THE JAGUAR TIMES - VOL 19 ISSUE 2 (NEWSPAPER)

Cross-Country’s Resilient Journey to the Finish Line

By Zaira Ramirez

South East High School has a group of student-athletes that have set league and school records this fall. And while they are setting records, it’s probable that most of the people here at South East have not heard about their achievements. This is because their records are set between oak trees, steep hills and dusty trails far from campus, typically located amid Central Los Angeles in Elysian Park.

These student-athletes are a part of the cross-country team here at South East. Every Thursday during the early fall season, these students competed in numerous races, which determined if the team was eligible for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). However, before making it to CIF, they had to make it to finals.

So in preparation for the season, athletes would practice for around two hours after school each day. For each practice, Coach Ramirez had specific workouts that varied in intensity and primarily focused on condition development and endurance.

Coach Ramirez emphasized that “workouts are created based on the performances of the athlete from their previous competitions” which allowed him to develop a workout routine that addressed any “shortcomings” while still focusing on the development and growth of the athlete.

With the support from Coach Ramirez and their determination, many of these student-athletes sur-

passed their personal records multiple times over five weeks.

Junior Karla Castillo was one of the many athletes who surpassed their personal record throughout the season. Castillo explained that running is her favorite activity and it allows her to “focus better on herself”. In this season, Castillo was labeled as one of the fastest girls on the cross-country team here at South East.

“Being the fastest in the team makes me proud,” she shared. “But I also know there is much more room for improvement.”

She especially thanks her teammates, family, and her coach for supporting her in her running journey.

On November 2nd, these athletes left school at around 10 a.m. and headed to Elysian Park for this year’s Eastern League Finals. South East High School competed in the Eastern League and had five races scheduled for that day. The first race was for athletes in Novice who had practiced but were still new to the team.

Overall as a team, the Junior Varsity Girls placed fourth and the Junior Varsity Boys placed third.

Regarding the performances of the varsity athletes, the girls finished second and the guys in thrid place. Despite Varsity Boys placing third overall, Junior Arman Vazquez placed first out of 40 with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds.

Vazquez is one of the fastest guys on the cross-country team and he explains that this makes him feel very proud.

Popular Instagram Troll Account Inflicts Fear Among Students

By Atalia Garcia & Brianna Hernandez

Recently, students have started to notice an Instagram troll account showing up on their feeds again.

The troll account on Instagram, @sehs_caughtlacking, is an account that is based on pictures and videos of students at South East.

Many of the photos on this account are submitted by the followers, but they can also be chosen at random. In the past, there have been other troll accounts that would taunt and target the students here at South East.

Previous troll accounts such as @southeast.sleepin and @sehs.emos_ were Instagram accounts that had the same purpose as this account but instead focusing on one main topic, the current troll account focuses on all factors.

These old Instagram troll accounts had a short reign when it came to taunting the students. But no other account has managed to last as long as @sehs_caughtlacking.

This account user is anonymous, but they encourage students to send them pictures and videos to be posted on their page for laughs and entertainment. Some of this ¨entertainment¨ consists of school fights, off-guard photos and staff caught in awkward moments.

Although some students at South East find the troll account funny, others find it immature, as it’s unnecessary for high schoolers to take pictures of people without consent and then send those pictures to this mysterious user.

Senior Bethzayda Ponce de Leon has had her image posted on this page multiple times. Ponce de Leon expressed that the account itself is really “paranoid-inducing” and also mentioned that when she found out that she was posted, she felt scared to even go outside.

Some students were placed in an uncomfortable position, like sophomore Rayleen Zuniga who felt “embarrassed” from being posted on the page.

¨I was mad because they made it seem like I couldn’t hug my boyfriend,” she expressed. “But at the end of the day, that just shows how childish they are for taking it that way.”

This shows at what level it is affecting South East students by making them feel bad about themselves. This anonymous user is portraying cyberbullying, which is affecting the students’ mentally. Some students’

self-esteem has been affected by the result of this person.

This account is problematic since it causes fear among the students; they fear that they may be the next target.

Senior Emily Muñoz said that at first, she found the account funny but then expressed how the account took a “negative turn.” And although she hasn’t been posted on the account itself, she feels anxious that she might be the next victim to this Instagram troll account.

Having pictures of students falling, fighting or being made fun of online is cyberbullying, which the school doesn’t condone.

This troll account affects the school since it damages our reputation for being a bully-free zone. Not to mention that the Instagram account leads to distraction from learning among students, especially the ones who get posted since they need to deal with the negative effects of the content.

The school has tried to deal with this problem by calling out students to the dean’s office and interrogating them.

Junior Melanie Contreras was one of the many students who were called out to be interviewed about this problem. Contreras explained that the questions that were asked were for the sole purpose of finding out the students who kept sending pictures and videos to the Instagram troll account.

Although she was innocent of this false accusation, she understood the protocols the staff had to follow to come closer to solving this Instagram troll problem.

Although the school can’t do much, it is important to know that they are making an effort to solve this problem and taking priority on making the campus a stress-free and positive environment once again.

Photo by Zaira Ramirez

Senior Eric Viramontes completes his CIF Prelims race last month.

Screen shot of the troll Instagram account.

The Jaguar Times Staff

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OPINION & FILM REVIEW

Senior Contracts Are Pointless

By Ayden Castañeda

This year, the school has implemented a new set of regulations for the seniors of the Class of 2024, and it has a handful of problems. Varying feelings have emerged due to this contract.

Some students didn’t mind the regulations in it and went ahead and signed it with no issues. However, other students were upset due to what the senior contract entailed.

The contract includes agreements such as meeting with your counselor once a semester, agreeing to return athletic uniforms and equipment, having a good academic standing throughout the year and understanding that seven or more tardies or absences (both excused and unexcused) may affect your eligibility to participate in senior activities including but not limited to the graduation ceremony.

Senior Amy Mukul expressed that she felt the senior contract was “annoying” yet understood that the

school cared about the students and their events but she said the contract’s tardy/absent section was “dumb.”

The part I had the most problem with when signing the senior contract was also the tardy and absent section. This section caused a problem since I already had four absences not because I didn’t want to attend school but because I was sick and had to take a couple of days off.

A lot of those same feelings I had were expressed by history teacher Ms. Kramer.

“But at the end of the day, none of this is going to be really enforced, based on what I’ve seen in the past,” she explained. “Are they really going to stop students from graduating because of a couple of tardies?”

The senior contract needs revision and a couple changes made. I don’t think the school should be allowed to implement such drastic punishments and hold something like our graduation over our heads due to things as uncontrollable as attendance and tardies.

In many cases, students have emergencies or doctor’s appointments so attending school for the entire day is not an option.

“Only seven absences is way too little for a whole school year,” said Senior Yesenia Garcia, agreeing on how it’s not right for them to decide whether or not we graduate due to these circumstances.

When the contract was shown to the senior class, senior leadership teacher Ms. Gomez explained that signing the senior contract was our only way of participating in any of the senior activities for the entire year.

Yet I know a couple of students, including myself who have not turned our contracts in and have still attended all recent senior activities such as Senior Sunrise, Senior Day, and the Senior/Junior movie night.

Although we’ve been able to attend these events with no difficulties, this just shows how little the contract truly means. Nothing on that senior contract or what was mentioned in it has been enforced.

So I truly do not think there was a need to make the senior contract or give it to students if students who don’t turn it in will still reap the same benefits as those who did. Dismissing the contract altogether would be the most reasonable decision since there’s no meaning to it.

Review: Five Nights at Freddy’s

By Ruben Regalado & Jorge Roque

“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the iconic horror game franchise, made it to the big screen in October after it first started production back in April 2015. The film is about the main character, a security guard working at Freddy Fazbear’s pizzeria named Mike Schmidt. The night guard job was his only option because of his track record of having violent outbursts in his past jobs from recurring nightmares about his kidnapped brother.

The movie takes elements, heavy inspiration, music, lore and characters mostly from the first “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF) game that was released in 2014 on mobile, PC and later PlayStation and Xbox.

In game the player is usually a night-time employee at a location connected with the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza franchise similar to Chuck E. Cheese. The movie follows that same plot as Mike tries to navigate through these shifts at the restaurant. The animatronics in the pizzeria wander the restaurant at night, because the animatronics are controlled by the spirits of five kids who were murdered inside the restaurant with their bodies being stuffed in the mascots’ suits.

Similar to the game, Mike must guard himself against the animatronics using different objects in his environment, like the camera and swinging doors, to survive the frightening ordeal and to make it to 6 a.m.

With the help of his younger sister Abby and a cop named Vaneesa Monroe, Mike eventually finds out what truly happened to his brother, the secrets and mysteries the pizze-

ria holds and how to defend himself against the haunted killer robots.

The film is directed by Emma Tamm, Scott Cuddleback and produced by Blumhouse Productions. Working alongside them is the creator of the game franchise, Scott Cawthon.

The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie has amazing camera work enhancing your immersion with great lighting, sound design, camera placement, sound effects and some good scares taking some inspiration from the games. Despite the labeled genre, a good amount of the film doesn’t quite feel like a horror film at all.

The soundtrack of the movie is absolutely amazing, made by the Newton Brothers. The movie’s soundtrack perfectly matches with the tone of the dark and eerie scenes the film presents.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is also pretty bloody with some creative kills for a PG-13-rated film but not insanely gorey.

The star actors of the film are Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mathew Lillard and surprise guest YouTuber CoryxKenshin.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” would end up being a huge success in the box office, becoming the highest grossing Blumhouse film with only a budget of $20 million crossing a $250 million milestone in the box office according to Collider. The film also was made available to stream on Peacock.

Most “Five Nights at Freddy’s” fans will enjoy the film for its lore and characters. If you’re not a fan, this movie could have you interested to check out the games and the wild ride of theories.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

CAMPUS

Snippets of Students’ Growing Side Hustles

At South East High School, there are students on campus who run their own businesses. Some businesses that students are running are clothing brands, hair cutting and nail techs.

These student entrepreneurs have worked very hard to create their own business. They have also done an amazing job at keeping up the hard work and trying to expand their businesses. Of the students interviewed for the story, all were very proud of the work they’ve done to get their business to where it is today.

Junior Carlos Trujillo, founder of Al Millon hats, is proud of the work that he’s done to achieve his goal.

“My business is doing well at the moment,” he shared. “I’ve done two successful hat drops. I am planning to keep this business forever and use it as a career. I know that if I stay consistent and keep trying, I’ll make it to where I want it to be.”

Senior Nayeli Astudillo, founder of nayesnailz, is another student business owner proud of the work that has been done as a nail tech to get her business to where it is today.

Astudillo uses Instagram to show her followers the final results of the nail set that she has done. TikTok is also being used where she is showcasing the type of products that are being used and also a preview of how she starts with the set of nails.

In 2019 after seeing her parents struggle financially, she decided to start her business to support her fami-

ly’s finances. She aims to open a foster organization in the near future, where she plans to help inspire them to create their own businesses just as she did.

“I’m doing pretty successful with my business, Gracias a Dios,” she shared. “I plan to go to school for cosmetology and open up a nail salon. I plan to expand my business and open many nail salons at different locations. This started as a hobby and is now a successful job of mine.”

Two junior entrepreneurs, Johhan Castillo and Ricardo Villanueva, who had the idea of starting a hair cutting business together, shared their story.

“Ricardo and I are both very passionate about cutting hair,” Castillo said. “It’s going good for us. It’s still the beginning and still early but we’re getting a lot of people asking us for haircuts. It’s a great feeling for me when they ask.”

Both Castillo and Villanueva have plans to expand their business.

“We plan to keep improving our skills and keep building our clientele so one day we can open up our own barbershop,” Castillo added.

Junior Dylan Ayala, who was Castillo’s first ever customer, was very thrilled about his haircut. Ayala felt good supporting his friend’s business.

“This is the best haircut that I have ever received,” Ayala shared. “The talent that Johhan has is unreal. Ever since [he] cut my hair, I have not gone back to my old barber. I think it’s great that these two young entrepreneurs could start their own business and get a clientele of students from the school supporting them.”

Students and Teachers Taking Different Approaches to School Cell Phone Policy

to pick it up.

Senior Rachelle Villada expressed her thoughts on all the student entrepreneurs and their businesses.

“I’d say that it is a very good idea to start your own business because it gives you a head start on how big of a responsibility it is to own a personal business,” Villada expressed. “I will continue to support all the small businesses out there and possibly create my own business.”

History teacher Ms. Galarza is impressed by these entrepreneurs and shared her thoughts on the students who own their businesses.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to start practicing business principles and

your phone to the dean’s office.

Despite the rule, the phone policy is not enforced as much as it used to be. Some teachers don’t mind if students have their phone out while others are more strict. This causes a divide between teachers and students on what to do regarding the phone policy on campus.

English teacher Ms. Gutierrez has been implementing her strict phone policy for the last seven years. In her class, there are no phones in sight. If she sees it out, it will be confiscated for the entire school day.

“By keeping the phones away the students are more productive in my class,” she explained. “I’ve never had any issues. As long as they’re put away I know that the kids are either working and if they don’t want to work that’s their choice but it helps me avoid needing to call on students to stop using their phones.”

Since the phone policy is mainly enforced by teachers, it means they have control over how strict they are about it.

understanding concepts of business at a young age because most successful business owners usually fail at about ten businesses before they actually succeed,” she said. “So the younger that you start hustling on your business, the better off you are going to be in achieving success.”

The student entrepreneurs have a goal that someday their business will grow and expand. They are going to keep working hard and make their dreams a reality. Being both a student and owning a business could be challenging, but that is not stopping these hard-working entrepreneurs from reaching their goals.

He hopes that it is the only time he has had to do it.

Some students don’t have a problem when it comes to putting their phones away while in class.

“I think that the phone policy shouldn’t be changed, it’s fine this way,” expressed junior Jason Perez. He is content with the current status of the phone policy.

Some students feel the school could improve the policy by allowing students to use their phones as long as they’re able to focus on their work and not interrupt the class.

But not everyone agrees with that idea.

Sophomore Abraham Gomez believes they should get rid of the phone policy altogether and that it is up to students to decide if they want to learn or not.

“I mean it’s their learning experience,” he expressed. “If they don’t want to learn then they don’t want to learn.”

The cell phone policy at South East has changed over the years. In previous years, if a student was caught using their cell phone during class time, the teacher would take it away and deliver it straight to the dean’s office where the student would have to come after school with a parent

In 2021, South East adopted a three-strike policy. If it was the first time you were caught being on your phone, the teacher would just make you put it away. The second time your teacher would hold on to it and give it back to you after class.

But if you were caught a third time, then your teacher would send

History teacher Mr. Romm isn’t strict when it comes to the phone policy, but he expects all phones put away while he’s giving a lecture or when his students are in a group activity. He has only had to send one phone to the dean’s office.

“Last year I had to send a student’s phone to the dean’s office after warning them several times,” he recounted.

Getting rid of the phone policy could also help make students feel more comfortable at school since they don’t have to be worried about getting their phones taken away for checking a text or just for checking the time.

Students and teachers are both on opposite sides of the phone policy and it doesn’t seem like a common ground will be found soon for both ends.

Until then, this discussion will remain in the dead zone.

Photo courtesy of Johhan Castillo

Photo by Eric Ortega

Isaiah Ruiz gets a trim from student entrepreneur Ricardo Villanueva.

By Andy Arellano & Bradley Villada

By Eric Ortega & Ruby Ortega

FALL FRIENDSHIP FESTIVAL

Students Lead First Fall Friendship Festival

By Joseph Maldonado & Miguel Pulido

For the very first time in South East High School history, the school hosted its own Fall Friendship Festival the day before Thanksgiving break on November 17.

The purpose of the Fall Festival was to raise money through a studentplanned event to fund their club or sport. Everybody in the community was invited, including members of city council. Hundreds of people attended the event with a total of 4,338 tickets sold for games

The festival featured many oncampus groups, including: Senior Leadership, Key Club, Student Councils from STEAM, VAPA, HSE and JLAW, Medical Club, Journalism, Softball, Girls Soccer, Baseball, Bible Club, Prim & Proper, Cheer, Boys and Girls Tennis, Interact, ASB, GSA, Yearbook, STEMinist Club, Mariachi, Band, Royal Blues, Choir and more.

Although it’s a newly-planned event, students from all clubs had been meeting every Monday for the past two months prior to the festival for the planning stage.

Before the doors opened, all groups began setting up almost as soon as the final bell rang. The Parent Center also played a role in the setup, by providing an extra helping hand to the clubs that needed it. Earlier in the day, they also put up decorations and a banner in front of the school to welcome all attendees.

The booths were set up side

entrance gate to another. The ticket booth was set up at the main gate, which is where students and attendees were able to purchase tickets that worked as currency, which they could use to play the games and to buy food.

The environment present within the event itself was very energetic. Students were enjoying themselves and the many activities and snacks provided.

“It was fabulous,” senior Albert Poot shared. “Ten out of 10, would recommend. Do it again next year.”

Some of the activities held by the booths were a bean bag toss by STEAM Student Council, Bingo and word searches by Journalism, Duck Pond by Medical Club, Kick to Win by Girls Soccer, Knock the Pins by Baseball and Spin a Wheel by Interact.

Attendees were also able to purchase items like pom poms, newspapers and student merchandise along with various foods such as

SEHS Cross-Country

Continued from Page 1.

“I have to give it to my team and my coach for always being there for me when I have my bad and good days,” he expressed. While he still has one more year left of high school, he thanks his coach for everything that he has done to get him to where he is right now.

Overall, it was both varsity divisions that ended up at CIF Prelims, which means that they were eligible to race against the whole city of Los Angeles at the cross-country course in Pierce Community College on Saturday, November 11. Even though everyone had the opportunity to compete, only the top five were able to qualify for the CIF Finals, which goes for both individuals and teams.

The following week on November 18, the CIF Finals took place at the same cross-country course at Pierce

“Yes, it was good and looks good,” senior Brian Flores shared about his festival experience. He said that his favorite event was the exploding pumpkin demonstration by the STEMinist Club. Throughout the festival, the club demonstrated how mixtures of various chemicals placed inside a pumpkin could cause an explosion. The demonstrations gathered a large crowd with cheers and applause after each blast.

Others had great experiences with the Fall Festival. Club stands extended from the gym to as far as the auditorium, with the entirety of Jaguar Lane packed with booths and attendees.

According to Title 1 Coordinator Ms. Rodriguez, the Fall Festival is student-driven and it is up to the students to decide whether or not they want to hold the festival again.

After this year’s positive feedback, students might choose to do it

College. The morning weather was gloomy and rainy, which had some effects on the course since the majority was dirt. Despite the gloomy and unpredictable weather, the Girls Varsity team and Vazquez still raced. The varsity team placed 8th as their overall team score, which did not allow them to qualify for State.

On the other hand, Vazquez placed fifth, with a time of 15 minutes and 27 seconds, which allowed him to qualify for CIF State in Fresno, California. The CIF State course was very unfamiliar and there were many variables that affected the runners. There were 182 other boys whom Vazquez was racing against and he finished with a time of 16 minutes and 9 seconds, which was 73 seconds behind the fastest time set.

Everyone pushed themselves either to their limit or past their limit throughout this season and despite

that, many of these athletes stayed dedicated even if they didn’t achieve their goal.

Junior Carlos Lopez stated, “Coach has really inspired me to keep going and to work harder.”

Other athletes also acknowledged this statement and all together stated that he was the best coach.

Freshman Mayanin Vazquez and sophomore Vianney Mendoza emphasized that they had a lot of fun this season and hope to achieve a faster time next season. This feeling and goal also goes for many of the other athletes on the team, who primarily joined for fun and ended up gaining something much more meaningful.

Photos by Joseph Maldonado, Nicholas Rodriguez & Miguel Pulido

Photos by Zaira Ramirez Juniors Karla Castillo and Arman Vasquez show off their plaques.