High Tide: Nov. 18, 2016

HIGH TIDE

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA November 18, 2016 Vol. XCVII Edition 6

In focus

Students place in a photo competition with over 6,500 entries [story on pages 10 and 11]

Staying focused. Senior Luigi Lopez’s astropho-

tography shot won an honorable mention. “I’m proudest of my shot of the milky way because it reminds me of how my friends and I like to go out and appreciate just a fraction of the world’s wonders. The photo says something different from what’s actually out there.

When you’re actually out there and you’re actually looking at the stars, it’s two different things, but when I look at the photo I can picture myself back in that moment,” Lopez said. PHOTO BY LUIGI LOPEZ

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High Tide

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1.

Planting the seeds of a new school garden. 1.

Senior Alexis Johnson waters transplant containers that hold freshly planted seeds. 2. Senior Brandon Chun plants new seeds in a transplat container. 3. Chun and senior Tommy Ramirez work together to put new seeds in a transplant container. The plants wil likely find their new home in the rooftop garden.

The heavy sunlight and strong winds will determine which plants will survive and which ones won’t. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KANO

2.

Gardening taken to the next level

Botany club plans to install garden on roof of the Nest

by Austin Nunis Started with the intent of educating people about native plants and proper gardening techniques, the RUHS Botany Club now takes on the challenge of installing a garden on the roof of the Nest.

“The Botany Club is a new club that we’ve brought to RUHS this year. We came up with the idea for it last year when we realized that there was no space where everyone who was interested in gardening and plant sciences could gather,” senior Alexis Johnson, copresident of the club, said.

As co-president, Johnson is in charge of general affairs regarding both the club and their new project. She directs the club in planting, maintenance, and outside club activities as well as meetings.

After the empty space on top of the Nest, which is a part of the administration building, was brought to the club’s attention, Johnson and co-president senior Bradford Tarwater began working to transform the space from “worn out” and “unused” to “something that students can really enjoy”.

“Right now we’re working on cleaning it

up, so we’ve gotten a lot of weeding done in the last few weeks. From there we’re discussing within our group what we want to plant there because we have to work with what can actually survive up there,” Johnson said.

As they began work on the garden, the club ran into several challenges due to the location of the space and the subpar gardening conditions.

“When we first began to work on the garden, we ran several soil tests and found that it was nutrient deficient, which meant it was lacking a sufficient amount of nitrates and phosphates,” Johnson said. “The lighting up there is also very harsh, so we need to look into what plants can survive in those conditions.”

According to Tarwater, the conditions are only suitable for a very limited variety of plants.

“The soil is really bad. It’s not suitable to plant anything. It’s more like planting in sand. We can plant ice plants in it but we don’t want to do that,” Tarwater said.

To fix the problem, Johnson says that

the club will either have to fertilize the soil themselves or put in nutrient-fixing plants once they start planting. Despite the setback, Johnson is eager to get to start planting and cultivating a space for students to “hang out” in, and also hopes that the garden will benefit the school.

“The space is definitely changing from a really worn out area that just wasn’t cared for or appreciated,” Johnson said. “And I feel like any change that we can make up there will be a positive one that can actually help out the school, whether it’s through beautification or planting foods that the school could use.”

Besides the opportunity to create and design the garden they way they envision, Tarwater and Johnson love many other aspects of their new club.

“What I really like about this club is that everyone’s really enthusiastic. They really love what we’re doing and they’re all really engaged. We kinda get inspired off of each other’s’ energy, because everyone comes to work,” Johnson said.

Like Johnson, Tarwater enjoys the oppor-

tunities the club has to offer.

“I really like the community and I like the ability to basically plant on school grounds,” Tarwater said, “I love being around plants and educate people on plant sciences and the beauty of plants themselves.”

The club, which meets on Wednesdays in room 216 or on the roof of the Nest, will begin the process of planting and building their garden within the next few weeks.

“We’re going to start getting root cuttings and seedlings pretty soon, that way in the coming weeks we can actually start planting and caring for what we’re putting in the garden,” Johnson said.

Both Johnson and Tarwater are excited about Redondo’s new botanical instillation, despite the challenges that they may have to overcome.

“We have a really great group of kids this year and I’m really proud to see what kind of students we’ve drawn into it,” Johnson said.

“I’m glad that we’re all enjoying the process of the garden and I’m excited to see what comes out of it.”

Nov. 18, 2016

news

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Advertising ecology

APES receives funding for signage promoting resource conservation

by Davina Nguyen

AP Environmental Science (APES) students are creating signs that are to be placed across campus in order to promote water conservation methods.

The APES class has been given a $2,000 grant by West Basin Municipal Water District to produce signs that that educate the student body about water saving measures that can be used both at school and at home.

Facilitated by teacher Gillian Moberg, the students are currently engaged in a light competition in which Moberg will choose about 10 to 12 from a total of 18 designs to display around the school by the end of Christmas break.

“I was already in communication with West Basin last year when we were refurbishing our rain garden,” Moberg said. “I asked for funding for the signage to make a bigger impact with the garden, as it serves as a great outdoor education tool, not just for the students but for any casual observer as well.”

Moberg wrote out a proposal for the idea over the summer to present to the Board of Education and RUHS administration.

After earning their approval, she gained the community grant from West Basin, as they sponsor causes related to water quality and quantity in the South Bay, according to Moberg.

The students have one year to design and develop the signs, and have them professionally made with the grant money

“Locals only.” This design submission, by seniors Caterina Hyneman, Lydia Sayad, Matthew Yonemura, and Tyler Boyd, features Marvel character “Groot” on a surfboard with the title “Locals only” to promote the planting of only native species on campus. Plants native to the area consume less water and are important to the maintenance of nutrient cycles in their natural habitat. ILLUSTRATION BY ADRIAN CRACIUN

before they lose funding. She aims to have the students educate their peers about water conservation through the posters and to raise awareness for the Water Conservation Board Report, which was written by green consultants hired by the RBUSD to efficiently use water in RUHS.

“There is a professional audit done with the intent of saving water. Only, it lived in this paperwork that nobody else knew about except for the people who wrote it, which I think is a shame. So, if we are going to make sustainability a practice that every student can embody, then we need to educate every

student. Regardless of whether students take this class or not, or if they only have a passing interest, sustainability is kind of the wave of the future,” Moberg said.

Acknowledging the difficulty in catching the attention of the students with the information presented, designers aim to attract viewers with eye-catching visual effects and wording.

“I did a little bit of reading, and [signage] is sort of an industry term to say sign. There is a kind of psychology around how to deliver your message effectively, and in as few words and potent images as possible. You have to be effective, because no one is going to take 10 seconds to read your sign. So that is what we’re playing with: how to use color, effective messaging, and still educate without being preachy, without making anyone feel guilty, just to put out simple strategies that can be built into the campus - they can be designed in a home, even - and still be resource friendly,” Moberg said.

A major goal that both Moberg and her students aim to achieve is to leave a substantial impact in their environment by implementing change on campus.

“I try to make it so that every APES class leaves behind a legacy,” Moberg said. “It helps gain support from administration, as well as the students in that at least every APES student, and other students in other ways leaves a positive mark on campus before they graduate.”

The importance of the SBAC

Educators discuss incorporation of the SBAC into students’ overall grades

by Kylee Kallick

For the past two years, juniors have taken the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). With many not scoring very high compared to other similar assessments, the school board has set goals and discussed ways to make students more determined to do well.

“Most students tend to think of the SBAC test as low stakes because it’s not attached to the student’s’ grade,” Principal Jens Brandt said.

The test, which is based on math and language arts, has had a constant math score of 45% proficiency or above for the past two years. The language arts score has gone from 75% to 61% proficiency in the same interval.

“We believe the score went down a little bit in language arts last year because students weren’t putting forth their full effort into performing well on the test,” Brandt said.

The goal this year is to raise the math grades up to a 55% proficiency or above, and to get the language arts grade back up to a 75% proficiency or above. Brandt believes completing this task will take help from not only the students, but also their parents and the staff.

“We met with all the language arts and math teachers to talk about different ways to get the students motivated and get them to really communicate with the students as well as getting their parents involved.” Brandt said.

The teachers’ plan is to possibly find a way to reward students that are trying their hardest before and during the test and to raise awareness of the test among both students and parents.

For the time being, the test doesn’t contribute to students’ grades, but according to

Brandt, there is a good chance in the future it will be factored in as either a participation grade or a test grade.

Multiple different district offices, legislators, educational resource officers and college admissions personnel, as well as RUHS administration, are discussing the incorporation of participation in the test into the student’s overall grade.

“The SBAC will at some point be as important as an advanced placement test and hopefully attaching a grade to it to motivate them to do well,” Brandt said.

The AP tests, which count towards the student’s overall grade in the class, continue to be “strong” with passing grades above 80, and administration hasn’t seen a drop in enrollment for AP classes.

Even though many students believe that this test has no impact on college registra-

tion, it does help in terms of competitiveness of our school with regards of college university admission officers.

“The college university admission officers look at a lot of different assessments that indicate that our students are of the academic standing to be successful in college,” Brandt said.

Brandt, as well as many others, look forward to seeing what a difference in test scores the incorporation of the SBAC as a grade can make if students put in their full effort and prepare for the test.

“I would like all of our eleventh grade students, our juniors, and for that matter, our ninth and tenth graders who will eventually be taking the SBAC to give it their best effort,” Brandt said, “And obviously prepare themselves in their math and language arts classes.”

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attle Robotics begins tryouts due to large amount of ots student signups over the summer

by Rubab Quraishi

Beach Cities Robotics Team 294 is holding tryouts for the first time due to the large amount of students that registered to join over the summer.

Submission date for the tryouts is November 13, and the team will be picked out before their competitive season starts in January.

“We’ve never had to choose students before. We’ve always had an open team. We even accept students from other schools, and to shut down and say we can’t accept all of the students is hard,” senior team captain Tina Hayati said.

The robotics team competes against other schools by building robots that play games during competitions.

Hayati is “upset” that they need t r yo u t s since it

forces the team to decline certain students who don’t meet the expectation of the team.

The grade point average in order to be on the team has increased from a 2.0 to an unweighted 2.5 compared to previous years, and a 3.0 if weighted.

“It’s hard to reject some of the students when the whole point of our program is to have anybody and everybody get involved in engineering and inspire others to do the same,” Hayati said.

Beach Cities Robotics has approximately six mentors from companies like Boeing and Raytheon. With a limited number of mentors, the number of students will be limited too.

“You lose those people along with the talent they might shine, just be-

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cause they don’t want to try out,” Hayati said.

New and returning students need to try out, and last year there were thirty active students.

“It’s really upsetting. There’s not much stress, but you’re competing with your own teammates, which is something I definitely don’t want to do,” Hayati said.

According to Hayati, the teammates, along with the faculty advisor, Meagan Kunert, have created a group within the Beach Cities Robotics team.

“All the team members have an effect on each other,” Hayati said. “Without robotics, I’d be really shy. I probably wouldn’t have challenged myself.”

As team captain of robotics, Hayati has been inspired by her teammates and teacher to keep on taking risks.

“The team members have helped me loosen up and not be so stressed about school.

They taught me to have more confidence and to just go for what I want,” Hayati said.

After being a part of the team, Hayati has become even more interested in machine engineering and has had an internship along with taking engineering courses.

“People are going to have to be more

committed, but by having a tryout, it’s going to discourage some of them to actually sign up,” Hayati said.

Students who want to tryout will write essays, take safety tests, follow a rubric and need to come to a mandatory minimum of ten hours of lab in order to qualify for a spot onto the team.

“I don’t think it’ll prevent those that are actually engaged and want to do it in the future,” Hayati said. “But some students will be discouraged and wouldn’t want to completely have to commit to something like robotics, where we meet up constantly.”

In previous years the team has lacked members. Now, the maximum number of students allowed on the team will be limited to forty. ”It’s good to see that people are interested in what we’re doing and that it’s actually been noticed on campus, because for the longest time, nobody knew we had a robotics team,” Hayati said.

Regardless of the limits for team members, Hayati is happy to see how many more people are interested this year.

“I love how students are becoming more involved,” she said. “It’s nice to see that I can

Corcoran hopes to carry passion for teaching to next job

by Yasi Farzeli and Maya Groark

After three years of working at RUHS, Assistant Principal Lindsey Corcoran has decided to take a job offer as Director of Linked Learning with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). And though she is hopeful for her future in this path, the decisions

Leaving her legacy. “I hope that I’ve left an

impact of care and teaching kids and staff alike that we can always do more of something for students,” Corcoran said. PHOTO BY EDEN MILAN

both to apply for and take the job have not been easy.

Her interest was initially sparked by the different career focuses--ranging anywhere from construction to medicine--the schools she will be supporting have implemented.

Core classes in science, math, english, and history work towards helping students reach a “common goal.” Throughout her college and professional career, Corcoran has maintained a view that it is important to influence change and provide greater educational opportunities for students. At LAUSD, she hopes to put this mindset to use.

“Initially, when I saw that this might be an opportunity that I might be interested in, I thought, ‘That seems really cool.’ It’s such a different way to think about how kids are being educated. I think at Redondo, we’ve done a little bit of that. We have more career pathways, and we’ve brought in a lot of programs to help kids start thinking about their future.

For example, we have a courtroom on campus now, we have the Biomed program, and engineering program, so thinking about that from a bigger scale is interesting for me,” Corcoran said.

Though she was extremely interested, Corcoran was still hesitant to apply because

the job was a “reach.” Throughout the process, however, the support her coworkers have shown for her interest in the job has encouraged her to make this change.

“I threw my name in that hat around the end of the summer, and thought, ‘I probably won’t get it. There is no way.” And then I was invited to an interview in the middle of October, which is crazy,” Corcoran said. “I talked to our admin team, and told them I have this opportunity to go in for this interview.

They said, ‘Lindsey, go. You should go. Worst thing: they say you don’t get it.’ And two weeks after that, I got a call that they wanted me to take this job.”

In leaving RUHS, Corcoran believes the hardest part will be leaving the students.

“I’m not going to be around students everyday anymore. That’s really sad to me. I hope to come back for football games and basketball games and band shows and drama performances, just so I can feel like part of the community. It’s an awesome school, and you guys are so lucky and I know you guys are going to find great people to take my place,” Corcoran said.

Corcoran hopes that she has left a positive impact on both the students and faculty at RUHS and encourages the preservation of

unique programs like Mock Trial and Teen Court that ultimately work towards the important goal of “always doing something more for the students.” And as she leaves, she wants students to continue pushing themselves to excellence.

“This move that I’m making is a risk, for sure, and it’s scary to start something new in the middle of the school year. But it’s something that we have to do to grow and to help ourselves learn new things and to continue to follow our passion. So I hope that our students, the Sea Hawks, continue to push themselves in that way while they’re in school here at Redondo, but also beyond school,” Corcoran said.

And as she looks forward to her new job, she takes with her the memory of her “family” at RUHS. “It’s been awesome. It really just feels like a family here. Regardless of how big it is, it feels small, because it feels like everyone knows each other. You guys are great, the staff is awesome, and everybody’s here for the right reasons. I don’t know a single person who’s on this campus who isn’t here for the students first, and to try to make this school the best it can be,” Corcoran said. “I know I’ll never work at a place quite like it.”

Nov. 18, 2016

w a L and r e d or hes c a e r l k Tria

Moc s ff o y pla

N BY ATIO S T R R AC I U N U L IL C IAN ADR

by Alex Dang

The Mock Trial club reached the playoff round in the Los Angeles County competition for the first time in the program’s history. However, both of the club’s teams were eliminated after competing in the round of 24 on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

“I’m really proud of what both teams that we put out achieved, I think that we did really well. We did go up against some tough teams, but I like how we didn’t lose our poise.

We continued to do what we knew best, what we’d been practicing for a month,” senior and co-club president Jaideep Chakladar said.

The competition is a simulation of a criminal court case, in this instance a human trafficking case, where students portray witnesses and serve as lawyers for both the

news prosecution and the defense. The decision of which teams make the playoff round is not based on who wins the trial, but rather which team is given the higher point total from the scorers.

“Usually in the first round we score very well, and then in the second round we come up against a hard team because we scored well.

That’s happened for four years now,” Chakladar said. “We came up against a school where I could tell right off the bat was very experienced; they were confident, they were respectful, and they knew what they were doing. But I think that this year, we’ve done the best in handling and competing against those tougher teams.”

In spite of the club’s success, Chakladar believes that there is still room for improvement.

“We could work on our mental state in the actual competition, being more aware of stuff that’s going on around us. Objections, paying attention to what the other team is saying so that you can use it in your own statements,” Chakladar said. “But one of the things that hit us the hardest was the objec-

tions other teams made and how we had to argue to the judge so that we wouldn’t have those objections sustained against us.”

The club has seen an increase in membership this year due in part to the addition of freshmen who had participated in the Parras Middle School Mock Trial program.

“For the first two or three years, the club was relatively small. We had enough people for a team. We usually had a lot of seniors because of Mr. Henges’ government class.

But this is the first year that the club got big enough so that we could have two teams,” Chakladar said.

The competition represents the final outing for the “core” members of the club, a group of seniors who have been participating since the program’s founding in 2012.

According to freshman Sundeep Chakladar, the departure of the seniors won’t diminish the performance of the club in future competitions.

“We did well this year, so the seniors will leave on a high note, and we’ll be able to carry it from where they left off,” Sundeep said.

“They’ve taught us what we need to do and what the work ethic needs to be in the future years. The core group of mock trial members laid the foundation and the expectations for what the club needs to be.”

The teams received the case packet entailing the details, charges, and witness statements of the case a month before the competition began. Against the “short” amount of time given to master the presentation of the

page 5 case, the club members were able to coordinate together in order to prepare.

“Our organization has been much better; we kind of know what to expect. We know that we have a limited timeline, we know exactly what kind of preparation we need for each role. We’ve been doing more scrimmages between our teams so that we can get actual experience rather than just lawyers and witnesses practicing the questions by themselves,” Chakladar said.

According to Sundeep Chakladar, the program has improved his rhetorical skills which have been “useful” to him in his private life.

“Mock trial helps especially when you’re arguing with your parents. I can counter all of my parents’ arguments now and I can do it in a professional manner,” Sundeep said.

Even though this is Chakladar’s final year in the club, he believes that the program provides an opportunity for students to experience firsthand the workings of America’s democratic system.

“You basically do an entire case by yourself. There is no substitute for that other than maybe law school, and to get that experience in high school is phenomenal,” Chakladar said. “The program exposes people to how our system works. It helps them in that they know exactly how our court system works.

You won’t go into the court with no idea what’s going on. It makes you a better citizen overall, a better American.”

Laster chosen as finalist for position on state school board

by Kayla Hiken

3.

Junior Madison Laster has been selected as a finalist for the student member position for the California State Board of Education.

She attended a conference in Sacramento where she successfully surpassed nine other students running for the same spot on the board.

Laster currently holds the student member position for the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) Board of Education and is hoping to move up to the State Board of Education as well.

“I’ve been able to see what a positive impact I can make on the students in our own district, so if I could take that to a statewide level, I know I can make a positive change there too,” Laster said.

If Laster were to be appointed as student member, her position would be similar to that of her current position on the RBUSD Board of Education. She would attend monthly meetings in Sacramento and would have a full vote, including on personnel issues, such as firing or hiring a teacher or changing salary, which she does not have the power to do for RBUSD. With a background in School Side Council, ASB, and Teen Court, Laster believes that she is eligible for the position.

“It just makes sense for me to continue down the path of education and politics due

to my background in all these programs.

This is a position I think I’m qualified for and I would really love it,” Laster said. “I think the position is up my alley, both in terms of qualifications and in what I want for myself.”

Laster applied for the position online, and was chosen as one of the top 12 students for the position. From there, the top 12 were taken out to Sacramento for a conference where the group was narrowed down to six after the first day. The next day the remaining students were interviewed by current members of the State Board of Education, who then chose the final three students.

“The whole process was nerve racking, waiting for the results to see if you were chosen to move on. I didn’t really have to prepare a specific presentation, however, it was more of presenting myself, my qualifications, and my views on education and the things I want to change,” Laster said.

Although Laster has involved herself in similar programs since middle school, she has not chosen a career pathway she would like to pursue.

“I have my background in education, in terms of School Side Council, the School Board, and ASB. However, I also have a background in law from Teen Court and the California Association of Youth Court’s Board,” Laster said. “I’m kind of just trying to see

which direction I get pulled into. I could definitely see myself going into politics and education or going into law or both, taking into consideration that I’ve been doing it for years and it’s something that I would be passionate about.”

With her previous background and experience, Laster believes she can be a great addition to the California State Board of Education.

“I think one of the biggest things I stand for is that everyone has a voice and everyone deserves to be heard,” Laster said. If there’s a problem in our education system it should be fixed, and I think the biggest way to get problems fixed is by exposure and by really showing the people, who have power and authority in society, of these problems. People do want to change these issues, but they have to be aware of it.”

New piece on the board. Madison Laster poses with members of the California Board of Education and the two other semi finalists for the student member positions. “I think having fun with what you’re doing is super important,” Laster said. “If you’re going to apply for a position, it needs to be something you enjoy, because if you don’t enjoy it then what’s the point?” PHOTO COURTESY OF MADISON LASTER.

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High Tide

opinion

Editorial

Make America one again

Though understandable, anti-Trump protests are devisive and and unfruitful in their attempts This bitter and venomous election has understandably lead to a resentful conclusion. With the reveal that Donald Trump has achieved the necessary 270 electoral college votes to become the next President of the United States, half of the country experienced a combined feeling of outrage, sorrow, and despair.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the new president-elect, with some of these protests evolving into violent riots, as seen in the cities of Portland, Seattle, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. While it is every U.S citizen’s right to conduct a peaceful protest, these demonstrations are not productive and do not elicit the change these protesters are hoping to achieve.

The simple fact of the matter is that these protests will not reverse the outcome of the election. President-elect Trump was chosen through a fair and democratic system, the very same process that has been

in use since the beginning of the country.

Therefore, Americans should respect the outcome of this election for a continued devotion towards representative democracy.

Instead of trying to rescind the democratic process that has served America dutifully for the last 200 years, Americans should be trying to work with the options available. Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States, that is unmistakable.

It would seem that Americans have two choices: they can disagree and clash with everything Trump attempts to do, causing no significant changes to occur and leaving America’s progression as a nation stagnant; or can work with President Trump and pass some helpful policies that would benefit the nation.

These men and women seem to be protesting against Trump’s election, but why? Democratic and Republican voter

turnout this year’s election was woefully low compared to the last twenty years of U.S elections, with Donald Trump winning with less votes than Mitt Romney lost with in 2012.

Perhaps these demonstrators should be more upset towards the populace’s apathetic mindset to this election, rather than the system that operates it.

That is not to say that criticism should be censored. There are some valid arguments behind the protests. However, it is so painful to see a genuine concern over our next president’s policies turn into a violent, mob-like riot with no real purpose.

These men and women are further cementing the gap between the two political parties with this sort of detestable behavior. In a time when the country is more divided than ever, all Americans need to step back and realize that conducting violence against a fellow American is never acceptable.

It is important to address what these protests might mean for the nation. These demonstrations sadly show that significant change will be a long and arduous process.

With the thousands of people lining up on the streets to rally against policies that have not even been enacted yet, hope for a peaceful cooperation between the two political parties seems to be a stillborn dream.

This election has left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, and these consecutive riots have only achieved further separation between the American people. These repulsive acts of violence against other citizens will only cause hurt and anger between Americans. The people of the United States must come to terms with the fact that the nation is stronger together, and the only way to continue making the United States great is to create a future everyone can believe in.

Letter to the Editor Last week, nearly my whole campus at Kenyon College mourned, but there were also those who celebrated. And at RUHS, I know firsthand that many students cried; but, so too did many celebrate. I wish to address them.

Congratulations on your victory. I too truly want him to be a good president. I sincerely hope he has a positive effect on our country.

However, you must realize and respect that many human beings feel personally attacked by this man and by many—but not all—of his supporters as well. They feel unsafe in their own country; many fear for their rights and even for their lives.

Again, to the Trump supporter reading this, I am not accusing you of racism or any other label. I am simply reminding you that your candidate has inarguably victimized and marginalized millions of Americans, including myself, including those next to you in class. Do not be part of that culture. Do not adopt his rhetoric.

Empathy is hard, but worthy and necessary. Imagine what your peer must feel: should you have been born black or Latinx or LGBTQ+, raised Muslim, or been a victim of sexual assault, it is likely you would fear.

People protest the president-elect in Downtown Los Angeles. PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE LAI

Yes

4

Editorial Board vote

Citizens have their right to protest; however, the nationwide anti-Trump protests are futile.

No

3

True empathy may be difficult, but respect is not. Freedom of speech is compatible with respect of your peers. I am not trying to silence your celebration nor attack your Republican beliefs. It is possible to be glad for a Trump presidency, and also respect those who are not. Love your neighbor.

Sincerely, Christopher Paludi Class of 2016

Nov. 18, 2016

page 7

opinion

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High Tide

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Editors-in-Chief: Caterina Hyneman; Shaniya Markalanda Online Editor-in-Chief: Reema Saad Opinion Editor: Dina Ghanim News Editors: Ben Brill; Jon Mallen Features Editors: Reem Chamas; Miriam Farah; Lizzie Fauver; Summer Saad; Adam Yorke; Kylie Yorke Sports Editors: Mia Berger; Luke Peterson Senior Editors: Yasmin Fazeli; Amanda Shaw Photo Editor: Eden Millan Copy Editors: Davina Nguyen; Marie Ona; Samaya Rubio Social Media Editor: Justin Pioletti Illustrators: Lulu Wegman Staff Writers: Brian Adler; Analise Asaro; Maryam Bacaloni; Brittany Baker; Amanda Ban; Mia Berger; Tessa Biscaldi; Malek Chamas; Michael TengKai Chang; Alexander Dang; Whayden Dhamcho; Kayvon Elahihaghighi; Yasmine Elahihaghighi; Martha Farah; Sarah Flannery; Daphnie Fulton; Camille Grace; Maya Groark; Kelly Harraka; Kayla Hiken; Kylee Kallick; Lauren Kim; Julian Kimura; Shyanne Landers; Grace McGonigle; Hayley O’Connor-Rigby; Daniel Parhizi; William Pournamdari; Julian Quevado; Rubab Quraishi; Batia Rotshtein; Keana Sterling; Nadia Stodder; Angie Tait; Benjamin Yepez; Erika Zlatkin Photographers: Cass Anderson; Matthew Davidson; Hiroki Goto; Kaitlyn Katayame; Jarrah May; Anne-Elyse Pe-terson; Danielle Sestak; Michael Yoon This is a wholly student-managed, designed, and written newspaper that focuses on the school and community.

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons represent the opinions of the staff writer or cartoonist.

Shaniya Markalanda

Reema Saad

The Electoral College should be upheld

Electoral College is an outdated system

While it is relatively uncommon for a president to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote, and ultimately lose the presidency, this was the case in the recent presidential election.

Because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote, many individuals are outraged by the Electoral College. But the Electoral College serves a purpose in ensuring that popular support comes from all over the country.

While it is true that the majority of Americans who voted support Hillary Clinton, as seen in the popular vote of 60,839,922 and 60,265,858, for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump respectively, the Electoral College requires that candidates win the majority of votes in the majority of states.

Because with electoral votes presidential candidates have to win the majority of votes from each state, all states are targeted during the time leading up to the election. If the election was based on a popular vote, presidential candidates would only focus on highly populated areas.

Small states are not overlooked and tend to have more power than they would in a popular vote. Because every state is targeted, as opposed to just urban areas, the Electoral College results in more cohesiveness in the country.

Typically, if a candidate wins a significant majority of the popular vote, they are almost certain to win the electoral vote.

However, if the popular vote is close, the candidate with the best distribution of popular votes wins. This goes to show that the winning candidate must not only be a popular candidate, but his or her support must be distributed throughout the country.

Additionally, minorities have a greater say in the Electoral College. Candidates cannot simply focus on majorities when it comes to gaining electoral votes, as minorities may play a large role in the voting results of a particular state.

In addition to the votes being spread out across the country, the Electoral College promotes a two-party system. Third party movements are forced into one of the two major political parties because it is difficult for a new or minor party to win enough votes to win the presidency.

With a popular election, many minor parties could form to prevent the popular majority from winning the election. The votes would be so divided among all the smaller parties, that it would be a challenge for a minor party to gain the majority of electoral votes..

Further, if a recount is necessary, the Electoral College makes this process simpler. Only states in which voting was close need to be recounted.

The Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing when they created the Electoral College. The President wins not only because of popularity with the people, but also because of the distribution of his popularity across America and not only in densely populated areas.

I’m sure we’ve all heard it before: “This is a democracy!” While we love to pull the majority rule card when we’re trying to decide which restaurant to eat at, that’s not how our presidential elections actually work.

Let’s face the facts; the electoral college was only ever created by the Framers of the Constitution in order to ensure slave state support in ratifying the Constitution. At the Constitutional Convention, James Madison said that a popular vote would mean the Southern states “could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes [sic].” These states had large populations, but far fewer eligible voters, so a direct vote for the presidency would have upset them. Thus, a compromise was born: the Electoral College.

However, it’s 2016. We are far past the days of slavery, and the Electoral College no longer serves a purpose.

Don’t be fooled. The distribution of electoral votes to each state is is not equally dispersed. Take the state of Wyoming. In theory, with its population of about 584,000 people, it would get zero electoral votes and be completely irrelevant.

Therefore, each state is granted three votes automatically.

Take a look at California. California has 55 electoral votes representing its population of 38.8 million people. With that being said, a single vote in Wyoming counts over three and half times more than an individual vote in California. There is one elector for every 705,000 people in California and one elector for every 195,000 people in Wyoming. These numbers do not speak for equal representation.

Incidentally, swing states have too much power in determining the outcome of elections every year. In a safe state like California, a Republican vote will never matter. However, in a swing state, a candidate can win the popular vote by a small margin and get all of the electoral votes, leaving the other candidate with nothing.

A common argument for keeping the Electoral College is ensuring broad support for a candidate from all different types of Americans. However, according to CNN exit polls, the only two groups Trump had a majority support from are white men and white women. Blacks, Latinos, and “other” voters overwhelmingly support Clinton. Even if whites make up a majority of America’s population, Trump found little backing in other racial groups.

A popular vote would force candidates to try and appeal to all voters, not just those residing in swing states. A direct election would mean that every vote counts just as much as another, whether it’s a Democratic vote or a Republican vote. Often times, people won’t vote because they believe their vote won’t matter in a state that is largely Democratic or Republican. Eliminating the Electoral College will eradicate such feelings and encourage citizens to make educated decisions about who they want to lead their country.

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features

High Tide

Thirty days to change

Widmann discusses effects of going without makeup during October

by Julian Kimura

Alexis Widmann was given 30 days to change her life. She, naturally, decided to spend them without makeup.

“I used to be totally dependent on makeup. I wouldn’t even leave the house without my eyelashes done or my skin completely covered in something, because I felt like that’s what i was supposed to do, and what I had to do to be pretty,” Widmann said.

The 30 day timespan for Widmann to make her life change was actually an informal project assigned by teacher, Megan Gould, for her 12th grade Self and Society english class. For the month of October, each student in Gould’s class would have to give up, or in some cases, take on something that would make a change in their life. The students would then journal their experiences with the change each day.

“It was so cool for our teacher to give us this project. Some people did not so creative things, like doing jumping jacks every day or drinking more milk,” Widmann said. “But I

think it was great that our teacher gave us a chance to really try and improve ourselves.”

Widmann started her project on Oct. 1 not looking forward to the coming makeupless days.

“The whole experience was pretty icky for the first couple of weeks. My skin was still breaking out and I had other issues like that,” Widmann said. “The hardest part was trying to stop excusing what I was doing. I kept telling my friends before the project, that I would be ugly the next week. It was really hard for me to stop saying that I’m like this because of an english project, because it’s something I shouldn’t have to apologize for. I shouldn’t have to be sorry about the way I look naturally.”

Despite the rough start, Widmann eventually grew to appreciate her new look.

“It took me a good two weeks to really feel comfortable or pretty at all without makeup, and when I was able to feel comfortable I was really able to appreciate compliments and

other comments because I know that they are talking about the real me and not me with a lot of help,” Widmann said.

Body image is especially important to teenagers. According to prnewswire.com, more than 90 percent of girls from ages 15 to 17, want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.

“Most girls are a little insecure about themselves and the way they look,” Widmann said. “For all girls, there is definitely a lot of pressure to look a certain way. To have even skin or perfect eyebrows, and this project for me was really overcoming those expectations.”

A group of Widmann’s friends have helped her throughout the transition of her going with makeup to without.

“All my friends were really supportive of me during the project. Another one of my friends who is a junior actually joined in and stopped wearing makeup with me,” Widmann said. “She has really severe acne so it was

really powerful to see someone that I’m close with go through this process with me, like we were a team for a couple of weeks.”

Despite the insecurities Widmann had before her 30 day project, she learned that it is “more satisfying to go without makeup than to be all caked up.”

“It is such an awesome feeling to just experience your own natural beauty. It is just really great to not have to buy expensive products or spend an extra half hour each day to feel accepted,” Widmann said. “For people who are considering going without makeup, you should just think about how good it feels to be complimented and how much better that would feel if you took everything artificial off and you were being complimented just for you being you.”

Widmann is continuing to go makeupfree despite her project ending on Oct. 31.

“I feel prettier than ever without makeup.

Not in a conceited way, I just am happy to be completely natural,” Widmann said.

Nov. 18, 2016

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features

by Tessa Biscaldi

W

Baking with Byars Emily Byars brings excitement and enthusiasm when teaching culinary arts

1.

Good vibes. 1. Teacher Emily Byars

poses in front of the banner that hangs on the back wall of her classroom. It reads “good friends, good food, god vibes”. “I love teaching culinary arts. I love knowing that students get to come to class and have fun here and that the things I am teaching them are going to be used by them their entire lives. 2.

Christian Lozano (right) and other classmates carve a turkey. The class prepared and carved turkey the week before Thanksgiving Break, in preparation for the holiday. PHOTOS BY CASS ANDERSON .

2.

hen you enter Emily Byars’ classroom, the first thing to catch your eye is a big banner hanging from the wall which reads: “good friends, good food, good vibes” which is the motto that Byars teaches by.

“Ms. Byars definitely promotes a very fun, healthy environment for us. She’s open to making sure everyone has a good time and she’s willing to bend the environment for that to happen. She compromises with us and makes sure that overall, we enjoy her class,” junior Isabelle Acosta said.

Byars’ makes her class a positive environment for her students to learn about food and enjoy themselves at the same time.

“She plays music and always has a smile on her face. She’s very high spirited all the time and is very positive,” freshman Isabella Varco said.

It is Ms. Byars’ third year teaching, but her first at Redondo. Before teaching, Byars was running a water park and majoring in interior design, which helped her realize what she truly wanted to do.

“I was fascinated by the study of family and consumer sciences, because I loved learning how the different studies in this branch affected each other and our quality of life. Most of the employees in the water park were in high school and I had to teach them life skills, cpr, and water safety. I realized that I liked to teach and be around teenagers, so I changed my major so that I could teach real world skills to high schoolers,” Byars said.

For the past two years, since she graduated college, Byars has been a substitute teacher. But she is now teaching her own culinary arts class for the first time. Teaching has allowed her to share valuable life skills with students, just like she used to do at the waterpark.

“I love teaching culinary arts,” Byars said. “I love knowing that students get to come to class and have fun and that the things I’m teaching them are going to be used their entire lives.”

While culinary arts is seen as an easy course, it has real world application.

“The class I teach is based off of food science, nutrition, leadership and relationship development. It shouldn’t be seen as an ‘easy A’, but as an opportunity to learn and grow as a young adult,” Byars said.

In order to help her students learn the importance of nutrition and balance, Byars teaches her class in units. At the start of the semester, her students began by learning about safety, sanitation and equipment, as well as the use of myplate, which Byars uses to demonstrate balanced meals.

“Our first unit was baking, so we made chocolate chip scones, and blueberry muffins. From there we went on to vegetables, where they learned to make vegetable soup, salsa, quesadillas, and pizza,” Byars said. “We just began the grains unit where we made chili and cornbread, as well as fried rice. I want to show students a variety of foods that they can recreate at home.”

Byars uses the gradual release approach to teach her students the science behind the cooking, as well as how to prepare and make the food.

“A gradual release is when you tell, teach and then let the students get involved,” Byars said. “I first give the students background information on the scientific aspect of the cooking, then I do a demonstration, and then I let the students get in their groups to cook. I let them go and allow them to do trial and error and make their own mistakes.”

Byars “loves the team dynamic and seeing students grow and build relationships together”.

“Seeing students who would normally never talk to each other, build a relationship and seeing their dynamics change is definitely the most rewarding part of teaching,” Byars said.

Getting students to see food as more than just something you eat is another very important part of Byars’ job.

“I love that through my class, students can see food as more than just something you eat. There’s a scientific background, and an art to it, and it brings people together,” Byars said. “They need this skill to be an adult, and I love that I get to help with tha through what I do.”

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High Tide

center

Picture perfe

Seniors Luigi Lopez and Sage Strusser won various a

by Grace McGonigle

1.

Yearbook and journalism photographers participated in the Association of Texas Photography Instructor’s Fall Photo Contest and received three 1st places, one 2nd place, two 3rd places and four honorable mentions from over 6,000 entries, on Saturday, October 29th.

Seniors Luigi Lopez and Sage Strusser were two of the most successful of RUHS’s students to enter, with three first places between them.

“I feel pretty good about what I submitted,” Lopez said. “I submitted a lot and won two first places, so I’m really happy with how I did. It’s a good reflection of how I work with photography.”

The competition acted as a gateway to success for the students by allowing their work to be viewed.

“It makes me feel good about myself because my work is being recognized. Photography can be used to send a message. There’s a deeper meaning within every photo and that can be used to show people things that they probably wouldn’t think about or notice otherwise. This competition allowed me to send a message of my own,” Lopez said.

The student photographers first learned about the contest when it was introduced to them by journalism and yearbook adviser Mitch Ziegler. For both Lopez and Strusser, the results were not the ones they expected, but they were both proud of what they accomplished.

“I was actually surprised with the picture that won. It was the first picture I had ever taken,” Strusser said. “I was kind of shocked by that because I had hoped that my most recent pictures were going to win, but I was still happy with the results.”

In the time he has been doing photography, Strusser has grown confident in his abilities and believes that he deserved the awards he got.

“I do think that I deserved it

2.

Take a picture, it’ll last longer. 1. “Double Exposure,” a photo by Luigi Lopez , won

first place in the Digitally Constructed Single Image Category. The photo was created through photoshop. 2. “Graffiti Tree,” the first picture that Strusser ever took, won first place in the Beginning Nature cateogry to Strusser’s surprise. 3. Lopez’s photo, “Yosemite” won third place in the Travel category. “Photography has allowed me to appreciate things more, especially nature. I go on a lot of photo adventures with my friends to places like Yosemite, and the photos I take help me appreciate the world around me,” Lopez said. 4. Lopez was hired by his friend to take prom pictures, leading to the creation of the winner of the Beginner Fashion cateogy, “Prom x LA.” PHOTOS BY LUIGI LOPEZ AND SAGE STRUSSER

because I picked up photography this [last] have been going out and taking photos ever like my pictures were definitely worth getti about that.”

Lopez and Strusser both started photogra it came easily to them.

“I saw people’s feeds on Instagram, and m a hobby, so I picked it up really quickly. It c always been attracted to the arts. It basicall said.

Lopez views photography as something the beauty of a photo lies in the eye of the be “I like that it’s a really subjective thing. It of photography is right or wrong. It’s whatev alized. I like to tell people that when they ask ‘I don’t know, it’s up to you.’ Photography is it,” Lopez said. “The ideal shot, to me, is a ph to and remember every single detail of the m Photography is something special to bo ATPI’s contest has inspired them to improv contests as well.

“I’m definitely going to participate in [t me more motivated to do better the next tim much of my perspective in the shot and wh than what other people might find appealing would be the most appealing to everyone, in perspective,” Strusser said.

According to both is a passion. Not only are Lopez and Strusser looking for-

Nov. 18, 2016

ect

center

page 11

awards at the ATPI Fall Photo Contest

] summer and ever since[,] I ward to entering future contests at RUHS, they even consider it a posry day,” Strusser said. “I feel sible career. ing noticed, so I was happy “It’s definitely a potential career. I feel like you can do so many things with that profession,” Strusser said. “My goals are to shoot in a aphy recently and found that top magazine for fashion or possibly getting into the movie industry and shooting for that. Whether it’s being on a TV show and moving my dad does photography as from series to series, or moving from movie to movie, I feel like there’s came naturally because I’ve a bunch of things you can do with it, so I’m considering it as a profesly runs in my family,” Lopez sion.”

Although Lopez aspires to start a career in photography, he hopes to g personal and admires how never lose the joy that it brings him. eholder.

“It’s really just about having fun. Even with the career part, photograt’s not a certain style or type phy is super fun and about having a good time with close friends. That’s ver you like; it’s very person- why I like getting other people into it too,” Lopez said. k me if their photos look cool, Strusser appreciates the candid nature of photography whatever you want to make and the way it opens people’s eyes to the truth of the mohoto that you can turn back ments it captures. moment.”

“With photography, you can’t really lie with the way oth Strusser and Lopez, and it’s seen, it gives everyone an honest, realistic way of ve and participate in future seeing things. I feel like it shows to other people how people are feeling, and it doesn’t the] future because it made just show the honest and realisme. Really, I feel like I put too tic way of how things are hat pictures I wanted, rather seen, but it provides a ng. I might just think of what new perspective,” nstead of just focusing on my Strusser said. students, photography

3.

4.

page 12

Joshua Friedrich recounts coming face-to-face with poverty and struggle in Southeast Asia

High Tide

features

by Erika Zlatkin It has been 15 hours of trekking through the plains of Nepal and the group has almost arrived to their school. Teacher Joshua Friedrich has trekked to Cambodia, Thailand and Laos in 2005 and to Nepal in 2009.

“I have always like to travel and go to new places and see a new eclectic group of people, so I decided to go to Thailand and explore all what that country had to offer,” Friedrich said.

He spent four months in Southeast Asia, exploring and meeting up with other backpackers in Thailand and Laos. Whereas in Cambodia, Friedrich went to sight-see the famous Angkor Wat temple.

“There were definitely times when I was in very remote locations, but I was young and adventurous, and I did not think about the repercussions if I got hurt,” Friedrich said. “Usually what I would do is find other like-minded travellers on my trek and we would travel all together to have safety in numbers.”

During his time in Thailand and Laos, Friedrich often visited popular tourist attractions.

“I explored cities, different cultural centers, and took boats up rivers to cities that you could not even access by car. I spent time in little villages that no tourist had ever seen before,” Friedrich said. “I think a better question would be what didn’t I do.”

Friedrich describes Cambodia is an impoverished country due to experiencing a genocide in the late 70s, which left most of their population as orphans or crippled elderly.

“It was one of the first times I saw mounds of trash in the streets and trash burning in a river because of the poor sanitation,” Friedrich said. “We are very fortunate to be able to have the right to a sanitation system and a consistent energy source. So to see their quality of living was very profound for me.”

Friedrich often saw many beggars only asking for one rupee, which is equivalent to about two pennies, and the amount of poverty was “striking” to him. Friedrich believes he is more appreciative of the benefits he has in America from this experience.

Several years following his trip to Cambodia, Friedrich went to Nepal to take part in a humanitarian mission.

According to Friedrich, coming to Nepal was difficult at first since he did not know his way around, have a phone, nor could speak the native language.

“When I first arrived, I was basically seven thousand miles away from anyone that I knew and nobody knew where I was,” Fried-

1.

rich said. “I was basically lost halfway around the world.”

Later in his trip did Friedrich begin to adjust to his surroundings and adapt to Nepal’s culture.

“My experience in Nepal was much more fulfilling and enriching than my trip to Cambodia and Thailand. I really fell in love when I went backpacking in Cambodia, but my trip to Nepal was different,” Friedrich said. “It became less of a sightseeing trip and more of a mission for the enlightenment of others.”

Nepal has a caste system, similar to India, in which a person is born into their social status. This is an “old idea” in Nepal, according to Friedrich, but as people are becoming more progressive, they are beginning to question the use of this system.

Friedrich met up with seven Nepali women who climbed Mount Everest as a way to combat negative stereotypes pertaining to women and stand up against the caste system. According to Friedrich, this was an “amazing accomplishment for women in Nepal” because at that time, women were not allowed to step foot on that mountain or intermingle with different caste levels.

“These women gained a lot of notoriety and became almost famous to the point where they did not want to get taken advantage of,” Friedrich said. “My job was to go over with them and speak English with them and educate them about Western culture so they would not be exploited.”

As Friedrich trekked with the Nepali women to local villages and plains, they rested at Rara lake, one of their sacred sights that a foreigner, like Friedrich, was not allowed to touch.

As part of these treks, the women would visit these rural villages with poor schools to

show presentations and brought a projector in their backpack, even on the hikes. They would show up “completely unannounced” and the principal would stop school and allow them to present.

“They would talk about what it means to be in a caste system and what females are capable of,” Friedrich said. “It was mainly a women’s rights movement and I was so fortunate to be a witness to these presentations.”

Friedrich noticed the poor condition and assumptions of women, especially when he was in Nepal.

“Nepal is still a very patriarchal society so when I was the only man traveling with these seven women, many suspected that it was inappropriate especially since I was a westerner,” Friedrich said. “So I stuck out to say the least.”

Friedrich believes that the most important thing he gathered from this trip was the new perspective on the many different opportunities Americans have.

“The people that I have met in Nepal will most likely never be outside the country their whole life or even see a beach,” Friedrich said. “Their economic situation is very limited, most people do not get a good education, and work is very hard to find as opposed to the vast majority of options available here.”

Despite their limitations, Friedrich was surprised that people “with so little” could be so content with their life.

“In America, you have upward mobility and a government that handles infrastructure like streets and roads so we can live a quality lifestyle in comparison to Nepal,” Friedrich said. “So the biggest takeaway was the gratitude I had to have been able to have this much opportunity.”

2.

Broadening horizons. 1. Two villagers, a

mother and her child, sit on a pile of cut wood. 2. A Sahdu, a person who is known for being “holy and good, “ sits on a rock in front of Nepal’s oldest Hindu temple, the Pashupatina. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSHUA FRIEDRICH

Friedrich believes his newfound appreciation for where he lives and his love for trekking made his trip to Nepal a memorable one.

He learned from the seven Mount Everest women, in addition to the people he encountered in Nepal, that gratuity and kindness are valuable traits.

“Despite what so many people think, especially these days, people can be so kind and generous,” Friedrich said. “The more I traveled and relied on people’s generosity, the more I believed that statement to be true.”

Nov. 18, 2016

page 13

features

Elhindi escapes the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 Nov. 28 The Muslim

2010

Brotherhood fails to win any seats in the Shura consultative upper house after the parliamentary polls. Believeing that the votes were rigged, protests soon follow.

2011

Feb. 13 Two days after

2011 Jan. 25 Over 20,000

protesters fill the streets of Cairo. Three died and 49 wounded due to violent disputes between citizens and Cairo police.

President Hosni Mubarak resigned, Egypt’s military control the government and dissolve the parliament. The constitution is suspended and a committee is created to change it.

INFORMATION FROM WWW.CNN.COM AND WWW.BBC.COM

2012

June 24 Mohammed

Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, wins the presidential election. Former president Mubarak is sentenced to life in prison.

by Kelly Harraka Despite barricading the doors of her house and having volunteers guard the streets, she still sleeps with one eye open in fear of another riot. After moving to Egypt in the third grade, senior Mira Elhindi managed to escape the riots in Cairo.

The riots began on Jan. 25, 2011 due to Egyptian citizens being “tired of living under an oppressive regime.” Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt for almost 30 years until the massive waves of protests that replaced his dictatorship with a democracy.

“There was also a lot of gunfire and army tanks around our neighborhood at all times for more than a couple months,” Elhindi said.

“The only security I could depend on were the daily tanks that guarded my community from the flashpoints of crime and looting that accompanied the rebellion.”

After the outbreaks, military officials were sent into the towns to maintain order.

“I distinctly remember driving around, and it was a very surreal experience,” Elhindi said. “It also felt like we were alone because most of our city was evacuated with only a few close friends that lived next to us.”

Most of the riots occurred in Tahrir Square, a major public town square in Cairo, but eventually spread to other various cities.

“I definitely felt scared for my life at times.

My whole family barricaded our doors, we had weapons and most of us would sleep in

one room,” Elhindi said.

Elhindi’s mother, Rayna Elhindi, took extreme precautions during this time in order to ensure her family’s safety.

“I would take my daughters into the room with me, as well as get weapons,” Rayna said.

“The lack of safety, minimal police and gunfire daily in our neighborhood worried me for the safety of my children. I was also worried school wouldn’t start up again and one of my daughters was a senior.”

The gunfire on the streets outside her house led her to think the doors could be knocked down and her home invaded.

“The scariest thing for my family was hearing gunfire at night and being locked in our houses worried that someone would break

in,” Elhindi said. “We were super nervous because we were all girls in the house and most of us were young.”

An organization, called the Muslim Brotherhood, believed that “creating chaos” would help them in uprooting the government.

Shops were looted and the group shut down a jail center’s security near Elhindi’s house, which allowed many inmates to escape.

“The riots also caused the internet and electricity to be cut for long periods of time, and so were the phone lines. This made it hard for us to talk to our friends or relatives throughout the country, [which] left us feeli n g unsure for days at a time,” Elhindi said.

Prior to the outbreak, Elhindi attended an international school called Cai-

ro American College (CAC). After evacuations began, Elhindi was left with only thirty people in her grade and one class session.

“During the peak of the revolution, my school got shut down, forcing me to continue online school for months. Most embassy families were evacuated immediately, and a lot of my friends that left never returned,” Elhindi said. “While they evacuated, they were also forced to leave behind all their belongings and pets.”

After a long flight with her two sisters and mother, Elhindi is happy to be in the United States with working electricity and a “less tyrannical” government.

“I appreciated my experience in Egypt, but I was excited to be home. The last few years were very volatile because we lived under curfew and the power off and on,” Elhindi said.

After witnessing her country’s battle for new a leader, Elhindi has become a strong believer in fighting for what is right.

“I think riots are dangerous and people should find other ways to get through to the government without putting other people in danger. But, I also think that riots are at times necessary if you are living under oppression, and people should have the right to fight for their freedom.”

Peace in the Middle East. Thousands of people

continued to celebrate into the early morning hours in Cairo, Egypt in the Tahrir Square after President Hosni Mubarak announced on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011, that he was stepping down from office after 30 years. (Rick Loomis/ Los Angeles Times/ MCT)

page 14

High Tide

features

I

n the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential election, several protests against him haven been taking place across the country.

Seniors Brooklyn Narvaez and Bing Rethy have both joined such protests in Los Angeles.

Rethy says she and her friends were not expecting Trump to win the election, and that they “went through all five stages of grief” afterwards. She was motivated to protest by a desire to show “solidarity” with groups of people who she believes could be marginalized under the future president’s administration, and went with another RUHS student to join a protest group on the night of Dec. 12 that moved from “old Los Angeles to Little Tokyo.”

“Since I have so many friends across the United States who were protesting on the day of the election, I was motivated partly by them,” Rethy said. “We also got really protective over our friends who could be affected by not only Trump’s rhetoric, but also the possible policies he might put in place. I have gay friends and undocumented friends who feel like the election of Donald Trump and what he said already affects them, because it feels like they are not loved and accepted by Americans.”

Narvaez went to a protest at Exposition Park with two other RUHS students, and believes “it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” She “identified” with the views of other protesters there as a “woman of color,” and believes the protest was focused on advocating for the “rights of minorities” instead of saying “‘Trump shouldn’t be our president.’”

“It was kind of personal because there were a lot of Hispanic women there advocating for the Chicana movement. I am Mexican, and so is one of my friends who went with me. Everybody was so inviting, and they were telling us to go walk with them. It felt right to be there. I didn’t feel like any of it was hurtful or disrespectful at all,” Narvaez said.

Rethy estimates that there were anywhere from 8,000 to 14,000 people at the protest she

MAKING A

STATEMENT Students attend the Los Angeles anti- Trump protests

by Malek Chamas

2.

Take a stand. 1. A protester expresses his dissaproval towards Trump’s election. “This was our first pro-

test, so we weren’t very prepared,” Rethy said. “We didn’t bring any signs, but I think one of our favorites was ‘Education, not deportation!’ and then all the women would say ‘My body, my choice!’ and all the men would say ‘Her body, her choice!’ 2. A group gathers together, holding up signs and chanting against president elect Trump. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BROOKLYN NARVAEZ AND JULIAN KIMURA

attended, but they all managed to remain “non-violent,” and received support from the “really, really nice” police officers who were present. She and Narvaez do not condone violence at other antiTrump protests.

“I think anything violent is bad, not necessarily because it’s unjust but because it reflects poorly on the movement. It 1. makes people see us as criminals.

Personally, I think the message should be less “screw Donald Trump” and “we hate him” and more “we’re here, we have voices, we are women, we are Hispanics, we are blacks, we matter, we’re not gonna go away,” and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Narvaez said.

Rethy says she enjoyed seeing so many people with “the same interests” as her, and that it was “beautiful to see so much solidarity.” Narvaez felt similarly, saying she saw “all different types of people” at the protest she went to.

“There were white people, black people and Hispanic people. There were men, women, and people who were clearly gender fluid and not following gender norms,” Narvaez said. “It showed me anyone can come together. It gives me goosebumps to go back and watch those videos. It was so cool how so many people who don’t know each other and don’t have a lot in common could come together and fight for themselves.”

Rethy disagrees with those who believe that the protesters should wait for Trump to be inaugurated and take official actions as president before they demonstrate against him. She feels that the protesters are simply exercising their right to free speech.

“I think I’ve seen lots of social media posts saying that we shouldn’t protest. But those people are privileged because of how little they’ll be affected by Trump’s policies,” Rethy said. “Also, we have the right to protest. We can do what we want. It’s America.

Have they not read the Constitution? So as a protester, and somebody who really loves America and its people, I feel like we need to stick together just in case anything really bad does happen.”

Nov. 18, 2016

page 15

features

The sky is the limit

Sophomore Adam Sayad designs airports inspired by his travels

by Samaya Rubio He leaves the house, bags packed, ready for another adventure. He gets in his car and leaves for the airport. He is on his way to another “life changing” adventure. Sophomore Adam Sayad travels to many countries to visit his family; this inspired his love of all things related to travel, especially airports.

“Every time I pass through an airport it’s my connection to my family. It’s my connection to the people I love,” Sayad said.

Travel is very important for Sayad’s family because it gives him the chance to reconnect with his father and extended family who live in Saudi Arabia and Algeria, respectively. He also enjoys traveling because it brings him new opportunities to learn about the world around him.

“Honestly, I like LAX [in particular] because it signifies the beginning of every vacation or journey I take. When I go to Algeria I do something different that I never thought I would do and I have new experiences,” Sayad said.

Sayad is the son of two Algerian immigrants who moved to America before he and his sister were born. Sayad’s racial background is very important to him because he is from a very small ethnic community, the Berber, indigenous people from Northern Africa, who have their own cultural values.

They moved after Algeria became independent of France and the Arab people wanted

the Berber to assimilate to their culture instead of keeping their own unique culture.

“We speak our own language [Tamazight] and have our own culture that’s completely different from the Arab culture that is common in North Africa,” Sayad said. “It’s really special to me because you will not meet many people

other countries in Africa and Europe. He takes pride in bringing all the experiences from his travels into his daily life.

“Anytime I go to new places, I see things that I never thought I would see and I can look at life in a new and different way,” Sayad said.

For Sayad, travel is all about learning cultural norms and understanding the world around him which is why he

w h o are Berber and I’m proud to be who I am.”

He believes that being from such a unique culture has shaped him into the person he is today.

“It has really changed me.

I always remember my experiences with my cousins and speaking a language other than English with your family is really special,” Sayad said.

Aside from visiting his family in Algeria, he has been to many

likes to go to places that are not “mainstream, popular destinations.”

He looks at traveling as adventures and chances to try new things,and traveling through airports symbolizes the start of a new journey.

“Something about the airport is intriguing because you see so many different types of people, and every time I go to an airport I think about what I could do to make it better,” The designing of airports is not a career option for Sayad, who has more interests in medicine than in engineering and

planning an actual airport, but that does not stop Sayad from designing his own “ideal version” of the airports he visits.

“During my free time I design airports. I have a book with a lot of designs from all my travels, beginning at age nine.” Sayad said.

At the age of nine, Sayad took his first flight to Algeria; ever since then he has been infatuated with airports and travel in general. He was originally nervous about the experience of flight, but he ended up “enjoying” the whole experience.

“I was scared to death [of the plane ride].

I saw the planes taking off at a diagonal, straight angle. It was the scariest thing ever.

I cried so much because I thought I was going to die or something,” Sayad said.

After he conquered his initial nerves, he found that he was “fascinated” by all elements of traveling, and even convinced his parents to fly back to Algeria the next year.

“That’s when it started, that’s when I started drawing airports and things relating to travel,” Sayad said. “Now I travel a lot and each time I go I look at the airports and see what I could do better.”

Sayad never loses his initial excitement when he enters an airport. He enjoys the whole experience of travel, and takes pride in his ethnic background and all of his past experiences.. Because of his culture and values, he believes that he is “not all American, [he’s] Berber and Algerian too.”

Take off. Sophomore Adam Sayad takes inspiration for his airports through his travels. Sayad takes pictures of the places he goes to, such as Paris, to doument the buildings and surroundings for his future projects. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ADAM SAYAD

page 16

features

High Tide

Out of the park

Cojulun plays for the French National Baseball Team

by Kayvon Elahihaghighi

He was taken to the side by the coach, palms sweating, heart racing, and unsure whether the flight to France and all his hard work had been for nothing but the coach said the three magic words Cojulun was hoping for, “tu es dans.”

Last Summer Senior Xavier Cojulun participated in the U18 European Baseball Championships in Gijon, Spain with the French National team. Cojulun was eligible because of his dual citizenship.

“I first got into contact with the coach of the French team through the German coach who was in the United States. I started talking with the French coach around April and officially went to France in June,” he said.

Cojulun had visited France on numerous occasions

AN M

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growing up and even learned the language, but this time is was strictly business. Him and the others that wished to be part of the team trained for two weeks in hopes of making the final cut. Cojulun was one of those lucky few.

It was very vigorous but I’m glad I stuck with it and made the final cut because it was very fulfilling,” Cojulun said.

The training sessions the team endured were intense and time consuming, often leaving him exhausted by the end of the day.

“It was pretty tough,” Cojulun said. “For the first two and a half weeks there were two to three practices a day.”

After training for two weeks, the team traveled to Spain, where they would compete against the hosts, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, and Russia for the U18 European Baseball Championships. Their first big game was against Germany early on in the competition.

“We were down by one run in the last inning, and I was actu-

Home run. Senior Xavi-

er Cojulun plays for the French national baseball team. “It was so cool to wear the France jersey and play with a whole bunch of guys I’m really similar to, I felt a lot of pride to play with them,” Cojulun said. PHOTO COURTESY OF XAVIER COJULUN

ally up with two outs, so if I had struck out it would’ve been over,” Cojulun said.

Cojulun walked, but was proud because the German’s pitcher was one of the best he’d come up against.

“Trying to keep the game going and hold it all together was definitely one of the best and most challenging experiences from the trip,” he said.

Despite the loss, Cojulun was proud of the team’s efforts in the tournament, and didn’t view their results as a failure.

“We ended up losing but it was such a close game,” he said, “probably the best game we played there,” Cojulun said.

Cojulun was also proud to represent France in a new way by doing something as enjoyable as paying his favorite sport.

“It was so cool to wear the France jersey and play with a whole bunch of guys I’m really similar to. I felt a lot of pride to play for them,” he said.

Cojulun’s mother, who immigrated to the United States 25 years ago, shared his pride and was overjoyed to see her oldest son play for her country.

“I am so excited that my son was picked for the team. I know he had to work hard and it took a lot out of him, but we are happy he did it and it was great to see him represent-

ing his country,” Ms. Cojulun said.

Cojulun started playing baseball when he was five years old and made the Redondo junior varsity team as a freshman.

“I made the team here and just never stopped,” he said.

According to Cojulun, the players in France shared a lot of the same goals as his teammates in the United States.

“It was pretty similar to here. A lot of these guys are trying to go to college for baseball, trying to do more than that. They all have goals,” Cojulun said.

Cojulun does not want his playing days in France to end with last summer. He hopes to return for the next European Baseball Championships in the summer of 2017 and even farther in the future.

“I’m keeping my eyes out for the 2020 Olympics because baseball is going to be in it. My number one choice would be to go back to France, and play there because I liked it so much and felt more comfortable there,” Cojulun said.

Ms. Cojulun is happy he is doing something productive with his love for baseball.

“He has started to look into a possible future in France for baseball and it has made him realize that that this sport can take him somewhere and do something he loves in the country he loves,” Ms. Cojulun said.

Nov. 18, 2016

page 17

features

June Bugs

Bellamy and Schuman help athletic trainor June Caponpon

by Amanda Shaw

The flock chants their signature, “Can I get a Seahawk?” Sammy the Seahawk waves and poses for photos. It’s the fourth quarter.

The seconds are winding down on the clock.

The RUHS quarterback throws the ball, the receiver sprints, and the ball is inches away from his fingertips when--boom--out of the nowhere he is slammed to the ground by the opposition. He makes no move to get up, clearly injured. The crowd falls silent.

Seniors Sophia Schuman and Jordan Bellamy, assistants to the athletic trainer June Caponpon, immediately run across the field, trained and ready to calmly assess the situation.

“You definitely need to have a cool head.

You can’t freak out. It’s all you. You and a coach run out onto the field. Either you have to take charge of the situation or he does because one of you guys has to figure out where it’s hurting, if we need 911 to be called, if they got the wind knocked out of them, if they’re in cardiac arrest for some reason, or anything like that,” Schuman said. “There’s so many different visual queues that we have to understand to be able to treat someone.”

Often known as the “mini-Junes,” Bellamy and Schuman are able to treat many basic injuries on their own, including basic First Aid.

“It really depends on each athlete that comes in. We are free to tape shin splints, ankles, and wrists. We always have to tell June what we’re doing. Everything always goes through him,” Schuman said. “There’s stuff called special taping for more serious injuries that we’re not allowed to touch. I personally wouldn’t want to do it because I’m not trained. We would be held responsible for it.”

According to Schuman and Bellamy, while they treat athletes from all sports at RUHS, they spend the majority of their time working with the football team, largely due to the physicality and greater risk of the sport.

“We mainly focus on football. They have the most immediate injuries that are necessary. If I sat at a waterpolo game, the likelihood of one of them needing me to jump in the pool is really extremely low versus on the football field they’re always falling on the ground and getting hurt. I feel like way more likely to get hurt because it’s just such a physical sport,” Schuman said.

In order to prepare for their roles as assistants to Caponpon, both Bellamy and Schuman attended the West Coast Sports Medicine Camp, where they were taught the “basic information” that helped them understand what he wanted from them. And after learning from June for the past couple of

years, Bellamy and Schuman both hope to pursue careers in the same general field with the central goal of being able to “see everyone get better, including animals.”

“I do want to go into medicine. I’m either going to do nursing or go pre-med, and I just want to work with people and I like helping people and watching them progress and getting better,” Schuman said. “That’s definitely something I want to go into.”

Both feel that they are driven by the feeling that their work allowed someone to prog-

ress.

“I’ve worked a lot with specific athletes that had serious injuries. Just watching them not be able to pick up a one-pound weight and then all of a sudden they’re out pushing a 200-pound guy across the field--there’s giant progression,” Schuman said. “It’s really cool knowing that all the times you were like, ‘C’mon one more set, one more set, let’s go!

C’mon, you can do it!’ and them complaining and hating you all pays off. Or when we make them ice and they cry about it.”

Waiting in the wings. Bellamy and Schuman wait on the sidelines of the homecoming game, ready in

case there is an injury. It feels good seeing what happened and then after week being able to see the process of someone getting back on the field or back on the court and seeing their progress as a player. PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIA SCHUMAN

Blackwolfe trains in Jiu Jitsu

by Rubab Quraishi Sophomore Maximilian Blackwolfe has begun to train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is on his way to a purple belt in the upcoming year.

While fighting, Blackwolfe is completely focused on how his body moves.

“You lose sense of everything else. Whether it be something bad that happened to you that day, or something that’s in the back of your mind or something that’s stressing you out,” he said. “You lose sense of everything and become focused on fighting your opponent.”

Blackwolfe was inspired to start jiu jitsu because of his step-father, who is highly skilled in boxing and martial arts. He began training six months ago after training in taekwondo for years prior, but stopped taekwondo out to boredom.

“I started training in jiu jitsu because I missed that feeling of brotherhood you get in martial arts,” he said. “Regardless of whether it’s taekwondo, jiu jitsu, or mixed martial arts, you start building relationships with people.”

With his free time, Blackwolfe felt “restless” with his hobbies of music and skating, and took on jiu jitsu to get back in shape while also having something to do.

“I just wanted to let go of stuff within my system,” he said. “It gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day.”

After six months into the martial art, Blackwolfe considers himself different from before he started training and now. From having a bad attitude and being quiet he became a more respectful and confident person.

“It’s been life changing. It teaches discipline and respect towards others. It definitely made me feel more confident about myself, and gave me a sense of accomplishment.

Once I go to train, I feel very accomplished about pushing myself physically as I get fit,” he said.

Without jiu jitsu, he believes he would be in a different place than he is now. He may have associated himself with bad situations as an outlet to fill boredom.

“I would probably be more restless and get into bad behavior to get that thrill, but jiu

jitsu gives it to me,” Blackwolfe said.

Blackwolfe’s training is what his schedule is based off of. He revolves his schoolwork around what time he needs to go to training and studies efficiently.

“Obviously, I have other priorities in life like school, studying, and doing homework, so once I started jiu jitsu I began being productive in order to go train,” he said.

At school, telling classmates he trains in jiu jitsu changes their view on Blackwolfe as a person.

“It creates a sense of respect that people have for me because once you start training, you can impose those techniques on people,” he said.

Blackwolfe has met many new people through his jiu jitsu school. He has made new friends and has discovered people from all different backgrounds that are united while fighting on the mats.

Some of the people he trains with are adults with commercial jobs, people struggling with poverty, and high school students.

Blackwolfe trains four times a week at the

Rodrigo Freitas Brazilian Jiu JItsu school in Hawthorne.

“Where you train is the place where you’re accepted, no matter who you are and where you came from,” he said. “It’s a nice feeling to know that I’m going somewhere that I won’t be judged. It’s made me feel more at home,” he said.

Blackwolfe has learned wise lessons from his professor while training in jiu jitsu.

“You can fight as much as you want and you can always persist but at some point you’re going to have to give up because if you don’t, things are going to get worse,” he said.

Blackwolfe has become close friends with his professor and friends from his jiu jitsu school, creating relationships while training and fighting.

“Sometimes they’ll talk to you and you get to learn more about them as a person,” Blackwolfe said, “at that point, they are entrusting their safety with me and I’m doing the same thing to them. It’s a big sense of trustworthiness and friendship.”

page 18

High Tide

sports

Boys cross country makes it to CIF finals

by Justin Pioletti

1.

CIF Prelims: Ethan Comeaux Place: First Time: 15: 04.6 minutes Distance: 3.00 miles

Boys Cross Country placed seventh in CIF preliminaries and hits the road this Saturday for finals.

“We did alright in preliminaries. We were hoping to run faster times, but I’m proud of all of us for getting up after falling and fighting during the race,” sophomore Ben Tait said. “We easily could have fallen then used that as an excuse afterwards, but we remained tough.”

Despite four runners falling, the race was one to learn from.

“The most important thing we learned during preliminaries is to run outside when turning on the course because we had four people fall over each other since people would bunch up and slow down,” Tait said. “Knowing the course is especially important because the preliminary course is the same as finals.”

Captain Ethan Comeaux, senior, initially was placed eleventh in California and has recently been moved up to tenth. He looks to improve his placement in the coming race.

“During practice, we’ve continued to do hard workouts and making sure not to let up just because we’re nearing the end of the season,” Comeaux said. “Personally, I’m expecting to make it to state finals, and hopefully nationals.”

The team that will be going to finals consists of Comeaux, juniors Farooq Tariq, Brian Adler, Alberto Aguilar, and Cade Erickson, and sophomores Tait, Sangjun Lee and Ariel Rodriguez.

“To prepare, we’ve been working on packing up with the bottom six runners. We’ll have Ethan stay at the top of the race, but then the other six focus on running together,” Tait said. “If I stay back with the other five runners, it motivates them more, because otherwise they might not run to their best abilities.”

Along with their strategies, the team has initiated drills during practice to simulate race situations.

“In practice we do something called a tempo where you do several miles at a certain pace. For our recent practices we’ve done three miles at a 5:50 pace,” Tait said. “It’s a good simulation of the actual race and helps with our endurance.”

The boys credit their success to their coach, Bob Leech.

“Coach Bob is tough, and he does not sugarcoat things,” Comeaux said. “He’s very motivating, and he pushes us when he knows it’s best, through our complaining and the heat.”

The next few races for Comeaux will be his last with RUHS, making him reflect.

“You need to work hard on cross country, and just because it’s a challenge doesn’t mean you should take the easiest route,” Comeaux sad. “Just as our coach says, overnight success takes at least three years.”

Runnin’ by the river. Senior Ethan Comeaux and sophomore Benjamin Tait are the current top two runners for RUHS. They ran number one and two for RUHS at the CIF Prelims in Riverside, and hope to do the same at the CIF finals also in Riverside. . PHOTOS BY JACOB ALTHER

2.

CIF Prelims: Benjamin Tait Place: Seventeenth Time: 15: 33.4 minutes Distance: 3.00 miles

After a short postseason, volleyball reflects on round two loss

by Maryam Bacaloni Girls volleyball ended their season quicker than usual after losing the second round of CIF. “I personally had high hopes for the team in the beginning of the season because of our history with the consecutive state championships,” senior Fayth Ryan said.

The girls agree that they faced adversities such as injuries and a loss of the starter players from last year.

“Considering that most of our starting lineup graduated last year, we did okay for a re-building year, but I feel that we could have done better,” sophomore Madison Turner said.

Despite the loss of their injured players throughout the season, the girls agree that they worked as best as the could together throughout the season.

“We lost Brooklyn Schirmer who was our big hitter and Kyla Doig to an who was another key offensive athlete,” Ryan said.

“Honestly I thought we did well with what we had, not to say that we wouldn’t have gone further if we had Brooklyn and Kyla around, but we worked with what we had.”

Although the girls did not meet the high expectations they had, they enjoyed the season because of their progress as a team.

“I think that our connection was our strength this year. We had such a close bond

on and off the court,” Turner said.

Regardless of all the “disappointing” result of this season, the girls know that with hard work and practice, they will be able to pursue throughout the season next year.

“Next year as long as we stay injury free and keep working hard during practice and games we will do very well next year and we will have a strong team,” Turner said.

Hands up. Sophomore Kyla Doig spikes the ball past El Toro player on Nov. 1. RUHS won 3-0. PHOTO BY JACOB SEGURA

Nov. 18, 2016

sports

page 19

Football advances in CIF

by Michael Chang

Football beat Cajon 4324 on Friday, Nov. 11th in the first round of the 2016 CIF Southern Section High School Football Playoff. They will go on to face the undefeated Sierra Canyon in round two.

“I believe if we play to our best football we can pull off the upset against number one ranked Sierra Canyon,” quarterback Jack Alexander, junior, said. “We will prepare with confidence after performing well against Cajon.”

With a victory over Cajon in front of the home crowd, the team is now riding on a four-game winning streak.

“I think that we came ready to play,” said defensive end, Milad Goodarzi, . “Our offense put the momentum in full swing and we were able to execute our game plan pretty well.”

Despite having a fractured left hand, Alexander had “one of his best” games of the

y e a r , R e completing dondo tied 264 yards with for the first a 73.1 percent complace in the Bay pletion rate, resulting League with a 4-1 rein 5 touchdowns to lead cord. The only loss came the team to a victory. from the defeat under PV. The “I’ve gotten pretty used to it by team was then able to beat Peninnow so it wasn’t really hampering me sula, Inglewood, and Mira Costa.

1. too much Friday night,” said Alexander.

“Beating Costa was absolutely huge,” “I’ll know more [about the injury] when I go said Alexander, “Not only was it sweet beto the doctor.” cause they are our bitter rival, but it also

won us the league for the first time in nine years.”

The team agrees that the next contest will certainly be a challenge for the team as they take on the yet to be defeated Sierra Canyon in the second round of the playoffs.

“This is a good team, and we can beat them if we do our jobs and execute them precisely.” Goodarzi said.

Sierra Canyon is having a great season as a team and currently has an overall record of 11-0. The Seahawks agree that they will certainly want to be the one to break that winning streak.

“I believe if we continue to play our best football we can pull off the upset against #1 Sierra Canyon,” Alexander said. “It is very helpful we are at home again so it would be much appreciated if we can get the stands packed.”

A disapointing end to a historic season Boys water polo loses after making it to the second ound of CIF

by Camille Grace fense to score,” Wrightsman said. was a tough loss for us but we all agreed that Despite the historic round two finish in the RUHS defense was struggling, the 2.

The team took the loss hard because we played our hearts out and that’s what matCIF, boys water polo was disappointed by team was able to create opportunities of their hopes in making it to the tered most,” Ulrich said. the end to their season with a loss against by “countering” throughout the game.

CIF Finals.

Finishing in the second-round of CIF Yucaipa with a score of 8-10.

“We did well in coun“We were all pretty upset and third place in Bay League was still con“We thought it was going to be an easy tering, as in swimthat we didn’t win besidered “historic” for RUHS boys water polo game but we were wrong. Yucaipa lost to the ming fast to crecause we literally put which, according to the team, made this seateam we beat in the first round of CIF,” sophate separation our blood, sweat, son very special for all of the players. omore Alex Wrightsman said. and tears into “We bonded, had fun, and got a lot better.

The team had a lot of confidence going from the this sea- We made it farther than Redondo ever has into the game and was confident in their d e son. It before,” senior Logan Doersam said. prediction of a win after a lot of practice and With their new goals in mind, the boys preparation beforehand. has high hopes for next year’s 2017 season.

“In practice we did shooting, scrimmag“I’m hoping we do better next year ing, and running specific plays. We were because for me and a lot of other guys all super hyped and ready so we just on the team, it’s our last season went out and played hard,” capnext year,” Ulrich said. “When tain Seth Ulrich, junior, said. the time comes, I want to However, the game be ready to take down went into double any team and end overtime after my high school Yucaipa career on scored a good in the n o t e , final hopefully minby makutes to ing it all tie the the way game. to CIF FiA l Go big or go home. 1. Redondo’s defensive lineman lunge after the opponent’s offense in the win against Sierra Canyon. 2. Junior Blake Volgelsang shootS looks to shoot the ball in the last game vs.

Yucaipa.

PHOTO: 1.

BY HIROKI GOTO. 2.

BY SAMANTHA ARALDOVER. nals.” though

page 20

High Tide

sports

Gaining recognition

After the fall season comes to an end, athletes of the issue are commended

1.

2.

3.

The end of a season. 1. In order to become a better player, Jermar Jefferson “[does] a lot of sprints, run[s] track a lot, do[es] short distance running [to] keep [his] speed up,” Jefferson said. 2. “When I started I really hated it because I was forced to come and I didn’t like it nor understand it, but as I got better and understood it, it became a lot more fun for me,” Ulrich said. 3. “Cross Country has changed me into a better person. I have worked on my teamwork skills, and learned how to be teammate. I think it’s definitely changed me into a better person overall,” Heiden said. PHOTOS BY JARRAH MAY, SAMANTHA ALDOVER AND CELINE OH.

Jermar Jefferson Seth Ulrich

by Patrick Cochran

by Angie Tait

Peyton Heiden

1200 yards, 17 touchdowns and 9 receptions for 120 yards.

These would be impressive number for a professional running back; however, these stats belong to running back Jermar Jefferson, junior.

Jefferson started his football career at six years old. His father was a big influence on him starting his football career.

“In L.A. I played for the L.A. demos. That’s where I started, then I changed to the Compton Vikings, I then switched to the hurricanes,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson works out everyday to perform at his best. He focuses on strengthening his legs and currently runs a 4.6 second forty yard dash.

Jefferson hopes that football will take him places past high school.

“I am fairly sure I am going to make it to the NFL. All I need to do is get a little bigger in the weight room and work out a little harder. If I don’t make it to the NFL though I will just have to find something else to do. I would like to be an RN,” Jefferson said.

Jermar was offered a full athletic scholarship from University of Colorado Boulder, who is a division one and a Pac 12 school.

According to Coach Stephen Kelley, Jermar should be successful in college football.

“I think that he should have a smooth transition as long as he keeps working to get better as an athlete. He has another year to continue to develop, and if he can use that year to develop fully, his transfer to division one college football should be smooth,” Kelley said.

Kelley believes that Jefferson can become a top athlete.

“He has every opportunity to literally be one of the best athletes to come out of this high school period. It is just going to depend on how he is going to work this offseason.”

Kelley said.

In a game against Morningside, Kelley rushed five touchdowns and was voted on to receive the offensive player of the game award.

“Jermar won the award, in that same meeting, he decided to forfeit his award and give it to his offensive line because he felt like they were responsible for his success.” Kelley said.

Junior Seth Ulrich’s talents are what landed him the spot of varsity water polo captain. But without older brother and mentor Skylar’s influence, Seth might’ve achieved the success he has through nine years of experience in the sport.

“My parents were trying to find a sport for my brother, and chose water polo since they thought it would be an easier sport. He was doing club, and my parents told me, ‘You’re going to go to club with him,’ so I just went along and got into it from there,” Seth said.

Despite not always seeing eye-to-eye, the brothers became closer through the sport, developing their skill sets together through Skylar’s entire water polo career and beyond.

“As he grew older and more competitive, we kind of had this bond and this love of the sport and the competition, and as soon as I was done playing, my goal became to help him realize whatever his goal for water polo was. Being in there and being at that competitive level before, realizing where I may have failed, I started trying to teach him to do things right,” Skylar said.

According to Seth, Skylar has been his coach since the day he began the sport.

“He’s improved tremendously, especially between the summer and the end of this season,” Skylar said. “He is a very coachable player, and he can differentiate being brother and coach; once we step on the deck, I’m not his brother anymore, I’m the coach.”

According to Seth, a lot of help and motivation comes from his teammates, which he likens to “a second family.”

“I feel that before, when I was tired during a swim set, I would just take a break and stretch, but being a team captain I can’t really stop because if I do, then I’m setting that example for my team, so it’s helping me push myself a lot more,” Seth said.

Though the team’s season came to an end with an 8-10 loss against Yucaipa in CIF Quarterfinals, Seth remains optimistic for his future career in water polo.

“The beginning of this year I wasn’t my best, just because of mental barriers, but throughout the year I just learned to break through it and find out just how good of a player I am,” Seth said.

Sophomore Peyton Heiden’s positive attitude motivates her to do well in cross country.

“I love the atmosphere of the team specifically because they make me feel very welcomed, and I know they are always there for me, but when it comes to the actual sport of it, I just love getting out there and fighting with other kids trying to do my best. I think it is really nice to go out there and do something I love,” Heiden said.

Heiden’s father ran marathons, which encouraged her to run, but it was ony when she joined running program in middle school that she decided to pursue running.

Although she recognizes her own skills, Heiden has a great appreciation for the team she runs.

“We are a really close knit team, we’re like a family. We go to each other for everything, we’re cheering each other on, and we’re just a really tight family. That’s how I see us,” Heiden said.

Because runners “go through a lot of pain during races,” Heiden appreciates having her teammates there for support.

“I find the mental focus is extremely difficult because during the race you have to have a positive attitude about it, and you have to change up how you run,” Heiden said. “You need to have the mental ability to say that I’m gonna do good because I have my teammates helping me.”

According to Heiden, listening to her coach’s advice is important because “he knows what’s best.”

“Cross country is both a mental and physical sport. Whatever I can do to get physically ready for the races I’m gonna do what my coach says. But then mentally, I have to be prepared for whatever is going to happen during the race because if I get thrown off I need to be able to get back up and find another way to do good,” Heiden said.

For Heiden, being positive is not always an easy task, but she tries to maintain an optimistic attitude.

“I feel moreso this year I have had a positive attitude going into it, and there are some races I feel like ‘Oh god, I’m not having a good day today,’ and I’m very negative about it, but I have to tell myself that’s no way to go into a race. I have to find a way to get pumped up so I feel like this year I’ve done a much better job at that,” Heiden said.

by Yasmine Elahihaghighi