January 2017

INSIDE THE ISSUE

opinion 5

feature 8

a&e 10

CELEBS TO FOLLOW

OBAMA'S LEGACY

the bull’s eye NEWS

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OPINION

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FEATURE

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BRAHMA AT THE BAT sports 13

JANUARY 25, 2017 VOLUME XXXV, ISSUE V ONLINE AT DBBULLSEYE.COM

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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SPORTS

State senate gets new man Josh Newman, representing Diamond Bar, carries on the push for new DOC bill. angela yang asst. news editor

CALVIN RU

Seniors (clockwise from top) Cathy Chang, Brandon Lee, Eric Han, Benjamin Chen, Derrick Li and Rebecca Kimn, with Morgan Pak at left, have already been accepted ar various top universities across the country.

DB students get a head start Seven DBHS seniors have been accepted to prestigious universities through early action. michelle ki editor-in-chief In two months, most high school seniors will find out whether or not they’ve made it into the college of their dreams. However, every year, there are a batch of students who are granted the privilege of finding out early.

This year, among the students at Diamond Bar High School who

have already been accepted are Benjamin Chen, Derrick Li, Morgan Pak, Rebecca Kimn, Eric Han, Cathy Chang and Brandon Lee. Lee was accepted through early action,

“I took classes [at Johns Hopkins] last summer and fell in love with the school."

ERIC HAN while Pak, Kimn, Han and Chang were accepted through early decision. Chen and Li applied through restrictive early action, which prohibits applicants from applying to

DBHS freshman battles leukemia The disease has shaped Nathan Wu's high school experience. catherine zhang feature editor Although many high school students worry about seemingly endless amounts of academic assignments, rocky relationships or earning money to purchase the trendiest tech gadget, Diamond Bar High School freshman Nathaniel Wu deals with a difficulty unimaginable to most students--a fight against leukemia.

Diagnosed with the cancer in 2014, Nathan initially didn’t consider the implications of the condition as he received news of his diagnosis one day after discovering a lump under his left jaw, which prompted him to follow up with his doctor, and went from leading

a “normal life” at school to starting chemotherapy treatments after receiving the diagnosis.

“At the beginning, I didn’t know what was happening because it was so quick. It just slammed on me.

For the next couple weeks, I was in a daze because it was too abrupt.

My parents didn't know what was happening either; we were all too

NATHAN ON P. 7

other private universities early.

Chen was accepted to Harvard University, and although he applied as an “undecided” major, Chen has been heavily involved in STEMrelated organizations throughout high school, such as Science Olympiad and Science Bowl.

He has even competed in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, for which he submitted his individual math project.

While many students would most likely say “yes” in a heartbeat, Chen is not sure if he will commit to Harvard just yet.

“Though Harvard possesses arguably the strongest, most well-

COLLEGE ON P. 3

Josh Newman, the newly elected state senator representing Diamond Bar, expressed his strong support of District of Choice and other education issues in a recent interview with the Bull’s Eye. “I personally support public education very strongly,” Newman said. “I think District of Choice was originally conceived as consistent with my own philosophy that one,: parents should have a voice in their children's educational path;, and, secondly, that we should, within the public school system, encourage innovation and achievement.”

Newman, who previously had never held a public office, defeated former State Rep. Ling Ling Chang in the November election to succeed Bob Huff to represent the 29th State Senate District.

One of the first bills Newman proposed was Senate Bill No. 52, which, if approved, would renew District of Choice for another five years.

According to Newman, the Walnut Valley Unified School District community actively expressed support for this cause during his campaign.

Newman has met individually with numerous leaders in the Dis-

Photo courtesy of NEWFULLERTON.COM

trict of Choice effort as well as members of the school board and WVUSD Superintendent Robert Taylor.

However, as of early January, he had not yet communicated with Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who prevented the original bill proposed to continue District of Choice from passing through her Appropriations Committee.

“I do plan on hopefully meeting with Assemblywoman Gonzalez and getting a more thorough understanding of her perspective,” Newman said.

According to Newman, SB-52 is more straightforward than the previous bill that died in Appropriations during the last legislative session, so it is possible that amendments may be introduced or alternative bills may be submitted by other members.

Other educational issues Newman says he hopes to address dur-

NEWMAN ON P. 2

Storytime for the kids The drama department held its annual play festival for elementary school students last week. bernard chen editor-in-chief Diamond Bar High School’s advanced theater brought down the curtain on another annual Children’s Play Festival for elementary school students last Thursday.

Led by theater teacher Beatrice Casagran, the playwriting and directing drama class created five plays inspired by childrensubmitted stories in performances Jan. 17 to 19. The class hosted a children’s story contest in October for elementary and middle school students and picked its favorite stories to bring to life, adapted for the stage.

“We wanted every story to have a theme. They can’t just be any story,” senior Matthew Lee said.

The performances consisted of the plays “The Friendship Adventure,” “HP:9000,” “Dragon and

Me,” “Being Titania” and “Anna Under the Sea.” Directing, writing, acting and costume design were all organized by the nine students in the class. According to Lee, this year’s plays were more difficult to put together due to the class’ small size. Because there weren’t enough student actors, senior Nicholas

Azurin also stepped in to act, although he was not enrolled in the course.

“We struggled more throughout our work, with making the costumes and everything,” junior Luke Teerling said, “But overall,

THEATER ON P. 3

CALVIN RU

Junior Milan Rangel (left) and senior Julianna King (right) perform for an audience of elementary school students at the annual DBHS children's theater.

2

NEWS

JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BULL'S EYE

Students' cards greet the nation

speaking from experience

Designs by a group of DBHS students earn Top 100 spots in a national greeting card contest.

SOPHIA KIM ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

CALVIN RU

Senior Brahma Tech member Philip Gunadi discusses his Boeing internship experience as junior Kenny Ni looks on.

New state senator outlines plans for district in upcoming years NEWMAN FROM P. 1 -ing his term as senator include ensuring that the K-12 system receives sufficient funding and improving California’s public education standing in the nation.

“Over the course of my campaign running for this seat over

the past 12 months, I’ve been fortunate to get to know, in a way that I didn’t before, all of the different cities within the district, and so Diamond Bar is a city that I’ve gotten to know recently,” Newman said.

Newman is a graduate of Yale University and his background includes four years of service in the

CORRECTIONS Last issue, in the Rose Parade article, it was reported that it was the 126th annual Rose Parade, but it was the 128th. In addition to Ji Ho Kwak and Se Ho Kwak, DBHS junior Nicholas Lucero and sophomores Ryan Li and Aaron Tamura also performed in the Pasadena City College Honor Band for the Rose Parade on Jan. 2.

the staff Editors-in-Chief

Bernard Chen, Michelle Ki

News Editors Asst. News Editor

Brian Chang, Hannah Lee Angela Yang

Opinion Editor Asst. Opinion Editors

Eric Hong Stuart Kusdono, Noor Naji

Feature Editors Asst. Feature Editor

Michelle Ki, Catherine Zhang Amelie Lee Emily Jacobsson, Pauline Villegas Amy Miyahara

A&E Editors Asst. A&E Editor

Ryan Chae, Emily Kim Sophia Kim

Sports Editors Asst. Sports Editor

Eric Hong, Calvin Ru

Photo Editors

Emily Jacobsson Tess Guan

Business Manager Asst. Business Manager Web Editors

Bernard Chen, Tess Guan

Staff Writers

Ingrid Chan, Cindy Liu

Advisor

Doug List

contact us Diamond Bar High School, Room 563 21400 Pathfinder Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Phone: (909) 594-1405 x33563 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 563 or submit them online at dbbullseye.com.

United States Army as well. He has worked in local government in Northern California and also has experience in the entertainment and technology industry. Currently Newman is based in Fullerton.

“For the past four years I’ve been the executive director and founder of a small nonprofit to help young veterans find work,” Newman said.

“When I came home to Southern California, [it was] through that work plus my other involvement in politics in Northern California that led to my decision to run for this office.”

For a chance to publish their greeting cards, Diamond Bar High School’s beginning computer graphics classes submitted designs to the national Greeting Cards Competition hosted by The Gallery Collection. This year, seven students placed in the Top 100 January evaluation for the national contest.

Sophomores Jennifer Lee, Junho Lee, Madison Nadal, Joycelyn Ung, juniors Julia Churchill and Nathan Lin and senior Jot Singh designed cards that were put online for voting. The Greeting Cards competition is a national scholarship contest open all year to anyone above the age of 14.

The winner receives a $10,000 scholarship along with a $1,000 prize awarded to the winner’s school.

Any type of greeting card is accepted, ranging from birthday cards to seasonal cards. Among the thousands of submissions, the Gallery Collection chooses its 100 for every month, from which online voters can select their favorites. The top ten favorites of each month move on to the final round, in which the company will choose one winner to receive the grand

prize. The final winner will be announced on May 1.

Among the seven DBHS students who made it to the online voting round, two garnered enough votes for the top ten. Lee and Singh will move on to the final round with a chance to be chosen as the scholarship winner. Inspired by her childhood wish, Lee submitted a card with a window showing a snowy village with Santa flying with reindeer.

“I decided to [make] a Christmas card because I remember as a kid I would look at the window at night to try to catch a glimpse of Santa,” she said. “So for the competition I decided to give life to what I wanted to see as a kid.”

Singh drew a picture of a snowman leaving a trail of stardust during the night.

“The moon and the stars are like ornaments hanging in the sky and the snowman is made out of stars and leaves a stardust mark on the ice,” Singh said.

In the eight years that DBHS teacher Alina Gallardo’s computer graphics class has submitted cards, there has never been such a large pool of students who placed in the top 100. Gallardo requires her students participate in the contest every year in hopes of having them learn beyond the class and computer screen.

“It’s real life experience learning how to make graphics because if their entry gets selected, their entry would be a greeting card that the company would sell,” Gallardo said. “It’s experience in creating for production.”

Lordi's $10,000 lesson plan DBHS math teacher traveled to New York to receive a math teaching award.

CINDY LIU STAFF WRITER Eight months after first submitting an application for the Rosenthal Prize for Innovation and Math Teaching, Diamond Bar High School math teacher Dena Lordi returned home with second place and $10,000.

The Rosenthal Prize, hosted by the National Museum of Mathematics, offers prizes of up to $25,000 for an innovative, hands-on math lesson geared toward elementary and middle school students.

Although Lordi is a high school teacher, that did not stop her from entering the competition; teachers of all grade levels nationwide were allowed to participate as long as their lesson followed the elementary and middle school curriculum.

“Because I teach [International Baccalaureate] Theory of Knowledge, it’s ideas like that that I'm thinking about constantly. That kind of combined in my efforts in this demonstration,” Lordi said.

In her lesson plan “Where Can I Find a Weightless Stick,” students record the balance points on a stick to determine the mean value, according to the Rosenthal Prize website. Using clothespins as weights on a balsa stick, students shifted the fulcrum to balance the stick and find the average value using applications of real world concepts.

“In real life, it doesn’t work that way. In the world of math, it works perfectly. You can draw a stick on the board and show the points and that it will balance,” Lordi said.

“But there’s a conflict between

what happens in the world of mathematics where everything is perfect. What happens in the real world is that no lines are straight, nothing is actually weightless and there is friction.”

Lordi initially had no intention of competing when DBHS alumna Alissa Crans, a math professor at Loyola Marymount University, nominated her for the prize. However, Crans insisted upon Lordi’s participation in the program.

“It was one of those things I didn’t think I have time to do it, but for every excuse I would give her, she would email me back with some reason why that wasn’t valid,” Lordi said.

Her submitted lesson— an adaptation of the original activity she used with her Algebra II/Trigonometry Honors class— included added manipulatives and other modifications for it to be more interactive.

“I’m always thinking of ways in which I can do things that are fun that somehow involve the student in learning mathematics,” Lordi said.

Since she does not have experience teaching middle school students, Lordi took her lesson plan to Chaparral Middle School, where

she worked with math teacher Denise Loera and her seventh grade class to implement and videotape her lesson.

Along with the videotape, Lordi submitted a 15-page lesson plan, letters of recommendation and an essay as part of the final round of judging after she qualified for the preliminary round.

“The lesson is not about finding averages. It’s about the conflict between the real world and the world of math. Students have to realize that to solve the problem,” Lordi said.

To receive her prize money, Lordi traveled to New York City in early January to attend the awards ceremony along with the other prize winners. Her travel expenses and four day stay there were covered by the National Museum of Mathematics.

Although Lordi isn’t sure what she will do with the money, she plans on donating a portion of her winnings to the classes that participated in her lesson.

“In terms of my career, it’s really important to me and it has been throughout my career, to be a teacher that reaches outside my school,” Lordi said. “And applying for this prize is part of that.”

BRIAN CHANG

Alg II/Trig H teacher Dena Lordi was nominated for the Rosenthal Prize by a former student and took home the second place trophy in the competition.

DECA wins big in second year The club claims several awards after competing at the Career Development Conference in Anaheim.

NOOR NAJI ASST. OPINION EDITOR After weeks of preparation, Diamond Bar High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America members won multiple awards at the Career Development Conference held Jan. 13-15 at the Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove hotel.

The competition among the different high school chapters of DECA included two parts: a 100 question multiple-choice test and a role play section. Prior to the event, president junior Melody Chang and other officers organized hour-long competition study sessions and workshops almost everyday after school in the LINC. At the study sessions, members took mock exams and officers helped members by role playing with different prompts every time.

“The key to pass the [multiple choice] test is to practice as much as you can. Because the more you do [practice problems], the more you realize that the questions repeat,” Chang said.

For the role play, prompts are

NEWS

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

given on the day of the competition.

Individual contestants only have ten minutes, whereas teams have about thirty minutes to prepare a presentation based on the given prompt and present. The judge will then grade competitors based on professionalism and category-specific performance indicators.

The DBHS chapter won first place in spirit this year. Juniors Brian Chang and Matthew Ho placed first and third in the Business Finance category, respectively; Melody Chang placed second in Retail Merchandising; junior Grant Wu placed third in Accounting Applications; and freshmen Tiffany Chang and Courtney Chan placed first and second in Principles of Hospitality, respectively.

“The competition is really to allow students to apply the skills they have learned throughout the year in the club,” Melody Chang said.

The next DECA competition will be the State Career Development Conference from March 2-5 in Santa Clara.

Thousands of members from different regions will attend the competition.

If contestants are in the top four at the state's competition, they will qualify to move on to the International Career Development Conference on April 26-29 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Photo courtesy of CHRISTINE GU

DBHS DECA members pose with their awards after competing in the Career Development Conference on Jan. 15 at the Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove.

3

NEWS IN THE

UNITED STATES

AUSTRIA

WASHINGTON D.C.

After a surprise victory over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, businessman-turned-politician Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States on Friday.

Throughout his speech, he painted a bleak image of the current economic situation in the U.S. and pledged to end the “American carnage” by bringing jobs back from overseas and through the transfer of power from the government to the people.

In Vienna, a potential terrorist attack was prevented by the arrest of a man who had been linked to jihadist motives after several days of government surveillance. Austrian newspaper Krone reported that Albanian Islamic militants had planned an attack on the city for this month, though its sources were left uncited. The crackdown comes on the heels of increased jihadist activity; two men seeking refuge in Austria were linked to the 2015 Paris attacks last year.

The day after the inauguration, over half a million people gathered at Washington D.C. for the Women’s March to“protect, defend and advance human rights” in response to Donald Trump stepping into office. However, the crowd turnout was too large to actually march, and the attendees instead took an improvised route. The march at Washington D.C. was just one of many worldwide, including Downtown L.A., with an estimated 3.2 million attendees and counting.

Several seniors accepted early to universities across the country COLLEGE FROM P. 1 rounded undergraduate student body across the top schools in the nation, I still have to consider other schools, as well as financial aid,” Chen said.

Li, on the other hand, has already made up his mind and will be attending Stanford this fall. He plans to major in biology but is also open to majoring in computer science or bioengineering.

“I believe a biology major is more versatile than a biomedical engineering major because I can still enter the [medical] field or the engineering field, should I want to do that and change my path a bit.

Under my current plan, I want to enter [medical] school and become a physician,” he said.

Pak will be attending Dartmouth, pursuing a double major in comparative literature and neuroscience. Pak grew up with parents who work in the humanities field and thought she couldn’t prosper

in the STEM field, but experienced a change of heart after taking AP Chemistry her junior year.

“Learning has that ability to empower you. Realizing that I’m good at STEM was really eye-opening because I realized I can do so many different things if I want to,” Pak said.

Joining Pak on the East Coast will be Kimn, who will be attending Cornell University. She plans to pursue the biological sciences, in hopes of attending dental school after the completion of her undergraduate studies.

“With all of my cousins and my brother having attended Ivy League schools, I felt motivated to stay on a similar path at a college that would be a perfect fit for me,” she said.

Baltimore will be Han’s new home in the fall, as he will attend Johns Hopkins University. Han will be majoring in biomedical engineering, a separate program that one must apply to in addition to

JHU. The school offers the best program for his intended field in the nation, admitting only 3 percent of its applicants.

“I took classes there last summer and fell in love with the school.

I felt like a good fit,” Han said.

Remaining in Southern California is Chang, who will be attending Harvey Mudd University. She plans to major in electrical engineering, after “being entranced by the field” through her involvement with the DBHS robotics team. Yet, to even have been accepted meant many sacrifices throughout high school.

“If I want[ed] to go out and have fun with my friends, or do whatever I want, I need[ed] to fulfill my parents' requests of doing well in school; I had to earn the right to my freedom,” she said.

Lastly, Lee, who was accepted to Boston College as an economics major, views the school as just an option and looks “forward to hearing back from other colleges soon.”

Friendship plays role in annual Pomona files lawsuit over DOC children's theater performance PAULINE VILLEGAS A&E EDITOR In the most recent turn of the ongoing storyline of District of Choice, the Pomona Unified School District is suing the Walnut Valley Unified School District for being a DOC supporter for over 20 years.

The Pomona district claims that by doing so, WVUSD has violated California’s Education Code by “supporting the predominantly segregated school population,” according to the San Gabriel Tribune.

The announcement was made on Jan. 11 at the Pomona school board’s first meeting of the year.

The vote for the lawsuit was unanimous.

The lawsuit names not only WVUSD, but also the Glendora and West Covina Unified School Districts. These districts are just three out of the 47 in California that allow out-of-district students to attend.

Among the many laws that are a part of the District of Choice bill, the one in particular that Pomona is claiming “unlawfully segregates” states that “a district of choice cannot accept students from another school district if it would disrupt the home district’s racial

and ethnic balance.”

Since DOC was first implemented, Pomona has seen a decrease in the number of white and Asian students enrolled at their schools, according to the lawsuit. Overall, Pomona’s enrollment continues to decrease while schools in WVUSD continue to increase in student numbers. The increase in student population results in an increase in state funding.

As of now, the recently wellknown District of Choice bill has not been renewed and is set to be fully terminated in July. However, newly appointed Sen. Josh Newman plans to extend the program until 2022 with proposed Senate Bill 52. (See story on page 1) At the board meeting, members of the Pomona school board referred to Senate Bill 52, stating that the district is “willing to invest in advocacy against legislation that proposes to extend DOC,” according to the Tribune. Pomona is planning on working alongside non-DOC districts to help defeat all proposed legislations.

Multiple calls to the WVUSD offices were not returned.

"I will say that our district is prepared to handle anything that comes our way," Principal Reuben Jones said.

THEATER FROM P. 1

we grew a closer bond to each other.”

In “HP:9000,” adapted from “Robot Story” by Isabella Ross from Evergreen, a dysfunctional robot is bullied for wanting to go out to recess. Despite the ridicule from others, she decides to go out anyway and returns happily, becoming accepted by the other robots. To create a more immersive experience for the children and Ross specifically, “HP:9000” integrated a fictional “Evergreen robotics class” into the story.

“It’s the adaptation from it.

Starting off from a small scratch of a story and turning it into something full-blown out,” Teerling said.

This is the second year that the students have held the story writing contest even though Children’s Theater has been a Diamond Bar tradition for many years. Prior to the contest, classes put on plays with Disney characters instead of writing original content based on student stories. Casagran plans to continue holding the original story contest instead of having Disney plays in the future.

“I enjoy watching my kids learn how to tell stories, how to direct and how to tailor stories to an audi-

ence. They learn the whole production process through this,” Casagran said. “Of course, it’s a ton of fun to do the shows for the little ones cause they love it.”

Though there were matinee per-

formances for the public in previous years, they did not have an evening show this year because of low attendance in the past and the increased time commitment for the students.

ERIC HONG

Groups of children from multiple area elementary schools attended the children's theater event presented by the DBHS drama department last week.

4 OPINION

Schooling the school system

Justin Prakaiphetkul contributing Writer

I

n terms of education systems around the world, the United States is not ranked among the top five in teaching math and science. In fact, the U.S. is not even in the top 25. In a 2015 study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, when taking into account only students’ performances in math and science, the U.S. ranks 29th among 76 countries that participated.

The OECD study reports that the top five countries in education systems are Singapore, China, South Korea, Japan and Finland.

A country that the U.S. can easily take a page out of its education plan is Finland. Finland has relatively short school days and is full of school-sponsored extracurriculars. One third of the classes in high school are electives. The elective courses and short school days give students more time to focus on the necessary academic courses.

Students have less stress put on their shoulders due to having plenty of time to complete the work. In Finland schools, teachers spend around 600 hours a year instructing students.

In the U.S., teachers are in the classroom for about 1,100 hours a year. With teachers having more spare time, they can better prepare their lesson plans, ensuring higher quality lessons. They could also use that extra time tutoring struggling students.

An aspect of Japan’s education system that has helped them advance is its high-end technology.

When an assignment problem is from a textbook, even if the answers are provided, there are no explanations on where a mistake could have been potentially made.

With the use of some websites, such as cengagebrain.com, students are given an explanation, rather than just an answer, on their mistakes.

Although the U.S. has began implementing more technology in their schools, by beginning later than Japan, it will take a while before the U.S. comes close to Japan’s level of use of technology in school.

The U.S. could also follow some elements of Singapore’s primary education system. Compared to Western countries, Singapore’s curriculum is more stripped down at the elementary level. Students in Singapore cover fewer topics, but do so in greater depth. Instead of having to memorize a variety of topics, the students just focus on and try to understand the main topics.

By focusing on fewer topics but in greater depth, students do not have to worry about memorizing every single bit of information.

Students can also have a deeper understanding of that topic.

In the U.S., classroom lessons cover too many topics, and consequently, knowledge taught of said subjects are shallow and quickly forgotten.

By implementing just a few elements from Finland, Japan and Singapore, the U.S. education system can only go up the ranks in STEM.

THE BULL'S EYE

EYE EDITORS

JANUARY 25, 2017

OF THE

RESTROOMS: The current system of teachers handing out limited restroom passes that can be exchanged for extra credit provides a negative incentive for students to gain points.

R

estrooms. Every human being needs them at some point, including Diamond Bar High School students. Going to the restroom is not a choice, so it is natural that the urge visits students during classes.

However, after some students have abused this so-called “privilege” of leaving class to go to the restroom, many teachers have incorporated a system with “bathroom” passes, usually offering extra credit for every unused pass.

When a grade is on the line, many students are reluctant to give up the free points, no matter how dire their bladder situation may be.

The idea of academic grades being tied to a student’s natural

bodily function is illogical. This has no correlation to academics, therefore students should be neither awarded nor punished for going to the restroom.

Indeed, it deters students from constantly using the restroom, but it also leaves students in physical discomfort in class, serving as an even larger distraction as opposed to simply taking a short trip to the restroom. These extra credit passes are also largely unfair, as not all teachers offer it. Students in different classes are left out of the advantage.

Students should be allowed to use the restroom and be responsible for their own consequences from missed class time. If a stu-

dent consistently uses the restroom to the extent of concern, then it should be the teacher’s responsibility to discuss that with the student.

In addition to this natural need, girls also face the issue of periods.

In this situation, a short trip to the restroom simply cannot wait. The issue is that many are still willing to even sit through an emergency like an unexpected period for the sake of extra credit.

Constantly worrying about the next chance to go to the restroom is not a pleasant feeling. Passing periods are a hit or miss— if a long walk is required to get to the next class, there is absolutely no way for students to visit the restroom without being tardy. This leaves

students no option but to push through another hour in class with a full bladder.

Instead of a pass, having students record their trips to the restroom can be a more efficient, painfree solution. It keeps track of how long the students are gone and how often, giving teachers a clear view of any suspicious activity.

Though these passes only offer a small amount of points, they are enough to push teetering borderline grades over to the next grade up.

When a student’s capability of enduring through a full bladder has the potential to make or break his or her grades, it is time to rethink the system.

Shelby Kepler (11th)

Kathy Santos (11th)

Shannen Barrameda (12th)

Denise Mesdjian (Teacher)

“I think [teachers using them as extra credit] is very wrong especially because girls use the restroom more frequently than boys.”

“Bathroom passes are good in that there’s extra credit or that [teachers can have] more control over the students. I’m against bathroom passes if every teacher uses them.”

“Some people may abuse the system and I think it’s good that teachers give you an opportunity to get some extra credit. “

“It has to be a two way street.

Teachers respecting students’ biological needs, and the students respecting the teachers because they put time and effort into lessons.”

Fear not, seniors: going undeclared does not harm you

Emily Kim sPORTS eDITOR

A

s soon as we are old enough to speak, adults start asking us the big question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Students are expected to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives before they are out of their teens.

Whether you select pre-med or engineering or political science or psychology, there are too many options to choose right away. However, those who check “undecided” as their major on their college applications are open to numerous paths that they can explore to their hearts content.

The U.S. Department of Education 2010 list of academic programs offered at most colleges showed that there was a 22 percent increase within the last decade. With so many choices available, there is no reason to head on a set path at the very start of one’s college career.

Princeton, for example, reminds applicants that applying undecided will not hurt your chances of getting into the college of your dreams. Additionally, UCI’s admissions web page states: “At UCI the admissions process does not depend on the major the student puts.

In our admissions process, we accept the student before taking into consideration their major.”

Many people forget that students do not officially need to de-

clare their major until the end of their sophomore year in college.

That gives two years for students to make the right choice, one that will impact the rest of their life.

Although the cost of attending college for two years without knowing which classes to take may seem daunting (and expensive), it is more efficient in the long run.

Many argue that going in undecided could increase the time students spend in school, but, with the right planning, there is no need to spend another $15,000 to $25,000 per year on tuition.

Attending college and changing your career path numerous times is perhaps even more detrimental than the perceived horror of an undecided major. Changing majors multiple times can impact which classes you take and often delay getting into certain classes.

Also, depending on how drastic the switch may be, there is the cost of materials to think about.

According to the University of La Verne, two-thirds of students change their major at least once and half of those students will change it at least one more time.

Therefore, it is better to go in undecided and complete the basic preliminary courses, rather than work toward a specific degree and end up pursuing a completely different path.

Undecided majors have more freedom in what classes they can take without completely weighing down their schedule. Often times, the stigma of not knowing what a student wants to do in the future pushes them to choose a path that is uninteresting to them. Although pleasing parents is important to many high school seniors, doing what you want to do is key in doing what you actually will do for the rest of your life.

REALITY CHECK

Cartoon courtesy of MEGAN LEE

OPINION

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

5

Obama’s presidency: 8 years well spent?

Barack Obama will be remembered as the first African American president, who, like his predecessors, has had his ups and downs. Whether his legacy will be viewed upon favorably by historians, only time can tell.

PRO Amy Miyahara ASST. a&e eDITOR

H

istory will remember Barack Obama as the first minority elected to the highest office in the nation. His key legislative accomplishments may be undone (Trump has already vowed to repeal Obama care), but his standing as a symbol of achievement to millions of Americans will provide hope and encouragement for generations to come.

Ultimately, a major part of Obama’s legacy will be his ability to demonstrate grace, humility and humor even when faced with hatred. When faced with unfounded criticism, Obama did not respond with bitterness and ad-hominem attacks, but with dignity and respect.

Obama has set a great example for all Americans, and he should be able to leave office free of regrets and proud of the job he has accomplished.

Character isn’t the only aspect of Obama’s presidency that sets him apart. His policies in society, economics and environment will have lasting impacts. When Obama took office in 2009, the economy was facing the worst recession since the Great Depression.

By signing the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Obama preserved and created millions of jobs. Under Obama, 11.3 million jobs were created, and while the unemployment rate peaked at 10 percent in 2010, it is currently at 4.9 percent.

In addition, Obama will be remembered for his finalization of the Clean Power Plan created in 2015, which sets a standard for carbon emission in existing power plants, and consequently will lower carbon pollution by 32 percent by 2030. He was also an important leader in negotiating the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which 197 countries agreed to reduce carbon emission.

Furthermore, The Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare, has been a much debated issue, and while it is not a perfect plan, the number of people that it

has benefitted outweigh its negative aspects.

Signed in 2010, Obamacare provided healthcare to more than 20 million Americans who would otherwise not have been able to afford it. Since it was signed, the uninsured rate in America has decreased from 15.7 percent to 8.6 percent. By reducing healthcare costs, Obama care will also lower the budget deficit in the next 10 years by $143 billion.

Obama’s major accomplishments were primarily domestic, although he did make foreign impacts as well. Most notable are the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq involvement. In 2015, Obama made a deal with Iran which limited their nuclear program, ultimately stabilizing the globe by preventing Iran from advancing its nuclear weapons program.

Obama’s uninvolvement with foreign nations was one of the few low points of his presidency and arguably allowed for the rise of ISIS. Some also connect Obama’s inactiveness to his broken vow to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But while Obama’s decision may have had some consequences, his choices were all with the intention of protecting America from entering another catastrophic war.

Obama may not have accomplished as much as he could have during his time in office. However, a lot of his efforts were hindered not by his own incompetence, but by the Republican Party that refused to compromise and instead spent all of their efforts trying to stop anything that Obama tried to accomplish.

CON sTUART kUSDONO aSST. oPINION eDITOR

E

ight years ago, Barack Obama entered the scene with the burden of the world on his shoulders, the nation suffering from an economic meltdown.

And he delivered. According to journalist Brad Tuttle of Time Magazine, Obama has managed to reduce the national unemployment rate more significantly than Ronald Reagan did after a recession. He also brought a solid net total of 11.3 million jobs in his term (Ronald Reagan created 15.9 million jobs in comparison). Yet at the same time, he is criticized for doing nothing to stop domestic companies from moving jobs overseas.

As for social policy, Obama did not deliver on his promise to unify the country--in fact, he seems to have done the opposite. More than ever, the country is divided on social, economical, and political issues. This isn’t to say that Obama is the cause of division. However, the very fact that

Obama ultimately left the office with the country more fractured than before despite his inspiring speeches on working together, is a failure in one of his campaign’s main selling points.

And for immigration policies, Obama has drawn much criticism for deporting a record 2.5 million immigrants throughout his eight-year term, more deportations than any of his predecessors have done. In addition, contrary to Obama’s claims that felons and criminals are the only illegal immigrants being targeted, research by The Marshall Project reveals that since Obama’s announcement of new immigration policies on November 2014, about two-thirds of the 300,000 immigrants deported afterwards had no criminal conviction.

The main speck in Obama’s legacy, however, lies in his foreign policy.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s legacy was tarnished by his involvement in the Vietnam War, Jimmy Carter by his inability to deal with the Iranian capturing of 52 American hostages, and George W. Bush by his entering into two largely unsuccessful wars.

Obama recognized this. As a result,to avoid involvement in a disastrous war, he made it his priority to reduce American involvement. The Syrian Civil War, for instance, was a war that Obama chose to avoid, but by doing so completely, he let Russia take control and reinstill Assad into power after destroying the rebels in Aleppo.

Afterwards, Assad negotiated a deal to end the war, and America was noticeably left out. Indeed, Obama had broken his promise of removing Assad--even when Assad started chemical warfare, an action Obama deemed to be the crossing line.

It was this inaction that also led in part to the rise of the Islamic State. While Obama did not directly create it, the policies of his administration were slow to respond to ISIS’s initial rise, and so the problem exacerbated. Even now, with all of Obama’s energy concentrated on countering ISIS, ISIS still remains able to attack various parts of Europe and ignite acts of terrorism (though very few) on American soil.

As David Greenberg of foreignpolicy.com concludes, “in correcting for Bush’s overly aggressive foreign policy, Obama went too far in avoiding confrontations, and that in that halting and hesitant approach he wound up neither strengthening his country’s influence and status nor its power to bring about its ultimate goal of a safer and more peaceful world.”

Beware of refugees, drugs and single adults

aMELIE lEE aSST. fEATURE eDITOR

R

ecently, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell proposed that all single adults be banned from parks or playgrounds frequented by children.

Living in a middle-class household in a first-world country, I, like Mr. O’Farrell, live in perpetual fear of everything around me.

The consistent stability of my life leaves me longing for stricter laws that limit large groups of people around me.

Barring all adults from playgrounds, no matter what their behavior, is a clearly logical way to protect our children from criminal activity, in the fear of the obvious risk of exposing our children to corrupt single adults.

After all, it is doubtful that any single adult would ever want to

visit a public area, such as a playground, for any reason other than harmful drug use, pedophilia and intent to hurt others.

By issuing this well-thought out policy to limit everyone except adults with children from entering an area, we are safe from even the slightest possibility of crime.

By basing laws on easy generalizations and fear of arbitrary future threats, society paves the way for even more efficient legislation in the future.

Statistics show that the highest percentage of drug abusers are people from ages 18-25. With the sound reliability of fear-based logic, society should choose to quarantine all people who fall in this age range; thus solving the epidemic of drug abuse.

Drugs are not the only thing that can be solved with this fear-focused mindset. High schoolers are subject to high levels of stress and anxiety on a daily basis.

In fear that this may harm them, school boards should reduce the rigor of classwork and homework, thereby reducing the levels of stress and benefiting students.

Similarly, as our country faces endless debate on refugee and immigration policies, I think there

Cartoon courtesy of MEGAN LEE is no better solution than to completely give into suspicion and panic.

To be safe, we should assume that every person who wants to enter our country must be a terrorist and have the insatiable urge to steal our jobs and money.

Any logical or persuasive rea-

sons Syrian refugees or Mexican immigrants have for coming into our country can immediately be shut down to ensure that our country is free from possibilities of anything negative ever happening.

Looking for the worst in people and stereotyping large groups is

exactly the type of basis legislation should revolve around.

Fear-mongering the public into implementing laws that preemptively prevent worst case scenarios allows every person to live happily, in constant confidence that every possibility of danger has been eliminated.

6

FEATURE

JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BULL'S EYE

Therapist speaks up about experience Amy miyahara asst. A&E EDitor

Elena Deng Senior “Accepting who I am as a person is hard. You see all these genius students here, and I never followed the stigma of Diamond Bar students. There’s an creative and artsy side to education too, and it’s important for students to realize that.”

humans of Diamond Bar High

David Montoya Sophomore “When my great grandma died, it was one of the hardest things. It felt like something was missing. We prayed and eventually got through it by being in it together. As a family, you have to be a team and stay close to everyone.”

Victoria Wilhelm Freshman “I think because of how boring our city is, everyone kind of stands out. Here, there’s a bunch of banks and tutoring centers, maybe a couple churches, that’s really all there is. It’s the stereotypical neighborhood in books.”

Most workers look forward to retirement, but Diamond Bar High School’s speech therapist Mary Hamilton has such a strong passion for students and her work that she decided to come out of retirement and do what she loves--help autistic students enhance their speaking abilities.

Hamilton works with 18 students in the Autism Spectrum Disorder program. She uses language activities to help the students, individually and in small groups. She also goes into the larger class setting to give lessons on social skills, focusing on conflict resolution, problem solving and conversational skills.

Some tools that she uses to work with the students include social stories, discussions, videos and role playing activities.

Hamilton also attends Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings for her students, in which the members of a student’s IEP team discuss the strengths and needs of the student.

Although this school year is Hamilton’s second year at DBHS, the teacher previously worked for 35 years as a speech therapist at various elementary schools in the Magnolia District in Anaheim, where she dealt with articulation and stuttering. After her time working with elementary schools, Hamilton retired for two years before returning to work at DBHS two years ago.

“I was very nervous coming here because I had no experience with high school [students], and

CALVIN RU

DBHS speech therapist Mary Hamilton chose to come out of retirement two years ago in order to help high school students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder with their language, communication and social skills.

I thought I would be intimidated, was not many career options in but I’ve really enjoyed it,” she said. her major, she decided to switch to It’s completely different, but I like speech therapy. it a lot. You can Hamilton do a lot more has raised two things and have daughters who “Sometimes you don’t more adult conare currently know the effect you versations.” in their twenhave on a student Hamilton atties and are now tended Cal State teachers. Hamuntil later.”

Fullerton as a ilton says the MARY HAMILTON speech major, experience raiswith an emphaing her kids has sis in speech helped prepare and debate, but had taken a speech her for working with high school science class as part of her major students. and enjoyed it.

“Having [raised] teenagers and When she realized that there had a relationship with them [has]

really helped me here, because I try to remember a few years back when they were in high school,” she said.

Ultimately, Hamilton says that creating relationships and getting to help the students is the most rewarding aspect of her job.

“When I’m working with the students, I like all of it. That’s why I came back,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t know the effect you have on a student until later...the most rewarding [aspect] is just helping them, and when you can develop a really good rapport with them and that ease of conversation, and you know you’re making a difference.”

escaping reality Ingrid CHan Staff Writer The best adventure novels tend to involve characters who either fight or think their way out of dangerous situations, vicariously exciting readers and sating their thirst for thrills. Modern day escape rooms simulate just that sort of escapade and have become increasingly popular for teenagers and adults alike.

They are the perfect solution for those bored by their tedious daily lives in today’s relatively action-deprived world. Because I played many escape-based computer games when I was younger, the mere prospect of having myself locked in a real life escape room for up to an hour excited me to no end.

I was finally able to experience it myself at Haunted Recording Studio on Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles.

This particular venue is not as popular as some of the larger and more expensive places you can find in L.A. However, it’s a good place to experience your first escape room, allowing you to get the hang of the rooms at a reasonable price.

The Haunted Recording Studio has only one escape set: four rooms and a hallway. As a result, appointments must be booked beforehand and only one group, ranging from 2 to 9 people, is permitted to participate at a time. The cost is around $20-$35 per person depending on one’s age and the time of the appointment.

Although the building’s outward appearance was somewhat plain and unnoticeable, the actual escape rooms were well-furnished and possessed an appropriately eerie ambiance.

While it was not downright scary, the spookiness definitely disturbed and distracted me while I tried to solve the rooms’ mysteries.

Upon our arrival, my eight cousins and I were told the haunting story behind our particular escape room: a young, aspiring actress had never come out of a run-down recording studio. Our goal was to release the ghost and escape as well, all under 60 minutes.

Though the actual storyline was uselessly elaborate and did not really contribute to this particular experience, most escape rooms do require a theme, story and goal for the players to accomplish.

After signing papers which confirmed that we did not have a history of panic attacks, we were handed a walkie talkie--in the case of emergencies or if someone wanted to quit--and warily filed our way through the narrow door that was ominously locked behind us.

Greeted by a completely dark

hallway and four rundown doors, three of which were locked, we made our way into the first room where we proceeded to ransack the place for clues. Since there were nine of us, we were the definition of a chaotic mess, completely disorganized from the very start; let alone that this was the first time any of us had ever experienced an escape room.

At one point, we were stuck in a room for nearly 20 minutes, convinced that the key to the next room was related to some color-coded cables, though it had only been a decoy.

Walkie talkie in hand, we shamelessly asked for a hint from the operator. Since we were being constantly watched by the cameras in the room to ensure our safety, the escape room employees were wellaware of exactly how much we were struggling.

They obligingly gave a major hint to help us along, and we pro-

ceeded in this manner through the following three rooms, completely clueless but enjoying ourselves nevertheless.

For a more immersive and satisfying experience, try multiple escape rooms so you know what to look out for and how to problem solve in such situations. It’s also a good idea to go with a smaller group of people since it would cause much less confusion; the spooky atmosphere can’t be properly appreciated if there are too many people.

Your first time visiting an escape room is bound to be more frustrating--it was for us. But I can imagine how much more fun it would be if we had actually known how to handle ourselves.

Nearby escape rooms include Cross Roads Escape Games in Anaheim, Exodus Escape Rooms in both Anaheim and Rowland Heights, and Real Escape Rooms also in Rowland Heights.

Photo courtesy of NPR

Escape Rooms offer a physical and intellectual puzzle for adventure seekers. Players are locked into a room while riddles and clues are provided to “escape” the eerie locked rooms within time limitations ranging from an hour to two hours.

FEATURE

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

Club Corner

Providing a supportive community for LGBTQ stressed the idea of a “safe environment” with no judgment.

“I want a safe space to talk about issues that affected [people like After a semester-long period me]. As a queer + trans person of of deactivation, the Gay Straight color on a campus, people aren’t Alliance club has returned to the always accepting of these things.

Diamond Bar High School campus Even if it’s a small club, the exiswith plans to be more inclusive tence of a club like this is a very and active than before. positive thing for marginalized The club officially returned in people, to at least know that they September 2015, after being shut aren’t alone,” Zhang said. down the previous semester. Now, Furthermore, bullying and disabout nine GSA members and officrimination has also been a concers meet every Tuesday in adviser cern for members and officers of Tony Tietz’s the club. Zhang room during described the lunch, disDBHS environ“We can provide a place cussing a ment as not for people who feel unsafe variety of “toxic” but defitopics such nitely not “welto talk about these things as gender coming.” in a supportive environidentity, the He hopes that ment.” concept of the club will JAY ZHANG gender and provide a “sense sex, differof belonging” to ences bepeople who feel tween bisexuality and pan-sexualalienated or marginalized. ity and other topics concerning the Both Engustrum and Zhang LGBTQ+ community. have associated that alienation “I wanted to restart because Diawith the rise of Donald Trump and mond Bar should have a forum for his eventual rise to victory. people who want to talk about isWhile the President-elect hasn’t sues regarding the LGBTQ+ comopenly said that he would “overmunity. I think it’s important to turn” the Supreme Court rule of have a place for somebody to talk same sex marriage, he has said and let it out, and not be afraid of that he was in favor of “traditionwhat people will say,” co-president al marriage” when asked about Hunter Engustrum said. the topic, and the controversy has He and other club members have been an ongoing discussion in the also expressed that they wanted club meetings. the club to be more inclusive than “Obviously, as a small high it was in the previous years. school club in a relatively quiet “GSA in the past has been very town, we aren’t looking to start insular and almost transphobic at protests or incite serious disruptimes, focusing a lot more on the tions. But, we can provide a place LG in LGBT,” other co-president for people who feel unsafe to talk Jay Zhang said. about these things in a supportive Moreover, both presidents have environment,” Zhang said.

Noor Naji Asst. Opinion Editor

7

Crafting a cup of unique coffee Ingrid CHan Staff Writer Because of its outwardly unassuming appearance and its somewhat out-of-the-way location, I was surprised by the interior of Aroma Craft Coffee the moment my parents and I walked through its doors. Warmly lit and decorated with uniquely rustic furniture, the small cafe exuded a comforting aroma of coffee which permeated the air and added to my first impression. The interesting and aesthetically pleasing decor was especially satisfying, not too sparse and not overdone.

Offering several electronic gadgets as a means of ordering, the restaurant leaves no uncertainty about what you are ordering, allowing you to swipe through an iPad with a slideshow of all their different entrees. It is accompanied by a paper menu where the names, ingredients and prices are listed.

The venue’s main attraction, coffee, has its own menu hanging behind the bar with the many options written on a huge blackboard. We decided to order a latte, an Americano, mushroom toast, French toast and blueberry cheesecake.

The food and drinks came within 10 minutes of us ordering. The latte and Americano were quite expensive at $5 per cup, and the size of the cups were nothing to brag about either, probably equivalent to that of a Starbucks tall cup.

However, the taste made up for the somewhat extravagant price and underwhelming portion.

Aroma Craft’s coffee beans are roasted in the shop itself and are far richer and more pleasant than what you would find at mainstream cafes like Starbucks. In addition, the cafe offers different types of brewing methods such as pour over, nitrogen (nitrogen-infused coffee that tastes richer and more

INGRID CHAN

Aromacraft Coffee, located in Walnut, is decorated with dangling lights and shelves, offering unique coffees and breakfast dishes. velvety) and siphon (coffee made under vacuum or vapor pressure), all of which give the coffee a unique flavor. Each drink was served on a custom-made wooden platter along with a small jam biscuit and a glass of coffee grounds, which provided a fragrant, pleasant aroma.

Another one of our orders was a piece of toast topped with seasoned spinach, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes, which cost $8. Although the spinach was nicely cooked and the portion was fulfilling, the flavor was bland and the dish simple.

The French toast we ordered for $7, on the other hand, left a much better impression. Topped with strawberries, powdered sugar, dried herbs and granola, it was quite enjoyable as the toast was not drenched in syrup, like how many other places prepare it.

Lastly, the $9 blueberry cheesecake was my favorite. Although it wasn’t exactly a traditional cheesecake, since I did not taste a hint of cheese and the texture was much too fluffy, the flavor was enough for me to forgive the inaccuracy of its name. It was generously topped with candied blueberries, along with a layer of blueberries scattered throughout its center, and had a texture lighter than mousse.

I particularly marveled at how popular Aroma Craft was even though its plaza was relatively remote and not well-frequented. Late in the afternoon, there was a slow but steady flow of people through the restaurant, adding to the warm and social atmosphere as the indistinct background chatter of conversation constantly filled my ears.

The place was a bit too expensive for my taste -- the total bill including tax and tips was over $40 -- but, if you’re willing to spend a bit more than you’re used to at mainstream coffee shops, Aroma Craft is definitely worth visiting for its quality coffee blend, relaxing ambiance and aesthetic sense.

DETAILS SERVES: Coffee & Breakfast ADDRESS: 20265 VALLEY BLVD Q, WALNUT, CA 91789 PHONE #: (909) 869-8488 YELP RATING:

Freshman sees bright side in struggle NATHAN FROM P. 1 shocked to truly know what was going on,” Wu said.

Ever since the diagnosis, Wu has received constant support from his family members, fellow students and teachers. Despite the showering of sympathy and care from his loved ones, the freshman initially couldn’t relate to any of them, as they didn’t experience the same treatments, exams and check-ups he had endured.

However, at the time, one of Wu’s eighth grade art teachers was also fighting cancer. The two soon bonded over the shared experiences of undergoing treatments and coping with the emotional effects of the disease.

In addition, the teacher taught Wu how to shape ceramics, pottery and clay pieces during class, which he later used to relieve stress.

“I used art as a way to express my emotions and as a way to look for a positive outlook even if things aren’t going my way,” Wu said.

Comparing his well-being to a roller coaster, Wu said that his condition is improving. In his first year of diagnosis, Wu frequented Children’s Hospital Los Angeles weekly, sometimes being forced to stay overnight in the midst of attending school. Due to his regular visits, Wu was not able to attend school consistently.

Once he returned to Canyon Hills Junior High in the Chino Valley Unified School District in 2015, Wu couldn’t relate to his group of

friends anymore and felt lonely, which prompted him to transfer into Walnut Valley Unified School District.

“Don’t expect everyone to understand what you’re going through, and don’t expect them to think it’s fine. I wanted a new start, new friends and new opportunities,” Wu said.

Currently, Wu takes medication daily and visits the hospital once a month. His treatment is divided into cycles, in which he receives various treatments depending on his condition, including immune system boosters and chemotherapy.

Due to the rigor of his medicine, Wu is hindered from his daily routine, facing difficulties, such as walking large distances and flights of stairs.

Wu considers the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s gesture a milestone in his journey, which impacted his future actions. Last year, the organization granted Wu’s wishes by presenting him with a crystal heart stone and sending him to the airport in a limousine for a paidfor Alaskan cruise for him and his family to enjoy.

After being touched by the gesture, Wu returned the favor and frequently helps out fellow patients by participating through the organization’s Make-A-Wish run in addition to raising money by fundraising.

“I wanted to help other kids, because the [organization] did it for me. I was really grateful, and it’s a

Photos courtesy of NATHAN WU

Freshman Nathan Wu has been battling leukemia since 2014, but still is interested and involved in Boy Scouts and piano. good program that genuinely helps strument daily, as it helps him dekids,” Wu said. stress and concentrate. In addition, In addition, Wu considers himWu joined the Boy Scouts six years self lucky to have such supportive, ago and hopes to achieve the rank caring parents. of Eagle Scout.

“I’m grateful that I’m getting a “The hardest part is having to second chance to live. I’m grateful cope with the emotional aspects, for my parthe anxiety, ents: my mom the stress, but “If you’re not strong, you for always bepiano and the will fall down. You have to ing there for Boy Scouts me and my gave me time keep a positive mind...” dad for taking to unwind and NATHAN WU time off even destress. Boy though he’s Scouts is just really busy a way for me to with work,” Wu said. stay normal, one of the last things Outside of school, Wu plays the I have.” piano and participates in scouting In addition to helping him relax, to relieve stress and anxiety, as he the hobbies helped Wu revert back is limited to certain hobbies. First to his original happy mood prior to developing passion for piano nine his diagnosis. years ago, Wu practices the in“He used to be a very joyful,

happy kid and that part of him is showing up little by little over the last few months. I am so glad that he still expects much from himself (studying for classes, playing piano and being involved in boys scout), and I believe that he will beat this beast,” Elaine Wu, mother of Wu, said via email.

Despite his current positive attitude, Wu initially harbored negative thoughts. But his mindset changed after learning multiple life lessons throughout his battle with leukemia.

“If you’re not strong, you will fall down. You have to keep a positive mind or else you’re going to sink back into negativity,” Wu said. “[The quote] ‘take life as it is, even if you don’t like it, because you have to go through it,’ helps me [get] through the hardest days.”

8 FEATURE

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

Written by Hannah Lee, News Editor Catherine Liu, Contributing Writer Design by Catherine Zhang, Feature Editor

Valentine date ideas With February just around the corner, Valentine’s Day awaits, along with traditional romantic dates. More often than not, chocolates and flowers are given to commemorate this special moment, but here are a few nontraditional options that may spice things up.

Located in Hacienda Heights, Coffee Flower offers some of the most adorable cafe decor; embellished in fair y lights, flowers, hand painted walls, plants and stuffed animals; serving boba and coffee to macarons and cakes. The cafe provides the perfect date spot with multiple rooms for privacy within the cafe, each uniquely decorated and themed. By pulling all of this together, Coffee Flower offers a small escape from reality in a romantic, fair ytale-esque garden.

At Color Me Mine located in The Shoppes at Chino Hills, couples can paint their own pottery masterpiece.

The pricing varies from piece to piece, but costs are roughly $12 to $75 based on the piece you choose in addition to $10 for studio fees.

Couples can choose to customize a plate, cup, jar or even a figurine of their choice for each other, from doodling simplistic hearts to creating intricate designs for one another.

Tucked away in a small neighborhood in Walnut is a hidden gem that ensures an unforgettable night.

Known as the “top of the world,” this romantic lookout spot has a breathtaking view of city lights, with twinkling lights stretching from West Covina to downtown Los Angeles.

With no other lighting, it provides a quiet, intimate place for bonding while looking over the several cities.

For directions, visit dbbullseye.com.

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

9

Stars on the Rise With a movie industry largely dominated by older actors, these young adults are ready to take their place in hollywood. Here we present to you the next generation of Movie Stars. hailee steinfeld Steinfeld is no stranger to the limelight, with her major breakout role in “True Grit.”

She has taken her spot as the center of attention in “The Edge of Seventeen,” and will likely remain there.

ashton Sanders With his new role as Chiron in the critically acclaimed movie “Moonlight,” Sanders is well on his way to being a household name in Hollywood.

ezra miller Widely known for his sidekick role in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Miller is making a comeback with his new role as the Flash in the upcoming superhero movie “Justice League.”

asa butterfield Star of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” Butterfield is making a name for himself in the young adult movie scene.

His next role will be in a sci-fi romance called “The Space Between Us.”

Amandla Stenberg At 18 years old, Stenberg seems mature beyond her age. She is much more than her role as Rue in “The Hunger Games.” Later this year, Stenberg will star in the new movie “Where Hands Touch.”

lucas hedges Although relatively new to Hollywood, Hedges proved that he is here to stay in his young nephew role in “Manchester by the Sea.”

millie brown Quickly becoming a fan favorite, Brown has taken on the role of Eleven in the hit Netflix drama “Stranger Things,” which has recently been renewed for a second season.

Designed by: Amy Miyahara

10 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

From painting to posting Angela Yang Asst. News editor Most people tend to use social media to paint a picture of their lives for others to see, but Diamond Bar High School juniors Meghan Shen, Paul Lam and Priscilla Chang have utilized Instagram as an outlet to literally paint pictures for their followers.

Recently, a community of artists has been thriving on Instagram.

Accounts often post to thousands of followers and some offer to take requests from fans for a commission. In a world that’s so dependent on social media, it’s not uncommon for some people to form a career out of making art on Instagram.

Shen started out following a lot of Instagram art accounts in the eighth grade, occasionally entering art contests hosted by the larger accounts. According to Shen, she did not win many of those contests at first, but eventually began to win.

Her art account, @megsketchbook, has accumulated almost 2,000 followers since it was created over three years ago. Shen says the account has grown more than she expected.

“It has been a mostly positive experience and it’s fun,” Shen

said. “I used to pass by these random people and they’d compliment my art.”

Shen uses colored pencils to create a variety of drawings such as animated characters from Disney movies and other well-known television shows. She also draws animals and paints a variety of colorful designs.

Shen said she enjoys creating her work because art is a relaxing pastime for her.

Much like Shen, Lam has been creating his art for a long time, having taken classes at a young age. However, he only recently began sharing his drawings on Instagram. His account @paulychromy has been active for around two months.

Lam used to paint with watercolors, but has now progressed to using copic markers more often.

On his account, galaxy effects are featured in most of his watercolor drawings, and he creates detailed portraits of characters such as Iron Man. “I kind of look at [making art] as a way of getting rid of stress, getting away from my problems,” Lam said.

Chang also enjoys creating art to share because it provides her with an excuse not to do homework. Chang has been exercising her artistic skills since the sixth grade, “mindlessly doodling”

Photos by ERIC HONG

Juniors Priscilla Chang, Paul Lam and Meghan Shen (from left) enjoy posting on their Instagram art accounts.

whenever she was able to.

She took her drawings to Instagram around two weeks ago. So far, her account consists sketches of anime characters, a few paintings and digital art creations.

“There’s not a lot of comments, but usually when someone comments I feel compelled to say thank you but usually I’m not that polite,” Chang said.

Having a few years of art classes under her belt, Chang typically uses pencils or pens to create her sketches, occasionally incorporating markers. She creates digital art as well, using her tablet and a stylus.

Stalking Celebs on social media

EMily Jacobsson A&E Editor

ABOUT It is often hard to view celebrities as regular people, especially with the glitz and glamor of Hollywood surrounding their every action. However, social media now gives us the chance to look into the personal lives of the many celebrities we love to see on the red carpet – from what they eat to their views on a variety of subjects. Here are a few who I would recommend following:

FOLLOWING CHRISSY TEIGEN A follow of Chrissy Teigen’s Instagram (@chrissyteigen) kills two birds with one stone, as you are given access to a look into the life of both her and her famous husband, John Legend. Teigen floods her Instagram with heartwarming family photos and endearing videos of her child. Teigen often shares pictures of the delicious yet healthy meals she cooks, bringing motivation to her followers to follow suit and start a healthier lifestyle.

RYAN REYNOLDS

There has never been a thought too vulgar or controversial for Ryan Reynolds to post on his Twitter account (@VancityReynolds). Reynolds does not shy away from sharing his most candid thoughts on Twitter, often resulting in hilariously random tweets. It is refreshing to see a celebrity share his thoughts so openly in a world where many celebrities rely on their management to construct the perfect tweet for them.

ROWAN BLANCHARD

By the looks of her social media accounts, Rowan Blanchard is mature far beyond her years. The 15-year-old star of the recently canceled “Girl Meets World,” uses both her Instagram and Twitter (@RowanBlanchard) to share her views on current events.

Blanchard uses social media platforms as a way to speak up about issues like gender equality and human rights while exposing her young following to the harsh realities of the world. In the wake of any social injustice, rest assured that Blanchard will soon address it online in an eloquent fashion. Rather than pictures of her daily life, Blanchard’s instagram focuses much more on the causes and subjects she is passionate about. With every post, Blanchard encourages social awareness and instigates change by being a positive influence on her followers.

Photo courtesy of MEGHAN SHEN

Junior Meghan Shen posts her art on her Instagram account @megsketchbook.

Teen Reacts to Internet Success Pauline Villegas A&E Editor Anyone who has watched the popular YouTube video series, “Teens React” has imagined themselves being one of the panel commenting on the various viral videos. Diamond Bar junior Kenneth Kwon took it one step further and has earned himself a regular spot on the show.

Kwon said he decided to audition for the popular YouTube channel “Fine Brothers Entertainment” after seeing an ad for it on Facebook in October. Of course, he had seen the popular “Teens React” show in which a handful of teenagers share their opinions on the internet’s most popular videos. Each of the channel’s videos have received more than one million views. “[The audition] was basically exactly what you see in the actual videos. You watch a handful of videos and if they like you, they call you back,” Kwon said.

Kwon received a call back about a month later and was immediately asked to start filming. The first show he appeared on, “Teens React to 1000 Degree Knife Compilation,” featured teens reacting to viral YouTube videos centered

around slicing random things with extremely hot knives.

Afterwards, the teens were asked to watch these videos and answer some questions on how their recent popularity made them feel. Kwon was an instant hit in the comments section, and is excited to continue his career.

After signing a contract with Fine Brothers Entertainment, the creator of the popular “reaction” videos, Kwon goes to the production company’s studios once a month to react to dozens of videos.

Every time Kwon is on set, he is paid $100 as well as an additional $12 for every hour after.

His close friends and family had a lot to say about Kwon’s newfound fame.

“I’m embarrassed when they watch it in front of me. They all laugh and make fun of me.”

In addition to his appearances in the videos, he said he hopes his work with Fine Brothers Entertainment will allow him to become familiar with the inner workings of YouTube channels.

Kwon is a member of DBHS cinematography club and enjoys learning about filmmaking. After high school, Kwon hope to use his experience in “Teens React” to pursue a career in the film industry.

ZENDAYA Similar to Blanchard, Zendaya’s social media accounts (@Zendaya) reveal just how intelligent and politically aware she is. She constantly posts about different causes that she feels deserves more attention and makes her opinions regarding social issues known. Aware of her young audience, Zendaya uses her social media platforms to spread positivity in the form of encouraging body positivity and overall self-love.

DYLAN & COLE SPROUSE While it is interesting to see what the Sprouse twins have been up to long after their “Sweet Life of Zack and Cody” days, the best thing about their Twitter accounts (@ dylansprouse and @colesprouse) is their interactions with each other. The frequent sibling banter is always amusing and sometimes leads to the posting of embarrassing childhood pictures of each other. Neither of the twins takes themselves too seriously, making for perfectly childish tweets that are always entertaining and guaranteed to draw many laughs.

Photo courtesy of FINE BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT

Junior Kenneth Kwon was chosen to join “Teens React,” a popular YouTube series.

JANUARY 25, 2017

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE BULL'S EYE

Movies to love this Valentine's Day

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hat’s a better way of spending Valentine’s Day than with your loved ones watching some romantic films that truly E show what love is about? For this FebIN L E AD ruary 14th, these are some heart F EO stirring films to enjoy at the AG end of the day with that special someone.

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Emily Jacobsson & Pauline villegas A&E Editors

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Read Christina Liu’s Story about these films online at dbbullseye.com

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Brian Chang news Editor After moving from Texas to California right before freshman year, Diamond Bar High School student Monica Lin found herself without any friends. To deal with her loneliness, she began writing poetry and journal entries.

While her writing gave her comfort in her new environment, it also turned into a creative outlet that she is now sharing with the world. Lin’s collection of these short pieces, “Second Guessing,” was published in January 2014, and she is now well on her way to publishing another collection.

Lin began writing poetry in August 2013, eventually posting her work on Instagram under the handle @unlovedwinters, gaining 100,000 followers over the course of a month.

“The only way I could deal with my emotions at the time because I didn’t have anyone close to me here was through writing,” Lin said. “I wrote short journal entries and poetry for [my followers], and then I published a book four months after that to sell to them.”

Even though she was not particularly proud of her writing, as a result of her followers’ kind words, Lin grew more confident and was inspired to write more.

She thought that her writing was helping other people cope with their problems as well.

Monica Lin

She received messages over Instagram and mail, all of which encouraged her to continue writing.

Lin discussed publishing her book with several local companies, but due to the costs, she decided to seek Amazon for help. She emailed the company, which soon decided to publish “Second Guessing.”

“They did all the things for me, and it was the quickest and cheapest way to do it for me. I already had a market, and they could see that because of the Instagram followers,” L i n said.

Lin is currently worki n g on a b o o k titled “ C e cil and Vi o l e t , ” modeled a f t e r J.D. Salinger’s “Franny

and Zooey.” Violet, who is heavily modeled after Lin as well as Daisy from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” and Cecil, modeled after Lin’s ex-boyfriend as well as the lion in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” each try to fight the world’s indifference while remaining true to themselves.

Lin hopes to release the “slice of life” book in July 2017, this time not through Amazon.

“Before this point in my life, the majority of things I was dependent on had to do with other people, and writing was the first thing I had control over. I was willing to deal with my emotions through something that was au-

11

tonomous for me.”

Not coincidentally, “Cecil and Violet” is also the name of Lin’s nonprofit organization, which began in her junior year. Lin started the organization with fellow senior Bryan Dong after volunteering abroad in Peru, Thailand and Laos in order to empower women in Southeast Asia. Lin purchases textiles from women in those countries and works with a San Francisco designer to design clothes using the imported textiles, which are then sold online.

The profits are used to purchase more textiles, creating a “cycle of sustainability.” Lin plans to continue her organization in college by expanding to other Southeast Asian countries.

In addition, she hopes to open a physical store for her wares, not just an online shop, and also invest in infrastructure of the countries she benefits.

In college, senior Lin said she plans to major in International Relations with a minor in Comparative Literature and continue writing books. She hopes to work for the United Nations and continue publishing fiction books.

“I want to also write about global issues to bring awareness to them because through literature, we can bring topics of discourse to the forefront of public discussion and attention. Basically, humanizing [Southeast Asian] culture because in America, Asian culture is often marginalized,” Lin said over Facebook.

With awards season well under way, this is the time of the year when people in the film industry are acknowledged for their great work by their fans and peers alike.

However, when an actor’s personal life is taken into account, the response to their work can completely change.

Emily Jacobsson: A popular question recently, especially with many celebrity centered controversies, has been if it is possible to hate the artist, but love their art.

I think it’s completely possible.

Someone’s personal life does not, and arguably should not, change what you think about their work.

Pauline Villegas: Yeah, I think that should be true, but to what extent? At the end of the day, fans and viewers choose to like and dislike actors for a variety of reasons, and their personal life happens to be among these reasons.

EJ: I don’t think that’s necessarily true though. Shouldn’t the main factor as to whether or not you like an actor be dictated by how well they perform on screen? I wouldn’t like a bad actor solely for being a good person, and likewise I wouldn’t completely disregard an actor’s talents because I disagree with their morals and what they do in their daily lives.

PV: I think that for a professional who reviews movies and shows for a living that may be true; however, for the average person, it can be hard for us to completely disregard what a person does in real life.

For example, when Nate Parker, producer and star of “The Birth of a Nation” admitted to being involved in a rape case years ago, many viewers saw this as a reason to boycott his movie. Because of the movie’s poor numbers, it was completely overlooked for this year’s major awards.

EJ: It is hard to ignore the negative connotations someone’s name may have after they do something as horrible as that. But I do think that the fate of “The Birth of a Nation” is exactly why the separation of an actor’s personal and work life is important.

Because of Parker’s actions, which he was accused of singlehandedly, the rest of the cast and crew of an admittedly beautiful and powerful movie suffered as well. We can both agree that an actor’s personal life does affect their career, but the larger question still remains of whether or not it should.

PV: Honestly, I believe that their personal lives should be taken into account. Personally, when an actress I don’t like, say Jennifer Lawrence, comes out in a movie, I try my best to avoid it. Although the movie “Passengers” held an interesting concept, I was turned off by the fact that she was the star.

Acting should be treated like any other profession, and who you are matters to the people buying your product.

EJ: That’s a fair point. I think ultimately it lies in the ability, or rather willingness, of the individual to make a distinction between a celebrity’s personal and professional life.

12 BUSINESS

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

Brahmas off to a winning start

BOYS BASKETBALL With many returning players, the team is off to a 3-1 start, tied for second.

STUART KUSDONO asst. OPINION editor

The Diamond Bar High School boys basketball team is tied for second in the Palomares League. They have already matched the number

of league games they won last year with their 3-1 record, one of the best starts in recent seasons.

Their start came after a promising preseason. Not only did the team end up with a record of 10-5, an improvement from last year’s 5-10 record, but they also won the Azusa High School Holiday tournament, the first regular season tournament Diamond Bar has won in 12 years.

The team, though, did face some difficulty in closing games during the pre-season. In their game

Photos by ERIC HONG

Senior Chris Chebat hustles for the ball against Ayala. DB won the match, 48-41.

against rival Walnut High School, the team was able to recover from a 17-point deficit to force overtime, but still lost 66-64.

“In the late game, we get pretty nervous because last year we weren’t winning many games, so we don’t have much experience in playing under too much pressure,” senior Travis Lee said. “I feel like as we play more games, though, we’ll gain more experience and figure out how to win those late game situations.”

Learning from their loss, the Brahmas closed out a game against Glendora 73-70 in their first league game.

The team won its next two league games at home, beating Ayala 48-41 and South Hills 67-55.

“We have made a lot of strides since last year and are continuing to improve in all areas of the game,” head coach Henry Frierson said. “The team has exceeded my expectations.”

One reason for this progress, according to Lee, is the many returning players. As a result, team chemistry and ball movement improved due to the fact that the players knew each other better.

“We got a lot of senior leadership playing a role this year, too,” Frierson said. “Some standout players include Kelly Avery and Malik Corey, who have been stepping it up.”

Corey, in the game against Glen-

13

SPORTS

Senior Tyler Tang attempts an acrobatic finish around an Ayala defender. dora, was the primary offensive force of the team, scoring the team high of 22 points on 6-for-11 shooting while dishing out 6 assists. He now leads the team in scoring, with 377 points, and assists, with 63, over the first 17 games and has the highest Player Efficiency Rating.

However, the Brahmas threegame win streak came to an end with a crushing 100-67 loss against Claremont on Jan. 20.

On Tuesday, the boys faced Bonita, and they will face Glendora for the second time this season in a home game on Friday.

“We have a smaller team, so our game is all about speed and getting up and down the floor, and having a high possession game,” Frierson said. “All our players, really, have adapted that philosophy and have been successful getting up and down.”

Batsman’s passion from India Senior Pakshal Shah played cricket in his homeland and now bats and bowls on an Inland Empire team. calvin ru photo editor The ball is thrown and the batsman pops it up. Everything happens in slow motion as Diamond Bar High School senior Pakshal Shah moves in to intercept the ball before it hits the ground. With outstretched arms, he feels the stitched leather of the cricket ball pressing into his hands as he grips it and hits the ground hard. Shah opened his eyes and sees his teammates cheering, realizing he had just won the game.

Shah recounted his most memorable match, one of the last cricket games he played in India, which, consequently, won his team the annual interschool tournament in Mumbai.

“It’s not just a sport for me: it’s much more. It’s about the passion I have for the game, and it has everything from excitement to technique to raw adrenaline and sometimes even crazy luck,” Shah said.

Born in India, an avid cricket nation, Shah was ecstatic to support his nation during all-cricket competitions. Shah, like many others, was inspired by team India’s current captain, Virat Kohli, stating that his plays were mesmerizing.

After moving from India in ninth grade, Shah said he instantly went on a search for a local cricket team, eventually joining Inland Empire, a Division II cricket team.

Unlike baseball, cricket utilizes two batsmen who stand on opposite ends of a 22-yard rectangular strip placed in the middle of the ovular field. Rather than running past bases, batsmen run back and forth to score points if the ball doesn’t touch the border. On defense, cricket has one bowler, or pitcher, who aims for the wicket posts behind the batter, and eleven fielders.

Cricket is played on an ovular field

in which the batsman’s objective is to hit the ball past the border.

The senior explained that as batter, he focuses on scoring points fast. While some batters strategically spin their balls to specific locations on the field, he utilizes a different approach by sending the ball down the field with his powerful swings.

“When I watch the ball come towards me, there’s a lot of things going on in my head. The last thing is: what’s the quickest way to end the game so I can go home and catch some sleep? So I hit the ball as hard as I can and let it do its thing,” Shah said.

As bowler, Shah said his pitch style is known as a spinner because of the technique he uses when he throws the ball. His throws are significantly slower than power pitches, but they are able to switch directions after hitting the ground due to a different twist applied to each pitch, Shah said.

After every six pitches, bowlers rotate, which places Shah on the outfield. In the outfield, Shah has

sustained multiple injuries, most noticeably a pulled back muscle from an awkward jump.

Shah said that at first the injury seemed minor, but ended up putting him out of commission for months. He entered physiotherapy shortly after and upon re-entering the sport, was prohibited from using any excessive force to pitch, Shah said.

Although his pitch has slowed down, Shah said that his passion for cricket has only increased. He said that serving as captain with impromptu teams within his league has developed his leadership skills, as he learned the weaknesses and strengths of each individual. With dreams to compete professionally for India, Shah set his goals to be focused on unending improvement and playing to the best of his abilities.

“Cricket is the best thing that happened to me. It’s like a hobby or stress relief, it calms me down.

Ironic because it has so much rush,” Shah said. “I will keep playing it, no matter what.”

CALVIN RU

Senior Pakshal Shah said that he was inspired to play cricket by Team India’s captain, Virat Kohli. Shah has played for various SoCal teams.

Junior Ashley Yoo attempts to score in a match against Claremont.

CALVIN RU

Stepping up in the new year GIRLS WATERPOLO The Lady Brahmas show their potential for this season as they conquered two tournaments.

SOPHIA kim ASST. sports editor Having started the season with two tournament victories, the Diamond Bar High School girls water polo team has already shown much improvement from previous years.

With a current league record of 2-2, the team is better prepared this year and more players have been stepping up.

The team started off league with two wins against Glendora and Ayala. The Lady Brahmas and the Glendora Tartans were tied until sophomore Kristina Mariani scored the winning goal in the last two minutes for a 8-7 Brahma victory. Junior captain Phoebe Tsui led the team with four goals.

In their second match against the Ayala Bulldogs, the girls won against the team they struggled with last year, 11-8. “[This year], our fundamental skills are better and we’re communicating more,” Tsui said. “We’ve been playing long with each other now so we know how each player works and their habits.”

In the first week of January, the Lady Brahmas participated in the sixth annual Lady Nobles varsity tournament, winning all five tournament games and defeating the No. 1 ranked team in the division, Santa Fe, 11-6.

In addition, the Lady Brahmas won five tournament games in the third annual Lady Brahmas Winter Classic. They defeated Chaffey High School 16-7, the No. 2 ranked team in their division.

“The coaches are pretty strict and we’re focusing on winning more games than just trying out a sport,” Tsui said.

Inspired by the success of the boys water polo team, the Lady Brahmas have been practicing especially hard to reach expectations.

“It is difficult to say if the girls will have the same type of success as the boys as they compete in different divisions and the girls’ game is different than the boys,” head coach Alexander Matal said via email.

Although the girls started off the season with two consecutive wins, the victories were followed by two losses against Claremont and Bonita.

“The coaching staff is focused on strengthening and improving our fundamental skills of passing and shooting. We are also focused on improving our body positioning and awareness on the defensive end,” Matal said.

14 SPORTS

C

JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BULL'S EYE

NFL seeks more riches in l.a.

ongratulations Los Angeles, you just picked up your second football team in the last two years! Now with the Rams and Chargers, you’ve got two struggling teams in a town that has no need of a football team.

Does a city with so many professional and collegiate teams really need another dying franchise? New York would be the only other city with more sports franchises, but N.Y.’s football teams play in different states as the New York Giants and Jets play in New Jersey.

Los Angeles has more than enough teams to cover multiple states. It has two NBA teams, two MLB teams, two hockey teams, two powerhouse colleges with multiple sports teams, and now, two unnec-

essary football teams.

While the Chargers have been slowly dying in San Diego, it wasn’t the city that was the problem. It was the management. In the last ten years, the Chargers’ management has been one of the worst, firing head coach Marty Schottenheimer in 2007 after he had built a team that went 14-2 and pushing numerous star players to leave the team such like future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson. And in the last 15 years, the management has been unable to agree to a new stadium with the city, pushing them to move to L.A. But why Los Angeles? Is it the desire and passion of the fans?

Or is it maybe the lack of football in the City of Angels? Well I have

yet to hear of people exclaiming their love for “their Chargers” in L.A., and we certainly have enough football here in the Rams, albeit they’re one of the worst teams in the league.

It’s quite simple why the Chargers want to move to L.A.: the money. Once again, the NFL reaffirms that this is a business, not a pee-wee league for free fun. The league doesn’t care about its fans, only about making as much money as it can, and what better way to increase its revenue than by moving another team to the second largest market in the U.S. In the NFL, if teams don’t have a huge market like the Giants, can’t afford a new stadium like the Minnesota Vikings or are a historical

IN HIS GLORY DAYS

BRIAN WIENCEK The DBHS math teacher started off running up and down hills with his cross country team. After running became too taxing on his feet, Wiencek started biking.

TESS GUAN WEB editor Calculating the curves of graphs isn’t Diamond Bar High School math teacher Brian Wiencek’s first experience with slopes, as the calculus teacher has previously participated in cycling and cross country events.

As a sophomore at Orange High School, Wiencek was required to take the Presidential Fitness Test, which includes how far they could run in six minutes. The cross country coach was impressed by the distance Wiencek was able to run and asked him to join the team. His best meet mile time while in high school was 4:50, and in track, which he ran the 800 meters race in, was 2:00.9.

Wiencek would then spend his high school and college years participating in cross country and track events.

“I’d get up and run with the coach Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before school,” Wiencek said. “I’d get up at 5 a.m., run five to eight miles with the coach, and do the same workout with everyone else after school.”

Wiencek ran for Santa Ana Junior College, where his team won the state championship, and Cal State Fullerton. He managed to beat his best high school mile time by 20 seconds during college.

“I helped contribute in effort than in points. I was the barometer of how hard everyone was working; I worked out hard every workout and unfortunately for me, the guys who were the top seven varsity runners, all had considerably more talent than me--three of them ended up being world class and two

ERIC HONG

Teacher Brian Wiencek has had experience competing and coaching cross country and track teams.

ended up being Olympians,” he said.

The team would go on workouts together, using Wiencek to judge whether they were working hard enough.

“If I was still close to them, they realized they weren’t working to their potential, so they knew they were working hard when they could drop me from the workout.

Because I drove them to that, they worked out hard and they were able to become state champions,” Wiencek said.

In a 1990 race at Cal State Northridge, Wiencek had the experience of running with Olympic gold med-

team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, they’re in danger.

However, the Chargers are not the only team that is greatly affected by this unpopular move.

The Oakland Raiders have finally reclaimed a spot as a dominant force in the league. However, that dominance in Oakland looks to be on its way out as the Raiders have just recently filed for a relocation to Las Vegas.

This is just disrespectful to the Raiders fans. They have had some of the roughest times in the past few seasons and as soon as they finally found some glimmer of hope, owner Mark Davis had enough of waiting for a new stadium and decided to relocate to Vegas, a place that has no established sports

Backline forms backbone of team GIRLS SOCCER In their third season, the Lady Brahmas started rough with a 0-3-1 record.

alist Noureddine Morceli.

Although he placed tenth, the coach was impressed with Wiencek’s effort, awarding him the same awards given to the top seven runners.

Besides competitive running in school, Wiencek has also participated in two marathons, the Big Sur Marathon and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

After college, Wiencek began cycling for fun, since he began having foot issues, preventing him from running competitively. He has participated in multiple non-competitive cycling events, biking from the Canadian border to Huntington Beach in 2000 and biking from the San Francisco Bay to Kansas City in 2002.

Taking a break from the sport, Wiencek began coaching cross country and track at Cal State Fullerton for the women’s team; his first coaching job for a high school team was at Los Amigos High School. Despite his foot injuries, he would run with the team during practices. His positions varied from assistant coach to head coach.

He coached for 19 years, stopping in 2011, when he had the nerves removed. He plans to run and cycle again soon.

Throughout his running career, Wiencek has participated in several events; his most memorable experience was the Azusa Meet of Champions event, which he ran during his time at Cal State Fullerton.

“I was running the 500 meters on the track, and I heard the announcer say, ‘okay so today’s featured event of the day…’ and he named off people in this event, ‘the silver medalist from the Olympics, the Kenyan national champion... and Brian Wiencek from Cal State Fullerton.’ Basically I raced against a world class field, and I was not a world class runner.”

teams or fanbases.

In the end of all of this, only one party is being hurt: the fans. In the last two years, potentially three fanbases will have lost their teams to cities that have yet to even establish any sort of football fandom.

The last time Los Angeles had a football team with some dedicated fans, Kobe was still a senior in high school!

If the league successfully votes on the Raiders in Vegas, the NFL has proven themselves, again, to be the evil, money grubbing corporation that we’ve grown to hate. So to the new Los Angeles Chargers and the potential Las Vegas Raiders, I hope two stadiums were worth the hearts of your fans and the history of San Diego and Oakland.

priority during the previous season. This year, the Brahmas have added another attacking midfield position to its formation in order to create more shooting opportunities.

“We’re getting more chances Eric HONG the last few games—more shots on goal, which is what we’ve been OPINION editor working at. It’s just a matter of keeping these girls healthy and Injuries continue to plague the some consistency,” Franco said.

Diamond Bar varsity girls soccer “We have speed. We have the playteam. With four potential starters to do it. It’s just building the ing defenders currently out of the chemistry, connecting in the final game and nine total players out third.” hurt, the team faces a similar situJunior co-captain Samantha ation to last year when 10 players Blazek continues to serve as the were lost due to injuries. main goalkeeper, leading with 6.9 The Brahmas are currently 0-3saves per game.

1 in the Palomares League after a “Especially when some of our 3-6-3 record in the preseason. defenders are hurting, she’s makCenterbacks senior Delaney ing big saves when we need her to Donohue and sophomore Jaida and keeps us in the games,” Franco Wilson, who had been out with a said. broken finger, have taken charge of Since the past season, the team the backline, which continues to be has been placing an emphasis the strength on building a of the team. team mentalWhile the ity. Franco has “We have speed. We have the Brahmas’ focusplayers to do it. It’s just building been d e f e n s e ing on making the chemistry, connecting in the sure the playremains final third." the team’s ers regard each strong suit, other as equals MATT FRANCO there is still regardless of room for imseniority. provement “Just bein some areas, ac- cording to head cause a player is a senior coach Matt Franco. doesn’t mean they’re entitled to “As strong as we are defensively, anything; just because they’re a it’s mostly just covering each other freshman doesn’t mean they’re defensively. We’ve been working on at the bottom of the totem pole. the defenders shifting and working They’re entitled to everything a setogether as a unit,” he said. niors is on this team.”

Leading the team with three The Brahmas contended in the goals, Pak has transitioned from Division I Aliso Cup last month, the backline to an attacking posilosing 1-0 to the San Clemente Trition, joining three freshmen starttons and the Long Beach Polytechers: midfielder Valerie Araya, nic Jackrabbits, and beating the forward and midfielder Samantha Chino Hills Huskies 1-0.

Rueles, and midfielder Marissa “They all come from different Vazques, who was moved from JV club teams and different coaching during the season. styles so it’s fun seeing the talent “She’s been attacking from the we have here. It’s just trying to put midfield, giving us the best opit together and get them to play portunities with our speed up top. together.”Franco said.

She’s able to find through-balls and Today, the Brahmas will face has great vision,” Franco said. the undefeated Glendora Tartans, Improving offense had been a looking to redeem a 3-0 loss.

SPORTS

THE BULL'S EYE

JANUARY 25, 2017

15

DB student tackles hard-hitting sport Sophomore Kurt Sakata starred on another school’s rugby squad last year as Player of the Year. cindy liu staff writer Being a Brahma did not stop sophomore Kurt Sakata from being named the Player of the Year for the Servite High School JV rugby team last year.

Sakata was one of the 30 percent of rugby players selected from various high schools allowed to play for another school’s team since rugby is not a CIF sport.

Rugby, a sport often seen as a clash of football and soccer, is a full contact sport in which players use physical strength, agility and strategy to advance an oval shaped ball into the opposing team’s field by either kicking or running with the ball.

Players perform full on tackles along with other physical actions without any sort of padding or gear.

“There’s no stopping,” Sakata said. “It’s not like football; there’s no downs or time outs. You just keep going. It’s tiring, but in the end when you think about the game, you’re just like ‘wow, that was awesome.’”

Sakata’s interest in the sport

Photo courtesy of KURT SAKATA

Sophomore Kurt Sakata found his interest in the sport over two years ago when he first saw a rugby match on TV. was sparked by a rugby match on television two years ago. Since then, Sakata was able to develop as a rugby player, participate in numerous competitive teams, and meet rugby players from around the world while training.

Soon after watching the rugby match on television, Sakata joined the Fullerton Lions Club.

A short while later, Sakata participated in the Fullerton Lions Sevens, a select team of players from the club that plays rugby sevens, an alternate version of rugby.

In this version, there are seven players from each team on the field instead of the usual 15 players; they spend a brief 20 minutes on the field compared to the usual 80 minute game.

“It’s more open and more fun [since] it’s a shorter game,” Sakata said.

Soon after, Fullerton Lions coach Anthony Mosqueda invited Sakata to join Servite High School’s rugby team he was developing.

“The camaraderie is unbelievable,” Sakata said. “You could hate

the team, hate the players you are playing against and… demolish them [during the game], but after each game, we serve dinner or lunch and everyone just bonds.”

He plays the position of hooker, a forward player responsible for fighting for the ball during scrums, for Servite.

A year ago, Sakata left the Lions and joined Costa Mesa’s Back Bay Rugby team where he plays as an inside center.

“In that position, you generally have to be quick, quick on your

hands. It’s a much harder position than a hooker,” Sakata said.

Last summer, Sakata had the opportunity to participate in the International Rugby Academy held in New Zealand with international students. There, he trained with a team of ten international students to improve his rugby techniques and played in various games alongside them.

“Foreign rugby players, compared to [players from] here, are more experienced and more respectful,” Sakata said.

As the only student athlete from the United States attending the rugby academy, he developed close relations with players from all around the world, including students from New Zealand, Japan, Philippines, London, Scotland, Chile and Uruguay.

In one of the events that cemented his passion for rugby, Sakata attended a four day camp at UC Berkeley during the summer of 2015 where he trained with collegiate rugby players alongside roughly 80 students from America and foreign countries.

“It got me tougher physically and mentally,” Sakata said. “I would say I got more mature after I started playing rugby; the traveling, meeting new people, and the coaches [caused that].”

Sakata now trains with his personal coach Tyler Bailey in hopes of qualifying for Division 1 college rugby.

Brahmas kickoff on the wrong foot in league CALVIN RU

Seniors Donje Lee and Zaid Parek (right) participate in a live spar during practice.

Underclassmen key to success WRESTLING While the boys are working to find the right weight matchups, the team is 1-2. ryan chae sports editor In a sport where a few pounds can determine who their next opponent will be, the boys of the Diamond Bar High School wrestling team are looking to make sure that their weight matches their opponent.

The Brahmas are currently sitting on a 1-2 league record after beating Glendora, 42-27, and losing to Ayala and South Hills, 46-30 and 42-24.

To prepare for the season, the boys have had to go through some intense training.

“Practices are very brutal, especially early on in the season. It takes a lot of discipline. Even after practice, it’s still not done. We’ve got to make weight, got to go to the gym, and make sure we’re eating healthy,” senior Nick Wahba said.

In the offseason, the boys mainly conditioned through running exercises, but during league season,

it’s another story. The team currently undergoes daily three-hour practices of live wrestling, during which the Brahmas are able to work on technique and their stamina.

As making weight has been a challenge, some wrestlers, including Wahba himself, are forced to wrestle in higher weight classes.

In the match against Walnut, Wahba had to face a Mustang that weighed 145 while he weighed 137 at the time. Although the Brahmas had to make adjustments, they were able to pull off the win in one of their final preseason games, dominating 39-17.

To help with weight, the team has had the assistance of coach Andre Bonafe, who was a wrestler himself at DBHS and apart of the 30 Win Club his senior year.

Bonafe is a personal trainer and has helped the team stay healthy in terms of dieting and working out.

Although the lineup is made up of primarily seniors, underclassmen mainly carry the load in the upper weight class.

Senior captain Michael Cardiel believes that the team’s chances of winning the league relies heavily on the success of the younger Brahmas as well the energy level of the team.

BOYS SOCCER After tying for first last year, the team is off to a rough start, going 1-3. ingrid chan staff writer The Diamond Bar High School boys soccer team is anxious to excel this season given its history in the Palomares League and its preseason record of 5-4.

The boys started the season with a disappointing 2-0 loss to Glendora. Even though they did win their

second game 2-0 against Ayala, it was followed by a 1-0 loss against South Hills and a 3-1 loss against Claremont.

As of now, the team hasn’t made many changes to the routine, schedule or exercises since its current system has been quite successful, tying for first in league last year and finishing second the year before, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for the Brahmas to improve.

“Our offense is not as strong as it has been in the past, so we’ve been trying to come up with new combinations - a lot more up-tempo offense in order to try and force

ERIC HONG

Junior Michael Velasco weaves through Claremont’s defense. DB lost 3-1.

airs on the opponent’s defense,” head coach Kemp Wells said.

Claremont remains the Brahmas’ biggest rivals as the two are always fighting for first in league.

Last year, Claremont and DBHS tied for league champions and the year before, Claremont beat out Diamond Bar for first place.

“If we can beat them, we usually feel confident we can beat the other teams because Claremont is right there with us at the top,” Wells said.

Early December, the Brahmas participated in the Tournament of Champions, but did not place.

It consisted of schools that were league champions, as every team that was eligible to compete was required to have won first in their league the year prior.

The boys made room for practice over winter break in preparation for their second tournament during the holidays. They competed at Ontario Christian High School and earned the title of consolation champions. The teams were ranked bracket-style, so even though DB lost its first game and were already out of the race for first place, the Brahmas made up for it by winning their next three games.

Seniors Christian Valdez, Ryan Hernandez, and Andrew Ellis lead the team in goals, tied at four. The rest of the points are spread out across the other members as the entire team has been contributing evenly.

Seniors Tommy Ramos and Mario Moreno, the team’s two main goalkeepers, have also been doing their fair share of work with 1035 minutes combined.

“As coaches, we have very few complaints about how hard the players work. We just always have to work on playing smarter and cooperating more as a team,” Wells said.

16 SPORTS

JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BULL'S EYE

At the top of the league GIRLS BASKETBALL Lady Brahmas are off to a strong start, tied for first with a 3-1 record.

BRIAN CHANG NEWS editor After one of the team’s most successful pre-seasons in recent memory, the Diamond Bar High School girls basketball team enters league with the second best winning percentage.

The team has participated in the Wilson, San Dimas and Don Lugo

tournaments, ending each with its best finish in over a decade. The team took first in the Wilson, fifth in San Dimas and second at the Don Lugo tournament.

The Lady Brahmas went 3-1 at Don Lugo, dropping their single game to Upland High School in the championship game.

Coach Tony McCabe attributes the team’s success to players on the bench, who stepped up during the tournament, specifically junior Sabrina McNally as a key “sixth man” for the team over the break.

“She had to substitute for our center who was missing, and she stepped in and became a starter

CALVIN RU

T F H O E E M T E

ERIC HONG

P.E. teacher Marcus Hughes announced his departure as football coach on Jan. 6.

Football head coach resigns In his three seasons with the team, Hughes posted a league record 1-14 and overall record of 11-19.

RYAN CHAE sports editor Diamond Bar High School football head coach Marcus Hughes has announced his resignation after three seasons with the team.

The search for a replacement has already begun, according the announcement from the administration.

Hughes joined the football program in March 2014 when former head coach Ryan Maine became the offensive coordinator for Santiago High School. Hughes had previous experience at Cornwall Central

STEALS PER GAME ASSISTS PER GAME

ma

y e lik co r

cindy liu staff writer With more than twelve years of experience under his belt, captain and point guard Malik Corey delves into his final year of high school as the leading force for the Diamond Bar High School’s varsity boys basketball team.

“We’re all close on the team and I feel like we all feed off of each other’s [energy]. They know that I always have their back,” Corey said.

Corey’s father introduced him to basketball when he was five years old, which led to his playing in the Rec League. Since then, Corey moved on to play for other more advanced teams such as Hard 2 Guard, a travel team he joined two years ago.

There, Corey competes in tournaments that attract the best basketball players from across the United States. In Hard 2 Guard, he

says there are younger players on the team whom he tries to be a role model for.

He recounted his most memorable experience in Hard 2 Guard as a weekend long tournament in Las Vegas, where he competed against highly ranked players in his division.

From his first shot at basketball to when he joined the DBHS varsity team in his sophomore year, Corey has been continuing his father’s legacy. His father, Horace Corey, who played at Iowa State University and Cal Baptist University, has played a big role in his son’s basketball career as his personal coach and motivator.

“With my dad, I learn personal stuff as in improving my dribbling more [and] shooting more,” Corey said. “It’s just to help me stay on top instead of being average.”

On the team, he leads alongside fellow captain junior Kingston Ko. “[Through basketball], I’ve met a

High School in New York where he went 67-13 in six seasons and to the playoffs for three straight years.

In his three years with the team, Hughes compiled an overall record of 11-19 and a league record of 1-14.

Over the three seasons the team averaged 24 points a game while allowing 30 points a game.

Players from his three years said they have learned countless of lessons from Hughes, both on the field and off the field. “[He taught me] to just give a hand to someone when they’re down and always show class,” senior running back and captain Davion Bluitt said.

Hughes accepted a position at Saddleback Community College as the running backs coach. He will continue his position as the P.E. teacher and assistant basketball and track coach at DBHS.

2016-2017 BASKETBALL SEASON STATS

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Junior Sabrina McNally (right) closes out an Ayala shooter in a 53-50 win.

and had a great tournament, rebounding and playing great inside defense,” McCabe said. “The big change that we did this year from the past, is that we have played way down into the bench a lot more, and it’s really helped develop the younger kids too.”

The team played the Glendora Tartans, the highest seeded team in the league, in their first league match on Jan. 10, losing 63-45 despite an early lead. The team also faced off against the Ayala Bulldogs on Jan. 13, coming out on top after a back-and-forth game with a score of 53-50. The team followed up with another victory on Jan. 17, coming back from a 22 point deficit to triumph over the South Hills Huskies 66-58.

This season’s team is one of the “most focused and hardest working” McCabe has coached. And the results show in the number of highlights the season has seen such as senior captain Juliana Gamboa’s quadruple double, or double digits in steals, points, rebounds and assists in one game.

However, senior captain Lauryn Del Campo says that the Lady Brahmas started off at an disadvantage, as they lost two of their key players from last season.

“We really grew together as a team and learned how all the other girls play and where everything fits in together,” Del Campo said. She names this, along with the team’s speed, as two of their biggest advantages over opponents in the league.

Yet, not all is perfect. Del Campo cites the team’s tendency to lose its cool in games as a major detriment during the Don Lugo tournament, and McCabe wants to see more fast breaks out of the team.

POINTS PER GAME lot of new friends, and it’s made me very social. I have no problem talking to people,” Corey said. “Just from basketball, I know so many people and it’s crazy— I would’ve never known them if I never joined the team.”

In his last year on the court, he had a chance to play alongside his younger brother, sophomore Myles Corey.

“It’s amazing,” Corey said. “I love my younger brother. We’ve always wanted to do this and we finally got the chance and we’re just making the best of it.”

Although he hasn’t focused on a specific college to play basketball for, he said that definitely plans to continue basketball in college and later in life.

“I feel as if basketball has always kept me on the right path— in high school, in everything,” Corey said.

“I feel that if I wasn’t playing basketball I just wouldn’t be in the same position I am today.”

3.7 3.0 17.9

ERIC HONG

Senior Malik Corey has been playing basketball since he was five-years old.