DECEMBER 2021

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The Bull’s Eye

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DECEMBER 08, 2021 @dbbullseye

New law Mantras of misinformation benefits sleeping schedules Class start times will be pushed back to 8:30 a.m. starting next school year.

Schedule on p. 2

Marginal error leads math to a close loss Despite their results, the group looks forward to upcoming competitions.

CLAIRE WU Asst. PHOTO EDITOR

JIANLAN BUSTEED Asst. OPINION EDITOR Next school year, Diamond Bar High School students will be introduced to a delayed school schedule—beginning classes at least 30 minutes later, thanks to a new California bill. Senate Bill 328, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, will require high schools within the state to begin their classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Motivated by a public health movement concerned about sleep deprivation in students, the proposal was created as a universal solution to increasing sleep time.

“It’s going to give them more time to sleep and get ready in the morning,” DBHS instructional dean Jennifer Burns said. “They’ll be more awake, hopefully, for the first period.”

Despite the time requirements, zero period will continue to be an

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as a strong component to the team as her presentation, incorporation of case information and delivery of the closing statement contributed to the team’s overall success.

“To pull off such a flawless closing was amazing, but not only that, she revised and basically rewrote it within 72 hours,” prosecuting witness sophomore Ashley Cha said via Instagram. “During our actual trial, she pulled it off as if she’d

Following a five-win streak, Diamond Bar High School’s math team was eliminated in the Math Madness competition after a 29-32 loss against Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School.

Math Madness is an annual team-based tournament that offers members of all levels the opportunity to compete every fall and spring.

It follows a single elimination bracket style until one school is deemed the champion.

Each match in the competition consists of eight questions, worth one point each, which must be completed in under 30 minutes. The top five participants from a school represent the team’s score, with the maximum points possible being 40 points.

Before competing in the national

Court ON P. 3

MATH ON P. 2

Photo courtesy of ANONYMOUS Walnut Valley Unified School District protesters stand with paper signs outside of the main WVUSD office, hoping to gain the attention of board members with their messages of “medical freedom” and anti-COVID vaccination mandate sentiments.

Bringing their best to court The first courtroom championship since 1999 has finally been reclaimed.

ETHAN RO STAFF WRITER For the first time in over 20 years, Diamond Bar High School’s mock trial team will proceed to the state finals competition in March.

After a successful final round

against Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, the team came out victorious with a score of 701-690.

Members attributed this win to their strong objections and striking testimonies.

“Personally, I got three [objections] sustained in a row [and] also my other co-counsels [made] a lot of objections that threw the other team off,” prosecuting attorney junior Alexandra Chala said.

The group also recognized prosecuting attorney senior Eileen Zu

Thundering Herd cements legacy The marching band closes out the season by adding on to their winning streak.

Photo courtesy of DAWSON LAM Members scrambled to address issues with the robot, built nearly two years ago in 2020, in order to prepare it for action.

Powering through difficulties Complications with old models left Team Sprocket at a major disadvantage.

KYLE HONG STAFF WRITER After a two-year recession from competitions, Team Sprocket tackled their first event of the year, but, unfortunately, were not wired up for success.

Beach Blitz is an annual off-season robotics competition held by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The event gives the participants an opportunity to work in a competitive environment and gain experience before more serious competitions begin.

“Beach Blitz is one of the most well known off-season events. It’s semi-official but doesn’t have too much weight on season performance,” junior Dawson Lam said.

“There were about a few dozen

teams who had come to previous years as well, so we [recognized] them and have communicated with them as well.”

The event required teams to collect and shoot balls into baskets using their robots in a three versus three format, similar to basketball.

“A big issue was our robot, which kept malfunctioning. The robot was built in 2020, meaning that our current senior members were only sophomores when it was

Robotics ON P. 3

Thundering Herd members attended after school practices the entire week leading up to the event, committing to a three-hour rehearsal on Veterans Day. “We put a lot of emphasis on the LYNDON KANEKO amount of effort people were conSTAFF WRITER tributing in practice and in the performance,” junior Joseph Wangsa Taking up the mantle from their said. “It’s a good way to justify that victorious seasons in 2018 and any result we get can be consid2019, Diamond Bar High School’s ered a good result and I think that Thundering Herd made its return helped relieve some stress people on Nov. 20–stealing the show after may have had about keeping our a year-long break from competing. win streak going.”

Their stellar performance manAs the competition drew closer, ifested in the form of outstanding the marching band’s focus shifted scores at the 68th from the overall Annual Arcadia look of the band “Any result we get can Festival of Bands. to members’ inbe considered a good The Brahdividual capabilmas scored 96.20 ities. result and I think that for the in-band Along with the helped relieve stress.” swee pstakes, marching techJOSEPH WANGSA 96.70 in auxiliary nique, band direcand 482 in music. tors Steve Acciani The results and Marie Santos earned them another undefeated reviewed musical techniques by season and surpassed their 2018 working in-depth with each secand 2019 scores. tion, going over their pitch, style, In addition to committing two intonation and releases while playhours of their Tuesdays and Thursdays to sectional practices, band on p. 3

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News

The Bull’s Eye

December 8, 2021

Debate Club secures their place at the top Two sophomore Brahmas were recognized for their skills in public speaking. sam jajieh feature editor Stepping away from Zoom and into their first event at Tustin Model United Nations, Diamond Bar High School’s Debate Club had a strong start to their competition season, as two sophomores secured awards for their research and public speaking skills.

The Nov. 20 competition was the club’s first in-person event in two years; the event put their research, speaking and writing skills to the test.

Before the competition, each member was given a problem and a country to learn more about.

The event challenged competitors to debate their researched solutions to the issues presented.

To finish off the function, members collaborated on a resolution paper that detailed their findings with the intent of getting it approved by the committee of competitors.

“I was afraid [club members] would have had a horrible experi-

ence because there were a lot of intimidating, strong competitors,” club president senior Steven Tjandra said via Messenger. “But no, most of them had a great time and asked me when the next competition was.”

To prepare members for the event, the club hosted weekly workshops that guided them through the researching process.

Vice president senior Mingyu Liu said the group mainly focused on familiarizing themselves with policy analysis and international affairs before jumping straight into the event.

“For this year, we’re definitely giving a lot more resources over to our members,” Tjandra said.

“We’re aiming to make this transition—because [for] a lot of our members, this is their first competition—as smooth as possible.”

For sophomore Tiffany Hu, the competition gave her an opportunity to talk to new people and build a sense of community over a common interest: public speaking.

She won third place for her performance in the conference on human trafficking where she preapred a postion paper on South African and the United Nations’ efforts to combat this problem.

Photo courtesy of MINGYU LIU The Debate Club attended Tustin Model United Nations, making it their first in-person competition of the season in two years.

“I was really surprised and happy to get an award in my first ever debate competition,” Hu said via Messenger.

Another brahma securing an award in the competition was sophomore Clair Kim, who won a research award for her paper on Angola and their participation in community-supported agriculture.

She said her favorite part of the event was communicating with her

resolution committee group to find a solution for the agricultural crisis.

“This was my first MUN competition ever and it was definitely nerve wracking,” Kim said via Messenger. “Still, I reminded myself that I was there for the experience and that I would be proud of myself no matter what happened.”

Overall, Liu and Tjandra expressed how they wanted members

School to start at later time

the staff Editors-in-Chief News Editors Asst. News Editors

Reyna Wan, Niko Yatawara Marcus Hsieh, Steve Qu Lauren Cheng, Jeremiah Jung

Opinion Editor Asst. Opinion Editors

Reyna Wan Jianlan Busteed, Rachel Lee

Feature Editor Asst. Feature Editors

Sam Jajieh Natasha Chang, Maia Pak Niko Yatawara Taylor Joe, MK Palaris

A&E Editor Asst. A&E Editors

Charles Tam Nathan Chu, Vera Wang

Sports Editors Asst. Sports Editors

Reyna Wan, Niko Yatawara Vash Chen, Claire Wu

Photo Managers Asst. Photo Editors

Edward Kim Ryan Kung

Business Manager Asst. Business Manager Web Editor Asst. Web Editors Staff Writers

Reyna Wan Natasha Chang, Lauren Cheng Kyle Hong, Lyndon Kaneko, Ashley Park, Deesha Pathak, Ethan Ro

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contact us Diamond Bar High School, Room 717 21400 Pathfinder Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Phone: (909) 594- 1405x33459 Email: eye.editors@gmail.com Business Inquiries: thebullseyebusiness@gmail.com

editorial policy The Bull’s Eye is a public forum that welcomes the views of our readers. Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed pieces will be accepted only if they are signed. The author may, however, request anonymity. The staff reserves the right to edit letters without changing content. You may forward letters to Room 717 or submit them online at dbbullseye.com.

to value how important it is to take the time to understand the issues in the world they live in through this competition.

“Even if you’re not into politics, even if you’re not into international affairs, doing stuff like MUN just really broadens your skills but also just improves some critical skills overall, whether it’s public speaking, analysis of papers, or even logical reasoning skills,” Liu said.

CLAIRE WU The current team anticipates officer applications to ensure a victorious future.

Math Madness falls below their average row.”

The team hosts weekly workcompetition, the math team parshops to review previous matchtook in the American Mathemates and learn new topics. In addiical Competition. Members who tion, many team members take score past a certain threshold are advanced math classes at DBHS eligible to take the American Invito keep their minds sharp with tational Mathematical Exam. some self-studying beyond what is “We haven’t gotten the AMC taught in school. scores just yet but I think we did Math Team members junior Anokay,” vice president senior Bobby drew Huang and Sun have excelled Zhu said via discord. “There were on the team, contributing top some takers who did a lot of probscores almost every week which atlems, which hopefully leads to a test to their long-standing experihigh score.” ence in similar competitions.

Prior to competing in the math “They have been performing madness event, well in our comthe schools are petitions, and al“I see a lot of potenranked through so are great at two weeks’ worth teaching the othtial in them and they of qualification er members can lead the team to matches in order during our weeksuccess.” to properly dely workshops,” BOBBY ZHU termine the diviFu said. sion the school is Although the in. Despite havteam did not do ing placed in the first division, the as well as they anticipated for the DBHS members didn’t perform as Math Madness competition, they well as they had anticipated. will continue to compete in fu“Our team has been performing ture functions this year including fairly well [for the] most part,” secthe California Math League, Purretary junior Aaron Sun said via ple Comet and Rocket City Math discord. “One main reason that League events. our team lost was the fact that the “For the future, I am hoping AMC competition was right before younger math team members will the Math Madness match and all apply as officers,” Zhu said. “I see the team members were exhausta lot of potential in them and they ed from taking two math tests in a can lead the team to success.”

math from P. 1

schedule from P. 1 option for students. However, to accommodate the 30-minute schedule shift, these classes may be held later than usual Burns said.

Although its intended purpose is to increase sleep time, some argue the bill doesn’t have as much of an impact on students’ sleep, considering it will push everything back by a matter of minutes. A much larger concern that has arisen since the bill’s passing is how the later schedule will affect students’ time to complete homework and tend to their extracurriculars.

“It impacts our sports. It impacts our performing arts academy,” Instructional dean Gabriel Aguilar said. “It’s not just, ‘What time do we start?’, ‘What time do we finish?’

No, we’re very, very meticulous.”

In response to the later school start times, some students feel that the sudden change would impact their current sleep habits.

“I do like enjoying my sleep but I think it would mess up my sleeping schedule, causing me to sleep later,” freshman Evelyn Nakaishi said via Instagram.

Other students are excited about the change and the potential elimination of usual first period drowsiness.

“We’d be more alert and ready to intake all of the new information from our teachers,” freshman Kaylene Trinh said via text.

However another area that potentially faces issues due to the bill is sports. Aguilar emphasized how the shift will affect outdoor sports that do not have the support of stadium lights, such as baseball and golf.

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

News

3

Updates on security protocol Randy Thomas has been working with a senior to enhance the security of school Google accounts. lauren cheng asst. news editor In an effort to strengthen the security protocols of district-administered Google accounts, senior Owen Gong has been working with Web Administrator and Technology Coordinator Randy Thomas to decrease the chances of breached accounts.

After taking several technology courses taught by Stanford and Harvard, Gong took matters into his own hands when his friend’s Google account got hacked.

Gong went through a series of referrals by staff members before addressing the issue with Thomas, who he has been working with to tackle the issue ever since.

“When managing a network and the security of passwords, you have to weigh security and usability,” Thomas said. “We can make a very secure system that no one can get into, or we can make a system that is easily [broken] into that is not secure.”

Recently, the two have been trying to lengthen the lockout duration, which occurs after a student inputs an incorrect password.

“If we get it locked at three times, and then deny the student access to their account for half an hour, that causes problems,” Thomas said. “You cannot push security too far or else we are going to get students locked out of their accounts all of the time.”

Even with the possibility of increasing the waiting period, Thomas and Gong face a much larger obstacle: the strength of student passwords. Since these Google accounts are provided by schools, most students utilize the generic passwords given to them by their respective elementary or middle school. These weaker codes, though easy to remember, increase the chance of students having their accounts hacked.

“I think that our biggest issue right now is the fact that some students still have old passwords that they were given, and t h e y never

changed them,” Thomas said.

“I would like to see students actively change their passwords if they believe their password is generic or has been compromised.”

Senior Alan Zhang shared concerns brought on by some students’ unwillingness to change their passwords despite being aware of the repercussions that might arise should they choose to keep these weaker passwords.

“Some people’s passwords that I know of are just default passwords from their middle school, and that means that people can attempt to go inside and steal their intellectual property and personal information,” Zhang said. “It is important [that I change my password] because I store a lot of important documents, such as my college essays [and] homework.”

Offering a solution to this issue, Gong explained that an easy way to ensure an account’s safety would be to utilize two-factor authentication—a feature all students have access to.

“A simple way to [avoid using default passwords] would be to assign a random generated keyword string, alongside a backup personal Gmail account,” he said via Instagram. “This way, if you ever forget your school Gmail account, it will be a simple matter to just request for a newer one via two-factor authentication from your personal email account.”

Through his research and experiments with Thomas, Gong discovered that if a password can be easily predicted, breaking into a Google account may not require much effort.

“Knowing default password keywords can cause widespread damage even without brute-force methods,” he said. “Someone can guess your password by knowing which middle school and which year you are from, which is a huge fallacy in this whole system.”

Considering how time consuming and intricate the process of enhancing account security has been so far, Thomas encourages students to create new, stronger passwords for their accounts.

Sprocket mishap created setbacks

Charging their way towards victory

robotics from P. 1

band from P. 1

first built,” senior Namky Eun said via Messenger. “Our Pit Crew had to learn many of the robot’s quirks once again-- some even for the first time.”

Ultimately, unstable circuitry during the competition resulted in a loss for Team Sprocket. Despite the outcome, members focused on the positive aspects of the competition and saw the experiences as more of a learning opportunity.

“Overall, I think Beach Blitz really boosted our team morale. Despite ranking 33 out of 34, our team gained a lot of competition experience,” Eun said. “We learned a lot of new troubleshooting skills that will prevent us from having more malfunctions in the future, and we also connected with a larger part of the FIRST community. We look forward to this year’s build season and we are confident that we will perform well in our next competition.”

Team Sprocket is scheduled to begin competing in January after winter break. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the future for their season remains uncertain.

“In the future competitions, we will be using a new robot that we are going to build next semester which should be better since current members may be more comfortable on a robot that they built,” junior Jeffrey Gong said. “Additionally, everybody will have more experience and practice so we can feel confident going into future competitions.”

-ing.

“I think all of us worked really hard leading up to the event and it was really gratifying seeing all of the work we put in come to fruition. In my opinion, a lot of us were happy with the way we performed and I have to thank all the practice we put into our routine for that,” Wangsa said.

Performing alongside the marching band, color guard also put in substantial work to receive a high score at the competition.

Alongside their regular schedule, they incorporated more challenging moves to garner better ratings including spinning the rifle six times or spinning the flag twice in the air.

The group chose to start preparing for the competition two to three months preceding the event and, aside from adding in the new tricks, concentrated on polishing their routine.

“Our recent practices were more focused on cleaning our routine, staying consistent and building endurance. It was a lot more tiring, but I think it was all worth it in the end,” senior Aiah Valera said.

“We’re incredibly happy with our results and I think we performed outstandingly well. It’s all thanks to the practice we put in and the positive attitude we had. It was a competition, but I think being surrounded by amazing and supportive people felt like we were just performing for ourselves and not the judges.”

CLAIRE WU The Mock Trial team is determined to finalize their closing arguments for the last few competitions of their season in March.

Reigniting former flames of success court from P. 1 known it since the beginning of [the competition season] and she added details [from] the opposing counsel to her statement which made it all the more memorable for both the judge and our team.”

Due to their victory in this most recent competition, Mock Trial will be taking a short hiatus while they await the finals championship.

They will resume practices in February to prepare for the event.

“The only thing we need to work on for state championships is to get even better at objections and recapture the magic of the performances from the last two rounds of competition,” Mock Trial head coach

Latitia Thomas said via Gmail.

In regards to the anticipated state finals, the team hopes to compete in-person at the the Stanley Mosk Courthouse because they

“To pull off such a flawless closing was amazing, [...] she revised and basically rewrote it within 72 hours.”

ASHLEY CHA feel that being physically present before the judge will enhance their performance and make an even better impression—something that is difficult to do through a screen.

“It feels amazing [to win finals] because [during] my freshman year in 2019, we went to [the final round] but we got second place and after losing, we had this drive to win,” Chala said. “I wanted to win for the previous teams who laid that work for us to win this year.”

Aside from their court performance-based wins, DBHS courtroom journalist junior Marcus Hsieh placed first, while courtroom artist junior Susan Zhang placed second for her illustration.

“The Mock Trial team performance on Thursday, Dec. 2 was spectacular. Every student who performed gave the best performance they have ever given,” Thomas said.

4

Opinion

The Bull’s Eye

EYE editors A OF THE

s an educational institution, Diamond Bar High School is well-founded in establishing rules to maintain a suitable environment for its students. However, the school’s approach to corrective action must be changed to reflect the severity and intent of students’ misdemeanors.

Currently, DBHS is transitioning to a “Progressive Discipline Policy,” which entails Saturday Work Adjustment Programs for one hour on Saturday mornings. This, in itself, is an admirable action; the school is moving away from direct punishments to discourage wrongdoing.

“

However, the implementation and use of SWAPs are cause for great concern, as it betrays a troubling failure to accurately address the needs of a modern educational environment.

Right now, a SWAP is issued as a blanket punishment by teachers and administrators alike. Any offense, whether it be simply wearing a hood or using a mobile device during class without permission, is met with a SWAP. The school hails the SWAP as their end-all-be-all solution—a universally simple Band-aid—when disciplinary action should be much more nuanced.

There shouldn’t be SWAP, because some people have to work on Saturdays and if you don’t show up...it could go on your record.

SOPHIE KANG (10)

This approach is far from adequate; A student wearing a hood may have accidentally forgotten school policy. Take a chilly day for example: students may unconsciously pull up their hoods to conserve body heat. In contrast, browsing a phone during class is not only a direct show of disrespect to the teacher, but a possible breach of academic integrity.

In our digitized educational world, the wealth of information that can be obtained from a mobile device presents many possibilities, all of which are not conducive to a learning environment.

In fact, these two infractions are not

“ ”

December 8, 2021

- OPINIONThe administration needs to adjust its school rules to address student transgressions with appropriate measures. remotely similar in terms of magnitude.

Simply put, the punishment does not fit the crime.

However, it is refreshing to see the school’s implementation of SWAPs. The days of detentions and referrals are an outdated system that blinds itself from the needs of the modern educational system by prioritizing punishment over positive reinforcement. But all the same, student misdemeanors of a smaller magnitude do not necessitate its use.

After all, SWAPs carve out precious hours from a student’s weekend, creating another unnecessary obstacle for

I get not to wear it [a hood] in class, but I just think, in hallways, you should be able to wear hoods.

REGAN SONG (10)

students who could be using their time toward weekend assignments, getting involved with extracurriculars or practicing self-care.

Instead, these lesser ‘crimes,’ such as wearing a hood outside, should be resolved with a simple verbal warning or a recorded infraction to keep track of repeat offenders.

DBHS needs to become cognizant of the decisions and challenges that students face every day. In reality, unnecessarily harsh punishments compound the daily stresses of students. That is not education—it is the antithesis.

“ ”

I think that it [SWAP] was not deserved because...I don’t think a strap or shoulders are disturbing at all.

TAMIM HATIM (11)

”

“Please, sir, I want Biased leadership in clubs some more” Nathan Chu asst. sports editor

I

Cartoon Courtesy of CATHERINE HAN

n competitive environments like Diamond Bar High School, students can often be seen applying for multiple leadership positions in an effort to stand out in college applications. However, with positions that are bolstered by pre-existing connections with people on leadership boards, many students are given placements that they might not deserve.

Nepotism in school leadership is not a new concept, but it is becoming a more serious problem as the standards for college application increase. Consequently, students may not be qualified to serve in their positions, diminishing the quality of a club and making it based on popularity rather than merit.

This bias with which students are chosen can reap serious consequences. The unfairly elected individuals may not have a passion for a club or be knowledgeable about

how an organization functions, which undermines the students that are passionate about that group and consistently work hard for their positions. What results are clubs that are no longer structured, led by board members who meet occasionally, plan far fewer events and put in minimal work compared to previous years.

Additionally, having a more diverse board is beneficial to these organizations; by selecting students who are qualified for their

“Students may not be qualified to serve in their position, diminishing the quality of a club.”

positions, a leadership board becomes more representative of its other members and can increase its reach as new leaders may provide fresh perspectives and ideas for a group to excel.

But benefits aside, the end result of nepotism is simply unfair; students who are actually interested in a club or genuinely enjoy participating may be denied positions if they do not have the right connections. Thus, they have a

lower chance of being a leader in the activities they love, simply due to a lack of relations-- leading to increased opportunities for underqualified individuals with friends in higher positions.

Developing a holistic approach to applications would solve many of these problems. For one, advisers can be actively involved in the application process, instead of just students, in order to ensure that applicants are provided with equal opportunity. Even though it’s good to give students a voice in these matters, advisers should step in whenever they notice unfairness.

To further improve the process, all board members can meet together to discuss the quality of applicants instead of just the president or vice president. This will guarantee that everyone in the group agrees with a decision, instead of one or two deciding everything which, in turn, ensures that board members will get along with the new recruits and work well with them. Although there are already clubs on campus that utilize this approach, it isn’t widespread and clubs that don’t use this still suffer from nepotism.

So, next time officer applications come around, school organizations should consider restructuring their systems as it is in their best interest that everyone gets an equal chance at obtaining leader-

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Opinion 5

Post-pandemic housing crisis

Unfair standards for athletes

Ethan ro Staff Writer

L

et’s face it: the academic pressure placed on Diamond Bar High School students is immense. But the group on campus that most definitely receives excessive and unnecessary pressure is student-athletes.

Not only are they expected to live up to the expectations of their peers, but they are also placed under additional stress from their practices and competitions. Ultimately, the standards set for these Brahmas are hardly, if at all, attainable without forfeiting some part of their high school experience.

As an athlete and AP and Honors student myself, trying to balance schoolwork, non-athletic extracurriculars and club swim events has forced me to sacrifice opportunities to relax and hang out with friends. Speaking on behalf of all

teenagers, maintaining social interactions is important because the social skills we develop at this age provide a foundation for us to build on as adults.

Even more so, I’m often left with insufficient time to rest up for the next day’s activities-- and the school swim season has not even begun yet.

More so, as a student athlete who plans on taking more higher level classes during my junior and senior years, I am distressed as to how I will be able to manage my academics and maintain a healthy social life all while partaking in athletics both during and outside of school.

Moreover, those who look to continue their athletic careers in college are expected to prioritize their sport and put their education second. But this isn’t the case for a high school student-athlete; The workload that students receive at DBHS is immeasurable, and partaking in athletics seems to only inhibit athletes from studying and preparing accordingly.

One way that student-athletes can cope with this issue is by taking easier classes, perhaps swapping from advanced to regular courses.

This allows them more time to focus on their sport by minimizing schoolwork.

However, such decisions come with their own consequences.

Regular courses are unweighted, meaning less points are added to a student’s total grade point average. While athletes must only have a GPA of 2.0 or higher in order to maintain eligibility for college scholarships, students who may hope to compete collegiately yet also aspire to major in other fields in the future may be left at a disadvantage should they choose to take less intensive classes.

After all, taking regular classes can lessen a student’s chances of getting accepted into the school of their choice, especially if admission is highly competitive, whereas taking specific AP courses can mold them into becoming a more appealing applicant to colleges..

Student athletes such as myself, regardless of whether we want to compete in college, are placed under unnecessary and excessive stress simply due to the fact that we play a sport.

What makes matters worse is that the only seemingly available way to manage this is to sacrifice something equally as important.

Though it is the student’s decision to involve themselves in sports, the amount of expectation placed on high school athletes’ shoulders is burdensome and unfair.

RACHEL LEE

REYNA WAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I

t’s official—finding and keeping a home in California, really anywhere in the world, is now nearly impossible. Since the National COVID Moratorium ended on Oct. 1, landlords have quickly increased rent and threatened to evict tenants who had already been struggling to make ends meet. Especially in Diamond Bar, one of the most expensive communities in the county, thousands of residents have been left with an ultimatum— be indebted to a bank for the rest of their lives or live on the street.

But, this isn’t anything new.

In fact, ever since the pandemic hit over a year and a half ago, families across the country have been struggling to pay rent— many due to losing their jobs or having to quit work in order to care for loved ones.

As someone who interned at a local real-estate company this past summer, I received multiple emails from families in Diamond Bar saying they couldn’t afford the $300-$500 rent increase and asking if there was anything we could do to help them. Besides a select few, the rest were given the same email: “I’m so sorry, but no.” Each time I sent this email, a little part of me died, knowing these families would be evicted within the month and have nowhere else to go.

America’s most eligible scholar

Jeremiah Jung Asst. news Editor

W

ithout ever having to try, I already have every college in the contiguous United States begging me to attend their school. Ever since I signed up to take the SAT in sixth grade and aced it with an exemplary total score of 600, I’ve been receiving daily emails from such a large number of universities that I can’t even keep track of them.

I can tell from browsing around on Reddit and asking around at our school that people my age seem to have a really hard time finding a school desperate enough to want them, which was something that I had no difficulty achieving-- yet another testament to my academic superiority.

Among all the emails I’ve been sent, the common denominator seems to be that pretty much every school in the country considers me the “most valuable applicant,”

from Mt. SAC to some Christian schools in Ohio.

“Greetings, Jeremiah” or “Hey, Jeremiah” and even “Aloha, Jeremiah” fill my inbox, followed by endless praise, like how my C+ in Biology makes me the perfect student to attend a prestigious military academy. These personalized messages just go to show how much these schools care about me-why else would they know so much about my academic career?

From offering personalized campus tours to personality quizzes to better explore my inner motivations, these colleges have employed countless tactics to gain my attention. With so many schools prostrating themselves before me, I have decided to take my time and carefully select a school that meets my needs.

One school that has just barely managed to meet my critical standards, is the relatively average Columbia University. My forging of a letter of acceptance aside, Mary Pieper from Columbia has bombarded me with numerous emails over the past few months.

Beginning with an email describing the school and inviting me to be part of a questionnaire, I was immediately left with a good impression of the school’s PR team, since they had managed to find a talented applicant such as myself.

From what I can tell, they seem to be looking for students without any leadership qualities or outstanding talents. Given that I really enjoy being a follower and not the leader, I immediately felt a connection with the school’s standards.

SATIRICAL specifically

They followed up with messages that told me that I would receive a guide to applying for school. While I don’t need this, the mere provision of a guide is enough to merit a yes from me, given that using excessive mental strain by thinking

Granted, the state government has a system where people can apply for aid, but this application has its own flaws.

Not only is it hundreds of documents long, but in order to be eligible for aid, people must be in extreme levels of poverty—limiting the amount of people that can benefit from them. What’s even worse is that a majority of those looking for aid are immigrants—some incapable of reading such complicated documents And, for those who now have to look for another place to rent or buy, the housing market has become yet another dead end.

Whether for renters or buyers, the qualifications right now are skyhigh, requiring a close to perfect applicant with a specific type of job, income and number of family members.

Despite this fact, many people have defended the rent increase, saying these tenants can move to another state or just find a better job that’s willing to pay more. But, these arguments are all ones of privilege.

These opposers have no right to assume the circumstances of those struggling to pay rent. Many of these families may not be willing to take the risk of losing their jobs, especially since the majority of those hiring right now are low-paying businesses who can only afford to pay their workers minimum wage.

Maybe the economy can’t take another moratorium, but there needs to be better programs put in place for people to receive housing assistance. The qualifications should not be a lengthy list or have an application process that’s longer than getting into college. It should be concise, simple and available to anyone who needs it.

and pondering over things is something I despise.

I think it’s a well-known fact that every college loves me, but it sucks that I can only ever have one choice that won’t meet all of my standards anyway.

Cartoon Courtesy of RUTH YOON

6 Feature

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

WINTER DRINKS SHOWDOWN With the holidays approaching, the scent of peppermint, gingerbread and eggnog linger through coffee shops. However enticing the smell is, it's difficult to get a scope of the best seasonal drinks in local cafés, so two Bull's Eye staff members sampled various seasonal beverages and rated them both on quality and price.

COFFEE BEAN

November 3, 2021

PANERA

The Bull’s Eye

Feature

7

A magical culinary INTRODUCTION Although the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf may be overshadowed by largerknown corporations, their coffees do not disappoint. At this coffee shop, Idesigning ordered the ice blended peppermint mochatocrumble ($5.25). rupted by deer. victory. Their loss was due to a a cake of the assigned jianlan busteed “We kinda interpreted that as lack of time, leaving them to deco“Big City Greens”-- a Disney Theretheme was a satisfactory amount of refreshing peppermint—not too ASST. OPINION EDITOR our own because when we were on rate the cake with only some of the Channel cartoon. a road trip, we kinda got gridlocked characters that they planned into the show by Dira, much toPulled overshadow theantaste of mocha, but enough to compliment on in the same place because of bi- making.

With cameras watching their avid baker whose dad scored them said.The crumbs“When you’re on set and have all every move and the clock ticking an audition, Santiago had no prior the drink with a sweet burstson,”ofSantiago flavor. layered on top Although Santiago and Dira did these lights pointed at you, and all down faster and faster, Isabella experience with baking. Howevnot were later told by Coffee these cameras, it’s very stressful,” Santiago and her partner hurried of theer,whipped cream were a win, nicetheytouch.

While Bean’s ice Santiago had always wanted to producers offSantiago said. “You could just see to finish their cake in Disney’s new learn to bake, and, because of her blended mocha hasandbeen for somethetime, I now find screen, that timer ticking down.” show, “Disney Magic Bake-off.” extensive knowledge interestmy usual drink her team Despite this, Santiago and Dira In preparation for this moment, in other Disney shows, she took myself compelled toDira order mocha during the holiday cake, was exstill created a presentable the Diamond Bar High School stu- the opportunity to join on the the peppermint tremely relying on one another’s skill sets. dent had been sketching designs show. season. close Good friends, Dira and Santiaand baking cakes every week for During the competition, the the past three months with family friend and partner, Diana Dira.

They were chosen to participate in the show, hosted by Disney Channel stars Dara Reneé and Issac Ryan Brown, after partaking in a tryout process where they had to submit images of their previous baked creations. In the competition, the duo practiced baking and

three teams had a few rules to follow throughout the episode.

Not only did the cake have to be square-shaped, but it had to have an iconic city landscape commonly shown in the cartoon adventure series. For their design, Santiago and Dira took inspiration from the episode, “Gridlock”, where the cartoon family’s road trip was inter-

THE MUGS

go worked well together and were familiar with each other’s skills and weaknesses, allowing them to produce a strong product. Santiago specialized in the designs, successfully creating a three-dimensional model of Cricket Green— the main character of “Big City Greens,” while Dira simultaneously focused on

A local speciality shop in Diamond Bar,The Mugs offers a variety of artfully crafted beverages. At this cozy cafe, I ordered a hot pumpkin matcha latte, opting for the oat milk rather than regular milk ($6.35). Lukewarm, the drink was slightly runny, and the taste leaned so heavily on the natural sweetness of oat milk and cinnamon that I had to uncap the lid to check if the drink contained matcha. While I’m still optimistic about the cafe’s other menu options, the mediocrity of this seasonal item was maia pak rather disappointing, especially considering the costly price ASST. feature EDITORtag.

Known for their delicious, health-conscious baked goods, Panera Bread spares no expense with their beverages either. At their Walnut location, I ordered their specialty drink for the season—the making a delicious orange cake Cinnamon Crunch Latte ($4.79). While there was a distinct acidic base with chocolate-orange frosting for their final product. taste of coffee to the beverage, I was pleased to find that there was Although the competition was stressful for Santiago, she still no bitter aftertaste. Though the drink is derived from a cinnamon looks back at the experience with a positive mindset. She not only had heavy recipe, the flavor wasn’t overpowering; rather, it balanced out the opportunity to hang out with hosts, Reneé and Brown, whom the tang of coffee perfectly. The more sips I took, the more I found she admired, but she can say that she starred in a Disney Channel myself enjoying the drink, which came as a surprise, since I’ve never show. been a huge consumer of coffee.

About four months after they participated in the June competition, their episode was released Oct. 15, on the Disney Now App; Disney Plus also plans to release the episode soon.

“So excited to say that me and my friend Diana are going to be on [Disney Channel’s] newest baking competition,” Santiago said on an Instagram post. “Keep a look out for us.”

STARBUCKS

Being a go-to for anyone to grab a quick coffee, I was under the impression that Starbucks would have a fulfilling seasonal drink.With this in mind, I ordered their new iced sugar cookie almond milk latte ($5.35), yet all I got was a mouthful of disappointment. The drink was a depressing concoction of sweeteners attempting to mask the bitter taste of a latte, with a sickening nutty aftertaste. A few sprinkles decorated the drink, but it wasn’t enough to distract from this overpriced excuse of a holiday-themed beverage. If anything, that I come from so many different Latin backgrounds,” Nava said.

Starbucks’ new drink dampened my holiday spirit.

“I’ve learned that my family has so

Anhomageto her heritage

MELLO MELLO

much more history than I thought Embracing her Latin heritage, and that is fun to learn about.”

Nava has decided to dedicate this Diamond Bar High School senior Isabella Nava sews her family’s corset top to her older sister since history into a stunning corset top she has been an influence on this as part of her portfolio for AP Stu- project from the beginning.

“My Latin heritage is influencI started by digging into the Taro The coconut jelly chunks, which dio Art. hannah jang As one of five works required for ing me a lot, for the piece that I’m Coconut Jelly, scooping up the texwere mixed into every dessert, contributing writer working on, I’m painting flowers her AP Studio Art portfolio, Nava tured taro chunks from the bottom, had a more prominent taste in this which had a subtly sweet taste that jelly, adding a nutty flavor that en- was prompted to create a piece that that are supposed to be from the holiday, Dia de los Muertos,” Nava connected to her personally.

When I enjoyed. Unlike some artificially hanced its sweetness.

Melo Melo Coconut Jelly Des- sweetened taro I have tried in the I saved what I hoped to be best looking at her family’s photos, she said. “I wanted to incorporate that, sert, a newer addition to Diamond past, this dessert had a much more for last: the Oreo Coconut Jelly. drew inspiration from her older especially because it’s one of my Plaza in Rowland Heights, special- authentic taste.

This flavor came in a much smaller sister’s baptism dress and decided sister’s favorite holidays.”

Currently halfway through the izes in their soft, tasty jellies, even To cleanse my jar compared to the other two to create a structured top.

“Through this top I hope to con- project, Nava has been working on serving them in the sustainable as- p a l a t e jellies. Similar to the Taro Coset of reusable glass jars. conut Jelly, the Oreo Coconu- vey how beautiful and colorful my the corset for about two weeks.

“I have finished making the linUpon entering the shop, I was vt Jelly was a chunky liquid heritage is and the beautiful culing of the top, but I still have to pleased by the clean design at best, nothing like the thick ture we have,” Nava said.

The fabric used in her project is make the shell, sew the shell and that was refurbished by texture of the strawberry jelly. fresh fruits sitting atop the The rich chocolate only over- solely secondhand, either passed lining together, as well as paint walls, which added to the powered the flavor of the co- down to her from her family mem- on top of it with this fabric paint ents—a challenge that she overlively environment. conut, making it feel as if I was bers or purchased from various I made from mixing acrylic paint Taking a seat in the fairdrinking an overly sweet Oreo thrift stores. Nava is currently and a fabric medium together,” came through trial and error.

Nava said via email. working with a silky blue fabric, ly empty establishment, I milkshake.

In addition to painting marigold“Our baker tested multiple recistarted off my order with the All features considered, Melo the which incorporates the colors on Strawberry Coconut Jelly ($9) Melo Coconut Jelly Dessert is a of the Ecuadorian and Colombian flowers, traditionally placedpes for months before landing the and the Oreo Coconut Jelly ($8), as great place to grab the occasion- flags, representing her heritage. To the ofrenda, or ritual altar setting, Dia defell los Muertos, together, is during well as their “limited edition” Taro After herNava dog Biscuit se- Nava perfect consistency,” Chen said. al treat to satiate your sweet tooth. piece the fabric also plans on painting fl owers nausing her late great grandmother’s Coconut Jelly ($12). In spite of the with The dessert shop’s eco-friendly verely ill from ative commercially “A to the Amazon rainforest— an lot of time went into researchsewing machine. varying prices, which ranged from courtesy of JONAH REYES s o m e - Photo approach complemented by the homage to Colombia and Ecuador.

“Me and my great grandmother reasonably priced to mildly high, t h i n g r e f r eduring shproduced treat, Diamond Bar High ing healthy ingredients for jellies’ avors defi niteSecretary Jonah Reyes presents to HOPE members their sweetened monthly flgeneral meetings.

Through her art project, Nava were both really into sewing,” there was no option to choose be- ing, I picked up the ly warrants a return soon in the School class of 2017 alumna Ashley dogs and testing mixes to display her Latin heritage Nava said.

“She was actually a hopes tween sizes upon ordering.

Strawberry Coconut Jelly next. future. seamstress, so that’s where I got to others and show them different Chen decided to take her dog’s diet to find a dough that aspects of her culture. the passion from.” of In herinto research forown this project, her hands. “I would not rule sewing outwon’t crack while Nava has consulted three gener- my future, especially since my EcOne month later, under the name baking but is duations of her family— her grand- uadorian great grandmother and Mexican grandmother exmother, Biscuit mother andBentos, older sister— Chen launched herwere rable enough to to learn more about her family’s tremely talented seamstresses, and own dog too, treats last I enjoy sewing so anything is in shipping history and her business own heritage. producing “People think it is really unique possible,” Nava said. using only organic ingredients. Al- with minimal To fuel conversations about organizations in the future.” ashley park these complex topics, the club In addition, Black Student Union though Chen had already been en- packaging.” staff writer hosts debates and open conversaplans on hosting fundraisers later tertaining the idea of starting a dog T y p i c a l l y, tions led by club officers. A major in the year to provide members Providing an opportunity for point of discussion this year has with outside school activities to treat business since February, it her routine for students to embrace their identity, been Critical Race Theory, a move- enhance their learning experience they and such their families come from.” wasn’t until the incident occurred baking treats Diamond Bar High School’s Black ment that aims to analyze the overas through visiting a museum Student Union Club aims to recoglaps between American law of Black American history, as well and Inand order to combat stigmas that she decided to take the leap. begins with prenize and spread awareness about race. In the future, the club plans as to support Black communities in assistofthose “You don’t realize how nasty the paring the ingredicrucial issues facing the Black to further discuss the occurence need. who have experienced community. diversity issues in various environTo increase member count, the or been club prejudiced towards His- ingredients are in some mass pro- ents and blending them Seeing as racism is one of the ments like in America’s justice sysis striving to create more largest and a breakdown the Blackpeople, events, collaborations fundTochallengves addressfacing the Black manytem stigmas to- ofpanic the groupand celebrates duced dog treats,” Chen said via together in a mixer. Then, the Americans, the club serves as an Lives Matter Movement. raisers to spread awareness of the ward the Hispanic community, Hispanic holidays and teaches email. “If I wouldn’t eat it myself, cookies are hand-cut with 3D printoutlet for its members to further Aside fromDiengaging discusclub. discuss this topic find ways to sions,Hispanic the club recently workedabout “Thethe club community’s holds a special place traamond BarandHigh School’s more why would I feed it to my dog?” ed cookie cutters, baked and dehyaddress the issue on a grand scale. with peer counseling to construc- in my heart because throughout Organization Promoting raise cultural awareness.

All of the ingredients Chen uses drated for about six to eight hours.

“At our school, there’s not a big tanEducation anti-bullying speech.ditions to the years of being part of this club Black student population, so we “We enjoyed the event not only and now being a leader I can see club aims to spread awareness of “One of my favorites were the in her products are natural and The customizability of Chen’s felt that it could be a place where because it was fun but also since true growth from individuals that wethe couldinjustices find people similar us it spread a message students,” are eager to make voiceMuertos heard andtoinequalities this to activities for Día detheir [los] preservative free, with no salt or dog treats has resulted in numerand connect with other Black stu- co-president junior Joy Mitchell and make a change in the world,” group faces. where frames artificial sugars, and Photo can courtesy be viewed ous partnerships with other small, of ISABELLA NAVA dents on campus,” co-president se- said via Instagram. “We plan to we IOCcolored rep senior Mianni Prozathat said go Senior Isabella Nava creating her Latino corset for her portfolio. nior Gabriela said. leadership collaborate with other with clubs and via Instagram.

The Jones club’s consists a picture of the dead to honor on her website inculture-inspired the “additional pet-focused businesses; their cur-

Story by Natasha Chang and MK Palaris

Preservative-free puppy products

Rachel Lee Asst. Opinion Editor

Standing awareness up for the Spreading about racial injustice

Hispanic community

STEVE Qu News Editor

of president junior Cristian Ruvalcaba, vice president junior Noah Jung and secretary senior Jonah Reyes.

“The purpose of this club, and the reason it was created, was to bring people together and form a sense of community within DBHS,” Ruvalcaba said via Instagram. “It’s really a club where a person can feel as if the members of the club are a group of close friends.”

As a minority, Reyes recounted experiences in which he experienced racial insensitivity at school, motivating him to spread awareness about Hispanic culture in order to create a sense of unity.

“We must look past it all and continue to strive in everything we do because that’s when we’ll show people that we belong and we are their equals, not illegals, rapists, robbers or people destroying the economy by stealing jobs,” he said.

“That’s also what I hope HOPE accomplishes — for people to be proud of their heritage and where

them,” Jung said via Instagram.

Meetings are held once a month, with typical activities consisting of discussions and lectures on Hispanic history and culture, in addition to college planning tips. “[The topics] are selected because they’re essential to understanding Hispanic heritage and also understanding how to embrace your culture and where you come from,” Reyes said.

In the past year or so, the club has collaborated with the Black Student Union in an effort to increase attendance. The officers are planning to have more events and collaborations to promote their messages of equality and representation on campus.

“My plan is for the club to go more in depth about what we can do to get equality in our community by spreading awareness events that could be impactful; maybe [by] working with other organizations where we could fundraise and donate,” Reyes said.

nutritional details” section. However, one of the issues she faced when first formulating her dog treats was keeping her dedication to using only healthy ingredi-

rent collaborations include work with dog accessory companies Sassy Woof and Cookies & Co., as well as several other pet-friendly businesses.

Biscuit Bentos also works with numerous canine ambassadors that help to promote the brand by sharing information and promotional photos on their respective social media accounts.

“Each ambassador is assigned a special discount code to keep track of engagement and publicity [and] all brand ambassadors are in a group chat to keep up to date on announcements,” Chen said. “In the dog community on Instagram, people are very supportive of pet-focused small businesses.”

Over the five months that have passed since its launch, Biscuit Bentos has already managed to generate over $20,000 in revenue.

Part of their proceeds go to charity, as they have pledged to donate one dollar for every one of their bento boxes sold.

So far, Biscuit Bentos has managed to donate $151 dollars to Priceless Pet Rescue as of Sept. 11 and has plans to expand their shipping to Canada soon.

Photo courtesy of ASHLEY CHEN Alumni Ashley Chen (right) bakes handmade dog treats solely using safe and natural ingredients to sell though her buisness, Biscuit Bentos.

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Feature

7

Bonding through sticker business Ashley Park staff writer story & design by Natasha Chang

Loss of Energy

With drastic changes in the weather and visibly less daylight may come a lack of motivation and energy to stay productive.

Overeating

Overconsumption of food is one of the most common symptoms of seasonal depression. With the added stress of finals and need for sleep, binge-eating becomes a coping mechanism for many.

Anxiety

Already one step closer to her dream, sophomore Anushka Rane pursues her passions of design by running a small business on Instagram,@artsploot.

Rane was inspired to run a business when she was bullet journaling and wanted to use stickers that she designed herself. Currently, she runs the shop alongside her older sister, Aishwarya Rane—a class of 2019 Diamond Bar High School alumna. With Anushka’s passion for design and animation and Aishwarya pursuing a career in business, forming this business was a no-brainer for the duo.

For the past 16 months, they have been selling sticker sheets and art prints of her designs that are modeled after their original characters. A lot of Rane’s designs are also inspired by things that both Rane and her sister are fans of like ‘Avatar the Last Airbender’ and ‘We Bare Bears’. More recently, they launched new products, such as clay earrings and tote bags, to diversify their product line.

“We make products both for leisure and business. I use a lot of stickers in my journal spreads, sometimes to help decide whether or not I want to sell it,” Rane said.

“I also have made tote bags and

A severe case of these winter blues may lead to negative vvand anxious thoughts, which can cause unwanted disruptions in your daily life.

These symptoms can often show themselves in outside spaces, such as school. Always follow your intuition, and, if you need a break, Diamond Bar High School's Wellness Center is open at fourth period and lunch.

Excercise Keeping active is a great way to alleviate symptoms of seasonal depression. Breaking out a sweat or two can both ease the mind and keep your body healthy.

Keep Warm The weather is a huge factor in the lack of motivation, and keeping warm can help boost your mood. With COVID-19 still running rampant in many parts of the country and the colder temperature dominating the California weather, be sure to dress in layers, if needed.

They started the collaboration in November and are planning to release their products soon.

However, because of their colliding schedules and their lack of time, the business is currently on hiatus.

“It was definitely easier to run it when we were at home together doing school virtually,” Aishwarya said. “While we are not together we focus more on higher level tasks for running the business and strategic things that don’t require us to be physically managing things.”

However, with breaks coming up, Rane looks forward to reopening the shop with new designs she has yet to release.

“I hope I’ll still be able to continue running it [Art Sploot] and hopefully expand our product range to produce more earrings, tote bags, washi tapes, and keychains because I think that would be super fun,” Rane said. “Sometime in the next year we also hope to build a website for our shop!

Photo courtesy of ANUSHKA RANE Sophmore Anushka Rane with her sticker printer, a major part of her business.

Walking toward fresh opportunities Edward kim BUsiness manager

Take a Breather

earrings for myself and my sister just for fun for us to use.”

The process of making the stickers consists of designing on Procreate, then formatting the Cricut design space to cut out the designs as they are printed. Some stickers, however, require more steps, especially individual stickers that have a printed design on the back.

Depending on the piece, most of their stickers and prints are around two to three dollars. Since their clay earrings are handmade and are more time consuming to craft, they’re a bit pricier at nine to ten dollars.

Recently, a friend of Rane who runs Each Mind—a non-profit organization that strives to destigmatize teen mental health—offered to collaborate with the duo to raise funds for mental health charities.

Strutting down the runaway in luxury fashion, senior Gavin Han has recently begun to find his bearings in the modeling industry.

The Diamond Bar High School senior said he had always been interested in being a part of the entertainment industry in some way. However, it wasn’t until an unexpected conversation that Han realized his dreams could become a reality. “[At the beauty salon], I was getting a facial; she [the facialist] complimented me and said I should be a model,” Han said via Instagram.

“We had a nice conversation, and she referred [an] agency to me; I went there the same weekend and immediately got [connected].”

Beginning his modeling career in Aug. 2021, Han has already been booked several times for various small brands.

“I only started modeling this summer, but I have been to two charity shows now: the most recent, 33rd annual Miss Asia press conference and the Nautical Ball 2021 Black Tie Charity Gala at Balboa Bay Resort,” he said. “I have also modeled for this designer brand called Masaki Mitsuka; they own a store in Fashion Island Plaza down at Newport Beach.”

Despite the successful debuts, Han’s rushed entrance caused obstacles that were difficult to overcome as Han felt inexperienced and under-prepared compared to the other seasoned models that sur-

rounded him. “[During my first casting] at a show for LA Fashion Week, I remember seeing this one tall girl showing her walk before us,” he said. “Everything she did seemed so relaxed, natural and confident, and the judges looked very pleased.”

Prior to his experience in the modeling industry, Han said he had no issue with his appearance and self-confidence, but after entering the field, he described struggling with newfound insecurities resulting from his inexperience which, at times, had caused him to miss opportunities. “[When I started], everyone looked great, and they all seemed so confident and like they knew what they were doing, and without knowing, I felt more and more insecure,” Han said.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing the walk the ‘right way’ or [that] I [didn’t have] the ‘right’ f a -

c i a l e x p r e s sions.”

A s i d e from a lack of self confidence, Han noted t h a t ,

since getting more involved with modeling, he has had to become more responsible about his diet and physique.

Nevertheless, Han has slowly begun to find his own style and become more comfortable in the industry. In terms of greatest achievements so far and improvements Han has seen in himself, the Brahma discussed his most recent show for the annual Miss Asia Press Conference in which he felt he delivered his best performance yet.

“When I walked, the host, who was describing everyone walking, said that my outfit was really nice and my look was cool, saying it was ‘cold as stone’,” Han said. “Afterwards, I continued to get more compliments about my facial expression and the way I walked, and it boosted my confidence and made me really happy.”

Although Han aspires to further his career as a model in the future, he said that, realistically, it will probably stay a side job for a while.

“I would love to become something like a world-famous model, but that is very unlikely,” Han said. “[I want] the kind of lifestyle where you get paid a whole lot just to show yourself off in some cool clothes to the world and travel everywhere for free.”

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Feature

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Winter fashion trends As we move into the colder winter months, here are a few of the hottest fashion trends to keep you warm and your outfits stylish.

01 - mesh shirts Mesh shirts are the perfect match for California’s occasional sunny winter days. From button downs to ruched designs, mesh shirts are great for layering and add a unique touch to an outfit.

They cater to many different style preferences with prints ranging from delicate pixie flowers to abstract swirls and shapes, making them a versatile piece for the winter. These tops can be found from brands such as Motel Rocks and Cotton On, ranging from $15–$30.

02 - wide legged jeans Moving past the mom jeans trend, this winter is all about high waisted wide leg jeans. The looser fit provides for more comfort while giving the illusion of longer legs due to its wide cut.

Although these pants can be styled with a variety of shirts, they are commonly paired with crop tops or tighter fit tops to enhance the silhouette. Wide leg jeans can be found from a variety of brands, with Target being a more affordable option and higher quality pairs available from Levi’s.

03 - plaid shirt jackets Quickly becoming the most prominent casual outerwear item this winter, plaid shirt jackets have surpassed the classic denim jacket in popularity. A staple transition piece from fall to winter, these warm jackets are a great layering item that will upgrade the basic outfit as the weather gets cooler. Plaid shirt jackets can be found in virtually any color with prices ranging from $30–$70; they are available for purchase from brands such as Zara and H&M.

04 - puffer jackets Popularized by the street style of supermodel Kendall Jenner, puffer jackets have taken over everyone’s Instagram feeds this winter season.

Typically worn with leather pants or jeans, these practical outerwear pieces keep you warm while adding an element of athleisure to your look. They are available for purchase at The North Face and UNIQLO, ranging from $70–$200.

05 - ankle boots Easy to style and popular year after year, leather ankle boots are a must have in your winter shoe rotation.

These versatile shoes look great with anything from straight-cut jeans and a comfy sweater to midi skirts and dresses. They can be bought from numerous retailers and have a large price range of $25-$150; Dr. Martens is a popular, though more expensive choice, while Walmart offers more affordable options.

story by Maia Pak, design by Sam Jajieh

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Arts and Entertainment

9

Christmas movies throughout the decades Between the increasingly cold weather and impending semester finals, it’s apparent—Christmas is near. For those wanting to catch up on the classics, here are some iconic films that capture the true meaning of Christmas.

Story by Taylor Joe & Mk Palaris, design by Mk Palaris

It’s a Wonderful Life The movie tells the story of George Bailey—a man thinking of ending his life on Christmas despite all the good he has done for his town. He is soon visited by an angel who manages to show Bailey his significance and impact on others’ lives. Following the end of World War II, many Americans were searching for a purpose while mourning the aftermath. As a result, “It’s a Wonderful Life” echoed the importance of serving one’s community and reinstilled a sense of unity among its viewers. Its popularity has surged since its 1946 debut and continues to touch generations.

Home Alone Family members were left in shock when eight year-old Kevin McCallister was accidentally left at home during a family Christmas trip, having to fend for himself when two burglars tried to rob his house. Escaping the traditional family dynamic and leaving behind stereotypical gender roles, the 90s emphasized its independence among its youth. The idea of being independent manifests itself through Kevin, as his charismatic character is isolated “Home Alone,” reinforces the cheesy-esque jokes popularized during this time period. Between the iconic jokes and nostalgic time period, “Home Alone” doesn’t fail to make a family laugh.

A Christmas Carol Adapted from Charles Dickens’ critically acclaimed novel of the same name, “A Christmas Carol” tells the story of a stingy businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by ghosts that show him his wrongdoings, inspiring him to become a better person. This film is a blatant critique of the Victorian Era, using Scrooge as a symbol to show the lack of morals in society. Despite the story being over a century old, this classic has taught audiences the beauty of redemption and generosity, showing how even a greedy miser like Scrooge could change for the better.

The Polar Express A title familiar to most students, “The Polar Express” shares the story of a skeptical boy’s journey to confirming the existence of Santa Claus.

Because we live in an era where children grew up with the Internet, many of us lost that childhood innocence early on, realizing the suspicious nature of Santa Claus quicker than prior generations. This computer-animated film captures the bittersweet reality of growing up with that innocence, then the gradual loss of it when maturing.

Whether you believed in Santa or not, this classic film will take you back to the nostalgic feeling of sitting in a classroom with the lights dimmed.

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Arts and Entertainment

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Swift reclaims past work in ‘Red’ remake With the release of “Red (Taylor’s Version),” thirteen-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift is reliving the musical era that left her fans feeling “happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time.”

Two years ago, when industry magnate Scooter Braun bought out Swift’s master recordings behind her back, the singer promised her listeners she would re-record her first six studio albums.

As the second chapter of this journey, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” comprises 30 songs—19 being from her 2012 album and ten being vaulted songs, including an extended version of “All Too Well.”

Compared to the original album, it is apparent that Swift’s vocal control and musicality has matured, evoking a richer sense of emotion and feeling.

The song that has captured the internet’s attention is her highly anticipated “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” which inspired her self-written and directed video: “All Too Well: The Short Film.”

As an adaptation of the song, the film features actors Dylan

O’Brien and Sadie Sink recounting a passionate relationship.

Given that the song is about 22-year-old Swift dating the 31year-old Jake Gyllenhall, the film does an excellent job at portraying exactly what is an acceptable difference in an age-gap relationship.

Not only are the visuals Academy Award-worthy, but the vocals behind each lyric reveals new emotions that were not alluded to in the original.

Swift’s matured vocals paired with her emotional lyrics and the steady beat of a piano adds to the emotion of the song, truly encapsulating her ability to produce musical masterpieces.

Other highlights of “Red (Taylor’s Version)” include its nine unreleased songs, such as “Better Man (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” and “Babe (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” all of which show a peppier side of Swift’s artistry.

According to her past record label, the songs did not fit well with Swift’s then-image, showing a side of Swift that was everything but innocent. For example, these now released tracks show Swift at her most vulnerable, especially “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) (From

The Vault),” and “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault).” Both these songs fit in perfect tandem with each other—the prior using shameless lyrics to paint Swift as a vengeful lover and the latter incorporating an acoustic guitar to depict the conflicting emotions that follow a messy break-up.

Besides the Vault tracks, the album as a whole was recorded with meticulous details, incorporating slight changes from the original.

These flourishes were present in almost all the songs, namely title track “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Stay Stay Stay (Taylor’s Version).”

“Red (Taylor’s Version)” covers the different moods present when in a relationship—sadness, despair and pure intensity. Unlike the lighter tone of her original album, this version takes on a more passionate feel, incorporating heavier beat drops and perfected enunciations. On the other end of the spectrum falls “Stay Stay Stay (Taylor’s Version).” From the poppy beats to the joyful lyrics, Swift paints a clear picture of what it means to truly be in love. The only thing different from the original version is Swift’s more genuine tone, showing how content the singer feels in her five-year relationship with English actor Joe Alwyn.

Nine years later, when Swift, notorious for her breakup songs, fell in love, listeners were afraid she would retire, disappearing from stardom. However, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” makes it indisputable that she will remain one of America’s biggest superstars for a long time. story by Lauren Cheng

Drawing inspiration from his heritage ryan kung asst. business manager With a meticulous stroke of his brush, Diamond Bar High School senior Joshua Shinn receives an honorable mention for his tribute to Korean American culture in the Korean Education Center In Los Angeles’ Korean American Art Day Contest.

The contest includes around 8,000 participants, ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade. This year, the artists were challenged with submitting artwork that depicted the influence of Korean culture in America. The winner will have their painting featured in the 2022 KECLA calendar in addition to receiving a $500 scholarship.

Shinn, a two-year art student at DBHS, was entered into the competition by art teacher Vianney Hwang.

“Joshua is a gifted drawer with a lot of technical ability in drawing proportions, figures, and animals,” Hwang said. “He also has the curiosity to want to try new things on his own.”

Having enjoyed taking the Fundamentals of Art class, Shinn continued to pursue the course at DBHS and is currently enrolled in the Studio Art class.

“Mr. Hwang mailed in all our projects, but I’m the only one that got an award,” Shinn said. “It was really surprising because I didn’t expect anything from it.”

Shinn’s piece was inspired by the

increase in Korean migrants to Honolulu, Hawaii in the early 1900s.

Many of these immigrants found refuge on the sugar and pineapple plantations after escaping the famine and political turmoil in Korea during that time. To portray the importance of these plantations and the means of by which the immigrants arrived, Shinn’s artwork features a woman holding a pineapple while boarding a boat.

“I was inspired to draw this by my dad,” Shinn said. “He told me, as a Korean American, Hawaii has been important in the history of Korean Americans.”

His placement in the competitionhas inspired Shinn to seek more artistic opportunities as he looks forward to more competitions offered in his class.

“It definitely made me more confident about my art,” Shinn said.

“When I first started, I saw a lot of art better than mine, but receiving this award has been a confidence booster.”

For Shinn, art has always served as an emotional outlet—a place for him to communicate his emotions without saying them out loud. And, it was due to this passion for art that Shinn felt motivated to pursue a career in the field in the future.

“I would like to be a storyboard artist,” he said. “Cartoons that inspired me were Chowder, Rugrats, and Hey Arnold and Hayao Miyazaki for an [artist].”

Shinn currently has his eyes set on going to an art college, hoping to expand his knowledge in art.

maia pak asst. feature editor Following a two year hiatus, Diamond Bar High School has brought back a Higher Level International Baccalaureate Theater course for a single student: junior Spencer Song.

After completing beginning and intermediate theater courses at DBHS, Song was compelled to continue his studies in the classroom to supplement his involvement in the yearly productions. Due to his exposure in theater, he was added to the Advanced Theater period, though enrolled in the IB course to accommodate his involvement in the program.

“This class is recommended to students who have prior theatre experience, and an interest in all aspects of theater,” theater teacher Jared Kaitz said via email. “The HL Class allows for students to further explore theater in context, understand the theater process, understand theory and practice and present theater.”

The HL Theater class runs at a faster pace compared to its SL counterpart, with coursework being slightly more challenging.

“I’m kind of just doing the same things [the Advanced Theater students] are, but there is a little bit

of extra stuff,” Song said. “In the winter show, we have the students doing everything; the students do the directing, costumes, makeup and are the actors too,” For Song, theater is an escape from the high expectations as well as the required—often challenging—courses that come with being an IB student.

“Especially at Diamond Bar, go-

“[But] if you are really into theater and going into IB, I would definitely recommend it.”

SPENCER SONG ing to IB theater just lets you relax a little bit and think differently, instead of just math and science,” he said.

However, Song noted that HL IB theater is not just an easy elective course; there are still numerous responsibilities that come with producing the large productions the group is known for.

“We work on a bunch of projects at the same time, so it’s really hard to balance it all out,” Song said.

“But, it’s really fun and rewarding in the end.”

Due to the additional time and

commitment required to be a part of these productions, Song said that he would recommend this course to students who have a strong passion for theater.

“I know some kids will do stuff that they are not actually interested in,” he said. “[But] if you are really into theater and going into IB, I would definitely recommend it.”

Prior to attending DBHS, Song was involved in various productions at his middle school, Ybarra Academy of Arts and Technology. Following his performances in middle school musicals, Song wanted to continue doing it in high school and, so far, has performed as Cedric/Mr. Voldy in “PUFFS,” Ricky/Groom/Ronald Reagan Impersonator in “Wedding Singer,” Monsieur Reyer/Ensemble in “Phantom of the Opera” and The Rat King in “The Nutcracker.” “[In theater], I like the people and how it lets us let our creativity out,” Song said. “Also, the instructors, such as the people who help us with our singing, dancing and acting, are all very encouraging,” While Song hopes to become a veterinarian in the future, he also plans on auditioning for small roles in his future college’s drama productions.

“My freshman year, being out of district, I didn’t have a lot of friends, but one thing I always really liked to do was acting.”

December 8, 2021

Taylor Joe asst. a&e editor Audience members fall to their feet and thousands barricade and attempt to scream for help over booms of loudspeakers, yet cries from crowds are left ignored by the artist they had paid to see that night—Travis Scott.

On November 5, a nightmare took place at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas where an estimated 50,000 people were crammed for the 30-year old rapper’s concert. Consequently, fans were seen fainting due to difficulty breathing and were trampled by others in the audience. Few security guards got tangled to tame the crowd and what made matters worse was that it was only stopped 40 minutes after chaos.

Yet, it was too late. 10 people have been confirmed dead while two dozen stayed hospitalized, with victims ranging from ages nine to 27. The following Saturday, Scott posted a two-minute apology video on Instagram, sending his “condolences” to victims.

Between the black and white filter and dull tone, the “apology” came off as insincere and it didn’t help that many videos surfaced of the rapper witnessing chaos and doing nothing to stop it. However, this devastating event is only one of many concerts Scott has held where the safety of his fans was put at risk. In 2017, an event called Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion had similar overcrowding issues, where both security and attendees were fatally injured. It was brushed under the rug with Scott pleading guilty to disorderly conduct.

To set a good example for young fans, celebrities should start by taking accountability for their actions and discourage fans from poor decision making. In this case, Scott should take responsibility for the events unraveled, especially considering the fact lives were lost.

In these tragic cases, compassion is needed, not some exterior apology that is disrespectful. In 2017, when the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert left 22 people dead, Grande took action to cover costs of the victims’ funerals. She then hosted a concert titled “One Love Manchester,” which featured celebrities Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and many more, in order to raise money for the victims’ families.

To ensure the safety of her fans in future concerts, Grande installed a higher security system.Her actions should serve as the blueprint for celebrities involved in these situations. In future performances, celebrities need to be attentive to their audience. When clear disturbance is in the crowd, they should stop their show to provide their audience with proper assistance.

Installation of certified security will help to prevent future festivals from getting beyond control by maintaining proper sized crowds.

The deaths that took place at the Astroworld Festival were preventable. The impact of an immature artist and a lack of preparedness from his entire team are the factors to blame in this scenario.

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Author spreads hope with poetry

a&e commentary

Travis SCott Festival Tragedy

Arts and Entertainment

The Bull’s Eye

niko yatawara editor-in-chief Hoping to invoke the nostalgic feeling of sinking into a good book, Diamond Bar High School almuna Tiffany Babb will be publishing her first poetry book, “A list of things I’ve lost,” on December 21.

Despite having originally planned to major in political science at USC, the now cultural critic and poet became interested in writing due to her college literature courses, which steered her toward pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature instead.

“I got really interested in studying and writing about comics, and I quickly realized that the papers that I enjoyed writing for my literature classes were pretty much only being read by two people— me and my p r o f e s s o r, ” she said via e m a i l .

“But I k n e w there was

writing out there that was reaching people, so I started looking into how I could get my writing read by people.”

While a large portion of Babb’s writing career focuses on cultural criticism, she first started writing poetry in college. Babb said she was inspired to write because of all the poets she was surrounded by while working a part time job at Kaya Press—an independent publishing company.

“I think what inspires me most as a poet is the act of paying attention to the little things that you’d normally ignore,” Babb said. “You give space for those little things to gather your interest; to feel big and important. It feels kind of like magic.”

Babb focused

h e r e n e r-

gy on getting her name out there, self publishing her own work on blogs for about a year before promoting pieces she had written to more established websites.

“You just keep doing the same [thing]: using old clips to pitch to new places and keep in touch with the editors you’ve worked with before,” Babb said. “It’s a lot of pounding the online pavement, and you’ve got to be comfortable with a lot of rejection.”

In the interest of furthering her freelance career, Babb has written cultural criticism for several publications and is even considered a regular contributing writer for PanelxPanel Magazine. In fact, it was when Babb was writing for PanelxPanel that the magazine received the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award—a prize comparable to an Academy Award in the comic industry. While publishing her commentary pieces, however, Babb continued to publicize her poetry, primarily in literary magazines. Before working on her book, she self published two shorter collections, or chapooks. Despite her fairly seasoned career in freelance writing, Babb considers her book, “A list of things I’ve Lost”, to be one of her largest projects yet.

“The poems in ‘A list of things I’ve lost’ are mostly about the way

memories from childhood can sneak up on you and disrupt your adult life,” Babb said.

She explained that her inspiration for the collection of poems came largely from her experience of losing her father while attending college.

“I think what I hope this piece does, what I hope any poetry I write does, is make people feel something, whether it’s nostalgia or recognition, or that feeling of recalling a forgotten memory,” Babb said.

Although she still considers herself to have a long way to go as a writer, Babb advises those who seek a career in writing to prepare for a lengthy road riddled with rejection and to reach out to others for guidance. She also encourages those who may not find the writing world as appealing to still give it a chance.

“I think writing is really fun, and everyone should try it. It doesn’t necessarily have to become a career but it’s a great way to express yourself and respond to what you find interesting,” she said.

Babb will read her book live on Dec. 14 in an online event hosted

by Port Veritas from 5:00-6:15 p.m.; more information about the function as well as her work available on her website, tiffanybabb.com.

Singing alongside a star Jeremiah jung asst. news editor Among the hundreds of individuals involved in music at Diamond Bar High School, junior Rachel Yang became one of the few to experience a taste of this industry on a global scale.

Having been a member of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus for eight years, Yang received the opportunity to sing alongside seven-time Grammy recipient Billie Eilish this past summer.

Eilish—an alumna of the LACC—invited the choir to sing the choral vocals for her song “Goldwing” as part of her documentary, “Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles.”

The film, which came out September 3, features a sequential, full performance of every song on Eilish’s newest album, “Happier Than Ever,” with appearances from the LACC itself, Eilish’s brother Finneas— an artist and a musical collaborator of Billie Eilish—the LA Philharmonic and more.

To prepare for such this project, the chorus temporarily deviated from its customary practice schedule beginning in July as the collaboration commenced.

“Whenever we have a special performance coming up, we have practice almost every single day,” Yang said. “For the first month, we didn’t know it was with [Eilish], so we had practice about three or four

times a week.”

After months of rigorous practice, Yang sang for one of her favorite artists and even got the chance to meet Eilish in-person. In fact, after witnessing her reaction to meeting the artist, Eilish’s film crew visited Yang’s home to interview her on the experience.

“For just one day, during an eight-hour filming session, Billie was there with us to film for the actual Disney Plus movie,” she said.

“I’d been asking my director since eighth grade when I was going to be able to meet her since I knew she was an alumna, and I was so excited and started crying [when I met her].”

Yang and the choir recorded their vocals at Capitol Records— one of the biggest recording studios in Hollywood.

“Everyone in charge set up and organized everything for us,” Yang said. “I’m grateful for them and for my parents, whom I will forever thank for driving me to rehearsal twice a week and always waiting for me during my rehearsals.”

In this year alone, the LACC has been nominated for three Grammys: Best Music Film for “Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles,” Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered album for their rendition of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

“I’m just really excited for our choir director and really proud of everything we were able to do,” Yang said.

Photo courtesy of RACHEL YANG Yang, (second from the right), recorded vocals at Capitol Records for Eilish’s film.

Photo courtesy of EVA YU The sophomore mainly animates her original characters doing simple gestures.

STUDENTS ENLIVEN ART THROUGH ANIMATION Kyle Hong staff writer Putting their creativity and patience to the test, a handful of Diamond Bar High School students are breathing life into their art through animation.

Currently creating animatics of her own characters, sophomore Eva Yu has been interested in animation since seventh grade. Since then, she has posted an animation based on the role-playing game “Omori” that has over 22,000 views on Youtube.

“Although the [Omori] animation is far from perfect, it made me really happy that people liked it,” she said via text. “I’m not super experienced in animation right now so I mainly do simple animations like smiling, tilting heads, and blinking. However, I’ve been trying to do more dynamic poses recently by starting out with stick figures.”

Yu has loved drawing her whole life, so it felt natural to expand on this interest, especially in animating.

“I think my first exposure that got me into animating was from youtubers, specifically Jaiden Animations [Youtuber],” Yu said.

“When I saw how she made drawings come to life, it inspired me to try animating.”

Yu uses Procreate to animate and Adobe Premiere Pro to add extra effects—mostly making ani-

mations of her original characters performing simple actions, such as tilting their head or blinking.

Besides “Omori,” she also enjoys making animations of characters from the video game “Your Turn to Die”.

“Using Procreate definitely makes it a bit harder to animate since you can’t put music in the background and you have a limit on the amount of frames it can be,” Yu said.

As of now, Yu does not plan to pursue a career in animation and simply enjoys sharing her creations with family and friends.

On the other hand, Junior Jenny Luo aims to pursue a career making storyboards and animations.

Luo currently creates short animations of their own original characters in addition to digital art.

“I started drawing in the middle of seventh grade because my friends were getting into it and I went down this little rabbit hole watching the videos about the principles of animation,” Luo said. “I got really into animation, then fell off for a bit until freshman year when I got back into it during the quarantine because I had a lot of free time. Since then I’ve been doing it recreationally.”

Since then, Luo has used animation app Flipaclip to create animations that they later publish on their Instagram account.

Animation ON P. 13

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Animations sparking innovation in teens Animation from p.11 proud of it,” Luo said.

Luo added that, as much as they enjoy animating, it does have its challenges, most of them stemming from drawing the animations rather than animating itself.

“For animation there’s more of a focus on movement rather than actual drawing quality,” Luo said.

“Obviously you still have to worry about the quality of the drawings, but you still have to find ways to simplify them since you’re drawing the same thing over and over again.”

Freshman Cory Kao also animates recreationally and hopes to take their skills to a professional level in the future. Kao currently makes animatics, which are storyboards for animation, in addition to picture music videos.

“I watched videos on youtube around fifth grade that were [picture music videos] and animatics and thought it was something that

I’d be interested in trying,” Kao said.

Having been involved in art since they were 11 years-old, Kao delved into animating in seventh grade, inspired by animation youtubers like Jomadis.

Despite their history with animation, Kao said that they still face some challenges, mainly due to the constraints of Flipaclip.

“The current software I use is simple and only allows me to draw on three layers,” Kao said. “This puts a limit on the creative liberties I have and makes it so that I can only create simple animations.”

Kao hopes to further this interest by participating in bigger projects in the future, namely creating an animated series or helping content creators with making animations for their videos.

“I like seeing characters brought to life and seeing them move and interact with each other,” Kao said.

“In the future, I’d like to create an animated series of my own and have a story in mind already.”

Business

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14 Sports

The Bull’s Eye

December 8, 2021

Brahma skates between sports One DBHS student plays hockey competitively and participates in several tournaments each year.

The 2021 Ballon d’Or Robbery

R

egarded as the most prestigious individual award in soccer, the Ballon d’Or is renowned among sports fans throughout the world.

However, the award has lost some of its credibility this year after Lionel Messi won his seventh Ballon d’Or over FC Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, who was the frontrunner to win this trophy.

The France Football magazine— one of the most respected publications within the sport—has presented the Ballon d’Or since 1956 with votes placed by top journalists representing a variety of nations.

The winner of the Ballon d’Or is voted based on three categories: individual and team performance in 2021, the player’s class (talent and fair play) and the player’s overall career. Since 2008, the award has been given to all-time greats Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo every year, aside from 2018 when Luka Modric took home the trophy.

Through votes from more than 170 media members, this year’s final voting results were 613-580 points, with Messi having a 33-point edge over Lewandowski. But, with all respect due to the soccer legend Messi, the final tally should not have been close as Lewandowski was no doubt the world’s best performer in 2021.

To put this “robbery” into perspective, in 54 matches for FC Bayern and Poland this year, Lewandowski scored 64 goals, while, in 56 matches for FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and Argentina this year, Messi scored 41 goals.

Not only did Lewandowski score 23 more goals for his club and country, but he also won more trophies, including the Bundesliga title, the FIFA Club World Cup, the European Golden Shoe and the CWC Golden Ball. Meanwhile, Messi’s only major achievement in 2021 was winning the Copa America with Argentina, which his national teammates had a large influence on. Not to mention, Messi has started off slow since joining PSG in August, scoring four goals in 11 appearances.

Looking at the criteria set in voting for the winner of the Ballon d’Or, Lewandowski definitely outclasses Messi in every category except for the overall judgment of a player’s career. So, how did Lewandowski manage to get robbed from the Ballon d’Or? It may have been because of the legacy Messi has established for the past decade or Messi’s first international title with Argentina in their Copa America victory, but there will never be an explanation.

We do know that the criteria in determining the winner of the award has become inconsistent.

Last year, Lewandowski also had an outstanding season, in which he was favored to win the 2020 Ballon d’Or. However, the Ballon d’Or was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with this year’s controversial outcome, there is a strong argument that Lewandowski should have two Ballon d’Or wins, but instead, he has yet to win.

Rachel Lee ASST. Opinion EDITOR From roller skating in his backyard to shooting pucks on the ice, Diamond Bar High School junior Justin Yim has been playing hockey since he was eight years old.

First introduced to the sport by his father, he originally started out playing roller hockey, which is hockey played on a dry surface with wheeled skates.

As of now, Yim is currently playing for Bishop Amat High School, since DBHS does not have an official hockey team, and The Rinks Development program—a hockey and skating club that offers competitive opportunities and skating facilities for athletes.

He began playing for Bishop Amat when he was only a freshman, because his older brother was also on their hockey team.

“I got on the team because hockey is different from the other sports like baseball and football where I guess we go to a rink instead of a school to play,” Yim said.

In his sophomore year, Yim made the varsity team and, that first year, they made semifinals in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey league.

Photo courtesy of JUSTIN YIM Playing as #47 on Bishop Amat High School’s team, Justin Yim competes annually in the Anahiem Ducks Hockey league.

“I’ve learned how much teamwork you need in order to win the game and how much conditioning you need,” Yim said.

Although Yim does have some short term goals for his hockey career, including becoming team captain in his senior year and placing first in the league, he does not plan to continue playing hockey after high school.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be playing hockey professionally or in college because I don’t really think I have the potential,” Yim said.

He usually plays about four days a week at the KHS Ice Arena or the

Anaheim Ice Arena later in the day, often after his wrestling practice.

Most of the conditioning he does is with the DBHS wrestling team, but he also does hockey exercises after he trains his skills on the ice.

Yim said that playing two sports competitively is one of the hardest things he has done in his life and generally manages his time by planning out his day in the morning.

“My hardest day is Thursday because I go to school from 7:00 to 4:30 and my 6th period is wrestling practice, which is two and a half hours long; I then need to to

rush back home and go to hockey practice, [and] I usually come back home at 7:30,” Yim said. “I feel like the hardest part about it is staying consistent with the constant grind everyday.”

However, Yim said he still enjoys playing hockey as a way to make new friends and have a good workout.

“I enjoy the physical aspect of hockey and the amount of skill it takes to actually be good at it,” Yim said via Instagram. “The fact [that] you are on blade one-eighth of an inch thick just adds even more skill.”

Young team striving to make new waves New water polo coach Gary Cheever hopes to apply his previous experience to bring success to the team.

ward daily practices.

“We got a new coach so practices have been different,” junior Madison Bautista said. “Every coach has a different way that they teach people, so getting used to his style was a change for us.”

A notable player on the team is DEESHA PAthak junior Juliana Longoria. With over ten years of experience with club staff writer water polo, she brings an invaluable resource to the team.

Eager to dive into a new and imThe girls played their first tourproved season, Diamond Bar High nament on Nov. 20, losing both School’s girls water polo began games. After suffering a loss their season with a strong start on against San Dimas High School, 19Nov. 8.

11, their low morale led to another With new head coach Gary loss against Vista Murrieta High Cheever, a completely different set School, 21-4. of varsity players and new senior “We were not as successful as leadership, the team has evolved we would have liked to have been much since their last traditional but the girls have come closer as a 2019-2020 season. unit,” Cheever said.

Cheever took Although the on the role of team lost these “This year’s team [has] head coach foltwo initial matchbeen working very lowing former es, they learned hard...it has been a true head coach Devin from this expeHunter’s admisrience and perpleasure to see their sion into the poformed much betgrowth since June.” lice academy. His ter at their first GARY CHEEVER years of coaching home, non-conthe boys water ference game. polo team has “There were a helped ensure a smooth transition lot of turnovers during the game back to the pool for the girls. so we had to learn to get on offense Practices have been intense for and get on defense quickly and the girls as they work diligently learn how to work effectively with to get back into shape. Oftentimes, our environment,” sophomore GiCheever challenges his athletes to anna Salas said. push their physical boundaries, Applying their knowledge from such as doing a lot of swimming the tournament, the Brahmas drills to get back in shape. went into the Nov. 29 game against “It’s definitely been a change Chino with improved defense and in work ethic, especially coming team chemistry. This proved to be out of COVID,” senior goalie Erin helpful, as they won 13-8.

Wong said. “We have been doing a “This year’s team is very young lot of catch up.” and has been working very hard,” Wong remarks that the team has Cheever said. “It has been a true been showing more drive than prepleasure to see their growth since vious years, possibly due to CheevJune.” er’s positive influence. She notes The team will play their next that more girls have been showing game on Dec. 13 against Norco up and putting their full efforts toHigh School.

CLAIRE WU Junior Caleb Wright shoots at the free throw line after a foul made by Glendora.

Basketball aims for CIF competition As their season begins, the group continues to set high objectives for themselves.

ETHAN RO Staff Writer

After finishing second in the Hacienda League last season with an overall record of 11-3, the Brahma boys basketball team is looking to continue their preseason dominance and maintain the same goals they’ve always had: to win League and compete for a CIF title.

Coming off rigorous summer and fall training, the team is primarily focusing on strength training and conditioning to increase their late-game endurance.

“We saw that [our endurance] was a weakness we’ve had for the past two years and we’ve really focused on that,” head basketball coach Henry Frierson said. “The kids have responded well and we’re seeing things on the floor that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

To his point, Frierson credited most of the team’s success to their sheer length—both in height and wingspan.

Despite running an unorthodox style of play with junior Alex

Kim as a “sort of point-forward,” the team has succeeded in scoring points and defending the ball.

Frierson also highlighted the skills of a few stand-out players, including juniors Malcolm Bell and Dior Brown as well as senior Dylan Stout. “[Malcolm] is kind of like a jack of all trades, where he can score on one end and can defend on the other side,” Frierson said. “We also have a really good defender in Dior Brown and Dylan Stout who’s done really well with helping us out in the scoring category.”

The team has had a few preseason games, including a loss against Ayala, 45-76, and an unscored scrimmage against Northwood.

In spite of this, the team began their season with a loss against Ayala, 54-59, and a win against Alta Loma, 69-60.

Aside from winning more regular season games and being League champions, Frierson and the team aspire to win CIF titles as well.

“We don’t shy away from our goals and it’s the same standard that we have every year,” Frierson said. “We want to shoot for the stars but if we fall to the moon it’s okay.”

The Brahmas have an overall record of 1-1 and played the San Dimas Saints on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

December 8, 2021

The Bull’s Eye

Shooting for a safer season Through proper training and practice, the team anticipates having fewer injuries and more wins.

Vash Chen ASST. Photo Editor After last year’s injury-filled season, Diamond Bar High School girls soccer kick-starts into a more active and healthy season with more determination to win this year’s season.

Currently, the 24 varsity girls have started their pre-season conditioning with strength training, using resistance bands and weights to minimize the risk of injuries.

With a stronger start to the season than last year, head coach Matt Franco hopes to be more cautious, both on and off the field.

“The main focus is getting [the girls] stronger and healthier going into the season,” Franco said. “Our girls have battled a lot of injuries last year and it set us back. We have

a talented group.”

Last season, the most common injuries were sprained ankles and other leg injuries, therefore, missing teammates resulted in difficult practices and games for the team.

Among the injured returners is senior midfielder, Samantha Marcello, who is returning to the field after a long break from a knee inju-

“The main focus is getting [the girls] stronger and healthier going into the season. [...] We have a talented group.”

MATT FRANCO

ry. Along with Marcello are plenty of returning members; namely seniors Alexis Fuller, Isabella Montelongo, Isabelle Hurtado, Shantell Luna and Sydney Humphrey.

“We also have a senior coming in who hasn’t played for three years, Alessa Sampson, she’s coming in to fill a role in defense and I think she’s going to be a big factor dealing with the rest of the players,”

Franco said.

Among the newest members of the varsity team this year is freshman goalie Sydney Applebaum, who is currently learning from Humphrey. One of the major setbacks last year for the team was playing in the spring instead of the winter. However, Franco has faith that, given the proper training and playing in the winter, the girls will be able to win this season.

“We have a lot of expectations this year,” Franco said. “This senior group is the same group that were sophomores starting the quarter-finals game so I expect a lot from them.”

The girls soccer team will be playing in the Hacienda League as a Division III team but played a home game against Canyon High School—a Division I school on Tuesday, November 30 as their first preseason game.

That same week, the team faced Don Lugo High School on Thursday, December 2, and attended the Newport Backbay Invitational with Division I teams. Their next game will be at the Claremont Tournament on December 18-20.

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MEME OF THE MONTH

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Wrestlers return to season after two years The team stays optimistic following success at their first tournament this year.

Ryan Kung ASST. Business Manager

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Lyndon Kaneko Staff Writer Since the age of seven, Diamond Bar High School senior Irene Park has immersed herself in golf and managed to accomplish a great deal over the past decade.

After reflecting on her relatively successful career, Park attributes the beginning of her fascination with golf to her grandmother, who helped in teaching her how to play.

“Basically everyone on my dad’s side played golf so I got a lot of exposure that way,” Park said via Instagram. “My grandma also helped teach me and her passion for the sport really spoke to me.”

Throughout her golf career, Park has faced many motivational

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Junior Karen Iwata chases and defends against an opponent in their team’s December game with Don Lugo High School.

With high hopes and potent training, the Diamond Bar High School wrestling team enters into their season following last year’s pandemic hiatus.

The team competed in their first competition—the Trabuco Ten Way Tournament—at Trabuco Hills High School on Nov. 19.

“It’s definitely a learning experience,” head coach Andre Bonafe said. “The main goal was to get much needed mat time especially since we haven’t been able to compete since the 2019-2020 season.”

However, two wrestlers, senior captain Ryan Wong and sophomore Brentley Macamay, placed on the podium with Wong being first in the 138 pounds weight division and

Macamay being second in the 132 pounds weight division.

“We did a lot of conditioning prior to the season,” Wong said. “Individually, I lifted a lot and wrestled outside of school.”

Wong’s performance surprised Coach Bonafe, as he fought his way through an overtime period and returned with five consecutive wins.

“In the OT [overtime] match, I definitely should have wrestled better,” Wong said. “Regardless, I pulled through in OT to take the win.”

Wong is currently ranked 17th in the state for his weight class.

Nonetheless, the majority of the wrestling team this year consist of underclassmen with little to no experience.

“We are hoping to have a shot at CIF duals this year as a team,” Bonafe said. “[I’m] also expecting to have two make it to the prestigious master tournament.”

A placement in the master tournament will guarantee a spot in the state championship, where the Brahmas have not been to in several years.

issues when faced with the unsatisfying results of a bad showing.

The inconsistencies in her performance would greatly impact her mental health, and her passion for the sport would waver.

“Golf’s filled with ups and downs, and I think I, in particular, had a rough time dealing with those hiccups in the road,” she said. “I would fall into slumps and I really struggled with the idea of quitting or at least taking a break.”

Another obstacle Park faced was how time-consuming the sport is, and the amount of commitment needed from her and her parents.

Whenever there would be a test the following day or a lot of homework, Park would work late into the night to study or complete work so she could still have time to practice.

Photo courtesy of IRENE PARK Senior Irene Park swings during CIF Sectionals, scoring a 79 which is not enough to move onto the State Championships.

“It took my parents and I a lot of dedication to keep playing golf,” Par said.” I was never really pressured into playing it but I found that I had to learn how to manage my time a lot better if I wanted to healthily balance competition with school.”

Nonetheless, Park has still managed to accomplish a lot in her 10 year tenure of competing in the sport. Some of her notable achievements include: placing second in an American Junior Golf Association tournament in middle school, placing second in a Toyota Tour

Cup her freshman year and a second place finish in the placements for CIF individuals her junior year.

Large amounts of time and effort were put into garnering these results, with Park preparing for these events a month prior to the actual tournament.

Her routine consisted of hitting at the driving range daily while also making sure to practice with her coaches. Once she got to the venue, Park would scout out the area and play a practice round of golf on the green. Despite her seemingly unwavering determi-

nation to succeed in golf and her sizable list of accomplishments, Park’s future doesn’t have room to go pro or coach the sport.

Instead, her focus has shifted more towards academics and competing less in the future.

“I just want to say thank you to my parents and coaches for always being so supportive throughout my four years of highschool golf,” Park said. “Thanks to them, I’ve never felt pressured to play the sport and I’ve been able to enjoy my time competing in all of these tournaments.”

The Bull’s Eye

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Encountering an onslaught of injuries early on in their season, the Brahma football team concluded with an overall league score of 2-1 and a cumulative record of 5-7. Despite making it to the first round of playoffs, the team’s season ultimately came to an end after a loss against Victor Valley. Standout players included senior running back Michael Gorbea, junior wide receiver Maddox Bernardino, junior quarterback Ryan Lewis and sophomore wide receiver Kai Jenkins.

The team qualified to CIF as an at-large team, finishing with a 10-10 record but still beating several teams, including Don Lugo and California at the Whittier Tournament. In the first round of CIF, the Lady Brahmas started the match off slow with several offensive misplays. The team eventually found their groove later in the game, but it was too late, resulting in a loss with straight sets. The team hopes to improve their consistency for next year.

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Although the team didn’t qualify for the CIF as a whole, senior Carissa Jeon, junior Simon Worku and sophomore L’Mio Edwards qualified individually and participated in the CIF Cross Country Prelims at Mt. SAC. In the scorching heat, the three runners finished their season with the times 20:56, 16:56, and 20:32, respectively.

Following a promising season, the girls golf team has extended their excellent 8-2 record to CIF success. After their competition at Los Serranos Golf Course, they advanced to the second round at the River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard. Seniors Ella Chiu, Irene Park and Bella Yang also qualified for the CIF Individual tournament. While Chiu and Yang just missed being within the top 36 players at the tournament, Park ended in 25th place by shooting a 73 at the Northern Individual Regionals and 79 at Sectionals, which was not enough to move on to the State Championships.

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With many holding high expectations for the team since preseason, the Diamond Bar High School’s boys water polo team did not disappoint, closing off the season with a second place finish in the Hacienda League. The team held an overall record of 14-19 and 4-2 in league; although dominating the game against Trabuco Hills, the Brahmas’ streak ended in the second round of CIF, after a loss to Palm Desert by nine.

STORY BY VERA WANG AND NATHAN CHU

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