highlights
Feb. 17, 2017 Volume 90, Issue Nine Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills, California beverlyhighlights.com
$5 million in budget cuts recommended for next year
The board discusses a proposed increase in class sizes for K-3 to save up to $600,000 per year. Photo by: PRISCILLA HOPPER
Ben Dahan news editor Jamie Kim news editor The first study session regarding how the district could solve its budget dilemma, nearly $5 million in cuts for the 2017-18 school year, was held on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The Feb. 9 public meeting and the Feb. 16 study session were focused
on informing the Board of Education about how to make the most efficient and fair decisions reducing expenditures. If all goes as scheduled, the decisions are to be made on Feb. 28. The cuts are meant to rectify the projected budget deficit of $4.6 million in the 2016-17 school year, and similar deficits in subsequent years if spendings remain unchanged. “If a train is heading for a train
INSIDE
wreck, you have to put the brakes down in time. That’s an analogy [for this deficit],” board president Mel Spitz told the board meeting attendees in the Jon Cherney Lecture Hall on Feb. 9. The cuts are mandatory as the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), the entity responsible for approving district budgets, would not accept a budget heading toward fiscal insolvency. When Chief Administrative Officer La Tanya Kirk-Carter submitted the district budget to LACOE, it had already taken the cuts into account, to let the organization know that the district acknowledges and plans to rectify the path toward insolvency. The administration and some board members believe that $5 million worth of cuts for the 2017-18 school year is the remedy for the financial issue. However, others, such as board member Lisa Korbatov, are reluctant to cut that much at one time. “I’m not there yet to cut $5 million… In this case, the cure may be worse than disease,” Korbatov said. The two-and-a-half hour long meeting began with the new Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy, and his cabinet, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Jennifer Tedford, Chief Human Resources Officer Yolanda Mendoza and Kirk-Carter presenting to the board and the audience. The presentation began with showing declining district enrollment trends, and then highlighted data about class sizes. The data showed that class size is, on average, small, even smaller than the Board of Education guidelines. However, it is often unevenly so. For example, an AP French class could have only seven students, whereas a chemistry class could have more than 30 students. The consensus from Bregy and his cabinet was that this current trend is unsustainable. While enrollment has decreased,
teacher staff has remained consistent. BHUSD spends $14,000 per student per year, $5,000 of which goes to pay for teacher salaries. The percentage of student costs that go to teacher salaries, approximately 35 percent, is higher than that of the surrounding comparable school districts. The average teacher salary in BHUSD is low compared to the that of other districts in LA County; because there is a higher proportion of teachers to students, the per student teacher cost is high. The administration also presented the board members with some options to cut, amounting to about $3.2 million, acknowledging that an extra $1.6 million will need to be cut to
reach the goal. “When you have a problem like this, you just have to throw [all options] up there,” Bregy said, while acknowledging that while none of these cuts will be popular, they are necessary. Among the proposed options is reducing high school counseling staff, consolidating classes, increasing kindergarten through third grade class sizes, replacing some STEM teachers with digitalized instruction alternatives, and cutting by half an K-5 intervention program, which was instituted this year.
Continued on page 2 “Budget”
SPOTLIGHT NEWS
SPORTS
Minority enrollment in decline
Girls varsity soccer reflects on time together Page 8
this issue
Pages 4-5
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Dance Company’s new show of success Page 2
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2 news
February 17, 2017
Highlights
Dance Company prepares for show AJ Wolken staff writer
Priscilla Hopper, AJ Wolken, Evan Minniti, Isaiah Freedman, Sam Bernstein, Lauren Hannani, Rinesa Kabashi staff writers
Ben Dahan, Jamie Kim news editors
Vivian Geilim opinion editor
Eleanor Bogart-Stuart culture editor
Sophia Goldberg sports editor
Jason Harward Juniors Tamia James and Solomon Margo rehearse their dance numbers for the upcoming show. Photo by: AJ WOLKEN. First-year Dance Company member junior Daniel Kohanbash, and former member of 2016 AP Posse dance, feels that Leong has made great changes in her first year, including the addition of more shows. “I think these smaller performances will have a positive impact throughout the school and now, more people will be aware of what Dance Company is. I think Ms. Leong has done a great job of filling the very large shoes she has had to fill,” Kohanbash said. Leong assumed lots of responsibility taking on running multiple dance classes and the dance program, but has handled it well according to McNally. “I think she’s doing very well!
I can’t imagine how tough it is to manage 40 teenagers. She was able to find a theater for our show in a very short amount of time and she put on an amazing show. It wouldn’t have happened without her and her guidance,” McNally said. The Dance Company members used inspiration, not only from the Pyramid of Success, but also from each other. “We’ve done something called ‘Feedback Friday’, where we help critique each other’s pieces. I think everyone is benefiting from the positive and constructive feedback. We are also getting closer as a company to prepare us for next year,” Kohanbash said. Since the show is self-choreo-
graphed, McNally feels that the show is a great opportunity for students to see the hard work and creativity of the dancers. “I think people should come see this show because you can really see the passion each dancer has for their dance,” McNally said Unlike the main show which was held at the Nate Holden Theater in Los Angeles, this performance will be held at the Salter Family Theater. “[The dancers] really connect to their work. In the Salter, it’s also a lot more intimate so you can see every small movement,” McNally said. “After seeing these pieces myself, many of them really pull the audience in…It’s going to be a great show.
Teacher’s take: populism rises Budget Max Yera co-editor-in-chief Though the rise of Donald Trump, and his counterparts of Marine Le Pan in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, may have some horrified, taking an educated approach to the current state of affairs may prove valuable. According to AP European History and World History teacher Peter Van Rossum, the Trump Administration, along with the increasingly popular Le Pan and Wilders in Europe, can be explained through populism. “Usually what you have is this perception, it can be on the left wing or the right thing, that there is an elite government that is out of touch with the masses of the common people,” Van Rossum said. Populism is, in Van Rossum’s eyes, a reaction against globalization, a movement toward international integration between nation states, through the 21st century. “There’s this resentment against the EU (European Union) because of this perception, which is understandable to an extent, that a person in France or a person in
Keith Stone, Ben Shofet, Max Yera, Veronica Pahamova editors-in-chief
Priscilla Hopper staff writer Dance Company is preparing for their first of many small shows that new instructor, Chrissie Leong, has introduced into the program. The show, called “Solos, Duets and Text,” on Tuesday, Feb. 21, intends to embody aspects of this year’s academic theme,including the John Wooden Pyramid of Success, into dances. “Doing more shows gives me a chance to expand my choreography and work on who I am as a dancer,” full company member sophomore Emilie Gibbons said. Centered around the theme of individual success, the show features pairs of dancers performing self-choreographed pieces, each representing a message of the John Wooden pyramid. “It has many different styles of dance and showcases everyone’s strengths,” full company member junior Jansen McNally said. “Each student and pair of students were asked to choose one or more blocks from John Wooden’s pyramid. Then we constructed our dances around the blocks and themes of success that we chose.” McNally was skeptical of having more shows at first, but now sees the benefit for the program in the long-run. “Now I see that it’s really great because we get the chance to have more experience on stage performing,” McNally said.
Highlights
Belgium or a person in the Netherlands is suddenly surrendering their local autonomy to people who aren’t even in their own community,” Van Rossum said. This “surrendering of local autonomy” is in regard to the competition workers within the European Union may face as a result of the interconnected framework of the EU. Van Rossum also points to the issue of refugee immigration from the Middle East as reason for such local sentiment. “Another thing is immigration, especially from the Middle East, where a lot of Europeans are wondering about the ability of their own culture to stay together,” Van Rossum said. In regard to how this populist movement may end, Van Rossum looks to European history. “In my AP Euro class, we talk about Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1860s. He was a populist. You see it with Mussolini. You see it with Hitler,” Van Rossum said. “Populists gain power because they focus on emotion, and they tend to take really complicated issues
and make them really simple, and they tend to fall under their own weight because the promises are too great.” Van Rossum also points to the potential of the media. “A lot of it will depend on how the media can withstand attacks because there seems to be a movement from Trump’s administration to discredit the media and make it appear biased to the point that it’s not so much about truth, but partisanship and having an agenda,” Van Rossum said. “But there is such a thing as facts and real truth, so if the media holds up, I think this will fail.” Where this populist movement will head is yet to be seen, but it appears that an explanation for its emergence is possible. “There’s a lot of fear of the unknown,” Van Rossum said. “But ultimately what it boils down to is that in the mind of a quote on quote common person, the elitesthe politicians, the diplomats, the business leaders-have not been adequately addressing how a person on the ground, on the local level, feels.”
continued from page 1 Administration identified the district’s four K-8 school system, shared with only 21 other districts in California, as a source of many of these concerns. Transforming to a district with one dedicated middle school is estimated to save the district $4 to 5 million. It would solve many of the programming issues, such as two filled seventh grade choir classes instead of having one half-filled class in each school. However, the transition faces much community, and board, opposition, as most have grown up in the K-8 system. Nevertheless, some are willing to examine the option. “I’m a proponent of the K-8 model, but I want to know what a non K-8 model would look like,” student board member Sam Schwartz said. In another aspect, some, like LACOE, have identified the money spent on special education as surprisingly large. The district receives about $3.2 million in funding from state and federal sources for special education; however, it expends $13 million. Board member Howard Goldstein said that the special education programs should be streamlined and expenditures reduced, while maintaining the same level of service. Board member Isabel Hacker brought up the district’s robust athletic program, which far exceeds that of surrounding districts
design editor
Natasha Dardashti multimedia editor
Gaby Herbst adviser —
Our goal as a student-run publication is to provide reliable, accurate and fair content that informs and intrigues the Beverly Hills community by following the principles of ethical journalism and represents the student body. We will deliver a broad spectrum of coverage through a variety of mediums, including online and print. Highlights is a forum for public expression that is produced by the Advanced Journalism class of Beverly Hills High School, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Letters to the editor may be sent to beverlyhighlights@gmail.com.
of similar size and asked if that could be examined as well. Spitz also cited that these cuts do not take into account the expenditures from the Christiansen judgement, which ordered the district to pay $20 million to a former consultant, as well as an annual $2.5 million from a technology plan, which has not yet been approved by the board or taken into account. Once the board members were done making all of their comments, asking all of their questions and instructing the cabinet what to follow up on for the next study session, held on Feb 16, Spitz opened the meeting to public comment. The only speaker to come forth was Telly Tse, president of the Beverly Hills Education Association (BHEA), the teachers union, who said “If you give us the true, complete and accurate information, we would be the first to agree [on cuts].” He cited concerns over district transparency and providing accurate information to substantiate their claims. “There very well may be an issue financially, but the district needs to work with its stakeholders to get buy-in. They cannot just say there is a problem and expect us to accept this without working with us and getting input from us like they have in the past,” Tse said. Nevertheless, the administration and board is seeking community involvement and engagement. For more updates on the budget cuts, visit our website: beverlyhighlights.com
Opinion 3
February 17, 2017 Highlights
Need to find moderation in a polarized society Vivian Geilim opinion editor “Moderate” is a word used to describe one’s placement in the middle of the political spectrum. However, being a centrist in a sea of well-established partisan voters has become almost impossible in today’s recent political climate. While President Donald Trump has indeed ignited a frenzy in entrenched liberals, radical liberals are instigating media fights with die hard conservatives. It seems that the media, our school and what seems to be the entire United States has dug itself into a politically polarized hole of extremism. So, where is the moderation here? There is a left and a right for a reason. Without them, our socalled democracy would simply not be a democracy--the voice of the people would be drowned out and we would not be the United States of America. The great thing about living in the United States is having the power to choose the political platform you identify with and share your opinion. However, with what looks like to be the most polarized election ever, it is hard to see the silver lining between the clashing ideas of America’s Democrats and Republicans. We the people pride ourselves on our rights and amendments.
Cartoon by: VERONICA PAHOMOVA Our first amendment is a fundamental aspect of everyday life for the average American. However, recently, our freedom of speech has led to media outrage. Our freedom of religion has been stripped
as our president bans refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. Our freedom of assembly is turning into notorious chaotic riots as Starbucks windows are smashed. A nation going
against what truly makes us great is not united, and it does not make us The United States of America. Without finding a concrete middle ground in the chaos of politics, the voice of the people is drowned
out and the course of our country is jeopardized. Empathy and moderation are vital to stabilize the volatile political discourse of the previous election cycle. Only then can our country truly move forward.
imagine students making their way through high school, a daunting task for all high schoolers, especially freshman, without help from these vital people. The amount of work each counselor takes on in order to make sure our students are given every chance to succeed and develop throughout their high school careers, from meeting with students to schedule classes to writing letters of recommendation for every single college-bound student, cannot be done as efficiently if the counselor staff is reduced. As Korbatov observed, those who capitalize most on counselors are those in the middle. Those diligent enough to be going high-profile schools are probably capable to get their themselves. In a school of about 1,500, Beverly offers its students six high school counselors, a college counselor, an intervention counselor, and Career Technical Education coordinators. With this team of dedicated outside-the-classroom educators, students have the support to excel through high school, to land the best opportunities outside of school and to prepare for the rest of their lives. This is
a service that we cannot afford to minimize. It is said that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. This philosophy rings out throughout the many, many extracurricular programs, events, clubs and speciality classes students are afforded. Many experts say college is the period in your life where you discover what your interests are, and students must be accustomed to the variety of extracurriculars they will experience through Beverly’s large number of clubs. A robust extracurricular environment is what allows us to pursue our interests, to discover our passions and to do what we love. Without Highlights, many of us on this board would never have found our love for journalism. While these budget cuts may not directly impact the vast majority of student-run organizations, the board and district play a crucial role in facilitating such organizations. However, high school clubs are not the end all be all. Without programs to introduce us to things that we may be passionate about at an early age, we may never learn what we are interested and passionate about. While deciding which departments and areas of our schools to cut will be a challenging, difficult process, we hope the board will consult the students before making such momentous decisions. If not, the students will make their voices heard.
Editorial There is no doubt our district is facing tough times ahead. While necessary, $5 million is a substantial amount of money to be cutting in one year. Those cuts will be felt throughout the district, from the halls of the elementary schools to the fields of Beverly. As students, it is important that we play a role in these decisions, since any changes made to the district budget directly affect us. We have to express our opinions on what we see as absolutely essential to our education, and what we would be sad to see go, but can do without. Our education, our future is on the line. Even if the district and board did their absolute best to “cut around the classroom,” which isn’t, nor should be, the case, students would still feel the repercussions of any of the options from which the board would have to cut. These cuts are necessary, but ugly. Nobody wants to cut any programs, yet several million has to be made up somehow. None of the choices we have are appealing. Nevertheless, we must pinch our noses and stomach the repercussions. Those choices are not confined to what was presented to us by the district’s administration and the board in their study session on Thursday, Feb. 9. Though those were the recommendations of well-intentioned professionals, we should not be made to swallow them down without a healthy dose of skepticism and a keen eye of what was not presented.
That is why we, the editorial board, made up of lifelong students, active participants in our community, those most afflicted by these cuts, are making our voice heard on what we view as essential. As board member Lisa Korbatov said, “not all cuts are equal,” meaning that cuts in certain areas will impact the students more than cuts in other departments, and that is undoubtedly true. Our district is proud to provide a world-class education to all of its students, regardless of wealth, academic ability and community involvement. This, in the spirit of America’s notion of equality in upward mobility, is what makes us proudest of our district. As a district, one major priority is to help propel our high achievers to the heights they aspire. We boast alumni who get into top tier colleges and who go on to achieve great things. We must continue to support all our academic teams, including AcaDeca, Science Olympiad, Debate, DECA and so many more, in order to maintain our competitiveness with schools in our area and around the country. We need to maintain our strong
roster of AP and honors classes to allow our high achieving students to get a workload that truly challenges and betters them. By having an incredibly robust special education and intervention and counseling programs, we take care of those who do not have the same academic abilities. All students deserve the same opportuni-
“That is why we, the editorial board, made up of lifelong students, active participants in our community, those most afflicted by these cuts, are making our voice heard on what we view as essential.” ties, and we as a community must help all students succeed, not just those that are bound for a top 10 university. Without equal support for those at the top and those at the bottom, our district would be almost unrecognizable. However, we must also enable everybody in between to strive to complete their high school education the best they can and continue to learn in secondary education and the work force. Our phenomenal counselors provide indispensable support to students through high school and beyond. It would be impossible to
February 17, 2017 Highlights
4 spotlight
During
spotlight 5
BLACK HISTORY MONTH ,
we looked into the decline of AfricanAmerican students on campus...
Removal of permits leads to decline in enrollment Sam Bernstein staff writer Evan Minniti staff writer
The size of Beverly’s African-American community has taken a major hit in recent years. This happened soon after the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) removed all permits for non-district kids after the 2008-09 school year, and some believe there is a direct correlation. In 2008, 7 percent of the student population was AfricanAmerican. In the 2014-2015 year, African-Americans made up only 4.7 percent of the entire student population, this represents a 32.9 percent decline in the African-American student population between 2008 and 2015. Between 2008 and 2015, the Black Student Union (BSU) was very active. They were a major force on campus with a multiracial membership. One such member, a white alumnus in the Class of 2015, Max Minniti, was impressed by the organization. “It was run by the football captain and his sister, Cameron and Kayla Countryman. The upperclassmen were very serious about it,” Minniti said. “They always did things like organize food and toy drives to benefit lower income communities. [BSU discussed] current events and school issues.”
BSU, however, has seen a complete drop in attendance in recent years. This year, they haven’t been able to do anything. Current BSU Advisor and House A’s Administrative Assistant Andre Law discussed why BSU has taken such a fall. “In 2008, we were on a permit system so there were more AfricanAmerican kids at the school. As the years went on, the permits have been taken away. So with the permits being taken away, more and more African Americans students have not been able to come to this school. Within the five year stretch as the permits went down, so did the black student population. I just think it’s just gotten away from them,” Law said. Law went on to explain that the pulling of permits and the declining minority community has really hurt the overall student awareness of the problems in the communities around them. “We’d benefit from more black history. As far as the community’s understanding, I think there’s a big, giant disconnect from the [black] community,” Law said. However, there’s hope. With a growing number of black and Latino college graduates and a higher rate of mi-
norities obtaining a higher education, there’s a greater chance that members of local minorities will be able to move into a more expensive neighborhood like Beverly Hills. As a result of this, the community will become more diverse. “More blacks and Latinos are now able to afford to live in these areas because they are able to receive the proper schooling and the proper education and things like that so, before, it was primarily a white community. It’s still a white community. As more and more African-Americans, Latinos, Asians possibly move into the area, it will help the community understand a little more,” Law said. Registrar for the high school Maria Bennett says that despite the declines in African-Americans at the school, she doesn’t see this as having a negative effect on the attitudes of the student population. “I don’t think [Beverly students] are aware of the diverse makeup is of the school. It’s sort of like a non-issue [to students]. I think the kids tend to treat each other like they’re just human beings. I don’t think they see color, race, or any of that. I think they just see students,” Bennett said.
Removal of permits leads to decline in enrollment
Max Yera co-editor-in-chief Keith Stone co-editor-in-chief
Beverly is an incredible outlier from all of the other public high schools in the surrounding areas. This lack of diversity not only impedes collective perspectives, but also mitigates exposure to the real world. All these schools are somewhat on the same page diversity-wise. They all have large and significant Hispanic populations with that percentage increasing every year. Unfortunately, and though unintentionally, Beverly has seemingly rejected a trend toward diversification, and we have ended up with one of the most homogenous high schools in the state. Although many would consider these statistics to be inaccurate as Iranian-Americans are counted as “white” on surveys and yet not by many Persians themselves, these numbers are still shocking, and rather crippling. Not just shocking, but crippling. According to Yale University’s Center for Teaching and Learning, “issues of diversity play a role in how students and teachers view the importance of the classroom and what should happen there.” This means that margin-
alized students (i.e. African Americans at Beverly) may sense that they “do not belong” in the classroom setting. Such can lead to decreased participation, feelings of mediocrity, among other “distractions.” Furthermore, teachers may make, though again unintended, flawed assumptions of marginalized students’ capabilities or assume a standard for all those within a particular race. Moreover, the Edvocate, a website “devoted to advocating for student equity,” has published that if a racially marginalized student cannot relate
new information to past experiences, or connect the content to a familiar concept or a culture differing from that of his or her teacher, said student may grow frustrated and dismiss the new information completely. This is not to say that any of these trends have been happening for African-Americans within the five percent at Beverly, but to disregard the statistics provided would be disheartening. As students of the school, we hope that those who walk these halls in the future can experience a more diverse student body.
Photo courtesy of: JOSEPH L. RAUH, JR (top left), ROWLAND SHERMAN (bottom left), NEIL COOLER (top right), All-Nite Images (bottom right)
February 17, 2017
6 culture
Highlights
‘Culture’ silences critics Jason Harward design editor
To be relevant in rap today, a rapper must offer something special. Chance the Rapper uses choirs more than any other rapper. Lil Uzi says the word “yah” more than any other human being. And J Cole is trash. Yet Migos has pioneered something so special that it now seems to be a sub-genre of its own. When any of the three members isn’t rapping, they adlib after every line, ranging from the most important word in the line to an inaudible grunt. When done right, this makes it so the words being said don’t really matter. The constant adlibbing is so infectious that “Dab of Ranch,” a song about putting dabs of ranch on food and money, is actually lit. Instead of settling for their infectious style, the newer Migos has started to show signs of maturing, creating verses that don’t rely as much on ad-libbing as they do
telling a story. Though early hits such as “Versace” and “Hannah Montana” sounded like a catchy hook on repeat for four minutes, recent features such as Big Sean’s “Sacrifices (feat. Migos)” show the group actually crafting bars that talk about their past and their relevance. Then, we reach Culture.
be a shame not to check out anything else on the record. Songs like “T-Shirt,” “Deadz (feat. 2 Chainz),” “Kelly Price (feat. Travis Scott)” and “Slippery (feat. Gucci Mane)” are trap anthems and outright bangers. Though there are the common NSFW references, there does seem to be a certain selfawareness that the group is living the dream and influencing popular culture in a way few rappers can. Migos is the most prevalent rap group today and will remain there for the foreseeable future. Culture debuted at number Photo courtesy of: 300 Entertainment one on the Billboard Album Culture is the best trap album Charts, and the group has begun ever. That’s all there is to it. It’s collaborating with top names in Migos at their most energetic, with the genre. From a cult following their best bars yet and an actual in Atlanta to incredible chart succoherent album theme: the group’s cess in a few short years, Migos effect on popular culture today. shows continued growth and a Even though “Bad and Boujee” sense of self-awareness on their will always be the most memorable new album Culture. They’re more song on the album because of its than a meme generator, they’re a widespread internet fame, it would force in pop culture.
LEGO film builds hype Evan Minniti staff writer
All the way back in 2014, many people skeptically walked into movie theatres expecting “The LEGO Movie” to be nothing more than a cynical commercial. However, what they received was an incredibly fun movie bursting with surprising sincerity. “The LEGO Batman Movie” is full of everything that made the original work, but turned up just a little higher. In Gotham City, everyone thinks that Batman (Will Arnett) is a wonderful savior who must have a lot of friends. However, it turns out, B a t m a n is a loner with no one but Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) for company. Instead of holding parties and dating Russian models like the residents of Gotham would expect him to do, he sits at home re-watching “Jerry Maguire” and microwaving lobster thermidor. Even the Justice League doesn’t invite him to their parties! After the death of his parents, Batman doesn’t want to have new friends, fearing that they will die and become a source of depression. That starts to change after he accidentally adopts Robin (Michael Cera). Meanwhile, the
Joker (Zach Galifianakis) feels emotionally crushed after learning that Batman doesn’t view him as his arch-rival. He sets out to create a plan that will end with Batman acknowledging that they is the worst supervillain of them all. The whole joke of this storyline is that it almost sounds as if the Joker is in love with Batman, just seeking for him to say, “I hate you”. The voice acting is fantastic, working in perfect synchronicity
all CGI. The action sequences are almost like a Michael Bay movie on a micro scale, like a little kid playing with his or her toys. This only adds another layer of humor to the movie, as well as bringing back nostalgia that many people have of playing with LEGOs as kids. Another strength of “The LEGO Batman Movie” is the references to obscure and silly comic book characters like Condiment King or Kite Man. Even Batman doesn’t know who these people are! The Joker comments in a very meta way that “It was worth the Google!” Overall, “The LEGO Batman Movie” is not trying to recapture the same experience that many people had watching the first movie. Photo courtesy of: BRICKSET There is definitewith the animaly a greater emtions of the characters. Even if the phasis placed on Batman than on audience can recognize the actors’ LEGOs. Jokes are made about all voices, they don’t imagine that the different versions of Batman they are hearing Rosario Dawson that have appeared over the years speaking; they only see Batgirl. like the 1989 Michael Keaton one The animation is absolutely or the most recent Ben Affleck amazing. There isn’t a single mo- one and his nonsensical war with ment in the whole movie where Superman. the audience doubts that they are Overall, “The LEGO Batman looking at real LEGOs. Which is Movie” is a fun-filled nostalgia great, because there isn’t a single ride that will both entertain and real LEGO in this whole movie, it is move kids and adults alike.
Tiger moms roar Keith Stone co-editor-in-chief
struggle.” Another student who wishes to In nature, tigers evoke an image of ferocity, aggression and protec- remain anonymous also thinks tiveness over their young. In high that her mother’s efforts have not school, tiger mothers are much only prepared her for college, but the same, but rather than slaying made her more likely to get in. In prey for their children and guard- the rigorous process of college aping the nest, they go to bat for plications, this student sees her their children against the upcom- mother’s interference as a blessing rigors of college, applications ing. “I’m way more prepared than and academics in general. At Beverly, there are some par- most other kids my age. I walked into the ents devoted college to ensuring a p p s their chilprocess, dren’s sucapplied cess through to my methods schools, that Amy wrote my Chua, the essays a u t h o r and got of Battle out. My Hymn of the mom may Tiger Mothhave hover, would Photo courtesy of: S. TAHERI ered, but she just be proud of. These parents are not only aware of took the place of a college countheir children’s efforts to get into selor and made me stay on track.” One fundamental aspect of becollefe, but they are encouraging and exhorting their children to ing a tiger mother is constant vigilance. One of the anonymous stugreater heights. A student who wishes to remain dents has come to realize that his anonymous feels that his moth- mother’s version of love is what er’s dedicated efforts to push him has set him on the path to success into AP class after AP class and today. “Yeah it was difficult at times one extracurricular after another has contributed greatly to his ac- being under the harness of a tiger mom. Sometimes the expectations complishments and success. “Yes, although it may feel harsh are kind of crushing. But I realize at times, my mom has helped me now, without that looking over my stay on task for daily assignments shoulder, I wouldn’t be in nearly as well as long-term projects and the same place as I am now. I love tests. Without her consistent ‘pes- my mom and I’m happy she raised tering,’ achieving higher grades me the way she did.” would have been a greater
sports 7
February 17, 2017 Highlights
Varsity girls soccer advances in CIF journey Jason Harward design editor The varsity girls soccer team lost their game 1-0 on Thursday, Feb. 16 against La Sierra High School, ending a playoff streak that hasn’t been matched since 2012. The team couldn’t pull out a victory in the tight-fought defensive battle. The varsity girls soccer team won its wild-card playoff home game against Santa Fe High School by a score of 1-0 on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Senior co-captain Montana Logan netted the only goal on a long rebound. “[Scoring] felt empowering, like ‘Okay, we have the advantage in this game,’” Logan said. “Once I scored, I turned to my team and was like, ‘Okay, well let’s end this game, and take home the victory.’” The team never let up, controlling the ball for most of the second half even after its lead was set. Senior co-captain Bianca Castro felt the team deserved to advance after its very successful season.
Sophomore Lauren Stein heads the ball in a game against Santa Fe. Photo by: BRIAN HARWARD the “It really felt awesome to get the win we deserved after a recordbreaking season. I’ve been really happy with my last year on this team,” Castro said.
Junior Camilla Wolff has enjoyed this season primarily because of the team’s growth, which resulted in this playoff run. “My favorite part of the season is
how far we’ve come as a team. We have made history and brought back what Beverly soccer is all about,” Wolff said. Sophomore Danni Elitzur thinks
team made the most of their opportunity. “It was a great all around performance by our team and it was great that everyone was able to contribute throughout the game,” Elitzur said.
Varsity boys basketball CIF run stopped early Isaiah Freedman staff writer Boys varsity basketball lost in the first round of CIF playoffs to number one seeded Etiwanda, 48-58 on Wednesday night. The night started off very promising for the Normans, who came into the game as underdogs. By the end of the first quarter, Center Ron Artest III had converted a quick layup and guard Kevin Cho made a three-pointer as he was fouled. The Normans opened up a 29-15 lead at halftime over Etiwanda. After a pristine first half, everything went wrong for the Normans. Etiwanda guard Krystian Wilson drained three-pointer after three-pointer with ease. Beverly guard Daniel Zahabian turned the ball over in the open court multiple times, leading to dunks and layups for coach Dave Kleckner’s crew.
According to some players, the Normans, although possessing a comfortable lead, were tense in the locker room during halftime, fearing a comeback was on the way. Their suspicions started coming true as Etiwanda cut the lead to 37-33 entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth, Etiwanda, led by stifling defense and many splashed threes from deep, outscored the Normans 25-11 in the quarter, completing the unlikely comeback. “We just blew it,” forward Owee Cooper Long said. “It was really sad to watch, we just tensed up.” As the game grew out of hand near the final minute, the look of frustration was apparent on coach Forward Sam Cohen spreads his arms out to defend the inbounds pass. Photo by: Jarvis Turner’s face. He stared at ISAIAH FREEDMAN his assistant coaches, who threw sorrowful looks back at him. They
both knew the whirlwind season, which included a breathtaking win against Crossroads and a gut-wrenching loss to SAMO, was about to be over. “Everyone was crying after the game. It was sad and quiet,” guard Nick Andrews said. Senior forward Grant Gaon, who has been with the program all four years, was dejected after the loss, although appreciative of his coach and time with the team. “I’m extremely sad that my high school career is over. It’s been a hell of a ride. I’m going to miss all the experiences that basketball and Coach Turner have brought to me. Bevball will be a part of me forever,” Gaon said. Senior guard Jason Mehraban, who had trouble sleeping after the tragic defeat, has poured his heart into the program. He was still in shock after Etiwanda’s swift comeback sliced away the team’s season. “The brotherhood we created will never be broken,” Mehraban said. “I did not expect to go out the way we did and it hurts to think about what happened. Bevball has been the best experience of my life the past four years of high school, and I could not thank the coaches enough for all their time and effort they put in to make us better players and people. The love I have for the game is indescribable, and for it to just end like that leaves me speechless.” For Gaon, Mehraban and their fellow senior teammates, this is it for them as far as high school basketball is concerned. Some players are considering intramural, though none of those options is ever the same as the compact intensity of high school basketball. When the final buzzer sounded, the players slowly went through the customary high-fives with the other team, packed up their bags, then headed into the dark Swim Gym tunnel.
February 17, 2017
8 sports
Highlights
Girls soccer reflects on time together QUICK Keith Stone co-editor-in-chief Very rarely do people in any sport get to play together for years, but a few girls on the soccer team have had that unique opportunity. Starting in 2008, seniors Maytal Sarafian, Tess Reinhardt, Lily Manavi and juniors Camilla Wolff and Lauren Aviram have played together in the same league. AYSO transitioned into high school and these girls moved as a unit. Now, the seniors are in their final year playing together and the legacy will continue with incoming players. Even though they have all changed immensely from their time playing in AYSO, they have still remained bonded by their love of soccer. “I think it’s amazing that although we’ve all undergone so much individual change as both people and players, our sense of camaraderie has stayed consistent. Once we got to high school, each of us branched out to discover who they were and who they wanted to be,” Reinhardt said. “As we all became more ourselves, I think soccer was a way for us to all become individuals while still maintaining a sense of togetherness and kinship.” Reinhardt even believes that this season’s victories can be part-
ly attributed to the bonds formed all those years ago. “I think that unique and deeprooted friendship was one of the factors that gave us success this season. I remember playing as a freshman and always feeling like the team was missing something. I’m proud to say that is no longer the case,” Reinhardt said. To others, like Manavi, playing with the same girls for so long has just been a fun and rewarding experience. “It’s been such an amazing experience!” Manavi said. “I’ve loved it so much since the very beginning.” Sarafian, who is one of two captains of the girls varsity team, feels that there is not only a benefit to the team’s on-field play, but also their off-field relationships. “Emotionally, it feels as though we truly understand one another, not only on the field, but off the field as well. Over the past few years, we have spent so much time together in between games, at practices or at team bonding and have become great friends in the process,” Sarafian said. She agrees with Reinhardt that game play is enhanced by the friendships she has formed since she was 9-years-old. “Our friendships definitely affect the way we perform during
hits
Boys varsity basketball faced Etiwanda High School at home on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in their first playoff game. They lost 58-48 and no longer have a CIF seat.
Girls varsity soccer poses after their last home game and Senior Night on Thursday, Feb. 9. Photo by: KEITH STONE games,” she said. “We know how each of us plays, thinks, and reacts in certain situations, allowing us to be at a greater advantage to other teams that have just gotten together in the past year or two.” There is also another, younger generation of girls who have grown up playing together, but are just a few years younger than the seniors. That group, led by Kayla Shadgoo, Lauren Stein and Dani Elitzur, is now all on varsity and has had similar experiences. “At age 13 we were all on the same club team. We were a close group of girls on the team. [Stein
and Elitzur] both left the team so we didn’t play together, then we all came to the high school and this is all of our second year playing on the high school team. We have great chemistry since we have been playing with each other for so long,” Shadgoo said. Even though the old generation will be disbanded soon, the upcoming girls will fill the camaraderie and skill gap. “It’s been so long that it has brought us so close together, which I love,” Shadgoo said. “I love how we can bond on and off the field.”
Coach transitions New coach helps to varsity golf varsity lacrosse the season in CIF with a winning record. He feels that Scott’s focus Byron Scott is the new head on the mental aspects of the game coach of the varsity golf team af- will lead them to CIF play. “My current coach has very ter last year’s head coach Jason Newman broke both his ankles, great ways of perfecting your an injury that prevents him from mental game and all around swing as well,” Deutsch said. coaching the team this year. Junior Robert Sher has been Scott has never coached golf before, but has experience with playing golf for four years, three the sport from when he played in of which include his time on Bevhigh school. He hopes to lead his erly’s team. Sher shares Deutsch’s aspirations team to CIF for an ability by developing for the team each player’s to compete in skills, and by CIF, and looks implementforward to a ing a mentalproductive ity centered on season with hard work and Scott. determination. “We haven’t “My plan started workthis year is to ing on the get any team course with to play at their Photo by: AJ WOLKEN the new apex. This incoach yet so I volves hard work, sweat equity and experi- can’t say what it will be like, but ence. We hope to accomplish all I’m looking forward to hopefully three of those things on a consis- a great season with Byron as the tent basis,” Scott said. “If we com- coach,” Sher said. “I hope to build a program that mit ourselves to get better and put in the work, I believe we will give all students and staff at Beverly ourselves an opportunity to be in can be excited about and proud of,” Scott said. “I would like to CIF.” Freshman Spencer Deutsch, change the stigma that our golf who played on and off for a to- players ‘just show up and play’ to tal of four years since he was five a culture of hard work, dedication years old, wants the team to end and etiquette.” Sophia Goldberg sports editor
coaching style. “I think AJ has been a great adThe varsity boys lacrosse team dition to our program. I hired him has found a new assistant coach in knowing that I wanted him to take AJ Ellis. control of our offense, and that is At 27-years-old, Ellis has been exactly what he has done,” Kobe coaching lacrosse since he was in said. “The work that he has immiddle school. plemented during practice is re“I started coaching when I was ally going to help our offense and in the 8th grade because, as part of clean up a lot of the mistakes that our program, we coached elemen- we made last season.” tary school kids,” Ellis said. Ellis’ efforts have not only Ellis has strengthened played at the the offense, but high school, also, accordcollegiate club ing to players, and overseas allowed for a level. transition from “I went to Vila roster relylanova, and I ing on a few played a little players to a bit of club there. well-rounded I coached at system. Lower Merion “He does a High School,” lot for the ofEllis said. “I’ve Photo by: MAX YERA fense, which also coached is needed and played in because last year we relied very Australia, the United Kingdom heavily on defense,” junior Benjaand Germany.” min Liker. “He’s really helping us Head coach Kyle Kobe inter- transition into a system team, and viewed Ellis in January, hiring that really helps us as a whole in him shortly thereafter. addition to everyone gaining skill “Once I interviewed AJ, it was individually.” obvious that I wanted to hire him. Ellis’ self-described “fair and I was just hoping that he would ac- balanced” coaching style will be cept the position,” Kobe said. on display at the team’s first game Thus far, Kobe has been satis- at Westchester High School on fied with Ellis’ offensive minded Feb. 28. Max Yera co-editor-in-chief
Girls varsity basketball traveled to Catalina Island to play Avalon High School in the first round of CIF.
Only winning one league match to go 1-9 in league, boys varsity soccer did not advance to CIF.
After beating Santa Fe 1-0 on Tuesday, Feb. 14, girls varsity soccer advances to second round of CIF and played at La Sierra on Feb. 16.
After losing all eight league games, girls varsity water polo did not advance to CIF.
Nine individual varsity wrestlers qualified for CIF and will be going to Temecula today.
Check next print cycle, coming out on March 10, to receive more sports updates. To see other sports coverage and sports game recaps on your favorite Norman sports team, check
www.beverlyhighlights.com.