BRAVO NEWS • 2
ENTERTAINMENT • 4
POLITICS • 3
BRAVO MEDICAL MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL | LOS ANGELES, CA | VOL. XVIII, ISSUE i | WWW.BRAVOWEB.NET| MARCH 4, 2016
Science Fair
Bravo’s Semiannual Blood Drive By Lisa Ton and Brianna Ceja
By Ashley Tellez
On February 26, 2016 Bravo collaborated with UCLA to hold its semiannual Blood Drive at the gym. Before the blood drive, students had the opportunity to sign up to donate during any of their first four periods, preferably not in an AP class. Students under the age of seventeen were required to have a signed parent consent form in order to donate. Bravo’s leadership class was responsible of making sure this event ran smoothly throughout the day. Leadership students had to summon every student who was eligible to donate blood. When students walked into the gym, their IDs and signed consent forms were immediately checked. Once a student was checked off, they had to make their way over to a UCLA representative, who gave each student a questionnaire about their health and asked for information regarding any recent trips the student
EHA II student Katya Garcia (‘16) and her project “Development of Ultrasonic Transducers Using Piezoelectric Materials.” Source: Ashley Tellez On February 16, 2016, Bravo held its annual Science and Engineering Fair, during periods three and four, at the gym. STAR, EHA, honors, and AP science students presented their projects to a panel of judges from USC, UCLA, and various medical organizations. Students competed in a variety of categories, including animal biology, animal physiology, behavioral/social sciences, biochemistry and molecular biology, chemistry, engineering applications, engineering research, environmental management, microbiology, pharmacology, physics, and plant biology. The event, coordinated by Ms. Ramirez De La Cruz and Ms. Dypiangco, gave many students the opportunity to showcase their ambitious experiments. Those who took on the challenge of participating in this year’s
science fair were able to take their scientific interests to the next level. Students created research experiments on topics of their choice to resolve scientific problems. The fair’s atmosphere was full of anticipation, anxiety, and excitement, as each participant patiently waited for their moment to shine. Once the judges arrived, the students were put to the test, and months of preparation and hard work finally paid off. There were many impressive projects at the fair, but only the most outstanding were given awards. STAR II students, Ricardo De La Torre (‘16) and Eunice Padilla (‘16), presented “The Health Impacts of the Built Environment in a Community,” a project that explored the influence of the built environment of different communities on the health of high school
students. EHA II student, Katya D. Garcia (‘16), presented “Development of Ultrasonic Transducers Using Piezoelectric Materials,” a project that focused on the use of ultrasonic transducers to detect cancer and examine cells with more detail. Kenneth Sanchez (‘16) and Elen Yolyan (‘17) presented “Does It All Make Scents,” a project that researched the effects of certain smells on reducing heart rate. STAR I student, Tomas Meza Stieben (‘17), presented “Invisible but Beneficial,” a project that explored the effects of infrared light on the regeneration of earthworms’ tails. These are only a few of the numerous award winners of this year’s fair. Congratulations to this year’s participants, who put so much time and effort into their projects.
made outside the country. Next, prospective donors got their hemoglobin levels measured, as well as their blood pressure checked. Once they completed all these steps, they were ready to donate blood. When a student was called up to donate blood, they had to lay still and wait until all the blood necessary was taken out. Two pints of blood were drawn out and the process took about ten to fifteen minutes for each student. They then had the opportunity to choose the color of their bandage. Each student was required to stay seated for fifteen minutes and have snacks before heading back to class because they could feel seriously ill after. A UCLA representative gave every student a number they can call for additional information on their blood or if they got sick. As a reward, each student was given an AMC golden ticket and a couple of stickers for donating blood.
Source: blog.admissions.ucla.edu
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NEWS VOL. XVI, ISSUE vii
BRAVO NEWS
Bravo’s Annual Multicultural Show
Multicultural Food Fair
By Katalina Gomez and Daniela Barranco
By Jaspreet Khinda and Daniel Baang
On February 25, 2016, Bravo held its annual multicultural show at the school’s lecture hall. There were many Bravo students who came together to showcase various dances from around the world. Bravo’s drill team, Dances of the World, Desi Club, and Folklorico were featured in the show. A special performance by Jesus Perez (‘16) was also included in the program. The two hosts of the show were Candy Chavez (‘16) and Kevin Medina (‘18), who introduced the various groups that performed with enthusiasm. The first group to perform was the Desi Club, who opened with their signature song “Radha,” then performed “Nachegi,” and lastly, the boys of the club performed “Main Tera Hero.”Bravo’s drill team performed “Spanish Fiesta,” a hip-hop routine, and “A Blast From the Past.” This year marked the first year of Bravo’s drill team performing in the multicultural show. Folklorico performed two routines as well. One was called “Sinaloa” and the other was called “Polkas.” The girls showed off their beautiful brightly colored dresses paired with beaming smiles for both performances. Dances of the World performed an African dance, as well as a hip-hop routine. Both dances had very high levels of charisma and energy. Lastly, Jesus Perez performed an original piece on his electric guitar. After his performance, Jesus had a very special announcement. He asked a long-time friend to be his prom date. To everyone’s delight, she accepted. With prom season coming, there are many such promposals heading Bravo’s way.
MARCH 4, 2016
Things to Do During Spring Break By Leslie Polanco and Christopher Ornelas
Bravo’s spring break will begin on March 21 and will run through March 28, with school continuing on March 29. Many times, students may not know what to do with a week off from school, but living in Los Angeles, the opportunities of adventure are endless. Here are a few things that one can do to make the most of the break. 1. Hiking: Whether it’s for the exercise, sightseeing, or spending time with friends, hiking is a fun and engaging opportunity for all. A few of the most popular locations to hike at in the greater Los Angeles area are: Griffith Park, Runyon Canyon, and Eaton Canyon. 2. Museums: There are many museums in Los Angeles that range in different subjects and periods in history. For example, Exposition Park houses the National History Museum, the California Science Center, and the California African American Museum. Other museums in the Downtown area include the Museum of Tolerance and the Japanese American National Museum. 3. Beaches: Los Angeles is known for its coastal landscapes and sunny weather. With the Pacific Ocean located on the west coast, Los Angeles houses numerous landmark beaches, such as Redondo Beach, Dockweiler State Beach, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Beach (which also includes the famous pier that includes various attractions), and many more. 4. Theme Parks: There are four major theme parks that surround the Los Angeles area, which include Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Knott’s Berry Farm. Each park provides thrills and entertainments for all ages and visiting one is sure to guarantee a fun experience. 5. Movies: There are various activities one could do with a little time off from school, and whether this time is spent with friends or in solitude, a good movie can brighten one’s spirit. One could go to the movies with friends or stay in and watch a film on Netflix, Hulu, or on any internet medium for film entertainment. There are a lot more activities provided by the great City of Angels, but no matter how one plans on spending Spring Break, remember Bravo Knights, try not to leave homework assignments for the last day.
Source: Katalina Gomez and Daniela Barranco Francisco Bravo High School hosted their annual multicultural food fair on February 24, 2016. There was a wide variety of palatable foods to choose from. As soon as the ticket station opened, an immense line was formed by students, anticipating to buy their tickets to taste these treats. Many Bravo students were drawn by the crowd and delectable foods that were being sold in the outside basketball courts. Several of our very own clubs, such as the Origami club, Kiwins, the Amermian Alliance Student, MESA, and other Bravo programs, such as, Folklorico, Marching Band, and Leadership sold many of the wonderful meals provided. It was a delightful event to spend time with friends, while enjoying a delicious snack at the same time. The food fair was a pleasant way to open the multicultural show, the following day.
Source: Katalina Gomez and Daniela Barranco
3 POLITICS VOL. XVI, ISSUE vii
POLITICS
North Korea Planning Terror Attack on South Korea By Daniel Baang
On February 18, 2016, a South Korean spy agency stated that North Korea is planning a “terror attack” on South Korea. It is even said that Kim Jong Un himself gave the orders to prepare the terror attacks. The causes of the beginning of the terror attacks preparations may vary from anti-North Korean activists to North Korean defectors. The NIS, National Intelligence Service, had a closed meeting with the Saenuri Party and the defense ministries. The NIS has discussed possible targets of the terror attacks. Targets may include subways, shopping malls, exhibitions, and power plants. Cyber attacks may occur as well. South Korea has been working on an anti-terrorism bill for a long time. The NIS reports of the recent news about the actions of North Korea will now highlight
the importance of the passing of the bill. Kim Sung-aoo, the senior secretary at the Blue House, or Presidential office, said that the law needs to be passed in order to keeps its own people and properties safe. On February 18, 2016, President Barack Obama signed new North Korean sanctions. The sanctions are an attempt to cut the money supply of North Korea that was needed to make nuclear warheads. The U.S and China are working together to create measures on the sanctions. China has even stated that some measures of the sanctions could cripple the North Korean economy. After so many violations of the rules set by the UN, North Korea will now face tough situations as sanctions are being imposed.
United States Primary Elections 2016 By Omar Espinosa
The people of the United States and the world are all watching the much discussed and unique 2016 presidential race. This election is like no other, but that’s a discussion for another day. The primaries kicked off on Monday, February 1st in Iowa, and will continue through half the year into June. This is when we’ll know which nominees will represent their political party. On the Republican side of the election, there are five nominees: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump. Other candidates have dropped out of the race in the wake of the first four elections. The four states are: Iowa, where Ted Cruz won with a 27.65% of votes; New Hampshire, where Donald Trump won with a 35.34% of votes; Nevada, where Donald Trump won
with a 45.91% of votes; and South Carolina, where Mr. Trump won yet again with a 32.5% of votes. On the Democratic side, there are two nominees, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton. Former nominee Martin O’Malley dropped out of the race shortly after the Iowa caucus. In Iowa, Hillary Clinton scraped out with a tight “win” with 49.86% of voters. In New Hampshire Bernie won a crucial victory with 60.4% of voters. In Nevada, Hillary Clinton won with a 52.62% of voters. Super Tuesday is right around the corner, March 1st to be exact. These results are only the start of the primaries, and of the election. These primaries are by no means near over, and although certain candidates appear in the lead, this can change very quickly.
MARCH 4, 2015
Trans Pacific Partnership: What is it and why should you care? By Adelmi Ysita
What is the TPP? The Trans Pacific Partnership is a multinational trade agreement that will rewrite international rules and extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws around the globe. The countries involved are the United States, Canada, Japan, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, and New Zealand. In total, twelve countries are involved in this partnership. However, this excludes China, even though it is known to be one of the US’s largest sources for manufactured goods. Currently, TPP threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcements. Most goods and services are involved and a few taxes on imports will be removed. What is in the TPP agreement? It contains laws that will allow tariffs (taxes on imports) to vanish with some manufactured products, expand copyright terms, heavy criminal sanctions, pose threats to journalists, and put restrictions on fair use. Copyright term protections can extend from the life of
the author plus seventy years for works created by individuals and seventy years after creation for corporate owned works. Certain countries, such as New Zealand, will have to rewrite copyright laws if digital locks are banned. The way digital movies, video games, and softwares, that restrict access to services, are made will also have to be modified. There are vague mentions of punishment sent upon those who reveal or access information through a computer system. Companies that use user friendly rules could risk lawsuits by content industry investors. Users could be jailed or fined over file sharing and may have their domains seized. One of the most worrisome “problems” it will bring are digital policies that benefit big corporations at the expense of the public. The IP section will have negative consequences on user’s privacy and will create difficulties for people’s innovation. It will encourage personal data to have limited protection. Supporters of the TPP agreement were happy
Source: tax.thomsonreuters.com
that a study from the Venerable Peterson Institute for International Economics projected that the TPP will boost exports and economic growth. According to their research, by 2030, the U.S economy would be 0.5% larger with the agreement than without it. However, the research did not investigate the question concerning U.S politicians and voters: Will the TPP bring cheap imports that will cost many to lose their jobs? An important aspect of the deal is the loner patents, especially for the U.S’s pharmaceutical industry, President Obama says this is an accomplishment, stating other countries will finally pay and recognize us for the research done by our pharmaceutical industry. Assuming the TPP will not change the trade balance, if the pharmaceutical industry starts getting more money for its drugs, then other companies will begin receiving less money for their products being sold overseas. This being said, the money foreigners may have spent on U.S manufactured goods will be used to pay the higher prices of drugs made by Americans.
5 ENTERTAINMENT VOL. XVI, ISSUE vii
ENTERTAINMENT Street Fighter V – Review
The fifth installment of the popular Street Fighter series just dropped on February 16, 2016. Ever since its first announcement back in December 2014 at the PlayStation Experience, fans have been eager to get their hands on the latest entry in the longrunning fighting game franchise. After about a year of waiting, the game released exclusively on both PlayStation 4 and on the PC-based Steam store. Players already have mixed feelings about the game, criticizing the amount of content in the launch version but praising the online versus suite. Content-wise, the game is bare-bones and very basic. There is a forced tutorial mode which starts up when the player starts the game, teaching the simple aspects without going into deep technical details. The tutorial also includes a small story aspect, with the younger versions of Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters. After that, the next bit of content is the actual story mode. This mode consists of three to four fights for each of the sixteen characters, accompanied by artwork and voice-over in between matches. These storylines are very short, however, and mostly serve as a set-up to the later cinematic story expansion in April. One can quickly plow through all sixteen character stories in less than a few hours, compared to the expansive stories in games such as Mortal Kombat X and BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma, which takes more than a day to beat. Aside from the usual training mode, the last bit of single-player content available is the survival mode. Ranging from easy to hell difficulty and ten
By Bryan Gonzalez
rounds to 100 rounds, this is where most of the single player content lies. Players will face against increasingly difficult enemies and earn points by winning rounds. These points can then be used to purchase upgrades each round, such as an increase in attack power or a boost in defense. Managing to beat each difficulty will earn colors and fight titles depending on the character used, so players are encouraged to beat each difficulty with the characters they plan to use the most. Other than these few modes, the single player suite is left rather empty, without fighting game staples such as arcade mode or combo challenges. The main aspect of the game is the online multiplayer, but even that is faced with problems. Ranked and casual match searches take around five minutes to find one match. This forces many players to switch over to the Battle Lobby, which is definitely faster but does not allow players to win Fight Money which can be used later for new costumes and characters. This connection time and server status is odd considering there were several beta tests specifically designed to test the servers’ strength. This deals a serious blow to the enthusiasm of launchwindow players, who have to play without winning free in-game currency if they want to play matches quickly and easily. Since the game is a fighting game, the gameplay is the main selling point. The 2D fighting style stays the same as the rest of the series. However, the main aspect which makes thegame different from its predecessors is the V-Gauge system, which builds as the player takes damage,
Editorial Matter
MARCH 4, 2016
Super Bowl 50
serving as a revenge system and gives players three new techniques: V-Skills, V-Reversals, and V-Triggers. V-Skills are special attacks unique to each fighter; for example, Ryu can parry an attack while M. Bison can reflect projectiles, some of which build V-Gauge when successfully performed. V-Reversals allow players to use a section of the V-Gauge to perform a counter move whilst being attacked. Finally, V-Triggers use the entire V-Gauge to allow the player to perform a unique ability, such as a temporary damage boost for Ryu’s energy balls or added hits to Chun-Li’s attacks. The skilled and tactical use of this system will give players an upper hand in battles. The final verdict for Street Fighter V in its current state really depends on the consumer. For fans of single player, they should wait until the rest of the features are rolled out in March to get a fuller package with more content. However, players only seeking online matches and the gameplay should get the game, even if the connection times for ranked and casual matches take forever. In addition, the cross-play feature between PlayStation 4 and PC players works phenomenal with no lag or connection errors. There are bugs with hit detection and damage, but overall the connection between matches is great. Competitive players should take advantage of the online suite as soon as possible, as it will be harder to jump in later when mostly everyone has honed their skills. Overall, it will take a while before Street Fighter V becomes a fully-fledged fighting game, but the fact that the gameplay is phenomenal still makes it a good game.
By Katalina Gomez
On Sunday, February 7, 2016, the NFL’s number one ranked defense, Denver Broncos, played the number one ranked offense, Carolina Panthers, in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. About half an hour before kickoff, the NFL presented almost every MVP from the previous 49 Super Bowls onto the field at Levi’s Stadium. Bart Starr, from Super Bowl I and II, and Chuck Howley from Super Bowl V, appeared live and onscreen, however, from their own homes in Alabama and Texas. The presentation was great to see, knowing all the past MVP’s were assembled in one spot. One highlight from the game was when there was 6:27 remaining in the first quarter. Von Miller, rushing from the left end, made a double move on Panther left tackle Mike Remmers and flashed right past him. Miller crashed into Cam Newton, whose head was turned downfield, except that he reached for the football instead of wrapping up Newton. The ball tumbled out of Newton’s hands and rolled across the goal line, where Malik Jackson cradled it for a 9-0 Denver advantage. Another most talked about topic was the longest punt return made in Super Bowl history. It went down early in the second quarter, Carolina punter Brad Nortman booted a short kick of just 28 yards to Denver’s Jordan Norwood. Sensing that the Panthers expected him to call for a fair catch,
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Norwood, standing at his own 25-yard line, opted not to call for one. Norwood fielded the kick with three Panthers surrounding him, none of whom realized that the play was live. He raced to the right sideline, got the corner and went 61 yards to the Carolina 14 before being dragged down from behind by Panther Mario Addison. It led to a Bronco field goal. Fast forwarding to the fourth quarter, just over four minutes remaining, and Carolina is facing thirdand-9 from its own 25. The Panthers trail 16-10: This is potentially Carolina’s game-winning drive. Instead, Miller again beats Remmers around the right end and strip-sacks Newton. The ball lands on the turf, and Newton, takes one step toward it and then chooses not to dive after it. Denver recovered at the Carolina 5-yard line and scored the game-clinching touchdown a few plays later. Now we can’t forget about Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, Peyton’s little brother, starring stone-faced into the distance. As Peyton finally secures a second Super Bowl victory, despite a forgettable outing record 13 consecutive third downs, the CBS cameras panned to the Manning family luxury box. There, as the rest of the NFL’s quarterback-royalty family jumps for joy, Eli Manning just stood in shock. Overall, the Super Bowl 50, was a memorable event that included awesome performances from Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Beyonce.
Source: thesource.com
Vital Signs Staff Randy Artamaya Daniel Baang Daniela Barranco Patricia Cabuso Brianna Ceja Zola Cervantes Omar Espinosa Amber Figueroa Katalina Gomez Bryan Gonzalez Jaspreet Khinda Christopher Ornelas Leslie Polanco Ashley Tellez Lisa Ton Alejandro Vega Miguel Vega Adelmi Ysita
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