High Tide April 2, 2015

IGH H

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA April 2, 2015 Vol. XCV Edition 12

TIDE Getting inked

Beenish Siddiqui practices henna as a way to embrace her culture

by Zach Hatakeyama

PHOTO COURTESY OF BEENISH SIDDIQUI

Inside

Tatted. One of Siddiqui’s Henna designs.

With her hands shaking and eyes strained, she steps back and takes a look at the intricate finished product on her friend’s hand.

Junior Beenish Siddiqui has just finished applying one of many henna designs she has been perfecting.

Henna, or mehndi, is a popular form of temporary tattooing in South Asian, Arab, and North African nations, with some designs having significant meaning to their cultures.

“The art of henna is what I live for,” Siddiqui said. “It is an intimate form of self expression. Applying henna makes me feel like I have no limits, no boundaries and no restrictions.”

Since she was young, Siddiqui has always had a fascination with applying henna but it was not until recently when she began practicing.

[cont. on pg. 10]

pg. 3

pg. 6

pg. 17

Comedy Sportz held a Hunger Games- themed improv night on Tuesday

Corey Dombrowski is in training to become a licensed pilot

Claire Siverts’ family has a stand-up paddle board company called SailPaddle.

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High Tide

news

News and Briefs

RUHS Jazz at the Beach Festival

2.

PHOTOS BY CHANDLER ROSS

Never falling flat. 1. Band Director Raymundo

1.

Vizcarra conducts for RUHS Jazz Band A. The festival featured school bands from “across the West Coast,” including St. Genevieve, Mira Costa, Sumner High School, and special performances by the El Camino College Jazz Band One and the LA Lawyers Big Band. 2. Junior Josh Childress performs a solo on his saxophone at RUHS’ first annual Jazz at the Beach festival.

Acadec won awards at State

by Roxanne Labat

Academic Decathlon competed at the State competition in Sacramento on March 19 to the 22.

Decathletes took seven tests in the following categories: social science, science, math, music, economics, literature, and art.

On the second day, Decathletes participated in interview, speech, and Super Quiz competitions.

“The first day that we got there, we panic-studied,” senior and Decathlete Samantha Karnes said. “Including studying at dinner, while we were eating.”

Senior and Decathlete Luna Hijikata also felt the stress of competition.

“Some of us stayed up until 2 in the morning studying for literature,” Hijikata said. “We practiced by doing head-to-head challenges in our rooms at the hotel.”

Even with maximum preparation the night before, Academic Decathlon still experienced obstacles mere hours before the time of the competition.

“Two of our Decathletes, seniors Lizzy Sieger and Winston Wong, were sick the night before the competition,” Hijikata said.

“They performed well, though. Lizzy actually won a bronze medal in speech.”

Karnes felt the pressure of the competition, especially on the day of the big interview.

“We entered the room and it smelled like fear, awkwardness and anxiety,” Karnes said.

“We were like lambs waiting for the slaughter.”

Although the interviews had basic requirements such as posture, eye contact, tone of voice and how well answers were

articulated, Karnes believed there was more to the scoring.

“The interview scores are subjective because the judges base scores on different things. Some interviews are like job interviews and others are like conversations,” Karnes said. “You want the conversational judges more anything.”

In addition to preparing for the interviews, Decathletes had to prepare a speech three and a half to four minutes long. An impromptu speech was required as well, and was chosen from three different topics in which Decathletes had only one minute to prepare an entire speech. The impromptu speech was worth 300 of the 1000 points given for the speech section of the competition.

“I got a score of 945 out of 1000.

It definitely would have gotten me a gold medal at Regionals, but State is competitive,” Karnes said. “I didn’t get a medal this time.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAYLOR GALUPPI

Bringing home the precious metals. The Acadec team returns from Sacramento with multiple medals from State.

Super Quiz followed the speeches and was the last competition.

“Sophomore Iris Polak, our youngest member, got a perfect score. The last person to do that was Luke Murphy,” Hijikata said.

The team will not be moving onto Nationals this year, but Acadec acquired several awards during the State competition.

In addition to the above mentioned, Hijikata

received a bronze in mathematics, senior Joseph Cattivera received a bronze medal in social science, junior Anya Watkins received a gold medal in literature, and Winston Wong was the top scoring team member.

“For us, State is the last competition of the school year,” Hijikata said. “Nationals are for extremely competitive schools like Granada Hills, and start in mid-April.”

What Acadec had to know in 2014-15

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY SAMANTHA KARNES

Science

Social Science/Music

Energy Conservation

Energy Policies

Energy Generation

Music from the Middle Ages to Modern Pieces

Nuclear Energy Renewable Energy

Literature/Art Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard Short Literature Selections Innovations from the Ancient World to the 20th Century

Econ/Math Economics of Energy Differential Calculus Geometry

H Eff igh ec ly tiv e

what recommendation the visiting committee made, and will not receive its accreditation score until some time this summer, Visiting Committee Chair Jane Ostrowski said she felt “extremely fortunate” to spend three days at RUHS. “I congratulate RUHS for having a truly wonderful school, one that I’d be very happy to send my children to,” Ostrowski said.

According to Wesley, receiving visiting committees from WASC has one major positive outcome.

“The process can be very draining at times, it can be frustrating at times,” Wesley said. “But it is also very rewarding because it brings us closer together. It helps teachers and staff meet other members of the staff that they normally would not meet, or work with other teachers they normally would not work with, or visit classrooms they would not normally go in.”

Wesley believes that the visiting committee left with a very positive impression of RUHS. The visiting committee identified four areas of strength in RUHS involving its learning environment, college going culture, allocation of resources, and the attitude of its community of stakeholders.

“Every time they went out to classrooms, or they spoke to focus groups, or they spoke to certain interests groups, I would meet with them and debrief with them halfway through the day and at the end of the day,” Wesley said. “They made several comments about how they would like to work here.”

What do WASC Grades mean?

• Critical learner needs addressed by all, with ongoing self studies and analysis of school effectiveness.

• Acceptable progress for all sudents based on critical needs and academic standards, with intent to improve.

Eff ec tiv e

by Malek Chamas

• All school staff involved in data review, showing critical learner needs addressed to some degree.

• Multiple measures show growth targets being reached for identified subgroups.

• Recognition by all school staff/stakeholders of the need for continual improvement with 21st century skills.

So Eff me ec wh tiv at e

WASC Visits RUHS On March 23-25, students may have noticed unfamiliar faces walking around. During those three days, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) sent a visiting committee made up of teachers and administration members from different schools, who made a recommendation on the accreditation score RUHS will receive.

Each time a school gets an accreditation score, WASC determines whether a school can hand out valid diplomas, and how long the school can go before its next WASC visit.

Principal Nicole Wesley said the staff analyzed “all aspects of our school” in preparation for the visiting committee.

“We truly analyzed everything, our curriculum, our instruction, our assessments, and our culture,” Wesley said.

According to Wesley, RUHS has never received a six-year clear, the highest possible score that allows a school to be accredited for six years, but RUHS could likely get the second-highest score, a six-year accreditation with a three-year report, meaning in three years RUHS would send WASC a report similar, but not as extensive, to the self study report sent this year.

“That seems more realistic because that way they can make sure that we are following through, and there’s some level of accountability in terms of ensuring that we are following our action plan,” Wesley said.

According to Wesley, “more often than not, the recommendation does become the score.” Although RUHS does not know yet

page 3

news

• Partial involvement in addressing critical learner needs.

• Limited number of students showing growth based on academic standards and schoolwide learner outcomes.

• Limited recognition of the need for continual improvement in ensuring students are prepared with critical and creative thinking skills.

In eff ec tiv e

April 2, 2015

• Lack of involvement by staff in evaluating a school’s programs operations.

• Measures show growth in few students, and those involved show little recognition of the need to improve.

INFORMATION FROM ACS WASC/CDE ACCREDITATION STATUS WORKSHEET, COMPILED BY JASON ROCHLIN

ComedySportz volunteers as tribute to comedy

by Mylene Silver

The RUHS ComedySportz team hosted a show on Tuesday at seven in the RUHS Auditorium.

ComedySportz is the largest improv training program for high school students in the country, according to the ComedySportz High School League website.

“It was definitely a learning experience.

Anyone who wasn’t there should come next time because we’re going to make many improvements,” junior Reina McGonigle said.

“We keep getting better each time.”

According to McGonigle, the attendance was not as great she expected.

“We advertised this so much all over campus, so we were all really hoping for a bigger crowd. It was a little bit disappointing because one of our main goals is to get a big following,” McGonigle said.

This was ComedySportz’s second show this school year, with the theme of Hunger Games.

“I would describe the show as a friendly acting competition without a script,” junior and ComedySportz president Jacob Reno said. “We play several games with different

circumstances where we’re challenged to come up with something in a split second.”

According to McGonigle, a lot of the players created very strong characters on stage and made great character choices.

“There was good energy being passed between the players and the audience,” McGonigle said. “Whether we’re performing for

one person or 100 people, it’s a success for us any time we can make the audience laugh and have a good time.”

Both the audience and players seemed to really enjoy themselves according to Reno.

“All of the performers are so talented,” junior Grace Zoerner said. “The actors are great at reacting to and communicating with the

PHOTO BY MORGAN GOLDSTEIN

May the odds be ever in their favor. Senior Joe Perlot hosts ComedySportz: Hunger

Games. The players seperated into two teams that competed in various games to win more points.

audience, which makes the show incredibly entertaining.”

Shows and weekly rehearsals help prepare the team for when they compete with other schools.

“This show was really an indicator for us to see what an audience would like and not like,” McGonigle said.

After the show, the ComedySportz team addressed aspects that need to be worked on before their next competition.

“The main thing we need to work on in my opinion is going back and practicing the basics of improv,” McGonigle said. “We get so caught up in the audience and the game that we forget important rules that need to be followed.”

Reno believes that “practice makes perfect,” and that he learns more each time he does improv.

“We all look at improv with such a critical eye. We talk about what we can improve on and what we need to do better,” Reno said.

“Sometimes we can be a bit hard on ourselves but we can always do better and we are always looking for ways to improve.”

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High Tide

opinion

Around Redondo Disadvantage in numbers What do you think should be improved at RUHS?

Compiled by Chris Paludi and Chandler Ross

“

More people should go to games!

”

Maya Bateman, 11

“

I’d like more big events to get school spirit up.

” “

Sabrina Ng, 10

It’s a wonderful school.

I’m glad to be here.

”

Isaiah Imasuen, 9

“

I think there’s too much trash when we walk around.

Daniel Medrano, 12

” “

I’d like better food in the cafeteria.

”

Lauren Hahn, 10

“

I want to see better school spirit at rallies and games.

”

With 700 Sea Hawks per counselor, students are often going to have to help themselves

Editorial

WASC’s focus groups gave students the opportunity to vocalize the many positives about RUHS; however, they also presented a platform for students to voice any discontent. What arose were complaints of problems of the counseling system, primarily the incredibly high student-to-counselor ratio, which must be dealt with as soon as possible. But until then, students need to take responsibility for their success and either find auxilliary people to assist them; or, more proactively, students will have to find new ways to help themselves.

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) reports that in 2011, the national average student-to-counselor ratio was 471 students per counselor; incredibly, in California there was on average a jaw-dropping one counselor to every 1,016 students. Furthermore, to maximize the student welfare, ILLUSTRATION BY LULU WEGMAN the ASCA endorses a ratio of a somewhat idyllic 250 students per counselor. This to combat the problem on their own end, and consult them on their concerns about means that at about 700 students per counlargely by taking responsibility, by own- the course. Those students who are proacselor, RUHS’s ratio is higher than the naing their futures and being proactive. The tive about their education and strive for suctional average, though lower than the state counselors have already done this: since the cess will continue to be successful, even in average, and would need to be cut in half counselors have been assigned to students these less-than-ideal circumstances. And to even come close to meeting the recomby class, not by alphabet, they have been for those students who need the helping mendation for optimal student-counselor able to more easily reach out to students by hand of a counselor, taking initiative on your relationships. appearing in classrooms several times a year, own will reap you rewards.

Therefore, recent student complaints remore frequently than in the past. Largely, It is important to identify and criticize the garding the number of counselors at RUHS counseling resources have been laid out in problems within the counseling system; adhave factual and tangible merit. Appointfront of the students more clearly than ever. ministration thrives on communication with ments often have to be scheduled weeks It is up to the students to make use of these students and relies in part on the student -- sometimes months -- in advance before resources and make them work to their ad- body for suggestions on how to improve a counselor can meet with a student, and vantage.

RUHS and make its policies as beneficial as when the appointment finally comes, the Students can advocate for themselves by possible for them. However, the unfortuproblem with which the student wanted making the best of the system in its present nate reality of the situation has to be rechelp is often solved or irrelevant -- or, worcondition. Because appointments have to be ognized as well: budget restrictions plague ryingly, a problem that could have been made with the knowledge that they may not schools across the country, and RUHS is no easily dealt with by a counselor could pocome for quickly, instead of solely speaking different. More counselors should and will tentially have compounded into something to counselors about whether or not a cer- eventually be hired, but in the meantime, far worse by the time the student and countain class is best for them, students can and students must be proactive in order to give selor meet. The high counselor-to-student should go straight to the teacher of the class themselves the best shot at success. ratio also handicaps the counselor’s ability to forge personal, mutually beneficial relationships with individual students. And as RUHS’ student population grows, this ratio inevitably grows, too. The only solution is to hire more counselors.

Everyone is aware that the counselor-to-student But like all dream solutions, the situation ratio is a pressing problem with no easily achievable just isn’t that easily reached. More counselsolution. Until it is fixed, however, students have to ors cannot be hired without proper funding; be proactive to achieve success. presently, the money is simply not available.

However, according to Dr. Wesley, administration is aware of and acknowledges the problem, and is developing solutions for the future.

In the meantime, students can begin

Editorial Board vote

Matthew Yonemura, 10

“

I love that people give at the blood drives!

”

Cammy Gonzalez, 12

agree

6

disagree

1

April 2, 2015

opinion

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.

High Tide

staff

Editor in Chief: Allegra Peelor Managing Editor: Alejandro Quevedo News Editor: Jason Rochlin Opinion Editor: Christopher Paludi Features Editors: Yasmeen El-Hasan;

Vaidehi Gandhi; Caterina Hyneman; Shawn Mallen; Shaniya Markalanda

Sports Editors: Nina Gomez; Sophie Maguy

Design Editor: Grace Zoerner Writing Editors: Stella Gianoukakis; Kayla Nicholls

Photo Editors: Ted Cavus; Chandler Ross Copy Editors: Joseph Blakely; Kira Bowen Online Editors: Vivian Vy Lam; Romy Moreno

Photographers: Dinah Aiad; Samantha

Bendall; Jennifer Blanco; Madison Brooks; Erin Czulewicz; Sander Fink; Daniel Green; Janelle Howe; Lexi Kleen; Carla Macar; Masha Pescheryakova; Laua’e Schweitzer

Illustrators: Steven Bell-Nixon; Kaita Pannor; Luma Wegman

Staff Writers: Gianna Aquilina; Malek

Chamas; Jason Clebowicz; Erin Czulewicz; Micah Ezzes; Lizzie Fauver; Yasamin Fazeli; Jason Fong; Daniel Green; Zach Hatakeyama; Kayla Hiken; Jessica Johnson; Jon Mallen; Marie Ona; Kaita Pannor; Samaya Rubio; Reema Saad; Mylene Silver; Simrun Ursani; Tyler Wunderli; Adam Yorke High Tide dedicates itself to producing a high-quality publication that both informs and entertains the entire student body.

This is a wholly student-managed, designed, and written newspaper that focuses on school and community events.

High Tide is published by the journalism class at Redondo Union High School, One Sea Hawk Way, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

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

Open the door to all donors The FDA’s potential new rule, which would allow gay men to donate blood only if they have been abstinent for 12 months, is inherently ridiculous Micah Ezzes As the fight for gay rights continues in the United States, one easily forgotten fact is lost among the arguments: gay men are still not allowed to donate blood, for fear of AIDS and other diseases remain on the forefront of doctors minds. This is especially prevalent considering the arrival of the second blood drive of the year, coming in about a month, in late April.

Since the epidemic of the disease first hit the U.S. in the late 1970’s, AIDS has always remained associated with the gay population. Those who were afflicted by the horrific disease were subjugated to intense study at the eyes of prying doctors and nurses to determine why they were victims. Their lives were not in vain, as doctors discovered that the HIV virus is a sexually transmitted disease.

Now that we have this information, there is no grey area. There are no questions regarding the transfer of the disease. And if a gay man has the HIV virus, it can be detected with blood tests. Why, then, are gay men still not allowed to donate blood?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) remains relatively mum on the subject, saying that gay men are “as a group, at increased risk for HIV, Hepatitis B, and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.” I certainly do not disagree with this statement- 61 percent of new HIV infections in the U.S. are of males that have had male-to-male sexual contact. But guess what? There are blood tests for each of the afflictions listed by the FDA on their page, which would filter out donors carrying the viruses, even if they are not exhibiting symptoms yet.

I understand that it would be a little extra work to ensure that the gay donors do not carry these diseases, but the process itself involves multiple tests anyway. As the FDA describes it: “FDA uses multiple layers of safeguards in its approach to ensuring blood safety, which include donor screening and deferral based on risk factors, blood testing for markers of infection, inventory controls, and deferral registries.” These safeguards don’t even apply to gays- they are simply not allowed to donate in the first place. With all of these tests for straight people trying to donate blood, what difference would it make if gays were allowed to donate?

The FDA page goes on to claim that they are not discriminatory, and that the decision to exclude gays from donating blood is to ensure the safety of the patients receiving it.

I do not have reason to not believe this claim, but what the FDA fails to see is that allowing gays to donate blood does not increase the risk of the patient. With proper safeguardssafeguards which have already been put into effect- the risk of disease transfer would be reduced to a minimum.

We need to erase the line that has been drawn between gay and straight people ever since the outbreak of AIDS. A sick person’s blood is a sick person’s blood, and a healthy person’s blood is a healthy person’s

blood, regardless of race, gender or -I know, it’s shocking- sexual orientation. While this fact is evidently difficult for some people to grasp, it is unfair to not allow this group the opportunity to save lives the way everyone else can.

At a time when the cause of AIDS was unknown, when it was thought to be spread through the air, perhaps an argument could be made for this type of quarentine. But we live in such times no longer. While the FDA, and federal government for that matter, take their time in figuring out the truth of the situation, I will be donating my blood. To the gays of the RUHS student body, who are not allowed to donate: I do it for you.

ILLUSTRATION BY KAITA PANNOR

page 6

High Tide

features

2.

PHOTO BY CARLA MACAR

So fly. 1. Dombrowski flies a Cessna 172. 2. Dom-

On top of the world

1.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COREY DOMBROWSKI

browski wears a World War II pilot jacket passed down from his great grandfather. “Flying has alwasy been in my family,” he said. “It really inpsires me to get up there and fly. I just really love what I do.”

Dombrowski flies airplanes and aspires to work in the aeronautical field

by Yasi Fazeli Junior Corey Dombrowski has his head in the clouds--literally. He is in training to become a licensed pilot, hoping to pursue a career involving aviation.

As a young child, Dombrowski loved watching and learning about aircrafts, but only began training recently.

“It’s just been a really good feeling for me.

I’ve never really hated flying. Even as a little kid I’d be amused by airplanes. I was never bored of it. As a little kid, I always loved flying. Whenever we got to fly I would get really excited,” Dombrowski said.

As he grew older, his passion for flying only got stronger.

“I’ve been in the training process for a couple months now. I’m going to be certified sometime this summer or this fall. I’m in the current process of actually getting certified to fly smaller prop jets, but later on I’m going to be studying and going to flight school to become a pilot or aircraft controller or aircraft engineer,” Dombrowski said.

However, he is not sure of the specific field in aeronautics he wants to pursue. He is currently deciding between a pilot, an aircraft controller or an aircraft engineer.

“No matter which [of the three careers], I’m going to be involved with the aircraft process, whether that’s going to be repairing it, giving directions, or actually flying it.

It’s a really fun process for me and I just love it,” Dombrowski said.

While he has not been in training for long,

Dombrowski is extremely passionate about because you’re up in the air and there’s no this hobby and embraces the emotions it problems and I’m doing what I love,” Domevokes. browski said.

“It is beautiful and exhilarating. It’s beauAccording to Dombrowski, learning to fly tiful because you can see everything and has difficult aspects. your world is out there, and everything looks “Wind variations if you’re flying on a really like it’s right in front of you. No one can stop windy day, depending on what level you’re you,” Dombrowski said. “It’s exhilarating be- flying at, can get frustrating, but you end up cause you’re like, learning by hands‘Wow, I’m actually experience,” Flying brings out a different on doing this. This is me Dombrowski said. feeling. When you start flying, that’s doing this.”

He struggled you feel like you can go any- most with learning Dombrowski where, like you’re on top of the the signals and terfeels empowered when he is in the air, world. Because you’re above ev- minology. a feeling he consid“One of the bigeryone, it makes you feel so emers unattainable gest hurdles was powered and in control. It’s great from other experitalking to aircraft because you can see everything ences. control because of in a different perspective that “Flying brings the rules and reguother people can’t see. out a different feellation of the goving. It’s almost like ernment. It’s hard when you see a child at first because take it’s first steps, you get really excited you don’t learn the phraseology, but once and think they’re going to do big and great they actually sit down and teach you, you things. When you start flying, you feel like learn, and it becomes so easy and second you can go anywhere, like you’re on top of nature,” he said. the world,” Dombrowski said. “It’s great beThrough extensive practice, Dombrowski cause you can see everything in a different has become comfortable with flying. He perspective that other people can’t see.” does not consider it difficult.

In addition to being exciting, flying also “I’ve been doing research on [flying] for so serves as a calming routine. long and I finally get to pursue what I want “Its also relaxing. I know that sounds like a to pursue,” Dombrowski said. “I feel like it’s paradox or an oxymoron but it’s also relaxing becoming a part of my second nature and I

“

”

-Corey Dombrowski

just know it off the top of my head.”

His friend, junior Oscar Medina, admires Dombrowski’s drive to learn and become exceptional at his hobby.

“I’m surprised he knows as much as he knows. Its impressive. I find it really amazing that somebody his age can find such an intense passion. He’s very knowledgable about it. It’s really inspiring,” Medina said.

Dombrowski feels fortunate that he have such a strong support system.

“My friends are really supportive of me.

I’ve never really had any discouraging people who tell me I can’t do this. I’ve always had 100 percent support on this and I’ve always had a lot of fun doing it,” Dombrowski said.

Medina feels that Dombrowski’s passion for flying will ensure his career in the field.

“The kid is super interested. I seldom see anybody is as interested in anything as he is with flying, so I’m constantly encouraging him to try his best in [pursuing a career regarding flying] and he definitely seems to be taking that course of action to make that happen,” Medina said. “I think the only place Corey can go is up.”

Learning to fly gives Dombrowski a more positive outlook on life.

“It’s given me a new perspective that I can do anything. The world is out there and it really varies my options,” Dombrowski said. “You can go all the way over the horizon and back and it’s a nonstop thing. You can do anything.”

April 2, 2015

page 7

features

Setting the trend

Sophomore Hali Honea designs clothing to express her originality

by Reema Saad Whether it is a sketch of an original dress, or a repurposed t-shirt, sophomore Hali Honea puts her creativity to the test by designing her own clothing.

According to Honea, coming up with ideas for clothing is the easiest part. Taking her ideas off of paper, however, can be a challenge.

“I like to draw clothes a lot, so getting ideas on paper does not take a long time.

Getting the correct measurements and creating a pattern from scratch is the hard part, because I like to make my own patterns out of paper instead of using store bought ones.

Also, it usually takes a few tries to get the right sizes,” Honea said.

One of her most challenging pieces, a simple black dress, took Honea seven hours to make. Despite the project being time consuming, Honea believes it is important, and sometimes even easier, to be original than to just to wear store-bought clothes.

“I think it is more difficult to exactly replicate something from a store. Sometimes when I see something I like, I think ‘maybe that pocket would look even better in a different print, or that skirt would be way cuter if it were shorter,’” Honea said. “Originality is not really a worry or challenge for me, because everything homemade is original in its own way. You cannot always find what you want in stores.”

However, Honea still shops for clothes but likes to change up her store bought outfits by altering them in her own way.

“I do not think it is a bad thing to want to fit in, that is just not usually my goal in fashion. I still shop for clothes, but instead of buying an outfit straight from a shop win-

dow, I like to mix it up and maybe add some of my own designs. I think that by adding my personal touch to outfits definitely makes them different, and it shows that I like to express my personality in my clothes,” Honea said.

Her sister, senior Hayes Honea, agrees that adding originality to outfits goes a long way.

“I have worn some scarves, shirts, and even a dress that Hali has made. We have the same sense of style, so I love sharing clothes with her. I trust her fashion instincts, and I feel proud to be showing off her hard work.

I think fashion goes a long way, because presenting yourself well is very important,” Hayes said.

Not only does Honea like to feel original, but she also enjoys making clothes for other people to make gifts more personal.

“I have made clothes that my sister has worn and I have given them as presents to people before. I made a t-shirt and gave it to a friend as a birthday present. You can just go out to a store and buy a bunch of different shirts, but they are never going have the same effect on someone as if you spend actual time to make their present,” Honea said.

From her successes and failures, Honea learned to be patient while piecing together her clothes.

“Many times, I have been disappointed.

Sometimes it feels like I have been working on this one piece for hours, and right when I think it is finished, I realize I used the wrong thread or one side is higher than the other,” Honea said. “I have definitely learned to be more patient and take the time to really make sure everything is how it should be.”

1.

2.

PHOTOS BY CARLA MACAR AND MASHA PESCHERYAKOVA

Dress it up. 1. Honea works with simple clothing and

3.

patterns to create her designs. She models a shirt she designed by adding a floral pocket to a plain black t-shirt. 2.

Honea wears the first dress that she designed in a sewing class. It was her first big project. 3. She made this tank top by cutting the sleeves off of a navy blue t-shirt and adding a flower patch.

Mariano in training to become a pilot

by Simrun Ursani

After being introdoced to the industry through his father, senior Chasen Mariano is in private-pilot training and aspires to eventually fly not in the Air Force or the Army, but in the Navy.

“The Navy has some really cool flying jobs, more so than in the Army. In the Navy, they take off from a ship and fly in really tight formations and they have a long standing tradition of excellence,” Mariano said.

Mariano’s father, Jim Mariano, is a pilot and introduced his son to the field. He served as a source of inspiration to Mariano.

“My dad had a huge interest in aviation so we were constantly flying little airplanes.

He kind of poked it into me every once in a while. He got me a flight simulator when I was little so a lot of kids would play videogames while I would sit on the computer do-

ing a flight simulation.”

According Mr. Mariano, Chasen has wanted serve as a pilot in the Navy ever since he first spoke with a Navy pilot officer.

“The military is a fantastic way to become a pilot. I have many colleagues that are from the military so I put them and Chasen together to discuss the pros and cons. Chasen was all in for the Navy the first time he spoke with my Navy pilot associates. It is all he talks and dreams about,” Mr. Mariano said.

As a child, Mariano sat in the co-pilot seat while his father would fly a private plane. He believes that this background influenced his love for flying.

“My dad was a flight instructor for little planes and he would rent them and we would go down to the Torrance airport, rent an airplane, and I would normally be sitting

in the seat next to him. When we were high in the air he would let me steer the plane and I’d fly it around and he would be sitting there if anything bad ever happened,” Mariano said.

Mr. Mariano also attributes Mariano’s interest in planes to his career.

“He was exposed to the job early and watched my experiences as an airline pilot.

We have flown in general aviation airplanes and it comes easy to him. He enjoys the thrill of the air. It’s hard to describe the world from the sky and once there, most of us are drawn to get back up there,” Mr. Mariano said.

Mariano attends King’s Ground School, a private pilot license school similar to drivers’ education. After he completes a certain number of hours and passes a written test, he will receive his license.

“It is really hard and that’s probably why

right now it is taking so long. School, first of all, comes first and I cannot wait till I get some more time to finish all my flight training. It is pretty easy when you have the time,” Mariano said.

“As a hobby I would have these big airplanes the size of a car with a gasoline engine and I would learn all the flight surfaces and it would have the same controls as a big airplane so I could have more experience flying,” Mariano said.

To Mariano, flying is a “feeling unlike anything else in the world”.

“When you are controlling an aircraft it almost becomes a part of you as you speed down the runway to take-off, you feel lighter and lighter till you finally are totally free.

It is an amazing freedom that races through your heart,” Mariano said.

page 8

Adhesive business

features

High Tide

Freshman Alena Smith digitally draws to create stickers for her business, Moongloss Sticky ation.

situ-

1. Smith poses with her stickers and freshman Ashley Chang.

“Her stickers are original and I cannot buy things like them anywhere else,” Chang said.

“I took a picture of the stickers and put it on my phone case. Others saw it and became interested in buying some.” 2. “I like to draw and I feel like seeing your designs and hard work everywhere is cool,” Smith said.

“It’s a nice feeling.”

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

by Lizzie Fauver She comes home from her job as a tutor, sits in front of her computer, and, getting in touch with her emotions and feelings, starts to draw whatever comes to her mind. She is aware that whatever she creates might be seen by many people who she has not even met.

For months, freshman Alena Smith has been designing digital art on her computer and just recently formed Moongloss, her business where she sells the drawings she creates as stickers.

“I’ve started drawing on my computer lately and realized that I could give these out to people since so many wanted these digital prints,” Smith said. “After I learned that many people wanted them, I figured that I could give start selling them as stickers.”

Since her business is new, Smith is currently handmaking all the stickers she hopes to sell.

“Since I don’t have enough money to get them professionally printed, I personally design them, buy sticker paper from Joann’s, stick it in my printer, and them cut them out,” Smith said. “Even though it is hard work, I think it is pretty cool to see the finished product I put so much effort into displayed by others around me.”

Smith believes she is very dedicated to this business and wants to provide the best quality stickers for her customers.

She hopes that her hard work will pay off

in terms of a higher profit margin, and feels that this is a very reachable goal for the business to aim for.

“I really want to get enough profit so I can get them professionally printed so that they will be more glossy and waterproof. Just in the past week and a half we had made seventy dollars out of fifty cent stickers,” Smith said. “I believe that next month we will have a profit of around 150 dollars and the week after we might reach 200. If the profit reaches past 200 dollars, I’m hoping we can get these things done.”

According to Smith, a person must hold certain traits to run a successful business.

“This whole process takes much more work than you think. I feel as if I’m not even halfway there when it comes to properly selling and marketing an item. It really requires you to be diligent, open, and friendly,” Smith said.

She finds it very important to connect with each one of her customers in order to reach out to more people and keep all her customers satisfied.

“When you’re selling something you need to feel as if you know the person. When It comes to my sticker business I try to target a certain type of person,” Smith said. “Because I sell what some might say are girly stickers, I would market mostly to girls. To be successful you just really need to be open and think about what you are going to say.”

Smith puts a lot of thought behind each one of her stickers and is inspried by her thoughts and feelings that day.

“There are different personalities put into each of my stickers because each person wants a different type,” Smith said. “This whole business is really just something my mind thought of. The stickers and designs I make are mainly based on what my mood is.”

Smith’s stickers vary, coming in designs such as a bunny with flowers, a crown with a description of queen, an ice cream cone, a sun, and many more. She also takes requests, and is working to come out with even more designs in the future.

“I have this thing where each month I am going to release two new sticker designs.

Next month I probably am going to come out with a sticker for the logo. If I really like a design someone has requested that will probably become another one that I will release,” Smith said.

Although this is just a hobby for Smith, she wants her business to continue to grow and expand, hoping that good marketing will spread the word of Moongloss to many people.

“I currently have an instagram account to market the business and there also is a website. Most people stick these stickers as decoration on their binders, so I feel when someone sees a binder with these stickers on it, it is a way to market this business and

get the word around,” Smith said.

Running a business usually comes with obstacles, and for Smith, maintaining good profit and margins is something that she will continue to work on improving in the future to gain benefits for her as well as her customers “The biggest challenge for me is the cost of manufacturing these stickers. Printing this out in ink costs a lot and getting them professionally printed would actually save some money than constantly printing and buying paper,” Smith said.

Smith is looking to push through these obstacles with the help of her friends and believes that the whole experience would not be possible without their help. ”My biggest supporters by far are my friends,” Smith said. “They give me a lot of ideas and have been really helping me. They give me ideas on marketing and tell me what I can draw and improve on.”

Smith enjoys all aspects of learning how to run a proper business, and hopes to continue to grow new friendships through doing something that she loves.

“I love having relationships with people.

The drawing aspect is fun, and the printing part isn’t so much, but being able to develop these types of relationships with people is awesome,” Smith said. “Having people come up to me and say how much they love my stickers is the best feeling in the world.”

April 2, 2015

features

page 9

Transgender students seek acceptance

by Lulu Wegman

Transgender students are recognized by the administration and are able to use the facilities according to their sex, but for some students, the only obstacles are their peers.

Juniors Tristan Taylor and Liam Kleinberg feel that educating students and staff can help others learn to be more accepting.

“Talk! Some people, including teachers, don’t even know what the word transgender means and that’s really disappointing,” Kleinberg said. “Awareness and education would make the environment for trans kids better and help them feel more comfortable to come out and be who they really are.”

A transgender person is someone whose self-identity does not conform to conventional notions of male or female (google dictionary). An article in Psychology Today says: “the word transgender refers to those whose sense of their gender differs from what is expected based on the sex characteristics with which they are born” (Huston).

Kleinberg feels that growing up a transgender person can be hard; it can take time for a him or her to understand themselves.

“Back in kindergarten, I cut my hair late at night because having long hair made me feel weird. But I never thought much of it until back in 5th grade when I cut my hair off again. I would get teased for looking like a boy often,” Taylor said. ”I was convinced I wasn’t trans because I didn’t like girls. At that time, I didn’t know that gender identity and sexuality are completely different things.”

Taylor and Kleinberg both found support from their close friends and some family.

Both students said that none of their friends have any issues with their identities.

“All of my friends are supportive, including my boyfriend who knew me before I came out and nothing changed except the name he calls me,” Taylor said.

Some members of their close family were not as supportive as their friends.

“The only family who knows is my mother and my sisters and my mother isn’t supportive. She tries to ignore it and it really hurts but at least I wasn’t thrown out or something more severe like what other trans kids

face everyday,” Kleinberg said.

Taylor also deals with members of his family not accepting.

“My mom and stepdad are supportive and haven’t given me much trouble about it. My dad hates me and only calls me his daughter and says I am a disgrace to him,” Taylor said.

“My stepdad’s family doesn’t really know and the people who do hate it.”

Taylor and Kleinberg, because of their experience being misgendered, feel that some RUHS students do not show as much support on campus.

“There are people who purposely call me ‘she’ and it makes me feel terrible. They know it makes me feel uncomfortable, and they have no idea how it feels to just be disregarded,” Taylor said.

Kleinberg also faces disrespect for being transgender.

“The students don’t recognize me as male. They’ll call me ‘she’ or by my birth name because it makes them comfortable.

It’s telling me that my happiness and my level of comfort isn’t important to them. It’s like, when you see a dog in the street and you start petting it. You’ll call it a girl or a boy and if it’s wrong, that owner will tell you and you instantly change pronouns. When people don’t respect my pronouns it feels like they give me less respect than they’d give a dog,” Kleinberg said.

Kleinberg and Taylor believe part of the solution is recognizing other genders.

“I think there should be gender neutral bathrooms and locker rooms since there are more than two genders and we need to recognize that,” Kleinberg said.

They also believe raising awareness around campus could help the problem.

“There have been so many transgender suicides this year and more anti transgender laws passed in other states. Transgender people are 50% more likely to be murdered.

Schools need to promote this like they promote anti-bullying,” Taylor said. “Simply one powerpoint could at least educate students on what certain words mean and how important it is to respect people.”

Breaking it down: What laws protecting transgender rights exist in California?

-On Aug. 12, 2013, the School Success and Op-

portunity Act granted transgender students the right to join school programs as a part of whichever gender they identify with.

-In 2014, the Respect After Death Act was passed, ensuring that transgender people would have their preferred gender on their death certificates.

-Act AB 2501 invalidates using “gay panic,” when murderers are shocked into killing people de to their sexual orientation, to justify murder.

-To ensure safe medical treatment, Act AB

496 that doctors and nurses incorporate gender identity into their practices.

-The Modern Family Act involves waiving costs for same-sex and transgender parents and protecting sperm donors and surrogate mothers to make having children easier.

What laws regarding transgenders exist in other states?

-Tennessee enforces the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, which prohibits teachers from discussing

Transgender

pride.

The Transgender Pride flag is a symbol of transgender pride and diversity, and transgender rights. It was created by Monica Helms in 1999. According to Helms, the stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys, and the stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls. The stripe in the middle is white, representing those who are intersex, transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. Illustration by Luma Wegman.

any sexuality other than heterosexuality.

-The HB 583 to be passed in Florida would require that people prove their biological gender before using bathrooms or be arrested.

-New York has laws protecting transgender rights and granting them freedom in public.

INFORMATION COURTESY OF http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/02/07/ tennessee’s-“don’t-say-gay-bill”-is-back-worse-than-before-as-its-sponsor-hits-ai/, http://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/11142

page 10

High Tide

center

April 2, 2015

page 11

center

Getting themselves

Out there

Students enjoy creating new artistic opportunities for themselves, and make their efforts available to others

Siddiqui embraces her culture through henna art [from pg. 1] “One day my aunt handed me a henna cone and told me that she could see me becoming a great henna artist. Ever since then I have been practicing on people’s palms,” Siddiqui said.

Ever since she began practicing, Siddiqui has considered henna application as a career. However, she is unsure if she will be able to make that happen.

“I see henna as a hobby. Turning a hobby into a career is a far fetched dream but I’d still like to try,” Siddiqui said. “As of right now, I am just practicing on my friends as much as I can to possibly see that dream as a reality.”

To ensure she reaches this goal, Siddiqui frequently invites friends to her home and practices applying her designs.

“Her mehndi designs are very intricate and she puts a lot of thought and concentration as to what her next move will be,” junior Faith Petrie said. “I thought it was really cool how steady and at ease she was when applying it on my hand.”

A friend of Siddiqui since middle school, Petrie has always been aware of her talents.

“She’s always showed me her designs in her drawing journal but seeing her put them on a hand was a different experience. It was pretty cool to watch,” Petrie said.

Despite Siddiqui’s experience, she still has diffi-

culty in some cases.

“The hardest part of applying henna is when the the person moves too much. It makes me lose focus.

Sometimes I have to redo part of the designs because they are shaking too much,” Siddiqui said.

In addition to applying henna on her friends, Siddiqui also works at her aunt’s beauty salon, where she has gained a clientele.

“Working at the salon makes me feel happy and in high spirits. Its one of the greatest feelings ever,” she said. “It helps me gain confidence in my artwork and lets me socialize with the customers at the same time.”

Not only does Siddiqui see henna as a hobby, but she also sees it as a way to embrace her culture.

“Henna has a strong ceremonial significance in Pakistani and other South Asian cultures. It is a big part of many cultural traditions around the world and only applied on special holiday celebrations and occasions,” Siddiqui said. “Whenever I apply henna, I feel proud because its one of the most important aspects of my culture.”

Because of its cultural significance, Siddiqui sees henna always being in her life.

“It makes me feel relaxed and stress free, almost as if a bad day never happened,” she said. “Even if henna doesn’t work out in the future, I will still be drawing similar intricate designs both on paper and on people with henna. I will always be passionate about it.”

Henna Facts

Henna, or Mehndi, was first used by the Egyptians to color fingernails and hair.

Henna designs gradually for after one or two weeks. Factors that can speed this process include the part of the body stained, the depth of the stain, and exposure to things such as chemicals, water, and rubbing.

There is no black henna. Black-dying henna is produced by adding in mixtures or additives which can be toxic or unhealthy.

The time it takes to get a henna design ranges from five to ten minutes to several hours depending on the size and intricacy of the design. The design itself may only take a few minutes, but a lemon-sugar solution must also be applied 15 minutes later to preserve it.

COMPILED FROM HENNADESIGNS.COM AND HENNABASH.COM

PHOTOS BY TED CAVUS

PHOTO BY SANDER FINK

Meet the developers. Freshmen Ethan Horoschak and Thomas Mansour display their app, “Burger Boy.”

Burger Boy app unveiled

Freshmen Ethan Horoschak and Thomas Mansour developed an app game that can be downloaded from the iTunes app store

by Kaita Pannor He watches as his friends play his game, overcome with pride knowing his hard work has paid off. Finally his app is out, and he is making money while providing entertainment for others.

Two weeks ago Freshman Ethan Horoschak completed and released his new app, an action game called “Burger Boy”.

“Some people didn’t believe that I made the app,” Horoschak said. “They were surprised and even baffled when they saw my name on the developer list.”

He learned to code three months ago through youtube videos and online courses. Burger Boy took over a month to create.

“The process is extremely tedious and banal-it’s hard work but it definitely pays off in the end,” Horoschak said.

According to Horoschak the process of submitting apps to the app store is expensive, costing over $100 and can take weeks.

“The coding is very time consuming and difficult, but the most frustrating part is testing the game for bugs and glitches: one little glitch can cause it to be rejected and you have to start the whole process over again,” Horoschak said.

Horoschak’s motivation to create the app came from his “dream of being financially self-sufficient before graduating high school.”

“I watch my parents pay a lot of money for my sister’s college tuition, and the last thing I want to do is burden them any further,” Horoschak said.

Horoschak chose to pursue his dream through coding apps because of the creative freedom and lack of time restrictions it offers.

“There are no requirements or age restrictions, unlike many other jobs, and I love the creative freedom that coding gives you,” Horoshak said. “The process of coming up with the game ideas is usually

very fun and exciting.”

While Horoshak coded the game, freshman Thomas Mansour did most of the graphic illustrations, with help from Horoschak’s cousin Bobby Kelley.

“I had lots of fun collaborating and working with Ethan on this project, we’re good friends so it wasn’t hard for us to make compromises on our conflicting ideas,” Mansour said.

Though Mansour has experience with graphic design and illustration, working on Burger Boy was the first time he created sprite characters.

“I had to learn lots of new skills to make that happen. I would often find myself stuck thinking about how I should make something look for hours,” Mansour said.

Mansour and Horoshak share the same goal of becoming financially independent, so both were equally “ecstatic” to begin earning money off of the app.

“It took about a day to start making money, but most of the downloads have been from friends and family, so we’ve made around $25. I hope to advertise more and maybe increase the profit to $10-$50 a day,” Horoschak said.

Though Horoschak created the app with profit in mind, he enjoys seeing his game played by others.

“Seeing the app on the appstore and watching people play the game is exciting; I get inspired to create more, and better quality apps,” Horoschak said.

Horoshak plans on continuing creating apps as a hobby, and is already working on several new projects.

“Ethan is highly intelligent and has a really tenacious attitude, so if he sets his mind to it, he will get it done,” Mansour said.

page 12

features

Laying down the law

High Tide

Sophomore Sara Holland interned at the Torrance Courthouse to learn more about law and its practices

by Marie Ona

PHOTO BY CHANDLER ROSS

Law and Order. Holland poses in her

business-casual clothing that she wore at the courthouse. “You hear a lot of things about these horrible cases but you get to do something about it,” Holland said. “You want to help in some way and that’s what got me started.”

She answers the phone, but she is not greeted with a hello; she answers to a report of an assault. It is a 911 call for battery.

Sophomore Sarah Holland interned in the victim’s unit of the Torrance Courthouse last summer.

“You hear a lot of things about these horrible cases but you get to do something about it,” Holland said. “You want to help in some way and that’s what got me started.”

Holland worked nine hours a day organizing murder trials. Through this, she realized the amount of work put into working at the office.

“While you are there, you are expected to work. You sit down and suddenly realize there is a lot of work going into these things but it was also a whole lot of fun,” Holland said. “You could go talk to some of the other 2. lawyers about your case, asking for advice and everybody’s really open and friendly about it.”

Holland stayed with a friend of her father’s and his wife. The wife was the district attorney (DA) whom she worked with.

“She was talking about one of her cases at dinner one night and you listen to this and think, ‘I want to do this kind of thing’, so she’s

my main inspiration,” Holland said.

Holland wishes to be a DA in the future.

“I want to be a DA, so this is what’s going to really happen if I decide to do this. It gives me a real chance to see what I’m going to do,” she said. “It upsets most people to hear about these awful things, but when you’re a DA you get to do something about it.”

Holland mainly did transcripts for 911 calls and interviews but also sat in on trials.

However, cases sometimes got “disturbing,” such as an infant murder case Holland worked with.

“I had actually done three transcripts for three baby murders. The abuse cases you hear about, like human trafficking, are awful and hard to listen to because it’s abuse but also [the victims] being forced to do things,” Holland said.

In another case involving an ex-cop abusing his wife, Holland believes there was much hysteria.

“In this specific case you could hear the husband yelling in the background to hang up the phone. ” she said. “It was a real reality check for the most part and shocking. The fact that it was an ex-cop who did it makes it worse. If you can’t stand the brutality of cer-

tain cases, then you can’t do the job.”

Holland joined the mock trial team last year which helped her gain knowledge about law.

“I did that and so I knew what I was going to get into. Our case last year was something along the same lines of one of these cases,” she said. “You meet a lot of different types of people; the victims can be really nice and sweet but there are also the type you want to stay away from.”

According to Holland, a lawyer has to work well with others and have good persuasive skills.

“You have to be able to explain a situation to a jury and not have them freak out.

You have to get them to see your point of view,” she said. “You, yourself, have to be very calm because, either side you’re on, the other lawyer is going to object and you can’t get all ticked off in the courtroom. The judges will throw you out and the case gets trashed.”

Holland believes she “lives the life of the crime shows from television.”

“You don’t think this happens in real life because it is not something you actually witness or become a victim to,” Holland said.

April 2, 2015

page 13

features

RUFF

BUSINESS Freshman Kaita Pannor sells her character designs and connects with other artists online

By Stella Gianoukakis From discovering her talent and passion to finding a site to interact with other artists, freshman Kaita Pannor spends hours every day designing characters, mainly animals, and selling them to other artists.

“It takes time, so it means a lot when people support my art. When I sell characters, it assures me that I am not doing all the work for nothing,” Pannor said.

Pannor joined deviantART.com a few years ago around the time she began middle school.

The site’s purpose is to provide a medium for artists to share their work with and sell their work to each other.

As she has been selling her work for a few years now, Pannor was initially selling it for points that she could use on the site to buy art and characters from others, but recently she has been selling characters through PayPal, earning between 10 to 20 dollars for each character.

For Pannor, however, it is not only about the money, it is about improving her ideas and her artwork. She spends around an hour or two per day and about four to 10 hours on the weekends on the site drawing.

“I am working to get better and to create more intricate fictional characters. I do not want to stay where I am at. I like that you can improve watch yourself grow through your artwork,” Pannor said.

In addition to being intrinsically motivated, she receives support from her fam-

ily, including her older sister, Lindsey Pannor.

“She’s been drawing for three years now and has worked hard consistently. She is so dedicated to her art that there have definitely been days where she’ll be sitting drawing all day; she loves it and is passionate, and the money is just an extra benefit. I love it when she shows me her work and the interesting things she’s created,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey is not the only one Pannor can connect with over drawing; their mom is a freelance graphic designer.

“Having her there doing it [designing] really showed me that it is not just something that I have heard that people do online. It is something that I can do as well and really pursue,” Pannor said.

Besides her family, Pannor has been able to interact with many other artists on the site and within the past year has become good friends with Grace Barrentine who lives in Alabama and is also passionate about drawing.

“I love drawing with Kaita. She’s very sweet and inspiring and one of my best friends. Her art is beautiful and very original. She has lots of talent and her art inspires me everyday to improve my own,” Barrentine said.

Over the years, Pannor sold around 35 characters in total and aside from the art site made two paid logos. She hopes to continue her hobby for as long as possible, but does not know if she will pursue design as a career yet.

For the time being, she continues to enjoy her time pursuing her passion.

“It is not how I feel when I draw because I am usually not feeling since it is more about what I am seeing than thinking. I love being able to sit down and improve,” Pannor said.

Lone wolf.

These are only some of the many character designs Kaita sells on deviantART.com. Her works “Tidal,” “Off to the Races,” “Without you,” and “Midnight Lotus” are pictured here.

ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF KAITA PANNOR

page 14

features

MATLAB Saturday classes begin

High Tide

by Simrun Ursani

MATLAB is an engineering program used by majority of engineers that was created by a company called Mathworks. Senior Alejandro Quevedo describes what the program is in the view of AP Computer Science and how they are related.

“It is like a programming language but you can write scripts which are like programs that you can run. It’s main use is to simulate physical processes which you can show in a visual graph. It is like a graphing calculator and java combined,” Quevedo said.

Math teacher Bill Dargen taught the MATLAB program class the last two Saturdays at Redondo. Parents during a STEM meeting believed they should have this program.

“At a STEM meeting, I believe it was parents who indicated that we should have this program available because these are people who work in the engineering fields and they suggest that it would be an advantage to students going to college and also to students trying to get internships,” Dargen said.

Senior Alejandro Quevedo learned about the MATLAB program from school and went to the class offered on Saturdays.

“I first heard about it from my dad because he uses it everyday for work, but at school, I first heard about it from Mr. Baumgartner in Calculus BC,” Quevedo said.

According to Quevedo, the environment was more relaxed and positive because the students came voluntarily. These were the first classes using the MATLAB program here.

“This first time around we just asked math teachers and science teachers to give information to their students about this and ask them to sign up so students voluntarily went online and gave information on a google forms. From there, we emailed them information to let them know what was happening,” Dargen said.

Dargen has put many hours to try and learn this program in order to teach this material to those students who want to learn how to use MATLABS. “My involvement is that when the STEM committee asked for someone to try and teach the class, I volunteered. I had to learn the software which took me about 30 hours of online work,” Dargen said. “I learned how to use the software and prepared lessons and taught the two classes which were on the last two Saturdays.”

Dargen wants this program to continue because it is beneficial to students who want to pursue a math or science career.

“We will offer another opportunity to learn the basics this summer and there will also be more advanced opportunities where

PHOTO BY CHANDLER ROSS

Coming up with codes. Senior Sean LaBouff raises his hand to ask Mr. Dargen a question about codes in AP Computer Science

engineers who actually use MATLAB for a living will come in and demonstrate what they do and have a higher level of understanding of the power and use of MATLAB so that will also happen over the summer,” Dargen said.

As Dargen taught the students how to use MATLAB program these past Saturdays, he has seen potential in the students even

within the short period of time he has had with them.

“They saw a lot of value in it. It was challenging to learn a lot about MATLAB in a short period of time but I think that everybody got something valuable out of it and that’s an advantage because they started learning about it,” Dargen said.

April 2, 2015

page 15

features

Life in the rink

by Marie Ona

She spins and jumps above a glistening cold floor, charming not only the audience but also a panel of judges. Freshman Diana Voros is a competitive figure skater.

“When you’re gliding on the ice and going as fast as you can it’s just a really cool feeling,” Voros said.

Voros competes about five times a season and she earned 20 medals, all from different competitions. During regionals competition in Arizona, Voros received a medal placing first out of 93 skaters.

“That was probably my biggest accomplishment. It was the biggest competition of the year because everyone in that whole region comes to compete. It feels good when I do well in a competition or I work really hard on a new jump and I get it right,” Voros said.

In competition, skaters perform a short and a long program. Voros strictly follows the choreography but also has a say in the choreography.

“I like when I do programs to the music. When I learn a new program, it’s fun to dance to the music. My favorite part is the choreography,” she said.

Voros began skating eight years ago when she was just three.

“I started competing when I was six. I remember seeing stuff on TV and watching other people skate when I was young and then I just kept going from there,” Voros said.

Voros’ mother is a ballet teacher and also works at an ice skating rink, teaching many young skaters.

“I’ve been around it my whole life. She told me to do it when I was younger and I never complained about it so I just kept going. She’s kind of like another coach. She makes choreography on ice and has taught me also,” Voros said.

One of Voros’ inspirations is figure skater Yuna Kim. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kim won the gold medal.

“She has put so much work and time into figure skating and has a lot of passion for what she does,” Voros said.

Voros always looks forward to practice and learning new things.

“I like being with the whole group of people that I’ve met through skating. My coaches are really nice and they make it fun.

It makes me feel happy,” Voros said.

Although her coaches are “nice,” they are also very strict according to Voros. She takes one on one lesson with four coaches, each

specializing in a different area. One jump can take up to eight months to get it right.

“You have to do it a certain way and there’s no other way or else I’ll get in trouble. It was a long time ago but I remember it was hard to learn. It still is really hard when I’m learning stuff now. It’s a lot of work.”

Voros is currently injured from ice skating, preventing her from going to practice six days a week including two hours on the ice and one hour off.

“It’s a good break because my schedule is really busy when I skate.

Outside of skating I also have work out classes to build strength. Then there’s school and homework so it’s really crazy,” she said.

Voros wakes up at 3:30 in the morning in order to skate before school., and she finds it difficult to balance skating and school.

“I go to bed late because I get home and late and then I have to wake up so early to skate. Lately I’ve been tired of it because it’s so much work but everyone keeps telling me it’ll pay off one day. “ According to Voros, ice skating

has changed her life a lot.

“I have learned a lot of skills that I wouldn’t know how to do it I didn’t figure skate. It’s a great feeling but there’s alway days where it’s not because if I’m learning something new or just can’t land any jumps, falling over and over is hard,” she said.

Voros looks forward to a career in figure skating.

“I’m not going to go to the Olympics because, that’s really hard, but there’s other things like Disney on Ice or on the cruise ships because my mom says I basically already qualify,” she said.

Expressing herself.

Sophomore Diana Voros expresses herself through ice skating. Photo courtesy of Diana Voros.

Sivert helps with paddleboard business

by Jon Mallen Sailing, a tradition of using the wind to propel watercraft at speeds paddles never could, a tradition that now makes its way into the new sport of stand up paddleboarding.

Sailing meets paddleboarding in junior Clare Siverts’ family Stand-Up Paddleboarding company, Sailpaddle.

“Our paddle contains a sail that stows and emerges right from inside the paddle,” Clare said. “It’s amazing.”

Sailpaddle is an upstart company, coinvented by Clare’s father, Curt Siverts, and her brother, Hanson. The idea for the Sailpaddle came when Clare’s mom, Monica Siverts, introduced it during a slow business week for Mr. Siverts’ job as a boat driver for the film industry, as well as not having any jobs for his manned submarine business, Undersea Graphics Inc. “Nothing was really happening that week, and Monica made a comment about how me and Hanson should try paddle boarding, because people are always passing by on boards,” Mr. Siverts said. “I got on the board, and I’m thinking, ‘Man, why is there no sailing involved in this?’ And that’s where we got the idea.”

Ever since its creation by Hanson and Mr. Siverts, Sailpaddle has been a home schooling project for the Siverts kids as well as an

actual company for Mr. and Mrs. Siverts.

“We’re always working on something,” Sivert said. “My dad takes care of business relations and his job, Mom takes care of the kids as well as also dealing with business and occasional visitors Hanson’s our top racing athlete, and I take care of social media.”

With a new company like Sailpaddle, attention and getting the product noticed is of the essence. The company’s main struggle, according to Mrs. Siverts, is that they’re just not getting enough attention.

“We do good and everybody comes to see us when the paddles and sails are out,” Mrs. Siverts said. “But when we’re not demoing, we’re not getting attention, so the solution is to demo more.”

According to Mr. Siverts, the best demo days Sailpaddle has are when there is good wind as well as a good crowd, such as at their “most successful” convention, Surf Expo.

Even with the sudden increase in sales and interest in Sailpaddle, Mr. Siverts still describes the growth of the company as slow.

“We’re not killing it,” Mr. Siverts said. “It hasn’t been a huge, huge success as of yet.

We’ve only just started, and it hasn’t even been a full year of sales yet.”

The growth of sales is expected to come from an increased–w attention from other people towards this “new” product.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLARE SIVERTS

Paddleboarding. Junior Clare Siverts poses with her father at Demo day at a surf expo in Orlando Florida.

“Whenever anybody’s demonstrating a Sailpaddle, we do good,” Mrs. Siverts said, “People need to see it. just hearing about it isn’t enough. They need to see it in action, and see how it works.”

According to Clare, everyone who sees it likes it. They just need to get out and use it to fully understand it.

“We find it amazing that people know about it, and we tell them how it works, then they go out and demonstrate it, and always give the surprised remark, ‘Oh the sail goes inside the paddle!’ Even after we explain it

numerous times,” Mr. Siverts said. “Once you see it you understand it.”

The Siverts family feels that the first year of Sailpaddle was both successful yet challenging.

“We need to produce and sell more paddles,” Hanson said, “Along with that, people need to see a Sailpaddle in action, whether it means holding weekly demonstrations or competing in more paddle races myself.”

Curt Siverts has faith in their product knowing it is “new and unique”, yet also adheres to long-practiced naval traditions.

page 16

High Tide

sports

Swim dominates South Bay Invitational

Boys tennis struggles against Peninsula The team won three out of eight matches at the Long Beach Poly Invitational on Tuesday

by Jason Fong

1.

by Adam Yorke After dominating the South Bay Invitational with a first place win from the girls and a third place win from the boys, RUHS looks to carry their momentum into their next meet on Friday against North Torrance.

“It was a great win for Redondo because it was out of ten pretty competitive teams and we came out on top. We have strong swimmers suited for every event and many reached the finals or consolations for their event,” senior Richard Beck said.

With such good results at the South Bay Invitational, RUHS is not nervous about their next meet against North.

“I expect us to do very well against North Torrance. Our team, both boys and girls, is compiled of high intensity and competitive swimmers while North has only a select few that match this category,” Beck said.

While RUHS excels in most events, the the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle relays consistently stand out.

“Our girls varsity relays have already set South Bay meet records and school records so we are definitely strong there. We have a strong swimmer in almost every event,” senior Elle Inscore said.

Despite RUHS’ dominant relay team, they are still looking to improve.

“For the future we can all just work on the little things in our relays like dives, turns, etc. We can just continue to try our best,” freshman Camille Grace said.

Not only does girls swim exceed in relays, but also multiple individual events, for they are setting meet records.

“The team this year is doing amazing so far. Our girls varsity team is excelling with records and CIF cuts and the guys are almost

2.

PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK

Hydrodynamic. 1. Sophomore Kathryn Doyle swims the 100 butterfly in South Bay Invitational Finals. 2. Junior Sean Hamada swims breastsroke last Friday in Finals.

there. Out of the last 3 years I’ve been here, this is the fastest swim team I’ve heard of at Redondo,” Inscore said.

RUHS still trains hard everyday in practice.

“We’re working on kicking the most in practice. Lots and lots of kicking with our kick boards. That usually consists of at least half of the sets in practice,” Beck said.

The swim season ends in May, but RUHS

has already set their hopes on a Bay League title.

“So far, the team is doing great. We have a lot of competitive swimmers on our team willing to go all out every meet with the mindset of winning,” Beck said. “We are definitely one of the stronger South Bay teams this year and I hope our team keeps improving so we can take first in Bay League by the end of our season.”

On Tuesday, boys tennis competed at the Long Beach Poly High School Invitational, winning 3 out of 8 matches.

According to Sophomore Jaideep Chakladar, RUHS faced stiff competition, including Peninsula High School, who the team struggled against.

“Peninsula has a really good team.

They have a couple of kids who are ranked in the state and nationally. One of their kids is ranked in the top ten in the nation. However, our singles lineup played consistently well throughout the tournament. I personally was pretty impressed with the way they competed,” Chakladar said.

Chakladar commented on the different nature of the competition as well.

“Playing against Inglewood and performing pretty well, and then attending this tournament was a huge change for our team. The gap in skill level was pretty clear to us,” Chakladar said According to Chakladar, the tournament has “woken up” some of the younger, less experienced players on varsity to the competitive nature of upper-level tennis. Additionally, the tournament has given the team “a lot of information” on how they can improve.

Chakladar believes that fixing the doubles teams will aid the team’s potential improvement.

“We’re still trying to figure out the team chemistry necessary for a successful doubles team. The team pairings are in flux as of now. The number one thing is for us to just keep our heads up and continue to focus on improving our skills,” Chakladar said.

The team’s next game takes place on Monday, April 13 against North Torrance High School.

“It is always a tough game against their program, but we are definitely motivated to win this one to get us back on the right track,” Chakladar said.

April 2, 2015

sports

Girls lacrosse works to keep up winning streak

by Kayla Hiken

Making it count.

Junior Allie Vorndran heads for the goal in their game last week. Photo by Sander FInk.

With a good start so far in the season, girls lacrosse believe they needed to work as hard as ever in order to beat Oak Park on April 1st and continue their great winning streak.

“Oak Park is basically mirror images of ourselves; they play in very similar ways to us, so it’s going to be tough beating them,” senior Kayla Maanum said.

In order to prepare themselves for this tough match, the girls have been working extra hard in practice and have been working a lot on specifics.

“We have had more coaching staff at practice lately and have been splitting defense and attack players into different groups, that way we can focus on drills that are specific to certain positions on the field,” Maddie Farmer said.

Along with practicing on their positions, the girls have been working on their playing strategies.

“We’ve developed a lot of plays this year and if we can perfect those before the game against Oak Park, which is very do-able, I believe we can perform very well,” Maanum said. “I’d like to say that we have some deadly plays that are very effective and will help us a lot in the game. We’ve also been practicing on breaking up our steps and matching up our hips, as well working on not being fooled by any fakes.”

Going into the game, the girls knew that they would face some challenges when

page 17

playing Oak Park.

“Oak Park is a very athletic and fast team, so we need to be able to play defense on the transitions and in between both sides of the field. Also stopping their plays and just breaking down their momentum will be key,” Maanum said. “Also, they know some of our strongest players, so I think some of our more not as dominant offense players might have a chance to really step up their game, because Oak Park is going to be all over the more dominant players. We do however have a strong supporting pass so I’m confident that we’re going to be able to handle them.”

Along with physical challenges, some of the girls believed they needed to work on mental preparation.

“Mentally, I think we need to have a little more confidence in ourselves going into the game to make sure that we aren’t intimidated because of our past performances against them,” Farmer said. “We are missing three of our starters in this game so it will be challenging to adjust position wise. Oak Park is one of our toughest competitors, so overall it is going to be a tough game.”

Although there a few challenges the girls have to overcome during their game, they are still very confident in themselves and how the team will do as a whole.

“We know that we are a strong team, but we just need to be that much stronger and better in order to beat them,” Maanum said.

Softball focuses on rebuilding chemistry

by Jason Clebowicz With a game-less spring break, softball heads into league with a 7-5 record.

According to junior Sarah Staudle, pitching has been a key to their success, although the team has struggled offensively.

“Pitching has consistently been solid the entire season. It has carried us especially when we fail to produce offensively,” Staudle said.

The team’s first half struggles have left them slightly over the notorious .500 winning percentage mark, but hopes are high that early onset weaknesses will disappear.

“I am very optimistic our offense will waken up. We have a great line-up top to bottom and it is just a matter of time before everything clicks. I am not worried,” Staudle said.

Struggling to perform hasn’t been the only problem for the softball team; a lack of team chemistry has been exposed with senior Breanna Miskimen quitting the team af-

ter not even playing the first half of her final season. Current softball players declined to comment.

With four returning seniors and three freshman part of the Varsity roster, the team keeps a good mix of age and experience on their team.

“The older players obviously have more experience, but everyone is treated solely as a teammate. There are no prejudices towards younger players, we all treat each other with respect and enjoy each others friendships,” Staudle said.

During the 10 day break from classes, Varsity Softball plans on practicing in order to prepare for league play.

“We need to take every practice we have over break seriously. This team has the potential to be something special if we play up to our capability. And capturing our capability starts by working hard at practice,” Staudle said.

PHOTO BY TED CAVUS

Hitting it out of the park. Senior Morgan Moczygemba pitches in a game last season at home.

page 18

Pitch perfect

High Tide

sports

Baseball keeps winning streak alive after win against North Torrance on Tuesday

by Tyler Wunderli

Baseball continues a promising season with a victory over North Torrance this Tuesday. They played at North Torrance and won by a score of 7-0.

Senior Jason Dicochea thought they played a good game despite a relatively slow start and missing some opportunities to score runs.

“We left a lot of runners on base and came out kinda slow in the first couple innings,” Dicochea said.

Dicochea believes the team has been playing well this season, and the last game was no exception. Although North Torrance’s team was only “alright”, RUHS came out on top.

“We pitched well, played good defense, and our bats have really been coming alive lately,” Dicochea said.

Based off the first few games played, Dicochea expects to have a good season and go far, with the ultimate goal being a CIF championship.

“Winning CIF is our overall goal and could be very realistic if we play to our full potential. We made it to the semis last year and we have a lot of returners who remember that tough loss and want to win it all this year,” Dicochea said.

Dicochea is happy with their performance so far.

“We’re right where we should be,” Dicochea said. “We’re 10-3 which is comfortable. but we could improve since there’s been such high expectations for the team this year.”

Senior Billy Strickland agrees that they have played well so far this season.

“I feel really good about our season far, we’ve made a lot of progress as a team, and we’ve really come together and learned how to win,” Strickland said.

According to Dicochea, team chemistry has been a part of their overall success. He believes it is important to the team.

“It’s amazing. Best team I’ve been a part of and we all get along really well and are friends off the field,” Dicochea said.

However, there is always room to improve according to Dicochea.

“Pitchers need to throw strikes and not walk guys,” Dicochea said. “Our pitching has been inconsistent and we’ve been giving other teams a lot of free bases.”

Strickland agrees that they need improvement, but he believes they have the talent to do well.

“We just need to work on being more united as a team so if everyone realizes what their place is on the team then we can all help each other to reach the main goal of winning,” Strickland said. “Since we have so much talent on the team right now, if everyone’s able to contribute to get a win that’s all we need.”

According to Strickland, if they do all the things they can do, the team should be successful and go pretty far.

“I feel like we can be one of the best teams in the division,” Strickland said. “And hopefully we can win CIF. Just set up a good trend for the rest of the years at Redondo and just make a good name for the program.”

Boys volleyball looks to win tonight

by Gianna Aquilina Boys’ volleyball has an Alumni Tournament tonight against old graduated players of RUHS. “It’s going to be my first time playing the older guys, but judging from last year it should be very intense,” senior Brandon Webb said.

The team will play five games in the tournament and whoever wins three games out of five wins the tournament.

“We expect old school to bring their A game and go hard. They were Redondo Sea Hawks and played for the volleyball team at one point and all players go hard,” senior Wes Graves said.

The boys are not nervous about playing against the past players because they have “confidence” and are “prepared for everything.”

Last year the older men beat the team during the fifth game when it was tied. They are practicing hard and “looking for a win this time.”

“We need to be confident and confidence comes from trusting in your technique. We always have a hard practice every day so I believe we are prepared for anything,” Graves said.

Some of the boys who haven’t played in the Alumni tournament yet are excited and nervous to play.

“I have no idea how this will turn out. I hope we win but they have beaten us in the past,” Webb said.

You’re Out. Junior

Jason Dicochea pitches the ball to the batter in Tuesday’s game.

Photo by Ted Cavus.

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April 3

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April 3

Baseball PHOTO BY MITCH ZIEGLER

Down the line. Senior Dominic Cangialosi spikes in the Best of the West tournament.

Ryan Lem- April 4/6, mon Tour7/8, 9 nament

April 2, 2015

page 19

sports

Track places in recent meet

by Adam Yorke After a strong showing at the Azusa Pacific Meet of Champions, RUHS is looking towards their next meet against Inglewood and Morningside.

“Overall, Redondo did really well, we didn’t win this meet but it is consistently one of the hardest, fastest meets in the state. Redondo kids won most of their races and everyone gave their full effort,” junior Ryan Wadhams said.

RUHS only sent long and mid distance runners to the Azusa Pacific Meet of Champions. Sophomore Ethan Comeaux and seniors Sergio Rodriguez and Carlos Suarez were standout runners, with Comeaux running a 4:14 mile, Rodriguez a 1:55 800 meter, and Suarez a 9:12 3200 meter.

“Overall for redondo it was a good meet, we needed to see how much we have progressed and that we can keep progressing,” Rodriguez said. “It was a good meet for us to see how far we have come and what we need to work on.”

The leadership of the track team, both on and off the track, can be accredited with RUHS’ success.

“Our strongpoint is definitely our leadership. Our top runners do a great job of lifting up the other guys and pushing them to be the best they can be,” Wadhams said.

One apparent flaw RUHS recognized at Azusa was consistency.

“We most need to improve on our consistency as a team, we have some guys who are always stellar, but some of us struggle with consistency,” Wadhams said. “Whether due to lack of mental preparation or injury, we need to make sure we don’t force our leaders to carry us every meet.”

RUHS must also look to improve on the “little things”.

“We are practicing on getting pace down and improving on the little things like hand offs and our confidence levels,” Rodriguez said.

Despite the inconsistency and need of improvement on the “little things”, RUHS is confident that they will do well in their next meet against Inglewood and Morningside.

“We are going to do well against them, we have a really

big advantage in distance and that should allow us to dominate the meet as a whole,” Wadhams said. “We are going to use this meet to really work on fixing our faults.”

The biggest competition this year RUHS anticipates is Costa, but if they beat them they have a solid shot at the Bay League title.

I think the overall team is strong in general whether it’s sprints, long distance, or field events, but I expect Costa to give us the most trouble,” Rodriguez said. “We all contribute

2.

PHOTOS BY CHANDLER ROSS

Fast and furious. 1. Senior Carlos Suarez and Sophomore Ethan Comeaux lead the pack in a meet earlier this season. 2. Sage Espy competes in a hurdles race last week in a meet against Peninsula at RUHS.

Cheer ends season with anticipation for success next year

Golf prepares for Beverly Hills

by Jason Fong

by Jason Clebowicz In their last competition of the season, cheer performed their “best routine of the season” and claimed a first place finish on their home turf.

The competition was held on March 21. The team competed in the “Show Cheer Performance 3.1 Elite” division against five other teams.

“We competed for each other, not ourselves. It was a very satisfying feeling seeing everyone work so hard for the same goal,” Keely Brooks said.

No local teams competed in the competition, including Bay League and all Torrance High Schools’ cheer teams.

On top of team events, the cheer team also took home 4 medals for individual events. They received 1st place for both “jumps” and “stunts” competitions as well as a 2nd and 3rd place finishes for “tumbling.”

“It was one of our most dominant performances of the year, if not the most dominate performance. We placed in both team and individual events which is difficult for even great cheer teams,” Brooks said.

Despite an overall massive success, cheer ran into diffi-

1.

PHOTO BY CHANDLER ROSS

Senior smiles. Three seniors on cheer pose at a recent rally.

culties prior to their main routine.

“When we were about to start, another cheer team kept yelling and cheering at us, which made hearing our coach extremely difficult. We didn’t know when she told us to start, but we all simultaneously went for it,” Brooks said.

However, the challenges that the team faced in the end did not prove to dampen the team’s positive spirit from this season.

“I’m so happy it ended the way it did. It is great closure to my senior year and last year being a high school cheerleader.

It was overall such a great experience for me,” Suzanne Cole said.

“I am really excited for next year because we want to show up Corona Centennial,” sophomore Lauryn Alejo said.

Boys’ golf will play Beverly Hills today at the Alondra golf course, located in Pasadena.

“Although Beverly Hills is a favorite to win, if the team can put together a good round and shoot well, we can definitely beat Beverly Hills,” Stribling said.

According to senior Garrett Stribling, the team has grown closer technically to upper level players, as some of the team’s struggles this year have come from their lack of experience.

“As a whole, the team is doing really well. We’ve just continued to practice and improve our play as much as we can.

We’ve been getting better throughout the course of the season, as the majority of our players are on the younger side. We lost several seniors, so it’s been more of a rebuilding year,” Stribling said Stribling cites the team’s improved support and team chemistry, which plays a big factor in the team’s play.

“Since golf is an individual sport, the best thing that we can do for each other as a team is really provide support for each other to keep us all in the game, even when certain individuals don’t perform their best. One of the reasons why we’ve been doing well is because of our team chemistry and support,” Stribling said.

page 20

features

High Tide | April 2, 2015

athlete of the issue: Maddie Farmer

Farmer seen as leader and team player

by Jessica Johnson

After being awarded First Team All League and MVP of Bay League for girls lacrosse last year, senior Maddie Farmer is getting ready to play collegiately at Colorado Mesa University (CMU).

“I was first introduced the sport when the lacrosse coach at Redondo, Tom Borgia, substituted for my P.E. teacher in eighth grade. He said that I should look into the sport and come to the summer camp to try it out and see if I liked it,” Farmer said.

Farmer started playing lacrosse the summer before her freshman year and immediately fell in love with the sport.

“Once I found out that I could be successful I thought I should switch sports so I could experience a team atmosphere in high school. It provided me with a chance to be competitive in a sport. Even though I competed in ice skating, I could compete at a higher level in lacrosse,” Farmer said.

When she found out that she won MVP of Bay League last year she was “stunned.”

“It meant a lot to be recognized as the most valuable player out of the entire league, starting freshman year and working my way up, because it is such a growing sport on the west coast,” Farmer said.

Borgia is very proud of Farmer and believes that she deserves all her accomplishments because of the dedication she shows to the team and sport.

“She is the best player I have ever had and a big part of that is her work ethic,” Borgia said. “She never misses an offseason practice and stays after practice to work on stick skills and her shooting.”

Even though she really liked the idea of playing after high school, Farmer did not think she could make a collegiate

team.

“I started doing more club tournaments over the summer and I had college coaches approach me. Some even said I could have a chance at scholarship opportunities,” Farmer said. “After I thought about it I started inviting college coaches to come watch me play.”

Farmer visited CMU team over winter break and instantly felt like she belonged there.

“The school was insanely welcoming and the team atmosphere was just like a family. There was a good feel of community on the campus, which is something I was really looking for in a college,” Farmer said.

Farmer believes that the things she learns in lacrosse have directly translated into her personal and academic life and they will help her in the future.

“I have learned how to manage my time and am used to having both an athletic PHOTOS BY SANDER FINK schedule and an academic schedule, which will help me as a student athlete in college,” Catchy. 1. Maddie Farmer has been on varsity lacrosse all four years. 2.

Farmer said.

Farmer blocks an opposing player at the Agoura game. 3. Farmer begins to This is Farmer’s second year as a captain catch a ball in a game against Beverly Hills. and her fourth year as a starter on the varsity Farmer agrees that she has gained some valuable leaderteam.

“She was our star as a junior and I made her a captain ship qualities that come with being captain.

“I think a big thing lacrosse has taught me is how to com,which was unusual because I always had had senior captains,” Borgia said. “She became a great leader because of it. municate well with people,” Farmer said. “Lacrosse has made Now she’s a captain again, leading the girls to another Bay me a better person because there is a family aspect that comes along with the team.”

League title.”