High Tide: May 19, 2017

HIGH TIDE

Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, CA May 19, 2017 Vol. XCVII Edition 15

Food for thought Anonymous students fight to recover from eating disorders

by Martha Farah For confidentiality, the sources are referred to as Jane Doe and Marie Major.

After seeing an advertisement with a phone number listed for people who need help, she felt as if she should tell someone what was going on. Embarrassment filled up inside her at the thought of confessing that she skips the majority of her meals, but she decided to seek help anyway. Through therapy, student Marie Major discovered that there are other ways to cope with having an eating disorder, changing her life.

However, unlike Major, who has recovered, Jane Doe is currently still struggling with an eating disorder.

At the end of eighth grade, Doe was diagnosed with EDNOS, or ‘Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.’

“It basically means that you have different [aspects] from different eating disorders. For me personally, I have the binging aspect of bulimia. I’ll eat a lot, but instead of puking, I’ll just not eat for days, so that’s a part of anorexia,” Doe said.

According to Doe, she has a negative view of her body, which gives her a false perception of herself.

“I know that I’m not a huge girl, but I see myself as this huge girl,” Doe said. “[EDNOS] messes up the image of yourself a lot. You see these bodies that you want to have, but you realize that you don’t have it. You compare extremes and it’s not good.”

As of now, Doe believes that her confidence is the best it has ever been, but it used to be very poor.

“I used to not want to go outside without full clothes on,” Doe said. “I used to wear baggy clothes because I was afraid of showing my body. I used to cover everything I could because I didn’t want to be seen.”

Having EDNOS can affect Doe’s behavior when doing activities.

“It sucks. I think for me, it always revolves around what I’m going to eat next or how many calories I’m burning. It’s ridiculous because [EDNOS] goes in everything I do,” Doe said.

Eating can be difficult at times for Doe, so when she eats, changing her perspective of eating food can help her at times.

“What helps me is that I think of [the food] as fuel to my body instead of calories,” Doe said. “I would say, ‘I need

food for this test today, or I need this food so I could go to practice today and not pass out.’”

Doe takes medicine and goes to therapy to help her with EDNOS, but her close friends are also an important source of help.

“They’re very supportive, helpful and kind. They didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do,” Doe said. “If someone has an eating disorder and they have friends that aren’t super close, then don’t tell them. They don’t need to know because if they’re not your real friends, they’ll judge you.”

At times, Doe finds it hard to talk about the hardships that come with her eating disorder to other people.

“You can’t talk about it because people would think that you’re asking for attention if you tell them, but I don’t want attention for it,” Doe said. “I just want to be better.”

Through her experience with EDNOS, Doe believes she has become a better person.

“I think I’m better to other people because I realized that they might be going through similar things, so I’m kinder to them,” Doe said.

For Major, she had anorexia from the end of sixth grade to the beginning of eighth grade. Because of this, she suffered from undernutrition, which means she ate a little bit of food but not enough to get the daily calories she needed to be healthy.

“I would always feel tired.

I got lazy and I felt like I TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THE ANONYMOUS SOURCES, THE INDIVIUAL PICTURED IS NOT A SOURCE IN THE STORY. PHOTO BY EDEN MILLAN couldn’t move because I wasn’t eat-

[Story continued on pg. 24]

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High Tide

news

Last week today: Students showcase their talents

DANCE

Swing kids. Junior Alex Delperdang and

senior Alexandra Hickey perform a swing dancing routine during the Dance Showcase on May 18. ““The dance show is a variety of culture you can be expressed to one night,” Delperdang said. “It fun because it gives us a chance to express ourselves cause a lot of like to dance and its one of our passions in life.” PHOTO BY HIROKI GOTO

ART

Gallery art. Works of art by students are

displayed in the Science building. “Its really cool for people to see because it allows insight into the artist and the motivations behind the piece,” junior Jason Hernandez said, “A lot of them express through the artwork ideas that they wouldn’t be able to convey through any other media.” PHOTO BY EDEN MILAN

MUSIC

Music with jazz. Senior Brandon Chun

performs on the guitar during the “Jazz Under the Stars” band concert on May 7. “It’s such a cool experience,” Chun said. “It’s a lot different because music is one thing, and jazz is a whole other. Watching and listening to it helps you connect with the music rather than just doing what the notes on the page tell you.” PHOTO BY SAGE STRUSSER

The latest development

Administration implements a new system of punishment for tardies

by Analise Asaro

Tardy sweeps and detentions for tardies, as well as more frequent prizes for perfect attendance are all coming into play this quarter, and will likely be here to stay.

In past years, tardy sweeps involved an announcement over the loudspeaker, the locking of classroom doors and grouping of tardy students in one area to receive detention slips. The administrators, however, have decided to implement a new method this year that utilizes Infinite Campus.

“It’s more of an interruption because they were already late but now they’re at least five minutes later because they had to get their pass,” Schooler said. “Basically we’re just using the data online so if a teacher marks you tardy, we’re not going to call you out right then, but you’ll get an email [for detention] later if it’s a selected period. It’s still random, and we’re doing it periodically, so it’s not every tardy every day because we just can’t do that many.”

According to Schooler, the system is “not perfect” and provides a large amount of work by hand for the attendance office.

“The biggest challenge is that we haven’t yet figured out how to run an Infinite Campus report that makes it easy and quick. We thought that we were going to be able to run easy reports and send emails to students,

but that wasn’t the case at all,” Schooler said.

“We’re working right now with our IT department to see what they can do. If they can [figure out a solution], we can do more frequent tardy sweeps, so instead of once or twice a week it might be once a day because we can get the data that much faster.”

Another problem is caused by the greater amount of work taken on by the attendance office, which is an extension of the time it takes for students to receive their detention.

“It’s not as immediate, so by the time the detention email gets to the student it has been a day or two, so we’re trying to be clear about what days and times we’re talking about. It’s definitely not as perfect as getting slips out to students and hosting the detention,” Schooler said.

So far, there have been two tardy sweeps during third and fourth period, each of which resulted in 20-30 kids.

“That’s actually a really small number when you think about the almost 3,000 students that we have on campus, and ideally we will see it get lower,” Schooler said.

The Ed Council, the attendance office and the administrative team introduced all of these new measures after considering the number of tardies and how it became what Schooler describes as “a bit of a lackadaisical

feel”, or laziness, among a lot of the students.

“Teachers had expressed some concern over the fact that students were just becoming less interested about being on time, so we were just looking for something that is both an incentive and a consequence,” Schooler said. “There were a lot of students that were just hanging out until the music played, kind of walking through the quad as the bell rang, and they were still 10-15 feet from class.”

Schooler hopes that students will try to get to class more often because they don’t want to be caught in a tardy sweep and get a detention.

“The goal isn’t to ruin students’ days with one lunch detention. It’s just to make sure there’s some accountability,” Schooler said.

“If being late is worth 25 minutes of your lunch, then that’s your decision. But if you’re just walking slowly because you don’t really care to be on time or not, then hopefully realizing that you would end up sacrificing 25 minutes just so that you can walk slow to class is not worth it.”

Schooler believes that having consequences for tardies is similar to the benefit of having police on the freeway when she is driving.

“Just knowing that sometimes there’s going to be the risk of accountability helps

deter you from making decisions that you might not otherwise want to make. For tardy sweeps, if you know you’re going to end up with a detention hopefully it will make you think twice,” Schooler said.

In the past, there have been rewards for perfect attendance given out to students at the end of the year. The rewards will stay, but there will also be small weekly prizes such as gift cards distributed to students with perfect attendance for that week.

“We don’t get every single kid in a tardy sweep because we only do them periodically, and we won’t give every kid a gift card because we have a limited number. The idea is to look for the students who are doing the right thing and give them a certificate when we can,” Schooler said.

According to Schooler, if they can get the system up and running smoothly, this new method of tardy sweeps, or at least something similar, will be implemented permanently.

“We just started it this quarter, so we’re trying to figure it out and make it work well so that next year we can run things like this consistently,” Schooler said. “We’ll make changes that need to be made, then run something for the whole year that is both accountable and fun.”

May 19, 2017

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news

Sharefest works Redondo

Red stripes painted on campus as part of the 14th annual Sharefest Workday

by Julian Quevedo

On Sat. May 6, the 14th Annual Sharefest Workday took place, in which 42 improvement projects occurred throughout the South Bay. Red stripes were painted on the first and

Red for Redondo. Sharefest volunteers paint

red stripes on stairs on campus during the Sharefest Workday on May 6. Other projects simultaneously occurred across the South Bay. PHOTO BY RYAN CARTEE

last steps of the staircases on campus as part of the Workday.

According to Sharefest partnerships manager Kyle Aube, the goal of the organization includes making positive change in the South Bay and preparing youth for leadership in their communities.

“The overall mission of Sharefest is to build strong South Bay communities by fostering volunteerism and preparing youth to lead positive change,” Aube said. “For the Workday specifically, that involves bringing out community members as volunteers to give back through beautification and improvement projects and to build relationships with people and the recipients of the projects that they are going to.”

Through the Youth Development Academy, Sharefest is responsible for teaching youth to be the leaders in the future.

“The youth side of that is accomplished through our Youth Development Academy programs which take place year round in four different continuation high schools during the summer months at Cal State Dominguez Hills where we bring out about 250 students to focus on leadership development and other skills,” Aube said.

Assistant principal Bryan Ines, who was in charge of organizing volunteers for the

project, said it was an opportunity for students and parents in the community to work on something together.

“The Sharefest event allows the community to come together to work on one project that we have been approved for,” Ines said.

“We are going to be painting red stripes on the first and last steps in order to make it more uniform across the school. It’s something that we thought was going to be a great project for us.”

According to Ines, the project is important because it helps to create a feeling of pride in the community.

“I think it’s really it’s really important. For one, we all want to take pride in our school.

And whenever we see something being done by the community, it’s like there is a lot more pride,” Ines said. “When I was a student, I did a lot of projects like this, and I really loved the fact that I could go back to certain parts of the community and say, ‘I remember working on that.’”

Along with making the school more uniform, Ines said that the project’s goal was to establish a sense of community on campus.

“The overall goal of this project is to build comradery, build new friendships, and to really emphasize the community aspect of this school,” Ines said.

Through projects such as the one which occurred at RUHS, Sharefest hopes to teach what a group of community volunteers can achieve if they work together, Aube said.

“I think one of the most important things that we try to teach is that when you bring volunteers together and you put in the effort, while a lot of these projects that we receive seem massive, you are powerful and you can accomplish a lot,” Aube said. “It’s really about building those relationships and learning that giving back to your community is worth it. Seeing the finished products of everyone’s hard work is really rewarding.”

Aside from the Workdays, Sharefest is largely invested in its Youth Development Academy, which teaches students year round at four different continuation high schools throughout Los Angeles County. They also have summer program in which students develop their leadership skills.

“Sharefest is more than just the Workday,” Aube said. “We’re teaching our students year round the value of giving back and how to lead service projects like this. I think that the overall takeaway is that people can give back to their communities with just a little bit of effort, and, once they team up with a lot of people, you can really make a positive change on the lives of many others.”

Key Club wins regional “Most Growth” award

by Samaya Rubio

The RUHS Key Club won the Most Club Growth award on April 21st. They received the award of all Key Clubs from the Division 19 South, Region 8, California, Nevada and Hawaii District.

“Last year, when I first came into my term, we had five active members who were essentially just the board, and now we have more members who actively go to events, so it’s really different,” Key Club president, junior Alyssa Yung said.

Yung has been president since last year and has seen a major difference between the old presidents who were “only doing it for college” and her effort in her “making sure [they] have a nice atmosphere.”

“I personally text each and every member before and after each event, reminding them and then thanking them for coming, so everyone in the club feels more welcomed,” Yung said.

Each board member believes they have made a significant difference in improving the member retention rate, including treasurer Peyton Ozawa, junior. She works to make sure every member pays their dues, which she believes encourages all of the members to maintain their membership in

the program through the year.

Secretary Emily Coneybeare, junior, believes that she helps the club retain members by marking down who goes to each event and keeping track of the hours each member participates in, logging their hours for events.

The club feels that it has made a “significant difference” in its members’ lives. Ozawa believes she has gained more confidence in her public speaking skills through her leadership position in Key Club.

“I feel like I’ve become more outgoing and less afraid to talk to adults, and I’ve stepped out of my shell at the same time,” Ozawa said.

Coneybeare feels that Key club has also helped her realize what community service means to her.

“It’s shown me the importance of service and the community,” Coneybeare said. “It’s shown me how valuable it is to give back when you have been given so much.”

The general members of Key Club have also participated in a lot of service events including building a float for the Rose Parade, volunteering for the St. Patrick’s Day parade and volunteering with the Hermosa Beach

Women’s club. They stayed in it because they have become “very invested” in community service.

“I really like the idea of Key Club and how it was made to have students help others selflessly,” junior Vicky Vuong said. “I love the idea of helping with PTP, and I love that I can build friendships with people from California, Nevada, and Hawaii. I really enjoy helping people.”

All the members who were retained in the club joined for different reasons, for example, Vuong’s older sister was the vice president of the club and influenced her younger sister to join and stay in the club.

Another member of the club, freshman Matthew Samy joined because it seemed “fun.”

“I learned that being helpful is fun and nice, helping people [is an interest of mine],” Samy said. “I stayed in the club because we just all became friends.”

Samy and Vuong are not the only lasting members in the Key Club, they are a part of the approximately 50 members who regularly attend meetings, excluding the cabinet.

The board is looking forward to next year and hopes to retain even more of their members.

Key club blossoming. Coneybeare hangs a

flower display as part of decoration for a Key Club event. The club focuses on providing service for the community of Redondo Beach. This year, Key Club has experienced one of its largest growths in membership. PHOTO COURTESY OF KEY CLUB

“I’ve definitely tried harder to try to get more people involved,” secretary, junior Vivian Wong said. “This year [all the board members] knew each other, so we were good at communicating and involving other people.”

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High Tide

news

The problem with

E-Cig product gains popularity among students

by Malek Chamas For confidentiality, the sources are referred to as Jane Doe and Marie Major Put in a cartridge. Turn on the machine.

Plug it into its charger when done. This is not about playing video games; this is about smoking.

One particular type of e-cigarette has become increasingly popular among students in recent months: the JUUL, dubbed “the iPhone of e-cigs” by Wired.com. Junior Jane Doe says she personally knows roughly twenty JUUL users. The device is seen by many teens as a nice alternative to other types of cigarettes or drugs.

“I don’t do any other drugs. I have never smoked weed, I don’t really drink that much. So JUUL is another social gathering or party thing that you can use when other people are doing other stuff. Just because I’m not into drugs or drinking, it’s a different option,” Doe said.

Doe has been using JUUL, made

by Pax Labs, for “about four or five months,”and says that she smokes exclusively at social events. Another junior, Marie Major, has been smoking for roughly one month, and says she is “probably addict-

ed.” Both of them point to increased use of the product among their friends as the way they were introduced to it, and both of them say that JUUL users are almost exclusively teens or college-age kids.

“I heard about it from a couple of friends.

I didn’t really know what it was. At first I thought it was marijuana infused, but I came to realize that wasn’t the case at all. Slowly, basically all of my friends started using it and getting it. And so one day, I just went out and bought it,” Major said. “I never saw any advertisements for it. It was pretty much all just social. I found out about it by communicating with friends and just seeing it at social gatherings.”

Major describes the JUUL device itself as a “rectangular black figure, probably the size of a large middle finger,” that can be “taken anywhere, hidden anywhere.”

Cartridges, or “pods,” containing a cocktail of nicotine and “juice” are inserted into the device.

The contents of these pods, which can be different flavors and come in packs of four, are heated before being inhaled by the user. Each pod has a nicotine

Teen E-Cigarette has increased

between 2011-2015

content equivalent to that of a pack of cigarettes, according to Pax Labs. “ W h e n you inhale it, it’s like a cigarette, but just way more mild.

And so usually, it just gives you a nice head rush for about anywhere from ten seconds to two minutes, and depending on the type of flavor you get.

Depending on how much you inhale, it affects your feeling all day. But usually a small amount is a nice, relieving feeling,” Major said. “I probably do a hundred puffs a day, so I know I probably use it more than I should.”

According to both Major and Doe, they do not know “too much” about the long-term effects of using JUUL as minors, which is illegal. A report by the US Surgeon entitled “E-Cigarette Use Among Young Adults” claims that nicotine is “unsafe” for use “among youth,” and that “the effects of nicotine exposure during youth and young adulthood ... can include lower impulse control and mood disorders.”

“Obviously, I’m worried about the side effects, but I’m not as worried because I know I’m not addicted to it. So the side effects are

always in the back of my mind, but it’s better than drinking or smoking weed,” Doe said.

Doe does plan to quit some time in the future, but does not believe that professional help will be necessary. Major is also confident that she will be able to quit on her own.

“I liked the aesthetic of it, how it looked and how it felt, breathing it in and having something like that as a cleaner alternative to cigarettes. Everyone was doing it around me.

But now that I come to think about it, there’s really no meaning or importance of it,” Major said. “I want to quit eventually, just because it’s a lot of money to keep buying the pods, and I probably should quit. I feel like I will eventually, but as of now, I’m probably just going to keep doing it.”

of Teen E-Cigarette users start smoking within 6 months

PHOTOS BY BEN BRILL. INFORMATION FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DRUG ABUSE

May 19, 2017

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news

Hack Club competes in coding competition at Angel Falls Hackathon

by Ethan Park

Junior Ethan Horoschak and others from the school’s coding club, went to Los Angeles last Saturday to the Angel Falls Hackathon.

There the club competed against fourteen other teams in a coding competition.

“A Hackathon is a competition where people can come and basically build an idea through coding, and try to turn it into a workable business.” Horoschak said.

This particular Hackathon, Angel Falls, took place in a floor beneath an upscale office and residential building in the heart of Los Angeles.

“It was very exciting to compete here, as Angel Falls is a very highly accredited company that hosts Hackathons around the world.” Horoschak said.

Even for not competing, such as junior Max Grollman, the event was very compelling.

This was really fun and interesting, especially learning about the programming as well the process of turning that foundation into a career opportunity.” Grollman said.

Horoschak’s win came as a surprise for him and his team, especially considering his other competition.

“I was the only high schooler there, everyone else was college and above, and we also had one thirteen year old on our team.” Horoschak said. “It was pretty cool, I didn’t really expect to win, I just went for the overall experience; my team was pretty ecstatic when we were announced as the winners”

Reliving history

Horoschak’s interest in coding came from his early experiences in life interacting with technology, such as video games and iPhone apps.

“I’ve always been interested in technology and video games. In the summer going into sophomore year, I took a coding class.

I really enjoyed it, especially all the freedom and power you had over your project.” Horoschak said. “So in that same year I created two iPhone apps, and kept improving from there.”

Horoschak’s win means exciting opportunities for him and his team.

“Winning was super unexpected, obviously we were overjoyed. Since we won, we get to go to their eight week program in

Silicon Valley, and get mentorship and investment to turn our idea into a company, so that’s obviously very cool,” Horoschak said.

This competition serves as a gateway to exciting career opportunities for Horoschak.

“Text startups, and venture capitalism is what I am interested in as a career path. I am going to compete in another one in July 8, sponsored by AT&T, where the grand prize will be $20,000.”

Grollman found the entire experience exciting and inspiring.

“I think it’s cool to try new things, new clubs, new events and just see where it takes you,” Grollman said. “I have little to no coding background but I found the Hackathon extremely fruitful.”

New historic art pieces by former art teacher placed in office

by Nicole Sandoval Art from the 1958 pilot has been placed in the school’s administrative office over spring break.

Jack McClain, a former art teacher who taught at RUHS from 1954-1985 created this art. The art was the theme for the 1958 pilot and has since been recovered from the school archives.

“The paintings symbolize a student first coming to RUHS and then growing and developing throughout the four years they spent here,” School Archivist Terry Martinez said.

According to college counselor Ms. Rodriguez, the collection symbolizes Redondo as a community.

“I think it’s really important because I’m an alum. Redondo is a school of tradition.

Were one of the few high schools that is over 100 years old. We have a lot of roots in the community and Redondo is a home, it’s a nest. It’s a place where you guys are nurtured and we teach you how to “fly” on your own,” said Rodriguez.

McClain and his past students are also responsible for the large seahawk in freshman circle, tile murals in the seahawk pavilion and the large metal sculpture in the auditorium lobby.

“McClain wasn’t your typical art teacher.

Everyone who went here knows who he is. He

was such an influential teacher and his work has a lot of meaning,” Martinez said.

Next year, the collection will turn 60 years old despite its almost perfect condition.

“These paintings have a life, it’s a legacy that will continue. Somebody else will take care of these things when I won’t be able to take care of them anymore. It’s a really important component to Redondo’s culture,” Martinez said.

According to Martinez, “art is a jumping off spot.” Art gives students ideas and motivation to do something they wouldn’t normally do.

“Art lifts students spiritually and once a student actually takes the time to look at a piece of art it stimulates their thinking. It lifts you intellectually and I think that the

presence of art on this campus creates an atmosphere that you can’t help but feel influenced,” Martinez said.

Martinez believes that art allows students to “create imaginative thoughts.”

“We are all made better by the presence of art, that’s just what art does,” Martinez said.

The Nest. McClain crafted art displaying the growth of a young seahawk to reflect the development of students.

The gallery is located on the second floor of the office.

Campbell places first at 33rd district art contest

by Ben Yepez

Sophomore Catherine Campbell placed first in an art competition out of everyone in the 33rd district. Her winning piece was a portrait of 21 Pilots lead singer Tyler Joseph ,entirely composed of 21 Pilots lyrics.

“I’ve been creating art ever since I was little,” Campbell said. “As long as I can remember, I’ve been drawing and doodling. When I was younger I would do a lot of portraits; I’d mostly draw the people that inspired me or that I liked.”

Campbell’s art teacher, Michelle Andrade,

sought her out one day to ask her to participate.

“I sought out Catherine because she had a piece she had worked on last semester that was a fantastic art piece and I thought that it had a chance to win,” Andrade said. “So I approached her and specifically asked her if she wanted to submit it”.

Campbell’s victory served to boost her confidence in herself and in her art.

“When I found out that I won the contest I was really shocked, because when my art

teacher came to me and told me about it I figured that it would be a fun experience. I wasn’t expecting to win at all.” Campbell said. “After my victory, I learned to not underestimate myself, or my artwork.”

Andrade was not surprised with the her student’s victory at the contest because of how realistic and complex Campbell’s piece was.

“I think it’s just one of those pieces you look at and you’re just awed by her ability to create something so realistic with a ballpoint

pen and words- it almost looked like it was alive,” Andrade said. “It’s one of those pieces that shocks and amazes anyone who looks at it.”

In addition to praising her piece, Andrade believes that Campbell’s work ethic led to her success in the competition.

“She is diligent, a hard worker and very creative. She is also able to focus on her work and put everything she’s got into it,” Andrade said. “Catherine is a great student and always works hard to improve.”

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Editorial

High Tide

opinion

El Camiyes

Community college is stigmatized by many, but the opportunities it presents are deserving of respect While it can be an exciting transition for many, the college admissions process can often align students in a hierarchy, labeling those who gain admission to prestigious universities as capable and intelligent while marginalizing those who attend community college or opt out of college altogether.

The college admissions system is here to stay, as colleges need a way to determine which students are likely to perform up to standards, but the attitude towards community college by a majority of students, parents and teachers certainly needs improvement.

Many students at RUHS will be enrolling in El Camino in the fall due to its proximity and high performance in relation to other community colleges. El Camino provides numerous benefits to its students that cannot be downplayed for community colleges’ lack of prestige and elitism.

Simply put, the transfer program at El Camino and other community colleges gets students to where they need to go. It serves as a bridge from high school to higher edu-

cation, and, for many, it’s a program full of opportunities. It provides access, making higher education a viable option for almost everyone.

Students, parents, and teachers alike place a lot of value in “sweatshirt schools,” or prestigious colleges recognizable to most.

While it is important to encourage a good education, the overemphasis of these universities often marginalizes the students who cannot attend, whether the reason be academic performance, financial straint or recognition of the opportunities community colleges provide.

A tough pill to swallow is that students who transfer to universities from El Camino can often find more success than students who enter universities as freshman.

For one, it is more sensible financially, as the price of attending community college for two years can significantly lessen student debt when graduating from a four-year university.

But the benefits do not end there. Students who participate in the transfer pro-

gram have more exposure to college life before entering a traditional university setting.

Those who work hard to inflate their GPA while at community college may also graduate with a higher cumulative GPA and may find more success when applying to jobs and graduate schools.

The notion that students who attend community college are in any way less capable than students who choose the traditional pathway should—by all measures of sensibility—be reconsidered. Ultimately, the college that someone chooses to attend does not reveal one’s ability to succeed in the future.

An Ivy League education will be unfruitful

Yes

7

without grit, and a start at El Camino will not hinder someone’s journey to a good education or career.

Most seniors are now enrolled as prospective freshmen at their respective colleges.

With that, it is important to remember that the four-year university pathway is not for everyone.

While some may attend community college, others may go straight into the workforce and others might enroll in military school.

In these times of change, remember: one’s worth is not equivalent to the ranking of his or her prospective school.

Editorial Board vote

El Camino and other community colleges present many benefits that should not be downplayed for lack of prestige.

No

0

Letter to the Editor

ILLUSTRATION BY LULU WEGMAN

I’ll cut to the chase: many faculty members on campus shrug off the students’ problems. Whether it be academic, emotional or physical, many students seek the help of faculty members only to be turned away.

Obviously not every faculty member falls under this category, but faculty members who read this will know if this includes them or not.

I know that students have gone to staff they could trust about their problems only to be told “you aren’t trying hard enough” or “it’s your fault.” When it comes to a person’s issues and for that person to seek help, that is the last thing that person needs to hear.

When a student is struggling with a problem mentally or physically, we are told to seek help in an adult we can trust at home or at school.

So in the case of the student who is told “you aren’t trying hard enough” or “it’s your fault”, the steps to improve upon their problems become steps to make things worse.

This barely scratches the surface, for I am sure there are many more examples of simi-

lar situations that have occurred outside of my circle of friends or friends of friends.

Are high school students dramatic at times? Of course. But we are also sleep-deprived, stressed and overworked.

Then some of us face depression, anxiety, problems at home, problems in social life and whatever else it may be.

Of course I know faculty members have their own problems too, but to be honest the actions of some staff members I have experienced first hand or have heard about make me question where the importance of a student’s well-being is in comparison to the importance of their attendance.

I’ll end this with one last idea. This may sound ridiculous, but the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why (no spoilers, don’t worry) is very important in considering the emotions of high school students.

The actions of both peers and faculty members may seem very small in the moment, but it may be just enough to surpass a person’s tipping point.

-Matthew Yonemura, 12

May 19, 2017

High Tide

staff

Editors-in-Chief: Caterina Hyneman; Shaniya Markalanda

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opinion

Pro

Online Editor-in-Chief: Reema Saad Opinion Editor: Dina Ghanim

Tardy Sweeps

Con

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.

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Reema Saad

Amanda Shaw

Tardy sweeps effectively promote punctuality

Tardy sweeps are idealistic and unfruitful

I’m sorry to say it, but there is nothing more irritating than a student walking in 15, or even 30 minutes late to class with a Starbucks in hand.

Not only are these students disrupting their own learning experiences but also the experiences of others with these inconvenient interruptions, which is why tardy sweeps should be implemented to promote punctuality.

Tardy sweeps will be unannounced, so students will not know which days they will occur on, further encouraging promptness to class.

What students don’t realize is the greater importance of teaching good attendance. As students leave high school and enter the “real world,” punctuality will still be an issue.

Truancy will not be tolerated in professional workplaces, and students need to learn now the means they need to go through to be on time. In high school, tardiness is somewhat forgivable, but in a work environment, it could mean much more serious matters, such as being demoted from a position or being fired altogether.

By all means, I’m not saying students can’t stop by Starbucks to grab a drink or some breakfast; however, it should not be the reason they are late to class or the reason they miss class altogether.

Instead, students should be aware of their morning habits and routines. Maybe waking up 20 minutes earlier will allow a student ample time to arrive to school on time. Students can learn to make small changes to their routines such as setting out their clothes and putting away their school materials the night before they go to class.

More importantly, students may be encouraged to go to sleep earlier so they can wake up earlier and with more comfort in the morning.

The differences between the new tardy sweeps and the old tardy sweeps are that the newer ones will be digitized, meaning Infinite Campus will be used to determine who was tardy during certain tardy sweeps, and students will not be locked out of classrooms in the morning and herded like sheep to receive their detention at the attendance office and instead will be emailed with their time for detention. This way, tardy sweeps no longer make students even more late to class and therefore not doing the very thing that administration is punishing for.

Quite frankly, detentions are a useless form of punishment.

This may sound counterintuitive, but students will find detentions a waste of time, and that in itself is an incentive for students to make sure they are on time for class.

With this in mind, students need to realize that the administration isn’t out to get them by reimplementing tardy sweeps, but it is rather looking out for them in order to instill good attendance habits before leaving RUHS and entering higher education or the workforce.

The job of a school is to ensure that as much time as possible is utilized in furthering the education of its students, yet tardy sweeps, RUHS’ main effort to enforce punctuality, are doing very little to further this goal.

Tardy sweeps, while they employ a variable-interval method of reinforcement, are highly unfair to those students who are typically diligent in arriving to class on time but have an unlucky slip-up on the day of a tardy sweep. Rides fall through, alarms don’t go off, homework gets left at home--people make mistakes.

A single tardy for a student who is otherwise on time should not equal detention, just as patterns of tardiness among other recurrent offenders should not be left unpenalized simply because none of the tardies coincided with a tardy sweep.

Using tardy sweeps as an attempt to improve punctuality among students is like assigning grades based on a single randomly selected quiz. If teachers assigned numerous assignments, tests, and quizzes, but randomly chose one quiz and used the grade on that single quiz as the student’s grade for the whole semester, an end would be put to such a random, inaccurate method of grading very quickly. Tardy sweeps are no different.

Furthermore, tardy sweeps fail to take into account how tardy a students was. A detention is given to a student who was one hour late just the same as it is given to a student who was one minute late. The punishment doled out by tardy sweeps often does not fit the crime.

As tardy sweeps do not consider the frequency or extent of tardiness, the natural conclusion is that they should be discontinued.

Instead of randomly handing out detentions for being late to class, the administration should discipline tardiness on a more holistic basis.

For example, for each subsequent tardy, a student may lose more and more points on an assignment or assessment in the class they were tardy for, or perhaps a student should be required to stay the same number of minutes after class that they were tardy.

Detention certainly is not off the table completely but should be used only in the proper circumstances when a student’s number of tardies has exceeded a set limit.

The bottom line is that teenagers are never going to stop being tardy, and using detentions to randomly punish students is doing nothing to minimize the manifestation of that truth.

If the threat of a no-go list doesn’t motivate students to be on time, practically nothing will. But those who are in danger of getting their names on that list are much more likely to be motivated by the prospect of losing points in a class or minutes of their time than by a random tardy sweeps.

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F

rom his days playing hockey in the driveway to his current season playing for the Jr. Los Angeles Kings, junior Dawson Armstrong has always looked up to his father.

“I always wanted to be like my dad when I grew up,” Dawson said.

Dawson grew up watching his father, Derek, play for the Los Angeles Kings, Derek was a career journeyman throughout his 14 seasons playing in the National Hockey League (NHL), having played stints for the New York Islanders, the Ottawa Senators, and the New York Rangers.

However, for the majority of his career, he played center for the Los Angeles Kings where his hard work ethic earned the respect of his fellow players and the admiration of not only the Kings faithful but also his son.

“My dad always put in the extra effort and he pushed me to do the same,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong currently plays for the 18 AA team for the Junior Kings, the second highest junior affiliate team of the Los Angeles Kings for his age group, right after 18 AAA. Throughout the year, his team played against other junior affiliates of NHL teams such as the Junior Ducks and the Junior Sharks.

His team finished fourth in the California State Championship. According to Armstrong, the playoffs are a “whole other” experience compared to the regular season.

“The championships were much more intense than the regular season,” Armstrong said. “I loved it because the playoff atmosphere and pressure added much more to the game; it let me know that I was playing for something.”

Armstrong’s father watched from the stands throughout the tournament. It was from Colorado, where Derek had a coaching job with the Denver Cutthroats of the Central Hockey League, that the Armstrongs moved to California at the beginning of the school year. Armstrong had to adjust to a new school, a new environment and new teammates.

According to Armstrong, his first season with the Jr. Kings helped him “settle down” in California.

“Having to move to a much different place than Colorado was really made easier because my team felt more like a family than a team,” Armstrong said.

In addition to the adjustments Armstrong had to make, he had also been sidelined for six months prior to moving to California because of a torn ACL. Derek understands the peaks and valleys his son is going through, being a former professional hockey player himself.

“Dawson has learned how to deal with different personalities on a team and how to stay even keeled through the highs and lows of the game. Through good and bad, in sports and in life, you have to learn to ride the wave,” Derek said.

Armstrong appreciates the commitment his parents and coaches have made in helping him pursue his passion in hockey.

“All my coaches have been really supportive and awe-

features

High Tide

some. They drive me to play better. My parents have been ing admission into the highest sports leagues in the world there encouraging me and supporting me the whole way,” — makes transforming dreams into reality a “difficult” task.

Armstrong said. “Of course, my dad has been a big influence “Dawson has the athletic ability to have a chance to make on helping me to work hard and to improve. My mom drives it to the pros, but the hard work, discipline and sacrifice has me to where I need to go, maybe to practice or to a game, and to come from him; and if you don’t have passion and dreams she buys me new gear. For sure, when I’m low, they bring me then you don’t have anything. Making it to the pros takes all high.” those things and a little luck,” Derek said.

The encouragement Armstrong receives from his parents Although Armstrong is unsure of where his future in is the same kind of support Derek Armstrong got from his hockey will lead him — he is considering playing in college parents growing up in Ottawa, Canada. Initially, Derek’s par- or joining a minor hockey league if he receives an offer — he ents got behind his interest in hockey because, as a child, he remains adamant that with the hard work ethic, like his fahad “too much energy” and they saw it as a way for him to ther’s, there is a possibility that he will achieve greater things. blow off some steam.

“I think that I could make it to the pros if I worked hard “My parents never dreamed that I would make it to the enough and if I really devoted my NHL. My dad would get up at four in the morning to make life to playing hockey. If I me breakfast, scrape the ice and snow off the car — sometry to get better every times it was minus 50 degrees Celsius in Ottawa — and then day, then it is a poshe would drive me to my 6 am practices. They sacrificed a lot sibility,” Armstrong for me,” Derek said. said.

Armstrong has tried a hand at a variety of sports; for a time he played baseball, and he is currently on the varsity lacrosse team. However, he has remained primarily focused on hockey, which he has been playing since he was five years old.

“I have always loved hockey. I’ve tried out just about every sport, but hockey has stayed as my favorite. It’s like a combination of every sport: you need strength and speed, stamina and agility. I love it because it challenges me,” Armstrong said.

Whereas his father grew up watching the “goal-scoring machine” in Wayne Gretzky, Armstrong has found a player to whom he can model his own game after in Kings center Trevor Lewis.

“Trevor Lewis works hard and he wins the corner battles, which is basically when two players are trying to edge each other out for the puck. That’s who I would compare my game to, not so much a goal-scoring type of player, more of someone who’s gritty and hustles,” Armstrong said.

Many youth players compare themselves to professional athletes, but according to Derek, the constant presence of “eager” competitors — who are also

by Alexander Dang seek-

Stick

through it

Armstrong plays hockey for the Junior LA Kings

ILLUSTRATION BY LULU WEGMAN

May 19, 2017

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features

Dream catchers

Preedeedilok and Lewis take students to WE Conference

by Sarah Flannery

Dream big. Masahico Torres , Elizabeth Anderson, Logan Kerby, Dea ilok, Kelly Lewis, Michel n Preedeedle Kehaulani Vickers got the Loring, and opportunity to meet olympic gold me dalist Laurie Hernandez at the WE Con ference. PHOTO BY MA SAHICO TORRES

T

he WE conference, which was put on by the organization Me to We, hosted many celebrity appearances to get students excited to make a positive impact on their community. The conference, which included speakers like Selena Gomez, Bryan Cranston, Alicia Keys and Jessie J, tried to inform kids on using their power to help people in their cities.

Junior Michelle Loring’s favorite moment was meeting Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez.

“She was so sweet and genuine; I was so starstruck. Since I used to do gymnastics, she was talking to me about it and giving me advice on how to do more skills. She talks in a way where she’s like your friend, so hearing her talk about such big issues made me want to listen,” Loring said.

Since the conference lasted almost the whole day and had almost 17,000 kids from California in attendance, the wide range of topics presented allowed each person in the audience to relate to at least one of the presentations.

“There was a woman there who was born with a birth defect that made her get bullied a lot throughout school, and that inspired her to come to these conferences, and it was so awesome hearing her story. I don’t think any-

one left that environment not totally excited to start giving back. It was such a learning process and I’m so happy I could go, I want to help out in bringing the WE community to Redondo,” Loring said.

Jessie J’s performance highlighted giving kids the ability to pursue their passions and do what makes them happy, a subject she is very outspoken about. Her performance was “emotional” because everyone in the room “felt her passion.”

“Seeing them as just regular people was so cool. They were talking like normal people about things like what they were passionate about, which was so inspiring,” Loring said.

Teacher Kelly Lewis, was given tickets because of his work taking students around to new countries to experience new cultures and learn about the world around them.

“One of the most awesome parts was that you couldn’t buy tickets, you had to earn your way into the event by volunteer work and so you could really tell that everyone there were super into taking the information given and applying it to their community,” Lewis said.

Lewis’s favorite presenter, Bryan Cranston, discussed the importance of awareness and education to prevent of child abductions.

“Bryan Cranston was my favorite, he talked about how kids are basically being

abducted around the world and what we can start doing to help, he’s an advocate for KidSmartz, which is an initiative to help prevent child abduction, and he is vocal about child abduction prevention,” Lewis said.

Lewis realizes the importance of taking action in his own community and making students more aware of the things happening outside of their neighborhood.

“It was eye-opening for me. It makes me want to get involved more and I do think about bringing the WE community to our campus next year to just get kids thinking less about themselves as individuals, but start thinking in terms more of what can we do to help out each other, what can we do to help out people less fortunate,” Lewis said.

Biology teacher Dean Preedeedilok who attended the conference with Lewis, is using his knowledge that he has gained from the conference to educate students here about how they can help the issues people presented, such as homelessness, water conservation, and child abductions.

Lewis wants the students in the community to realize the injustices other people face outside of their socioeconomic status.

“There are people in this world that don’t have fresh water, and we go to the bathroom in fresh water every day. We’re [peeing] in

fresh water, how is that fair? It’s crazy just the unfairness of our world, and so I wanted to bring these kids to the conference and get them excited about bringing more community service to the school by bringing the WE community here,” Lewis said.

For Preedeedilok, the conference really helped him become more passionate about teaching kids how to give back, and the event showed appreciation for students and educators in the world trying to make a difference.

“It’s powerful when you just see so many other motivated individuals. There were 17,000 kids at the event and worked really, really hard to get there and for all of these people trying to make a difference in the world and wanting to further expand their knowledge on how to help others, it made our kids feel really empowered and excited to find new ways to reach out,” said Preedeedilok.

Preedeedilok is grateful that this was not only a “fun” experience but a good educator on how to give students the tools to volunteer and reach out.

“Not only were they having a good time, but they learn these tools on how to make a difference, which was really powerful,” said Preedeedeelok. “There are so many kids that want to make a difference, we want to show them how to use that power.”

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High Tide

features

BOW Wagorn looks to pursue archery after video game inspiration

by Whayden Dhamcho

& ARROW

W

t

m

ith posture and form in mind they stays focused on the bullseye. They aim at the rings encompassing the center circle as they knock the arrow and retracts their arm with their fingers holding the string. They straighten their fingers propelling the arrow towards the target. Bullseye.

Senior Dylana Wagorn partakes in archery as a hobby.

They were introduced to archery by a critically acclaimed video game known as Oblivion, the predecessor to another popular game, Skyrim. These games were part of the Elder Scrolls saga and both won game of the year from multiple outlets. Wagorn became intrigued by the amalgam of archery and stealth and being able to engage without confrontation.

“I expressed to my dad that I wanted to do archery, so when I first went to the archery range I went with my dad and l my brother and we just started shooting” Wagorn said. “I was the most enthusiastic about it so I decided to do lessons r i and it just took off from there.” u f h According to Wagorn, archery is more comw plicated than people think at first glance. q u Rather than just knocking and shootm y g k s h r j a f m i n z r k g b r ing an arrow, much more caly s h t culation goes into the trajectory n u y of where the arrow is shot. j p l “Archery isn’t just about accuracy and e r your vision, it’s more about your form, your posz ture, and your focus,” Wagorn said. “I think what archery really boils down to is focus, and it’s good for people who f can’t focus well or are a bit fidgety.”

Wagorn believes that archery is very different from other sports because it focuses more on the individual and relies on his/her skill.

“Compared to other sports, archery is more independent, more self-reliant,” Wagorn said. “You could work with a team and your coaches, but at the end of the day, it comes down to you and you alone to hit the target.”

Wagorn’s father has been very supportive, as Wagorn has developed more interest into archery as time goes on. He has voluntarily taken Wagorn to their lessons, and has bought them everything they need.

“My father has been most supportive of my archery,” Wagorn said. “He goes out with me to help me purchase the supplies and has expressed interest in starting archery himself.”

For Wagorn, archery is not a possible career choice, but rather a side hobby. They do believe that anyone can do archery and that it is “easy to get into, but difficult to go pro.”

Despite understanding that it is much different in terms of overall structure, Wagorn believes that archery should be recognized along more well-known sports.

“I think, of course, archery can be a little dangerous with all the sharp objects, but compared to sports such as football, it is a lot less harmful,” Wagorn said. “I truly believe it would be a lot better if many more schools adopted it as an extracurricular activity.”

ILLUSTRATION BY ADRIAN CRACUIN

May 19, 2017

page 11

features

1.

Break a leg.

S

enior Drake Brown is not only the king of fashion; he is an accomplished actor. He recently landed the male lead role in Noah Cyrus’ new music video for her song “Stay Together.”

“I was sort of her love interest. I was just kind of the guy that was with her in every scene. The whole video was just a night of teenagers having fun, running around and wreaking havoc,” Brown said. “It wasn’t even acting. We were 3. all just legitimately having fun the whole time and playing around.”

Brown did not audition to be in the video. His agent surprised him by contacting him and telling him that he was being considered for the part.

It was between Brown and a few other actors who were all picked based on their style and how well they would fit in with the rest of the cast.

This was Brown’s first time working on a professional set, causing him to feel slightly “nervous,” but became calm when he got on set.

“It’s a lot of exposure for me, and it was cool being on a real set. We had a police escort for all the scenes in the car,” Brown said. “It was a really cool experience, and Noah was really cool. I met a lot of new people.”

The filming began at 1:30 p.m and ended at 4:30 a.m. Brown feels that, while many people think acting and modeling are “easy,” they require a lot of effort.

“We had to drink a ton of coffee to stay awake.

It was pretty intense. Everything looks so basic when you watch it back. It seems like we did a few takes and that was it, but you have to film the same thing over and over to get it right,” Brown said.

When Brown was given the part in the video, he was asked to come in to film the next day, giving him little time to prepare.

“They didn’t tell me a single thing. I had no idea what I was doing. All they said was that I was the male lead, so I didn’t really do anything to prepare; all I did was bring clothes,” Brown said. “The clothes I wear in the video are actually all my own clothes. The label stalked my Instagram, and they loved my clothing and style. I styled myself and that’s pretty much all I did to prepare for it.”

Due to his previous experience on sets as a model, Brown felt “well prepared and confident”

On the rise Brown starred in Noah Cyrus’ music video

by Amanda Ban

2.

1.

Senior Drake Brown poses in Noah Cyrus’ new music video for her single titled “Stay Together,” which was released May 5.

2. Brown sits on the bleachers with other actors and Cyrus.

The video depicts teenagers having a “care-free” summer filled with fun.

3. Cyrus and other actors sit in the car, cruising around the city and visiting a football field, a pool and a gas station to purchase and eat ice-cream. PHOTOS COURTESY OF DRAKE BROWN

3.

while acting in the video. “[My modeling experience] definitely helped with my confidence. Even though this set was way bigger than usual, I still had some experience [being on sets] from my previous work, and [I also had experience] listening to what directors want and portraying the right emotions,” Brown said.

There were some new challenges Brown faced while filming since it was a new environment that required him to utilize acting skills more than modeling.

“The kind of modeling I do is more edgy, so it’s not so much showing emotion as it is kind of lifelessly standing, but with this, the camera is always rolling so even if you’re not in the main shot people are still going to be able to see you,” Brown said. “With modeling, you can take a break between the camera clicks but with [acting] you always have to be on. It was very cool, and it wasn’t too

hard to transition from modeling to [acting] because the job itself wasn’t too hard.”

The video has over 6.8 million views on YouTube; Brown hopes that the exposure he will gain from his involvement in this video will jumpstart his career in the entertainment business.

For Brown, this experience helped clarify what he wants to focus on in his career. “[I want to have a career in] modeling or acting. I’m not that fond of acting, but if it was a job like this, where it’s fun and easy to do, then I’d love to do it. I’m into modeling and the whole entertainment industry,” Brown said. “I’m trying to use modeling as my in and get bigger and then get into management, styling and things like that. A lot of people saw my face, so it’s pretty cool. It’ll help me with experience, and it adds to my resume so more people will want to hire me.”

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High Tide

Dorsal runs Youtube gaming channel with 17,000 subscribers

by Kylee Kallick

With a few codes, and a lot of computer knowledge, a brand new computer game can be created.

Senior Atlas Dostal started working on his own game at the age of 14, and created a mod for Minecraft at age 12.

“Mod, which is short for modification, changes the game play and it adds a few components, like weapons and nukes.

I also added a few other things like machinery and a reactor.

It’s like a bunch of things to make the game pvp, player vs. player,” Dostal said.

The mod, or modification, currently has over five million downloads to the website. Dostal wanted to create something that he had full ownership of.

“I created my game as an extension of the mod. The problem I had with staying with Minecraft is that I don’t control Minecraft because it’s not mine. So, I wanted to move away from that, and do something that’s my own. I can now make sure [the game] doesn’t go out from under my feet or weird stuff happens,” Dostal said.

Dostal wants to continue working on his game, Rival Rebels, into adulthood.

“The game is still in progress. It’s taking quite awhile, and a lot of work. I quit doing my homework and have just been working on my game all the time. For the past four years, [the game] has been my life,” Dostal said.

According to Dostal, creating and keeping the game updated takes a lot of work and skill.

“Not only do I have to make the game, but I also have to keep up an online presence. I do social interactions, and I’m in charge of filming for the videos I upload. I also edit the videos. I am the only developer on the game which means I

do the coding and model the art with a 3d modeler,” Dostal said.

Dostal and his game have a “big” social presence, which he is “very proud of” because ittook a lot of hard work to do.

“I have a Youtube channel with 17,000 subscribers, and my second channel has about 730. Also, my Google+ profile has 17 million followers and is growing bigger every day,” Dostal said.

Dostal’s main Youtube channel, Rodol Phito, is a combination of a bunch of different things. “[The Youtube channel] is mostly role playing and tutorials. In role playing there are a few characters that I came up with, and with these characters I kind of tell a story using the mod. I also show things that I developed, like equipment and weaponry and stuff to do with the game,” Dostal said.

Since creating his Youtube channel, many different Youtubers have mentioned his game, which has brought him and his game a lot of traffic and attention.

“I’ve received lots of help from many people throughout the years, especially from big Youtubers making videos showcasing my mod. The Diamond Minecart showcased my mod, and that video currently has 29.3 million views on it,” Dostal said.

Dostal is very proud of both his mod and his game, which he is excited to keep working on, and see where it gets in the future.

“My mod and my game both have big followings, and the game isn’t even completely finished yet. I’m going to keep working on my game, Rival Rebels, after a finish high school, and make it perfect,” Dostal said.

In ctrl. 1. Hammons plays a game on the computer he built. 2. Hammon’s father, Dennis Hammons, found that build-

ing the computer was “fun”. “[Hammons] was able to choose those parts well, assemble them in a way that they would be used to the best of their ability. He did a great job,” Dennis said. PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICK HAMMONS

May 19, 2017

center

Down wire

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to the

Hammons built a computer for gaming

by Grace McGonigle

In a family grounded in science and technology, it would be expected that the members to be good with computers, but freshman Nick Hammons took that expectation to the next level and built his own computer.

Hammons decided to build the computer so he would have a separate one for gaming.

“I really built the computer for gaming because that’s one of the things I would use my old computer for. My old one had a Windows side and a Mac side for gaming and school work, but, since we have chromebooks, I don’t really need this computer for school work, so I can use this one for gaming,” Hammons said.

He also wanted to build a computer for the experience and monetary value.

“One of the reasons I decided to build a computer was because I thought the process would be interesting and it definitely was. I thought it was really fun, relaxing and a cool way to spend my time,” Hammons said. “By buying the parts and building it, I can make a computer that will run the same as a pre built one and will last longer, but will reduce the price a lot.”

Hammons has been building his own computer since winter break and has plans for changes and upgrades. He decided to give his computer a theme and is still working on the theme’s design.

“I also want to do some aesthetic modifications. I was inspired to make it World War I themed by the game Battlefield I and I even have a World War I era gas mask I would like to make a part of it,” Hammons said.

Hammons’ father, Dennis Hammons, likes that his son has an interest in technology.

“I’m very excited about it. I think that it 1.

seems to be something he truly enjoys, so I’m very hopeful he’ll continue to find it exciting for himself and utilize it as he goes on,” Dennis said.

When Hammons told his dad he wanted to build his own computer, Dennis was excited and thought it was a good idea.

“I was impressed when he told me he wanted to build his own computer. I wasn’t sure how hard it was going to be, but I was also kind of excited about it because it seemed like an interesting, neat thing to do.

I’m really proud of him for doing it,” Dennis said.

Hammons has spent over $4,000 on computer parts, surpassing his original budget.

“I could buy a several hundred dollar computer every two years or I could spend $4,000 on a computer I can have for 10 years that will work just as well,” Hammons said.

His parents were a part of creating the computer too; they payed for the parts and his dad aided him in building.

“This was actually a project I did with my dad, which was really interesting. He was into doing it, so over time, we slowly bought the parts and tried to get the best value for the parts. It’s not just about how cheap they are; it’s how well they perform,” Hammons said.

According to Dennis, the project “was a lot of fun” and the “best part” was watching Hammons learn all about it.

“It’s amazing how, as he learned what he had to do, he also was able to explain to me what to do. I don’t have a lot of computer background myself, so he had to explain a lot to me about what he was doing and how he was doing it,” Dennis said.

For Hammons, this is “just a hobby” and

not something he wants to do for a career.

After running a test, Hammons discovered that his computer works much better than the average computer.

“There’s a benchmark we do called Firestrike, and it gives your computer a score based on the graphics cards. The score I got not long after I had built it was 96% better than the majority of computers. After doing the software, I’ve gotten it to the 97-98 percentile,” Hammons said.

When he began, Hammons thought that building the computer would be fairly easy, even though he hadn’t done it before, and thinks the computer has lived up to his expectations.

“It has definitely become what I hoped it would. When I started, I knew building the computer would be interesting, but I didn’t think it would be that difficult because I had heard from other people that it’s almost like adult legos. Basically, when building the computer if you take the time, know what you’re doing and have the parts it’s rather easy,” Hammons said.

Hammons thinks technology is an important part of society, and individuals should always work to make it better.

“I think technology is a good thing and has a lot of uses and should be explored and improved upon constantly,” Hammons said.

“I also think understanding technology is beneficial to society. If there were to be a basic course in middle school about computers, I think that would be great. I think in this era you need to understand how your phone works, so if something happens you can fix or even improve it. It would be better if people understood how the technology they use in their everyday lives works.”

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High Tide

features

AL TY

VIRTU RE A LI

by Maya Groark

Sophomore Jacob Ray has found his success and interest in the world of marketing through demonstrating how the Vive, the HTC virtual reality set, works.

“My job is to show what the Vive can accomplish and what games that we produce for it,” Jacob said. “For example, at VRLA, a virtual reality expo, we wanted to show off what we could do with sports and acute mechanics, so we have these hyper-realistic ping pong and tennis games. Basically we like

by Martha Farah to demonstrate whatever we are working on at the time.”

Jacob’s father works for HTC and brought one home. After receiving demos, Jacob’s father asked him if he would like to be the one to present the demos.

Jacob’s father, Jason Ray, creates and makes the software used in virtual reality. Part of his job is attending trade shows and showing the Vive to overwhelmingly huge crowds.

“He decided to help me. We end up in these situations where we’re demoing for hundreds or thousands of people excited about virtual reality, so they want to talk. We bring Jacob in to help guide people through the demos,” Jason said. “ He made himself an expert on the subject. I’m watching him talk about technical specifications and content availability and I’m amazed because I don’t remember teaching him all of this, and suddenly, people are going to him for the answers they used to come to me for.”

Another world. 1. Ray wears his HTC Vive. “My dad brought a Vive When he is giving demos, Jacob must take a number of home and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so after awhile he asked if I’d want to try giving demos instead of receiving them. Aparently I did factors into consideration. Especially when it comes to the really well, so they hired me,” Ray said. PHOTO BY LILI LOPEZ people he will be giving demos to.

“I make sure they don’t have motion sickness or anything and I have to ask them if they have certain fears. For example, we have this demo featuring really small spaces and if they have claustrophobia, that’s not a good thing. Also if they have hydrophobia, that’s a problem because in order to get them oriented to the virtual reality environment, we put them in this under water environment where they can experience what it’s like,” Jacob said.

While working to benefit the company, Jacob has discovered that he really enjoys the world of marketing.

“I definitely want to keep doing this in the future. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve already impressed a lot of people in marketing with how much I love this stuff and how much I love it,” Jacob said. “I’ve been doing this for two or three years and I just love doing it.”

During his time as a product ambassador, Jason has seen his son grow as a person.

“He went from just a demo guy to a brand ambassador.

He’s actually discussing technical specifications about the device. I watched him go from just a person in the background to someone who takes the initiative with people who want to know more about VR. He’s become more of a front facing person. When we go to a trade show I can put him on the floor and I know he’ll represent us well,” Jason said.

Carter participates in gender-inclusive Venture Scouts

by Shyanne Landers

Boys. Girls. The two are automatically separated according to what the person in charge sees fit, making up bias and stigmas about them. However, sophomore Gabby Carter is in Venture Scouts, a co-educational organization that allows all genders to participate in a scouting crew.

“Venture Scouts is just like Boy Scouts except there are also girls in it. We do everything Boy Scouts would do, the only distinction is that [the girls] have different uniforms,” Carter said.

The troop has taken part in activities such as hiking, camping, rock climbing and other outdoor activities.

“We also learn basic survival skills, like how to treat wounds and make fire. The instructors even taught us how to cook things without a kitchen nearby,” Carter said.

Aside from learning how to survive in the wild, Venture Scouts does consistent human-

itarian work.

“We scout for food every year, which is where we go around the community and ask people for canned food to give to the homeless. We also did local clean up along with refurbishing public places, whether that be parks or city benches,” Carter said.

With great acts of kindness, comes great responsibility.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot more leadership and accountability skills and probably a lot more patience when working with other people. Along with being vice president of the crew, I was the senior patrol leader of the troop, which is the leader of all the scouts,” Carter said.

As vice president, Carter had the opportunity to socialize and make connections with other scouts.

“I think my favorite memory since becoming a Venture Scout has been meeting

all sorts of new people, going camping and planning out events with one of my best friends, Bridget, who was the president at the same time I was vice president,” Carter said Beginning Venture Scouts in eighth grade, Carter has learned skills that are required in on-the-spot situations.

“The age range goes all the way from 14 to 21. A lot of Boy Scouts sometimes go into Venture Scouts after they’ve gotten their highest rank you can get in Boy Scouts,” Carter said. “Venturing is really helpful because you learn a lot of cool things like CPR and how to save someone in a life-or-death situation.”

During her time as vice president of her troop, Carter encountered memorable moments.

“The first time I was leading my troop on a really long and cold hike. Everyone was tired and we needed to get back to a campsite

before it started to snow, but when we finally got to the top of the mountain, there was a rainbow. I thought that was amazing because it really made me reflect on how much being a scout means to me,” Carter said.

Carter and her brothers have been scouts since elementary school and have continued until their teen years.

“People are usually surprised when I tell them that I’m in a form of Boy Scouts, and it usually starts as a pretty interesting conversation about the different branches of Boy Scouts and venturing,” Carter said.

Dedicated to Venture Scouts, she plans to finish scouts when she begins college.

“Being in [Venture Scouts] makes you feel like you’re part of something special. A lot of things have changed in scouting over time,” Carter said. “It’s become a lot more accepting to all types of people, so the environment has really improved since when I started.”

May 19, 2017

features

page 15

Playing

dress

up

Hickey and Henry explore their style through vintage clothing

1.

2.

Dress to impress. 1. Hickey poses in vintage clothing and a pinup hairstyle inspired by the 40’s and 50’s. 2. Henry wears distressed vintage clothing that she thrifted. PHOTOS BY ANDREW RODRIGUEZ AND RUBAB QURAISHI.

Senior Alexandra Hickey and freshman Natalie Henry vintage thrift shop to enhance their confidence and looks.

Starting her freshman year, Hickey has been dressing in a forties and fifties vintage style.

When Hickey gets dressed up in her vintage clothing, she feels “alluring” and like a “new verby Rubab Quraishi sion” of herself.

“I love it so much. It’s just like a whole new person.

I just feel so much better about myself. I feel more confident, more loose and more fun,” Hickey said. “I believe clothes will look so much better once the person feels good in what they’re wearing.”

Hickey gained many inspirations that created her fashion styles from her family as she grew up.

“My dad really likes classic cars so I really grew up around [car shows] and eventually something sparked, and I interpreted his interests into my own style,” Hickey said.

Another one of Hickey’s inspirations is Betty Grable, a famous American actress and singer who was also a pin-up girl.

“I really enjoy pin up and the girl next door looks. It’s like a teenage attractive girl look, and it’s very flattering and classy yet gorgeous at the same time,” Hickey said.

Hickey thrift shops every once in awhile, but has trouble finding things that fit into her style of the 1940s and 1950s.

“Sometimes the clothes aren’t old enough. It’s really fun if you have nothing to do and see what you can find. I really just want to wear whatever I feel good in, no matter where it’s coming from,” Hickey said. “You don’t have to necessarily dress vintage or dress fifties. That’s just what fits me, and it might not for others. I would definitely tell people to find things that fit them perfectly and makes them feel like they’re dressed at their best style of choice.”

Hickey finds her vintage clothing style as a way to be “linked” with the world and focus on her surroundings.

“A lot of times I tried to disconnect. When I’m dressed up, I even put my phone away to feel like I’m in the 1950s,” Hickey said. “In a sense, I’m more connected to people and I get more engaged with what’s actually going around in my surroundings instead of being focused on technology like so many people are these days. I also feel more connected to the history of the world and especially family. My grandparents grew up in the 1950s and it feels so much closer because they grew up around the time as the fashion I’m in interested.”

Hickey believes that other people’s opinions “vary by a lot” when it comes to her choice of style and dressing up.

“A lot of people ask me if I’m in a play and it’s a little awkward to say that it’s just how I like to dress. Then there are some who are confused and then others are completely in love with the look,” Hickey said.

Natalie Henry dresses with early neinties inspired and gothic looks with many inspirations from media and history.

“I like really classic styles that are simple yet look amazing once you wear them,” Henry said.

Henry believes her fashion looks gives her a “unique” aspect to her personality and what people know her for.

“I don’t really like looking like anybody else at school at all. It kind of singles me out from everyone else around me, which is something I strive for,” Henry said.

Henry has been thrift shopping her whole life, and began creating her signature looks starting early on in middle school.

“It’s honestly really affordable. You can find shirts for a dollar and I can get a lot with just a little bit of money. It’s fun finding random things that you really can’t find anywhere else, and it feels authentic to piece together items of clothes that usually might not go together,” Henry said.

“It’s cool finding accessories from the 1920s or a t shirt from the 90s. You can mix different pieces together and create your own look that people wouldn’t know where to look for it.”

Some of Henry’s fashion inspirations include Kathleen Hanna, an American singer, and Audrey Hepburn, an actress who rose to fame during Hollywood’s Golden Age. “Classic old Hollywood star looks are one of my favorite, even if I don’t wear them that often. Sometimes I’ll wear dresses I find from thrift shops because they have that really vintage and glam look to them,” Henry said.

Henry’s view on brand name clothing is that the high prices are “ridiculous” and “unnecessary.”

“I think it’s crazy how brand name clothing are really expensive but when you take the name off, it’s just a regular old shirt,” Henry said. “I don’t think it’s right for people to put themselves on pedestals and think they’re better if they wear brand name things. It’s not right to make others feel bad if they can’t afford things on trend.”

Henry believes thrift shopping is like “no other experience” because she is always excited to wonder about the history of the clothes she’s wearing. Her style make use of accessories from vintage shops and old t-shirts with band logos on them.

“I think fashion is a way to express who you are. When I see everyone dressing like each other, it’s sad to me to see how no one is unique. It makes me feel like everybody just wants to be someone else, and I don’t want to be like that,” Henry said. “I know these clothes have a story behind them, and that’s what makes them even more exciting to wear. I feel like I’m just exhaling confidence when I’m dressed in my own style. I am finding ways to transform my personality into fashion statements. I’m not just wearing my clothes, but I’m also wearing my confidence.”

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features

Meow. “Kittens are really cute and playful and when they’re

small you can hold them in your hands and they just fall asleep there,” said Cahalan. PHOTO BY TANNER CAHALAN

It’s raining cats:

Cahalan’s family temporarily fosters kittens

by Yasmine Elahihaghighi Tiny paws innocently sneak out of the baby kittens as they sit in freshman Tanner Cahalan’s palm. Their fragile bodies, small and fuzzy, curl up sucking on small bottles of milk hungrily, too small to eat from a bowl.

Ever since Cahalan first fostered kittens, she has continued to take care of them as much as possible and has already fostered 30.

“The best part is that if you get them really young and continuously bottle feed them as they grow around humans, they start to love them, and love being around people so they are super sweet,” Cahalan said.

Her family first started fostering them when they talked to the workers of Petco, after seeing a man drop off his cat.

“We asked them how they dealt with all the cats, and they said how they have people foster kittens all the time. They take them home, and then bring them back when they are ready to be adopted,” Cahalan said.

Hearing this immediately got Cahalan’s attention because she “loves cats and always thought they were so cute when they played around.”

“My mom thought it was really cool and had her put her name down saying how maybe we would want to do it sometime,” Cahalan said.

Cahalan first fostered kittens the same day she went to Petco after being contacted by a worker.

“Our first two kittens were named Agnes and Katie. We

gave Agnus back when he was old enough, but kept Katie because we fell in love with her,” Cahalan said.

Adopting Katie was a longer process, but Cahalan and her family had already built trust with Petco.

“When we adopted Katie they just had to make sure we had a safe home for her, but adoption was a little bit easier because we had fostered the cats already when they were super small,” Cahalan said.

Taking care of the kittens is “a really fun experience” according to Cahalan, but there are also challenges with it.

“There is not a ton of space here and they need room to run around and play so finding somewhere to keep them in is a big challenge,” Cahalan said.

Another issue with taking care of the kittens is their constant need to be bottle fed every two hours.

“One of us would have to get up in the middle of the night, and usually it is my mom, but I would help her do it. You need to set an alarm and it’s almost like having a baby of your own,” Cahalan said.

According to Cahalan, because the kittens are so young, they would start to smell and get dirty fast.

“You have to be gentle since they are so small, and pat them down with wet paper towels softly to make sure they are clean,” Cahalan said.

Taking care of these small animals can also cause emotional pain because if things go wrong, they may die.

“It was really hard when we had one kitten, and we couldn’t find her. When she showed up, she was buried and didn’t end up making it because her lungs were filled with dirt,” Cahalan said.

Through all problems, Cahalan and her family have maintained a strong relationship with the Petco worker, June.

“We’re pretty close with her, and she has always been understanding of any issues. Whenever they find kittens they come call us and say they have new ones for us to foster if we can,”Cahalan said.

June helps out Cahalan’s family and provides them with certain materials for the kittens.

“Usually they’ll give us food and some of the formulas for the kitten so that we don’t spend a ton of money on it. They also give us a temporary cage to keep them in,” Cahalan said.

Cahalan says her favorite part is watching the kittens play around her living room.

“They’ll play with anything like string or little tiny balls, so that is fun. We get to watch them go crazy and run around the house,” Cahalan said.

Taking care of the kittens has taught Cahalan skills she will use throughout her life.

“Because I have taken care of the kittens so long, I now know how much responsibility it is to take care of other living creatures as well as empathy towards animals and how to be a responsible pet owner,” Cahalan said.

May 19, 2017

page 17

features

Stone-hearted

Junior Anna Filippis connects with crystals After hours of searching, she finally finds the stone that has been calling to her. Junior Anna Filippis collects stones, or crystals, which are believed to have special healing properties for times of distress.

“If I wear a stone on a necklace I can feel the energy it emits. Feeling the energy can be overbearing, depending on the type of crystal and how it resonates with you, but usually it is empowering,” Filippis said. “Sometimes my moods are different when I wear them too frequently or not as consistently.”

According to Filippis, a stone’s properties have enhanced abilities during meditation.

“The craziest experience I’ve had with a stone was when I had a deep, hardcore meditation and saw myself in a past life. I also learned things I never would have known of until after the meditation, so I looked them up and [actually] found them to be true,” Filippis said.

Although Filippis uses stones for times of struggle, they aren’t meant to rid people of all their problems and are instead intended to highlight the importance of those obstacles.

“Struggles help define who you are, while triumphs remind you that the struggles were worthy of your efforts. Having a stone can help with perseverance, focus, motivation and with feeling a sense of control,” Filippis said.

After her collection began to grow, Filippis became curious about the history of her stones and what their specific meanings are. Her online research helped her develop a greater appreciation for them and her mom, Katrina Filippis, is proud to have her daughter so passionate about the properties of the stones “[My daughter’s collection] gives me a sense of calmness and clarity. The stones help me with maintaining internal peace,” Katrina said.

While looking for new additions to add to her collection, she chose stones that “call to her.”

“When I go out and buy new stones, I feel excited be-

IL AD LUS RA TRA N TI CR ON AC B IU Y N

by Kelly Harraka cause most of the time I’ll catch a glimpse of one, admire it, read the description of its functions and then realize it was exactly what I needed,” Filippis said.

Out of the hundreds of stones, Rose Quartz has become Filippis favorite because it “resonates with the heart.”

“Rose Quartz is a beautiful stone [even] when untouched or polished. I [also] like stones that aid in meditation or astral travel like Striped Jasper,” Filippis said.

Filippis believes that stones are helpful when people feel unbalanced in life and she even sleeps near them in order to “rejuvenate.”

“It is important to have stones in order to enhance the vibrational frequency of your electromagnetic field,” Filippis said. “This helps align the bodily functions with its proper tasks.”

Filippis has encountered many people who have doubted her beliefs on stones and feels that they should experience it for themselves.

“People should first learn to question the way things work rather than doubt them. Being patient and open is most important when dealing with life,” Filippis said.

Other’s indifference towards Filippis’ fascination hasn’t affected love for her collection, and she is still planning to find more stones to help her with life’s struggles.

“Owning crystals has led me to know more about the magic of science and how to be more in tune with the highest level of knowledge,” Filippis said. “The concepts I have learned about [fall into my] everyday life and have proven to be helpful. I would not know about them today without the influence of my stones.”

High Tide

page 18

Opportunity for kindess

Yung built a garden at The Friendship Children’s Center for her Gold Award

by Yasi Fazeli In the process of completing her Gold Award for Girl Scouts, junior Alyssa Yung has dedicated much of this year to building a garden and encouraging preschoolers at The Friendship Children’s Center to lead a healthier lifestyle.

“I built the garden at an underprivileged preschool. Now, they have a fully functioning vegetable garden, and they can take home seedlings. It’s a way for them to get fresh produce because it’s an area where they don’t have many grocery stores, so they don’t have easy access to fresh food,” Yung said.

The Gold Award is the highest and most prestigious award offered to only a small percentage, about 5.4 percent, of Girl Scouts.

“For the gold award, you have to come up with a project idea, and you have to form it completely on your own, no assistance from anyone besides your mentor and a couple

other people,” Yung said. “So this idea was completely my own and along the way I got help from my mom’s friend [on gardening advice] because she is a gardner.”

Yung spent about 20 hours making the garden boxes for the vegetable garden. Each box was made of wood that she had to measure, cut and assemble on her own. According to Yung, the process was long and expensive but “definitely worth it.” “[The kids] were very excited. They loved it. They would always beg their teacher to take them to the garden every day, and she couldn’t take them every single day. When they did go, they would fight over who gets to water the garden,” Yung said.

The positive feedback she has received from the parents confirms that this project was a “success” in creating excitement in young children about healthy eating.

“All the families were appreciative. The whole school itself was really appreciative.

I focused on the preschool, specifically with one class, but whenever anyone sees me at the school, they thank me. It all really payed off,” Yung said. “Some of the days I went after school and that’s when they pick up their kids. They thank me a lot, and they tell me how much their kid has been loving it. They tell me that sometimes their kids over water their plants because they’re so excited.”

One of the parents, Amy Caponpon, who observed how “happy the kids were to be in the garden” believes that Yung’s project will have lasting effects.

“I think it will help them choose healthy eating choices, and it teaches them where food comes from other than a grocery store.

It helps teach them about growing plants and how just like people, require certain needs. So of course it will be lasting because they are being introduced to all of this at a young age that it helps them be just like plants that will grow and prosper,” Caponpon said.

The moments

1.

that remain especially memorable for Yung are those in which she saw that the kids were completely immersed in the project.

“In the planting sessions we read a book.

It was a take on ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm,’ but it had different lyrics. All the kids were singing along, and even after the book was done, they still were singing the whole time we were planting things. It was great to see that they payed attention,” Yung said.

In addition to building the garden and teaching the children how to maintain it, Yung created and updated a website for the parents with recipes in which the personally grown produce could be used for.

Yung hopes that through this project she has not only inspired young children in the class she worked with to eat healthy after harvesting the garden’s vegetables but more importantly to carry a healthy eating habit throughout their lives.

“I’m sending home plants with them, so they can grow stuff at home. I hope it’ll open them up to the idea of eating healthier and eating cleaner, not just packaged processed food,” Yung said. “It makes me feel like I actually did something for the community. I was always involved because of Girl Scouts and other volunteering things that I have done, but this one was very hands-on. I made a difference in someone’s life.”

2.

Seeds of change.

1. Junior Alyssa Yung gives a child some seeds to plant in the newly created garden. 2. Yung builds the wood planters for the garden. 3. After many hours of work, Yung captures a photo of her garden, which was created to encourage children to develop healthy eating habits, at The Friendship Children’s Center. PHOTOS BY ALYSSA YUNG

3.

May 19, 2017

features

page 19

Stuck Together Sophomore Kathy Wrightsman designs and produces stickers to peers

by Nadia Stodder Over the past three months, freshman Kathy Wrightsman has devoted her spare time after school to developing her own business to sell stickers that she has created.

Through the technological help and support of her friends, Wrightsman’s passion for art has turned from just a hobby into a beginning for what Wrightsman hopes to be a thriving art career.

“I really love collecting stickers, and I’ve always wanted to make stickers that I love.

I want to make stickers that I would use and love every aspect of them. I also wanted to send a message through them and have people spread by messages by putting them around their homes and on their things,” Wrightsman said.

Through her stickers, Wrightsman shows what Redondo students are feeling and what they are interested in at the time and tries to show, through her art, what it is like to be a teenager in high school.

“With my stickers, I show what the current trends are and what kids these days want to express to the world,” Wrightsman said.

Since she was very young, Wrightsman has been interested in art, and given the opportunity to show others her passion, she was willing to put all of her effort into creating and selling her art.

“I’ve been into art for a long time, especially painting and watercolors, and I’d like to get into computer design. I’m trying to create a website and add my own designs to it for my business,” Wrightsman said.

Although the sticker business Wrightsman created was originally a test run, she ended up selling far more stickers than she had anticipated.

“I did a test run at first, so I didn’t print that many stickers because I wasn’t sure how many people would buy them, but now I’m almost sold out on all of them. I’m starting to make new stickers, but they haven’t come out yet, because I don’t have enough,” Wrightsman said.

After seeing the success of her stickers, Wrightsman has plans to expand her business beyond Redondo and bring her art to other schools in the South Bay. “I’m hoping that I can go to other schools to sell my stickers. Some girls I know from

Stick

it. Sophomore Kathy Wrightsman makes and produces stickers to sell to her peers and community members. She has a variety of styles and takes feedback through her Instagram account to further her designs and drawings.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATHY WRIGHTSMAN

PV and Mira Costa bought some, so I’m trying to get even more sold,” Wrightsman said.

Even though her stickers have only recently been sold, Wrightsman has already been seeing students on campus with her art work on their belongings, and is excited to see how her art is being spread to others.

“My favorite thing about having my business is seeing people with my artwork out there. Some girls have even put them on their water bottles and I’ll see them carrying them around, and it’s just so cool to think ‘Hey, I made those stickers!’” Wrightsman said.

In her journey of creating stickers, Wrightsman expresses being inspired and helped along the way by her friends. She was highly supported by those around her.

“There’s a girl I know who created stickers, and she helped me with my art and inspired me to start my own business. I actually didn’t have my own iPad, but my friend Sarah allowed me to use hers and downloaded the app Procreate to draw all of my stickers. They made it so real for me,” Wrightsman said.

After making her stickers for some time now, Wrightsman still gets the most joy out of not just the business itself, but drawing out her creations and watching her art come to life.

“The most fun thing about it is drawing stickers on the iPad. After doing my homework, I’ll take a break and add finishing touches onto my stickers. Most designs takes about three days, but the more simple ones can take a day or even a couple hours to finish,” Wrightsman said.

Seeing the positive response to her stickers, Wrightsman feels inspired to expand her art in the future beyond just stickers.

“I don’t know if I want to do stickers after high school, but I’m definitely going to keep doing design.

I want to work with prints and clothing, and create clothes in the fashion industry,” Wrightsman said.

page 20

sports

High Tide

Swim breaks school records in CIF loss

by Brian Adler

Despite not winning Bay to actually participate in swimming League, the season ended on a at the higher level. Getting the best strong note for the RUHS varsity times makes me want to compete at girls swim, with members making this higher level of swim,” freshman it into Division 2 CIF Finals and Vanda Mate said. setting new records for RUHS. Some of the girls managed to set “As a club swimmer, CIF is the new school records this season and meet of the season and I really are optimistic about their futures in needed to perform so I needed to swim. go to have my full training cycle “I broke the school record in the completed. I wouldn’t do anything 100 backstroke for the second time, differently this season because it broke all three relay records with was a great way to end my high some of my teammates,” Doyle said. school swimming career,” senior “ Next season I will be swimming in Kathryn Doyle said. “This was my college, but my time at RUHS was third time at CIF because I didn’t great.” swim for the high school and went The team’s “strong” season had with other extracurricular teams many high points where the swimand it wasn’t much different than mers my past years there.”

“The people on varsity motivated Younger members of the team me to get into CIF especially at the echoed Doyle’s sentiments of a Chino Hills Invitational because evsuccessful season, with many ateryone was cheering for each other tributing it to the changed dynamand it was just really motivational ic amongst members of the team. overall.”

“The season went well; the The euphoric atmosphere that girls did amazing and won everythe team enveloped itself in contribthing but League and CIF. It was uted to its memorable season. a great experience to race a bunch “As a whole, our season was of fast people and club swimmers great. We had great swimmers and Breaking the water’s surface. Swim was eliminated from the playoffs after making it into CIF. The school records were broken in the 50 and 100 meter races. PHOTO BY DANIELLE SESTAK we’ve never raced,” sophomore Kiwe were really a coed sport. Everyone ana Hamada said. “We had many more supported each other, and just had a fun in general; it was all positive good vibes.” was nice seeing other teams that we have preteam bondings and we were all buddies and a time. We put a lot of hard work in and you The team felt this encouragement during viously raced there. Our team bonding led us we just had a really good time in general. could tell by our results,” Mate said. the events. to swim hard and have fun. Saying that, I was The aspect of the team this year was better “CIF was overall a fantastic experience. It a freshman and going to CIF motivated me

Boys LAX reflects on growth as season ends

by Angie Tait

After months of what the team considers long practices, big upsets, and with a few injuries along the way, boys lacrosse has ended its season with a 5-10 record and a ranking of 63 in the state (maxpreps.com), 40 places higher than last year’s team.

“I am very happy with how much the team improved. We improved our ranking and amount of wins by a lot, really played some good team lacrosse during our wins, and we also won some close games, which is always a good feeling,” junior Bryan Cloutier said.

The team faced some “tough losses” against teams such as Palos Verdes (3-24) and the team’s final game against Westlake (4-14), but remained gratified by its close wins against teams such as St. John Bosco (12-11) and Valencia (13-12 OT).

“There were a lot of great games for us this year, but probably the most memorable one was against St. John Bosco,” Cloutier said. “It was a team that we had partnered

with for tournaments in the past, so I knew a lot of the players. I also ended up scoring the winning goal, and the entire team was pumped.”

Besides the connections formed between the players, the team mainly contributes it success to the help of coach Jesse Cox. “Our success this year comes from so many different people, but I’d give most of the credit to Coach Cox for his unending dedication and commitment to the team,” senior Griffin Keith said.

Regardless of these losses, the team is more than optimistic for next year, and the seniors are also positive that next year’s roster will be able to carry on in their footsteps.

“My last game was when it really hit me that I wouldn’t play with the same teammates ever again, so that really stuck with me,” Keith said. “It’s been an amazing season, and I’m more than grateful I got to experience it with each and every one of the guys on that roster.”

Battling in the fog. Boys lacrosse claims one of its high points this season was a win against St.

John Bosco. “Our success as a team is astounding compared to what we were last year, and we really converged and played some solid lacrosse this year,” Ryker LaFranchi said. Although the team attained a 5-10 record, this marks an improvement over last year. PHOTO BY ANNE-ELYSE PETERSON

May 19, 2017

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sports

Bat flippin’

Baseball enters postseason coming off losses to rivals

by Kayvon Elahihaghighi Redondo played the number one team in the nation, Huntington Beach, yesterday in the first round of CIF. Baseball goes into the playoffs coming off a win and loss against PV and two losses against Costa.

“They were games we should’ve won,” senior captain Danny Zimmerman said. “The game was close for the most part but we lost focus in the last few minutes to the game and ended up getting swept.”

Zimmerman felt that the poor results were caused by an abundance of defensive errors such as in fielding and poor throws.

“It was strange because before the Costa games, we had been very strong defensively and had struggled offensively. But against Costa, the team made more defensive errors than usual,” Zimmerman said.

Besides the team’s technical issues, the team struggled mentally as a result of their

lack of experience in big game situations.

“It was a big game and some players let their nerves get the best of them. Players were too nervous and tried to do too much rather than play simply and how we usually play,” Zimmerman said.

According to Zimmerman, in addition to a poor in-game attitude the team didn’t take practice as seriously as they should have.

“What you do in practice translates to what happens in games, and we messed around too much in practice, so we played poorly,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman says the season was successful but he believes the team should have finished first rather than third.

“All the games we lost were close games, games we shouldn’t have or didn’t deserve to lose. We have a strong, well rounded squad and we should’ve finished first in Bay League,” Zimmerman said.

1.

Team stats Overall record: 17-11

League record: 7-4

Batting Average: Home runs: Earned run average:

0.317 15 2.65

2.

Field of dreams. 1. Jose Aceves delivers the pitch to his catcher. 2. Bryce Henderson leans out to

catch the ball in the outfield. RUHS lost the last game against Costa. “It was a big game and some players let their nerves get the best of them,” Danny Zimmerman said. PHOTOS BY JARRAH MAY

Softball “We just have to take all that we learned this season and bring it to the plate next year and some incoming freshmen can bring something new to our team too,”

Dara English, freshman

Last game: Costa def. RUHS, 4-2 The rocket. Freshman Amy Simonek prepares to throw a pitch in a game against Costa. RUHS went on to lose the game. PHOTOS BY LILLY LOPEZ

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sports

High Tide

A suprising defeat

Boys volleyball loses in the first round of CIF YC NB

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All in this together. Seniors Logan Glave, Paul Viggiano, Ian Pizzuti, Ciniun Coe, Kai Osagie and Cole

Arakawa pose after round one of CIF. The team lost to San Clemente highschool on Tuesday, May 9 with a final score of 3-1. PHOTO COURTESY OF IAN PIZZUTI

Bringing an end to their season, boys volleyball was eliminated in the first round of CIF against San Clemente in a four set match.

“During the game, San Clemente’s middle players kept doing the same attack, and somehow we just couldn’t keep the ball up,” senior Ian Pizzuti said. “The loss was partially due to lazy movements on our part, but also smart decisions from the other team.”

Although their season ended sooner than anticipated, the boys made their time count. Boys volleyball tied for first place in Bay League for the first time in four years, and beat Mira Costa for the first time in five years.

“In our game against Costa earlier this year, we had a really good starting lineup,” Pizzuti said. “We had been playing with that lineup for a while, and it was our team chemistry that got us through the match.”

According to senior Logan Glave, players had to compete for starting lineup positions throughout the season, which led to competition between the players.

“Once we had to compete for spots, our competitiveness increased significantly. We had to work hard and earn our spots, and that mindset and attitude transferred over into some of our matches,” Glave said. “Play-

ers gave it their all when competing for a starting spot, and they played better in the matches after those practices.”

The team’s competition has influenced many of the younger players to reach for starting positions. According to Pizzuti, players such as sophomore Keagan Benson demonstrate the potential future for the team.

“The future is bright for Redondo. There were so many young guys with so much potential on the team this year,” Pizzuti said.

“When I first joined varsity, there were only three sophomores and this year we had four sophomores and three freshman. I can’t wait to see them in action when they’re all older and know the game a little more, because they’re gonna be good.”

For the future of RUHS, Glaves advises players to give it their all during practice, and appreciate their time on the team.

“I would recommend to work hard both on and off the court. I regret not giving it all in some practices and when we trained physically. Always stay composed and determined to be your best,” Glave said. “These past four years of volleyball at RUHS, I have created so many friendships and I wouldn’t trade the memories I’ve gained for the world.

It’s something special to play volleyball with your best friends throughout high school.”

Heiden Potential: Peyton Heiden runs CIF for the first time in the 800 meter

by Maryam Bacaloni Sophomore Peyton Heiden competed in the 800 meters for the first time in the CIF prelims on Saturday, May 13.

“It was truly an amazing experience that I will never forget! This was my first year going to to CIF and sadly I did not qualify to make it to the next level, but it was a great opportunity to race against other teams and to compete against the competitive girls,” Heiden said.

Heiden admits that it took lots of hard work and staying healthy in order to compete to the fullest of her potential.

“Usually I am a 1600 meter runner, but

I qualified for the 800 meter. For the 1600 I train with longer types of track workouts that focus on pace, but with the 800, I focused more on quick, fast work outs,” Heiden said. “I did many 200s focusing on pushing through the last 100 meters. On top of these tough practices, I focused on eating healthy and getting plenty of sleep on top of studying hard for the AP [European History] test.”

Heiden acknowledges her weak points, and is determined to persevere to be the best she can be.

“I personally believe that I could have been more focused and relaxed during my

race. These competitive girls went out extremely fast, which I believe kind of freaked me out and allowed me to tense up,” Heiden said. “If I would have focused on my goal of keep- On track. Sophomore Peyton Heiden races in the 800 meter earlier in the season ing up with the during the Azusa Meet of Champions. Heiden made it CIF prelims for the 800, however did not make it to finals.. PHOTO BY JACOB ALTHER girls and staying relaxed, I could have possibly raced better. and training we’ve put in is extremely imporStaying relaxed and trusting the hard work tant.”

May 19, 2017

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sports

Girls lacrosse wins Northern Division CIF

by Camille Grace Girls lacrosse became the Northern Section CIF champions after a 14-7 win vs.

Chaminade. They then played Mater Dei, the winner of the Southern Section, in the final match of the season.

“We lost to them earlier in the season and we did not play well, we knew we could have beat them,” junior Lisa Diethelm said. “They didn’t really have many scoring opportunities. We shut them down on our defense and our offense was on fire. Every opportunity they got they slowed it down, shot, and scored,” In practice, the team worked on various plays and different defenses that they would be utilizing in the game.

“Midfield needs to come down for defense as well so we just ran plays pretending with the offense of Chaminade and it worked,” Diethelm said.

The team also credits the passion from the coaches and players to have worked in their advantage.

“[Our coach,] Borgia kept quoting Muhammad Ali saying ‘It’s the will, not the skill’ so we definitely had the will that night,” captain Melanie Paiz, senior said.

After winning Northern Section CIF, RUHS played against the winner of the Southern Section, Mater Dei, in the overall championship on Saturday, May 13th . The team lost 21-11, but they believe that they played their best and had a successful season.

“We’ve had so much happen to us with people sick and injuries and to make it to the final and not lose as much as other teams have, I think it’s a pretty cool achievement and we are one of the best teams in the state,” Diethelm said.

Although a few errors might have occurred against Mater Dei, the team still scored the most goals against them than any other team that they had played the entire season.

All for one. JV and Varsity girls lacrosse players celebrate their first place. PHOTO COURTESY OF MELANIE PAIZ “Despite our hard fight, we did lack communication which led to some confusion on the field leaving multiple girls open and ready the pas to shoot,” Paiz said.

The Northern Section win and the good fight against Mater Dei was a “great end to our season,” according to the team. The team agrees that they had quite a few obstacles this season, but they were still able to finish

strong and perform well each game.

“This year our team struggled a lot due to the multiple injuries and the very young team we had,” Paiz said. “We also lost to PV for the first time in five years which was very upsetting but that just fueled our comeback and made the team realize how much more we have to work together as well as be dedicated.”

Kennedy Williams breaks CIF record

Farooq Tariq makes it to CIF Preliminary

Senior Kennedy Williams competed at the track CIF prelims on Saturday, May 13. Williams advanced to CIF Finals and also broke the record in the 100 meter and the 200 meter.

“I ran an 11.95 seconds in the 100 meter and a 24.85 seconds in the 200 meter. Our 4x1 team ran a 47.37 seconds and CIF prelims is where I actually set all those school records. I was able to move on to CIF finals in the 4 x 100 meter relay, the 100 meter, and I am the first alternative for the 200 meter,” Williams said.

Because Williams did so well at prelims, she is hopeful that her performance at finals will be even greater than at prelims and hopes that she will continue to move on past finals to state and masters..

“I am confident that I will run well at finals and advance to masters in both of my events,” Williams said. “. I’m going to focus on seeing myself as my biggest competition because I always try and beat my PR.” For CIF finals, Williams is focused on taking on the other rivals in competition, however she believes it’s more important to look at a different incentive for competing.

“For 4x1 Upland and Rancho Cucamonga is some of our toughest competition but I focus on seeing myself as my biggest competition because I’m always trying to beat my personal record and when I just run my race, I end up doing much better than when I focus on the people I’m competing against,” Williams said. “The biggest competition is ourselves.”

Junior Farooq Tariq competed in the CIF prelims on Saturday May 13, running the 800 meter.

“As the time of the race was approaching, I warmed up for a long time- much longer than I was supposed to. I did a lot of sprints back and forth the field to get ready.”

“I was very nervous before the race, and couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Tariq said. “I watched [sophomore Peyton Heiden’s] race and that made more anxious.”

Despite the antsy feeling before the race, as soon as Tariq heard the mark, he felt the butterflies in his stomach fly away.

“When I finally got to the line, my nerves went away and I got into position with the top group and held on,” Tariq said. “I was very focused and felt motivated to finish strong.”

Although Tariq believes that had the right mindset going into the race, the aching started to kick in during the second and last lap in his legs.

“By the time that I got to the second lap, it was really painful,” Tariq said. “But I waited to make my move the last 200 meter and I moved up and passed a lot of guys.”

Tariq was not able to qualify for CIF finals, however his hard work and dedication payed off.

“I ended up finishing in fourth place, running my personal best,” Tariq said. “Even though I didn’t qualify for CIF finals, I was happy with my performance.”

by Maryam Bacaloni

by Hayley O’Connor-Rigby and Patrick Cochran

1.

2.

Sprint to the finish. 1. Senior Kennedy Williams runs with the baton during the Zamperini

Meet 4 by 100 meter relay. 2. Junior Farooq Tariq runs around the bend during the 800 meter at the Azusa meet of Champions. PHOTOS BY JACOB ALTHER AND MICHAEL YOON

page 24

High Tide

cover

[Continued from pg. 1] ing. I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed,” Major said.

Major felt as if she was going to get fat when she ate, making it hard for her to continue eating.

“If I was at home, I would go on the scale before [I ate] and after. If I was out, I would go on the scale when I got home. Every morning I would wake up and weigh myself, and every night before I went to sleep, I would weigh myself,” Major said. “Just seeing the number, it was hard because I felt like there was something wrong with me. I felt like no one else weighed that much.”

When she had anorexia, Major felt as if it was necessary to have a thigh gap and a flat stomach.

“It just made me feel like if I wasn’t that way, then I wasn’t good enough,” Major said.

“Then, I realized that’s not really what makes you, you, but it’s how you are as a person.”

Major first became concerned about her weight when she had surgery in fifth grade, leading her to be in a wheelchair for a while.

Because she couldn’t exercise in the wheelchair, she gained “a lot of weight.”

“A lot of people bullied me for it, so I felt like an outcast,” Major said. “I felt like the only way I could lose the weight was to stop eating.”

Because of her difficulties with anorexia,

Major separated herself from other people, stopping her from communicating much with those around her.

“I definitely was never in a good mood, and I was always very upset about stuff. I shut out people because I didn’t want them to realize what I was doing,” Major said. “I kind of lost friends because I was keeping it to myself more.”

Because of the small amount of food she ate, Major would feel ill and depressed.

“When I wasn’t eating, I would feel sick. I got into a really depressive state at that time,” Major said. “It really hurt that I couldn’t be a certain way that society accepted, so I felt like I wasn’t good enough.”

According to Major, the constant presence of models in magazines set an unrealistic expectation of what the perfect body is.

“You [have] to have the thigh gap and the flat stomach, and you [can’t] have any fat at all,” Major said. “The stereotypes say to be under a certain weight even if you’re shorter or taller, [which affects a person’s weight, your weight is] just this one number saying how you should be.”

During her time with anorexia, the number Major saw on the scale meant a lot to her.

“At that time, I felt like I needed to be at that number because I said, ‘If everyone else is there, then I should also be there,’” Major

said. “Now, the different numbers don’t really matter because everyone has things in their life that affects that number. Whatever you’re healthy and confident with is fine.”

Major’s mother noticed that she was not eating and was isolating herself from other people, so her mother sent her to therapy.

“With therapy, I realized that I can be at a healthy weight, still eat and maintain a nice body. Once I started to eat more and be okay with eating, I started to feel better,” Major said. “That’s when I overcame it because I actually felt okay and happier. I started to reach out to people and make more friends because I wasn’t very enclosed anymore.”

Through the help and support Major received, she realized that there are better ways to deal with situations similar to hers.

“Being able to talk about it with my parents and my therapist, and also knowing that there are other ways to deal with it [helped me],” Major said. “It wasn’t uncommon for me to feel like [not eating] was the only way because it’s widely known now. I definitely thought I was handling it correctly and that it was helping, but it just made me feel sick.”

When Major had anorexia, she felt alone because she had a hard time going to other people for help.

“I couldn’t go to anyone for it because I would feel like I was weird for doing this

because everyone else has these thin bodies, but it took a while to realize that they don’t all have [thin bodies],” Major said. “I’m glad I overcame it. Now, I’m at a healthy weight where I can be happy and be fine with my body image and confidence.”

Major’s biggest source of help was noticing the mistake she was making, which was treating herself poorly.

“I shouldn’t be treating myself this way and I shouldn’t be not eating because it’s not healthy,” Major said. “I should be really focusing on working out more and eating better than just not eating at all.”

According to Major, this experience has impacted her positively.

“I feel it’s made me stronger and it has made me be more aware of how treating yourself and taking of your body can also affect your mental health,” Major said. “It affects friendships and relationships with [a person’s] family.”

To anyone else dealing with an eating disorder, Major wants them to know that they are not alone.

“You can overcome it; it’s not the end of the world. Weight doesn’t really matter because what the scale says isn’t actually accurate. There’s muscle and other things that affect a person’s weight,” Major said. “There are better ways to deal with a situation.”

The weight of the disorders INFORMATION COMPILED FROM WWW.CNN.COM

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20 million women and 10 million men

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