Watchtower special edition

Watchtower Special Edition

2015-2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21

LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA DON’T IGNORE THE SIGNS FLAMES OF PASSION MOVING ON ANAIS NOELLE IT’S JUST A PRANK, BRO BRING IT ON THE TRIPLE THREAT TAKE A DIP WITH FRITZI MSA MASTERMIND

Jake Kim A teenager and his friends stand in the parking lot of a Gal- get enough water, and just don’t have enough supplies to feed leria Market asking people for donations. Instead of spendthemselves. Kim Jong Un isn’t doing anything about it and he ing their weekends lounging around on the couch, they have is spending all the money on nuclear weapons.” devoted their time and effort to raising money for their cause.

Kim’s first major fundraising event was a large garage sale The boy and his little group raised over 400 dollars that day. he held during Winter Break of his Sophomore Year. Members At 17, Jake Kim is the president of Beverly’s Liberty in of the club donated book, toys, food and other items to earn North Korea. His club is only one branch of LINK, an interna- money. He even convinced a store to donate thousands of doltional organization dedicated to helping refugees and rescuing lars of unworn, fresh clothing, which he sold for low prices. women from being sex trafficked. As of today, April 25, 2016, “We went onto the street and sold them to relatively poor they have saved 465 North Korean refugees, all of whom have people in the area at a really cheap price. The clothes were faced harsh circumstances. pretty good quality. So I guess we did two good things at a Kim was born in South Korea, where he grew up believtime: we helped the North Koreans and the community,” ing false propaganda about the North Korean people. “I used recalled Kim. to think that all North Koreans were evil. That they were all Although he raised around 400 dollars on his first garage communists. That they were very mean,” he said. sale, Kim faced the issue of deciding which organization, or His beliefs soon changed when at the age of seven, he person, to donate his earning to because until then, his club moved with his family to China. Between the 2nd and 8th had been a grassroots, independent campaign. In fact, at one grade, he heard stories which would point, he was conflicted between giving the “What American people money to a well known priest who bought fuel his future endeavors. Kim learned that the citizens of North Korea were food for starving North Korean children or really see is only the being oppressed by their government. investing it in selling things on Amazon, The North Korean people were living in military, Kim Jong Un, which would generate more money. destitute because their leader, Kim Jong Kim chose an organization called and nuclear power.

They Un, was spending money on nuclear Liberty in North Korea because he knew weapons of mass destruction rather than never see the people.” every penny of his hard work would be purchasing grains, shelter, and other spent on helping the people. His Beverly - Jake Kim, 17 basic necessities. branch became an official member when “North Koreans all want freedom, he signed up his club at a convention; he they want liberty, and they want to be happy. They don’t want exited the meeting covered in LINK merchandise. to live under dictatorship; they want democracy,” Kim said.

His second major fundraising event was inside Galleria “These North Koreans are just average people, like everyone Market, Koreatown, where he knew he could muster support. else; they want happiness. That really inspired me.”

Kim and six of his friends held posters, handed out pamIn the 8th grade, Kim moved to the United States, where he phlets, and asked for donations. decided he needed to take action. He met a history teacher, “The second event happened during the Winter Break. We Mrs. Roh, who was well informed on the situation. In the originally planned to have a little musical concert that we beginning of 10th grade, he created an independent club to could play for people and ask for donation but we could not help the people of North Korea; he wanted to raise money and do it because there wasn’t enough space in the market to play spread information. music,” Kim said. “We just switched over to market begging.

“North Korea has been a political hot spot for many years We held posters and told people what we were doing and and is quite often in the news,” Mrs. Roh said. “However, there asked them for donations. We earned over 400 dollars.” are a lot of misconceptions, and North Korea as a whole is Kim is currently focusing on blogging information about misunderstood in many ways. I believe strongly in the work North Korea. Every Saturday night, he and members of his that these students are doing, especially in highlighting the cabinet create a Google Hangout to discuss, share, and write plight of the people in North Korea.” information. These topics range from North Korean propaKim created informative posters and colorful pamphlets ganda, current events, refugee stories, and the history of the revealing such information. His weekends were occupied by communist country. research, writing, and editing on his Macbook, which cur“What American people really see is only the military, Kim rently proudly boasts a Liberty in North Korea sticker.

Jong Un, and nuclear power. They never see the people inside “North Korea is being dominated by the brutal dictator North Korea. The people who are being oppressed or conKim Jong Un. He oppresses these people with fear politics. He stantly in hunger and cold, ” Kim revealed. “People starve all puts his political opponents into prison camps,” Kim argued. the time and don’t have fires or shelter. It’s really important for “Their children are extremely malnourished, especially outAmerican people to think about the people in North Korea, side of Pyongyang where they don’t get enough food, don’t not just the superficial North Korean dictatorship.”

THE

NORTH KOREAN

PEOPLE WILL BE

FREE IN OUR LIFETIME LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA Jake Kim is the president of Liberty in North Korea. The pose above is commonly used by real North Korean refugees to hide their identities.

Clockwise from left: Timothy Kim, Jake Kim, Kai Rui Zhou, Lisa Ji, Kenneth Cho.

don’t ignore the SIGNS sophomore yasmine jebeli combines music and astrology

T

he juxtaposition of music, writing, and astrology is justified when related to junior Yasmine Jebeli.

From a young age, Jebeli has been interested in creative activities that stimulate her senses and emotions.

“Instruments, music in general, have always been cathartic for me,” Jebeli said. “I think music is a very good way to express yourself. Imagine someone comes to your house and you can play the dracula theme song. I want to do that.”

Jebeli’s musical career started at the age of nine when her parents decided to enroll her in piano lessons.

“I’m the only one in my family who plays instruments. I dug [piano] a lot, I write my own instrumental songs,” Jebeli said. “I have one song that I completed ever, and another song I’m working on.”

Throughout her life, Jebeli has picked up other instruments as well, sometimes due to luck.

“In seventh grade by accident they put me in a ukulele class for three weeks so I learned really primitive ukulele. I thought it was really cool. Four years later I actually bought one, I’ve had it for two years. It’s really fun, I really dig it. My hands are very small so I can’t play a real guitar because it hurts my hand. It’s portable. It`s very easy, I taught myself in maybe two or three months. You can play it by ear and all songs have the same four chords. It’s not like piano where you have to learn specifics,” Jebeli said. “I also play the stylophone which sounds like a videogame when you play it.”

Though Jebeli’s interest in Ukulele has been for a shorter time than piano, she has already formed a band and performed a few times. During her sophomore year, Jebeli and junior Sarah Rudolph made a band called “Ukilluminati” where Rudolph sang vocals and Jebeli played the ukulele. Their first performance was at the 2015 Annual Coffee House hosted by Beverly. “[Our performance] was so funny,” Jebeli said. “It was a four chords medley of maybe 60 different songs in four minutes. We got a lot of ‘congrats’ on that one.”

That same year, Ukilluminati also performed at the Radio Airlift’s 2015 Battle of the Bands.

“We did another [performance] on Airlift’s Battle of the Bands. It was terrible. We tried to do a ‘history of music’ from the 1930s to present time.

We learned it in maybe a week. We got there and we performed it and it went so horribly. At one point Sarah dropped all the papers that said what the notes were. Everyone thought it was on purpose and we were just like ‘alright, sure’. It was really bad, and we were the opening too. It was so embarrassing,” Jebeli said. “I was just standing there playing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ trying to not cry.

After only two performances, Jebeli stopped performing.

“I don’t really perform much. I’m a pretty shy performer,” Jebeli said.

“The only reason I could perform with Sarah was because she had such a big personality, I just had to strum chords while she was busting out Journey.”

Because of the vivid vocabulary in musical lyrics, Jebeli gained an interest in conveying her feelings through writing at a young age, especially poetry.

“Music led to poetry. I listen to a lot of songs with complex lyrics. I always thought I could do that so I tried writing poetry, again, because it’s very cathartic.”

Jebeli’s interest in poetry led to many achievements during her freshman and sophomore year.

“I got published my freshman year in a contest for poetry so I thought, ‘oh okay, so I’m kind of okay’. Jebeli said. “I made a poetry club and we had a slam poetry event. We all read poetry, we were emo together, Matthew Satter was there.”

Before creating Poetry Club, Jebeli joined Radio Airlift her freshman year because of her interest in music and writing. She and Sarah Rudolph had their first show their freshman year about current events.

In junior year, Jebeli and senior Kyylexa Corday made their own show where they discuss astrology.

“We try to prove that astrology is real. Every show, we bring two people and they tell us their zodiac signs. We have two sheets of paper with traits of each zodiac and we don’t tell them who’s is who. So, we will say a trait and they have to guess who it is and if they are right then you know the zodiac is real. We are zodiac trash, we love zodiac,” Jebeli said. “A lot of people didn’t believe us so this is our way to show this is real. It’s been pretty successful so far.”

Senior Kyylexa Corday is best friends with Jebeli and they enjoy hosting their show together.

“I honestly love working with Yasmine, she is so much fun to host alongside with and she always comes up with creative ideas to add to our show,” Corday said. “Since this is my first radio show, it was really easy to ease into it with one of my best friends beside me. All in all we work really great together.”

Astrology is a big part of Jebeli’s current lifestyle.

“I usually get [someone’s sign] in one or two tries. I think [astrology] is a fun way to justify people’s actions. Like, ‘Oh they are so emotional, they’re just being a pisces’. Also, I always check my crush’s sign before I get into it. ‘Oh he’s an aquarius, can’t go for that,’” Jebeli said.

Jebeli’s love for astrology was a recent discovery, along with somewhat of a superpower that she possesses.

“I can see music. That’s my fun, interesting quality. I have this thing where I can associate people and sounds with colors and motions. It makes me sound like i’m kind of psychotic,” Jebeli said. “When people talk i’ll see the way it moves like if it’s a thick or a thin or if there’s holes in it. It started this year, I think it’s always been there but I realized this year that people don’t really do that. I associate certain songs or people with colors. I’ll associate them with a place. That person reminds me of a foggy forest. No reason, just, they do.”

By: Andrea Di Battista

“A lot of people didn’t believe us so this is our way to show [astrology] is real.”

5

Junior Simran Sethi displayes her mastery of culinary arts with a flambĂŠ.

Flames of

Passion Red light, green light, red light, green light, the a right hand turn. Straight ahead for five minutes and she arrives at the doorstep of a house. Junior Simran Sethi gets out of her car and heads to the front sore with a package in her hands. She is making a delivery to one of her regular customers.

From an early age, Simran has been around kitchens and chefs and they have had an influence on her decision to continue in the culinary field. Simran’s parents own two restaurants and she has always been near cooking.

“I have known Simran for eleven years and I think that her love for cooking started in its largest phase, when she joined culinary,” Junior Katrina Del Rosario said.

Simran is currently enrolled in the Intro to Culinary arts elective and is enjoying it.

“I made a deal with my parents that I needed to learn how to cook that way I could get an apartment, so I decided to enroll in the Intro to Culinary arts class. It was only after I started learning and when it started getting fun, that I started doing it outside of school and at home,” Simran said.

Simran comes from an Indian background and she naturally gravitated towards an Indian style of cooking due to the influence of her parent’s origins. However, she still holds a special interest in baking. Simran also has help from other students on campus with feedback on how her cooking skills are.

“I think she seems to be very passionate about her cooking and whenever she brings her food, she makes sure that all of us, in the class, get to try it too and she likes the feedback,” Junior Andrea Di Battista said.

During one of Simran’s feedback sessions, there was a distinct

atmosphere when she brought food. That day, she was having her classmates try her signature dish, Chicken Tika Masala with Rice.

One of her classmates, Andrea Di Battista, stated about her opinion of Simran’s cooking.

“I think that she is a great chef in that her food is very delicious,” she said.

To date, Simran is employed at her parents’ restaurant, serving as a waitress and also taking deliveries. She usually works for her parents, primarily, during the weekends due to the stresses of school. Despite all the troubles of being a junior in high school, Simran still manages to make twenty deliveries in one weekend and still holds on to her dream of becoming a chef.

Cooking holds certain tranquility for Simran, helping her wind down after a day of classes or just for fun when she has the chance.

“Cooking relaxes me and it is really fun,” Simran said. “I also plan to attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York.”

Simran believes that she would have followed this path even without the influence of her family’s business.

“I would have to learn how to cook somehow, and when I try it, I think that I would fall in love all over again,” Simran said.

Answering my request, Simran also gave a display of her skills in the kitchen showing off a flambé that came close to singeing off the eyebrows of anyone close-by the stove.

Simran is currently finishing up her junior year of high school, enjoying cooking and looking forward to what the future has in store for her in the culinary field.

By Ethan Eils

“Cooking isn’t my passion, it is my life.”

8

MOVING ON by: Kinsey Hogan

For students like freshman Alexandra Evans, packing up and moving is just part of the routine. At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, Evans arrived from her latest stay in Mexico, where she was born.

In her 15 years Alex has moved a total of 12 times and attended 10 schools.

Alex first moved out of Mexico at the age of six, and when she returned, people saw her very differently.

“Moving back I also had a strong [American] accent,” Evans said, “In Mexico ‘gringas’ are not really welcomed” In Mexico, Alex has had to face dilemmas

such as cultural discrimination, bullying, and the overall effect of a corrupt government.

“Mexico City was probably one of the hardest places to live.” Evans said. “ I went to a school that was known for being the rich kid school and it was really ridden with people from the government, actually, and there’s a lot of government corruption so generally the people there were snobby and mean” Although she was originally born in Mexico, Evans was still treated as a foreigner when she initially returned.

“When I moved to Mexico I was bullied quite a bit because I had an accent and I had a hard time,” Evans said. “It’s just the way you say things or the way you dress or, in that school for example, it was looked down upon- participating a lot in school and because I just came back from Oak Park, where everyone was really really accepting and everything. It was really hard.”

Due to the environment in Mexico, Evans fell behind academically and socially, “I

“

We’ve never had a family house or the same friends or the same school or anything. In a way we’ve always just had each other.

So we’ve always had a really close relationship.

”

stopped working in class, I completely isolated myself from everyone,” Evans said. “I had two years where I was incredibly depressed.”

The first time Evans moved, her family relocated to Canada for her fathers job.

“I think the most I’ve ever lived in a place is four years and that would be Vancouver,” Evans said. “I think at first it’s pretty hard but after you [overcome the hard part] sometimes you really learn how to adapt and you learn to make friends easily.”

The idea of moving pulls different emotions out of every individual, but for Evans, it’s not always a negative thing.

“If you don’t like a place it’s fun to have a fresh start,” Evans said, “If you feel like you’re really struggling it’s great to just leave... Also just being able to experience all the different cultures of the different places like Canada or things like that.

You get to look, and meet new people.”

Another aspect of constantly being on the move, is the les-

sons her lifestyle has taught Evans.

“You’redifferent from everyone elseand it’s most likely because you have a different background,” Evans said. “It’s okay to be different and at the same time be with everyone else.”

The Mexico native has lived in three different countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Evans fluently speaks Spanish and English and a small amount of Mandarin. Due to her move to Canada Evans was forced to learn English through immersion, and is currently enrolled in honors English.

“When I first moved to the US... for about a year I didn’t know any English...and after awhile I became more and more fluent,’’ Evans said. “For a long time in Vancouver, I think I spoke more English than I did Spanish.”

Between her moves, Evans has found many activities that got her more involved in her various schools.

“I love talking obviously so I’ve gotten in things like debate club and

that’s helped me grow closer to the people in my school,”Evans said.

Although Evans tries to stay on top of her hobbies, she does admit that it’s not always that easy.

“A lot of the times it can be overwhelming, for example, there’s been a lot of times where we’re moving so it’s really stressful,” Evans said. “We have to do all these different things, [so] a lot of the times I neglect my reading, but I think that once [the move] is over, you get back into the groove of things.”

Besides the affect her moving has on her social life, Evans home-life has also been affected.

“I think [moving] brought us closer together, because I mean, my family has been the only constant thing I’ve had in my entire life,” Evans said. “We’ve never had a family house or the same friends or the same school or anything. In a way we’ve always just had each other. So we’ve always had a really close relationship.”

10

“Fake the confidence, and eventually you won’t have to fake it.”

} Anais

S

photos by: Anais Noelle

Noelle

{

memories fade but pictures last forever

he’s skipping school. She looks through a rack of clothes; jackets, shirts, dresses.

A model sits in the chair and get’s her hair and makeup done. She looks over at the model, and as she does her godmother beckons her over, and she puts mermaid-like extensions in her hair, and lipgloss on her lips. After getting dressed, she goes to sit in the car as her mom who is a photographer, her godmother who is a stylist, and the model all drive to downtown Los Angeles.

As soon as they get there, they go into an alley nearby the Los Angeles river. She climbs onto a ladder and poses. After a few shots, they go to a spot in the river where Grease was filmed and they continue their photoshoot. For her, that was the highlight of the shoot, where she got to model by herself instead of shooting with the other model. This was Anais Noelle’s first photoshoot at eight years old, where she fell in love with modeling.

“My favorite memory was when I first started modeling, it was my first real photoshoot. I got to miss school and there was another real model in the shoot as well. That whole shoot made me fall in love with modeling,” Noelle said.

After the photoshoot, Noelle and her Mom said their goodbyes and headed out to get celebratory ice cream. Her Mom is a photographer, and though Noelle isn’t signed with a modeling agency yet, she continues to model for her Mom. “Yes I loved modeling. For me I was so used to it but loved everything about it especially the outfits and styling part besides the modeling part of course,” Noelle laughs.

“I love most styles of modeling, but high fashion and artsy modeling is my personal favorite,” Noelle said.

Although modeling has been a passion for Noelle, societal pressures of being thin still stand in the model industry.

“As someone who is naturally very tiny I understand that many models tend to also be the same way which many people either don’t know or don’t realize that some people are actually very thin. There are certain body types that designers want and need which may be thinner than an average person but I do think some models feel a lot of pressure from society to be thinner, I think it truly matters on how they handle it,” Noelle said.

Not only do other models feel pressures of losing weight, Noelle has even felt pressures to gain weight.

“Yeah of course I have gotten comments because my body is so unique.

Obviously people are gonna make comments about it. I have felt pressure before and had tried to gain weight, but nothing really worked and eventually I just realized there was no legit reason why I should try to change my body.

I’m perfectly healthy, I function like any normal person, and I’m happy with my body so why change it. So when I started accepting and loving my body so did the people around me,” Noelle said.

Those comments and pressures gave her more confidence than before. She even has advice for new coming models, and how they should start their careers.

“Be nice to everyone you meet because making a good first impression is important,” she started. “But more importantly, find out what makes you unique and embrace it. Even it’s the thing you are most insecure about, fake the confidence and eventually you won’t have to fake it.”

~ Emily Kogod

12

A T S U IT’S J O R B , PRANK

y l e r u p t s This is ju t ’ n o d e s a e l P . l a c i satir . d e r e g g get tri

“

“

By Eli Margolis

14

The breeze picks up and leaves begin to float through the air. Andy Park sits patiently for the interview to begin, his arms folded and his crossed. He instantly snaps into character: his mouth twists into a familiar form, a from perfected by George “Joji” Miller. His voice becomes raspy and hoarse and his eyebrows twitch uncontrollably...

“This is just purely satirical. Please don’t get triggered.

My idol is Filthy Frank. I was introduced to him initially by Emilio Vasquez and...Eli Margolis when they first sang the song Peanut Butter. And right when he said that line I was forever hooked.

That’s why I worship him as a god. I’ve been kicked out of my church... for praising this ‘false God,’ but no…he is the true God. I got to see the world in a very different way. He’s changed my perspective. You know, Chris McCandless, he can try, and Jon Krakauer…they can try to change my perspective… we’re all gonna die anyway. See, I tried to be a good kid, but I think the best way to be a good kid is to be cancer and spread awareness. I was the leading Petty Officer of the LA division Naval Sea Cadet Corps.

Yeah for four years I’ve been shooting, going to summer training, bootcamp. After I met Filthy Frank everything changed. I realized the government’s corrupt, we should all open our third eye.

What really got me interested in him was his philosophy…he’s an anti-blogger. You see people on Tumblr and YouTube saying ‘Be yourself! Just be yourself!’ But no. Filthy Frank doesn’t do that.

He says the truth. High School sucks. He doesn’t lie…like, I don’t even know how to get into this…he influenced me to the point where I wanted to create my own passion, which is to create my own videos.”

Andy is an aspiring content creator slowly rising in popularity at the high school. His fame began with a video of him spitting raw egg on his dog’s face, and it all went downhill from there.

“Our first three videos…it all stems from this grueling hatred for what we call conforming to society. We’re all animals, so that’s why in our video I wanted to do something different. Where it’s so against society, that like everyone hates us. But that’s all good because it’s all fun and games. Yes, I’ve spit egg on my dog a couple times, I’ve put him in my toilet, I’ve put him in a chokehold. It’s all good. And at the end of the day I’m still petting him, he’s still sleeping on my bed. It’s all good. I wouldn’t say that we’re in an abusive relationship, I wouldn’t say that I slap him on the downlow...no he’s old, he’s 15 years old. I think when he was like ten, he bit into a beef jerky treat and three of his teeth were stuck on the treat...we thought he was gonna die, but now he’s 15 and he’s ruining my life. Just yesterday he took a dump...you know how dogs pace around in circles when they poop? Well he accidentally stepped on it and some of the poop particles got in between his toes and his feet and it got all over my sheets and I have poo stains on my sheet right now.”

Andy’s point is made through pure satirical humor, where he embodies aspects of life that he hates to best make fun of them.

“The mixtapes and the other videos we’re making, that’s a different person. That’s ‘Rap Andy.’ Andy, rap, Eli...where we actually want to present the truths about society. Express ourselves... in our recent track I’m dissing certain people that are really the cancer of our society. They just go for money; they’re always about being famous, popular. I’m not really down for that. Also, I talk about my experiences about me being the nice guy, giving up something for a friend, while they’re being selfish. Other videos

like Feminist Fiona, the reveal for Feminist Fiona is coming up soon. We’re ‘mid production.’ For Feminist Fiona, she’s actually what men are afraid when we see Tumblr feminists. It’s actually satire. I’m not making fun of feminists, I’m making fun of men who are afraid of feminists. This is what certain men think when they think about feminism. We have ‘Francois the fake French dude,’ that was actually based off a certain person at my school…‘Herbie for Bernie’ is a twenty year old college student who know nothing about economics but is a supporter of Bernie Sanders. We got Misogynistic Mike who is the antiFeminist...I’m still thinking about more characters but that’s mostly it. I’m trying to represent certain sections of society.

Really, what I found throughout my eighteen years of life in this hellhole. It’s kind of what I see the world embodied by. ‘Francois the fake French dude’ is a wannabe. There’s a lot of people like that in our society. Like the weeaboos: the people who want to become anime characters. But people say the Japanese are obsessed with the American vision which is having big eyes, yellow hair, figure...but it’s a loss and a loss because a lot of Americans are wanting to turn Japanese through the weeaboo culture. It’s an epidemic.”

When asked what he’d label himself as, he replied with: “I think I’m an IRL social commentator. I’m not afraid to go up to a person who’s being a cancer, I would call them out... certain people say that they have diseases when they really don’t: self diagnosing themselves. I’m just a realist, a comedic realist. I’m really sarcastic...that’s what I wanna do. It’s a flip.

This is how I see it: the students who were bagged on by their parents, they were blamed for not getting good grades. Now they become older and they know it was the teacher’s fault and are blaming the teachers. Teacher’s nowadays might not actually think it’s a switch, but it’s a switch from what we all were in the 1960s. We’re not gonna be all conservative. We’re not gonna want to live in a household with just a male and a female. We could have male/male, female/female, or male/ female/male/female all sleeping in one bed together. For all I care, whatever your interests are. We need a social revolution.”

Andy’s inspirations besides Filthy Frank are unorthadox but obvious when compared to his background. He belives that people can like what they like as long as they’re not fronting and being themsleves.

“Favorite artist: N.W.A. I was actually a hardcore conservative in 2008 when I got interested in ‘F*ck Tha Police.’ I was a hardcore conservative, since I was in 5th grade. But after I started listening to NWA I realized there’s another side to the story. People who judge me on my beliefs? God, they can have any beliefs that they want. It’s all up to perspective. But N.W.A. really changed my perspective of life. That’s the only side I can see, the best way of living. Gender is a social construct, color is a social construct. We’re just salamanders with different dots on their backs. We’re all human, we’re all smelly and pink on the inside. It’s funny, people say Black, White, Yellow...it doesn’t really matter in the end. You’re whoever you wanna be. Weeaboo culture has to do with anime, and they wanna become a cartoon character which is not a race, and is a disease. That’s the difference.” Some people find it hard to understand his sense of humor, but this is what Andy uses to weed out the less sophisticated of his witnesses. His style is constantly referenced to as “ironic” and “satirical.”

15

BRING

IT ON

Profile of a teenage All-Star Cheerleader

By: Danni Jo Martincak The student section roars as the football team makes its first touchdown. This is sophomore Aubrina Schwarz’s cue to flip and entertain the crowd in the midst of all the commotion. Living a life spending most of her time in the air, Schwarz is not one to quit. She has pushed harder and harder every day to reach the goal of winning the prestigious United Spirit Association first place National Champion backpacks.

Schwarz lives her life lifting up others in order to keep school spirit high on campus. Deep under the Swim Gym, Schwarz perfects her skills as a flyer, base and tumbler on the cheer team.

The amount of effort it takes for one to lift another person up in the air requires substantial strength. Schwarz is on a cheer team of 20 girls, each who hold a different position in making the pyramid hit. A stunt group is composed of a side base, main base, back spot and flyer; Schwarz has held each position but focuses her skills as a side base.

“My favorite moment in cheer is really struggling as a team and then getting it all together,” Schwarz said.

“Knowing that we can do something and accomplish and finish a routine and hit everything is something I take pride in.”

Schwarz is not only a varsity member on the high school’s cheer team, but she is also a part of an All Star cheer team known as LAX All Stars. She practices two to three times a week in preparation to compete in United Spirit Association and National Cheer Association cheer competitions held all over California. There are different dynamics between a high school cheer team and club cheer team, and Schwarz has had experience in both.

“Well, last year I liked high school cheer a lot better and maybe that’s because I was a freshmen and it felt easy compared to my all star team,” Schwarz said. “But

because of the struggles we went through this year in high school cheer, my All Star team seemed more organized and hardworking which I’d rather have.”

When Schwarz was only four years old, her mother sent her and her younger sister Vanessa to a cheer gym. The two soon began taking classes regularly. Being extremely young, both sisters had no clue what they were getting themselves into. It wasn’t until five years ago that Schwarz finally understood why she cheered and began to truly love the sport. Vanessa admires all that her older sister has accomplished.

“She’s been a positive role model because she is very successful and she’s really skillful in cheer and gymnastics,” Vanessa said. “Although we fight, she’s there to help me because it’s hard to learn a dance or a routine, so it’s all good.”

As Aubriana entered high school, she tried out for the Norman cheer team: a team that cheers and performs at every basketball and football halftime. She had no expectations going into this cheer program, as she was a freshman, and freshmen rarely make the varsity team. Schwarz would go on to exceed her hopes as she was the only freshman who made the varsity cheer team.

“She is an extraordinary role model for the team, and even though she is [currently] just a sophomore, she is extremely mature for her age. I believe those in grades above her, as well as below her, look up to her motivation and hard work,” captain Alex Lamas said.

After placing fourth at nationals in Anaheim last year, the cheer team made their mark in the cheer world. Schwarz got to experience making finals during her freshmen year on varsity.

Learning from each competition, “The most important thing to think about when you are on the mat is to stay positive and know that we’ve worked so hard to get there,” Aubriana said. “We have to smile and perform. We’ve been working all year for these two minutes.”

“The most important thing to think about when you are on the mat is to stay positive and know that we’ve worked so hard to get there.”

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the triple threat actor, singer, dancer, Tristan McIntyre

T

ap. Tap. Tap. He practices his self-taught know it’s not a good thing, apparently at least tap routine for the musical, “Spamalot.” He’s the way they used it,” McIntyre said. “At lunch nervous, paces back and forth backstage, time, I couldn’t play football with my friends befinishes his vocal exercises, then wishes the cause I was a theatre kid. These were really dark other actors a quick “good luck.” The curdays, and I remember sticking up to the bully tain rises revealing the audience, and the when I was in fifth grade and said, ‘You better let nerves then subside for Tristan McIntyre. me play or I’m telling the principal.’ Then they let Many know him as a triple threat: the guy who me play, I got a killer touchdown, but then I broke acts, sings and dances. McIntyre has been in over my thumb. I was a legend for like a minute.”

40 theatre productions, starting from beginning Because of the relentless and oppressive with a smale role of an animal in “Mary Poppins” bullying, McIntyre, in seventh grade, quit perwhen he was 5-years-old to playing the big role forming for two years and initially planned on of Millet in “Fuddy Meers” when he was a high becoming a soccer player at the high school. school senior. He has teched two dance produc“But then I somehow ended up in Intro to Thetions while atre even performing though I in another “I entered [high school] as someone who [was] in- p r o m i s e d two, and I secure, defeated, didn’t know what I wanted to do myself has writwould never ten over to knowing what I wanted to do and proud of what do theatre in 20 songs, I’ve done. I’ve grown such thick skin and I know my- high school. three of And then, which are self too well now to know that when someone’s I found my released on a negative influence on me, I couldn’t care less.” best friend Yo u T u b e . and found But life as a local high school school celebpeople who loved the art form,” McIntyre said. rity came at a price for McIntyre. Throughout “I entered [high school] as someone who [was] elementary and middle school, McIntyre was insecure, defeated, didn’t know what I wanted severely bullied for being associated with the to [moving toward] knowing what I wanted to performing arts to the point of not being able do and proud of what I’ve done. I’ve grown to play football with his friends at recess and such thick skin and I know myself too well now to continually being “gay bashed,” (verbal abuse know that when someone’s a negative influence against a person who is perceived to be gay). on me, I couldn’t care less. I just don’t care.”

“Especially if a guy [doing the arts] and since During this difficult adjustment period, Mcit’s associated with being gay, you would get Intyre took on a new hobby that would soon that term “gay bashed.” Obviously that hurts you develop into an additional newfound passion. because you don’t understand what it is-- you “I started songwriting in freshman year when I don’t know what you’re being called but you was still being bullied. I wrote my first song called,

‘Mean.’ It was really cheesy. I had no one to vent join Dance Company as an entering junior. all. He had been in musicals, which does have to at home and I didn’t have friends because I “I remember after ‘The Wiz,’ someone came a lot of dance in it and to be able to balance left my friend group in middle school because I up to me and told me that Ms. Findley liked me singing while moving and memorizing all that didn’t like the way they were treating me,” Mcand wanted me to join Dance Company. I’m is really similar to the amount of memorization Intyre said. “Then sophomore year, my friends told like, ‘Ha! Yeah right. No, I’m not joining Dance needed for more complicated dance, so he me to join Madrigals. I’m like, ‘You think I’m joining Company. I get gay bashed enough.’ It was can look at something and easily transfer [it] to the choir? You must be joking.’ Joined anyway.”

May, skipped the audition. My friends who were his body. He’s an intelligent person, in general, McIntyre feel most emotionally close seniors at the time were telling me that, ‘You but an intelligent mover and really aware of to his song ‘Imaginary Place,’ which gotta do Dance Company, like you just have where his body is in space,” Findley said. “[He] he wrote during his sophomore year. to,’” McIntyre said. “Then I started considering it, has changed Dance Company as a whole [by “The closest song to me was ‘Imagiand then one day, out of the blue, Janet Rosadding] an energy to Dance Company that nary Place.’ I wrote it when I was really deton, who was the old choreographer for Dance has just been all about positivity. I can’t wait pressed and there was nothing on the radio Company said she saw me in ‘The Wiz.’ I don’t reto see him in a show, professionally, one day.” that made me happy, so I wrote my own member but she said something that really made McIntyre, through performing and his expesong that made me happy,” he said. riences, feels as though he has become He worked on the arrangement a better person who is more aware and harmonies of the song with se- “The power of the arts to influence people’s of the people and world around him. nior Sabrina Halavi, later releasing a lives and make them okay learn to understand people betwith themselves. ter “You music video on YouTube in July 2015. and you learn to accept them how “I would say that Tristan is the most That moment is still the best moment of my life they are. I think I’ve grown into a more uplifting songwriter I know. Though he so far. The fact that I had the power to help generous and caring person, in gensometimes writes about pain and hearteral. That feeling’s not only addicting break, he always manages to find a way someone… I just love making a change.” and great, but being able to see peoto ensure his listener to end up in a better ple’s reactions after a show of how they place by the end of the song,” Halavi said. “The me go, ‘wow.’ I think that day, I went home and were generally passionate about the show,” [experience of recording ‘Imaginary Place’] was emailed Ms. Findley, a week before school endhe said. “I had a student come up to me after not the most simple process. We went back and ed, and I said I wanted to join Dance Company.”

‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ [in ‘Twisted Myths’], and forth about how the song should be recorded Dance Company choreographer Dana Findit wasn’t even a compliment, it was just, ‘Thank and in what setting, but eventually we settled on ley told McIntyre to not come prepared at all for you.’ And then I was like, ‘Why’d you say thank a really simple and organic performance and I this private audition, but rather to just show what you?’ And they go, ‘You made me comfortable think it turned out beautifully. One of the most he can do. According to McIntyre, he was horrible enough to come out to my parents.’ That just beautiful aspects of ‘Imaginary Place’ is its acduring the audition and Findley allowed him to be changed my life. The power of the arts to influcessibility. I really feel that anyone could play on full Company if he took ballet classes over the ence people’s lives and make them okay with this song and connect it to a person or situation summer, of which he only took four hours worth. themselves. That moment is still the best moment that they’ve wanted to escape from in their life.”

“I actually saw [him] in the musical, ‘The Wiz’ of my life so far. The fact that I had the power Also during his sophomore year, Mcand thought, ‘Who is that young man? He’s to help someone… I just love making a change.”

Intyre decided to add a new craft onto an amazing mover and performer.’ I did know

By Brenna Nouray his ceaseless list of talents: he decided to that Tristan, dance was not his background at

19

Photo Credits: Ethan Eils

take a dip with Fritzi by: Rachel Song Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

The water was rushing as she swam backward with her arms outstretched and legs extended. Backstroke is one of junior Fritzi Dela Pena’s favorite strokes out of the four: freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke.

Dela Pena’s usual training includes lifting weights and running. Swimming normally works out every part of the body, so the extra training helps her stay in shape.

For Dela Pena, having positive thoughts and a good mentality are how she grows as a stronger competitor.

“There are some people that might think that swimming is not a sport and rather an activity. But for me, I think it’s a very competitive and active sport, especially for me because I’ve been swimming for seven years,” Dela Pena said. “If you’re not actually competitive then you might not have the same thoughts as a competitive swimmer. But I think for me, swimming has taught me not only perseverance but it also taught me patience and questioning who I am as a person. In the end of the day, I always ask myself, ‘Do I give up easily?”’

To improve, Dela Pena spent five years participating in club swimming at USC. But last year, she had made a decision to quit club swimming because she started feeling the pressure from her father who introduced swimming to her.

She has now spent two years swimming at Beverly on the girls varsity team. Even though a lot of time and money was spent in order for Dela Pena to improve her skills, she hopes it’ll all be worth it when she gets a swimming scholarship.

“A lot of money was spent for me pay for apparel and also practice times in order for me to improve my skills. I take swimming really seriously because I hope to get a scholarship for swimming when I go to college. But also as I said before, my dad supported me with me wanting to do swim, but I always felt the pressure from him to do my very best and go to practice every single day so I never really had time for school or friends.

The decision was honestly really hard but I decided to swim for Beverly still because I want to get scouted.” Dela Pena said.

One of the varsity swimming coaches, Coach Steve, has wit-

nessed Dela Pena in her varsity year victories and has praised her positive attitude and great efforts.

“I’m happy any time any of my students make CIF, it’s a goal, the end goal. That’s why she practiced the whole entire year.

She listens, she tries, does her best and sets good examples. It’s rare now for a high schooler to be responsible and mature. Even when she’s upset with a race, she still has a smile on her face. She doesn’t take to things too difficult, but I think she needs to relax a bit and not be so hard on herself,” Coach Steve said.

Surprisingly, Dela Pena sees her teammates as her rivals.

“I’m a very competitive person, so in order for me to want to succeed, it’s natural to have a person I would compare myself with. I do have a few people I would consider my rival and they’re actually my teammates. Everyone actually rivals against each other, not because we didn’t like each other, but we wanted to make each other stronger.”

For Dela Pena, all of her practices focus on her future as a swimmer, where she hopes to become the very best she can be with swimming and get a scholarship for swimming so that she can still do something she loves. With that said, Dela Pena never takes her achievements for granted and always thinks positively and about how she can improve.

“I mean yeah you can be fast and win, but for me I never think about being fast. I usually only and always think positivity about the race, for me it’s more about the mentality and honestly having positive thoughts help me more a lot.”

One of Dela Pena’s teammates, freshman Eugene Kim, witnessed Dela Pena’s swimming style and techniques during the entire season and couldn’t be more amazed.

“I think she’s an amazing swimmer and makes the sport look easy. She’s really graceful in the water. She works hard and is very dedicated. Even when she’s having a bad day, she’s always trying her best,” Kim said.

When asked about Dela Pena’s competing for CIF, Kim said, “I’m really happy for her and really proud because I know how hard it is to make CIF. I’m also really glad to have some as experienced as her to help me through a meet as hard as CIF.”

Teacher of 15 years, Colleen Lynch reaches the end of her fifth year teaching the Medical Science Academy (MSA), a class she created from scratch. After getting the class UC approved and writing and revising the curriculum, the class finally began in the fall of 2012. Excited, Lynch taught the class in the first year, constantly making revisions to her original curriculum. She created this class after looking at other academies and being inspired by the way students were exposed to health care at such a young age.

MSA is a two-year academy for sophomores and juniors. The first year is Introduction to Medicine, a class that teaches students the basic vocabulary words of medicine and gives them an introduction on how to work with patients. This course allows students to be more prepared when deciding to volunteer at a hospital like Cedars-Sinai or UCLA. Many students in the first year of the academy decide to participate in programs like these in order to decide what they like or don’t like about practicing medicine. The second year, however, is BioTechnology. During this year, Lynch requires students to volunteer at Cedars or UCLA. “My students come back and tell me that being in that environment really helps them choose what direction they want to go in, because it’s exposure to the health care field,” she said.

This course focuses more on the research aspect of medicine and shows students its other branches. They participate in many lab activities and discover new things under a microscope. After both years of MSA, students are exposed to the clinical aspect and the research aspect of medicine. One of Lynch’s main goals of the class is to give students a background to see which branch they like, if any.

“A lot of our students are exposed through our program to other opportunities that exist in the community,” she said.

As Lynch reflects back on the last five years, she thinks of the amount of work she put into creating this class and tries to learn from the challenges she has faced.

“The whole thing has been a growth,” she said. “When you step out of your box and try something new, you realize the amount of work it takes to build something from scratch…You come up against challenges that you have never anticipated, and then you have to find solutions to your problems constantly.”

Lynch learns a lot from each of these class’ guest speakers and believes that it is great exposure for the students. Students are encouraged to suggest professionals of a field they are interested in to come speak to the class.

“MSA is not just about what we learn from the textbook. [I like] how we get to have other opportunities. For example,…having doctors come and speak to us in class, so that we don’t just get the book’s perspective but we get the perspective from the real world,” sophomore Sarah Wolchin said.

Wolchin is in the Introduction to Medicine class and appreciates Lynch’s method of teaching.

“I like how excited she makes the class and how she relays her information and how she also allows us to teach the class so that we can all get that type of experience,” she said.

This class is not a requirement; therefore, the class is filled with students who want to be there and students who enjoy the class.

Lynch has already impacted the decisions of one graduating class, and has helped many others figure out their likes and dislikes of medicine. As of now, she teaches the two MSA courses along with one other class, and has had it this way since the beginning of MSA. However, starting next year, she is excited to only be teaching MSA and to be able to focus on bringing the class to its full potential.

“When I see students get passionate about something, when I see them explore something that they really like and are motivated to pursue, and then find opportunities for them to do more exploration, even in high school, that’s fun for me,” Lynch said with a smile on her face.

“When you step out of your box and try something new, you realize the amount of work it takes to build something from scratch.”

By: Chantel Yeshova

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MSA

mastermind