High Tide: March 24, 2017

HIGH TIDE

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA March 24, 2017 Vol. XCVII Edition 12

Slam Poets Society

Seniors Bradford, Eden and Leavitt write poetry in order to express their thoughts and feelings

by Analise Asaro

Reciting poetry. “I think that all the poetry that people write is for themselves, but in the end it definitely helps other people by letting them know that they’re not alone in the way that they’re thinking,” senior Amanda Leavitt said. PHOTO BY JARRAH MAY.

Senior Sarajane Bradford writes about current events. Senior Amanda Leavitt writes about homophobia and feminism.

Senior Cora Eden writes about her feelings.

One writes slam, and the other two read their poetry at the Coffee Cartel, but what they have in common is that poetry serves as a way for them to express themselves through an art form.

Bradford writes slam poetry, which she describes as “the evolution that poetry has taken into the 21st century.”

Slam poetry is a form of free-write poetry that is more similar to rap in comparison to regular poetry.

“What I like about slam poetry is that it could be about anything you want it to be and you don’t have to think about the structure as much, even though a lot of times it still has rhythm and rhyme to it. There’s no beat, but you can still feel it when people read it, and when it’s good it has that nice flow to it,” Bradford said. “It’s a very truthful, personal and expressive way to let it all out and create this cool art form at the same time.”

Although she has been writing “normal” poetry since middle school, Bradford first had the idea to do slam poetry after listening to YouTuber Prince Ea do it.

“I fell in love with all his videos so I wanted to do something similar,” Bradford said.

“Now, I take a lot of inspiration from the way

[cont. on back]

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High Tide

news

Ogres and onions Cast of Shrek: The Musical reflects on preperations for upcoming performances

by Yasmine Elahihaghighi Starting March 24, RUHS Theatre Arts will be performing their version of Shrek The Musical.

“It’s nice because the play can relate to any age group. Children are going to love it because it’s entertaining and they love the movie, but adults will love it because of all the humor that flies over kids’ minds,” said senior Alex Bruckner, who plays Princess Fiona.

People should not expect the play and the movie to be exactly the same Bruckner explains.

“There is a lot more musical parts in the play and the characters in it have a lot more depth to them,” Bruckner said.

Everything a character does in the play is “dependent on their inner psyche.”

“It drives their thoughts, actions and emotions, and analyzing a character in depth brings so much more to the table,” Bruckner said.

The process of creating all these factors is “really important” to the effect the play will have on the audience.

“You have to understand why they act the way they do and what they objectively want at the end of the show,” Bruckner said.

The role of Fiona appeals to Bruckner because of the parallels she sees between Fiona and other roles she has played, like Millie Dillmount from Thoroughly Modern Millie.

“It’s interesting to me to see the simi-

larities between Millie and Fiona. Both are quirky and characters, but it’s funny in a tasteful way,” she said.

Another performer, senior Ikaika Napohaku, who plays Lord Farquaad explains he “really loves his character” because he gets to put a lot of emotion into the performance.

“I like it because I can be crazy with my choices and my movements during the play because he is such a big character with a big personality” Napohaku said.

The cast members “work very hard to connect to each other” because it will show when they perform.

“As actors you need to work well with others in order to succeed as a performer. It isn’t about you at the end of the day, but the people you share the stage with and the audience members you connect with,” Bruckner said.

While preparing for the upcoming shows, the cast has encountered problems with body movement.

“The difficulty in it is physicality and getting used to making big choices with my body, especially my arms. I need to work on being more expressive with poses and positioning because it allows my character to come to life,” Bruckner said.

Despite the difficulty, Bruckner loves acting and connecting to people who watch her perform.

“If I’m able to reach one person, and make

1.

Trouble in fairyland 1. The cast of Shrek:

The Muscial performs a musical number, “Story of my Life.” Performances for the musical will take place March 24,25,26 and April 1 at 7 p.m. and April 2 at 1 p.m. 2. Amanda Leavitt puts on her costume and applies makeup back stage for her role as one of the three little pigs who have been evicted from the fictional kingdom of Duloc.

PHOTOS BY CELINE OH

them laugh, cry, or reflect on their own life, and they can walk away feeling great because of me then I can go to bed feeling successful in being an actor,” Bruckner said.

The play has a strong message behind it that the cast hopes the audience will take it away after the show.

“People will definitely learn to be themselves, and that people will accept you no matter who you are if you find the right crowd,” Napohaku said. “It’s a lot about trying not to be ignorant, and that could also be tied into today with transgenders or just really being accepting of

2.

RUHS recieves Green Achievement award

by Samaya Rubio

RUHS earned the US Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) Gold Level recognition Green Achievement award for its environmental conservation efforts on March 3.

In order to receive this award, the school had to manage its resources wisely and teach their students the importance of preserving the environment for the generations to come.

“These schools follow and advance a proud California tradition of caring about the environment and preserving our state’s stunning natural resources that are celebrated and known throughout the world,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said.

The campus was assessed on how well it could meet two pillars: educate the population on how to be more environmentally conscious, and conservation of resources. RUHS met and exceeded those standards, receiving the top recognition out of all the schools in

California.

“We were unique in the schools that presented and we went beyond just the gardens.

We are definitely trying a more holistic approach to green practices, going beyond what is merely easy and convenient to do and try to make it really relevant and really topical,” AP Environmental Science and Geoscience teacher Gillian Moberg said.

Moberg and two of her students, seniors Alexis Johnson and Tyler Boyd accepted this award. Boyd and Johnson were able to talk to some of the principals and superintendents about all the unique projects RUHS has adopted, while the other half of the group was on a tour of the campus led by Mr. Brandt.

“Alexis and I both went up and gave a presentation about all the different things RUHS does to be environmentally friendly like purple piping–where we use recycled water instead of fresh, potable drinking water–and all the stuff the APES class does, like

beach cleanups, volunteering, distributing rain barrels, and going to wetlands and testing the water supply,” Boyd said.

The campus has shown their aptitude for environmental consciousness in a variety of ways, including hosting e-waste drives, donating reusable water bottles to any student on campus, giving seminars on issues that will affect the local environment, such as the waterfront revitalization project and revitalizing the garden on the rooftop of the administration building.

“Schools have taken the regular steps toward starting things like having different recycling bins available on campus or having a community garden within their campus,” Johnson said. “We are taking it a step further and having it be more student-led than teacher and administration led.”

According to Moberg, having an administration team that supports environmentally conscientious programs as well as the acre-

age of the campus allows for more innovative programs to be implemented.

“I’m not sure support from the community is so easy to come by in other districts where the administration would support ideas that were grown from the bottom up. You could put a plan in place even when it didn’t come from the district heads,” Moberg said.

M also believes that the social environment of Redondo Beach helps to gain support for environmentally conscious projects on campus.

“I think that we live in an area where environmental consciousness is fostered. Being by the beach we have a lot of community organizations that care about the quality of the environment, so we have a lot of resources to tap into outside of the school community,” Moberg said. “And it’s not such a fight to get an environmental practice enacted because it’s already consistent with what some people in the community are doing.”

March 24, 2017

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news

by Keeana Steriling

Despite the Trump Administration revoking all federal protection of transgender students’ access to school bathrooms put in place by the Obama Administration, California will remain one of the 15 states that continues to allow it.

“The action by the federal government does not roll back protections for California students and educators,” California Department of Education spokesperson Bill Airworthiness said.

The bathroom bill is a common name for legislation that defines access to specific restrooms by transgender individuals.

Redondo Beach Unified School District is one of the 77 school districts located in California that supports and protects all rights of transgender students in grades K-12.

Principal Jens Brandt agrees with California’s superintendent decision to continue protecting transgender individuals.

“I’m in agreement with our state superintendent with the recent press release that California will continue to move forward on the issue of students who identify as transgender having the right to choose which

restrooms and locker rooms they can go to,” Brandt said.

In spite of California’s ruling to support transgender individuals, according to Emery Moberg, a transgender senior, the LGBT community is still affected by this issue including himself.

“Transgender equality is important because transgender people are still being discriminated against in most of the country for who they are,” Moberg said. “Transgender people have incredibly high risk of being victims of hate crimes, and are more likely to face other forms of discrimination than a lot of other demographic groups.”

Moberg feels “disappointed” that the Trump Administration revoked the bathroom bill.

“When President Obama passed protections, I was happy that someday I would be able to live the same way as any other man.

After President Trump repealed President Obama’s guidance, however, I felt disappointed that we as a nation had lost such an important step forward,” he said.

Moberg explains how despite Califor-

the Origin In May of last year, the Obama Administration cited a law known as Title IX, an anti-discrimination education amendment, to protect transgender student usage of bathrooms which correspond to their identity

nia’s protection, he is still unable to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender he identifies with.

“I use female locker rooms and bathrooms because I do not pass as a male at all, and I would like to avoid negative attention to myself. Also I am not out to all of my teachers yet, so I would probably get in trouble if I used any boy’s room at school,” Moberg said.

Moberg says how his physical appearance prevents him from using the bathroom and locker room he identifies with.

According to Moberg, the process of transitioning takes “six months to two years” if insurance companies are covering the whole transitioning process however that also has its’ faults.

“Transitioning is an expensive process, so I want to wait to transition until I can afford it and feel safe,” Moberg said.

Brandt says a students’ physical appearance does not determine what bathroom transgender students use.

“It does not matter what someone looks like, it I just whether or not they identify as transgender. The appearance should not be

the Act This February, President Trump rescinded the Obama era order saying it “lacked extensive legal analysis.” Decisions regarding transgender bathroom usage are now left to state and local governments.

used as a way to identity someone. I do not think that is appropriate,” Brandt said.

Moberg says that although Trump’s decision has not affected him now, he is “worried” about his future outside of California.

He believes that recognizing the difference between gender and sex is major in discussions about gender identity.

“When talking about gender identity, it is important to keep an open mind. Gender is on a spectrum, and not everyone identifies strictly as male or female. Gender is different from sex and should be recognized as a valid part of a person’s identity,” Moberg said.

In the near future, Moberg hopes for positive changes in the legal system that benefits transgenders.

“I would like to see more states pass laws allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that match their genders. I would also like to see more insurance companies start to cover transgender healthcare,” Moberg said. “Seeing more states pass laws accommodating transgender people to me a sign of progress towards accepting transgender individuals as a society.”

the Hypocrisy President Trump said in a statement on Jan. 31, “[He] is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the L.G.B.T.Q. community.” Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has also spoken out against the revoking of protections.

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High Tide

news

Celebrating 30 years

Hands On Art commemorates its 30th anniversary

by Nadia Stodder

To celebrate this year’s 30th anniversary of Hands On Art, the program’s volunteers and docents threw a large gala full of artists from all throughout the South Bay to both raise money for the organization and have fun celebrating the accomplishments made over the past 30 years in bringing art to Southern California’s students.

“We called it a ‘Color Celebration Gala’ to celebrate 30 years of bringing art to the South Bay. We had a lot of artists from local art groups painting on sight and art from a gallery called Destination Art in Torrance that people would see as they walked in. In the middle of the gala, we had an event where we auctioned off their works to people,” said Erika Snow Robinson, a long time South Bay Hands On Art docent.

Hands On Art began when art programs in California schools began losing funding 30 years ago, leading to a group of parents coming together to make sure that students would not lose their opportunity to be creative and express themselves through their art.

“Back in the 70’s, a bunch of parents from Palos Verdes wanted to make sure art stayed in the classrooms and Hands On Art just grew from there. It started out as just a handful of schools, and then over the years we just kept adding and adding more docents and more and more people started getting involved,” Robinson said.

Currently, there are over 8,000 students involved in the Hands On Art program located in diverse groups of schools, including not only public schools and private schools, but also schools in impoverished areas of Los

Angeles, which are taught art by a program run by Hands On Art known as Reaching Out. “Some of our docents take all of the leftover art supplies to inner cities schools and participate in the program, Reaching Out,” Robinson said. “It’s a whole other umbrella program underneath Hands On Art where we teach kids in the inner cities that don’t get any art at all.”

The Hands On Art program through the high school is currently overseen by assistant principal Jonathan Erickson, who takes enjoyment in what Hands On Art has done for students and how it has inspired many to become involved creating their own works of art.

“This is my first year, but I know that the different courses they do throughout the year were great. Some of the work the students did looked really impressive and professional, even if it was their first time painting.

Afterwards, some of the kids mentioned that they were more interested now in taking an art course the following year,” Erickson said.

Hands On Art has given students many opportunities to try out art, even if they’ve never considered themselves an artist before and teaches in all kinds of styles, including abstract, realistic and impressionism.

“I think the more art that we get in schools the better, and Hands On Art is a great way for students to test art out and be able to do an art project in a limited amount of time and spend a lot more time on art in the future,” Erickson said.

The Hands On Art program has encompassed three decades of volunteering within

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Creativity through art. 1. Juniors Shea Fleetwood and Drake Mather show off their works of art made

during a session at the high school. 2. Students at Parras Middle School work on art projects during a Hands On Art session three years ago. 3. Sean Clancy of Alta Vista Elementary School poses next to a large paintingsponsored by the Hands on Art program. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ERIKA SNOW ROBINSON

schools to bring the students art, and the leaders of the program plan on continuing it for the future to bring art into people’s lives.

“It’s important to make sure the program is around for another 30 years or even more.

If you think about it, our world without art or music would just be boring,” Robinson said.

For students who don’t take art classes, Hands On Art can be one of the only chances to create a work of art that they can call their own, and, according to both Robinson 2

3

and Erickson, is extremely important in the growth of students and letting artistic talent thrive.

“It’s so easy sometimes to try and cut music or art in schools, but not everybody is going to be a mathematician or an engineer,” Robinson said. “Everywhere you look, you see a work of art. Whenever you go anywhere, you see that art is everywhere. Art makes our world shine and makes life fun and beautiful.”

March 24, 2017

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news

Tuesday, March 14th: Pi day

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Splat. 1. Sophomore Lucy Pape throws a pie in the face of senior Matthew Yonemura.

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“The Pi Day fundraiser is going to be one of my more memorable moments from high school. It was surprising to see how many kids wanted to pie me but I’m just glad it made money for the freshman class,” Yonemura said. Observing next to Yonemura is assistant principal Amy Schooler, who was not exempt from Tuesday’s many “pie-ings.”

2. Junior Stephanie Ikonomou presses a pie directly in the face of assistant principal Bill Dargen. Much of the adminstration fell victim to students vengeance in the form of pies. PHOTOS BY CELINE OH

Runoff election in District 1

Extended election for City Council to be held between Barbee and Nehrenheim

by Malek Chamas

In a matter of months, there will be four new faces at Redondo Beach City Council meetings. On March 7, Todd Lowenstein and John Gran were elected as councilmen for Districts 2 and 4, respectively, and Bill Brand defeated incumbent Steve Aspel in the mayor’s race. However, a May 16 runoff election for the District 1 city council seat between the two leading candidates, Martha Barbee and Nils Nehrenheim.

Of the three candidates, Nils Nehrenheim came closest to winning an absolute majority, winning 48.0 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Martha Barbee and challenger Rolf Strutzenberg won 42.5 percent and 9.5 percent of the vote, respectively. According to Barbee, it is not surprising that the election requires a runoff, due to the presence of more than two people in the race.

“Getting more than 50 percent of the vote becomes almost impossible when you have multiple candidates who are all working out there on the campaign trail. Any time you have three or four candidates, this becomes an issue. This is not the first time these things have happened,” Barbee said.

Nehrenheim believes that his plan for the city is filled with “the best long-term financial and developmental decisions” which

reflects the “character of the community” in Redondo Beach. He also touts his experience in organizing political activism as proof of his leadership capabilities.

“My vision really is about why we have chosen to live in this town, and preserving and protecting the Redondo Beach lifestyle that we live in. We’re not like Santa Monica.

We don’t want traffic, gridlock, density or overdevelopment. We love our beach town and our active lifestyle. I’m really excited to revitalize not just the waterfront but the power plant area and District 1 as well,” Nehrenheim said. “I have done phenomenal work with Save the Riviera. I co-founded Rescue Our Waterfront and co-wrote Measure C, which I’m really proud of. These are all testaments to my leadership and ability to get things done.”

According to Barbee, she is the best option for voters because of the “wealth of community experience” she possesses and the wide scope of the issues which she is concerned with.

“My expertise in my body of work is what I run on. I am not a one-issue candidate. My experience coming into the council, before I was appointed in July, comes from years of building consensus in this community,

executing projects and being on boards of directors for many different organizations where I have provided solutions to move forward and progress,” Barbee said. “There can be a very important place in the community for activists, but rarely does an activist come in to make for the most fiscally sound, wise councilperson.”

Nehrenheim claims to have gained additional support since the March election and will use it to “keep saying hello to everyone” and to try to win votes.

“The basic concept will be the same. We’re going to go around and knock on everyone’s doors, hear what they have to say, and just try to let them know about our message,” Nehrenheim said. “But the message this time around will be a bit different. I don’t have Measure C or a third candidate to deal with like I did before, so I can really focus on myself instead.”

Barbee is hoping to achieve a come-frombehind victory by drawing votes from those who originally voted for Strutzenberg and sticking to her original campaign methods.

“It really won’t be much different from what we did earlier. We go out to the voters.

We explain who we are, what we stand for and what we plan to do. I did not run a campaign

which diminished other candidates, or in any way whatsoever put them in a negative light,” Barbee said. “So my campaign won’t change in that regard. I have run on civility and respect.”

Nehrenheim is relatively certain that he can convert his 5.5 percent lead from the March election into victory in May, since he will not need to improve very much on his previous performance.

“I ended up needing just 72 more votes, so I absolutely would have won if I had gotten those votes from Strutzenberg. Unless you have a phenomenal showing, which I almost did, then I would have been able to win outright,” Nehrenheim said. “But I’m handling this runoff like it’s a whole new election. I have a lot of confidence, but I won’t be sure until we start knocking on doors.”

Barbee has one main request for voters in District 1 when May arrives.

“Vote. Get out and vote. It doesn’t matter how you vote, but just do it. It is the most important, most powerful thing you can do.

This is especially true at the local level. We all get so concerned about the national level of elections, but nothing impacts and changes our day-to-day life, for better or for worse, more than these local elections,” Barbee said.

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Editorial

High Tide

opinion

Inside voice, please.

Teachers should maintain professionalism by refraining from voicing political opinions with students In an increasingly diverse school, students are bound to find themselves meeting more and more fellow students who hold notably different viewpoints and outlooks on the world around them. The classroom has become not only a place for learning, but a place for educated discussion.

It is through this that students can formulate their own opinions and express them, as well as listen to and learn to understand an opinion they never may have before. This is the modern high school how it should be, a school that not only stands for education of its students but the values of free speech and freedom of expression.

However, when the students find themselves engaging in educated in discussion, one factor of the classroom should be left out: teachers.

Why is it that teachers should be excluded? They’re just as much important to the classroom as the students, and they have opinions too. Shouldn’t they have the ability to contribute to classroom discussions and express their own viewpoints on the issues students talk about?

No, they should not. To do so would overstep their boundaries and break their professionalism as instructors to students. Some students may sympathize with what the teacher has to say, and perhaps their views on controversial topics align with much of the teacher’s.

More often than not, however, there are bound to be at least a few students who do not feel the same way. These students are now at a point of disagreement with the teacher, and disagreement with said teacher warrants disrespect for the authority in the classroom, and warrants scrutiny and distrust of the credibility of the material the teacher delivers.

As well as this, the students whose viewpoints differ from the teacher’s are now considered to be unwelcome opposition to the majority of the classroom, rather than just representatives of an opposing viewpoint that they would be with fellow students.

The teacher is responsible for much of the atmosphere in the classroom, and when he or she intrudes on a class discussion with his or her own opinion, it largely decides the direc-

tion of the discussion and skews the favored argument of the class towards that of his or her own.

The word of the teacher holds far more gravity within the classroom than anything a student can say, simply because the teacher holds the authority. When someone in a position of authority delivers a message, it is likely to resonate stronger with an audience than if the same message is delivered by someone of a lower standing within the given sphere, in this case the classroom.

Classes like English, history and even a foreign language class, where taking a stance through writing and speaking is a necessity are where students need to choose their own

Yes

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opinions on the topics to be investigated, and deliver them in an educated manner. It’s hard for students to do this when the teacher’s opinion looms over them.

How can students ever speak for themselves when they fear opposition from the teacher, or worse, let the teacher speak for them? For the students to gain their own voices, they need to be up against fair competition with other students during discussion and without the unfair advantage that teachers hold over the classroom.

For the sake of educated, fair, and balanced discussion between students, the best stance for a teacher to take within a classroom is impartiality.

Editorial Board vote

Because of their overreaching influence, teachers should refrain from sharing political views in an educational setting.

No

0

On the issue:

Selective Sympathy

ILLUSTRATION BY LULU WEGMAN

While we should have left our Eurocentric goggles behind in 2016, the reaction to, or lack thereof, the famine in Somalia proves that not much has changed. Let’s talk selective sympathy.

When tragedy strikes a Western nation, the world is quick to extend support. Facebook profile pictures are changed, hashtags are started, and charities are shared across all social media platforms.

But this devotion of support seems to end were life spans get shorter and wars become more plentiful. The average American too often ignores calamities that strike nonWestern countries, not extending the same sense of solidarity to countries that do not share our privileges.

The UN announced that over 20 million people from four countries—Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen—are facing famine, resulting in malnutrition and premature death.

The lack of external forces to blame this calamity on normalcy convinces us that not much can be done. The absence of response to the announcement is chilling, reminding

Dina Ghanim

us of the boundaries for our sympathy.

Too often, global issues are brushed aside in certain countries because death is normalized in that region. The world does not blink for a crime-ridden country, for example, because the word “crime” has been paired with the country’s name for too long. The two become synonymous. After all, one cannot hear “Bonnie” without thinking about “Clyde.”

These associations, seemingly harmless, normalize suffering in certain parts of the world. Hearing “famine” and “Africa” in the same sentence does not shock many.

We come to terms with the calamity, allowing ourselves to believe that it is their reality and thus do not extend our sympathy to their struggle. When privileged countries are struck by the same adversities, however, the world reacts.

Do not allow the normalcy of struggle in developing countries to affect participation and solidarity. Let us drop the notion that a person expected to live to 100 deserves life more than the child who will not receive the proper nutrition to see 20 years old.

March 24, 2017

High Tide

Pro/Con:

staff

Editors-in-Chief: Caterina Hyneman; Shaniya Markalanda

USDA Health Code

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: Yasamin Fazeli; Amanda Shaw Photo Editors: Jarrah May; Eden Millan Copy Editors: Davina Nguyen; Marie Ona Social Media Editor: Justin Pioletti Illustrators: Adrian Craciun; Lulu Wegman Staff Writers: Brian Adler; Aaliah Alz; Analise Asaro; Maryam Bacaloni; Brittany Baker; Amanda Ban; Mia Berger; Tessa Biscaldi; Malek Chamas; Michael Teng-Kai 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; Shyanne Landers; Grace McGonigle; Hayley O’Connor-Rigby; Daniel Parhizi; Ethan Park; William Pournamdari; Julian Quevado; Rubab Quraishi; Batia Rotshtein; Nicole Sandoval; Keana Sterling; Nadia Stodder; Angie Tait; Benjamin Yepez; Erika Zlatkin Photographers: Cass Anderson; Matthew Davidson; Hiroki Goto; Kaitlyn Katayame; Anne-Elyse Peterson; 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

Letters to the

Editor

If you have an opinion about one of the articles, letters can be sent to the editor at hightideonline@gmail. com.

We reserve the right to edit them for content, grammar, and space constraints. Letters must be signed and are not guaranteed to be printed.

Please keep letters to a maximum of 250 words. Longer guest opinions are also accepted.

page 7

opinion

Amanda Shaw

Limit daily sugars to

Health programs reap benefits High schools have steadily become more involved in the eating habits of their students in recent times, extending the role of schools to not only encouraging young people academically, but physically as well.

The key word is encouraging, not requiring..

It is unrealistic to hope that every student attending RUHS will one day be eating 8 servings of fruits and vegetable and exercising an hour every day, but any step in that direction is one in the right direction.

Most high school students aren’t all that concerned with the nutritional value of the food they consume on a daily basis to begin with. Between academics, sports, jobs, and relationships, students are most likely to eat the food that is most easily accessible to them.

And in most cases, because the average student is spending at least seven hours a day at school, the food most readily available is that for sale in the cafeteria and vending machines. Therefore, by providing healthier food options, the likelihood of the student body as a whole eating better in general will increase.

By aiming to provide healthier food options for students, both in vending machines and the cafeteria, the school is simply exercising its unique ability to positively influence the lifestyle choices of adolescents that could potentially have lasting effects.

Not only does this increase healthier eating habits at school, but also sets a precedent for food choices then made at home and in the future.

Again, by serving healthier food, the school is not forcing nutritious meals down the throat of every student. Bringing a homemade lunch is the easiest and cheapest alternative to buying lunch at school, and because there are no restrictions on what type of food a student may bring to school, the school’s health-conscious regulations truly have very little consequences for those that find them unbearable.

Ideally, everything a school does--all spending, rules, and regulations--should be in the best interest of the greatest number of students; setting healthier food standards is just that. Students at RUHS come from a huge variety of backgrounds and households, a portion of which may not regard nutrition with much importance, but by providing healthy, typically cheap food options, the school is taking the opportunity to affect student lives and the quality of them. One healthy choice made is one student helped, and that is worthwhile.

10%

of daily calorie intake from added sugars Consume less than

2,300 mg of sodium per day

Limit Saturated fats and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium.

Ensure that at

1/2

least of grain intake is whole grain

Dairy Fruits

Grains

Vegetables

Protein

MyPlate models the five food groups for a healthy diet

Focus on food variety, density of nutrients, and serving size. To meet nutrient needs within calorie limits, choose nutrient-dense foods across different food group.

INFORMATION FROM USDA

Ethan Park

Health codes are unfruitful School districts should not try to place restrictions on the school lunch program, as they force students to abide to a restrictive, unappealing diet and are a waste of the school’s resources and time.

The new school lunch program installs a “one size fits all” policy for healthy eating, even though every student has different dietary needs. It is up to the student and his/ her family to determine what is the best diet and proper nutrition required for his/her situation—not something the school board should decide.

Of course, the school board should allow students the option to purchase healthy foods if they so desire. However, it is pointless to get rid of pleasure foods in the school’s lunch program, as the student would just buy them from another source or bring them from home.

Doing so would just remove another source of income for the school board that could go to improving the educational standards.

One of a high school’s primary purposes is to get students ready to become responsible young adults. One of these responsibilities is to maintain one’s body and make sure that it is getting the right nutrients it needs.

Therefore, this new lunch program would not properly prepare students for the important, everyday choices they would need to make during their adulthood. It is important for students to develop healthy eating habits, but the way to establish these habits are from education, not from restricting foods.

The healthy foods that are sold to students are simply unappealing. The school’s solution to the guidelines set forth is to replace food with overly bland alternatives.

Students instead bring food from home or buy it from a store instead, essentially making the whole movement pointless.

From what can be observed, many students who do buy lunch just throw away the fruits and vegetables they are required to pick up with their purchase.

If the school board wants to stop the growing obesity/overweight problems in teenagers, the solution is not to cut off access to unhealthy foods. The solution is to change the mindset of these teenagers, for them to understand what is healthy for them and what is not.

Instead of completely revamping the school lunch program, it would be more beneficial to launch informational campaigns detailing the negative effects of eating unhealthy.

page 8

High Tide

features

RACE WALL to the

Doyle swims for Alpha Aquatics swim team

Staying a float. 1. Senior Kathryn Doyle swims freesyle. 2. Despite never winning a meet, Doyle believes that her team’s hardwork and passion will lead them to victory . PHOTO COURTESY OF KATIE KATAYAMA

by Alex Dang After five months with the Alpha Aquatics swimming club, senior Kathryn Doyle has never experienced the exultation of triumph.

Alpha Aquatics competes against much larger USA Swimming clubs that have more trainers and swimmers. Despite never winning a meet, Doyle believes that they still “do well, considering [their] numbers.”

Doyle is not fazed by the prospect of being an “underdog”; she understands that vying for medals and titles requires not only passion, but also mental toughness.

“Swimming is not for the weak, is what a lot of my coaches say. You have to really love it to be able to push yourself to get up at 4 in the morning to go to practice,” Doyle said.

Although there are a multitude of swim meets throughout the year, like in every sport, there are the main events which “mean more.” According to Doyle’s mother, Annette, working hard for the opportunity to

rise in those moments breeds patience and humbleness.

“Competitive swimming has really taught her delayed gratification because the swimmers train so hard for an important meet, which happens only once or twice during the year,” Annette said. “She trains for the rest of the year for the chance to improve her time.”

Doyle mainly competes in the backstroke events, and considers it her favorite stroke.

However, it is “tough” on the shoulders, and over the past two years, Doyle has dealt with painful shoulder problems and has battled an illness.

Doyle has flexible shoulder joints, which can make it hard to keep them strong at times. When the muscles around her rotator cuffs are not built, the cuffs rub against her shoulder ligaments, causing her to experience sharp pain.

According Annette, her daughter’s desire

to swim beyond high school motivated her to continue to train despite the discomfort.

“Kathryn has always dreamed of swimming in college, and chasing that dream is what kept her swimming through the pain,” said Annette.

Doyle found the inspiration she had been looking for in Missy Franklin. Franklin is the four-time gold medal winner at the 2012 Olympics who seemed to have hit a snag in her career when she failed to qualify for the finals in two of the three events she was competing in in Rio this past summer.

However, what matters more to Doyle is the grit Franklin displayed in returning from her injury to even have the chance to compete for an Olympic medal.

“Missy Franklin inspires me the most because she is a backstroker as well and she’s just been through a lot, recently. She got injured and came back from it,” Doyle said.

Doyle’s coaches supported her as she returned to competitive swimming, as they “empathized” with her difficult situation, and hoped to prevent similar ones in the future.

“Most of the coaches that I have had have been really understanding towards injury because they faced it themselves. A lot of swimmers have problems, even the fast ones. They push me to take the precautions to protect my body,” Doyle said.

Doyle’s coaches are also products of the competitive athletic system: Octavio Alesi, Doyle’s main coach, was a two-time Olympian at the 2008 and 2012 Summer games.

Their “similar” backgrounds cause Doyle’s coaches to push her to test her own limits and capabilities.

“Tough love is popular amongst certain coaches, but it’s mostly to make you see what you can improve and how you can do better,” Doyle said. “They all want the best for you.”

March 24, 2017

features

page 9

Go for the goal

Bloch is traveling to Israel to play in the Jewish Olympics

by Kelly Harraka

ILLUSTRATION BY ADRIAN CRACIUN

She started her soccer career just like everyone else: through the volunteer-run American Youth Soccer Association.

Now, freshman Sydney Bloch is going to Israel this summer to play soccer in the Jewish Olympics in Maccabiah.

“Basically, Jewish people from around the country combine to form a girls soccer team and we are going to Israel to play against Jews from other countries,” Bloch said.

Bloch found out about the game through a friend and was immediately interested.

“I tried out for the team because there was really nothing to lose from it. I didn’t know if I was going to make it obviously, because it was all high school ages, but I ended up making it. I’m really excited. It should be a fun experience,” Bloch said.

The tryouts lasted for two days, and there were two tryouts for the entire country: in California and New York.

“The tryouts basically just consisted of different drills. To make the team they took

half of the players from California and the other half from New York.”

Bloch was also on the Olympic Development Program (ODP) team and took part in a pool for the US national team (u16).

ODP, or Olympic Development program is meant to recruit and develop youth players for the future national teams. There are many teams throughout the country, divided up by region and age.

“I’ve been in ODP for about 3 years now,” Bloch said. “To recruit, they have a camp, and then they make a team based off that. I made the camp, but I couldn’t go to that, and I made the team but I couldn’t go to that either. Then I got invited to play with the 2000 ODP team at the national championships in Arizona last week, but I couldn’t go that, because of school.”

The national camp was another elite and unique experience Bloch was able to attend.

“I went to the national camp in July of last,” Bloch said. “I went to this thing called

id2, which is an identification camp you get invited to. I think I might have gotten recruited for it from going to that camp because there are a lot of national team girls who go there.”

In addition to being involved in the three elite teams, Bloch also plays club soccer.

“I played AYSO when I was younger, so I didn’t really start playing club early on. A lot of my friends went to club, so I followed them and really enjoyed it. I’ve been playing club ever since,” she said. “My club team is Beach FC. Our team isn’t classified as academy yet, because that starts next year, but we are technically the academy team for our age.”

Despite being ranked the 9th best defender in the country for her age, Bloch’s education is her, and her parents’, priority.

“My parents are really supportive of me, and they really like soccer, but know that school comes first,” Bloch said. “If there is a conflict between school and soccer, then I go to school.”

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High Tide

features

Mathletes and athletes Morton and Smith play beach volleyball

by Michael Teng-Kai Chang

From teaching the art of geometry to diving on a volleyball court, math teacher, Michael Smith, brings the same enthusiasm to the table. The sport of volleyball changed his life through several aspects, from lifestyle, family, to career.

“I play four to five days every week,” Smith said. “I go to chiropractors [for volleyball], take ice baths and keep a healthy diet to maintain my performance on the court.”

According to Smith, he is “training like Michael Phelps” in order to maintain the athleticism and shorten the recovery time. He trains, rests and eats like a professional athlete.

Although the sport takes up much of his time outside of the classroom, it isn’t always volleyball that accompanied him growing up.

“I didn’t really pick up volleyball until after high school, I was really into baseball [but then] I wanted to just focus on school,” Smith said. “A little later down the road, I actually met my wife in Huntington Beach. [My wife’s team] didn’t have enough people, so they started playing with us, and eventually we started playing more, [then] we started dating.”

Stacey Smith, was an all-American honorable mention when playing with UC Santa Barbara.

“I started playing volleyball in high school, then I was able to get a scholarship to go to college. Now it’s more of a fun activity to keep me in shape and [keep me] competitive,” Stacey said.

According to Stacey, the afternoon she and Smith spend together at the court became valuable bonding time.

“Now, it’s something that Mr. Smith and I can both do together, on the weekends we play with different people while [we are] still at the same place,”Stacey said. “It’s really neat

that we are able to still spend time together while also getting our volleyball in.”

Besides meeting her husband at the court while playing the sport she loves, the impact of volleyball did not end there for Stacey.

“I try to play four to five times a weekend I’m thankful that [Smith and] I have a job that lets [us] do that, it’s a great way to stay in shape, stay competitive, and meet a [lot] of great people doing it,” Stacey said.

Smith found his love, passion, and competitive spirit in volleyball.

“With volleyball, I really do find happiness in trying to get better at something,” said Smith.

As a math teacher, being able to be more calculated in terms of angles and timings often gains Mr. Smith an edge in game. With sports analytics being more popular, Smith’s knowledge on geometry and statistics helps him perform on a higher level.

“You’re thinking about a lot of angles all the time,” Smith said. “When I play defense and I know the opponent is hitting on one side of the court. I need to transfer my body to a certain area while not giving away the chance over in the other area.”

With their passion in the sport, Smith and his wife both encourage young people to participate in volleyball.

“It’s a very social sport. We live in the greatest volleyball place on earth. [It is] an activity to keep yourself in shape. It’s awesome to be on the beach, and I will encourage everyone to try it out, you can [either] be a pro or a beginner. There is always people to play with,” Stacey said Amanda Morton, also a math teacher at RUHS, is extreme-

ly passionate about the sport of volleyball.

“I started playing in eighth grade. Then I played in high school indoor volleyball, was going to play for UCLA, but then I had a knee surgery,” Morton said.

Although a knee surgery halted Morton’s path in route to being a walk-on athlete, her passion for volleyball hasn’t changed.

“After college, I started playing beach volleyball, and after a while, I started playing in tournaments where I got up to my Triple A for a while, maybe for ten to fifteen years I had a Triple A rating,” Morton said.

To achieve a Triple A rating, a player typically has had intensive training for national tournament competition at the collegiate and semi-professional levels.

“The more I keep in shape, the better I eat, the better I play, so that’s definitely an inspiration of keeping fit. I’m probably one of the oldest players playing in the California Beach Volleyball Association,” Morton said Despite the relatively older age comparing to the other players, Morton always try to stay healthy and fit to prolong her career on the beach volleyball court. She stays active and trains once a week on with a trainer.

“I want to keep playing until I can’t play [anymore]. I love the sport,” Morton said.

With her love and passion for the sport, Morton also encourages young high school students to dive into the world of volleyball.

“I think it’s great to have a passion because it’s a sport, whether it’s volleyball or any other sport. It inspires me to keep in shape so I live a much better life, being healthier than most people at my age,” Morton said.

1.

1.

Spike. 1. Michael Smith and his wife

Stacey Smith play beach volleyball together about four or five times every week. “With volleyball, I really do find happiness in trying to get better at something,” Smith said. 2. Amanda Morton first realized her love for volleyball in eighth grade. “After I graduated from college, I moved to Manhattan Beach,” Morton said. “I took lessons down at the pier for a while and I liked it.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHAEL SMITH AND AMANDA MORTON

2.

March 24, 2017

page 11

features

Going

NUTS

Koehler is the founder of Genuinely Original Nuts

by Danny Parhizi and William Pournamdari When sophomore Austin Koehler noticed the lack of candied nuts in the South Bay, he decided to sell them himself. Koehler’s Genuinely Original Nuts(G.O. Nuts), a company that makes flavored pecans, was born.

“I think that this has impacted my life because I’ve always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I didn’t really know about how I should be going about doing it,” Koehler said.

What really motivated Koehler to start up his own business was seeing the reactions of his customers while they eat his pecans.

“My favorite part about selling is the joy on peoples faces when they try my product, and when I sell them at sporting events I love looking around and seeing people eating what I made; it’s very satisfying for me,” Koehler said.

According to Koehler, his passion for business keeps him interested in selling nuts, which he believes will be his introduction into entrepreneurship.

“What motivates me is my love of business because I’ve always loved it since I was a little kid. I’ve always had a dream to be an entrepreneur and a CEO of a company one day,” Koehler said.

Koehler got the idea while living in Virginia and South Carolina where there is an abundance of stores just for candied nuts.

“I was talking to people about them here because I haven’t seen any stores in the area that sell candied nuts, so I thought it was a great business opportunity and a great way to spread my love of these delicious candy treats in the South Bay area,” Koehler said.

Koehler currently sells around 40 bags of pecans a week, which he creates with his own recipe.

“When I was growing up we’ve always had a family recipe, so we always had them at parties so I grew up with these pecans.”

Koehler enjoys both the experience and the past memories that comes with selling the pecans.

“It allows me to express my entrepreneurial spirit, and I enjoy making them because it reminds me of the many places I’ve lived and of my family on the east coast,” Koehler said.

“I love selling them because, first and foremost, I’m getting money that I can put back into my business and, second, I get to make people happy by selling them something that I made. It makes you feel really good when something you made makes someone else happy.”

According to Koehler, his business class inspires him to keep up with his business. Koehler is enrolled in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a business class at Mira Costa that teaches how to start up a business, acquire insurance, and even file taxes.

“I thought I wouldn’t start doing s o m e thing l i k e b u s i - ness until after college because I thought I needed to go take business classes and stuff like that so I can be prepared, but I kind of just jumped in and took the class and it’s just awesome,” Koehler said.

For $5 a bag, each with one of three different flavors–classic, key lime and spicy– Koehler hopes to soon begin retailing his products in commercial stores such as Blue Butterfly Co. in El Segundo.

“I’m currently selling them individually to people, but right now I am making a deal with a store down in El Segundo to sell my pecans in their store,” Koehler said.

Koehler is currently in the process of obtaining a license and permit in order to legally make and sell the pecans commercially. As he expands to more retailers, Koehler is confident he will continue to grow his company.

“I will pursue this in the future because as you can see I’m moving forward with it,”

1.

Nuts for pecans. 1. Sophomore Austin Koe-

2.

Koehler said. “I’m getting into a store and hopefully from there on I will be going to farmer’s markets, other special events, and into more stores.”

Although he plans on expanding G.O. Nuts in the future, Koehler believes pecans are the safest way to start out.

“Someday I would love to venture into different types of nuts but, as of right now, pecans are my safest pick because of the family recipe, and I have experience making them.

Right now as my business is starting up, I’m only going to stick with pecans, but once I have a stable base for the company I would like to expand into different types of flavors such as almonds because people have asked me to make them into candy,” Koehler said.

In order to gain exposure for G.O. Nuts, Koehler sends free samples to celebrities such as Steve Harvey. The CEO of the LA Kings and members of the Oakland Raiders have purchased pecans from Koehler.

hler created the company Genuinely Original Nuts. He sells pecans and started using his family recipe. 2. Koehler sells three different flavors classic, key lime, and spicy. He hopes to sell many different nuts in the future, such as almonds due to the demand. PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUSTIN KOEHLER

“I was thrilled to hear that the previous head coach of the Oakland Raiders and some of the team members loved my pecans, and one loved them so much he came back and bought a whole gift basket of them,” Koehler said.

Koehler currently donates 10 percent of his profits to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) which helps children with type one diabetes transition from leading a normal life to adapting with type one diabetes.

“I donate ten percent of profits to JDRF to turn type one into type none in honor of my type one diabetic brother Jackson,” Koehler said.

Koehler is happy to be able to pursue his company in the future.

“I’m living my dreams, having fun and making people happy through my company G.O. Nuts,” Koehler said. “I can’t wait to see where it takes me in the future.”

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center

Theory of

by Grace McGonigle Eleven-year-old Jena Tripoli pursued her love for photography by taking pictures of stuffed animals in her room. Little did she know it would turn into a passion for stop-motion animation and maybe even a future career.

Stop-motion animation is a type of filmmaking that involves editing a series of photos together to create the effect of fluid movement. To make a stop-motion, the creator has to take a single image, move their set and characters slightly, take another picture, and continue on in this way.

Tripoli doesn’t make videos just to pass time, she uses stop-motion as a chance to combine her passions for photography and filmmaking.

“My videos aren’t made to kill time; I make them because I want to. I guess they could be called artistic movies. Anything can be artistic since the spectrum of art is infinite, but I make videos because I’m passionate about it. I have also always loved photography and filmmaking, and stop-motion is the perfect combination of the two,” Tripoli said.

She usually makes videos just for close friends, but occasionally posts them on YouTube. Her friend, freshman Sarah Kabul, admires how Jenna pursues her passions.

“I’m really proud of Jenna. She’s doing what she loves no matter what anyone thinks and I really admire that. People naturally want to impress others and when one person doesn’t like what you’re doing it takes a toll on you and makes you rethink what you’re doing, but Jenna doesn’t worry about what other people think,” Kabul said.

When she makes videos, Tripoli tries to spread a message of encouragement.

“The videos that I’ve made always make me really happy, so I want to spread a message of positivity.

I want people to enjoy everything they have the power to do, because you can do whatever you want. For me, stop-motion started as a hobby that I did from time to time and it’s grown to something I really love doing and making, so if people have something they’re really pas-

High Tide

connecti

sionate about, I want to encourage them to do it,” Tripoli said.

Kabul has recognized Tripoli’s message and believes she is successful in spreading it.

“I think she is able to spread this message because she shows people that no matter how hard it is to do something, do it because you love it. She takes thousands of pictures to make one stop-motion, but she really likes making videos,” Kabul said.

One of her favorite things to make stop-motion videos for is school projects.

“I really like to make stop-motion for school. I’ve done a stop-motion on a chapter of the book 1776 and in 7th grade I did one on ancient Istanbul. I’ve done a lot of stop-motions for English and history,” Tripoli said.

Kabul has watched Tripoli’s school project stop-motions, and enjoys them more than videos normally shown in school.

“I think Jenna’s stop-motions are really informative. She talks about a lot of concepts you learn in school and it helped me learn a little more. They’re pretty well made and they definitely teach you things,” Kabul said.

The most challenging video she has made is one she did for an english project.

“For my 1776 stop-motion it had to be done in a very short amount of time, which is very stressful when you’re making a stop-motion. We did our voiceovers in one class period and then after that I had to film the entire thing in two nights, but what happened was the night before it was due, the entire project deleted itself. I had to reshoot the entire thing the night before, and adding to that, my computer ran out of storage, so collectively those two things made it extremely difficult to do that project. However, I did get it done on time and we did well on it,” Tripoli said.

Tripoli be-

gan experimenting with stop-motion in elementary school by creating music videos.

“I started doing stop-motion in 4th grade. I liked to make stop-motions where I would put stuffed animals in figurations and make music videos. My first stop-motion was a music video for the song Fireflies by Owl City. I just got a bunch of stuffed animals, put them in formations and moved them around,” Tripoli said.

In middle school, Tripoli used to upload her stop-motions on YouTube and, although she deleted the channel, she is interested in creating a new channel..

“I used to have a YouTube channel where I posted video.. It wasn’t up to my standards and it was before I got a new camera, so I deleted it. I really wasn’t happy with what I had posted, but I would like to make a new channel. I have already started planning out new stop-motions and I want to post them on YouTube,” Tripoli said.

Since she started, Tripoli has improved her editing and upgraded her setup, but would still like to get into making videos even more.

“Since I started making stop-motions, I have gotten a new camera and when I started, I was editing on my phone.

Now I use a program on my computer. I also make more detailed movements. In stop-motion you take more pictures to get more detailed movements, it’s more precise, so I’ve gotten a lot better at that.

March 24, 2017

ivity:

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page 13

Freshman Jenna Tripoli combines her love for photography and film to create stop-motion animation videos

Still, I definitely want to make more stop-motions because I haven’t been doing that many lately. I am working on another one right now, so I’m really excited about making more,” Tripoli said.

Instead of using people for her characters, Tripoli likes to reuse old childhood toys like dolls.

“When I was younger I had a lot of dolls that I didn’t get rid of, so they were just sitting in my closet. I thought why not take them out and make them useful, so I started making videos with them. Using dolls is easier than using other things. They stand up and you can move different parts of their body very easily, but I would still like to try something new like clay figures or animations,” Tripoli said.

Tripoli finds the most difficult part of stop-motion to be the time takes to make a video, but is always happy with her work in the end.

“It’s definitely time consuming. It can sometimes be really tedious and take a long time to edit, but the end result is always worth it,” Tripoli said.

She sees

criticism as necessary feedback and not only thrives on positive feedback, but keeps an open mind for negative feedback.

“I didn’t have much of an audience at the time when I posted my videos, so I didn’t get much feedback, but when I showed them to my friendshey had positive feedback, which I think is one of the reasons I continue to love stop-motion.

If it’s a way for me to improve myself or something that I’m doing, I will take what people have to say into consideration because that’s how you get better,” Tripoli said.

Although she loves Tripoli’s informative stop-motions, Kabul thinks that Tripoli can improve by branching out and making videos on new topics.

“I think she can improve them by adding a little more diversity into her themes. The ones I’ve seen are related to school, but I think if she adds life lessons it can appeal to a larger audience,” Kabul said.

Tripoli sees filmmaking as an exciting, different way to get

people involved in the arts.

“Filmmaking and stop-motion is a way to get people involved in something that they may not have previously known about. I didn’t know about stop-motion for a while and once I did learn about it and tried doing it, it became something I really enjoy, so I really think it can get people who aren’t necessarily super artistic involved in the arts in a different way,” Tripoli said.

Although Tripoli originally started filmmaking “just for fun”, stop-motion has grown into a possible career for her.

“It wasn’t until around 5th grade I even realized that I was making stop-motion videos. I was just taking pictures of things and putting them together,” Tripoli said. “But I’ve always really loved filmmaking. I’m not exactly sure what I want to pursue, but filmmaking and stop-motion are definitely an option.”

R(evolutionary). Jenna Tripoli mimics the

steps taken in a Stop-Motion animation, a type of filmmaking that involves editing a series of photos together to create the effect of fluid movement. PHOTOS BY JARRAH MAY

page 14

High Tide

features

Step by step

1.

Gianoukakis competes at the Faith, Dance and Fellowship Festival

by Alex Dang

After six months of practice, it was not good enough for senior Billie Gianoukakis to merely hold hands with her dance partners and to perform her routine with the utmost perfection. No, at the Faith, Dance and Fellowship Festival (FDF) the judges want more.

“It’s not all about the dancing; it’s about something the Greeks call ‘kefi’ which is when you are showing that you are having fun and that it’s not all staged. You can have the right technique, but another group can top yours if they have the technique and kefi.

Judges can tell if you are enjoying it or not,” Gianoukakis said.

For 10 consecutive years, Gianoukakis competed in the dance festival held every President’s Day weekend by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco. About 3,000 Greeks from across the nation came to celebrate this year’s theme “All for One,” which emphasizes teamwork and unity.

Her group from St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Los Angeles began preparing for the festival in September and ended before the festival occurred in February. She was in a “difficult” situation after her high school group was combined with the older college dancers.

“This competition was tougher because I

had never danced with half these people before, and we were in a more difficult category, Senior Division. The divisions are all really tough, but it just gets tougher every year,” Gianoukakis said.

Gianoukakis’ group practiced four hours each Saturday and Sunday. Every year, she grapples with the “demanding” nature of practices.

“Every time that I prepare for this competition, I think, ‘I don’t want to go to practice.

I don’t want to do this again.’ But I also think to myself, ‘This is why I go to practice. This festival keeps me with my Greek community’ because I get to meet all of these people,” Gianoukakis said.

In tribute to their culture in Greece, the dancers dressed in traditional Greek costumes: males wear stiff white stockings, called foustanellas, and females with headscarves dancing in colorful striped vests.

To Gianoukakis’ mother, Anne, the FDF festival serves as a time capsule, trapping the heart of Greek culture as a hereditary gift for future generations of Greek Americans. “[The] dancers demonstrate their talent and skills and many are inspired to learn more, to share and to preserve the legacy for

generations and years to come,” Anne said.

“I encourage Billie to continue practicing her Greek culture, so hopefully one day she passes on these traditions to her own children and family.”

Gianoukakis’ group performed dances from an island called Lesvos — the more “wavy and flowy” style — and on Saturday, dances from Metsovo, a town in mainland Greece, meaning the technique is more “tight” and displays more poise.

Gianoukakis’ group placed fourth out of 12 groups in her Senior Division. Only once in her 10 years of competition has her group failed to place, and that experience drove Gianoukakis’ group to dig deeper.

“It hurt not placing that one year because we had worked so hard. We thought that we had the dance down — we had so much fun on stage — but there were certain steps that were just a bit off. We were shocked that we did not place. But that loss motivated us to work harder; the next three years we won first place,” said Gianoukakis.

When she attends the University of Nevada, Las Vegas next year, Gianoukakis plans on flying out to Calif. to participate in the festival.

“Being Greek and living out my culture is a huge part of me, and I would be so different without it,” Gianoukakis said.

2.

Keep on dancin’.

1. Senior Billie Gianoukakis hiked the gorge of Samaria in Crete, Greece and captured a photo of a local town. 2. Twelve-year-old Gianoukakis smiles with a costume she wore for a dance called “Karpathos.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF BILLIE GIANOUKAKIS

Barba volunteers with Wounded Heroes of America to help war veterans

by Kylee Kallick

Volunteering some of her time for soldiers that have fought for the country is something she would gladly do if it means the soldiers are getting a better life.

Freshman Brianna Barba volunteers at the organization, Wounded Heroes of America.

“At first I joined more for family but also [to help]. Those are the heroes, our heroes, the real heroes of America and they are the ones who help us out, so why can’t I just go help them?” Barba said.

The organization, which has members anywhere from three year to 80 years old, all work together to raise money for war veterans and to make them feel appreciated.

“We help [by] wrap[ping] their gifts, or trying to sell fireworks to fund for expenses that they have, for medical bills, or for all

these different things that they might need like food, and a home,” Barba said.

According to Barba, the organization is different from the program Wounded Warriors of America because this program focuses on a smaller area.

“A lot of people are involved, but it’s not nearly as big as the Wounded Warriors of America. With Wounded Heroes though, it’s more to the community, and it actually makes a difference. It really helps out all of the the veterans that live near us,” Barba said.

The Wounded Heroes of America helps out war veterans that have less privileges, such as little no money for food, water and a shelter. “[We help] anyone who is in the marines, or came out and didn’t have their life completely in tact mentally, or physically. For

example, there is this one guy who has this tube coming out of his throat, and we help him out, and make him feel wanted,” Barba said.

While helping veterans in need of support, the organization has helped Barba become closer to her uncle Mike Talleda, the founder of the organization. “[Uncle Mike and I] have more of a sense of respect for each other. Before he was just the uncle who gave me $20 every Christmas, but now he’s one who I respect thoroughly, as well as respect his program. I would’ve never thought of creating a program like this, and it’s just really inspiring to me,” Barba said.

Barba’s favorite part of the organization is being able to have fun by bonding with her family and other members, while still being able to help those less fortunate.

“My favorite part of the organization is probably the Fourth of July sales we have, where you sell fireworks and other things. It’s really fun because you get to spend a bunch of time with each other, and not much worrying about anything else. You’re there just trying to make sales, and trying to do all these things to help other people out,” Barba said.

Barba believes that all people should consider joining and volunteering at the Wounded Heroes of America or donating money to help the veterans.

“People should join because it is a really good lifelong experience that you would have. Also, you are helping out someone that fought for you, died for you, injured themselves physically and mentally. They did a service for you, so the least you can do is a little service for them,” Barba said.

March 24, 2017

features

Smooth ride:

by Whayden Dhamcho

Making waves.

Freshman Luke Takashima poses with his surfboard that he created. PHOTO BY SAMMY ALDOVER

page 15

Freshman Luke Takashima creates surfboards for profit As he finishes carving the foam and prepares to send the board to get glassed, freshman Luke Takashima looks forward to surfing with one of his newly made surfboards.

After surfing for four years on storebought surfboards, Takashima decided to create his boards using his own personal method.

“I’m much more proud surfing on a board that I shaped myself than one that I have bought from someone,” Takashima said. “I get the pride from the sense of accomplishment I get when finishing a board.”

Takashima first started making surfboards last December and believes his surfing experience helped him to do so.

“I’ve been surfing for a long time, and I thought it would be cool to make my own surfboard and make some for my buddies,” Takashima said.

According to freshman Finn Dowd, Takashima is creative and has craftsmanship.

“He started making hand planes and stuff out of wood. He enjoyed that, and he tried to sell them,” Dowd said, “One day we were talking, and he decided that he wanted to make a surfboard, and now he’s doing it.”

Takashima has gained more knowledge about the specifics of a surfboard’s design and form through surfing.

When shaping a surfboard, Takashima uses “trial and error.”

Shaping is the process of carving the surfboard out of foam block using a hacksaw to form an outline.

“I took down one of my own surfboards that was old. I practiced on that foam, and because I did I was able to do a pretty good job on my first surfboard I shaped and used,” Takashima said. “I just really, genuinely enjoy making surfboards. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Takashima, who earns between $50 and $100 per surfboard, does not charge more for profit because he enjoys making the boards. However, he does not plan on making surfboards as a method of income in the far future.

“When I make a surfboard for someone, I charge them around what it costs me because I love to do it. I do charge them a little more because it’s a time consum-

ing process. For the most part, I do it because I enjoy it,” Takashima said.

When a client requests a surfboard, Takashima takes about three weeks to complete the project. He requires 10 hours to shape the board. Takashima’s process begins with buying a blank and drawing an outline.

He draws the measurements and dimensions, marks the rails, which he believes is the hardest part because it has a “big” effect on the surfboard.

Then, he hacksaws the board out, sands it all to ensure the correct shape and sends the board to get glassed at Mangiagli’s, which takes two weeks to glass the board.

After finishing shaping the surfboard, Takashima looks forward to seeing his client’s reactions.

“When I make a surfboard for me or one of my buddies, it’s just really exciting because I’m waiting to see them on it or myself,” Takashima said. “I want to see how it turns out altogether.”

Dowd helps Takashima by offering his friend his opinion to help. Dowd wishes to offer hands-on help in the future.

“I think he is pretty good, especially for a kid our age. His boards are pretty even and smooth,” Dowd said, “I give him advice and ideas on what to do, or opinions on things when he asks for it, like what size and what shape to make it.”

When shaping a surfboard in his free time, Takashima enjoys every moment of the process.

“It’s an amazing feeling shaping a board.

You feel relaxed and excited at the same time,” Takashima said. “I’m excited because I am looking forward to seeing the finished product and how it’s going to perform.”

Takashima believes he has improved his forming technique and has become more efficient. However, he still considers himself an “amateur” and believes he has more to learn.

Dowd believes that Takashima’s boards are similar to store bought ones, which is an advantage because he saves by making his own.

“They are a little thicker and heavier because he doesn’t want to break them, so they’re a little bit slower and heavier, but other than that there isn’t much of a difference.

It does not make the board that much worse though,” Dowd said.

According to Takashima, he continues making surfboards because he loves the process and looks forward to trying the product.

“The main thing that keeps me going is the fun and joy to see someone else on a board that you shaped and to ride one you shaped yourself,” Takashima said.

page 16

High Tide

features

A new perspective Jacobson flies drones to capture the beauty of the South Bay

Sky High. Jacobson’s drone snaps a shot of the Redondo Beach Pier. “It’s really cool to get ocean views. They’re really cool pictures because we don’t have to walk over there, we just fly [the drone] there.” PHOTO BY PETER JAby Martha Farah As the drone flies over the Redondo Beach coastline, one of his favorite views, he sees the patterns the harbor marks and the aerial view of the pier along with the ocean. Junior Peter Jacobson watches this view from a whole new perspective and notices things he has never expected to see.

“It’s fun and cool because not many people [fly drones],” Jacobson said. “You get another cool angle, and anything from the sky looks cool. You can fly up and see things you’ve never seen before.”

Because his drone has a camera, it allows him to see different views.

“In broadcasting, we use the drones for another angle,” Jacobson said. “You see the band doing motions, but when you go to the aerial view, you see them make different symbols and shapes.”

Broadcasting teacher, Matthew Sheehey, believes that the drones help enhance the broadcast visually by capturing pictures of the school from a different point of view.

“You never see an aerial shot or above your head that high. We don’t realize how close we are to the beach until we lift the drone and see 200 feet up, and now suddenly we can see the water and the actual curvature of the South Bay,” Sheehey said.

According to Sheehey, Jacobson become comfortable with the drone and “understood it.”

Aside from broadcasting, Jacobson flies the drone for fun to post the views he films on YouTube.

“I use them for filming and surfing. You can follow people easily and get an amazing shot,” Jacobson said. “I’ll just use them for

other fun stuff. Earlier this year, there were whales, so we would fly out to the whales.”

According to Jacobson, filming with a drone is not always an easy thing to do.

“I like being a cameraman and flying the drone,” Jacobson said. “It’s really easy to fly it, but it’s hard to get a good video.

Jacobson believes that good weather is a necessity for filming a good video.

“Without a clear sky, you really can’t see anything,” Jacobson said. “It’s just hard to get a good shot. It’s like regular filming, you have to know how to direct the shot, and there’s just a lot of aspects.”

His father’s roofing business inspired Jacobson to begin flying drones about three years ago.

“My dad owns a roofing business, so he got [a drone] because of that. We started fly-

ing them to search the roofs for things like bad leaks,” Jacobson said. “With drones, you don’t have to use a ladder, but use a drone to film the roof.”

Jacobson wishes to pursue a career leading him to use drones.

“I want to get into the industry. There are not many drone pilots out there,” Jacobson said. “You probably need to have a certification to fly a drone in the industry. Electrical engineers use it, film use it, anyone that really needs to get up high use them. Drones can bring me into any type of career.”

Jacobson enjoys learning more about the drones what they can do.

“It’s really fun to fly. The small drones can fly and do flips,” Jacobson said. “It’s like, ‘How close can I get to something?’ It’s fun to see what I can do with the drones.”

Ayers bowls competitively with her father

by Lauren Kim

Senior Jillian Ayers picked up a ball again this year and rejoined her bowling league to end her high school career and bond with her father.

Ayers said that spending time with her dad is one of her favorite parts of being on the bowling league.

“My favorite part is definitely spending time with him,” Ayers said. “I’ve always been a daddy’s girl, and since I’m going to a college that’sout of state next year, I’m just really trying to spend as much time with him as I can.”

While Ayers says that bowling brings the pair closer together, her father Doug disagrees.

“We’ve done a lot of things over the years together. Bowling is my favorite activity to do together because we’re involved in the same thing. It’s not coaching we’re both actively participating,” Doug said.

Doug was the reason Ayers started bowl-

ing at such a young age. When Ayers was young, she competed in a family league, which has teams with one adult and one child.

“My dad’s been bowling since before I was born so I’ve been bowling since I could hold a ball. He was like ‘Okay, you’re learning how to bowl,’” Ayers said. “It was just on the weekends for fun at first and then he put me on a family league. When I was little I used to compete in tournaments too.”

Ayers’ father is also the reason she rejoined the league this year after quitting freshman year.

“My dad, who’s on my bowling team was like ‘we really need another person’ and I’m going off to college next year, and I thought it’d be a nice bonding experience so I joined again,” Ayers said.

Although she rejoined the team, Ayers plans on having this year be her last year of bowling for a team.

“I’ve thought about playing in college but I don’t think I’m going to do it seriously. It’s a long time commitment. When you bowl in a league it’s three to four hours whenever your league meets because the game is so slow.

My league only meets once a week so it isn’t that bad, but practices still take a long time.”

According to Ayers, the game of bowling is very slow and that was one of the main reasons she decided to quit during her freshman year.

“Wednesday right after school is when my league met, and I was having to go straight to the bowling alley from school and I would stress out about school work. I also didn’t enjoy it anymore because it was slow paced,” Ayers said.

After rejoining the team, Ayers has also had to get rid of her amateur status. Everyone in a bowling league makes money from games, with the first place team making the most money and the last place team making

the least.

“This year the league that I’m on is with my dad and I had to sign away my amateur status because we technically bowl for money,” Ayers said. “I don’t make any money for bowling. My dad doesn’t really make any money either. I’ve made money a couple of times. It was pretty cool, I made a solid thirty bucks.”

After Ayers quit and rejoined her bowling league, the Tuesday Night Special, she has noticed a difference between her bowling in freshman year and senior year.

“There’s definitely a difference between when I was bowling freshman year and senior year. Now I know the people in my league so it’s kind of nice it takes longer because I get to talk to them and it’s more like a social event,” Ayers said. “I think there’s three of us that are still in high school and a lot of them have just graduated college and a lot of them are older.”

March 24, 2017

page 17

features

Get Schooled

Vice Principal Schooler competes in triathlons

by Kelly Harraka Ms. Schooler jumps out of the freezing water and mounts her bike, knowing that a gruesome 56 mile ride will be soon followed by over 13 miles on foot.

“The most difficult [obstacle] I’ve completed as an athlete has been the half Ironman because it’s mentally challenging. Some people peak as an athlete between ages 17-22. But, there are really competitive 30 year olds who do Ironmans. I think that there’s something about completing a race after so many years that allows the older competitors’ brains to tell them to ‘shut up’ and just keep going no matter how tired you are,” Schooler said.

At times, some task may seem impossible. But, with enough hard work and training anyone can be successful.

“When things get tough are you going to listen to the part of your brain that tells you to give up, or the part that tells you to keep going?” Schooler said. “You have to listen to the side of you that tells you to persevere and not listen to your inner critic.”

She believes that the older you are, the more willpower you have to tell yourself to push through when the race gets tough.

“Sometimes when you go out to train you feel really strong. I would ride along canyons and up hills. And, even if you’re going slow, when you get to the top and you’re able to ride down you feel really good,” Schooler said.

There are many factors that play into a successful day of training such as rest, hydration, nutrition, and the state that your muscles are in.

“There’s days where you do the exact same workout and nothing is working. It might be that your hydration is off, you get a cramp or you didn’t eat enough calories,” Schooler said.

“You hit a wall and the only thing you can do is keep going.”

Schooler trains four to six months before a triathlon. Before completing a half Ironman, she trained with an organization that helps fight various types of blood cancer.

“I was training and fundraising at the same time with the other people who were also training through that organization. We would do two days a week for just swim, one day for running, one day for cross train, one day was a rest day and then the weekends were called a ‘brick,’” Schooler said.

A brick is where you train for each part of the triathlon within a short time span. Over the weekends, Schooler, along the other members who were training, would do a 40 mile bike ride, a 20 minute run on Saturdays. On Sundays, they would then go out and do a one hour ocean swim and a 10 mile run.

“The reason [you do bricks] is to train your muscles to get in the habit of doing more than one type of work out without a rest between them,” Schooler said. “That’s probably the hardest part of the Ironman because you swim and then you get on a bike and go right into it.”

Each component of the triathlon requires different attire in order to perform to the best of your ability. Most triathlons have you start in a wetsuit. But, in order to save time, Ms. Schooler wears a wetsuit over her bicycle shorts so that in the transition era from swim to bike she can put her bike shirt

The Half Ironman

Bike

Run 13.1 miles

56 miles 50%

on and go.

Biking in a triathlon is much different from biking on the strand. For instance, the shoes for biking in a triathlon are mechanically designed with a medal spoke on the bottom so that the biker can’t remove his shoe from the pedal unless they move their foot at a different angle. This allows for more power to be used since the pedal is being pushed the whole 360 degrees of its circular movement.

“If you’re biking for more than a mile, you want the extra power so it’s less strain,” Schooler said.

Although most of the triathlons and Ironmans are on fueled by willpower, sometimes things do go wrong beyond a competitor’s control. Occasionally a pedal of a bike may fall off, he or she may get a cramp or a wetsuit zipper may break. This may cause panic in some people, but Schooler had learned to prepare.

“Before I start I come up with a plan and an A race, B race, and C race. Your A race is when everything goes according to plan, your B race is when there are a couple kinks in the road, and your C race is that nothing goes right,” Schooler said.

“This allows me to go into the race anticipating everything.”

Schooler believes she feels no different than the athletes at a RUHS when they’ve accomplished a difficult task.

“After a triathlon I feel very similar to how our soccer team feels when they move up to CIF or how our water polo team feels when they go undefeated in bay league. You feel good, you breath out, and you get a sense of ‘I did that,’” Schooler said.

of an athlete’s time in the race is spent biking

• Second event in the race

1.2 miles

of an athelte’s time 40% in the race is spent running • Third event in the race

Average finish time: 6 hours Average DNF* rate: 5-10% *DNF= did not finish

Swim

• First event in the race

70% of Ironman participants are male

30% of Ironman participants are female

10%

of the race is spent swimming

Athletes burn an average of

3,500 to 5,000 calories per race

page 18

High Tide

features

Nancy Drew

in the making

Jazmine Woods trains to be police detective

by Amanda Ban

Through the looking glass. Woods aspires to be a police detective, like her father. When asked why she

wants to be enter the law enforcement, Woods responded, “I want to serve my community and contribute to society by protecting people.” PHOTO BY JARRAH MAY, ILLUSTRATION BY LULU WEGMAN

J

unior Jazmine Woods aspires to become a detective and currently participates in an internship with the local police department to experience what the field has to offer.

Woods has been greatly influenced by her father’s career in the Marine Corps. “[I started wanting to be a cop] because my dad was in the Marine Corps and I’ve known the chief of police for a long time–since I was really young– and I’ve always wanted to help the community and give back and protect my family and all the people that I know,” Woods said.

Woods’ father, Mike Woods, feels “proud” to have a daughter who wants to dedicate her life to helping others and is very supportive of her goal of becoming a cop.

“I believe a career in law enforcement is noble and will give her a great feeling of pride to be part of a team that keeps our city safe and makes our community a better place to live,” Mike said. “It makes me very proud that she is willing to do anything to help others. She has a strong drive and passion for what she is doing now as an intern. Hearing her talk about what she does at work each day makes me so happy. In life it’s rare that you get to do a job that you truly love; a lot of people settle into jobs and careers that they don’t really love.”

Woods was planning on participating in an explorer program through the Torrance Police Department, but was injured just before the program started and had to withdraw. She was offered a position as an intern in place of the explorer program. Woods is currently in charge of scanning and filing; in addition, she goes on ride alongs twice a week.

Woods feels that the internship has given her “a new perspective” and has made her more aware of what is going on in Redondo Beach.

“There is a lot going on in our city that I wasn’t aware of before the internship. There is a lot of drug related stuff, and homelessness. When I sit with dispatch and people call in I get to hear about what is going on, and I wouldn’t have been able to know about that stuff before,” Woods said.

“I don’t see those things a lot in my daily life so I wouldn’t have known about it if I wasn’t involved in this internship.”

Although there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the profession, Woods feels strongly that she has chosen the right career path.

“I’ve thought about it a lot; there is so much brutality and there are corrupt cops, but there are corrupt people in every profession. [The controversy] doesn’t bother me very much,” Woods said.

Woods’ father agrees that while cops can get a bad rap, most of them are “good people with good intentions.”

“There will always be controversy around the profession. If law enforcement departments work to help better the community and keep bad people off the streets then the view of officers will be different,” Mike said.

The teamwork aspect of police work is one of the many reasons why Woods is so interested in becoming an officer.

“It gives me a new outlook that I didn’t have before. People only see the officers, but when you are actually in the office you can see everything that goes on behind the scenes. There are so many other people that are important,” Woods said. “When someone is arrested it’s not only thanks to the cop that actually does it; dispatch and people who keep records all contribute. It’s a combined effort that you don’t really see that from the outside.”

Woods’ involvement with the police department has made her feel even more secure in her decision to pursue law enforcement.

“It’s really given me a different outlook on being a cop. It’s so much different than what I thought, but it’s so much fun,” Woods said. “There are a lot of good people [in the station]; everyone is super nice and it’s like a family. People see cops as bad guys but they are the people that keep us safe. We call them for help. They are the first people to be there when we need them. I don’t think a lot of people fully appreciate or understand that.”

March 24, 2017

features

page 19

MARCH TO THE BEAT OF MY OWN

CHUN

On a roll.

Chun performs with the RUHS Marching band at West Torrance. “This year I’m genuinely grateful and enthusiastic for being able to be apart of the Drum Corps,” Chun said. PHOTO BY MATTHEW YONEMURA

Chun will compete nationwide for marching band

by Erika Zlatkin

Senior Brandon Chun was accepted to perform with Drum Corps International to play the tenor drum in marching band performances across the country.

“Essentially, this company that I’m going to be spending my time with over the summer is a non profit organization that acts as an education medium for anyone that wants to learn to play in a marching band really well,” Chun said.

The Drum Corps International Marching Band performs in college stadiums all around the country in states such as Atlanta, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, northern California and Indiana.

“I think that being on your own for three months is definitely an experience,” Chun said. “I can definitely grow as a musician technique-wise and gain the experience of performing on a more grand scale.”

Since Chun hopes to major in music education and become a teacher, he wants to improve his technique to benefit his teaching skills.

“I plan on coming out of this organization playing the quads a lot better,” Chun said.

“Of course competing will be fun but really this is just a learning experience as a musician and as a person.”

In addition to training for marching band performances, Chun continues practicing on his own and with the help of mentors in order to be in the “best shape possible” for competing in the Drum Corps.

“Although I’ve been accepted, I can’t afford to let the organization down in any way so I’ve still been practicing a lot,” Chun said.

“I hope I am ready enough to perform by the

summer, although I’ve still been practicing and working with the staff at RUHS to ensure that I can be the best that I can.”

Chun believes that the RUHS band director, Raymundo Vizcarra, encouraged him to perform better for many years.

“Coming to be where I am now started since sophomore year,” Chun said. “From there I got really into playing quads, and I was suggested to audition for Drum Corps International by Vizcarra.”

Vizcarra emphasizes technique when teaching Chun. He believes that tone, quality, sound and rhythm are all important elements of music.

“He has grown a lot as a musician and as a leader,” Vizcarra said. “He is one of the best students that I have ever had as a teacher and it will be tough to see him go at the end of the year.”

Vizcarra believes that Chun is one of the most “adaptable” and “teachable” students with quick application.

“I know he will be a very receptive student while he will be away at the Drum Corps,” Vizcarra said. “It’s nice to see that he is able to help out the kids be better and I find it very humbling that he is willing to teach others.”

Chun has potential to evolve into a better musician than Vizcarra believes he already is.

“I’m really happy that he has been accepted to one of the most renowned percussion groups in the world,” Vizcarra said. “I’m really proud that he has made it in because now he is on the road to be destined for greatness.”

Vizcarra has supported Chun throughout

the whole process of applying to the Drum Corps and hopes Chun will succeed.

“I’m nervous just because I know the program will be intense and I’m not entirely sure what the program will be like, having not done anything like it before,” Chun said.

Chun auditioned for the second time in November before getting accepted during a callback in Feb. “Last year I didn’t necessarily feel defeated when I didn’t make it during my first audition,” Chun said. “Of course it sucked but I figured I could learn from that experience and come back stronger.”

Chun took an extra year after his first audition to gain experience before auditioning his second time.

“Auditioning was intense because there were at least a dozen other people going for the same position as me and even warming up was hard because every staff member was watching you,” Chun said. “Going to callbacks was even harder because I competed against the best performers and it’s even more nerve racking.”

Although being nervous about auditioning, Chun says he was relieved after knowing he had been accepted to the Drum Corps.

“I’m really excited about being able to make it on the team this year because last year when I tried out, I wasn’t accepted,” Chun said. “So this year I’m genuinely grateful and enthusiastic for being able to be apart of the Drum Corps.”

Chun is most looking forward to being able to play with a “more advanced” level group.

“Being around others who take their mu-

sic seriously will hopefully motivate me to do better and train harder to keep up at their level,” Chun said.

The Drum Corps includes both high school and college students, and despite being a senior, Chun is one of the youngest performers on the quad line.

“Being one of the younger performers is a bit intimidating because I will be expected to perform at the same level as someone who is older and maybe even more advanced than me,” Chun said.

He says he needs to put his “best foot forward” if Chun has any chance of contributing to his team’s success over the summer.

“The goal is to get a medal during the final competition in August so there are a lot of rigorous competitions beforehand to train,” Chun said.

Chun appreciates the overall support he gains from Vizcarra and other friends in band when pursuing his passion.

“Playing the tenor drums is more than simply playing an instrument,” Chun said.

“I have made friends with similar interests and through learning it, I became much closer with my mentor which never would have happened if I didn’t continue to pursue this instrument.”

Chun expects to come out as a “stronger” person by doing all that he can to the best of his abilities. He also encourages those around him to be “better” to further ensure success.

“I hope to have fun, meet new people, learn a lot, and of course win a medal,” Chun said. “Most of all I want to have an experience that will last me a lifetime.”

page 20

High Tide

sports

Concede nothing Track is successful early into season

by Patrick Cochran

Key Concepts

Track and field has started the season off strong with a win against Peninsula in its first Bay League meet with a combined score of over 100 points, something head coach Robert Leetch called ‘very hard to do’.

RUHS has one of the strongest hurdle groups in Bay League. Led by seniors Jaland Green and Nathan Ladabouche, the hurdlers have been placing in the top three in all of their races.

“The season has been going really good for us. I run the 110 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles and in all of the meets I have placed in the top three in my heats,” Ladabouche said.

The biggest competition mens hurdlers have to face is a highly ranked hurdle team from Penn, but regardless, RUHS hurdlers continue to aim for victory.

Along with having an exceptional hurdle squad, RUHS has a distance runner in senior Ethan Comeaux.

He placed first in the 1600 meter with a ‘landslide victory’ in the first League meet.

RUHS also has a strong group of girls who get points for the team. Senior sprinters Kennedy Williams, Pierson Woodzynski, Sage Espy and Akaylah Hill among others all routinely score points for the team.

“Short distance events like the ones I do require a lot of stamina, so that’s what we usually focus on in workouts,” Epsy said.

Espy runs the 100 meter hurdles, the 300 meter hurdles and the 4x1 meter and 4x4 meter relays. Espy is confident that her 4x4 Meter relay team will go to state this year, as well as in the team’s ability to compete against area schools.

“I am having the season of my life; I’m setting personal records every other race. My 4x1 meter relay team was invited to the Arcadia Invitational meet which is a very hard meet to qualify for,” Espy said.

Espy thinks the toughest competition this year for the team will be Costa, who will give RUHS a ‘strong performance’ that will ultimately decide the Bay League champion, as is what happened last season.

RUHS has two national ranking pole vaulters: seniors Kaitlin Heri and Tate Curran. Curran just set his personal record at 17 feet, ¾ inches, which is the best outdoor jump in the country this year, breaking a 40 year old South Bay record held by a former Olympic athlete.

With the strong performances all around, RUHS track expects to continue to be a perennial force in the Bay League.

Team

Bests Boys 1600 meter run Ethan Comeaux: 4:09.72

Girls 800 meter run Trinity Leonard: 2:22.76

Boys 100 meter dash Anthony Zuanich: 11.18

Girls 100 meter dash Kennedy Williams: 12.34

Turning the corner.

RUHS

hosted the seventh annual Redondo Nike Festival, beginning a run of five meets over the span of two weeks. PHOTO BY MICHAEL YOON

1. Interstate Competition 2. Bay League 3. Training On March 11, RUHS’s varsity boys placed fourth and the varsity girls placed third at the Redondo Nike Track Festival, featuring teams from all over the state

RUHS beat Peninsula in its first conference competition.

Next League meet:

Thursday, April 19 vs. Costa

Both long-distance and shortdistance groups are ramping up the intensity of their workouts, regardless of any inconvenient weather

March 24, 2017

Doubly dazed

page 21

sports

Baseball loses twice to Torrance

by Kayvon Elahihaghighi Baseball will play Ocean View today, Friday, March 24, at 6pm, away at Angel Stadium.

Baseball aimed to win the El Segundo Tournament but was eliminated early in the competition, losing to North Torrance High School 8-3.

“We were unhappy to go out so early in the competition, but are trying to focus on the games ahead, and remain positive,” junior Jay Kumagawa said.

On Wednesday, baseball played a doubleheader against Torrance, losing 10-3 the first game, and losing 7-6 in the second game.

“We gave up a lot of walks and errors, so we need to work on playing more intelligently to improve our defensive play,” Kumagawa said.

According to the team, the season

isn’t going as well as they hoped, but they believe they can win Bay League.

“If we minimize our errors and play passionately then we can still challenge for league,” Kumagawa said.

According to Kumagawa, the team’s defensive errors were a result of the team’s lack of confidence.

“We play too tentatively and defensive in that we aren’t confident enough and don’t have faith in our abilities,” Kumagawa said. “As long as we believe in ourselves the defensive errors will fix themselves.”

Another contributing factor in the team’s play this season is the ‘change in intensity of play’ this season as well the team’s lack of experience.

“The team has a whole is this adjusting to Division I level baseball, the

younger players especially. As long as they keep working hard in practice and hard in the games they will improve and we will perform like I know we can,” Kumagawa said.

For its game on Friday, baseball hopes to beat Ocean View in the first game of the Redondo Tournament.

“We obviously want to win the game, but I think it’s an important game for us to focus on making less errors,” Kumagawa said.

Despite the rough start the season, baseball’s goals for the season remain the same.

“We want to obtain a winning record this season, currently 4 and 5, and gain experience since we have a young squad for a team competing in Division I,” Dorn said.

Taking the mound. Baseball lost two games of a doubleheader at Torrance, with the Tartars taking the second competition with a walkoff. PHOTO BY LILLY LOPEZ

Girls lacrosse still working out the kinks in its play

by Camille Grace

In the air. Team captain Ali Shafer jumps up against a member of the opposition in a 15-2 victory.

RUHS’s next game is at El Segundo today, Friday, March 24. PHOTO BY JARRAH MAY

Girls lacrosse suffers its first non-tournament loss to Chaminade with a score of 3-7 on Wednesday, March 22.

So far this season, the team has attained a record of 5-3 and has been undefeated at away games. Bay League play hasn’t started, but RUHS is near the top of the overall standings and is only half of a game behind Palos Verdes.

“We really did not play our A-game. We had a lot of dropped passes due to our frustration. There was also a real lack of communication both on defense and attack which caused some forced passes, leading to turnovers,” senior captain Jaymie Bettger said.

After a successful game against Chaminade last year, the team was disappointed at this season’s loss.

However, the team previously played Agoura on March 17 and beat them 15-2, far different from the 11-6 loss RUHS suffered from them last season.

“We played them last year and beat them.

Going into this game we knew they were going to be a good team,” junior captain Ali Shafer said.

The team thinks that it prepared well in practice before the game, but believed the lack of communication is what really lead to its downfall.

“At practice leading up to the game, we did our respective defensive and offensive plays. Then we came together to play seven on seven and get some shots on goal, while

working our plays to get shot opportunities.

In a typical game we have really good communication, so this was out of the ordinary,” Bettger said.

Looking into the rest of the season, the team knows what they have to improve on in order to win upcoming games.

Last season’s Bay League champion team only took four losses though its entire season; this year’s team already has three before the start of Bay League.

“We can improve on making our passes to each other without staring them down, running plays and spreading out, and improving high pressure defense,” Shafer said.

With the season just getting started, the losses mainly act as a way to see where the team can get better. As RUHS is ranked 64th in the nation and 10th in California, they are still above Chaminade. Chaminade, however has a better overall record for the season.

“This loss is not very important, but it does determine our seeding. We will still be seeded in the top four [of CIF] so it doesn’t really affect anything,” Shafer said.

Bettger believes the loss highlighted the team’s bond and the endurance they have to keep up the intensity until the end.

“Despite all, we fought to the end as a team, we didn’t give up on each other. As a team we really learned how we work under pressure and are ready to improve on it at practice. We fought to the finish and gave 110% despite our frustrations,” Bettger said.

page 22

High Tide

sports

Softball remains positive after TNT

by Tessa Biscaldi

Eye on the ball. Junior Victoria Hamilton steps up to home plate

and looks towards the South high school pitcher, preparing to take her swing during the game vs South on March 3. RUHS lost to South 4-2.

PHOTO BY DANIELLA SESTAK

Softball competed in the Torrance National Tournament (TNT) March 14 to 17. They ended the tournament winning in a come from behind win [when a team is down a few runs and manages to make a comeback and win] against Frontier of Nevada, whom they beat 4-3. The team was overall 2-5 at the end of the tournament, but they managed to start and end strong with wins.

Going from a team made up mostly of seniors last year, sophomore Imani Moore believes that the team is doing well so far this season without them.

“I honestly don’t think we did bad for being a team that was based off mostly seniors last year. We’re learning how to play together and that’s not always a bad thing,” Moore said.

Coach Jennifer Dessert is focusing the team’s efforts on playing a stronger offense and defense and is already seeing progress.

“We are learning to play tougher defense this year, and improvements are coming along,” Dessert said. “We need confidence with offense and that is getting better as well.”

Moore scored the winning run of the last game against Frontier of Ne-

Now you see me

vada with her first career home run.

“Individually, I had some pretty good plays at first base and a not bad hitting tournament,” Moore said. “I also had the opportunity to end the tournament with a home run so that was pretty cool.”

Moving forward in their season, Moore thinks that the team needs to work on their team bonding in order to improve.

“As a team, we don’t know each other that well. Team bonding allows us to get to know our teammates and the way they play while building trust,” Moore said. “Trust off the field builds trust on the field. Everyone has their ‘person’ on the field, but we all need to be each other’s ‘person’.

Moore believes that it was their positivity and energy, that were the team’s strongest assets during the tournament.

“When we’re down a couple runs, and our energy goes up, so does the momentum of the bats, the base running, and our defense gets stronger,” Moore said. “That’s what got us through CIF and Bay League last year and most of the TNT tournament this year. When we play as one, we win as one.”

Game 1 vs Hawthorne Hawthorne RUHS 2

3

RUHS WINS

Game 2 vs Carson Inning: OneTwoThreeFourFive-

Carson RUHS 0 5 0 2 3

0 0 0 0 1

RUHS LOSES

Game 3 vs Mira Costa Inning: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSeven-

Costa 1 0 1 0 0 0 7

RUHS LOSES

RUHS 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

(Two games not listed)

Boys lacrosse defeats Simi Valley high school

by Angie Tait

In a strong start to their season with five wins and three losses so far, boys Lacrosse ended their game against Simi Valley on March 22 with a 9-3 victory.

According to the team, the game was mostly in their favor, with a strong defense shutting down Simi Valley’s attack, and good possession of the ball by the offense line.

“We dominated the first quarter and got out to an early lead. Defense had a very good game, only allowing 3 goals. There was a lot of communication and sliding body, and it was one of our best defensive games all season,” junior Bryan Cloutier said.

The team unanimously agrees that their record this season is “exponentially better” than last year, where their overall score was two wins, and 13 losses.

“We have already beat our record only halfway through the season, we are all unselfish, and we play as a well oiled machine, with our 6 attackers each usually scoring once per game,” junior Joey Shy said. “We have come to coordinate and connect much

better on offense and defense, and we are always getting better.”

Goalie Alex Connoy, senior had similar thoughts to Shy in that more solid team dynamics have contributed to their larger rate of success.

“We won with a comfortable six-goal deficit, and compared to last season, we’ve had more quality wins and better chemistry,” Connoy said. “Both offense and defense have become more efficient, and our communication has gotten much better.”

Despite their progress since last season, the team is still pursuing further improvement, hoping to maintain their offensive strategy and communication for upcoming games.

“Since the beginning of the season, the offense has really improved on possessing the ball, almost doubling our average possession time from the first game,” Cloutier said. “However, we still need to take better care of the ball, and avoid turnovers during each game.”

With their prior two wins, against Valen-

cia and St. John Bosco, occurring by only one point, the team also hopes to end with higher, more drastic scores, starting with Palisades on March 24.

“We’re hoping to maintain a winning

record and eventually gain a playoff spot,” Cloutier said. “We have some harder teams coming up and we need to put together four quarters of good lacrosse, but we have the people and the talent to do it.”

Check it. Senior Ryler LaFranchi checks the back of a Bosco player as he goes for a ground ball during the game vs. St. John Bosco High School. PHOTO BY JACOB ALTHER

March 24, 2017

page 23

sports

Swimmers advance to SBI tournament finals

by Brian Adler

The girls swim team had a strong meet at Mira Costa on Tuesday, with many of the girls advancing into finals in each individual event.

“The meet today went well, we had multiple girls qualify for finals on Friday in every single event, so coming back for finals will be cool, a lot of people tend to drop time when we come back for finals too,” senior Maddie McCaw said. “We’ve already had a few personal records and CIF qualifying times, especially on the girls side, and we’ve only had three meets, so that’s really impressive.”

The team’s strong showing in the recent meets has been attributed to the better practices and the new head coach.

“We have really good attendance at all the practices compared to the last few years, which of course is going to lead to faster times and better races,” McCaw said. “Our new head coach, Julie, is really positive and is always pushing us in a way that makes us want to work hard because we all really respect her and her coaching.”

It is Julie’s first year being head coach of the swim team and the team agrees that she is much more interactive.

“She is helping us a lot more, she’s very organized. She focuses on fixing our stroke, whereas in the past we’ve just been given sets but now she is really focusing in on what we need to work on and helping us improve,” junior Kaitlyn Arns said. “Last year there wasn’t really a strong coach-student relationship but this year I feel like everybody loves the coach and that just makes us respect her that much more.”

The team is preparing for CIF down the

road, with some swimmers drawing inspiration from the girl’s water polo CIF win.

“We literally had one day of break after our CIF final game, so the girls transitioned into swim really fast and I’m proud of us for coming in strong even though we only had one week to train before the first meet,” McCaw said. “The high from that win never really wore off, and we took that straight into swim season and came ready to go fast.”

Despite the successful recent meets, members of the team believe there is still room for improvement to hit even faster times, stressing the importance of the positive attitude the swimmers need.

“We need to get more excited and pumped up about racing. For me personally, I’m not going to swim fast if I’m not excited about the race, and I think if we could get the team as a whole pumped to swim we’re going to pull a lot of fast times,” McCaw said.

As the season goes on, the team hopes to grow closer together to strengthen their bond, in order to be able to compete to the best of their ability.

“Even though swim is an individual sport we still need to bond. Especially in relays when we are all trying to get each other motivated and I think that doing some more team bonding stuff will also help with that,” Arns said.

The team is optimistic of their chances for the season ahead, despite any challenges they may face.

“CIF cuts are fast this year but I know we have some really strong girls and boys that will make it,” Mccaw said. “I’m really excited to see what they can do this season.”

Fish in the water. Senior Matt Thorne does butterfly

during practice after the SBI Tournament on Thursday, March 23. Although not all of the swimmer advanced to the SBI finals, the team remains positive. “We may not win all our races, but as long as we keep a good mindset and focus on really improving ourselves to get to the end of the season, that’ll help us the most,” junior Kaitlyn Arns said. PHOTO BY JARRAH MAY

Boys Tennis prepares for Penn

by Hayley O’Connor-Rigby

Causing a racket. Freshman Sundeep

Chakladar runs towards the ball looking to backhand it over the net . PHOTO BY SAMMY ALDOVER

Boys tennis is transitioning into their regular season with their first upcoming league game against Peninsula on Tuesday, March 28.

The team believes that playing against Peninsula is a great way to start the season because of how strong of a team they are to go against.

“They are an amazing team with a strong line-up and definitely one of the best teams we will play during the season. We know we have a greater chance of winning this year since we have stronger singles and doubles players than in previous years. We are not expected to win so it will be great to have the mindset that we have nothing to lose, but we are confident that we can shock Peninsula and take the win,” freshman Sundeep Chakladar said.

According to freshman Kai Brady,

playing against Peninsula will not only be an exciting challenge but also a fun way to boost the interaction and rivalry between the teams, and will possibly end in a very “amusing” outcome.

“I grew up watching Peninsula tennis, so it is exciting for me to finally be apart of that, except on the other side of the net.

Also, many of my friends are on the Peninsula team so this match is not only to keep our undefeated record, but also for bragging rights,” Brady said.

This season, the boys believe the team has a fresh new mindset and is more energetic because of how many young varsity players there are.

“We have three new freshmen on the team who have brought a fresh, new energy to the team. We have a wide range of players from every grade, but we still get together as a team despite the age gap,” Chakladar said.

Along with the benefit of a variety of grade levels playing on the team, the player’s connections and relationships with one another have also motivated them to perform better this year.

“Our chemistry as a team is great. It is difficult sometimes to get motivated in tennis, but this team is very good about hyping each other up which definitely makes a difference in close matches,” Brady said.

The team feels that it will take a combined effort as well as continuous motivation in order to get to their main goal of reaching CIF and to give their older players a memorable season. Winning the first game could be their first step towards achieving it.

“Our goal is to give our seniors a season they will remember,” Brady said. “We have been working hard because we know this match is unlike any of the other teams we have played this season.”

page 24

features

High Tide

[cont. from cover]

“Poetry is the confidant for the soft spoken. Done correctly, the simplest words can have the largest impact.”

1.

1.

he structures and reads his poems.”

Eden and Leavitt also write poetry, but unlike Bradford, they read it out loud on Tuesdays at the Coffee Cartel.

“There’s nothing wrong with keeping your poetry to yourself, but it’s taking it to the next level if you say it in front of people,” Leavitt said. “Poetry night is a great way to be more open with people. It feels like you’re just talking to the person and you’re expressing how you truly feel, along with spreading your message and relieving stress.”

According to Eden and Leavitt, it was nerve-wracking at first, but the accepting atmosphere at the Coffee Cartel and all the people who give nice compliments makes it a fun experience for the poets.

The main thing Eden and Leavitt have gained from reading poetry out loud is confidence.

“Poetry has helped me with acting and performing in front of others,” Leavitt said.

“Slowly I’ve gotten to a point where I could easily read a poem in front of the entire school and it would be fine.”

For Eden, as much as she wants people to like her poetry, she would be okay if they didn’t because “it’s still [hers].”

According to Leavitt, she reads her poetry out loud more for herself but believes that it benefits other people.

“I think that all the poetry that people write is for themselves, but in the end it definitely helps other people by letting them know that they’re not alone in the way that they’re thinking,” Leavitt said.

For Eden, a poem is like a journal in the way that it consists of thoughts and feelings.

However, a journal is more specific to the writer, whereas a poem can be heard and understood by anyone.

“With poetry, anybody can read it and focus on any sort of thing that they want to, even if you meant something else by it,” Eden said. “Reading it out loud is just a way to show the meaning you intended the words to have.”

Bradford, Leavitt and Eden all write their

poems based on their feelings.

“I feel like poetry is a great way to express yourself healthily,” Leavitt said. “People don’t realize how much writing down what they’re thinking helps them. Writing it down is the same thing as telling it to a friend for me.”

Leavitt and Eden find themselves writing poetry that is more on the “upsetting and negative” side.

“Writing poetry is a great way to express emotion, especially when those emotions are heightened like when you’re sad or angry about something,” Leavitt said.

A lot of Leavitt’s poems deal with topics like feminism and homophobia, which she feels strongly about.

“I communicate a lot of messages about equality and love,” Leavitt said. “This is important because the art that we see throughout history represents us as an era and generation.”

According to Eden, poetry has made her open up more and be able to spread messages that she has learned through her experiences.

“Poetry has given me a voice,” Eden said.

“I can express how I feel, and when I perform I finally let other people know what I’m feeling and it makes me feel good that other people can relate to it.”

According to Bradford, poetry is a good coping mechanism when you are going through tough times.

“Whenever you have issues in your life, which everyone does, you just vent down onto paper,” Bradford said.

Studying and listening to other people’s poetry, in addition to her own, amplifies Bradford’s passion and love for the art.

“When you read or hear other people’s poetry and realize how much thought went into each line and the meaning behind it all, you realize there is a deeper message in what people write. I think it’s just fascinating to try to decipher it all, and I have always been in love with people who are able to express what they think in these beautiful words, which is what poetry is,” Bradford said.

2.

2.

More than just words on a page. 1. “Poetry is the confidant for the soft spoken. Done correctly, the simplest words can have the largest impact,” senior Sarajane Bradford said. For her, slam poetry allows her to cope and vent. 2. “It gives a huge release. When I’m feeling upset or angry and I write something it feels like I’m talking to someone. When I perform it I finally let other people know what I’m feeling and other people can relate to that so it makes me feel good,” senior Cora Eden said. PHOTOS BY JARRAH MAY.