High Tide: Sept. 9, 2016

HIGH TIDE

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA September, 9 2016 Vol. XCVII Edition 1

Caught

in CROSSFIRE

by Shaniya Markalanda

The noise from just outside the hotel is tremendous.

Jets fly above. People yell in the streets. Cars honk loudly. Despite all the noise, it is not the sounds that keep him up. Questions crowd his mind. How long will they be stuck here? Will it go on for days? The plan was to enjoy a vacation with the family, but instead he and his family wait, scared, in their hotel room. Senior Yoseph Ghazal was vacationing in Turkey during the coup on July 15.

“The entire situation felt so surreal.

I was thinking ‘This is so unlikely to happen and yet here I am right in the middle of it,’” Ghazal said.

A faction of the military staged a coup to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while the president was on vacation. People were shot, television stations were raided, and major bridges were closed.

Ghazal first learned of the coup after he and his family landed in Turkey and were not allowed out of the airport.

“We were confused. We didn’t know what was going on.

After about half an hour, I was looking at my phone, checking the news because I was bored, and I still remember to this day a big headline: ‘Turkish coup underway.’ I remember my heart just dropped, how scary that was,” Ghazal said.

After he found out what was going on outside the airport doors, Ghazal’s “fear was immediate.”

“Once I saw that headline, I was so confused,” Ghazal said.

“What’s going to happen? What’s going on? How long are we going to be at the airport? So many questions filled my head. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Eventually, when it was deemed safe enough, Ghazal and his family walked a mile to their taxi.

“As we left the airport, I saw tanks coming down as we

were walking, and troops were coming, yelling at people. It was a scary experience. In the distance you could hear yelling, gunfire, all that stuff,” Ghazal said.

According to Ghazal, just walking down the street was “terrifying.”

“I was worried that they’d see us and yell at us or do something. Thankfully, they didn’t. Just imagine walking on the sidewalk with tanks rolling the other direction. I was also worried there was going to be some sort of fire fight, but there wasn’t,” Ghazal said.

After hearing about the coup, President Erdogan FaceTimed a Turkish television network to address his supporters, encouraging them to protest in the streets.

Because the rioting was all around the hotel they had booked, Ghazal and his family had to stay in a different hotel that was closer to the airport but still surrounded by rioters.

“The entire night we could hear jets flying over the hotel. You could see from the windows people in the streets, rioting. Cars couldn’t move be-

[cont. on pg 16]

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High Tide

news

UN LINK

ED

Students and Link Crew offer differing views on freshman orientation

A real crowd teaser. Teacher Georgina Pattison leads games and activites during the freshman orientation. Positivity regarding the activities was not a common theme among freshmen interviewed.

By Erika Zlatkin Link Crew received mixed responses after holding their annual freshmen orientation over the summer, an event meant to provide incoming students an opportunity to become accustomed to the campus and nature of high school with the guidance of upperclassmen leaders.

“The purpose of Link Crew is to mentor and guide the incoming freshmen and even incoming students to the district who are upperclassmen. Our job is to welcome them to campus and to create that culture of upperclassmen and underclassmen all getting along with one another and become friends,” Link Crew organizer Lauren Clayton said.

Clayton supervises 140 juniors and seniors, who in turn take on responsibility for creating a safe and positive environment for RUHS as a whole. She thinks that orientation serves a greater purpose than just showing students where their classes are, but to “make them more comfortable with the school”.

“All of the games we played served a purpose relating to the high school,” junior and link leader Nick Webb said. “Even the name games we played are essential because learning that one person’s name and remembering it can be a sign of respect. It’s important that the kids learn these skills before high school because they were all very helpful.”

Despite positive outlooks towards the games by Link Crew leaders, several freshmen described them as “childish”, “irrelevant”, and “oriented toward kindergartners”.

“The games we played weren’t entertain-

ing to me, which made orientation super boring,” freshman Michael Aguilar said. “There was such little to do and the general crowd didn’t seem to like it either, giving off bad vibes.”

According to freshman Luke Slanina, the games detracted from the learning experience rather than being valuable.

“In the gym they played a dumb balloon popping game with their chests which was boring and didn’t pertain to the high school whatsoever,” Slanina said. “I wish the games we played involved the school in a way so that we can actually learn about RUHS and not be confused on the first day, like we were this year.”

Along with the games hindering their knowledge about the campus, freshman Colby Sundeen thought the tours didn’t help either.

“The tour really didn’t help us at all. I didn’t really learn anything at all. I learned more about the vending machines then I did about the school,” Sundeen said.

It was evident that some freshmen recognized problems with orientation, whether they thought it was “redundant”, “unorganized”, or a “waste of time.”

“Parts of the orientation day felt unnecessary and my friends even said that some of it was a waste of time. If the activities that Link Crew put on could be more meaningful and pertain more to the high school such as adapting to the high school environment and interacting with more students rather than just the group you’re put in, it would

be better for the incoming freshman class,” freshman Hannah Hiken said.

However, Webb believes that there is no need to make adjustments.

“Personally, I don’t feel as though any changes should be made to the orientation day. I think everything went well for my group and it was overall a great day,” Webb said.

Hiken believes that Link Crew is still a beneficial organization to help the incoming students become accustomed to their new school.

“Freshmen should participate in Link Crew events because they can meet the upperclassmen and get advice from people who have been at the school for already two or three years,” Hiken said. “It’s also a good opportunity to learn more about their teachers, classes, and the school in general.”

One returning leader, Katelin Harris, says that from her experience she believes the freshmen enjoyed orientation for the most part and they left feeling more confident toward the school and they had a fun time as the day went on.

“For certain people who had older siblings, or already know their way around campus, Link Crew may not be as necessary for them,” Harris said. “But for other kids who didn’t have that opportunity and want to branch out and meet new people, Link Crew is important so we can be their older guidance.”

Harris thinks the leaders were very spirited and did the best they could promoting

positive energy, although some people saw freshmen who did not participate or enjoy their experience during orientation day.

“We do our best with trying to make the incoming students feel welcome. Not every kid is going to like what we do, but we try to at least change one kid’s perspective,” Harris said.

Freshman Satchel Roebuck believes the Link Crew leaders should not be blamed for the “poorly planned” activities.

“The Link Crew leaders were really nice.

It’s not their fault orientation was bad. They did what they were told to do,” Roebuck said.

Clayton believes that Link Crew has “created a nice environment for freshmen”. She says when she sees freshmen after orientation, they look more comfortable and confident with themselves and the school, compared to how nervous they were during the start of the day.

“I love seeing all of the positive energy from Link Crew and how much the leaders want to help the incoming students,” Clayton said. “I love seeing that the current students in our campus, our community, want to reach out to the younger students and cultivate a culture of welcoming to new students of all ages.”

Despite the efforts made by Link Crew, Roebuck believes that freshmen orientation was not necessary for success on the first day of school.

“If I skipped Freshmen Orientation,” Roebuck said, “I would be just as confused on the first day as if I went.”

Sept. 9, 2016

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news

Photos of the week

1

Lonnie likes to dance. 1. Sophomore Elon

2

Darthard shows off her moves to the crowd at the first Friday lunch rally of the school year. PHOTO BY DANIELLE SESTAK 2. Freshmen Logan and Nicholas Haga walk in to the freshman orientation and are greeted by Link Crew leaders. PHOTO BY EDEN MILAN

Administration installs additional security cameras on campus

By Ben Brill

As part of an effort to upgrade RUHS’s surveillance capabilities as well as to preserve its pristine condition, additional security cameras were added around campus at the entrances and exits of buildings and hallways over the summer.

Along with enhancing the school’s security, administration wants the cameras to encourage students not to break rules and vandalize the campus.

“The staff wants the cameras to be a deterrent. If people think they are being watched for something they are going to

do negatively, they won’t do it at all,” Vice Principal Anthony Bridi said.

Several instances of theft and vandalism prompted the upgrade in school security, including the graffiti threat sprayed in front of the student union last year which led to a total of 888 students being checked out.

“We have a beautiful campus and if there is vandalism, whether it’s graffiti or riding skateboards on campus, it’s going to cause damage,” Bridi said. “So with these cameras, we’ll have more ability to detect harm and provide a better image of what happened.”

Some students dislike the extra eyes on them, like Sophomore Akio Goto, who has his doubts about the new security system.

“I find it weird that there are so many cameras around the school,” Goto said. “I feel like they are watching my every move.”

However, Goto believes that the risk is worth the reward and the cameras will have a positive effect around RUHS “I feel like it will make people more wary of their actions on campus,” Goto said. “I’m confident it will make our campus safer.”

According to Bridi, the goal of the imple-

mentation of the cameras is to encourage students to behave properly knowing that there is potentially evidence against them if they were to deface the campus.

“The cameras are just there as a deterrent. I don’t want there to be a ‘gotcha moment,’” Bridi said. “I want our staff and students to support the beauty of our campus. And if the students know that we could potentially roll back the clock to see if they did something foolish, maybe the will hesitate and think twice about what they’re doing.”

Laster appointed to RBUSD Board of Education

By Malek Chamas “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

With those words, junior Madison Laster began the oath to be sworn in as the new student board member of the RBUSD Board of Education. Laster replaces alumnus Chris Paludi, who served in the position for two years and graduated with the class of 2016.

The student board member’s most important duties lie in advocating for the students at the board meetings by communicating their concerns and wishes to the board, as well as explaining the board’s actions to the student body.

“The [student] representative to the board is a member of ASB, and my job is to be the liaison between the district board and ASB, as well as to communicate the student body’s feelings and any issues that the student body has to bring up,” Laster said.

“When you’re in ASB and around other stu-

dents, you need to advocate for the board, because there’s a lot of big-picture things the board does that may not be understood at first glance. It’s important to explain these decisions, because they affect all of us.”

As the student representative to the district board, Laster is able to vote on almost all of the board’s decisions. Personnel issues, including the hiring and firing of any RBUSD employees, are the only board affairs she is excluded from. However, she is able to suggest ideas to the other board members or change their opinions by telling them, from a student’s point of view, why a certain policy would be good or bad.

“In the board’s history, there have been cases when the board was dead-set on saying no to certain things, but then the student member argued for why the students wanted these policies to pass or why these policies would be important, and it ended up happening,” Laster said. “One issue five years ago was allowing K-9 drug-sniffing dogs on campus. A lot of the board mem-

bers thought it would make the district look bad, and not be very effective, but the student member said that it would do so much to prevent drug use, especially on campus.

That was enough to swing the votes of all of the board members, and so we do have K-9 drug-sniffing dogs on campus now.”

RBUSD Board of Education President Anita Avrick says that RUHS students should stay informed about the board, because its actions “affect them immediately.” “[The board members] set the tone for where this district goes, based on what we think should happen in this district and where we think we need to be. And then everything else, like our strategic plan, works up to seeing that our goals go through,” Avrick said. “I encourage students to come and talk to us. And if you have a problem, and I don’t mean a complaint like ‘Oh this teacher doesn’t like me,’ but a real, true problem, we will listen. We’ll always listen to you, because students have the most powerful voice.”

New piece on the board. Laster takes her

new position as the student board member of the RBUSD Board of Education. Laster will act as a liason between the Board of Education and RUHS

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High Tide

opinion

Around Across the pond: New pond will prove beneficial to science curricula Redondo Is the aquaponics unit a worthy addition to our campus?

Compiled by Dina Ghanim Photos by Eden Millan

“

I think it’s cool that it’s going to help out our science classes..

”

-Sammy Renston, 10

“

I feel like it’s a good addition because we already have a lot of good features on this campus and it looks pretty

”

-Jorey Nickelberry, 12

“

When I first heard of it I thought it was a waste of money but it’s pretty cool.

”

Editorial

When pictures

of a new “pond” on campus started circulating around social media outlets, RUHS students were taken aback. I’ll admit, when I opened the Twitter post with a media attachment showing its installation, I was full of questions like, “Who exactly is paying for this?

What purpose is this going to serve? Do we really need to be spending more money on beautification right now?” It wasn’t until I took a step back and asked Ms. Moberg, Geoscience and AP Environmental Science teacher, a few questions that I attained clarity. The new addition to the Redondo campus does more than what meets the eye and ultimately has a lot to offer.

Designed to serve as a resource for all science classes, the new aquaponics unit will reform learning practices at RUHS. Science teachers are already changing their agendas for the year and taking into account the opportunities that it has to offer. When finished, the aquaponics unit will have goldfish that will fertilize various plant forms that will grow beside the pond.

It will serve as a water-efficient farm, teach students about water management, and guide them through numerous concepts covered in class.

Hour-long lectures and textbook work

with no application to the “real world” are learning methods of the past. Research from the Columbia University reveals that students learn best when they are engaging in activities that apply to their lessons. By applying their knowledge in the classroom to their area of study, they will absorb more information and learn how to implement their knowledge. The aquaponics unit will take the learning environment to a new level in RUHS. Rather than memorizing lists of terms and listening to slide presentations with limited application, students can be engaged with the information that they are learning.

Further considering its educational benefits, the pond will also be a great place for students to unwind after class, which will pay off through greater engagement in class. Dr. Sheryl Reinisch, director of Early Childhood Education Programs at Concordia University – Portland, conducted several studies considering the effects that a learning environment has on the learning process. According to Reinisch, the environment of a learning space significantly affects students in their behavior, work output, and psychological well-being. The relaxing and alluring atmosphere of the aquaponics unit will surely reap positive results in academic output and social set-

ting. Therefore, the importance of having a beautiful campus should not be undermined.

Of course, practicality always comes into play when an opportunity like this presides itself. How money is spent in a school district is always an area of concern to both students and taxpayers. While the aquaponics unit did cost quite a bit of money, corporations such as Chevron, Oase, and Enviroscape offered donations and grants to fund its installation. Considering the help of these companies, the aquaponics unit was an opportunity that the school could not pass up on, and for good reason. The educational benefits that it poses to the campus are ultimately worth the means.

Though it’s important to prioritize how money is spent and where efforts are directed, the aquaponics unit will have benefits that will trump its concerns. Hopefully, the recent addition to the campus will revolutionize teaching methods and introduce an emphasis on applying knowledge rather than blindly memorizing or, admittedly sometimes, not absorbing any information at all. If the pond stays true to its purpose, it will go past just benefitting science courses and will influence all classes to cherish lesson engagement.

-Isaac Leon, 11

“

The placement was weird and it was random but we can use it for good.

”

-Kate Cunningham, 11

“

It’s great that they’re using it to learn about the environment.

”

-Christian Devlin, 11

PHOTO BY EDEN MILLAN

“

I think it’s unique that we have water features at our school.

-Jackson Fontana, 11

”

Yes

4

Editorial Board vote

Although there are some corcerns,the pond is will ultimately have a positive impact on our campus

No

3

Sept 9, 2016

page 5

opinion

Pro/Con:

Letters to the

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.

Should community service be mandatory?

High Tide

staff

Editors-In-Chief: Caterina Hyneman; Shaniya Markalanda Online Editor-In-Chief: Reema Saad News Editors: Ben Brill; Jon Mallen Opinion Editor: Dina Ghanim Features Editors: Reem Chamas; Miriam Farah; Lizzie Fauver; Summer Saad; Kylie Yorke Sports Editors: Luke Peterson; Mia Berger Writing Coaches: Yasamin Fazeli; Amanda Shaw Photo Editor: Eden Millan Copy Editors: Davina Nguyen; Marie Ona; Samaya Rubio Online Editor: Justin Pioletti Illustrators: Lulu Wegman Staff Writers: Brian Adler; Cass Anderson; Analise Asaro; Maryam Ba-cloni; Brittany Baker; Amanda Ban; Mia Berger; Tessa Biscaldi; Ben Brill; Malek Chamas; Michael Chang; Alexander Dang; Matthew Davidson; Whayden Dhamcho; Kayvon Elahihaghighi; Yasmine Elahihaghighi; Martha Farah; Elizabeth Fauver; Sarah Flannery; Daphnie Fulton; Camille Grace; Maya Groark; Kelly Harraka; Kayla Hiken; Kylee Kallick; Kaitlin Katayama; Lauren Kim; Julian Kimura; Shyanne Landers; Grace McGonigle; Hayley O’Connor-Rigby; Marie Ona; Daniel Parhizi; Luke Peterson; Justin Pioletti; William Pournamdari; Julian Quevado; Rubab Quraishi; Batia Rotshtein; Danielle Sestak; Keana Sterling; Nadia Stodder; Angie Tait; Benjamin Yepez; Michael Yoon; Erika Zlatkin Photographers: Patrick Cochran; Adrian Craciun; Matthew Davidson; Hiroki Goto; Dana Lopez; Jarrah May; Anne-Elyse Peterson This is a wholly student-managed, designed, and written newspaper that focuses on the school and community..

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons represent the opinions of the staff writer or cartoonist.

Amanda Shaw

A community service requirement produce active students With the constantly increasing amount of schoolwork and challenging standardized tests, in addition to the looming stress of college applications, it is a wonder today’s high school students are able to withstand all of the pressure. The mounting stress caused by the challenges of balancing academics, sports, friendships, and extracurricular activities is the reason many parents, administrators, and students are wary of implementing a community service requirement. What they don’t realize is that community service gives many students an extra boost on their college applications, and more importantly molds them into the intelligent, active young citizens our community is in such dire need of.

In recent years, Torrance high schools have taken the liberty of incorporating required community service hours into the coursework of CP Government Economics in hopes of giving students an extra edge in several aspects of their academic lives.

Of course the most obvious benefit of this new requirement is that all students will automatically have something to write in the community service section of college applications, emphasizing their roles as active community members working towards a common good, and hopefully increasing their chances of admission. While college is the goal for a large majority of high school students, community service, unlike most other schoolwork, serves a real world purpose as well.

By requiring community service, schools are likely to encourage stronger values and a sense of selflessness in their students. Community service provides a positive outlet for many high schoolers from academic stress, family troubles, friendship drama, or any of the other problems so common among teenagers. It may even prevent one or two kids from taking the wrong path, filling their free time with volunteering instead of drugs and alcohol or crime. Volunteer work is key to a unified community because the bonds formed between people of all different ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities is completely unique to the field. Although, community service may start as a dreary requirement in the lives of most students, it is likely to grow into something they enjoy and are able to grow as a result of.

Perhaps most importantly, community service will provide a sense of purpose for many students, and may even inspire several future career path choices. Today’s education system is so focused on the numbers--test scores, GPAs, grades, class ranks--that students are becoming less unique and more robotic. They may be intelligent enough to get into any college, but how are they supposed to know what they want to

Reema Saad

Mandatory service will ultimately burden students Volunteering can provide an adolescent with positive values such as a taste for hard work, love for community and a feeling of selflessness. However, when community service becomes another obligation on a student’s plate, he or she can be stripped of the nourishing values that come with the experiences.

Some high schools, such as those in the Torrance Unified School District, have incorporated required volunteer hours into the senior course CP Government and Economics. While it is true that mandatory community service can give students an opportunity to give back to the cities that help fund and provide for public education, there exists a prevailing sense that volunteering can be compared to a task. Students will perceive the community service in the same light that they see homework assignments and projects– a responsibility that will suggest just how successful the student is in the course.

The issue with adding community service to the syllabus is that students will essentially be graded for doing what should be considered good deeds. When people give selfless time towards bettering a neighborhood, church, or homeless shelter, it isn’t for an A+ in the participation category in the gradebook; it’s to learn gratitude and gain a sense of awareness for what happens in the world around us.

Additionally, it does the student injustice because extracurriculars such as volunteering should not define his or her success in the course, since not every student has the means to be able to give up 30, 40 or even 100 hours towards community service hours. Let’s face it: high school seniors are busy with other classes, college applications, sports and just having fun before they’re off into the real world. Ultimately, if a student is unable to meet these requirements, his or her grade will suffer. The student also risks taking time away from other studies in order to complete the community service hours, which will only cause more stress.

According to edweek.org, yes, there is a correlation between high-achieving students and students who give time to their community. It increases engagement in school, lowers dropout rates and reduces the chances of risky behavior. Regardless, the incentive should not be to get credit for a class that a student needs to graduate, but rather it should be a desire to give back to one’s own locality.

Students should be encouraged to provide service to their communities simply because it’s the right thing to do. Through willingness and drive, students can grow into adults on their own, without an assignment to remind them that they are pressured to give up their time in order to be successful.

page 6

High Tide

features

Pura vida

1.

Teacher Kelly Lewis organizes trip with students to Costa Rica

by Summer Saad

Traveling to another country can be a learning experience by itself, but traveling with a number of other students makes the experience that much more worthwhile.

From June 23 to July 3 teacher Kelly Lewis led a group of students on a ten day trip to Costa Rica along with teachers Marcelo Enriquez, Nicole Shlomo, and Sabrina Cox. “Arriving in Costa Rica was a surreal experience...it was hard to believe I was out of the United States, somewhere with completely different people, different money, and a different language,” senior Lucy Bayle said.

The students were exposed to Costa Rican culture as they changed their location every two to three days. Bayle noticed one thing in particular about the gratefulness of the people.

“Most everyone speaks Spanish there, but many speak at least some English too and love to talk with you and barter with you in the shops and markets. One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting the school in Guanacaste, where the kids put on a dance for us, and we got to see what life and educa-

tion was like for them,” Bayle said. “At times it was humbling, as there were a lot of people less fortunate than us. But everyone is still gracious, happy, and living their best quality of life; really reminds you to not take what you have for granted.”

Junior Kolby Holdsworth adds onto Bayle’s comment. Holdsworth found himself realizing how different life in the United States is compared to Costa Rica.

“The atmosphere in Costa Rica is more positive than the atmosphere here. A lot of people here get really upset over small, really pointless things and there everyone is really grateful to even have a meal,” Holdsworth said.

He also describes how different the environments are.

“When we were out amongst the trees it was really peaceful and it was cool getting to experience how it is to have a slow life since here at school it’s always so fast,” Holdsworth said.

Bayle agrees that the peaceful nature of Costa Rica is influential.

“In Costa Rica it is a much slower, calmer

pace of life- no one is rushing while looking down at their phones,” Bayle said. “People are genuinely nice, and they really want to talk to you, whereas in the United States people don’t really talk to strangers.”

Both Bayle and Holdsworth immediately realized the change in food. The two explain how Costa Rican food provides a healthier lifestyle for people living there.

“People eat rice and beans for pretty much every meal, even breakfast, and lots of fruit- the diet is a lot healthier than the average American’s,” Bayle said. “We had rice, beans, and plantain for almost every single meal, no matter what. I loved every single minute of it because we don’t get a lot of it here,” Holdsworth said.

This is not the only way the traditional food has affected people’s lives. Holdsworth shares one story about a family restaurant.

“We stopped at this one restaurant where they had a big tragedy in the family and it was their Grandfather who owned the restaurant and he passed away so they were going to close it and then our tour guide, Gill, started bringing groups to the restaurant

Paradise getaway. 1. A Costa Ri-

can landscape, “Every corner we turned thre was just thousands of more trees and you would see tons of these native birds flying in packs.” 2. The group also experienced local dances at a school, “As soon as we walked in they greeted us with a traditional dance and eventually pulled us into the dance with them, which was really rad.” 3. Junior Madison Brookes bonds with a Costa Rican native. PHOTOS

2.

COURTESY OF LUCY BAYLE AND KOLBY HOLDSWORTH

3.

just to get him to try and get him to bring it up and now it’s still a restaurant because of us. So we got to talk to the family,” Holdsworth said.

According to Holdsworth, when he came back from this trip, it changed the way he viewed normal, everyday things.

“I miss all the people,” Holdsworth said.

“Everything looked different no matter what you were looking at. There were buildings that had different colors and most of the people were wearing bright colors. It’s a really lively kind of place.”

Overall, the trip provided these students with memories and experiences unique to Costa Rican culture that they likely would not have had otherwise.

“Being with new people, exploring the towns, eating their food and doing some really fun, kind of scary things like white water rafting and ziplining in pouring rain that I would not normally do has really made me open up and see the world and life in a changed perspective,” Bayle said.

“It was such an incredible experience that I am beyond lucky to have had.”

Sept. 9, 2016

page 7

features

Do it for los Niños

Chaumillion volunteers at a Mexican orphanage to assist disabled children

by Kayla Hiken

As she was stepping off the plane in Mexico, senior Emilie Chaumillion had no idea how life-changing her volunteer work would be for the children in La Misión para Niños.

Chaumillion traveled to La Misión para Niños, The Mission at Carmen Serdan, in Mexico for four days over the fourth of July weekend.

“This was my first time traveling out of the country for volunteer work, as well as my first time working with mentally challenged kids,” Chaumillion said. “I have done other [volunteer work] but most hof those involved helping the homeless at churches.”

Chaumillion found this volunteer opportunity through her cousin’s church, Calvary Chapel in Yorba Linda, and the idea of helping a community outside of the country intrigued her.

“I went to help those who aren’t as fortunate as I am. Kids who were abandoned from birth because of their genetic defects and had no family that loved them or had the resources to take care of them,” Chaumillion said.

Before traveling to La Misión para Niños, she didn’t anticipate very much from the community, however once getting there Chaumillion was surprised by what she saw.

“First, I expected there to be more kids than there were at this orphanage. There were only 15 in total: 11 girls and 4 boys,” Chaumillion said. “The orphanage we went to was one out of the four in Mexico that cares for disabled kids, of the over 200 orphanages in total.”

Besides the small number of kids, Chaumillion was also surprised by the overall poot living conditions within the community.

“I’m not going to lie but I was expecting there to be cleaner bathrooms, however, they were bearable. Every time I had to pee in the morning I would look up and see that there were spiders hovering over me, and the idea that I could just wait till I got home in California to use the restroom sounded a lot better,” Chaumillion said. “Traveling to Mexico, Chaumillion was expecting communication to be very easy.

“I thought that the kids would only speak Spanish, but because most of them have been in the orphanage since they were babies, their English was phenomenal and talking to them wasn’t that hard,” Chaumillion said.

Although she went for volunteer work, Chaumillion was able to create some fun experiences, as well as relate with the kids on a personal level.

“My favorite part of the trip was connecting with the kids and seeing how different their lives were from mine. However, it was also comforting to know that they loved Disney and American cartoons, making it super easy to relate to them.” Chaumillion said. “I enjoyed watching how a simple act of kindness made such a difference in their attitude.

The fact that we showed them that we cared made them so happy and made me so grateful for this opportunity.”

Reflecting on the trip, Chaumillion was

All smiles. Chaumillion spends time with a child she met in La Misión para Niños. PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILIE CHAUMILLION

able to take away a lot of important life lessons.

“I learned not to take things for granted and to be grateful most importantly. It’s easy to live my life without thinking about not having to share my room with five other girls, and to say that I’ll never know what it’s like to have to worry about clean water or food portions,” Chaumillion said. “I’ll never know what it’s like to not be able to walk or have to sleep with certain restraints so I won’t hit myself when I sleep, or even just shower or

use the restroom by myself at their age.”

The ultimate goal of this trip was to help out a less fortunate community, however, Chaumillion was able to walk away from this trip with more appreciation for the life she lives.

“I know I helped a community, but it really feels like these kids helped me realize that I have to take a step back from my life and appreciate the little things that I take for granted, and I thank them,” Chaumillion said.

Cho bonds with underprivileged kids in Kazakhastan

by Marie Ona

The kids of Kazakhastan. Cho poses with

children she spent time with while patricipating in the mission project. PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNAH CHO

It’s as simple as her company to make a child’s smile. senior Hannah Cho spends quality time with kids in Kazakhstan. Cho was eager to travel to a new place for another mission with her church.

“I just love seeing the smiles and the gratitude of the people we serve. I just couldn’t wait to see the impact that we would make,” Cho said. “I was excited to know what we could do for these people.”

The church members taught dances, played games and made crafts with toddlers and elementary school students.

“Regardless of if they’re less fortunate or not I just like helping people,” Cho said. “I felt so proud. It was really nice just seeing how happy the kids were even if we did so little. It brings true joy to my life.”

The children had little outside interactions with foreigners. Through a translator, Cho became close with a few of them.

“I don’t think they’ve ever seen other people come to their church to serve them before. So when we were there a lot of these kids grew attachments on us,” Cho said. “Of course I bonded with the ones who grew attached to me.”

Another one of the activities included washing the children’s feet.

“I’ve never cried washing people’s feet in my life, but I did and it was so amazing,” she said. “I didn’t have any idea who these kids were but all of them were so nice.”

Senior Rebecca Yoo also reflects on her experience in Kazakhstan for her second time.

“It was a more interesting experience than my past mission trips because so many more things happened. Things that wouldn’t happen on normal basis happened.” Yoo said. “I saw one girl go into epileptic shock right behind me.”

According to Yoo, the developing country of Kazakhstan is becoming more modern with time.

“I think the nation as a whole improved because they are getting more techy,” Yoo said.

Cho learns to be more appreciative of how much more fortunate she is.

“I realized how much I have. Whatever I ask for I get it instantly so I realized how grateful I should be,” Cho said. “Life isn’t about the material things. There’s a much greater purpose in life.”

From this experience, Cho strives to be a better person.

“These kids have the necessities and I know I have so much more than that yet I want all these different things,” Cho said.

“The one thing I got from this is that I need to be a little less selfish. I’m trying and I hope it’s working.”

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Sept. 9, 2016

features

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s of today, there are one billion migrants, or people who move from place to place to find work, located globally. Thirtyfive percent of migrants in Mexico move to Baja California, and most feed their families with an average of five dollars a day. These are just some of the facts junior Taylor Rose learned on a week-long mission trip to Mexico.

Inalienable, a program that for the last 14 years has been called Baja Missions, works to defend the rights of migrant workers and support their families. This past July, Rose and youth director Stephan Hale traveled to the San Quintín Valley of Mexico to do just that.

“The summer trip doesn’t intend to create transformative change, it intends to support other people doing good work,” Hale said. “So on Baja Mission 2016, we didn’t save anyone’s life or anything dramatic like that, but we did help a woman’s shelter get a new facility that will let them protect twice as many families. We did help a bunch of kids in a migrant neighborhood start thinking about saving money, and teach boys that they can’t just assault girls and girls that it’s okay to say ‘no’ to men.”

On the trip along with Rose were RUHS students Emilio Valenzuela, Angie Tait, Bryan Hwang, Grace Tuuholoaki, Kylie Yorke and Adam Yorke. However, because she wasn’t a member of the church at the time, Rose knew little of what to expect from her unfamiliar peers and new experience.

“I didn’t expect that I would be able to build relationships like I did and come home so thankful for my own family, friends and where I live. I definitely did not expect to have my life changed by the children that I met only for a week,” Rose said.

With a group of forty adults and children combined, Hale decided their best strategy would be to divide and conquer. They split into different work sites; a summer education program, rebuilding a community wall, repairing a cramped women’s

1.

2.

Southbound

by Kylie Yorke

Taylor Rose travels to Mexico with her church group to help struggling migrant families South of the border. 1.

Sophomore Kylie Yorke and Junior Adam Yorke give piggy back rides to children in Colonial Los Angeles. 2. A mother and her children take pictures on an old couch in between parenting classes given by volunteers. 3. Another member of the church group helps the children with arts and crafts in order to keep them occupied during the parenting class.

4. Junior Taylor Rose poses after receiving flowers from the native children. 5. “One of the best things I did on this trip was taking portraits of the ladies in the children at the shelter. It was a interesting experience using my Spanish to gather them all up for a photo, but they were all very excited to have their picture taken,” Rose said. PHOTOS 1 AND 2 COURTESY OF TAYLOR ROSE. PHOTOS 3, 4 AND 5 COURTESY OF STEPHEN HALE.

3.

4.

shelter and building a new one to support more families. Rose ended up working with the women and children at New Beginnings 1, a shelter for abused women, as the project leader.

“One of the children that stood out the most to me was named Paco. At first when we got to New Beginnings 1, he was very different than the other children that we met,” Rose said. “He wasn’t as happy and excited to see us as the other kids were. After I got to know him and play with him more and see him basically grow throughout the week, he became like a whole other child.”

After asking about Paco’s strange behavior, Rose ended up learning about the difficult situations many of the children grow up in.

“After getting to know him a little bit more, the founder of New Beginnings, Dorothy explained to us that his mom has left him multiple times at the shelter, and has finally returned,” Rose said. “She also added that they know Paco went through a traumatic experience, which explains why he secludes himself.”

According to Hale, seeing the kids that the volunteers make connections with two or more years in a row can dramatically change the experience.

“I noticed that people who went last year had a slightly different experience this year,” Hale said. “They saw some of the same people they knew a year ago. And that’s a different sort of thing than most summer trips. Lots of summer trips, if you go year

5.

after year, you never meet the same people again. But to go back and see how people are, people you care about, that’s a big deal.

And it was cool to watch that happen.”

Rose and the other volunteers found that they could bond with the women and children of the shelter despite the language barrier.

“Getting to know the ladies at the shelter was a whole other experience,” Rose said.

“One of the days volunteers and I were able to make tortillas with them. It’s really amazing to see that they can laugh and still have a positive outlook on life even though they have been through so much.”

Rose noticed that both the women and children were all genuinely happy, despite their living situations.

“Every kid wanted a piggyback ride which was super fun for the volunteers but tiring as well. It was so amazing and interesting at the same time to see how many kids could just be so happy by just getting a piggyback ride,” Rose said. “It really shows some light on how the kids there don’t rely on material things like we do here.”

After a week working with the migrant families, Rose noticed that one of their most prominent problems was their lack of identification papers, such as a birth certificate.

Without these, it’s nearly impossible for them to move their life in any other direction than working in the fields.

“Their everyday lives were different because they have an emotional toll that I fortunately do not have,” Rose said. “Also, many families do not own cars so they have to take busses, and live in a shelter. Many of them do not have identification which is such a problem especially if an accident happens and they need to go to the hospital; they cannot be treated.”

Because many of the children aren’t born in hospitals or have families who can’t afford identification papers, they become trapped in this lifestyle with no rights or protection that is passed on to their children.

“These migrants are almost all Mexican citizens, but they don’t have a Mexican birth certificate, so they can’t prove it. So their kids can’t go to school, or they get kicked out around fifth grade. The parents can’t go to the hospital. No one can vote. You can’t open a bank account.…You’re trapped, because you can’t prove you’re actually a Mexican. And that’s a huge problem, because it means that the migrants can never get out of the fields. And what’s worse, neither can their kids,” Hale said.

Inalienable works with families to sort out paperwork and get the birth certificates of deserving families. This makes an especially large impact on the children’s lives, who then have infinate more opportunities for their future.

“Last year, during a test, we got 39 people birth certificates. Six of those were kids, who went back to school the next day. Going to school doesn’t mean those kids won’t wind up in the fields, breaking their back picking tomatoes for my dinner. But it does mean one more barrier has been removed. One

page 9 more thing that was holding them back, destroying their dignity, has been eliminated,” Hale said. “When we get these people birth certificates, we open a dozen doors to them.”

Although the work Inalienable does gives endless opportunities to migrant families, Hale knows he can’t have the same effect on every struggling migrant. He instead focuses on doing everything he can for the people he is able to.

“I think change almost always comes by a lot of people standing up and doing what’s right. I used to think it was like in comic books or in movies, where some hero goes and single-handedly stops evil,” Hale said.

“Now I see that in the real world, it’s almost never like that. For Baja Mission 2016, and for all of Inalienable, we’re just trying to stand up and be part of the forces of good in the world.”

Although Baja Missions has changed it’s name to Inalienable to open doors of working with migrants across the world, Hale and the youth group are still planning on returning to Baja next year.

“We made it clear that we want to we will come back next year, but still that is 365 days away, and a lot can happen in a year. I still think about Paco almost every day so I’m hoping that he will be there next year, but in a way I also hope he isn’t and hope he’ll will be living a better life,” Rose said.

Although they can look forward to returning next year, Rose and the other participants had a hard time letting go of the children and families they had grown so close to.

“The most emotional part was probably leaving. I remember at our last campfire, our youth leader Stephen spoke on how things were going to change when we leave, and how we’ve made such an impact but still are going to leave them. That really stood out to me,” Rose said. “I was really sad to leave the kids that I met at new beginnings and ladies as well. I secretly cried a little.”

One of the reasons Hale is so passionate about his work with Inalienable is the memory of a little girl named Martita.

“I drive down to the San Quintin Valley about once a month. As I’m driving, almost every single time I think about this little four-year old girl I met named Martita.

Inalienable was helping Martita’s parents and little sister get a birth certificate one day, and so I sat outside babysitting her. She really captured my heart,” Hale said.

Martita made Hale realize the importance of the work Inalienable does, and the direct and personal impact it makes on each family in Baja.

“As I was leaving Mexico that evening afterward, I remember being shocked that I really loved this kid I had barely met. I felt like I would do anything to protect her, if I could,” Hale said. “It was this real, genuine, honest love for another person. And so each month, as I drive down there by myself, I remember Martita, and remember that every other migrant that I have met, or haven’t met, is just as important and valuable as Martita.”

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Healing invisible scars Adkins and Napohaku volunteer with veterans who have PTSD through ocean therapy

by Yasi Fazeli An older woman, though hesitant at first, climbs on to the board and kneels as the wave carries her to shore. When she is surrounded by water and the cheering of volunteers, she forgets, for a moment, her past life in war.

Sophomore Bella Adkins volunteered with the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation’s summer ocean therapy program in Manhattan Beach to help veterans with PTSD. “Ocean Therapy was basically letting the waves and water calm them down,” Adkins said. “We taught them how to surf. We didn’t take them too far out, but just pushed them into waves and they rode it out to the end.”

According the Jimmy Miller Foundation, surfing has been proven to be an effective form of Ocean Therapy, as it allows participants to feel “independent.” The program can be used as a one-time course or as a way to track the progress of individuals suffering from mental trauma.

Senior Ikaika Napohaku, who also helped out with the the program, was able to see this sense of freedom in the participants develop alongside their surfing abilities.

“They show up, and they’re really quiet. In the water they’re nervous and anxious about learning how to swim and surf, but they’re having fun,” Napohaku said. “A lot of them strayed away from talking about their experiences in war. And, us volunteering there was really to do just that: to get their minds off of it.”

Many of the foundation’s members are new to surfing, but despite the struggle to learn how to balance on the board, almost ev-

eryone, according to Adkins and Napohaku, seemed to enjoy the process. Adkins also appreciated how “open” many of them were to the new experience.

“At one point, many [volunteers] were in the back cheering on the sand because not everyone knew how to instruct. This one [veteran] came in on a wave, and she was actually standing, but as soon as the board was about to reach the sand, she asked, ‘How do I get off?’ The bottom of the fin hit the sand and she was wobbling. She almost fell, but we caught her, and afterwards she said she had a lot of fun,” Napohaku said.

Adkins volunteered three times in three hour classes throughout the course of the summer, and feels a sense of “gratification” knowing that she was able to participate in a program that helped those with a severe problem.

“It’s really great to see how happy it makes someone,” Adkins said. “Helping them through something as bad as PTSD, and for me to be able to help them forget about it for a little while changed me because I was helping people out with [a problem] that’s really challenging.”

Though Adkins feels that she didn’t spend enough time with the veterans to tracking their progress, or to truly get to know any of them, she was able to see them ease into the program and begin to enjoy themselves.

“It made me feel really nice. I even heard a couple of them say they forgot about their PTSD for a little while. Just seeing how happy they were and how relaxed they were

made me feel good,” Adkins said.

According to Napohaku, felt the drawback was the challenge in constantly keeping on the surfers to make sure they stayed safe when they fell off their boards, however the experience overall was “rewarding for everyone.”

Working with veterans with PTSD has

Worse when reminded of trauma

ks

ac b h s

Fla

Symptoms of PTSD

caused Adkins to shift her perspective regarding her day-to-day problems and has encouraged her to participate in more volunteer programs.

“I stopped thinking about how bad I think my problems are compared to theirs,” Adkins said “It just felt great to focus on someone else for a change.”

nce Hyper-vigila

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idan o v A Nightmares

Hyper-arousal

Intrusive memories

Memory and concentration Abnormal startle responses

Sept. 9, 2016

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features

It’s a beautiful day to save lives

to do it anymore. She told me that since I like pets, I should become a veterinarian since it still involves doing something in the medical field.”

Boules hopes to become one step closer to achieving this goal by attending a four year university such as Cal Poly Pomona to study Pre-Veterinary Animal Science.

Dang is planning on attending UCI to get her bachelor’s degree, and UCLA for medical

EG

“Make sure you’re prepared for anything and everything. ”

through surgery,” Dang said. “I just like less pain.”

Unlike Dang, Boules’ experience in the field has made him question his future career paths when helping him come up with the idea of pursuing something that combines both of his passions.

“I have already changed my mind of having a career in solely the medical field and now hope to become a veterinarian,” Boules said. “Volunteering in the hospital gets very hectic sometimes, so one day I was talking to my mom and told her about how it was causing me not to want

BY LU MA W

Boules start their day surrounded by other volunteers hoping to experience a glimpse of what it’s like to have a career in medicine.

When the doctors are in need of assistance, they get the opportunity to discharge patients, send charts, deliver labs, and transfer patients.

Although the medical field and the aspect of helping people has always appealed to Boules and Dang, their family members prompted both of their initial interests in medicine.

“I’ve always been interested in the medical field and my mom works at Torrance Memorial,” Boules said. “My brother also volunteered there two years ago and would always tell me how much he enjoyed it and how fun it was helping others.”

For Dang, volunteering has made her realize that she would like to follow her family’s career path in the medical field and become an anesthesiologist or pediatrician.

“I love kids, and I’ve always found anesthesiology a cool way to keep people pain free

TRA TIO NS

Every week they sit in a hospital room among other volunteers, anxiously waiting for their names to be called. They can see doctors running back and forth from patient to patient through the halls, leaving them to wonder if they want to follow in their footsteps. Juniors Katrina Dang and John Boules volunteer at Torrance Memorial Hospital in order to have a first hand experience working in the medical field.

“I have always enjoyed helping people and I hope volunteering here will help me with my future career,” Dang said. “This is a way to help me decide if I want to pursue this path.”

Dang has been volunteering at the hospital since May, and Boules since April. Both look to continue in the future, and have already noticed many benefits from the work they’ve done.

“Through volunteering, I have become more aware of what people are going through and have learned not to judge a book by it’s cover,” Dang said. “I have also been able to learn to manage my time wisely by balancing school with vo lu n t e e r ing.”

Dang and

ILL US

by Lizzie Fauver

MA N

Dang and Boules volunteer at Torrance Memorial

school.

Both Dang and Boules believe that pursuing a career in medicine takes commitment despite any challenges you may face.

“If you want to pursue the medical field, just make sure you’re prepared for anything and everything, whether it’s trying to help a patient who has the most bizarre symptoms to trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English,” Boules said.

Darthard starts concussion awareness nonprofit

by Kelly Harraka

After her sister’s concussion, she researches for hours and posts an update on her blog about the effects that concussions have on people and how to prevent them in the future. Sophomore Elon Darthard started her own program called Preserving Minds after her sister’s life changing head injury.

“My program provides information to athletes and their families for an easy transition from head injuries to returning to their lifestyle,” Darthard said.

Darthard began this program after her sister got a serious head injury while playing basketball. “[My family] went to different programs and found [my sister’s] experience wasn’t what she thought it would be. We felt like we were figuring out things along the way and a lot of the programs didn’t follow through with getting back to us,” Darthard said. “So, we wanted to make a program that catered to student athletes so that they would get the information that they needed.”

Kiari, Darthard’s sister who is now in college, remembers the toll that the injury took on her at the time.

“After the concussion, I was in a state of devastation because basketball had been a part of my life since I was a child. I found it hard to replace [my] passion,” Kairi said.

Darthard had trouble living with her sister’s various emotional changes such insomnia, depression, and was easily agitated.

“She went through a period of depression and regret, thinking it was her fault. Her whole demeanor changed afterward and she had extreme mood swings like cry at something funny or laugh at something sad or serious,” Darthard said. “She looked fine, and people couldn’t see her injury and that was the problem. They couldn’t tell she was hurting.”

Wanting other families to have a better experience with recovering from injuries, Darthard started the Persevering Minds program along with her mom and sister and works on it whenever she can.

“I feel that with this program, people won’t have as much difficulty as [my family] did with understanding doctors and how concussions affect people.”

Darthard and her family have just started

voicing their knowledge on head injuries through the internet.

“Our program is new, but we are just now working out the website and social media.

We are trying to get people involved and aware. I plan to make it effective by providing online resources and raising awareness through instagram or a blog,” Darthard said.

Although she learned a lot through her sister’s injury, she knows that there is more information to gain about head injuries.

“Everybody is different but as we progress and get to know and learn about different situations with concussions we’ll be able to teach it better. We learn from [past concussions] and can provide support so people don’t think to themselves ‘Are we doing the right thing?’, like [my family] did with my sister,” Darthard said.

Although her sister is away in college, Darthard makes sure that her Kiari is a part in the program.

“We always consult each other whether it be me asking her or her asking me about adding something to our social media,” Darthard said.

Darthard hopes to pursue a career in the medical field as a neurologist or a sports medicine physician in order to make advancements in the knowledge of head injuries.

“I plan for my program to be lifelong work. In the future I hope to have doctors working on research and maybe even working with other programs,” Darthard said. “I want to limit the amount of concussions that occur by raising awareness before the accident happens.”

Kiari is happy to see that her sister wants to help those who deal with head injuries.

“It’s refreshing to see my sister enter a profession that solves the problems I experienced,” Kiari said.

Now that her sister has recovered, Darthard hopes to make student athletes and their families more aware of the risk of head injury by not only expanding on social media, but talking to people in person too.

“I think by initiating our website, going to our school, and talking to athletes and coaches, we will be able to limit head injuries,” Darthard said.

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CAPITOL HILL

Barbee spends his summer working at Sacramento Capitol Building

by Caterina Hyneman At the very back of the Senate chamber in the California State Capitol, behind the dais where the senate pro tem will sit during session lies one of the more impressive parts of the building: a small storage room. The room houses more than just dust; it holds columns from the original Capitol Building.

Senior Steven Barbee, awed by the piece of history the room contained, spent time there accompanied by the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Dotson Wilson. He spent more time in the rest of the Capitol, working about 370 hours total at various internships. Barbee served as a lobbyist, a receptionist and a legislative intern for Senator Hueso, and shadowed the Chief Clerk and Legislative Deputy for Education as well as Wilson.

“I would not have traded these experiences for anything,” Barbee said. “The sheer amount of networking and experience I obtained this summer is invaluable. I would do it all over again if I could.”

Barbee was offered an internship at Capitol Advisors, a lobbyist group which advocates for organizations and individuals involved in K-12 education after being introduced to the company’s president, Kevin Gordon, during RUHS’ Sacramento Safari field trip.

“I moved up [to Sacramento] on Fourth of July weekend and I hit the ground running,” Barbee said. “I was working from eight to six. I did all my duties, I took phone calls for clients, and I worked with offices and had offices calling me to see how we were going to support things. We’ll track all the bills for them and also handle facilities.”

The work he did and the people he met at Capitol Advisors would help Barbee get more jobs in the future.

“From my time there I was able to expand my network and hopefully create future opportunities for myself,” Barbee said. I got to meet several amazing people such as Kevin Gordon, Jack O’Connell and many more.”

After over a month of supporting or opposing bills as a middleman for clients, Barbee transitioned to being instrumental in getting bills passed on the floor. Starting off as a receptionist for District 40 Senator Hueso, Barbee was quickly promoted to legislative intern.

“I would have to get pamphlets from the bill offices downstairs, then I had to talk to the chief of staff and the Legislative Directors of the offices of other members in order to find out information on bills that Senator Hueso was jockeying on the Senate floor,”

said Barbee. “I had to get all of their analysis and their statements, their talking points.

Then I had to edit the statements and make them presentable for Senator Hueso to read.

I’d make it concise, grammatically correct, how the senator wanted it in his format, and he’d take it directly and read it on the floor.”

Barbee became a common presence on the Senate and Assembly floors documenting what had been said during session, taking vote counts and informing and helping Senator Hueso make decisions.

“I’d be back there with all the members, talking with them, and that’s where I met all my really good connections,” Barbee said. “I met anyone from the Democratic majority leader Ian Calderon to speaker Brendan in the assembly. I met Ben Allen, Isadore Hall, anyone you name. I was with them on the floor the whole time.”

Believing that he would return home, Barbee was surprised by yet another opportunity. With experience in reading and understanding bills and statutes, Barbee transitioned to shadowing Legislative Deputy for Education Cathy McBride, preparing pamphlets with the bills that Governor Jerry Brown would either sign or veto.

“They stuck me in the war room for the day; all the bills that have been passed are in there. I’m making these packets, and it was really rewarding because I know he is going to look at that packet,” said Barbee. “I was making those for the whole day and it was crazy because you look at bills and puts it in perspective. He will flip that thing open, read as much as he wants, get the advice and he can either veto it with a red stamp, or he can sign it.”

Barbee has made a name for himself in the Capitol, doing work and making connections that may have a large impact on his future plans.

“I plan to continue my path of public service,” Barbee said. “All the experience in my positions has exposed me to many aspects of government and politics. I would like to be Secretary of State under a future president someday.”

1.

Future Secratery of State.

2.

1. Senior Steven Barbee sits on the floor of the California Assembly with Kevin Gordon, the president of Capitol Advisors. 2. Barbee prepares panphlets at the desk of California Governor, Jerry Brown. 3. “Get involved in your community.

Research and apply for internship opportunities. Take on leadership positions in activities at school or in your city. Ask for advice from those in leadership and offer to help out in any way you can. Always be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, even if you don’t understand what may come of it,” Barbee said. PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVEN BARBEE

3.

Sept. 9, 2016

Cure(ious)

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Chakladar interns at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

by Reem Chamas After eight weeks of spending time in the lab and doing research for his project, he is finally ready. Senior Jaideep Chakladar and his lab partner gathered all their data and displayed them on posters. He took a deep breath and began his oral presentation to an audience of representatives from a research institute called L A Biomed and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He was nervous at first when he saw all the faces, but then he remembered everything he learned in the past eight weeks.

Unfortunately, he could not go into detail about the data he collected because it was not published at the time of the interview.

“I worked in the infectious disease department of LA Biomed,” Chakladar said. “I worked with fungus to treat fungal infections.”

This summer internship is a very selective program because over 100 students apply, however only 20 are chosen.

“I didn’t expect myself to get in,” Chakladar said. “I threw in an application to give myself a chance, and when I got in it was amazing. I met everyone else who got in, and it was weird because I felt like the caliber was so high, and almost

as if I didn’t belong, but later I learned that I fit in very well there.”

Chakladar had help from his chemistry teacher, Ms. Dillard and college counselor Mrs. Rodriguez, to find and apply

for the program.

“I looked through a lot of internships throughout my junior year, and my teachers definitely helped me find it because they knew I had an interest in biomedical science and research,” Chakladar said.

Chakladar realized he had a passion for science.

“I’ve been interested in biology and chemistry since around middle school,” Chakladar said. “I think my interest in medicine was cemented around freshman and sophomore year.”

Chakladar’s teachers and mentors acknowledged his passion and began to work with him so he could become more experienced.

“I had a good experience because everyone in my lab was very understanding and they could see my passion for medicine and for research, so they were willing to incorporate me in their work,” Chakladar said. “So not only did I do my own work, I worked with other researchers on separate projects as well.”

This internship helped Chakladar be more self-assured that he wanted to become a doctor and more open minded to different specialties.

“It was a really awesome program, and if anything it made me more committed to becoming a doctor,” Chakladar said.

“It really opened me up to different pathways, because I went into the program thinking that I strictly wanted to be an oncologist when I’m older, but after talking to a lot of people it kind of opened me up to different possibilities. If you are interested in biomedical research then you should definitely apply.”

Students volunteer at The Pediatric Therapy Network

by Miriam Farah

She looks down and sees him excitedly motion with his hands the signs for horses, chickens and sheep. She beams and takes his hand as they walk towards the petting zoo.

Sophomore Natalie Gracia volunteered at The Pediatric Therapy Network which is a non-profit organization for disabled people between the ages of five to 14 that organizes summer camps filled with dancing, arts and crafts, petting zoo, yoga, and more at the Rolling Hills Country Day School.

Each volunteer is paired with a disabled child, called a buddy, for the duration of the week and is in charge of taking care of them, as well as helping them participate and eat.

“My favorite activity to do with my buddy is dancing because the kids are so cute and they’re always having the best time. I think it’s something that everyone can do whether they are in a wheelchair or nonverbal since they know how to move,” Garcia said.

Although junior Ellie Connell enjoyed her time helping the disabled children, difficulties arose when her buddy could not verbally communicate with her things he needed.

“Esteban is a non-verbal, so I learned to communicate with him through body signs he would use to let us know that he wanted to go to the bathroom or wanted more food.

He is an interesting kid that left me blown away. It was a little scary [at first] because he was a runner so every time he had the

chance to run, he would run, but it was fun.

We made a game out of it,” Connell said.

After volunteering for two years there, Connell believes the camp has molded her into a “new person.”

“For me to put a smile on a kid’s face was perfect. I would absolutely recommend this program to everyone because it’s truly amazing. We don’t get paid for it but I would do it anytime without pay,” Connell said.

As a first time volunteer, junior Chandler Kauffman received the opportunity to work with disabled children and learned many lessons during her week there.

“I [needed] to understand my kid to help her join activities other kids were doing because she couldn’t join something [by herself] and continue with it. I needed to tell her how to do it and guide her so she can become comfortable doing it,” Kauffman said.

Even after working with disabled children every summer, Garcia never stops learning how to patiently handle them and understand their needs.

“This year was difficult year because my buddy was frustrated because he was nonverbal. He used sign language but [he] wouldn’t always have the best signs so it was hard to tell what he wanted. He couldn’t communicate with me what he wanted to do and I would ask him to do something but he kept refusing. Loud noises bothered him, so going to restroom and eating was a struggle,” Garcia said.

Garcia believes it is important for disabled children to form friendships, join summer camps, and participate in “normal activities.”

“I learned that they require a lot of patience which is why some kids might get frustrated with them and might have a hard time but they aren’t any different than we are. They want to have friends and some fun.

They matter too. It’s important that someone knows that and they get the chance to feel normal,” Garcia said.

Through her experience of helping dis- Buddy up. Junior Chandler Kauffman blows bubbles with her buddy. “In that abled children, Garcia moment I was speechless,” Kauffman said. “To put a big smile on Estaban’s face wishes to work more was incredible. Learning to communicate with him, even though he could not speak took some time, but once we figured it out he was always laughing and often with them by always had a smile on his face.” PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANDLER KAUFFMAN pursuing a career in about it before, but now that I’ve had that exthe medical field, specifically therapy.

“Before this year’s camp, I wanted to be perience, I want to learn more and continue a physical or occupational therapist to work sign language and communicating with the hands-on with the kids, but this year opened kids because it was really special,” Garcia my eyes to speech therapy. I did not think said.

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sports

High Tide

Girls’ volleyball continues winning ways

by Adam Yorke

For the win.

The team celebrates after winning the game. PHOTO BY HALEY RIGBY-O’CONNOR

For the past two years, Redondo Girls’ Volleyball has been California state champions. Last night, they played their first home game of the season, beating Bishop Montgomery 3-1.

“We just came to play do our best. Bishop is one of the weaker schools we play so we expected to do pretty well against them, a loss would have been disappointing because it’s our first school match and starting off the season with a loss is never a good thing,” junior Sam Pahl said.

Despite the anticipation of an easy game, Bishop put up a fight.

The game started out close, both Redondo and Bishop traded short scoring streaks.

Redondo was able to pull ahead to 21-10 but Bishop fought their way up to 22-17. Five long rallies later and Redondo had clinched the first set 25-19.

The second set was more of the same.

Both teams traded points and halfway through, at 10-14, it looked as if Bishop could pull ahead. But Redondo fought back and went on an 8-2 run.

However, Redondo lost its lead after a series of bad serves and Bishop aces. The set ended 25-21 Bishop.

Again, both teams were fighting for a lead in the third set. They continued to trade points until Redondo pulled ahead to a 20-14 lead. Freshmen libero Nazani Iosia led Redondo the rest of the way, putting massive pressure on the Bishop back line with powerful serves and precise and agile returns. The set ended 25-17 for Redondo.

Bishop started the fourth set strong, getting an early 5-1 lead. But Redondo rallied and energized the crowd as they went on an

18-6 streak.

The Sea Hawks continued to punish a defiant Bishop Montgomery as Redondo slammed and poked their way to a 25-20 win in front of an ecstatic crowd.

After 11 seniors graduated last year, including the number two setter in the nation, Norene Iosia, the possible success of this year’s team is in question.

“We lost a lot of great talent last year but we got some amazing talent from other schools and we have some really skilled freshmen on varsity,” Pahl said.

Despite the “great talent” brought from new players, the team has a different dynamic from last year.

The team has been practicing since August 1, mainly focusing on team chemistry.

“In practice we have been working on a lot first ball sideout, passing, and playing as a team. What I do know about Redondo volleyball, is that we train and play for championships. Our practices are high intensity and very competitive. Everyone is constantly pushing each other to be the best,” junior Kira Zimmerman said.

Redondo plays Orange Lutheran next Tuesday at home, which will be a rematch from the Oxnard tournament semifinals where Redondo won in a close fifth set.

The girls hope to find more success during the season and through the postseason.

“The toughest team to beat is definitely going to be Mira Costa and Mater Dei this year, but we are confident we can win,” Pahl said. “After that we want to win Bay League, CIF, and we want are working towards winning state so Redondo can win for a third time in a row.”

Girls’ tennis beats Long Beach Poly in first game

by Jon Mallen

Girls’ tennis moves into the 2016 season with optimism and uncertainty with new players entering the varsity roster and a fewer amount of returning players.

“We definitely have a great group of girls this year who are committed to making the team great,” junior Eliana Stewart said. “This season is very unprecedented since we lost a lot of our seniors who graduated last year,” Stewart said.

Alumni Emily Zargham and Alyssa Grijalva were two “key players” from last year’s team that moved on to play in college. There is still a great presence of talent in Grijalva’s sister, according to varsity coach Jessica Seibert.

“I’m feeling good because we got Alyssa Grijalva’s sister, Amy, in this year as a freshman,”

Upcoming Varsity Games and Matches this Week:

Seibert said. “She’s gong to really help us out this season playing singles.”

Seibert feels more confident in the team’s success in CIF this season. With the recent restructuring of the CIF tournament and the adjustment of teams between divisions, Redondo has moved from Division I to Division II. “The restructuring of CIF gives us a better shot at getting further into the team competition,” Seibert said.

According to Seibert, the hard work in the summer both inside and outside the program by much of the players is “promising.”

“I know that all the girls have worked hard over the summer and I see improvement already,” Seibert said.

Stewart credits her own improvement to

the work put in over the summer.

“There’s a lot more movement throughout the whole team and everyone seems to be moving more and more on their feet,” Stewart said. “I worked really hard on my movement this summer which was one of my weaknesses.”

Stewart believes that less injuries, more shot variation, and a greater team spirit will expand the team’s horizons in comparison to last year.

“Last year, we definitely had a loss in our hype and spirit, and no one seemed excited to play. That’s a huge factor because if you don’t want to play, you don’t want to win,” Stewart said.

“This year, varsity is really trying to bring back fun things to do to keep the team excited

to play.”

With more enjoyment, Stewart feels the season will be a positive one.

“I just have a really good gut feeling that this season will be fun and we will definitely get a lot of experience out of it,” Stewart said.

An impromptu scrimmage last week against Del Oro last week brought a 6-12 loss.

On Tuesday, the girls bounced back with an 11-7 win over Long Beach Poly.

With a successful win over a team that “had given [them] trouble before,” Stewart is hopeful for the new varsity players moving in from the junior varsity team, as well as the success of the returners.

“It’s their time to show off their skills, and our time to keep improving ours,” Stewart said.

9/9 - Home: Football vs San Pedro 9/13 - Home: Water Polo vs El Dorado 9/12 - Away: Tennis vs North Torrance 9/13 - Away: Golf vs West Torrance 9/15 - Home: Golf vs West Torrance 9/13 - Away: Tennis vs South Torrance 9/13 - Home: Volleyball vs Orange Lutheran

Sept. 9, 2016

Football prepares for game against San Pedro

page 15

sports

by Luke Peterson

Varsity football is playing an away game today at San Pedro and is looking for its second win of the season. The team’s last game, an away game at Vista Murrieta, resulted in a shutout loss of 31-0.

“They were bigger than us so our ultimate game plan was to win up front; we had to be more physical than them,” senior linebacker Chase Watson said about the loss at Vista. “That meant we had to contain their quarterback while forcing turnovers at the same time.

Missed tackles really hurt us that night.”

The team feels that it had both large and small scale errors that contributed to the loss against Vista, which have become a focus of practice.

“Even with our errors, no matter how small, our defense did a good job holding them in the first half. There were just too many mental errors and missed tackles; you can’t win football games like that. We had chances to put points on the board but couldn’t capitalize,” Watson said.

Besides specific parts of its game like offense or defense, the team stresses strength in mental areas.

“A big difference for the players is that the consistency in the way we approach our practices during the week. That’s the ultimate deciding factor for whether the games on Friday are going to be good for us or not,” senior Tristan Osborne said.

With adjustments made in practice, the team feels it has a good chance to win against San Pedro.

“The week of the game at Vista Murrieta, we

ultimately had a regular week of practice, but going into Friday we really stood Vista up at 14 points there for a while,” Osborne said. “Overall, we let our mistakes get ahead of ourselves, but we’re ready to capitalize this week.”

Adjustments the team makes in practice are commonly dependent on the characteristics of its opposition, exploiting known weaknesses.

“We getting ready for San Pedro similarly to last week, just focusing on fixing the mistakes we had and adjusting our defense based on the other team’s offensive capabilities and vice versa,” Watson said.

Football players, especially on the varsity level, partake in rigorous training procedures to play with intensity and purpose. Half of their practices focusing on offense and the other half focusing on defense. Their schedule is also dictated by the bell schedule.

“We do some more conditioning after every practice. It’s pretty much the same thing everyday, depending on whether we have sixth period or if it’s after school on Wednesdays.

On Wednesdays we have team yoga with Mrs. Dessert and finish the day with a night practice that ends at 8:30.”

Beyond the skills of game, seniors especially have an extra role to fill as mentors for younger players.

“We have a much younger team this year.

Our offense is going to be really different this year as we don’t have as many experienced players,” Watson said.

According to Watson, losing games after the amount of time the team has devoted to improvement is frustrating, and only strength-

Thrown into Fall. Senior quarterback Jack Alexander looks down the field for a reciever to throw to in a game against Rancho Verde. PHOTO BY MATTHEW YONUMERA ens his desire to win.

The team’s approach to the rest of the season involves general improvements.

“We want to make it to the end of the year as a stronger and closer team, and to come out of CIF with at least a little something and not leave the season with any regrets,” Osborne

said.

The team is inspired by its losses to win again.

“We’re even more hungry. Losses never feel good and we want to do everything we can to make sure we don’t repeat the reasons for the loss,” Watson said. “As long as we do our job

The Big Bear necessities: XC goes to Big Bear training camp

by Angie Tait

Cross Country runners embarked on a week-long camp to Big Bear Mountain earlier this summer to train for the upcoming season in a high-altitude camp.

“It’s a chance for us to kind of set the tone for the summer, and we can see how the training is going to go,” coach Bob Leetch said. “We bring up the key varsity and top [junior varsity] runners. It really helps to get them out of this environment here and in a place where they can focus on the team’s goals.”

The athletes woke up at exactly 7 AM every morning in the week of July 17 to 22 for a “longer, key workout of the day,” followed by breakfast and then an event or competition that helped with team bonding, with a shorter workout or run after lunch.

However, the runners would exercise at different intensities based on their experience and age.

“The distances and times Just keep running. Junior Kade Erickson and sophomore Rudy Orre lead a group on a run on Big Bear Lake. COUR- would vary. For a more experi-

TESY OF BOB LEECH

enced distance runner, they may be going 8 to 12 miles on a heavy day. Then, for a freshman or just someone with less of a mileage background, they would be doing more of a 5 or 6 mile run,” Leetch said.

While the team already meets and trains together 6 mornings every week, the Big Bear trip is considered unique due to the benefits of the training in high elevation, as well as the time spent solely as a group.

“The altitude really helps with breathing because at higher altitudes there’s not enough air to breathe, so training there helps our breathing when we’re back at sea level,” senior captain Ethan Comeaux said. “It’s also a good bonding experience for the team, because we bonded not only as a varsity team but as an entire cross country team.”

In addition to the extra training and teambonding, co-captains Comeaux and junior Izzy Ramirez agreed that packing up, or running close together as a team during a race, would be a key skill to work on between the Cool Breeze Invitational on Sept. 3 and their next race.

“This year, since a lot of the girls run similar times, it will be important both for the girls’ and boys’ team, that we know how to pack up to help us in terms of racing and preparing for State,” Ramirez said.

Even so, according to the team, this year’s team is bringing an enormous amount of tal-

ent. Top varsity runners Comeaux and sophomore Ben Tait, who are currently ranked 70 and 79 in the nation, finished in the top two places in their race at the invitational.

“I think the team is looking great so far.

Ben [Tait] and I will be doing our best to place as high as we can in the races. I’m not as worried about these early season races, but CIF, State, and National races are where I’m hoping to perform better,” Comeaux said.

Leetch had similar thoughts, praising the efforts of his two great runners and citing them as vital for the team’s success this season.

“It was a great start for us; we have a long way to go, and we’ll get a lot better. I think the boys, having Ethan and Ben up front, were terrific, they were running well within themselves, and it’s always great to go 1st and 2nd at an invitational,” Leetch said.

Another large superpower, according to Leetch, is the freshmen girls’ group, who are already displaying “varsity-caliber fitness.”

“For freshmen boys, there’s not a lot of experience running in any type of competition, and I think they’ll be a little bit later in terms of getting their fitness together and understanding the racing,” Leetch said.

“Then I think the [freshmen] girls, with Kacey [Bohney], Shelby [Bender], and Molly [Hastings] leading the pack, are going to be very good right away. Clearly we already have some amazing runners and their racing this season is going to be incredible.”

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High Tide

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Celerbration. 1.“The celebration was basically all over the country, but I was at Taksim Square,” Ghazal said. “Over there, there were thousands of people waving flags, blasting music, fireworks, every-

thing. There was no organization, people just went out like that.” 2. The group’s leader tells the crowd what to chant as they prepare to wave the flag through the streets. 3. Yoseph and Waleed Ghazal come out to the square to celebrate with locals. 4. “I knew being out there with them meant I was a part of history,” said Ghazal. “Despite not being Turkish, I felt what everyone else was feeling, victory.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF YOSEPH CHAZAL

[cont. from cover] cause of all the traffic. It was crazy,” Ghazal said.

One of the scariest parts, according to Ghazal was the uncertainty of what was going to happen.

“My biggest fear was that something would happen to me or my family, or that I’d sleep and something would happen in the hotel. What also scared me was the fear of ‘How long are we going to be stuck here? Is it going to last a long time? Or is it something that is going to end quick?’” Ghazal said.

For Ghazal’s brother Sami, a junior at RUHS, walking down the street, out in the open was, “scary.”

“The scariest part of the whole thing was seeing the tanks in the streets surrounded by military men holding assault rifles and waking up in the middle of the night to hear jets flying over our hotel,” Sami said, Despite his own fear, Ghazal “didn’t want to miss such a big part of history.”

“I was scared something might happen at the hotel because we were so close to the airport and there were riots two blocks away and F-16s flying over the hotel. I also knew I was experiencing history so I didn’t want to miss a single moment despite the fear. I kept watching the news up until it ended,” Ghazal said.

When it did end, Ghazal felt “relieved” that it was over, but he was hap- py that

he got to experience it.

“The entire night I couldn’t sleep because of the fear, until I finally saw the headline on the news ‘Turkish coup over. Government regains control.’ After that, it was a huge moment of relief. We didn’t know what would happen next after that,” Ghazal said.

His relief, however, was not immediate because there had been false claims of the coup ending.

“I was not relieved at first because they showed that headline three times. There was lots of confusion because every time they said it was over, something else would pop up on the news. Eventually the last time they said it was officially over, they had videos of mass arrests of coup troops,” Ghazal said.

Sami also felt relieved after finding out t h e

coup was finally over.

“When I found out the coup ended, I was filled with relief and joy knowing that I survived one of the scariest times of my entire life, because we didn’t know when the coup could have ended,” Sami said.

After the coup ended, celebrations broke out around the country.

“I saw in the square there were a lot of people and it was starting to grow. It started off with maybe a hundred people in the square, chanting, and it became more and more. I don’t know how to describe it,” Ghazal said. “There were maybe thousands of people just in that square. Late afternoon to maybe two a.m., they were out on the streets with music blasting, people celebrating, fireworks, flares, all that stuff. It was amazing.”

Despite not being Turkish, Ghazal and his brothers joined in the celebrations after the coup ended.

“When the rioting happened, I was more observing it. But the rioting the next day mellowed out into celebration, and that’s when I actually went in and joined. I started chanting with them,” Ghazal said. “Honestly, I just went out because everyone else was out.

But just the fact that people were out in the streets, and there were all these celebrations and riots, I thought that’d be a big moment in history that I didn’t want to miss.”

Ghazal noticed a change in the atmosphere from before the coup began to when it ended.

“Everything was a lot more mellow; people were just going about their daily lives, but there wasn’t as much Turkish pride. After the coup ended, everyone had Turkish flags up,” Ghazal said. “People had Turkish flags waving from their cars, stuff like that.

So there was definitely a big jump in Turkish pride and nationalism after the coup, regardless of whether they were pro government or anti government.”

According to Sami, celebrating after the coup was an experience he “will never forget.”

“It was an amazing experience to celebrate with them,” Sami said. “You really felt the spirit of the Turkish people and how they really do take pride in their country.”

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