High Tide Dec. 20, 2013

HIGH

TIDE Redondo Beach, CA // Redondo Union High School Dec. 20, 2013 // Vol. XCIV // Edition 7

Makin’ the house rock

Senior Eli Shumway expresses his love for producing electronic dance music and plans to pursue it in college

by Angela Kim

Plenty of Red Bull, a couple of skipped meals and sleepless nights later, senior Eli Shumway listens to his finalized product.

He has spent 102 hours straight, apart from the occasional bathroom break, on his laptop producing his electronic dance music (EDM) piece.

Shumway creates his own EDM, DJs on his free time, has over a 400 person following on Soundcloud, and has released his first piece “Space Technology Race” on Soundcloud and Beatport.

“Now that I’m actually creating legitimate songs, I get this really good feeling. A lot of people think that electronic music is really easy to make because it’s only one person making it. But like any other art, you’ve got to really invest hundreds of hours into it and really learn your program, and have the music theory behind you,” Shumway said.

According to Shumway, the hours spent bent over his laptop in his home studio are inevitable.

“To be a music producer, you’ve got to be a perfectionist. Like any other art, to be good, you have got to invest a lot of time in it. Sometimes I’d sit there all day replaying and editing a piece for hours straight, and end up dropping it because it just doesn’t have the right sound,” Shumway said.

Despite the all-nighters, skipped meals and even the couple failed attempts in creating a piece, it’s all worth it because, according to him, he is completely captivated by the art that seems to come alive.

“When I’m creating my music, it’s like I’m plugged in. You can’t turn me off. My parents always get mad at me because once I put on my headphones and get into it, the whole world just stops,” Shumway said. “It’s just me and the computer communicating.

It’s like I’m having a really intense conversation with the music that I just can’t leave because otherwise I might lose it.”

Yet due to his dedication to EDM, Shumway has faced some obstacles.

“School-wise, it hurt me because I was a really good student in my freshman year.

Once I started getting really absorbed in the music industry, it really just took out a huge

cont. on pg. 20 Maya Avineri faces p. 6 // Sophomore stress anxiety in conversations.

will the basketball team do to Boris Tsetsorin mixes music in his p. 14 // Junior p. 10-11 // What continue their success? free time.

Photos of the Week Spirit Week

Jazz Band Concert

Frosty’s Festival

1.

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN LEE

Who’s got the spirit? Junior Cammy Gonzalez poses in her Disney-inspired outfit (1), and junior Katherine Chang wears her pajamas (2) for Tuesday and Monday of Spirit Week respectively.

Other days in the event included workout wear on Wednesday, ugly sweater day on Thursday, and plaid day on Friday.

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While the weather outside is frightful.

With hot chocolate and apple cider, ornament making, gingerbread house decorating, dreidel playing, and even taking a picture with Santa Claus, ASB had a wonderland of festivities availible on the 19th for students to enjoy.

The event, taking place outside of the Student Union, had fun draws for all grade levels.

PHOTO BY TYLER EISENHART

Musical aspirations. Sophomore Amanda Toniolo plays a solo at the annual jazz band concert.

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN LEE

Low test scoring schools require Program Improvement

by Lauren Diethelm

Washington Elementary and Adams Middle School recently became Program Improvement schools. According to Adams principal Anthony Taranto, scores of certain subgroups were not high enough to prevent Program Improvement (PI) status.

“We unfortunately didn’t meet our growth target points in Title 1 students, English Language Learners and certain socio-economic disadvantaged students in Language Arts for PI year one and two,” Taranto said.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires that 100 percent of students be proficient or advanced in English or math by spring of 2014; when a school fails to meet that requirement, as in the case of Washington and Adams, it falls into Program Improvement status.

Once a school becomes Program Improvement, there are certain programs for each year designed to help schools raise their scores. At Adams, students who didn’t score proficient or advanced work with a Title 1 coordinator and have access to extra tutoring where they need it.

“We have a Title 1 coordinator who meets with all the Title 1 students at least once a quarter and together they look at grades and goal setting,” Taranto said. “There’s also a reading program that happens daily at school and a math tutorial at lunch. Some students use the funding we receive to get

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NEWS

tutoring outside of school.”

When Adams received its students’ scores, it identified which students didn’t score as desired and designed “specific programs” for them.

“We specifically target students who fall into that category of Title 1 because when you fall into PI status you have to make sure that you’re providing them with some kind of intervention to make them more successful at school,” Taranto said.

According to Taranto, a lot of the students’ scores could raise simply with better study habits and some extra motivation.

“The Title 1 coordinator also holds weekly workshops following the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens,” by Sean Covey.

When we look at grades, a lot of the Title 1 students have missing homework and low test scores in their classes. A lot of it comes down to them self regulating, navigating the social systems at school, being in their physical environments, and really being more motivated to put more effort in,” Taranto said.

The staff at Adams has also undergone a change as they receive more training to help Title 1 students.

“We as a staff focus a lot on collaboration and more staff development so we can have better instructional strategies, but the best changes need to be made in classroom instruction,” Taranto said.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOSEPH BIESCHKE

Adams is “not deterred in any way” by their PI status; the label will soon be obsolete as the standards based curriculum gives way to Common Core.

“We’re still administering CST tests, which Program Improvement is associated with, but so many schools in other states are moving on to Common Core, and the two aren’t really comparable,” Taranto said.

According to Deputy Superintendent Annette Alpern, the label of being PI “scares” schools into keeping their scores up, but she doesn’t think the label should carry so much weight.

“As a district we try to focus on the whole child; including their safety, their critical thinking development, and their global and political awareness, but it’s hard to send that message when the schools are labeled with bad scores,” she said.

Taranto agrees. While Adams is taking all the necessary steps to increase their scores, he doesn’t think the label takes into account every aspect of students’ education.

“The whole label is kind of misleading, because it doesn’t take away what goes on at school or` the opportunities our teachers provide our students everyday,” he said.

Science Bowl

by Roxanne Labat

The moderator calls out “Question 3.

Physics. Short Response. What is the last color in a scheme using red and green?” A buzzer sounds. “Blue!”

If this weren’t a practice question, the Redondo Science Bowl team would have won a point in competition.

Questions come from physics, chemistry, math, biology, astronomy, environmental science, computer science and general science.

“One school battles another school.

There can be multiple choice or short answer quiz style questions,” said Science Bowl coach and physics teacher Matthew Keye.

The pressure of time and answering quickly and correctly is felt most during competition.

“Whichever team buzzes in first gets to respond and build up points by answering. There are a bunch of rounds. If you win [the early rounds] you progress to the

Keye prepares his team for upcoming competition

afternoon rounds which is where the better teams compete to win,” Keye said.

Keye is preparing the team to reach their goal of winning at least three out of five morning rounds.

“Our goal is to always make it to the afternoon round so we can try to face the toughest teams. We’ve gotten pretty close to making it there,” Keye said.

RUHS is competing in the Los Angeles County and southern California division.

“We compete against Palos Verdes, Santa Monica, Arcadia and University High School in Irvine,” Keye said. University High School, Arcadia and Santa Monica placed first, second and third last year respectively.

Senior Luke Murphy hopes that the team will one-up one of its specific competitors.

“Last year, P.V. beat us,” Murphy said.

“Our goal this year is to beat P.V. in the afternoon rounds. We can’t really judge how the other teams are going to be, though, because it’s a preliminary competition.”

Instead of beginning Science Bowl practice in October, the team got together around the end of November.

“Ideally, we would want to practice for the entire first semester,” Keye said. “Other schools train kids for three or four years.”

Senior Vera Gold agrees with Keye when it comes to improving the team’s performance, perhaps with the addition of a class.

“We would definitely be at a higher level if there was a class for Science Bowl,” Gold said.

Although the team has only had a few practices, Murphy feels right at home with his teammates.

“Our team’s chemistry is pretty good,” Murphy said. “All of us are friends and we’re in the same classes. Science Bowl is a fun way to bond with people you already like.”

Gold has also benefited from the first few practices.

“Practices have made me start thinking about my timing when doing problems,” Gold said.

“You have to be absolutely certain that you’re right before hitting the buzzer. At the same time you don’t want the other team to hit it first.”

Keye believes that the team will be successful.

“It’s amazing to see how fast a lot of these students are at answering very high-level questions. It’s insane,” Keye said.

PHOTO BY LAUREN DIETHELM

Let’s put our differences behide us. For science.

Keye and the members of the Science Bowl team practice by reading off and answering questions.

Variety Show The spice of life. Students displayed several talents at the annual talent show - ranging from singing, playing guitar, drumming, and even beat boxing while playing flute.

PHOTOS BY MATT MARDESICH

NEWS . 3

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CORNER

Forget education reform-- what we need is educational demolition and reconstruction. The system is broken and minor changes will not fix the rigid, unimaginative culture of contemporary education. Yes, it is common knowledge that American teens are not blowing the world away with their test scores. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores of American teenagers are ranked 31st in the world in math, 24th in science, and 21st in reading (marketwatch.com). So much emphasis is placed on closing the score gap, raising our rankings and declaring American dominance in education. The new Common Core system hopes to mimic the nationalized education systems of high-achieving countries so we can be more competitive with the rest of the world. This pursuit of educational “improvement” ignores the most significant issues with education and instead assumes that American score dominance will carry solutions along with it.

The bottom line: people are coming out of education systems world-wide with highly respected degrees only to move back into their parents’ basements where they cannot find work. We are told to trust our system, believing that there is a method to all this madness. Late nights spent trying to keep up in countless A.P. classes, stress devouring the self-esteem of students pushing for higher numbers and mountains of money paid to the world’s top universities, all just to take minimum-wage jobs after graduation so we can stay afloat in the bottomless ocean of college debt. We no longer live in a world where compliance leads to success.

There is a new indicator of success in today’s limitless world of technology: creativity. The innovators, entrepreneurs and creators in the world know how to utilize the resources around them to create opportunity. Employment is no longer something that has to be awarded to the most qualified applicant; it can be created, synthesized by people willing to step out of the shadow of the generations before them.

Our schools should encourage creative growth, mastery of skills and the understanding of the real world. Test scores mean nothing in the context of real world problems.

We need to break this educational mold and influence effective, lasting change. Let’s chase success in the world instead of success on a scantron and a transcript.

4 . OPINION

EDITORIAL: As the new year approaches, the district is now beginning to re-work the budget for 2014. In addition to many other changes, the budget over the last six years has seen a six million dollar decrease to the district’s general fund and an increase in the amount of furlough days (www.rbusd-ca.schoolloop.com). This year, the budget has not improved greatly, and educators are looking for a new way to manage this tough monetary situation.

On the table is a new plan called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which is a new budget plan that will reallocate the existing funds in the district to schools that are in poor areas and those that have a large number of non-english speaking, disadvantaged and foster care students.

Also, the LCFF will force each school in the district to be accountable for reporting and making the best use of the funds that they are given (www.asmdc.org/members/a66/ other‐resources/governors‐school‐funding‐ proposal).

This new proposal is not perfect, but it is making the best out of a bad situation. If any new budget reform is pushed through, it should be this one.

The LCFF is not a measure or an addition to the budget, it’s simply a redistribution of already existing money to the schools that need it most. Although a school like RUHS will receive less funding, generous funding from Measure C and Measure Q have provided RUHS with a modern, technologically advanced campus that can afford to cede some of its funding to aid schools in need.

The state is considering a new budget plan called the Local Control Funding Formula which will reallocate the district’s funds to schools in need. Is this the best option for a district that has already experienced severe budget cuts?

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF KYLE YANG

The way the LCFF works is that all schools will receive part of a base grant of funding. Schools that have a large amount of non-native English speakers or English learners receive a supplemental grant equal to 35 percent of the base grant. The same supplemental grant is provided for schools with disadvantaged and foster care students (www.dof.ca.gov/reports-and-periodicals).

In addition, public schools will be required to report exactly how they are using the funds they have received in order to ensure that the money is being used properly; this is a necessary precaution that serves only to ensure equality in the district.

The LCFF will not cure all the aliments in the school district, but it will improve

conditions in schools more drastically affected by the budget cuts in recent years. As with everything in school, it’s about equality no matter what the situation. With that in mind, the LCFF is the best and most fair plan that has been put forward yet in the district.

By the numbers

Editorial Staff Vote

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Afterthoughts... an opinion by Cody Williams

Another year, another Dec. and all the plush warm feelings that come with the holiday spirit (or Christmas spirit but I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.) With this spirit has come the opportunity to make

charitable donations to help those who are less fortunate and may be in need this time of year.

Seeing the opportunity to capitalize on the situation at hand, some students feel that they should receive some kind of extra credit in classes that are participating in helping the needy. Although this is a great attempt at boosting a particular grade, receiving extra credit or anything else in return for a donation is unnecessary and defeats the respectable purpose of the service.

Throughout the year, students’ in all classes share the responsibility of completing assignments and performing to the best of their abilities on tests. These things alone provide the points needed to succeed in any class and eliminate a true need for any extra credit assignments. However, teachers often provide extra credit opportunities through basic tasks or small projects that help fill any void created by an incomplete assign-

ment or poor quiz grade. This gives students plenty of wiggle room and any more would encourage the classic “I will just wait for extra credit” attitude that has become dangerously too common.

Although offering extra credit to students would provide a good incentive for making donations, doing so simply detracts from the wonderful spirit of charity and encourages good deeds for bad reasons.

By definition, charity is recognized as the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need. When doing any kind of charitable act, an individual should do so out of the goodness of their heart, knowing that what he or she is doing is helps someone in a position more desperate than his or her own. Although offering extra credit in a class for a charitable act does not diminsih the act’s power, knowing that a difference is made from a donation is all that is necessary in return.

Letters to the Editor

that I wanted to, he must be Hispanic or something like that. This creates a culture where kids are worried about where they will go to college because they are white or because they are not a minority, which is counterproductive to the education system.

this goes back to, ultimately, income. The fact “of theI think matter is: low income areas are predominantly populated by African American and Hispanic men and women and that definitely needs to be looked at. If priority is given to these races then why are the populations so low in schools? It’s because we’re looking at the wrong thing. We need to be looking solely at income.

If they are so closely correlated, and race and socioeco“nomic status are so tied together, if we base this on race

then we are sticking people out based on their color. In my opinion, that principle alone makes it counterproductive to society. If you are looking at these kids based on race, then it accomplishes the same good, but with a completely different mentality that doesn’t fulfill the idealistic intentions of Affirmative Action in the first place.

I think we have common ground in that. Affirmative “Action provides opportunity to kids like that who don’t

have a chance to get out and don’t have a chance to be successful because of their situation. We agree on that. That is the purpose of Affirmative Action. I feel that you agree with more than you might think. You shouldn’t look at the demographic at your college and choose low-income students because they are black or because they are Hispanic. That’s not Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is not about diversity, it’s about getting people who are in impoverished the chance to go to these schools.

it’s about giving everyone a level playing field. Being in Redondo Beach ,we have socio-econmic advantages that somebody from certain areas don’t necessarily have.

but, if you have a student with a low GPA and a “lowOkay SAT score, the chances of them getting into one of the

higher tier schools are almost nothing. Because you are a minority does not guarantee entrance into these higher tier schools even with a lower GPA. At most UC schools, the number of African Americans attending those schools is below five percent. As a society we should be promoting diversity and reduce the income inequality.

doesn’t help because schools are actually not giv“ingThis more need based aid than ever. I think we can both

agree that a person’s socioeconomic status is what defines where you go to college. Unfortunately, as bad as white unemployment is, black and Hispanic unemployment is worse. So, as bad as it sounds, if you go into these poor areas and bad areas here in California, the majority of the people there are black and Hispanic. Because of this, race and socioeconomic here in California are very closely tied together.

are always exceptions; there are always people “whoThere are different. But if you grow up in a low-income

area then you are not getting the same opportunity and the same chances as someone that is living in Redondo Beach. If you are living in a low-income then chances are you won’t have the same chance as people who grow up in a place like that. The purpose of Affirmative Action is to create an equal playing field, and it’s needed badly here in California.

but you see the private schools in California “thatOkay, have a majority of Caucasian students have only 14

percent Hispanics and percentages of blacks in the single digits. When you have a population like that, how can you base it on income? It’s obvious that these schools are not diverse and are not extending the same hand as they are to white students. The reality of the situation is that if you increase the diversity of the school you help the school because you are seeing different types of people from different worlds that can offer people different things.

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often look at other kid’s stats and they say ‘oh he “hasKids a lower SAT score than me and he got into the school

what we have to remember Affirmative Action “is notI think about giving people hand-outs based on their race

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entirely on race. In the current system, if you are poor and white in a bad area are you are not given the same consideration as a person in the same exact situation of different color. It’s about the situation, not about the color you came out of the womb with.

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meen El-Hasan; Stella Gianoukakis; Shawn Mallen; Grace Zoerner Sports Editors: Ted Cavus; Micah Ezzes Photo Editors: Tyler Eisenhart; Justin Lee Copy Editors Deborah Chang; Lauren Diethelm; Angela Kim; Romy Moreno; Illustrators: Joseph Bieschke; Angela Kim Online Editors: Vivian Lam; Kayla Maanum Staff Writers: Lauryn Alejo; Joseph Blakely; Jennie Bao; Caitlyn Catubig; Jason Clebowicz; Caitlin Cochran; Shaw Coneybeare; Lauren Diethelm; Jason Fong; Vaidehi Gandhi; Nina Gomez; Kelly Harraka; Caterina Hyneman; Eli Jarmel; Roxanne Labat; Stephanie Lai; Sophie Maguy; Shaniya Markalanda; Marie Ona; Chris Paludi; Phoebe Reneau; Jené Price; Amanda Ross; Chandler Ross; Sophia Ruffo; Reema Saad; Amanda Shaw; Laura Smith; John Webb; Luma Wegman; Cody Williams The High Tide dedicates itself to producing a high-quality publication that both informs and entertains the entire student body.

This is a wholly student managed, designed, and written newspaper that focuses on school and community events.

The High Tide is published by the journalism class at Redondo Union High School, One Sea Hawk Way, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons represent the opinions of the staff writer or cartoonist and in no way reflect the opinions of the other members of the High Tide staff.

I think Affirmative Action has good intentions but it “creates predjudice ultimately by judging people almost

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Features Editors: Kira Bowen; Yas-

Do you think that Affirmative Action policy in college admissions is fair?

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Managing Editor: Alejandro Quevedo News Editor: Jason Rochlin Opinion Editor: Chance King Health Editor: Kayla Nicholls

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN LEE

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Peelor

EBUKA OHIOMOBA

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Editors in Chief: Cedric Hyon; Allegra

ELI JARMEL

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STAFF

A somewhat friendly debate about relevant politics,current events and modern issues

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HIGH TIDE

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

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

FACE FACE

OPINION . 5

Playing the stress away Junior Ariana Talaie’s success in band council allows her to take a positive outlook on her stressful life

by Kelly Haraka

Stuck in a state of panic and distress, she frantically works on every assignment in fear of not completing it to the best of her ability. Junior Ariana Talaie takes the “little things” very seriously.

Talaie has “Type A” stress, which means she is self-critical and competitive.

“I’m worried all year round. When I mess up, I feel that everything is going to crumble,” Talaie said.

Minor tasks stress her out, and she is constantly worrying that things will go wrong.

“To me, it’s a big deal,” Talaie said. “I’m not a relaxed person. In fact I’ve never been calm about anything.”

Despite being over-stressed, Talaie is stil involved in band council.

“I feel that band council is worth it--the experience is really fun and it gives me a sense of responsibility,” Talaie said.

She believes that band council is a great experience, even though she sometimes finds it difficult to ensure that everything goes accordingly.

“If you put enough effort in, it may not

go your way, but it’s worth it. When positive things come out, it makes you say it is [worth it],” Talaie said.

Talaie reflects upon her stress and feels that it is not a negative thing for her.

“Stress doesn’t negatively effect my work.

If I do bad it’s not because of the stress. I just feel the need to get things done. I don’t work around it, I work with it. I’m never like ‘Oh well’. I always try and fix everything,” Talaie said.

Talaie feels that the way she uses stress is good and can benefit her in some ways.

“There’s no point in being calm for me because the way I do things with stress works for me. I don’t like stress, it’s a part of me and that’s the way it’s always been since I was little.”

When it comes to school, Talaie has always had stress and only started to realize it when she came to high school.

“I never noticed it was bad until others started to point it out. Sometimes I don’t eat dinner until after I’m done with what I am doing, like homework,” Talaie said. “I can’t just stop in the middle, I have to finish it.”

She thought that others also had as much stress as she does, and therefore did not

Stress Overload People with stress tend to have: • A greater risk of high blood pressure • A higher body weight • High cholesterol levels

Ways to Relieve Stress: • • • • • • •

think of it as a problem.

“I remember looking at my brother and saying, ‘When you’re my age, you will be just as stressed,’ but he never did. He just kind of shook things off in a way that I couldn’t and still can’t.”

Her family has always known that Talaie has dealt with extreme stress and isn’t too worried about it since she has learned to deal with it at a young age.

“My dad has a similar work ethic and in a way, we’ve bonded through it. We’ve both just made it a part of ourselves,” Talaie said.

Her dad feels that both he and his Talaie get stressed in a “good” way.

“We both have type A personalities, and we’re both really determined and focused, but we do have a difficulty adapting to change.” Farzad said.

Although the stress affects her life, she doesn’t see it as a problem or as something that needs to be fixed.

“It’s always been there and I do not see a need to be calm. To an outsider it might look like it’s crazy, the stress and all, but then again, it’s always been like this, it’s always been crazy. It’s not that I like to be stressed,” Talaie said, “I just accept that I am.”

Symptoms:

• Dry mouth • Difficulty adjusting to change • A hard time focusing • Trouble falling asleep • Lowered immunity • Anger and irritability

Yoga Tai Chi Meditation Playing instruments Using your hands Staying active Listening to music

PHOTO BY TYLER EISENHART

Stressing out. Junior Ariana Talaie participates in band council, despite suffering from stress overload.

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HEALTH

(www.adaa.org)

More than just shyness Sophomore Maya Aviner was recently diagnosed with social anxiety, and must deal with the difficulties at high school and sociable interactions with others

by Vaidehi Ghandi

Another new face. The conversation begins while panic consumes her. Her face flushes. Her mind races. She sorts through her mess of thoughts. Anything she says can lead to unwanted topics. Silence follows. An awkward silence. Finally, it’s over. Sophomore Maya Avineri has been struggling with social anxiety for years, but was not officially diagnosed until two months ago.

Since she was in eighth grade, Avineri found that she showed a fear of social interaction.

“I noticed that it was really scary for me to hang out with people and talk to them,” Avineri said. “I think that the other person thinks I’m boring or weird and that I’m the reason the conversation is awkward.”

After being told that she was “too quiet” and “immature” by her peers, Avineri felt worse about her situation. So she began paying much more attention to her problem.

She recently decided to see a doctor due to the stress she undergoes when talking to others, and found out she had social anxiety, also known as social-phobia.

“Those with social anxiety have a fear of social situations and, as a result of that, they have a lot of social problems,” Avineri said.

“It’s hard for them to function in parts of their life.”

Social anxiety serves to be a wall between Aniveri and others, and she struggles to comfortably converse with others.

“It’s hard for me to have conversations or meet people I don’t know. It’s even hard to talk to the people I do know,” Avineri said.

“I feel like when I talk, people think I’m boring, uninteresting or unintelligent, so I really think a lot about the things I say.”

When having conversations with people, Avineri finds that she feels “trapped,” “pan-

Social Anxiety What is it?:

Social Anxiety is the extreme fear of being scrutinized and/or judged by other people while interacting in social situations.

icked,” and “scared.”

“What makes me feel trapped is that I feel like I’m being pressured to make interesting conversation when I don’t even want to talk to someone in the first place,” she said.

In order to ease her anzieties, Avineri tries to convince herself that the things she says and does while talking to other people

are not as judged as she thinks they are.

“I just try to convince myself that people don’t care as much as I think they do about things I think I do that are weird,” Avineri said.

Avineri thinks that others are “freaked out” by the actions triggered by her anxiety-her heavy breathing and slight crying. She and hopes to be as outgoing and friendly as

her closest friend, junior Eris Heim .

“Eris really accepts people, everyone I know likes her and talks to her and wants to be friends with her, thinks she is really cool,” Avineri said. “I really want to be the person that everyone likes and can talk to.”

Heim believes that Avineri handles her anxiety well, and helps her best friend calm down in stressful situations.

“Maya is one of the strongest people I know, and I don’t think that [her anxiety] holds her back that much,” Heim said. “She also knows when she needs to excuse herself and knows her limits, which is healthy and important.”

Heim finds that both she and Avineri effectively support each other and help each other grow.

“Both of our faults and gifts have helped [us] grow into better people. I am so grateful to have her in my life,” Heim said. “It’s my job and pleasure to be supportive; if I wasn’t, I would be a horrible best friend.”

Avineri also sympathizes with others who have social anxiety; however, she believes that those who falsely claim to have the disorder “devalue everyone else’s suffering.”

“It’s not fun, it doesn’t make you an interesting person if you have social anxiety. I don’t see why someone would want to label themselves with this disorder,” she said. “It’s not a cool thing to have.”

Avineri also believes in treating others the way she wants to be treated, because she thinks that if everyone lived that way, people would have “such a nice life.”

“I feel like everyone wants to be loved and treated just like everyone else and I don’t see why there’s really a purpose in making others feel bad,” Avineri said. “None of us want to be put down for the type of people we are.”

ILLUSTRATION BY JOSEPH BIESCHKE

Other Facts:

• 15 million American adults have social anxiety (about 5%) • It is difficult to complete school, participate in job interviews and have friendships or romantic relationships.

• It tends to run in families.

Symptoms:

• Headaches • Feelings of detachment and loss of self-control • Blushing • Profuse sweating

• Nausea • Rapid heartbeat • Self-consciousness while around others • Embarrassment ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANGELA KIM (www.nimh.nih.gov)

HEALTH

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7

Mixing it up. Pentrack models some of her favorite outfits. “I love the clothing that I wear,” she said. “My style makes me who I am as a person. This is how I express myself.”

Underground clothing

PHOTOS BY TYLER EISENHART

Sophomore Quil Pentrack expresses her personal style through old clothing

by Lauryn Alejo

Sophomore Quil Pentrack has ditched the 21st century clothes and has found herself expressing who she is through her 20th century sense of style. “[My clothes] are who I am. I wear what I feel reflects my soul,” Pentrack said.

Pentrack models her style after her favorite decades: the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 90s.

“To be honest, I don’t really think I have one style I like to call myself. I am not a huge fan of categorizing styles people wear, but I guess people would say I have a hippie, flower child or boho type of style,” she said.

Pentrack loves her style and strongly believes in it.

“I don’t like to follow trends or copy other people. I believe everyone should express themselves and be who they really are inside and not follow people because it’s the cool or trendy thing to do,” Pentrack said.

She believes expressing herself is very important.

“You should be yourself no matter what.

No one knows what makes you happy other than yourself. You will never please yourself if you are constantly trying to please other people,” Pentrack said.

Pentrack finds self-confidence, such as

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her’s in her fashion choices, to be an important quality as well.

“I am confident in the way I dress because it’s just my personality. I believe that everyone should wear what they truly like ,not what society wants them to wear,” she said.

Pentrack wishes for everyone to be confident.

“You must stand up for yourself and show the world what makes you unique,” Pentrack said.

Pentrack stands up for and expresses herself through her vintage clothes.

“I love my old vintage clothing and anything with cool, groovy prints, but I would say I dress this way because it expresses who I am as a person,” Pentrack said.

Her “flower child” style also reflects her personality.

“I have a laid back personality and I have a very relaxing style so my personality and style have some connection,” she said.

Pentrack’s friend, sophomore Olivia Borovay, agrees that she has a “laid back personality.”

“Quil is really creative and artistic. She’s always painting, drawing, and chilling out

to cool mellow music. Her whole room looks like a Bohemian boutique,” Borovay said.

Borovay believes that Pentrack’s mixture of 60s and 70s clothes is very “creative.”

“She never wears a boring outfit, even her pajamas. She is always looking for vintage clothing. All of her clothes have groovy prints all over them and she’s never seen without her rings or necklaces on,” Borovay said.

The music and people of the 20th century not only influence Pentrack’s clothes but also her lifsestyle, “Music and how I was raised would be a large part of why I dress the way I do. I express myself through the music I listen to, which areprimarily 60s and 70s artists,” Pentrack said.

Pentrack admires icons such as Janis Joplin, Twiggy, Nancy Sinatra, Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan.

“I could go on and on but they have the best style. I completely love all of these artists and icons,” she said.

Pentrack loves these time eras so much, she sometimes feels she was born in the

wrong time.

“I wish I was born in the 40s so I could have lived through the 60s and 70s. I like the music and clothes and just the free beautiful spirits,” she said.

Although she is expressing herself, there are still people who disagree with her style choices.

“People will comment how my clothing is weird or they will tell me how I can’t wear socks with my Birkenstocks,” Pentrack said.

Pentrack, however, ignores the negative comments.

“It doesn’t bother me because people can’t tell me what I should wear or how I should look to fit into society,” she said.

She does not find following trends the best way to express who someone truly is.

“The majority of the girls at Redondo has kind of the same style and just follows the ‘trendy’ thing to do, but if that’s what they like that’s totally fine,” she said.

Although she is fine with girls “going with the flow,” she believes that it is okay to be unique.

“I want girls to realize they can be different and show their true colors, and they can be unique and independent,” Pentrack said.

START YOUR

ENGINES

Mariano renovates old cars with his family

by Vivian Lam

PHOTOS BY CEDRIC HYON

Chasen cars. Mariano works on his car.

The roar of a ‘68 Camaro is the soundtrack to a growing relationship between Junior Chasen Mariano, his father and his grandfather as they fix old cars together.

“I like the nostalgia,” Mariano said.

“Sometimes the cars have cool little features, stuff from that era. Sometimes they can be more simplistic. Sometimes they can be a lot faster, a lot louder, and sound better. I like that.”

Mariano’s father, Jim Jr. Mariano, is glad that Mariano shares the same hobby as him.

“I’m happy to pass on my experience and hopefully see him or inspire him to share it with other people,” Jim Jr. said. “Fixing old cars is a fantastic way to bring something from the past into modern times, to bring it back from a pile of rubbish into a better, improved car.”

Mariano began working on old cars with his father and grandfather after buying an old car of his own.

“I thought it was really cool and I liked spending time with my dad and grandpa,” he said.

His relationship with his father and grandfather has strengthened since he started working on cars with them.

“We had a good relationship starting out, but now it has definitely improved because I’m spending a lot of time with them,”

Mariano said. “It’s something we can all pitch ideas into and work together on to make something new.”

Mariano’s grandfather, Jim Sr. Mariano, loves fixing other people’s old cars with Mariano.

“He loves doing it too because he’s having a lot of fun,” Jim Sr. said. “It’s a nice relationship between me and my grandson.”

Jim Sr. directs Mariano on what to do and allows him to fix the car on his own.

“I point Chasen in the right direction and let him do his own thing,” he said. “If I see him do something wrong or if he needs help, then I’ll tell him what to do.”

Mariano has been restoring his car for almost a year, adding in new improvements.

“I hope it will look just as good as it did when it rolled off the factory,” he said. “It was completely crashed in the rear when we first got it. The car will have a bigger engine and even air conditioning.”

Jim Sr. and Mariano work on Mariano’s car whenever they can.

“Chasen was all involved with football so it took up a lot of his time,” Jim Sr. said.

“Now that he’s not involved with that, we can get his car done.”

Despite not being able to spend as much time on cars as they wish, old cars remain a strong common interest between Mariano

and Jim Sr. “We’ll spend three days together at a car show and see about 2,000 old cars,” Jim Sr. said. “It’s fun.”

Along with learning how to fix cars, Mariano also learned new things about his grandfather.

“Through working with him, and him teaching me all kinds of things, he’d tell me stories about when he was a kid and what he used to do,” Mariano said. “When he was a kid, he used to race his ‘29 Roadster at the Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach every Saturday.”

Mariano connects with his grandfather’s past through their cars.

“When my car gets going, I want to take it out and see what it can do at the drag strip because it’s a fast muscle car,” he said. “By taking it out to the drag strip, I would kind of do what he did as a kid and learn more about what he liked.”

When Mariano was younger, he used to watch his father and grandfather fix up old cars.

“I used to be really interested in what they were doing. I would stick a bolt in a hole or something under the car. I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I just thought I was helping out when I was little,” he said.

“I had all these toy cars I used to play with

and I would pretend that I’m building one.

Now that I actually know all about them, I can put a whole car together. I really enjoy them a lot more now.”

Mariano is glad that he can learn about cars from his grandfather.

“He shares a lot of knowledge with me,” Mariano said. “It’s something he can pass onto me to carry on.”

Jim Jr. wants Chasen to learn perseverance, patience and how to face a challenge to achieve goals.

“Anytime I can share something with my family and experience it with them, Chasen has the opportunity to experience things that I learned at my age,” Jim Jr. “I want to show him what he might need to know for the future.”

Learning lessons, fixing cars and creating family bonds enriches Mariano’s experiences with cars.

“It’s something we work on together and spend a lot of money and time on,” Mariano said. “At the end of the day, it’s something we can both be proud of.”

After finishing his own car, Mariano plans to help his grandfather fix other people’s cars.

“I like working on and restoring other people’s cars. Starting up an old car is like starting up someone’s dream,” Mariano said.

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Boys to bounce back

by Caitlin Cochran

LELAND GREEN, shooting guard

IAN FOX, point guard

TERRELL CARTER, center

CAMERON HIGH, small forward

CAMERON WILLIAMS, power forward

rom losing in the first round of playoffs in their 2011-2012 season to winning 21 straight games in their 2012-2013 season including the Div.2 CIF State Championship game, the boys’ basketball team shocked the whole state and demonstrated that hard work really does pay off. This season, they have to prove to everybody that last year wasn’t a fluke.

- CAMERON WILLIAMS, 10

The season is going pretty well, but we still have a lot of work to do. Of course we’ll improve where we need to and ultimately we’ll be successful, but it won’t happen overnight. We work hard on our weaknesses in practice every day.

- CAMERON HIGH, 11

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The best part is that they are like another family to back you up in case of anything. We all just have amazing chemistry and all of us trust each other.

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– IAN FOX, 12

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- COACH REGGIE MORRIS

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The sky is the limit for this team. We could be the best team in the state and a top 20 team in the country.

My favorite part is just knowing that I’m being depended on to make important contributions with the starting unit and being part of the basketball family.

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I look forward to see how well they can gel together and see how long it’s going to take them to become a team. Right now we’re talented ,but we’re a bunch of individuals and our goal is to become a team that works well together and feeds off of one another.

- JEREMIAH HEADLEY, 11

After winning the Pacific Shores tournament and going into winter break with only one loss, the boys basketball team will play in two more tournaments over break, hoping to continue their success.

The boys played Benet Academy in Chicago two weeks ago and after they lost, they realized what they need to work on when playing new teams they have not been exposed to.

“Chicago was a great experience for us to play against a good team, so that it can help us develop as a team,” senior Terrell Carter said.

According to coach Reggie Morris, the boys were not completely ready to play Benet Academy.

“Benet was very disciplined, had a good big man, along with good shooters. We will have to do a better job in the future defending all five players and making the proper adjustments during games,” Morris said.

The team has faced a lot of different competition that has helped them get ready for these next two tournaments, but they do realize they have some things to work on.

“The upcoming tournaments will be tough, but they will be good benchmarks to see how we stand against some really tough competition and what we need to work on as a team,” junior Ryan Reeves said.

Morris agrees that the team needs to continue to work hard in order to make up for the fact that the team is very young.

“We lack experience but we can correct this by taking advantage of the practice and all of us becoming better students of the game,” Morris said.

The first tournament the boys will play in is the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas. Their first game will be against Central Catholic High School. According to sophomore Leland Green, the team has the necessary tools to win this tournament.

“This time around I think we have a chance to win the Vegas tournament because we have guys that know what it takes to get the job done,” Green said.

Although they had a successful season last year, the team has moved past that and are ready to focus on this season.

“We have a lot to prove still. Last year is over and we need to concentrate on the present,” junior Cameron High said.

The boys have big goals such as winning both tournaments.

“There will be good competition and we are going to go out and play hard and try to get as many wins as possible,” junior Jeremiah Headley said.

Morris has high expectations for the team and knows that with a good work ethic combined with the talent of the team, they will be successful.

PHOTOS BY MATT MARDESICH

FEATURES

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The secret life of the staff Race against time Q: Joseph Blakely A: Sherie Gross

Gross worked hard to train and run a marathon with hopes of finishing faster than six hours

Q: What do you believe is a benefit of having A: My honest answer is I hate working out and the only way run a marathon?

I can work out is if I sign up for competitions because I’m A: Well, the statistic is that 1% of the worlds’ population

Q: Why did you decide to run a marathon?

Q: What marathon did you run?

A: The Chicago Marathon on October 13th, 2013.

Q: What was your time?

A: 4:46:00

competitive. The looming date and the money I put down to enter, keep me motivated.

completes a marathon and to be a part of that 1% is pretty cool.

Q: How did you prepare for the marathon?

A: Well I’m a novice, so I started four months early and I built

Q: How did you feel the days before the marathon?

A: Super nervous because I only did long runs up to 20

up miles as I went. You go from 15 mile weeks prior to your beginning training, so like eight months before, I was running regularly, just to get your body used to the hostility of running.

Then I was starting to up my miles four months out to reach 20 miles in Sep.

Q: How did you feel on race day?

A: I felt prepared. I said to myself, “If I’m not ready now I’m

never going to be.” I followed the regimen of a novice runner.

I didn’t get any sleep because of nerves and anxiety but I felt ready.

Q: Is there a memory during the marathon that really motivated you to keep running?

A: At mile 22 we passed an old folks home. There were 50 to

60 old folks out in front of their home. They were all cheering and would give us high-fives because everyone’s going pretty slowly at mile 22. They were just so happy, and inspirational since some of them had done it too. It was this cool moment where they were supporting us.

miles, but the race is 26.2. I’m flying and travelling which is exhausting. I wanted to do well because it was my one and only [marathon] so I wanted to meet my goal of less than five hours.

Q: How did this marathon bring you closer to your sister?

A: My sister lives in Ill., so we don’t get to do many things

together. Signing up for this thing was something that brought us closer. My sister and I were standing together and we said “We’re doing this, we’re doing this together.”

Q : What was your mental state during the marathon?

A: I didn’t punish myself if I needed to walk. At mile 23 I

didn’t think I was going to make it. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and before I knew it, I saw the one-mile-to-go sign and I almost had a heart attack.

Q: What do you feel you’ve gained from doing a marathon?

A: It was a bucket list item I got to check off. I felt so proud of myself because I never thought I would be able to do anything like that. I overcame every obstacle that was before me that was in the training and in the race.

Rocky road

Schonberg shares stories about his abusive past.

No matter how strong and confident he looks, he carries a past full of anger and fear.

Counselor Arond Schonberg was once bullied at school, felt unconfident of himself, and was abused at home.

After moving from Germany to America at age twelve, Schonberg was bullied throughout middle school and high school by other students.

“I was very angry, hopeless, and helpless.

I felt like I had no one to turn to, so I used to go into the locker rooms and beat up my lockers,” Schonberg said.

In seventh grade, he was threatened by a group of ninth graders looking to fight him.

“They cornered me in the gym and started saying that they were going to beat me up.

I was just terrified,” Schonberg said. “I said something which got them to stop. What I said was that I wanted them to do me one favor: to kill me. I didn’t want them to look

behind their backs for the rest of their lives because one day I would find them.”

Schonberg ended up hating his physical features after all of the harsh remarks he’d received from students.

“I didn’t like the way that I looked, and really anything about me; I didn’t like my hair, nothing,” Schonberg said.

He felt like a “monster” towards students, so he did many of his activities by himself.

“I started thinking of myself as this monster whom no one wanted to be around,” Schonberg said.

When Schonberg was living in Germany, his mom was unable to take care of him and sent him to live with another family.

“My biological father went back to America and my mom was really struggling to find somebody that could watch me consistently.” Schonberg said.

Schonberg later went back to living with

by Amanda Ramos

12 . FEATURES

his mom, but suffered due to abuse from his new stepfather and mom.

“She had this guy who was a big soldier that did crazy stuff to me. My mom was even putting cigarettes out on my arm,” Schonberg said, “He was just physically abusive towards my mom , and he would once in a while turn all of that rage on to me.”

One time he was burned by the cigarettes his step-dad pressed on his shoulder when he refused to give him his new basketball.

“I was around eleven years old. My stepdad was really mad that she spent the money on me and he tried to take the basketball away,” Schonberg said.

According to Schonberg, he felt like a failure for not defending himself and his mom.

“She would be crying asking for help and I was just the scared little kid that would hide in this little closet. My mom, for what-

ever reason, just loved this guy and believed that he could do no wrong.”

Despite that many years have passed since the abuse occurred, according to Schonberg, he remembers it clearly.

“I don’t bring it up or anything. I give the benefit of the doubt that a person has changed as well to the people that said all of those crazy things to me,” Schonberg said.

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF KIM AKHAVAN

Memory lane. 1. Akhavan and her son at the Queen Mary’s winter wonderland in Long Beach. 2. Akhavan and her husband on a family vacation. 3. Akhavan at the beach during a family vacation. 4. Akhavan and her family during Chrismas time.

English teacher Kim Akhavan finds pleasure in making memories while spending time with her family during her free time as told to Chris Paludi

I don’t have much free time. Lately I’ve been getting off my second job kind of late and I want to go out because it’s Friday night, so my husband, my kid, and I have started going to hotel lobbies. It’s funny; we hang out, play songs on the jukebox, and eat or drink something while we people- watch and try to make up little stories about what the people are doing there.

My four year old son loves this -- he brings a couple toys and we sort of treat it as our living room for the moment.

My son’s a trip. Right now, he’s all about Greek mythology. He wants to hear the Medusa story seven times a day because I mean hey, it’s a lady with snakes in her hair. When

you’re four, that’s as awesome as it gets. He’s morbid; he loves anything freaky or scary.

Before my husband and I go out at night on the weekends with friends, we’ll come home, he’ll sleep for a couple of hours and I’ll grade papers. Grading is not fun. I have a confession: I will kind of half-listen to football while I’m grading sometimes, but that’s about as much distraction as I can tolerate.

One thing I haven’t had time to do for a while is I’ll go on what I call bus adventures.

Bus adventures are where I pick a destination and I try to get there using only public transportation. I take as long as it takes to do it and talk to random people along the

Phil the builder

by Chandler Ross

For most teachers, accomplishment means having their students pass their class.

For history teacher Phil Comito, that feeling extended to having accomplished building a cabin.

Over the summer, Comito and his wife built a cabin in the land that he owns up in Orcas Islands located in Northwestern Washington.

“I’ve learned that I’m capable of more than I thought and it has encouraged me to do other things that most people would view as a challenge,” Comito said.

According to Comito when he and his wife traveled to the island, they slept in tents, but realized it was time for a change.

“We wanted a little bit more room and a permanent structure where we could go to in the summer. We wanted a place where we could store everything,” Comito said.

Without any construction experience, Comito figured out how to build a cabin.

“I had to figure it all out, I’ve never really built anything in my life. Along the way, I reached out to people for help,” Comito said.

of it and everything about it, so I’ll just pick an undiscovered land and try to get there and see what happens along the way. I like feeling like I’m on vacation even when I’m not. I call it a ‘staycation.’

I’ve been teaching here about a decade and I’ve been married 17 years. I feel like there’s always novelty in my husband’s perspectives and there’s an endless amount of things to talk about with each other. We keep it fresh. Being married for a long time has a certain amount of security and predictability, but what keeps people together after such a long time is still feeling like there’s something new. That’s also true for life: there’s always something new.

way. I woke up one day and decided to do it.

It’s a good escape to go on adventures with my family and it’s the type of quality time that you just don’t get at home because you’re making memories together. My best times are with my family. I love my time at school and the connections I make with students and I take that feeling of really liking people and being interested in what makes them tick to connect my teaching with things I do with my family.

My grandmother always said that travel is the best education. If you take a traveler’s mindset, there’s no end to what you can discover about people and places. I love Los Angeles. I want to know every square inch

Comito, along with friends and family, spent the summer building a cabin

According to Comito, he and his wife bonded throughout the process.

“There are always been differences and disagreements in relationships. We’ve always overcome those differences and figured them out. We are really close together and this is an experience we share and appreciate,” Comito said.

According to Comito’s wife, Christine Comito, building the cabin was difficult, but brought her and Comito closer together.

“Building a cabin is hard, but it is a lot like building a marriage. So much love, hard work, confidence, support, problem solving, and pure joy went into our summer days.

Each day it got stronger, each day we shared laughs, discussed our problems, and went to sleep beaming with love and pride for what we had done together,” Christine said.

Eventually, Comito plans to do small renovations, but does not plan on expanding and making the cabin bigger.

“We built this cabin instead to be our permanent structure and over the course of the last year, we’ve really come to love living in small spaces. It’s really fun and you have

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to be really creative. I love it,” Comito said.

Comito says he has found that building this cabin gave him confidence.

“It’s a really fulfilling experience and it gave me a sense of confidence that I did have some building skills, something I never thought I had,” Comito said.

Comito now wants to accomplish more hands-on projects and continue to challenge himself.

“Next summer hopefully we can learn

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHIL COMITO

From scratch. 1.The cabin a few stages before completion. 2. Comito, his wife, and their dog standing in front of their new cabin.

how to sail. I have this sense of confidence now that I didn’t have before hand that I can do it. I think you learn a lot by challenging yourself in uncomfortable situations and experiences,” Comito said.

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When he is not studying for his four AP classes or working out at the gym, junior Boris Tsetsorin spends hours into the night creating contemporary music in his own personal studio.

“Music is something I know how to play just like how I know how to speak a language. There is not much thought put into playing music, its completely instinctual. It is like math to me, I am not touched by it, but I am fascinated by it because I understand how difficult it is to engineer the sounds together,” Tsetsorin said.

The process by which Tsetsorin conceives his music is constantly influenced by sounds he hears, or often times an unconscious mistake that ends up being the basis of the song.

“I base everything I compose off of everything I have heard. But sometimes I create a mistake chord and wind up basing the rest of the sequence off of it. The first two chords influence my third chord and so on to complete the emotion I want to portray. I just go where my head tells me to go,” Tsetsorin said When he is in his studio creating new music, Tsetsorin likes to visualize a personal fantasy, which in turn helps him become more creative in his work.

Tsetsorin’s music has drawn the attention of his friend junior James Lee, who enjoys hanging out with Tsetsorin to listen and create new music.

“I had an interest in his music because it was intriguing and really captivating to me. He always talks and listens to music so it was cool to hear some of his own. When we hang out, we mess around with music just for fun, and one time I played the guitar for one of his songs. It wasn’t anything serious, but we had fun,” Lee said.

According to Tsetsorin, producing music creates positive feelings, leading to the ultimate enjoyment of his musical interest.

“The most prominent feeling is the satisfaction of coming up with a very catchy progression or sequence, but at the same time there is also a lot of frustration when you can’t get the right sound variation on a chord. It can take several hours, but is an experience like no other because it isolates you from everything,” said Tsetsorin.

Tsetsorin compares his creation of music to performing live, but believes it appeals to him on a more technical level.

“To a degree I see my music making skills as a performance, except more focused on the composition of the work as opposed to the appeal,” Tsetsorin said.

Tsetsorin believes his interest in creating new music will continue to be a pastime in the future, and that the enjoyment he attains will continue to be Photos and story by Jason a constant measure throughout his life.

Clebowicz “It is something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, and I am definitely going to continue my interest for exploring infinite varieties of sounds in my future creations,” Tsetsorin said.

Junior Boris Tsetsorin mixes music in his free time

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Musical. 1. Tsetsorin works to combine sounds and lay them on top of each other to make a beat. 2. Tsetsorin records guitar riffs which he will edit later. 3. Tsetsorin sits in his studio.

Sew Good

Devonte Carter spends his time sewing to relieve stress and pursue his love for toys

by Shaniya Markalanda

He was calm, sitting alone with the needle and thread. The felt, at first just a piece material, would soon be transformed. Freshman Devonte Carter spends his free time sitting on his bed, sewing.

“Sewing gives me relief. It’s just me and the needle. I would sit down and time would just slow down,” Carter said.

According to Carter, although sewing is “calming” it is time consuming and requires a great deal of patience.

“It takes a lot of patience to create something. Basically it depends on the artwork itself,” Carter said. “Your final work proves that you have made something great by putting your time into it.”

While sewing can take a lot of time, Carter feels proud of his completed projects.

“The final thought of how everything has been complete and how what I’ve learned from there could be used for future projects makes me proud,” Carter said.

After finishing a project, Carter is “eager” to begin another one.

“It’s the feeling that once it’s complete, it makes you want to start the next project,” Carter said. “It makes me eager to start a new project, improve, see new techniques for sewing and try harder patterns.”

Carter enjoys sewing plushies, felt toys stuffed with cotton or other soft material.

“I like to sew them because I remember always collecting toys when I was a kid and I always wanted to see what I could create,” Carter said.

Because of his enjoyment for toys, Carter began sewing in elementary school.

“In the fourth grade, they actually taught us how to sew these gingerbread men. I was proud of it and it turned out really good. It was very fun to make,” Carter said. “Fourth grade was actually my first time holding a needle.”

Carter’s mom serves as his inspiration.

“I did see my mom sew a lot, so I basically learned from her. I basically took visual learning to effect and learned to sew and make patterns by myself,” Carter said.

Although sewing “came easily” Carter feels as though his work and judgment about sewing have changed since he started.

“I thought if I was fast enough, it would be done correctly. Since I made so many errors, I had to start new and slower every time,” Carter said. “Going slowly and taking your time makes it look better, but it could be done fast if you are really skilled.”

The general stereotype that boys do not

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sew does not result in any bullying for Carter.

“My parents think it is a very good idea and my siblings think it’s a good way to keep me quiet,” Carter said. “My friends were surprised when I told them. I don’t think they’ve ever heard that I sew before.

They thought it was pretty neat, but they thought it wasn’t really me.”

Carter’s mother, Maria Carter, feels it is “good” that Carter sews because he uses the creative side of his brain.

“I feel that most of his work is stuff he makes originally, using his creativity. I feel that it calms him to get a sense of accomplishment,” Maria said.

Carter is confident that he will continue

Hear him out

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PHOTOS BY CHANDLER ROSS

Thread the needle. 1. Carter begins his sewing process by cutting out a piece of fabric. 2. Carter uses his sewing skills to make “plushies” which are like stuffed animals.

to sew and try new projects.

“I will continue sewing in the future. I think in the future I can see myself doing projects that are more elaborate and take longer,” Carter said. “I would try anything.

It’s a good change of view. I’m able to think what other people are thinking and see if it’s a good idea.”

Chris Millet learns to overcome being thirty percent deaf

by Caitlin Cochran

Senior Chris Millet has been living with a hearing problem since he was born. Although he has this condition, he has not let it stop him from accomplishing what he wants in life.

Despite Millet’s condition, he has been involved in soccer, swimming, clubs, ASB, and is the Technology commissioner at the school, which led him to make new friends who were more accepting.

“Being with my new friends in ASB and experiencing all the high school spirit activities convinced me to be more active with my class and apply for more prominent leadership positions,” Millet said.

According to senior Shelby Salerno, Millet’s deafness has influenced him to be more active in the school.

“Chris has not been inhibited by his lack of hearing,” Salerno said. “I think it has strengthened his desire to go out and do things such as ASB and drama, and it has fueled his want to reach his goals.”

Millet was officially diagnosed with deafness at three years old. When he was four he was tested to see how many words he could recognize out of 300, and he could only recognize about 50. When he was five he went

into Kindergarten after going through two years of special education in speech. When he was six, he was given a pair of hearing aids and used an auditory amplification system partnered with a teacher who wore a microphone.

“Although these things were great for my education and benefited me in the long run, they drew more negative attention and criticism from my fellow students,” Millet said.

Millet was bullied and criticized when he was younger, including an incident with his first grade teacher.

“In first grade my teacher almost failed me because I couldn’t hear what she was saying and she apparently had not read my school records and thought I was inattentive and easily distracted,” Millet said.

Millet decided that he did not want to use the hearing aids anymore in seventh grade to avoid ridicule.

“I got rid of my hearing aids in eighth grade because I had to get glasses and I didn’t want people to criticize me even more,” he said.

Although the negativity Millet has had to face has not been easy, he has fought to be accepted.

“My peers made it even more unpleasant through bullying, and it really took a toll on how I viewed myself and how I viewed life,” Millet said.

“I desperately wanted to be accepted, so I became the overachiever.”

Because kids were “mean” to him, Millet faced a lot of adversity but still continues to carry on happily, according to his friend, senior Kaley Krause.

“Chris has clearly had a tougher start than most of us, but he is not letting that or anything stop him from doing what he wants,” Krause said.

Although Millet needs a hearing aid most of the time, there are times that he enjoys silence.

“When I go camping, I do not take my hearing aids. I love just hearing silence and laying on the dirt ground just staring at the stars for hours on end just embracing life,” Millet said.

Millet tries to keep a positive attitude.

He now wears a hearing aid because he has realized it is important and better for him.

“I am immensely grateful that my condition is not to the point where it restricts me to do things that I love,” Millet said

An earful.

Although Millet struggles with heating, sometimes he “loves just hearing the silence” and “embracing life.

PHOTO BY JUSTIN LEE

FEATURES

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15

Wrestling with sharks

Senior Kevin James drives himself to become better and stronger than other wrestlers

by Jason Fong

Rough, tough, and intense: these words have been used to describe Senior Kevin James’ style of wrestling.

“The first thing I do in a match is lay my hands on my opponent. The moment I lay my hands on him, I know whether he’s going to be tough or not. If he lays his hands back just as hard, I know that it’s going to be a tough match, and that I’m going to have to grind it out, and wrestle tough. But if he backs up, I know that I have him. If I look at him before the match and he breaks eye contact, I know that I’ve already broken his spirit,” James said.

According to James, wrestling tough opponents is similar to fighting against a shark.

“It almost feel like you’re in a fight. It’s basically like fighting without punches. When I wrestle a tough opponent, it feels like I’m underwater and can’t get any air. But you have to force yourself to take one more shot, and remain mentally tough. A tough opponent is like a shark that can smell any weakness that you give off,” James said.

James has found that wrestling is a way for him to prove himself against someone else.

“There’s something about going one-onone with someone else and proving that you’re the better man that really fascinates me,” James said.

According to James, the key to wrestling success is hard work.

“Wrestling is really about how much work that you put in. Everyone pays their dues to get to where they’re at and gets what they put in,” James said.

Last year, James had placed in the top five in five out of six varsity tournaments.

In addition, James won every one of his Bay League matches by pin, and was within two matches of cam qualifying for CIF Masters.

“During the CIF Finals, I wrestled tough for the first four rounds, but I let my mind get ahead of me and didn’t stay in the moment. I ended up being eliminated in the second round on the second day, and was humbled,” James said.

According to James, he sees his losses as further motivation to train harder, and become more mentally tough.

“You use your losses to get mentally tougher. You use that to motivate you--I don’t ever want to be there again. You use it as a tool to motivate you, and bring up the intensity in your training,” James said According to James, he always strives to work harder than anyone else.

“I always watch the guys going the hardest and I go harder. When I see someone setting the bar, I want to go above it. That’s why I work out. Sickeningly. I sometimes feel sick after I workout, and will throw up,”

16 . SPORTS

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN LEE

James said.

According to James, his commitment to wrestling has forced him to devote more time to his training and spend less time with friends.

“Later nights, earlier mornings. You have to stay up later to finish homework, and wake up earlier to train,” James said. “I can’t hang out with my friends as much, and do a lot of senior activities that other kids would.”

James remains driven by focusing on achieving his goals of wrestling success.

“I keep in mind that I have a goal I need to accomplish: I want to go to State this year as a Senior. I want to leave a legacy and my mark on this school,” James said.

James also is motivated by his desire to make sure that the team is up to his standards.

“I really want make sure that the team is good when I leave. I want to bring everyone up to my level,” James said.

James also takes a different approach to-

wards his technique training.

“I try to work as hard as my body will let me. The difference between me and other wrestlers is, I’m working smarter, and more efficiently, so that I can get the most out of every workout and training session. I want my technique to be perfect. I want to know that I did every single thing perfectly, even if I’m the slowest,” James said.

According to James, the entire team is made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores, but James has high hopes for them next year.

“We’re a really young team. This year, we have 7 seniors, 7 juniors and 39 sophomores and freshmen. Hopefully, next year, we can make it to state as a team,” James said.

In addition to this, James, the team captain, sees himself as a mentor to some of the newer wrestlers on the team and tries to look out for them.

“On the team, not only do I feel like I’m a leader, I feel like I’m a mentor to these younger guys. I look out for them, and

make sure that they have their minds right.

I just want to make sure that everyone is also making good grades, so that they can actually get somewhere when they wrestle well. If you don’t do your homework and get good grades, you can be the best wrestler in the state and not go to a division 1 college,” James said.

According to James, his role as a mentor allows him to better relate to some of his teammates.

“Being a mentor helps me be more empathetic towards the kids who didn’t fare so well or put up such a good fight. I can understand those who are having problems with certain things that I wouldn’t normally don’t have problems with better,” James said.

According to James, the key to victory is to have no fear when wrestling.

“You can’t fear your opponent. You respect that he’s been training to beat you, but you have to respect your own training. The moment that you get scared, that multiplies on the mat,” James said.

Freshmen take the lead

by Sophie Maguy

Last Thursday, the Surf Team won a competition against Peninsula 111-59 in large part due to their freshmen.

“Today we got first, second, and third in almost every heat that we were in, and that was a really good achievement,” freshman Emma Waldinger said.

Waldinger finished second in her heat for shortboarding, and freshman Hali Honea also finished second in her separate heat for longboarding.

“It’s a lot of fun surfing with my freshmen friends, although it’s super crowded!

I think we’re definitely a super competitive group and I love competition. It’s also really awesome to have amazing upperclassmen to look up to as surfers and people and I’m stoked for the season!” Honea said.

Waldinger agrees that their freshman class is definitely impacting the girls teams.

“Many of the freshmen are competing in competitions with the upperclassmen and are exceeding expectations. We are positively affecting the scores in the competitions dramatically and are helping to bring the school many more wins,” Waldinger said.

Senior Sara Curran also agrees that the freshmen class is a great asset to the surf team and aided in the win against Peninsula.

“Our freshmen are really phenomenal.

On the girls side they are amazing and they are all working really hard. Everyone is improving day by day,” Curran said.

Also, many freshmen are impacting the boys team. Junior Luke Meyers agrees that they have much to look forward to this season due to the addition of two freshmen.

“We have two new freshmen that are re-

Freshmen exceeded expectations in the surf competition yesterday

ally good surfers and they really help us a lot in all of the categories,” Meyers said.

This Thursday, freshmen Kyle Beatty and Drake Brown finished 1st and 3rd in their heats.

According to Honea, the team pulled out a win despite cold and difficult conditions against Peninsula.

“It was choppy and the wind was up in the beginning but then it died down. Then the conditions began to get a little cleaner but the waves were still pretty closed out,” Honea said.

The team is striving to “just keep surfing well” and to hopefully pull out a win for their next competition over winter break.

“I think that this win will totally foreshadow future wins over winter break!”

Waldinger said.

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2.

Gnarly brah. 1. Sophomore Pheobe Mather surfs during the competition yesterday. 2.Freshman Hali Honea catches a wave.

Photos by Jordan Alejo.

Girls soccer shuts out Santa Monica

by Romy Moreno

In last Wednesday’s game against Santa Monica, the girls were able to come out with a shutout, 5-0.

“In the past we usually beat Santa Monica, but we knew that we still had to come out playing as strong as we could because we need to do our absolute best every game,” junior Taylor Herm said.

According to the girls, in their past games this season they had been struggling with obtaining a strong team chemistry and feel like that has been holding them back.

“We have been struggling a bit the last couple of games as a team to get some good chemistry going, and it definitely has shown in our performances,” sophomore Katie Stein said.

However, Stein said that the team was able to “get their chemistry back in this game and played extremely well.” H e r m also agrees that by creating a strong team chemistry has really improved their overall performance in Wednesday’s game.

“I think we played really well because we

didn’t play as individuals as we have been in this season so far but instead as a collective group,” Herm said. “Our chemistry off the field has always been great and now we’re able to transfer it from off the field to on the field.”

The team agrees that they played well in the game because they had good passing and communication and were encouraging one another throughout the entire game.

“We were able to stay strong and hold our lead after we scored the first couple of goals, which is something we have not done so well in the past so that was a positive,” senior Shelby Barnes said.

The girls’ major goal for this game was to focus mainly on their defensive skills.

“We recently worked on the team defending, and I think it really showed in the game in which we got a shutout,” Herm said. “Our decision-making was done extremely well, which made our possession super good too, and I feel as though we were able to control the entire game.”

Barnes agrees.

“We definitely made improvements and had some good moments of team defending, but I think we need to keep focusing on it in practice and in our next games to get even better,” Barnes said.

Most of the girls agree that freshman Essie Bonney, who was brought up from JV this game, was one player that really stepped up to the plate in this game by scoring two of the five goals.

1.

In their upcoming Excalibur tournament from Dec. 26 to Dec. 28, the girls plan on doing the best they can.

“We know we are going to be playing tough teams in their tournament, so I think as long as we focus on our defense we will do well,” Barnes said.

Stein also agrees.

“It’s going to be a challenging tournament, and we know we will be facing tough opponents. We are getting a couple of good practices in before the tournament to prepare,” Stein said. “We would like to win the

whole thing, of course, and we are determined to play with skill, good passing and have strong defensive tactics.”

Herm also added that the coaches and captains have had the team focusing on simply being the best team they possibly can.

“I think the captains are doing an outstanding job not only physically but mentally preparing us to focus to do our best which will really show in the upcoming tournament,” Herm said.

One thing the team is doing to get the team physically and mentally ready is having extra conditioning workouts.

“If we are all fit and in great shape, it will really help in our overall performance and allow each player to play more, which will help,” Barnes said.

The girls all agree that they should do well during the remainder of the season.

“We have amazing talent this season, a great group of girls and I’m so excited for what the future holds for our team,” Herm said.

SPORTS

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17

Girls basketball hopes to live up to potential

by Chris Paludi

Girls basketball strives to continue strong play through the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and beyond, according to the teammates.

The team has played well thus far, winning their first game against Pioneer Valley on Wednesday night 60-38 by preparing and playing hard together.

“For this tournament, we’ve had high expectations. We worked really hard the week leading up to the tournament. We’ve had former players and college players come in and have scrimmaged against them to improve our game,” senior Natalie Sisto said.

According to junior Nao Shiota, the practice has yielded positive results.

“Our defense was good the first game; there was a lot of energy and communication on the court,” Shiota said.

Senior Hana Stodder feels that communication is a key area the team needs to work on for future games.

“Our weakness is communication, but we’ve been working hard at it and it has improved immensely over the last few weeks.

We’ve just been trying to constantly talk through everything, especially on defense.

Even if it’s just yelling ‘Ball! Ball! Ball!.’

When we’re guarding the player with the ball, anything helps us to be in sync. We’ve been doing it a lot at practice and it’s been carrying over to games,” Stodder said.

Sophomore Micaela Enriquez agrees that communication is important.

“We have to keep moving forward with our communication on and off the court because that’s the key to our success,” Enriquez said.” I’m confident that we can win this tournament especially if we keep playing the way we have been these last few days.

Everybody is working so hard and playing very well. I want to congratulate the whole team; everybody deserves praise.”

Although they’re focused on winning the tournament, the team is also looking down the road at the season ahead.

“We have a tough schedule ahead of us but we expect to be hard competition for every team we face. For this season, we want to win bay league. Our league this year is very competitive, but we’ve been working so hard up until this point.”

If the team wins Bay League this year, it would be the first time in three years the team has finished on top.

“Our strengths are our aggressive and relentless defense, our unity, and our team chemistry that we’ve built up over the past year,” Stodder said.

Team chemistry is an important part of their hopes for success this season.

“A lot of our team’s hopes are helped by our chemistry both on and off the court.

We’re like sisters,” Shiota said.

Confidence is high and the future for this season is bright, according to Sisto.

“There is no reason why we shouldn’t live up to our potential,” Sisto said.

PHOTO BY TYLER EISENHART

Posting up.Senior Tatiana Maimot takes a shot over several defenders against Marlborough.

Practice makes perfect The wrestling team prepares for an upcoming

tournament following a slow start to the season

by Chris Paludi and Romy Moreno

PHOTO BY JUSTIN LEE

He’s going down. Senior Kevin James practices a maneuver on his teammate.

18 . SPORTS

Boys wrestling looks to continue its strong play going into the upcoming Downey tournament.

“We are doing really well; we started off a little slow, which we expected, but we are gaining momentum,” sophomore Russel Bhare said.

Bhare feels confident that he and the team will perform well.

“I feel like I will do pretty well and the team as a whole should do fairly well also, but Gerald Nellum, Daniel Witteman and Kevin James should do especially well,” Bhare said.

Senior Kevin James shares Bhare’s confidence in the wrestling team.

“We are expecting to have a strong team showing this year, especially because we have a strong young team who are just ready to get out there, wrestle, and win,” James said.

James has a particularly good feeling about the Downey tournament this weekend.

“I think we will perform strongly in the

tournament because we have been putting in a lot of hard work in practice and it’s starting to show in matches,” Bhare said.

However, James knows that practice isn’t the only key to success-- the team also needs to have confidence in themselves.

“In order for us to be successful as a team we have to be confident that we will be the best team out there,” James said.

Their confidence in their own superiority means a confidence that they can beat anyone.

“We don’t care about any of the other teams in the tournament because that will only distract us from the goals we want to achieve. We’re confident we’ll beat them anyway,” James said.

Bhare feels that if they build on this level of play, their season will be a positive one, because they are only improving.

“If we maintain this level of practice, confidence in ourselves and our ability to win should finish the season very strongly,” Bhare said.

Cheer team prepares for upcoming season

by Jené Price

Not only is it the holiday season, but it’s competition season as well for the girls cheer team, who has added longer practices to prepare for upcoming competitions beginning January 12.

“Personally, I am not a huge fan of practicing, but it makes it totally worth it when I perform because my favorite thing in the world is performing,” senior Sophia Caldwell said.

“When we win competitions, it feels like all the hard work payed off. It truly is an amazing feeling.”

Preparing for competition is a lot harder in comparison to regular season practices, according to senior Jordan Dobler. The girls condition every Monday and have an extra five hours of practice every week. Since one of the cheer coaches is a firefighter, the team does firefighter workouts as well.

“Competition practice is like running, screaming and throwing people, all at the same time,” Dobler said.

The girls have separate tryouts for the competition team and of the 46 members on the cheer team, only 21 of them are in competition. The girls compete against other cheer teams and have about two and a half minutes to perform their cheer.

“Competition is completely different than RUHS varsity cheer,” Caldwell said. “It’s a lot more stressful and challenging. It takes more effort and stamina, especially because we’re working for a title rather than entertainment.”

According to senior Shadae Downey the girls push each other to work hard in practice so they are able to achieve their goals.

“I try to push my teammates to do their best when we practice our competition routine by always reminding them that the more times we practice, the easier it gets to execute the routine, and in result, the better we will perform at the actual competition,” Downey said.

According to the girls, the routines are usually easier, but this year the coach is having them do a more difficult routine for the upcoming Las Vegas Jamz.

“We have more tumbling passes and harder stunts, which also creates more pressure.

However, as a squad we have good technique and team morale, and I feel these are key for a team sport,” Caldwell said.

The girls have strong confidence in the team, but feel that it will take a lot of effort to win at Las Vegas this year.

“We have to be mentally prepared and ready to give it our all,” senior Tate Crisfield said. “Everything has to be perfect. We need to execute every stunt sticking and facial well, and have good motions.”

According to Downey, the coaches help the team put a lot of effort into what they do by reminding them who they represent.

“Our coaches always remind us that when we perform we are representing Redondo and our dedication to our school’s spirit,” Downey said.

PHOTO BY PETER TRAN

Man on. Junior Justin Leavitt dribbles as a defender approaches in the Torrance game.

Kick it up a notch The soccer team prepares for its upcoming tournament following Tuesday’s loss

by Nina Gomez

Despite playing one of their best games so far this season, boys soccer lost Tuesday’s game against Torrance 1-0.

“We played well,” senior Michael O’Neil said. “We just didn’t finish with all our effort and Torrance took advantage of that.”

The team believes that the main issue with Tuesday’s game was their inability to score after Torrance’s goal in the first five minutes.

“We dominated the game, but Torrance scored an exceptional goal and we played well but couldn’t finish the way we wanted,” said Coach Ignacio Lopez.

Coach Lopez was very pleased with the way that the team wanted to win and fought hard throughout the game.

“Our players are very talented and extremely driven mostly because of their involvement in club soccer and their overall motivation to win,” said Lopez.

Sophomore Trenton Klatte agrees with his coach in that the team was playing at their full potential but couldn’t manage to score.

“It was a hard fought game and we should’ve won. Our offense was strong but we just couldn’t score against Torrance,” Klatte said.

O’Neil believes some players put in ex-

tra effort against Torrance that affected the game.

“I think Dustin Harold and James Tanaka really showed how talented they are as players in the Torrance game and it really helps the team when we’re putting in our full effort,” O’Neil said.

The team played Harvard-Westlake, a highly ranked Division 1 team, Thursday in the South Holiday Tournament hosted by South Torrance.

“If we play the way we did against Torrance we have a really good chance against Westlake. As long as the team is ready to fight, we can easily match up to them,” Klatte said before the match.

The team believes that the game they are looking forward to the most is against their longtime rivals, Palos Verdes.

“We always look forward to playing Palos Verdes, considering that we match up to them fairly well and our teams been rivals for a long time,” Klatte said.

Coach Lopez believes that playing Palos Verdes is going to test their strength as a team.

“The Palos Verdes game is the one to watch, since they’re ranked highly in Division 1. I feel that we’ll have to fight hard to win this one,” said Lopez.

19 . SPORTS

1.

2.

Art of thinking with sounds. 1 and 3. Shumway mixes his music. “I start with laying down a drum loop and playing different synth sounds until I hear something I dig. Then I lay it out and create the full melody, put down a baseline to add fullness and add effects and percussion. Usually someone contacts me about doing full master and mix on it. My first EP is coming out in January,” Shumway said. 2. Shumway plays with his step sequencer drum machine. “It plays pretty much every instrument possible. I usually team it up with my keyboard and make different synth sounds and melodies,” Shumway said.

cont. from pg. 1

chunk of my life. I pretty much quit all my sports. I hung out with older people because they were the people who helped me out in this field,” Shumway said. “It definitely hurt me as a student, which is not good, but now that I’m most likely going to music school, it doesn’t matter as much. It was a trade-off I had to make between school and my passion.”

Friend and supporter senior Housten Epp agrees that Shumway is enamored by EDM and believes he is talented enough to pursue it as a career.

“The whole vibe and idea of EDM is just who he is. EDM is like his religion and creating music is what he does. Everything about him goes back to EDM,” Epp said.

“He basically eats, sleeps and drinks DJing and EDM. He is definitely talented enough to become big in the music industry.”And in order to satiate his craving for EDM in

20 . FEATURES

3.

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN LEE

high school, Shumway DJs on his free time, going by the name “ELI The Russian,” through producing his own EDM is what truly impassions him.

“My favorite part of DJing is just giving people the joy of music and listening to the beat. But I play other artists’ music and I feel a little bit like a fraud. And to be honest, it’s kind of boring being an iPod, whereas producing music is closer to my heart. When I DJ and I get to drop some of my own songs, it’s a feeling like no other,” Shumway said.

Though he loves both DJing and EDM, both of which are major components of the rave scene, Shumway believes in the necessity of appreciating the rave and EDM festivals as a whole.

“In raves, when you’re surrounded by positive people who are just there to enjoy themselves, you get a really good feeling.

I’ve been to rock concerts, and I’ve been to

rap concerts. The crowds there really aren’t that good. There’s not as much love. When you go into a rave, it’s like you become a giant family with everyone there. Everyone’s friends and helps each other out,” Shumway said.

Fellow DJ and mentor Sebastian Laborde, who goes by the name of DJ Crazu, recognizes Shumway’s commitment, which seems to border on “almost an infatuation,” and urges him to follow his passion.

“Eli is extremely passionate about EDM and his production. He works nonstop, constantly asking me questions and wanting me to criticize his work,” Laborde said.

“He hasn’t done much live performing but his production skill level increases every day.

Plus, his youth and strong dedication to his work will put him ahead of the curve for sure.”

And Shumway plans to do exactly that:

pursue music at all costs in Berklee College of Music.

“I want to go to college to be a sound engineer and work in studios. It’s going to be a little bit of background stuff, so I’m definitely still going to pursue my own career in this industry. It’s a tight circuit, and becoming famous is really difficult, and just like in any other part of the entertainment business, it’s mostly luck. But I’m only doing it just because I love it,” Shumway said.

Despite the long hours, all-consuming dedication and small chances of “becoming famous,” Shumway has no doubt that his passion is his path.

“If the music industry hadn’t found me, if it hadn’t taken my heart, I probably would’ve tried for a school like UCLA. I could’ve gone down another path. But it was a trade-off, you know? Because I’ve got to do what I really love,” Shumway said.