shaniya Markalanda; Samaya Rubio; Reema Saad;

Sports Editors: Jessica Johnson; Adam Yorke

Design Editors: Shawn Mallen; Grace Zoerner

Writing Editors: Kayla Nicholls; Amanda

Shaw

Photo Editor: Ted Cavus Copy Editors: Micah Ezzes; Carmen Hamm

Online Editors: Romy Moreno; Mylene Silver

Photographers: Syd Alli; Samantha

Bendall; Angel Blanquel; Megan Contreras; Elise DiPaola; Sander Fink; Hiroki Goto; Ilene Guerrero; Anam Khan; Serena Maanum; Austin Nunis; Gisela Pedroza; Justin Pioletti; Faith Petrie; Laua’e Schweitzer; Keiko Shingu; Angie Tait; Nita Villas; Karen Vuong; Ania Webb

Illustrators: Alina Bieschke; Luma Wegman

Staff Writers: Gianna Aquilina; Brittany Baker; Mia Berger; Ben Brill; Reem Chamas; Jasmine Dube; Micah Ezzes; Miriam Farah; Yasamin Fazeli; Jason Fong; Dina Ghanim; Kelly Harraka; Patrick Henry; Kayla Hiken; Shyanne Landers; Gerika Macalino; Eden Millan; Micky Munns; Davina Nguyen; Hayley O’Connor-Rigby; Luke Peterson; Samaya Rubio; Summer Saad; Mylene Silver; Simrun Ursani; Lulu Wegman; Tyler Wunderli; Kylie Yorke; Erika Zlatkin This is a wholly student-managed, designed, and written newspaper that focuses on school and community events.

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons represent the opinions of the staff writer or cartoonist and in no way reflect the opinions of the rest of the staff.

page 5

opinion

PHOTOS BY TED CAVUS AND SAMANTHA BENDALL

or

Micah Ezzes On the first day of school, I walked directly into a total of five people during passing periods. The next day, I accidentally kicked someone’s personal belongings three times while walking to the front of the classroom throughout the day. Yup. School’s back, alright.

As always with the beginning of the school year, students scramble to finish summer reading assignments and force themselves to remember minute details.

But it seems that this year, students are cramming in more ways than one.

The ridiculous class sizes are nothing new to RUHS--it’s expectedly difficult to accommodate for the student population, which hovers around 2,600 students from year to year. Having said that, this is a problem that should have been handled by now, considering the years of practice the administration has had in dealing with the problem. Of course, the obvious solution--hiring more faculty--is easier said than done, and I in no way mean to insinuate that at a snap of their fingers, administration can fix the bloated class sizes. What I would like to point out,

Sardines?

however, is the effect that student-heavy classrooms can have on each individual.

First of all, I’ll admit it: I am a fan of big classes. I like working by myself and not being hovered over, as I’m sure every student does.

The line is drawn, however, when it comes down to work ethic; sure, I may be able to sit and do work quietly, but can a teacher really trust an entire class to behave in this way? As class sizes expand, a teacher’s control over that class is considerably weaker, and considering most students lack self-restraint in the absence of an authoritative figure guiding them, such classes will most likely devolve into a dumbed down, let’s-get-this-over-with type of learning environment.

This is a lose-lose situation: the teacher is now overwhelmed and frustrated by his/her inability to control the classroom, and the students ultimately don’t learn the material as well as they could have. Well, OK, maybe not all students really care about what they are learning, but at least it would be less of a struggle to sit through class if it was prop-

New ASB shirts deserve appreciation For the first time, instead of red and white, seas of pink, purple, blue and orange washed over the school last week. In hopes of boosting school spirit, ASB will be implementing a class point system, complete with unique class colors and monthly class spirit competitions. Many students have rallied under their class color and worn their shirt proudly to represent their grade, especially the seniors.

However, quite a few people have complained about ASB’s decisions for the class colors and shirt designs. Students have to realize that it’s impossible for ASB to incorporate every single student’s opinion into the design of a shirt--and even if they could, they would not be able to please each and

every one of us.

The ASB representatives sent out a massive survey during the last school year, and when the majority voted in favor of changing the system to have more class competitions, they decided to incorporate the new class colors and shirts in hopes of meeting those demands. They designed the shirts on their own time over the summer, and regardless of how students feel about the final product, it is important to be respectful of the time and effort they dedicated to the worthy goal of raising class and school spirit.

And at the end of the day, it’s just a color.

The idea behind assigning each grade a nonschool color was to unite each class and simultaneously increase class competition,

erly structured.

I get that, to a certain degree, this problem is inevitable: there are a ton of students, some of which undoubtedly happier screwing around than doing the work. But this problem is only amplified by the size of the class, and the bigger the class, the more out of control it becomes, and the less it will take for the class to get distracted. A class can only take so much disruption from the students before the work required to keep the class in order is greater than the value of the material being taught, and all is lost.

Ultimately, this can only be solved one way: hire more teachers to thin out the herds of students.

Frankly, high schoolers lack self-control--as such, this isn’t the time to let them choose what to do with their time in school, because nine out of ten students will abuse that freedom. The best thing to do now is nurture our students while we can, allowing them to figure out what study habits, sleep schedules, etc. work for them, before they head off to university, and are completely on their own.

Amanda Shaw while allowing the whole school to share Sea Hawk pride in wearing red and white. If each class embraces their color and unites behind it, rallies and school events will be more enjoyable and competitive than ever.

If people focused as much energy on rallying school and class spirit as they do on complaining about the things that are simply new and still imperfect, school spirit could reach an all-time high.

Ultimately, high school is more fun when students are spirited, and this year presents an opportunity to establish a proud new tradition at RUHS. Students have a choice: complain about something just because it’s different, or be part of of creating something great.

page 6

features

High Tide

Bognot traveled to Japan as an exchange student

by Zach Hatakeyama

For many summers, she has watched the sun set on the Pacific Ocean from her home.

This summer, senior Chelsea Bognot spent time in the land of the rising sun to learn about Japanese culture.

Bognot travelled to Minamishimabara, Japan through Lions Club.

“The Lions Club is an international organization that I am a part of, [based] in Culver City. They have an exchange program where they send students to other countries to stay with a host family for five weeks to learn the culture, and I chose to go to Japan.”

Since she frequently travels to the East Coast to visit her father, Bognot was not nervous about being away from home.

“Leaving for Japan didn’t hit me until the day before while packing. I never really felt homesick because I would talk to my parents a lot on the phone,” she said.

Bognot was introduced to students from around the world who were all a part of the same organization.

“The first week you go to a camp and meet with other students that are all your age to learn about different cultures from around the world,” Bognot said. “I met people from Italy, Taiwan, Germany, and Finland.

It was really cool to hear what they had to say about their country.”

While in Japan, Bognot experienced many aspects of the culture and enjoyed eating the traditional cuisine.

“One part of Japan I was looking forward to the most was the food because Japanese

food is one of my favorite types. It definitely met my expectations and the sushi was great,” she said.

Bognot also enjoyed studying the culture and traditions of Japan.

“The people are more polite in Japan. If they know you’re not from there they attend to you and make sure you enjoy your stay there as much as possible,” she said. “I also noticed that they are very interested in American culture. I spoke with students at schools about what life was like in California, and even met with the mayor of the city I was in.”

While she had many positive experiences in Japan, Bognot also faced a few challenges.

“Talking with my host family was really difficult because they didn’t speak any English. My host sister worked until eight at night so I wasn’t able to see her all day and my host mother would just talk to me in Japanese and I would have to guess what she was saying,” she said.

Even though Bognot had difficulty communicating with her host family, she still enjoyed her time in their home.

“I instantly felt like I was home,” she said.

“I was still expected to do chores like wash the dishes and do my own laundry.”

Bognot’s host sister, Azuka Mizota, also enjoyed having Bognot in her home for the extent of her trip.

“It was fun because I learned English from [her] and we shared Japanese culture

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHELSEA BOGNOT

Konnichiwa. Bognot stands beside a hot spring in Unzen. Throughout her stay, she felt very “comfortable” in the different enviornment. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable or out of place besides the fact that I was the only one that didn’t speak Japanese,” she said. and American culture,” Mizota said.

Through her experiences in Japan, Bognot took away many “valuable” memories from her trip.

“I’ll never forget my trip,” Bognot said. “I

will always remember the people I met and the places I saw. I appreciate the Japanese culture a lot more than I did before and I can’t wait to travel the world further to learn about other cultures.”

Fillman and Hokanson crowned North American Soccer Champions

by Yasamin Fazeli

the game and everyone was high energy. We were very encouraging and kept reminding ourselves to play hard,” Hokanson said.

The tournaments in the beginning were slightly different from a classic soccer game.

“First we played 40 minute games. It was just round-robin; whatever court you wanted to play on and then the four teams that had the most wins went on to the semifinals,” Fillman said.

The games were only five minutes long and were four vs. four. Once the first goal is made, the opposing team must remove one of their players. The team who makes the second goal wins the game, but if two goals are not made in the five minutes, both teams are eliminated. Because of the different rules, the final games were higher in “intensity and excitement.”

Winning the final game seemed almost surreal to 1.

2. Fillman.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEELY FILLMAN “We knew we could win They are the champions. 1. After the team won, Nike took their picture with the trophy. 2. “This was and we kept telling ourwithin a minute after we won,” Fillman said.

Recently named North American Champions, juniors Keely Fillman and Callie Hokanson spent much of their summer competing in Nike Soccer Tournaments.

“At the tournament in LA we weren’t doing as well as we’d hoped but we made it to the semi-finals. We ended up pulling it together and winning,” Fillman said.

Most of the time, the team has encouragement from the sidelines, but in Vancouver they just “had each other on the field.”

“There was a lot of adrenaline throughout

selves we could,” Fillman said. “For it to come true was amazing. Our coach was not there so we were also really excited that we won and it would make him really excited.”

Being represented by Nike was Fillman’s favorite part of the whole experience.

“Every night they would lay out the outfits that we would wear for the game the next day, and then in the end we got to pick what we wanted from the Nike wear,” Fillman said. “It was really cool how we were walking around the town and they had photographers taking pictures of us.“ Hokanson adds that playing in a different country stands out as an unforgettable part of her experience “It was an amazing experience and I just really appreciate that we got to do it. It was just amazing to play in a different country and meet new people,” Hokanson said.

Fillman feels that winning the North American Championships and playing soccer in general has taught her a lot about the importance of a team.

“Your team is big and if just one person is not trying, it’s not going to go well. Everybody has to give it their all. Everybody has to want it.”

Sept. 4, 2015

page 7

features

Hip-hop till you drop

Hip-Hop Club preformed in a showcase over the summer and looks forward to competing this year

by Caterina Hyneman The lights flickered on and off, the nerves he had tried so hard to conquer came flooding back to him. As he walked toward the stage to set up for the performance he had worked all summer for, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. Yet, as the stage lights beamed on junior Luigi Lopez, the crowd cheered both him and the rest of Hip-Hop Club on, encouraging him to “leave it all on the stage.”

“When I’m onstage, I just focus on cleaning up the details in the choreography and pleasing the crowd. When the crowd hypes us up, it allows us to push further and perform to the best of our abilities,” Luigi said.

Over the summer, the members of HipHop Club performed at SPF 8.0, a dance showcase hosted by Pac Modern Dance Troupe, a collegiate dance team, at Long Beach State University. The showcase was open to any dance group and proceeds from ticket sales went to charity.

“It was a really remarkable experience,” Luigi said. “The more experienced members helped teach brand new members how to dance, and we also got alumni to teach us all the choreography. It’s not every summer that you get taught for free. These alumni took time out of their schedules to teach us; we’re really lucky.”

Not only did the summer trainings to prepare for the showcase help the club strengthen their dance routines, but it also helped strengthen their relationships with each other.

“We’ve all gotten really close,” Luigi said.

“From learning choreography to just hanging out, it really affected how we grew not only with our dancing, but also our friendships.”

In fact, it’s these friendships which inspired Luigi to join Hip-Hop Club in the first place; senior Warren Lopez motivated him to join his freshman year.

“My older sister was the first dancer in my family, and when she had an injury, she couldn’t dance anymore. So I followed in her footsteps by joining all the dance clubs: Salsa, Hip-Hop, and B-Boy,” Warren said. “I saw Luigi as my little brother, and I wanted him to join because I knew he could be as good as me one day, and I saw potential in him.”

This year, the team hopes to train harder in order to gain a competitive edge .

“In order to prepare for these competitions we’re training, learning all different elements and styles, and mostly becoming a family,” Warren said.

In addition to competitions, many members of the team attend workshops for hiphop dancers in order to improve their skills and join other dance teams in Los Angeles to gain more experience.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LUIGI LOPEZ PHOTO COURTESY OF AARON KURATANI

2.

So you think you can dance. 1. Luigi

1.

Lopez hits the floor with teammate Mitchel Trinidad during SPF 8.0. 2. Senior Alexander Nguyen practices at RUHS over the summer in order to prepare for the showcase. 3.

Nguyen perfects a move called the windmill.

4. Group dances help the team bond because they have to perform as a unit, according to senior JunJun Mamuyac.

3.

“In L.A. there are many workshops with really good dancers which some of us want to attend,” Luigi said. “Our director was in The Prototypes, and Warren is in Futureshock L.A. I’m hoping to audition for it and get in too; a bunch of team members want

to audition as well.”

According to Warren, 4.

Futureshock LA has helped him grow and develop as a dancer.

“Futureshock L.A. is a community exhibition team that helps you learn every style of hip hop. We perform at big events such as World of Dance, Maxt Out, and Vibe Juniors,” Warren said.

While members of the team may join other dance groups to gain experience, their loyalty always remains with the club.

“The thing about Hip-Hop Club is its very welcoming. Do not be afraid to try out, even if you have no experience because the club is open to newcomers and beginners,” Luigi said. “That’s where we all started, and that’s how you build confidence.”

High Tide

features

[cont. from pg. 1] -erpillars: after collecting them, she periodically replenished their food and continued to note their traits.

“The name of the expedition was ‘Caterpillars and Climate Change,’” she said. “The fun part was finding out their characteristics.”

Marco conducted her research in the Long Leaf Pine Forest, which is one of the largest preserved pine forests in the country.

“It was absolutely gorgeous. There were pine trees all over the place; they’re tall and skinny, and most of their leaves are at the top because they’re adapted for fire. It was amazing,” she said.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ALINA BIESCHKE

Bieschke also found her destination beautiful, but the at one point she had 25 bug bites and was sleep deprived. Nevertheless, it just made the expedition more of an experience.

“There was one day where we had to catch low tide at four in the morning, and even though we were half-zombies with our coffee and hot chocolate, we got to see the sun rise. There was a lighthouse across the bay, and all I remember was how the sunlight struck its white surface, turning it a golden yellow,” she said.

The expedition encouraged Bieschke to pursue more than just environmental sci-

ence.

“I was very engaged and took on a leading role during my trip, so at home I started looking into business management and other managerial jobs,” she said. “I figure that being an environmental scientist isn’t the only way to help; scientists alone can’t help the environment.”

Marco also enjoyed the scientific research as well as being with other people interested in the same field.

“Having a common interest really helped us come together. Everyone likes pretty much the same thing and it’s really easy to relate on that basis,” Marco said. “The most

significant thing was that I made really good friends.”

For both Bieschke and Marco, the experience helped them learn to go beyond their comfort zones and broaden their horizons.

My outlook was that I didn’t want to regret not doing enough. It’s not because when people ask what I did there, I wouldn’t have a lot to say. It’s because I want to feel in my heart that I got to fly to Maine for two weeks and I took full advantage of what was provided for me. I mean, I didn’t pay a penny-people donated their own money to get me there--so I at least owe them that. I owe them and myself that,” Bieschke said.

Chun and Hansen built a robotic dog

by Reema Saad

Driven by curiosity and an interest in science, senior Jessica Chun did the STEM Training and Robotics Technology (START) Program at El Camino College. There, she learned about the basics of engineering.

Chun and her partner, senior Robert Hansen, built a “dogbot” for a game of dogbot soccer. Although their dogbot did not win, they learned many skills that helped ensure the dogbot was well-built.

“I’ve learned the importance of teamwork. We did trial and error multiple times because we weren’t paying enough attention to detail,” Chun said. “It was very important to pay attention to everything because it could hurt us in the competition later.”

After realizing the importance of specifics, Chun and Hansen needed to figure out a way to ensure all the parts worked together.

“My team had trouble ensuring all parts

stayed on our robot. We had trouble putting things in the right spot and making sure nothing fell. We double checked everything and screwed the screws in super tight and made sure nothing came off,” Chun said.

The game is similar to soccer but gives teams a chance to steal points from other teams.

“We got to build it from scratch, and got to use microcontrollers and motors. Some requirements were that we had to have paws, a tail that would move back and forth 120 degrees, and a nose because we had to push tennis balls in the dog ball competition.

If you push the tennis ball too hard, it would cause the robot to stop and delay everything, and it would be a penalty,” Chun said.

The whole project took a week to complete and required certain parts and tools to build, which the team had to figure out how

to use so the dogbot would work properly.

“To build the dogbots, we used a vex robotics kit, a system with mainly metal parts.

I probably would say I got critical thinking skills from this experience,” Hansen said.

Through the program, Chun discovered the basics of engineering and how certain parts can create something functional.

“I thought it was really fun just building things and seeing how parts fit together and create something new,” Chun said. “I thought it was cool how you can create something that acts on its own.”

The instructor provided the teams with information for creating the dogbots but originality played a role in the engineering of the projects as well.

“We followed a format where the robots were pretty much the same, but we were allowed to experiment with the tail and the

paws, so those were all different,” Chun said.

Through projects and trips to the California Science Center, Northrop Grumman, and UCLA, Chun realized she might be interested in a technology-oriented career.

“This year I might join Robotics club or something. It really opened my mind to things like that,” Chun said. “I had a very vague idea of what it was. I decided to take it just to see how it could benefit me in a way.

I wasn’t that interested, but I was curious.”

Hansen is also interested in an engineering career, the main reason why he decided to be a part of the program.

“It was a good way to be more exposed to engineering,” Hansen said. “I liked how it was very project-oriented, so we could go there and work on our projects and actually get to see the results of our work in a very real way.”

Sept. 4, 2015

features

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Ungermann worked at Royal Family Kids Camp

by Kelly Harraka She wakes up to another day of her job: putting smiles on childrens’ faces. Senior Brittany Ungermann worked at a getaway camp for abused kids for a week over the summer and looks forward to participating in it next year.

“These kids are different than other kids I’ve taken care of. I wanted to give them the attention that they don’t have at home. They really appreciated everything that was given to them,” Ungermann said.

The camp is called Royal Family Kids Camp and is sponsored through Ungermann’s church. It was recommended to her by a friend who said it was an amazing experience and made her more appreciative.

“I was a lifeguard while I was there and I remember seeing one of the kids with welts all over his back. I later learned that his father had beaten him with a metal pipe,” Ungermann said. “When I saw it I didn’t really know what the welts were, but when I realized they were injuries my heart dropped.”

Prior to the camp, Ungermann learned important rules that would help keep the kids feeling safe.

“One rule I remember specifically was the ‘2 deep’,” Ungermann said.

The “2 deep” breaks down to having two adults watching a child at a time. Basically it’s the adult watching the child, and then the other adult watching the first adult.

That way the child couldn’t turn around and say that one of the adults assaulted them.

There were some training sessions at her church every other month that went over rules. They had to give side hugs and weren’t allowed to give piggy back rides, sit on the same bed as them, or exchange personal information.

“The camp has had problems with parents tracking their kids down and trying to take them back,” Ungermann said. “At first when I heard about the rules I thought they were really strict. But after going to the camp and seeing the kids I understood why.”

Because the children have had hard family lives, the usual day-to-day activities that kids normally experience were completely new to the children at the camp.

“A lot of the kids had first time experiences and tried to fish or swim; we even had a birthday party for all the kids combined because a lot of them had never had one before. It was so amazing that all the things we take for granted were foreign to the kids at the camp,” Ungermann said.

Normally it takes people a long time to get to know others, but Ungermann had no trouble getting close to the kids.

“One of the kid’s names was Michael. It was really hard towards the end of the week because sending him away on the bus was like sending my own kid away,” Ungermann

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITTANY UNGERMANN

Friends forever. Ungermann built relationships with many children in at Royal Family Kids Camp.

Throughout the week, she worked as a lifeguard and spent time with the campers. “I can’t wait to do it next year,” Ungerman said. “It was just such a fun experience.”

said. “It was really emotional a few days after the camp because I knew I wouldn’t see him again and I don’t know how his home life is.”

After getting to know Michael and seeing how different his life was others,Ungermann

now knows things in her life should not be taken for granted.

“He really touched my life and made me appreciate the little things. I’m lucky to be able to come home to my parents who love me,” she said.

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sports

Making waves

Boys waterpolo ramps up for the upcoming season Water they doing? 1. Senior Cade Bruno is

practicing for the next game against Chadwick and is looking forward for the rest of the season.

“In a moment like this a million different things run through your mind. Questions of what the other team is thinking. What can I do to be two steps ahead of the other team? Anticipating my shot and what to do if it dosen’t score. PLannig my next move. But in the moment the one thing that I try to focus on is making the best possible shot that I know I can take,” Bruno said.2. Senior Blaze Bird passes over a Mira Costa player for an assist. The team is lookg to continue to improve upon the communication and fluidity between plays.

2.

2.

1.

by John Mallen With a tough season last year, the water polo team look to improve their skills as a team this year.

Senior August Brookwell sees improvement in the team, especially in their ability to work with each other.

“Our team dynamic is way better than last year, in which it’s not so individually based anymore,” Brookwell said.

Senior Mikey Montelongo attributes the team’s chemistry and skill together to their experience as well as practice.

“A major difference compared to last year is that our whole starting lineup are seniors.

Also, towards the end of the 2015 school year/summer our upcoming varsity team practiced four times a week,” Montelongo said. “Because we practiced so much all of us became familiar with each others’ style of play and the chemistry within the team increased majorly compared to the last season.”

According to senior Cade Bruno, the team has strength in its versatility.

“Our team is very versatile in that we

PHOTOS BY ILENE GUERRERO

have many players that can play many different positions. Almost all of our team can shoot from the outside, post up and play two-meter,” Bruno said.

Montelongo sees strength in the team’s talent as well as strength coming from the bemch players.

“We have a good set player, Cade Bruno, who can put the ball into two meters,” Montelongo said. “Also we have good outside shooters and we have some fast players coming off of the bench so they can tire out the other team.”

According to Brookwell, some of the team’s improvement this year is a result of adjusting to their fairly new coach.

“We have a better relationship with the coach this year,” senior August Brookwell said. “Last year was his first year so we definitely have become more familiar with his unique coaching style, especially when it comes to positioning in the water specifically.”

The entire team has seen improvement, but there are still some areas that need to be

Montelongo sees a flaw in the team in terms of their physicality.

“Our weakness would be that our team isn’t the ‘biggest’ muscle wise,” Montelongo said.

The team had a weak point in their chemistry last year, but Brookwell believes that will change this year.

“We did not scrimmage during summer last year, which hindered us, but this year most of us had Junior Olympics for club and we scrimmaged against Chadwick High School so we already have a team bond,” Brookwell said.

According to Bruno, the team is setting their sights on winning Bay League.

“Our overall hope is to win the Bay League title and quality for the playoffs,” Bruno said.

Despite their lack of knowledge about the talent of their two rivals this year, Bruno is still confident in the team’s ability to claim victory.

“We don’t know how good Costa and PV are this year, but I do believe that we will get in the top three,” Bruno said.

Coming off a rough season last year, Bruno believes this year’s season will produce much more favorable results.

“This year our team is much more focused and committed to our goals,” Bruno said, “Our chemistry and individual skills have really progressed, allowing us to take our program to a higher level of play.”

High Tide

Cross Country off to a fast start

by Carmen Hamm The girls cross country team has set its sights high for the coming year.

“One of our goals for the beginnings of the season is definitely just to get our team together,” senior Taylor Beaudoin said. “We have a really young team this year and a lot of potential so we are looking forward to putting it together and chasing state.”

The team placed third in the state last year, and this year has a chance of doing even better.

“Our strength definitely comes from our numbers. We have a lot of girls with a lot of potential on varsity,” Beaudoin said.

The only weakness that the team as a whole has is team bonding, which they are “working out quickly,” says Beaudoin.

“The closer you are with your teammates the harder you run and train for them which can make a huge difference. Because of the age gap between the seniors and freshmen, the freshmen can be kind of shy and quiet but as the season progresses that changes,” she said.

The returning runners go up to Big Bear for a week each summer for a “huge bonding trip.”

“We went up as individuals and came back as a team, as Bob likes to call it,” Beaudoin said.

They also had a pancake breakfast and got together to decorate t-shirts, putting sayings like ”If you can read this we’re just warming up,” and “Mileage is smileage” on them.

“We did bonding games where we worked on getting to know each other - from their likes and dislikes as well as their goals for this season,” Beaudoin said.

According to fellow teammate and senior Sara Bilotta, the bonding nights have been beneficial to the team as a whole.

“It’s inevitable to have cliques, but the varsity and top JV girls are really close,” Bilotta said. “We all have a fun time together and I’d say that personalities go really well together.”

Beaudoin and Bilotta feel that being close as a team will help their performance during the season.

“Cross country has a lot to do with trusting your teammates to work equally as hard as you are and our bond makes us all want to work harder for each other,” Bilotta said.

“I think our bond will take us really far, and succeeding with your best friends is the best feeling in the world.”

Sept. 4, 2015

Friday night lights

Football kicks off season with win against North

by Jessica Johnson Football gears up for the game today against Santa Monica following a 26-21 win against North.

“We are practicing much harder this week because it is our first win and we have a lot more confidence,” senior Justin Curtis said.

“Santa Monica is a lot better of a team than North so we are focusing on fixing the little things that could improve our game.”

The team is working on executing every play to the best of their abilities and on giving one hundred percent until the end of the game.

“We have the same strategy to work hard on both defense and offence, if everyone does their job on defence then we will be fine, it’s the minute people start letting up that will cost us the game,” Curtis said.

Going into the next game, the team has

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sports

1.

Play-by-play.

1. Quarterback Jacob Silvera decides to make a run for it in a game against North Torrance Highschool. The game was an excellent opportunity to test the teams strategies before facing a superior opponent, Santa Monica, today. “I hope that if we work and prepare right we can wwin the Bay League and go on to win CIF,” Silvera says. 2. Fendingoff a deffender Dallas Branch gains a down with yet another run. 2.

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

valuable momentum from the win and will continue to work hard to improve.

“I thought we had great energy and the defense had a great game. We just can’t have so many penalties,” senior Jacob Silvera said.

The teams feels that with this year’s defensive line, they can excel during the season.

“I feel like we were pretty sound on defense, we were pretty solid up front, we dominated the line of scrimmage 99 percent of the time throughout the whole game,” Curtis said. “The defensive backs did very well except for one broken play, but ul-

timately, we were solid on defense.”

The team is going into each game with a specific game plan to get the most out of each play.

“Our strategy last game was mainly to contain number 3. If we stopped him we could stop the whole team, so what we were supposed to do was to contain him and get him to quit which he ended up doing,” Curtis said.

Curtis has high hopes for the season and believes it’s very possible to get further than they did last year because of the talent.

“I really feel like it’s possible for us to get

but it’s a learning process and they will get stronger throughout the season.”

Guzman is optimistic about the new players.

“I don’t think the team will take too much of a hit from the loss of the seniors because most of the starters last year were not seniors. I think the new talent will be able to make our team stronger and our varsity players from years before will be able to step up,” Guzman said.

The new varsity players may take time to acclimate to the higher playing level, but it’s their mentality and determination that wins games.

“I expect us to do well if not better than last year because we want it much more. I’m really excited to see what what the season holds and be able to bond and get close with a great group of girls,” Zargham said.

The team is setting their sights on CIF and hopes to grow closer as a team throughout the season.

“I’m hoping we will get to CIF this year and win a few rounds. We are hoping to send a few girls to individual CIF as well,” Zargham said. “I’m looking forward to kicking butt this

season, being able to play a few matches with my best friends, and getting to watch everyone grow as both a person and a player.”

the the second or third round of playoffs and I hope that we can get as far as CIF. We just have to continue working hard in practice,” Curtis said.

To get to CIF, the team hopes to win as many season games as possible so they are prepared when they face the more talented teams as they move up in playoffs.

“I always say to practice everything with 110 percent- to the maximum of effort, because what we do in practice will translate to how we play on the field,” Curtis said. “So if we practice hard every single day, then we will have a positive result on Friday nights.”

Girls tennis advances over Bishop

by Adam Yorke Yesterday, girls tennis swept Bishop Montgomery with an 18-0 score.

Senior Emily Zargham attributed the success to the team’s mindset going in.

“We went in wanting to start off the season strong and pull out a win. We saw this match as a warm up to season, being one of the easier matches but we still went in wanting to play our best and that’s what we did,” Zargham said.

Over the summer, the RUHS players stayed in shape and practiced regularly.

“I am very excited and eager to play this season. I think it will be better than last because everyone has put a lot of work in this summer and we’ve all gotten stronger,” senior Isabella Guzman said.

Despite their consistent practice, there will be a hole to fill that last years’ seniors left behind.

“It’s going to be hard this season because we lost Allegra, one of our stronger players, but we are getting some great girls moving up from JV who will really help our team,” Zargham said. “I’m not sure that the new talent can be as effective as the old seniors

PHOTOS BY LAUE’AE SCHWEITEZER

Serve and return. 1. Alyssa Grijalva is

running down a return hit from Bishop. Grijalva ralied hard against Bishop player and in the end won 7-6. 2.Senior Emily Zargham is serving the ball against Bishop. “The team did really well and fought through every match. I’ m very poud becasue iknow the team gave a hunderd percent,” Zargham said.

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High Tide

features

Setting the tone

Golf aims high despite losses

Volleyball looks to continue last year’s success

by Romy Moreno Even this early in the season, the girls on the volleyball team are wtuned in and ready to do their best to follow up their performance last year which included them being CIF and State champions.

“Last year’s team was very big and physical…[however;] this year we are not nearly as so,” senior Megan Rice said.

Senior Norene Iosia also added that, “[as a team] we definitely lost a lot of height.

Last year we had Yazi who was 6’4, Abril 6’1 and Kristen 6’0, but now we only have about three girls who are 6’0 and the rest under 5’10.”

Even with these loses the team agrees that they have a lot of talent and will be able to bounce back.

“This year’s physical goal is to outwork everyone. Our passing, smart plays and work ethic will determine our victories,” Rice said.

So far, according to the girls, they have displayed many of these needed abilities already in the Hawaii tournament they participated in during summer, but the tournament also gave them an early idea of what they’ll need to work on.

“Hawaii went well for us,” Rice said. “It gave us the opportunity to see what our strengths and weaknesses are, and overall I feel we got better.”

Iosia had similar thoughts.

“Hawaii was a good tournament for us because the competition out there was really challenging, it made us realize that we need to continue to work harder if we want to grind other teams,” Iosia said.

Even though the team came in fifth overall the girls agree that, “it was a good early loss and now [we] know what skills and shots we need to work on for games in season.”

According to the girls, Hawaii was their first chance to test out each others playing styles.

“Even though we have a lot of returning players we have a lot of new players as well so we were all still feeling each other out,” senior Kacey Baker said.

The team agrees that they felt ready for the tournament beforehand; “We were definitely prepared for Hawaii because of our summer practices and summer tournament in Oxnard,” Baker said.

The girls were also able to see what aspects they excelled on during the tournament.

“One of our biggest strengths throughout the tournament was our passing,” Rice said. “I also think the experience we have on the team is a strength, and it helps us get through mentally tough situations.”

On the other hand, the girls agreed that their serve receive passing, better ball con-

by Kayla Hiken

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

Get served. 1. Megan Rice sticks a point during a match opposing Marymount. According to the team, Tuesday’s scrimmage served as a learning experience for both teams. 2. Noreene Iosia praises Amanda Tsao following a point.

trol and defense were the most prominent aspects of their gameplay that needed to be worked on. “[Our weaknesses] definitely improved, especially because that’s what we’ve been focusing on in practice,” Iosia said.

According to the girls, their practices are what have made a difference in the way they play and the reason why they did well in their last scrimmage against Marymount high school.

“Everyone is working really hard and becoming more of a team as we work together during our practices,” Baker said, “[They are] competitive and fun, even though the drills we do push us, we power through it with a lot energy.”

Although the team took the win in the scrimmage, Rice believes that the victory tells them a lot about their upcoming season.

“Even though we won by a lot the score doesn’t really tell everything. I would say we

had both good and bad things going on,” she said. “We made very few errors specifically in the front row; however, our defense during the game really needed a lot more focus.”

Similar to Rice, Iosia also believes that, “As a team [they] can step up [their] defense and dig more balls in order to keep the ball in play.”

On a lighter note, the girls shared similar thoughts as to what things went right during the scrimmage as well.

“Everyone was ready for the ball to come to them which allowed us to execute and make great plays,” Baker said.

Overall the girls have high hopes for this season with specific aspirations set in place.

“I hope that we can all get to a point where we all trust each other even more than we already do; to try our hardest onehundred percent of the time so when it does comes to the last point we will be able to execute, because I know that our team has the capability and talent to do so.”

As the new school year has started, the girl’s golf team has developed a new mindset towards the season.

“We’ve got a great start with all the new kids. I have never ever in all my years of teaching, had a turnout like this. Kids came out of the woodwork for tryouts. That right there is a wonderful way to start,” said Coach John Burke.

Over the summer the girls have been mentally preparing for what new goals they want to try to achieve this season, and have been reflecting on techniques they need to work on.

“My goal for our team this year is for us to become better players by practicing a lot more and shooting lower scores,” sophomore Maria Victoria Baker said. “However, we need to work out and get stronger to be able to hit the ball farther, in order to improve as a team.”

On Thursday’s match the girls tried to implement their improved techniques in order to lower their scores from Tuesday’s match, where they lost by 25 strokes to West. Thursday’s match ended with an improvement on scores compared to the first match, and the girls finished with a loss of 12 strokes.

“Although we improved this match, we still have a lot of improvements to make as a team. We need to really work on practicing on our individual weaknesses as well as our team’s weaknesses as a whole, to help the team out. We also need to work on communicating with each other and becoming closer in order to help our game improve,” sophomore Madison Laster said.

Many of the girls believe that one of the major struggles this year was the loss of eight seniors.

“Our team took a hard hit with the loss of many of the seniors from last year. The whole varsity team only has two returning members and I’m very salty about that,” senior captain Carlin Liang said.

Even though the team has had a rocky start to the season, the girls as well as the coach have a positive outlook for the year.

Their main slogan is “positivi-tee” which symbolizes how they are helping their fellow teammates recover from botched shots.

“With such a young team, I’m happy if we improve every match. This year we are going to focus more on the building of our team to get the strong bonds back between the girls that we had lost with the seniors leaving,” Burke said.