April 2015

The muir.pusd.us

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

1905 N. Lincoln Ave. Pasadena, CA 91103

SBAC: The beginning of testing season

by KYLEE SHARP

With the end of the school year upon us, testing season is here.

This week testing season begins with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

The juniors are taking this test starting on April 21 and ending on the 24. A practice test

Muir has first Gates Millennium recipient in 4 Years

was held last Thursday to give students a preview of the test.

The SBAC is given in place of previous California State Tests and it is also used to inform students of their status for college level Math and English classes for the Early Assessment Program (EAP).

Principal Timothy Sippel said, [on reasons why

students are taking the SBAC], “It’s to know where [the student] stands. [They are] a year out from college and according to this assessment that the Cal States and Community Colleges use, this is where [the student] stands and next year these are the things they need to work on so that when they do go to college, [the student] can go straight into

college level classes.”

The SAT is the next exam on the calendar.

The SAT will take place on May 2, the Saturday before AP exams begin. The SAT will be held at multiple school locations and students should be aware of what time the exam begins to be there on time. (story continued on page 6)

Seniors celebrate, reminisce at prom

by DIEGO OBREGON

Senior Kimberly Mejia has been awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship. The prestigious scholarship covers the cost of college for 1,000 graduating high school seniors each year nationwide.

Mejia, a student in the Engineering and Environmental Science Academy, is the first Muir senior to be awarded the scholarship since Valeria Sosa in 2011.

Counselor Nancy Gonzalez and engineering teacher Eugene Mahmoud recommended Mejia for the scholarship.

While she was in Northern California visiting UC Berkeley and the city of San Francisco this past weekend, Mejia found out she had received the scholarship over a phone call with her mother.

Seniors Cecilia Valle and Logan Patton were finalists for the scholarship, but were not awarded the scholarship, respectively. (story continued on page 6)

Photo courtesy of Josh Alcaraz The Class of 2015’s Prom Queen Danielle Baber and Prom King Fray Rodriguez.

by CYNTHIA SANDOVAL

This past weekend, Danielle Baber won prom queen over Alondra Gutierrez by one vote.

Fray Rodriguez won prom king against Robert Aceves, Francisco Merlos, and Courtney Taylor.

Rodriguez said, “Winning Prom King was an unbelievable feeling, never in a hundred years would I have imagined myself winning.”

Prom was held on April 18 at The Reef in Long Beach.

The event, along with all other

senior activities, was organized by the Class of 2015 cabinet. The theme, which was decided by a majority of votes from the senior class, was a Night in Paris.

A total of 115 people attended prom, and it was held from 7pm to 12am. Attendees were served appetizers, pasta, salmon, chicken mozzarella, a dessert table, and a variety of drinks.

Tickets went on sale on March 30 for $80 with ASB and $90 without ASB. After April 13,

prom tickets went up to $95 for everyone. Prom tickets stopped being sold April 16.

Originally, the Class of 2015 cabinet was going to hire someone to plan and arrange the special event, but “we realized how much more affordable it would be if we did it ourselves,” said Karina Hernandez, Senior Class President.

Senior Connie Martinez thought prom was all right. (story continued on page 4)

RYLA rewards students with camping trip

by DOMONIQUE BALLEW

This past weekend, 11 Muir students were selected to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) camping trip as a reward for their accomplishments, more than ever before.

They were taken to Thousand Pines Christian Camp where they participated in workshops and exercises in hopes that they would return to school even more motivated to lead. They were there for two nights and three days starting on Friday and ending on Sunday.

When the students arrived at Thousand Pines they were split into small pre-decided groups of about seven people, each the name of a city. The cities were part of a larger group of about 36 people, called continents. They were split into the six continents, excluding Antarctica.

The students were also assigned to cabins. The cabins were separated by gender. Within each cabin there were 9-12 people from different cities. This way campers were able to interact with different people from Southern California and Nevada.

“I liked that we got put into groups with total strangers,” said junior Melissa Herrera. “It gave you an opportunity to know people that you never would have otherwise.”

Once the students were in their groups they began doing activities. The workshops they did were designed to exploit their moral values, self-identity, time management etc. (story continued on page 4)

Freshmen attend leadership conference

by DIEGO OBREGON

All Muir freshmen gathered in the small gym to attend a leadership conference hosted by A Step Ahead Learning Center.

The three-hour conference, which took place on Friday, April 10th, was designed to provide students with a different insight on school and attitude.

The conference had five different speakers. Speaking at the conference were the keynote speaker, Ronnie Cunningham, Pasadena Police Department (PPD) Corporal Glenn Thompson, and former PPD

Lieutenant Rodney Wallace. Also speaking were A Step Ahead mentor Jacques Bolton and the owner of Chick-fil-A’s Pasadena franchise, Adobi Gwacham.

After each speaker spoke to the freshmen, the student facilitators would lead their group in a discussion about the topic just touched on.

25 students in grades 10-12 were selected to facilitate the conference by counselor Micah Brodi. Brodi said that he didn’t just choose the facilitators based on grades, but also on hardships that they had overcome and stories they

had to tell.

Brodi said, “I wanted a nice mixture of what our kids have gone through.”

The facilitators had to go through a two hour training the day before the conference to prepare them for their interactions with the freshmen.

(story continued on page 6)

Photo courtesy of Diego Obregon Freshmen gathered in the small gym for the leadership conference.

I N D E X OPINION 3

NEWS 4-6

ENTERTAINMENT 7-9

SPORTS 10-11

Senior History Project: Is it worth it? 3

CAHSEE English scores highest in 6 years

Furious 7: Paul Walker’s final ride 8

Baseball continues to struggle through the season 10

4

Page 2 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

Columns

A Look Into Logan’s Logic: A Column

muir.pusd.us

Valle’s View: A Column

by CECILIA VALLE

by LOGAN PATTON

Normally social media is often criticized for causing distractions and keeping individuals from interacting with others in the “usual” way. My experience with social media, however, has been an enlightening and, quite frankly, a humbling one. The social media site Tumblr is one of the reasons that I am able to stay so informed about a variety of news. It is also a source that has allowed me to continue learning about the different social injustices in the world and to go more in-depth with them unlike my social justice course that only lasted five weeks over the summer.

Tumblr became the vehicle by which I was able to dig deeper into the social injustices against people of color not only in America, but worldwide. It exposed me to the racism that continues to take place in our country, and how not to fall into a system that was not built for historically marginalized groups.

Tumblr is where I learned the actual definition for the term feminism and that it doesn’t equate to hating men, but to achieving equality for all sexes. In my 12 years of attending school, I was never taught about how deep the oppression against women is and has been. School always covered the surface of it by talking about how women never receive the same pay, or voting rights, or the same educational opportunities as men. School never showed how this same injustice is placed strategically in systems to work against women, or how we live in a society that perpetuates and blames women for practically everything, or even how we are taught to think that anything women do is horrible which goes on to justify taking away certain rights for women.

Tumblr is also where I learned to

A topic that has come up a handful of times while being in Journalism is the concept of objectivity. This is an important aspect of a newspaper because having an absence of bias, absence of prejudice, and neutrality help us deliver a well rounded, and factual newspaper.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to see a play at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. The play I saw was called The Power of Duff.

Charlie Duff, a news reporter from Rochester, New York, lost his father and was struggling with his relationship with his only son. He began praying at the become an ally for those in the LGBTQ end of every news cast. His coworker Sue community, those who have different Raspell was upset with him because she religious preferences, and other historiunderstood the importance of leaving your cally marginalized groups. I learned how personal life away from news reports. simple-words and phrases can affect the

After being told multiple times way a population of people is viewed or not to pray on air, he did not listen. And treated. As a result, I’ve learned to use after each prayer, “miracles” happened. more inclusive language and avoid usA kidnapped girl was returned after he ing words that demean another group of prayed for her. An inmate who was beaten individuals. I’ve also become aware of with an inch of his life miraculously my privilege as a heterosexual cisgender healed, after yet another prayer. woman, and I now use that to help those

The playwright, Stephen Belber, who do not have the same privileges as hit a lot of main points throughout the me. play. There were barriers between father

I have found it important and and son, a question helpful to be aware about these injustices, about whether or not a as it’s allowed me to reflect on myself as a higher power exists, and person and adjust my thought process and as a journalist, I noticed actions accordingly in order to ensure that the effects subjectivity I don’t contribute to the various oppreshas on the viewers. sions that occur throughout the world. I

In hopes of know that along with Tumblr, a university a higher power, many will add to my knowledge and allow me viewers cheered on to take further steps to help reform the Duff and appreciated systems in the world that also contribute his prayers. Many other to social injustices with their courses that viewers condemned focus more on the histories of women, Duff for expressing African Americans, the LGBT community, personal beliefs to and more, as well as the various organithe viewers because zations that are aimed toward achieving everyone did not have equality for historically marginalized the same beliefs. Not groups. every viewer or reader

Tumblr is essentially what practice religion, and if allowed me to become more socially they do, they might not practice the same conscious, enhanced my critical thinking religion as the journalist. skills, and helped me become a bet As a news journalist, objectivity ter citizen of the world. I have become is important. We deliver facts, not opinion. aware that I am a holder of privileges and If one wants to express their opinions, they because of this realization I now have the can write an editorial or an opinion piece. courage to spread my knowledge to others As a news journalist, it is our job to state and take a step closer to addressing the facts, and data. We deliver the information problems with oppression in the world, needed so that the reader can gather their something the education system so far has own opinion about recent events. failed to do.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Blazer is produced by the Journalism Class at John Muir High School. It is a com-

pletely student-run newspaper, and all content is revised by student editors. Our goal is to release a high quality, informative, and factual newspaper that accurately depicts the John Muir community. We, the Journalism staff, understand and will apply our rights under the California Education Code 48907. This newspaper does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the John Muir High School administration, faculty, or the PUSD. For any questions or concerns, letters to the editors are always welcomed. They can be sent to The Blazer’s email at jmhsblazer@ gmail.com where editors reserve the right to edit any submissions for clarity and content. The Journalism staff can be reached during 7th period in room D458. We strive to leave no story untouched.

Duff’s prayers may have had many people believing that he was a miracle worker, that his prayers can heal all the wrong in the world. But all his praying did not help him build a better relationship with his son.

He gained fame worldwide, but did not gain his sons’ attention as easily.

Whatever void he was trying to fill by praying on air did not help. What helped him finally begin a relationship with his son was his honesty.

His news channel may have gained more viewing because of the dilemma he caused, but they lost their credibility.

One of the goals I’ve had, and a goal that any EditorIn-Chief of a newspaper should have, is to have an objective newspaper. The Blazer highlights positive news stories, and we highlight the negative news stories.

We are not here to make the school look good, we are here to provide information about what goes on here at Muir to our readers.

Editors Editor-In-Chief: Cecilia Valle Co-Editor-In-Chief: Logan Patton Copy Editor: Jennifer Salvador News Editor: Diego Obregon Writers, Contributors, Photographers Joshua Alcaraz Mariana Garcia Cynthia Sandoval Destiny Arriaza Jair Gonzalez Domonique Ballew Juan Guillen Rebecca Gutierrez Kylee Sharp Virginia DeJesus Emmanuel Prunty

muir.pusd.us

The Blazer News

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Page 3

Opinions

Senior History Project: Is it worth it?

Pros: It’s good college prep

by MARIELA MARTINEZ

Yes, we’ve all struggled with this tedious research paper, but let me tell you why it was totally worth it.

One third of college freshmen drop out of college before their sophomore year due to the fact that they thought it was “too hard”.

This paper was not to see how much attention you paid in history or to find out how many literary devices you can come up with in a single English paper. It is not “busy work”.

This project was meant to challenge us, to make sure that we are able to critically analyze works written by others, to see if we can actually think independently.

One third of incoming college freshman at California State Universities cannot pass the English Placement Exam, placing them in a remedial English class which will take up both their time and money.

In all honesty, we have it far easier at our school than most other schools in California.

It is a real tough world out there, and our school would be doing us a disservice if they did not require at least one research paper a year. Heck, some high schools do one research paper per month.

This year is an amazing one for Muir, and quite possibly one that hasn’t been seen in a long time. We have seniors going to more UC schools than ever before. We should attribute some part of our success to this project.

We are the first class that had to go through this task, starting with our junior research paper last year and ending with our senior project this year. We are the guinea pigs, the kids with which Muir has chosen to experiment on.

I know you all ask, “Why us?

Why now?”

If not us, who? If not now, when?

The district is going to implement something like this for every high school eventually. What could be better than Muir getting a head start at it with the best graduating class they have ever seen? Go class of 2015!

One third of incoming college freshman...cannot pass the English Placement Exam.

Cons: It’s jumping through hoops

by EMMANUEL PRUNTY

Now let me tell you why it was totally not worth it. Ideally this senior research project was supposed to teach us how to write, and analyze other sources of info besides Google, etc., however all this project taught us to do is to turn in an assignment on time.

Turning in an assignment on time is important but us seniors learned this a pretty long time ago. All that was required for this assignment in order to graduate is that seniors just turn it in. Even after you “revise” it, it still doesn’t have to meet ANY quality requirements.

You can turn in a paper you spent two minutes on, then have the appearance of listening to your teacher as he/she explains how to make it better, and maybe do improve it slightly and voila, you graduate.

I don’t think it works like that in college?

Also, it doesn’t help that every teacher in the school was requested to grade these papers. I’m sure all teachers are adept at reading and writing at John Muir High School but I’m also sure that there would’ve been more consistent scores if the English and history department were the only ones to grade the papers since they are the ones who created the project and knew exactly what they were look-

ing for. With having all the teachers grade the papers comes the greater possibility of conflicting scores since each paper gets graded by two teachers looking for different qualities in the paper.

On top of that, students couldn’t communicate with their scorers because their names were withheld. This led to confusion since students have to revise their papers if they received a grade that’s not passing.

Courtney Taylor, a senior in AEM, said “ I got a 1-something on my paper and I don’t understand why; I can’t revise it in class because I thought I did everything right and don’t know what to fix and my English teacher is unable to read it.”

It’s also important to note that this research project’s main purpose is to teach students how to think for themselves, analyze information, use it to bolster their argument in a coherent paper, and most importantly research!

The project is not a response to how many students have to take remedial English classes at the California State University (CSU) level. That’s what the senior Expository Reading and Writing Course here on campus, with the CSU trademarked textbook, is for.

Speak out, be heard, and make a change.

See Mr. Ortega after school in room D458

Page 4 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

muir.pusd.us

News

CAHSEE English scores highest in 6 years

by MARIANA GARCIA

The passage rate for the English portion of the California High School Exam (CAHSEE) is the highest it’s been in the last six years. Math, however, went down 4%.

With the increase of 12% on the English portion, 77% of sophomores passed the exam on their first attempt and 75% passed the Math portion. The CAHSEE is one of the requirements a student needs to graduate high school.

This year the English part of the CAHSEE was held on Feb. 3 and the Math part of the CAHSEE was held Feb. 4 for all sophomores and other upperclassmen who have not passed. A student must get a 350 or above in both subjects in order to pass.

According to Principal Timothy Sippel, the CAHSEE is a basic skills test to determine whether students are ready to go on into the world. Sippel mentioned that it’s not to show that a student is college ready, but it’s a step for college. He believes a students need to work hard to pass the exam.

Since there’s been a decrease in the math part of the exam, Sippel mentioned that math teachers are working together to help students improve.

“We have software that we’re using on all 9th and 10th graders called Aleks, in addition to what they’re learning in Geometry, Integrated Math or Algebra 2. It helps them strengthen skills that they’ve may have learned in 6th or 7th grade that (prom story continued from front page)

“I wish the music would’ve been better,” said Martinez.

Hernandez said, “We had to make sure to contact every place/person we needed to make prom happen and stuff like that.”

Despite the many hours and hard work put into planning prom, not everyone was able to go. In order to be eligible to attend, seniors must have had a 2.0 GPA or better, less than/ or three unexcused absences or full day absences, no more than 10 tardies, no suspensions or more than two minor disciplinary infractions, have all Saturday school or detention hours cleared, and have a paid a portion of library fees.

Andres De La Torre was ineligible due to his grades, but said he didn’t mind. “It’s pointless, it was just another dance.”

Even though many see prom as a huge event that people proclaim you will always remember, some people would rather not go. Senior Cameron Wright says he didn’t go because it was too much money. “It was too much money for me, [I] was saving for grad night.”

Before prom, senior Karina Garcia saw prom as something to look forward for.

“At first I wasn’t going to go to

Graphic courtesy of Mariana Garcia A chart showing the percent of Muir students passing in both Mathematics and English Language Arts from 2010 through 2015.

around,” Bynum said.

Senior Jacqueline Lopez passed the English portion of the CAHSEE on one of the last opportunities given to seniors.

Counselor Nancy Gonzalez gave Lopez a CAHSEE Prep class to prepare for the exam. With the assistance from Film teacher Louis Bond and English teacher Jose Ortega, Lopez said that she got the help she needed to study ahead of time.

“When I couldn’t pass, I felt stressed out. I felt like I wasn’t going to ever pass it. Now that I passed it, I feel amazing.

It feels like I just got so much weight lifted off me,” Lopez said.

Lopez’s advice to other students that haven’t passed the CAHSEE is to not give up and find as much help as possible.

She believes the more help you get, the more confident you will feel about passing.

Sophomore Angeles Hernandez felt proud of herself when she found out she passed both subjects in the CAHSEE. Hernandez mentioned that as soon as she saw her results she sent her big brother a message.

She gave him the good news that she passed the Math section with a 383 and the English section with a 352. Her advice to students that haven’t passed is to not lose hope and do their best.

“Honestly a lot of people didn’t believe I would be able to pass it. With the confidence, wanting to prove them wrong, and studying hard helped me pass it my first try,” Hernandez said.

are tested on the CAHSEE,” Sippel said.

He said that the school might use a different software next year instead of Aleks to help students improve.

Math teacher Michael Watter said hbelieves the CAHSEE is a fair requirement to graduate. He believes the material in the exam is something students should know when they leave the high school level. Watter mentioned the significance of a diploma is proof that a student has shown and mastered certain educational achievements.

“When a student passes,

I feel extremely proud of them.

I think that there can be a lot of stress on the student, because this is a hurdle they must jump in order to graduate. Once that obstacle is cleared, it is one less thing they need to worry about,” Watter said.

Watter mentioned that when a student doesn’t pass it can be disappointing. However, he believes that a student should use their first set of scores as a learning opportunity to improve on the areas they need to for the next exam.

English teacher Roland Bynum prepared his sophomores

by talking about the CAHSEE since the beginning of the year.

When a student doesn’t pass the CAHSEE, Bynum mentioned, he encourages that student to know that they can pass. He believes giving the student confidence and helpful strategies will help eliminate fear.

“Preparing students for the CAHSEE is an ongoing process. When we have our textbooks and we’re reading a unit on theme, narration or character, I talk about the literary response and analysis and the types of questions that students will get when the CAHSEE comes

prom, so now that I’ve decided to I hope I won’t regret it.”

According to two flyers received after the purchase of a prom ticket, not only must seniors fulfill all eligibility requirements, they must follow the guidelines for dress. If your dress has excessive cut out sections on the back or is excessively revealing you were not allowed into the venue. Acceptable attire included formal attire, such as a tux, for the men and dressy blouses, skirts, dresses, or gowns for women. Upon arrival, students were also be searched.

These flyers also state that there are behavioral standards to follow. Your dancing and dancing positions had to be respectable and your behavior had to be appropriate.

Failure to follow these rules would have resulted in removal from the prom, possible suspension, and non-participation in the graduation ceremony.

Despite these prerequisites, after prom Hernandez said they were worth fulfilling.

To add to this list of requirements, seniors must have attended school on Friday, April 17th in order to continue being eligible for prom.

Prom also featured a free caricatures and a photo booth. Attendees were given gift bags with candy a ticket for a

caricature.

In light of concern over behavior and expectations over prom weekend, seniors had a mandatory assembly during advisory in the auditorium on April 16.

Jessica Corral, from Peace over Violence, a non-profit volunteer organization, gave a presentation to the seniors on sex, consent, and rape.

Representatives from the Pasadena Police Department also gave a presentation on drunk driving and safe transportation.

Senior Jasmin Pena, thought the presentation was okay. “The girls took the assembly more seriously than the guys,” Pena said. “The guys were making jokes and laughing.”

Pena thought the presentation was something good because she hadn’t really thought about the topics discussed.

In case there were seniors who had difficulty arriving to prom, a John Muir sponsored bus was available to take students from Muir to prom and back for free.

If a student took this bus to prom they were required to take it back as well. In order to get on the bus all you needed to do was sign up in A185.

(RYLA story continued from front page)

Activities included trust fall, RLYArians on the line - an activity where they had to get in a line by birthday without talking, and culture walks, where they discussed things about themselves.

Over the weekend, each city was also assigned a project where they had to present an issue and a solution for that issue.

Each continent then chose a city to represent it. The representative cities all presented their projects on Sunday during the last meeting. The city Adelaide from Australia won.

Prakash Dass said, “I didn’t really have a good time.

The members in my group seemed closed-off and unwilling Photo courtesy of Diego Obregon to socialize. I didn’t like their A photo of the RYLA campsite. getting to know everyone else. personalities very much, so I I was lucky to befriend everydidn’t have as much fun.” one in my cabin and city. I was

Saturday night there surprised at how quickly we all was a dance party for all the students, complete with a DJ and grew attached and how many strobe lights. Campers could sing things we had to talk about.”

Overall most of the stualong, dance, and generally have dents had a positive experience. a good time.

They took with them memories

At the same time, there of fun, and life lessons about was also an open mic night on leadership and how to interact Saturday. There were two musiwell with others. cians with guitars and students could requests songs or go up and perform themselves.

Victoria Pulcifer said, “My favorite part was definitely

muir.pusd.us

The Blazer News

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Page 5

News

Physics students build prize-winning roller coaster

by DIEGO OBREGON

Four physics students won first-place in a roller coaster building competition at Physics Day at Knott’s Berry Farm. Because they won first-place, each of the four students received four complimentary tickets to Knott’s.

Although there were other competitions available for students to enter, including a rubber band powered vehicles contest and a paper airplane contest, the roller coaster competition was the only competition that Muir students won.

The roller coasters were judged based on travel time, height, and the number of loops. The roller coaster had to be within the size constraint of 80cm x 85cm x 20cm.

Aerospace Engineering teacher Eugene Mahmoud and Physics teachers Daniel Harris and Beverly Rodriguez chaperoned the trip.

The Engineering and Environmental Science academy sponsored the trip. However, the trip was not limited to EESA students, so 35 spots were available to any student in a Physics or Aerospace Engineering class earning an A or a B grade.

The team of students who worked on the roller coaster consisted of juniors Vanessa Placidon, Adrian Valencia,

Photo courtesy of Rudy Amaya The winning physics team holding their winning roller coaster at Knotts Berry Farm.

Anthony Izaguirre, and senior Kimberly Mejia.

Although the team was only allowed to be comprised of four members, juniors Yasmine Rodriguez and Michelle RiosAlquizar worked on the roller coaster, but did not receive any tickets. However, the students who received the tickets split them with Alquizar and Rodriquez.

Placidon said, “It felt good to win. We had all put a

JMHS Alumni Association Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary

by DIEGO OBREGON

For their 10th Anniversary, the John Muir High School Alumni Association (JMHSAA) held a celebration at Noor in Pasadena.

Invitations were sent out to JMHS alumni, JMHSAA members, various community members and partner, and the Pasadena High School Alumni Association.

Jill Hawkins, JMHSAA Vice-President and Muir alum, said, “It was a great turnout, I always think we could have more, but it was really fun because we had a lot of our founding members here. Almost our entire board was here and a lot of new friends and faces that will hopefully become members and get involved.”

The event had been in planning for about five months, being the first major event the Alumni Association has hosted.

The event kicked off with a performance from Muir’s Jazz band. Following that, the founding members of the JMHSAA were honored.

The JMHSAA was started in 2004 by alumni Charles Bradford, Carrie Hill-Bradford, Neal Brockmeyer, Samuel Estrada, H. Gary Jeffries, Douglas Kosobayashi, Eddie Moses, and Ko Nishimura.

Since then, it has grown to about a thousand members

and has contributed and plans to contribute to various projects at Muir.

A few accomplishments of the JMHSAA are funding student testing fees, providing funding for Cheer Squad uniforms, and awarding scholarships to seniors.

Future plans of the JMHSAA include raising funds to purchase a new scoreboard, develop a ‘Future Alumni Club’ on campus, and continuing to host Homecoming activities.

Jim Henderson, JMHSAA President, said, “Unfortunately, there’s sort of a disconnect between the Alumni Association and students and we’re trying to bridge that gap every day. One of the ideas that I had that I want to present to the ASB is to start a student alumni association on campus so that they know what we’re about and what’s waiting for them when they graduate.”

Hawkins said, “Students need to be active, and it doesn’t matter really what it is but they should be doing extracurricular activities of some sort...whatever their passion is, they should do extracurricular activities to be involved. It’s hard when you’re in school, but it takes probably through college and a couple years after to realize what a special place Muir was and why you want to come back.”

lot of effort into building the roller coaster and we got a good feeling knowing that our efforts paid off in the end. Muir is often not recognized for the effort and work that the students put in [...]

Doing things like the competition is a good way to get our name out there and do something that will get Muir recognition.”

Students attending the trip were required to enter a contest, but they were permitted to pick which contest they wanted

to enter.

Junior Katie Ayala participated in the paper airplane contest. Ayala’s paper airplane landed closest to the target, but the judges claimed she stepped over the line and disqualified her. However, her peers and a video recorded by junior Samuel Cortez claim that she did not step over the line, and deserved the first place prize.

Ayala said, “I didn’t step over the line, I probably

stepped on the line, but maybe they saw something differently.

I was kind of bummed because I could have won.”

Ayala was given tickets by the roller coaster team as recognition for her achievement.

“She was able to put together and practice her understanding of physics and aerospace, so it was still a success because it’s not really about whether you’re winning or losing, but how you play the game,” said Harris.

Each contest lasted about an hour. After the contest they chose to compete in was over, students were allowed to go return to enjoying the park’s rides.

Mahmoud said, “The purpose behind taking students to Physics Day was to build an awareness around the real world applications of the physical sciences. The intention was also to encourage students to participate in competitive, fun, social activities that engage students’ design sensibility.”

Harris said, “I think the structure of the competition really pushes students to apply their understanding, so I think we’re going to try to continue to make this an [annual] event where students compete and show off what they’ve learned.”

Students help Lake build pond

Photo courtesy of Juan Guillen Senior Angelica Cortez working on the pond outside of Cynthia Lakes’ classroom.

by JUAN GUILLEN

Cynthia Lake, Studio Art and Ceramics teacher, is in the process of completing a pond on campus that will house many different species of fish.

The pond is being built right outside her classroom in the G building. According to Lake, the purpose of the pond is to help to teach important skills.

“Teaching young people how to construct from trash and nothing, making an environment that’s more interesting to participate in and having a home for my dear poor turtles and fish that are over-populating my pond,” said Lake.

Lake has been assigning her studio art and ceramics students to take on tile work which is made out of clay, the tile must contains their names and class year on it. She has also collected some of the tiles made by alumni

from the past seven years, and with those tiles she plans to decorate the pond’s base as well as the surrounding areas.

“Learning how to do tile work has been a real learning curve,” said Lake.

Angel Diaz, a senior from her Studio Art class said, “Making the tile was pretty easy, and most of the time I was working with a friend which made it more interesting. Other students also worked in groups. That may be the the reason many tiles were done well.”

“There are going to be at least a dozen turtles and probably that number of fish.” said Lake.

Many students and volunteers have assisted Lake with the pond. About 35 students from all her classes mixed the concrete.

All 35 students were given the title of Pond Heroes by Lake.

Every student that worked on the pond saw the value in the project.

“I think that having a pond that is home made is a great thing to be a part of, especially considering the fact that when the project is complete I can look back and be proud of what I helped bring to Muir,” said Castro, an EESA senior.

This project began in mid February, and by the end of March it had all the concrete and tiles.

“I plan to have the pond done by the end of April filled with water and sustaining life,” said Lake. So what once started as literally a “garbage pit” has now became a soon to be life sustaining pond thanks to the teacher who had an idea and the students that are making it a reality.

Page 6 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

News

(Testing Season story continued from front page)

It is recommended to take a watch, pencils, and a calculator.

Students in Advanced Placement classes will take the AP exams associated with the class.

The dates for the AP exams vary according to the subject, but the exams begin May 4 and continue through May 15.

Junior Vanessa Placidon said, “It’s stressful and annoying to study for 3 [AP] exams, 3 days in a row.”

During the week of AP exams, the CAHSEE will also be administered to juniors and seniors who haven’t passed it and to sophomores who were absent when it was given in February. will also be the retakes for the CAHSEE on May 12 and 13.

After the rush of inten-

sive exams for two weeks, students will have a couple weeks to relax or study, for the next set of tests: finals.

Final exams will take place during the final week of school, beginning on June 2 and ending on June 4. Final exams are really important because for most classes they have a big impact on the final grade.

Following finals is the final SAT being administered for this school year on Saturday, June 6.

Junior Paola Nieto said, “[Taking the SAT around the same time as finals is] better than taking it during AP exams.”

The ACT concludes the testing season for this school year on June 13, a week after school ends.

by DIEGO OBREGON

reate School.

Students had chances to tour the cities they visited and various colleges, including five of the Ivy Leagues and two private research institutions.

The trip was free to students and funded by the federal government through Upward Bound.

Students were chosen to go based on first semester grades and Saturday Academy attendance.

Johnson said, “I really enjoyed this trip, it was a once in a lifetime experience. This trip really opened my eyes to the many opportunities there are in my college selection.”

Along with touring the colleges, the students visited Times Square, Central Park,

the Empire State Building, 9/11 Memorial Museum, Statue of Liberty, and watched a Broadway performance of Wicked.

In each of the hotels where they stayed, boys and girls were separated into different rooms. However, they were allowed to choose their own roommates.

Gonzalez said, “The trip was beneficial to me because I had a chance to see all the top universities and feel how the environment was to see if I would like it or not.”

Johnson said, “I enjoyed every single minute of that trip, absolutely everything. I am really thankful that I got this opportunity.”

financial aid is no longer a factor, it definitely makes my decision on picking a college more difficult.

I can’t just pick a school because it’s more affordable than another school, which is what I was doing before I received the scholarship.

Now, I have to think about the resources and environment at the different colleges and where I see myself going the most. It is a good problem to have - all of my college options are now affordable.”

Along with the Gates Millennium Scholarship, Mejia has been awarded numerous others such as the Edison International Scholarship, the Elks Na-

tional Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarship, along with scholarships from schools she was accepted to.

Mejia attributes her success to programs such as Cal State Los Angeles Upward Bound, the Puente Program, College Access Plan, her academy, and the Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovations course she attended last summer.

Gonzalez said, “Aside from the correct grades and classes, [Mejia] also has some phenomenal experiences. She has worked with scientists from Caltech and completed programs at prestigious schools.”

and have to rewrite and resubmit their paper to their history teacher by today at 5:00 pm.

Manuel Rustin, a history teacher in the Arts, Entertainment, & Media (AEM) academy said, “No one failed […] Failed is a harsh term. 80% of them had to make revisions and resubmit it.”

Hoge said, “It’s the student’s ability to write the paper. Our belief in John Muir is this, we should have a culture of revision. We want all of our students to review the work that they have.”

One student that got a perfect score of 4 was Oscar Benn in the AEM academy. The

topic that he chose was about “The Rising Cost of Postsecondary Education”.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought the project would have received a lower grade for daring to scrutinize the education system,” said Benn.

A student who didn’t get a passing grade and had to rewrite their paper was Charles Townsend, senior in the Business academy. His topic was about Reforming Education.

Townsend said, “Since I didn’t pass the requirements, I have to improve my essay. I was mad at first, but I came to realize that this is to help me improve my writing.”

Graphic courtesy of Kylee Sharp A calendar of all tests for the next three months. There will be the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, Advanced Placement exams, California High School Exit Exams, along with the ACT and SAT.

Six Muir juniors tour East Coast

Six Muir juniors who are part of Cal State Los Angeles Upward Bound got the opportunity to visit colleges on the East Coast over spring break. The students were Myla Dickerson, Melissa Herrera, Beverly Johnson, Jennifer Salvador, Rebecca Gutierrez, and Alejandro Gonzalez.

The trip included visits to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York.

The Upward Bound juniors who attended the trip consisted of students from Muir, Marshall High Fundamental School, Pasadena High School, and Blair International Baccalau-

Mejia undecided what college to attend (Gates Millennium story continued from front page)

Mejia said, “I would personally love to thank Dr. Gonzalez and Mr. Mahmoud for writing my recommendation letters about my academics, extracurricular activities and my personal life.

They helped me achieve this great honor of being a Gates Millennium Scholar.”

Gonzalez said, “The student who fills out the application has to be a real go-getter because the student has to complete seven essays, the nominator has to complete four, and the recommender has to complete five.”

Mejia said, “Now that

muis.pusd.us

(Freshman Leadership Conference story continued from front page)

“[The training] prepared us on what to talk about and how to communicate and start conversations with all the freshmen […] I didn’t know what it was, but when I found out I actually wanted to do it,” said David Martinez, a sophomore facilitator.

“I liked how they had the facilitators as students [because] they could relate to how we feel,” said Lino Dominguez, a freshman.

Cunningham gave a session on personal growth, leadership, and success.

Following Cunningham’s session and the group discussions, Wallace, gave a session along with Thompson.

Wallace and Thompson led a session in how students view police, why students have a negative view of the police, and what can change.

Students then participated in a role-playing activity where they acted out different situations in which they might encounter a police officer.

“There are different things that happen in all of their lives that seek to derail us from their success. And so many of the young people have an opportunity and so much potential that they can go ahead and go beyond where they are right now,” said Wallace.

“I’m really glad that this event is taking place here because it’s giving young people an opportunity to actually come out and be able to have two officers that they identify with,” said Thompson. “Hopefully, I can bring other

officers in so that they can also identify with [them] as well.”

Bolton led a session on teachers’ attitudes towards students and how students can help turn negative attitudes into positive attitudes.

Bolton led students in a role-playing activity where the upperclassmen portrayed teachers, and the freshmen portrayed themselves. The activity was meant to show students a teacher’s point of view.

Gwacham gave a session on having the mindset to reach your goals and the importance of perseverance.

Gwacham said, “Hopefully, I’ve been able to reach a few students and impact them with my story and tell them you can be able to achieve whatever you put your mind to, you’ve just got to work at it.”

The conference received positive feedback from the freshmen.

“I liked how they brought people from the real world who told their stories and their perspective on life and how we can turn our lives around and be just like them…I’m walking out with some valuable information and I’m lucky to have it,” said Julio Zelaya, a freshman.

Sydney Cattouse, a freshman, enjoyed the conference and felt that it was beneficial.

“I think [the conference] just let me and other freshen know that we are soon reaching the age where we need to be more aware of our actions and start planning for our future,” Cattouse said.

Seniors submit final revisions, prep for oral presentation

by JENNIFER SALVADOR

Seniors were given back their Social Science Research papers on April 1-2 after being graded by staff; teachers, administrators, and counselors.

In order to pass the paper, students needed to have a score of a three or four. Each paper was graded by two staff members, and the final score is the average of the two individual scores.

According to Philip Hoge, history teacher in the Business (BE) academy, every senior submitted a project. However, there are a few students who didn’t get a passing grade

After the 80% of the students that needed to rewrite and resubmit their paper, all of the seniors will have to start preparing for an oral presentation, which will take place during the last week of April and first week of May.

Hoge said, “About 5 or 7 minutes of oral presentation in front of a panel of community members, teachers, administrators, students, and we’re also inviting their parents to come and see their presentation as well.”

“Before the oral presentation, I will go over my essay and articles to help me defend my work,” said Townsend.

Benn will prepare for

the oral presentation by making his project easily accessible in order to receive a lot of feedback on his work.

Benn said, “I just hope that the panel reviewers will be able to have the same impactful experiences as my readers.”

Since this is the first time Muir has done something like this, there might be some changes next year as to how things were evaluated.

Rustin said, “What we’re gonna do is get together between now and next year and access the results and think of ways we can continue to improve on our work to get all Muir students to be ready for college.”

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The Blazer News

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Page 7

Features & Entertainment

Modern Slang and Trends: Teachers, can you keep up?

by REBECCA GUITERREZ

Recently, The Summer Set band member Brian Dales, 25, sent out a tweet that said “What is Fleek?” Several people responded with an LOL or an actual response defining the word for him. After several responses he followed up with a tweet saying, “I got excited I thought Fleek was a new app or something.”

For those of you who don’t know what fleek is, it is modern slang teenagers use in the place of great. For example, if you recently got your

eyebrows done and they are all straight and nice, you use the terms “on point” or “fleek”.

Since Dales is 25 years old, he is not much older than us. Yet he still didn’t know what fleek meant. So I took it to my own hands and decided to ask some teachers to define some of the meanings we know as slang words. The outcome was pretty funny.

Before I introduce the teachers and their responses these are the list of words that I used: BAE, Salty, Fleek/On point, Basic, to have cake, grenade, Turnt

up, YOLO, Catfish, # (the hashtag), PAW, and Wet.

History teacher Manuel Rustin answered 11 out of 12 right. He got Basic wrong, saying that it was mediocre/awesome, when the actual definition of the word is unoriginal/follower.

English teacher Maggie Gillham answered 5 out of 12 of the words right. One of the definitions she missed was for grenade. She said it meant to fart, when the actual term, which was used mostly on the show Jersey Shore, refers to an unattractive girl.

History teacher Joseph

Auch got 5 out of 12 correct, answering the same ones wrong as Gillham. When he didn’t know the answer he simply skipped.

Only 4 out of 10 teachers got a score above 5. When I asked the teachers who I should quiz next they all recommended Rustin.

Lastly I asked them about the slang they used when they were our age. The responses I received weren’t as interesting as I thought it they would be.

One word was Mudduck, which for us would be a grenade, an unattractive girl. Another word, Notch (short for top

notch), means a very attractive girl. There were multiple words they used that were all different but shared the same meaning such as: Rad, gnarly, sick, and Hold it!, which all mean one word, Awesome.

As the years go by there will be changes in our language, whether its bad or good, it’s all based on how often we use the word, and how popular it gets.

Maybe if it gets popular enough it could be added to the dictionary just like adorbs, binge-watch, cray, humblebrag, SMH, and YOLO.

Senior becomes a published author it.” He explained that writing “I had a lot of sleepless nights, the book wasn’t really about especially doing all of this on top

Have you ever wanted getting money, it was more about of school work. But I know it’s to write a book, but then decided leaving his mark on the world. worth it.” that the idea was a bit too far He wants to be remembered for

Yasmine Rodriguez, fetched, and no one would really something. a junior in the EESA academy care what a highschooler had to

“When I die and there’s said, “I read some of his poems, say? nothing left of me, my children, they were really good and I

Well don’t give up just and their children, and their chil- learned some things about him yet because one of our very own that I didn’t know before. It Mustangs, senior Oscar really inspires me to think Benn, wrote and published a that maybe one day I can book earlier this year. get something of my own

True American published.”

Graffiti: A Series of Dates, The online copy of the Rhymes, and Poems is a book is currently 99 cents, book written by Oscar Benn Oscar Benn,and the physical copy is 5 in an attempt to get his Student and author of True American Graffitidollars. Benn has sold 10 thoughts out of his head and online and 5 hard copies so onto paper. The book confar and plans to hopes to sists of poems and quotes dren will be able to read this and continue getting the word out. He describing what his life was like know who I was.” will be reading from his book at those moments. It dives into

After some hard work, tonight at Stang’s House Live in his homelife and the conflicts he Benn had the book adapted from the library. experienced during a breakup at an ebook to a physical book. He

Anyone with a will to the time. added more poems and other get something done can ac Benn said, “I always things in order to make the book complish anything. Oscar Benn promised myself that if I had a longer. “It was lot of work getproved this with his journey to be chance to write a book, I would. ting everything done,” he said, remembered.

This was my chance and I took

by DOMONIQUE BALLEW

“

It’s more than leaving a mark on the world, I want to be remembered.

Photo courtesy of Oscar Benn The cover of his online and hard copy book True American Graffiti.

“Actin” Crazy with Action Bronson: A concert review

by JOSHUA ALCARAZ

Action Bronson is a rapper from Queens New York.

His songs consist of the typical things like drugs, women and money but with his own twist and references from 80’s and 90’s culture. He is also the host of a popular show on Munchies, a Vice Media off shoot, called “F*#k That’s Delicious” in which he goes to restaurants and meets with the chefs from all around the world where he is touring. He is also a trained chef but went to rapping when he broke his leg while in the kitchen when he slipped and fell.

The concert took place at the Belasco Theater in Downtown LA which is closer than the typical concert venue I go to which is in Orange County. I actually got there early because we knew it would be really packed. I would say the whole atmosphere was different than the other venue I have gone to it was more laid back but smoking was not permitted in the venue. When we

got there we rushed to the front of the stage and was only 1 row away from the stage.

Mayhem Lauren ,a friend of Action Bronson, opened up for the show. I’ve heard him featured in some of Bronson’s songs but never really listened to his songs. He was pretty good better than most of the people who open up for rappers that I’ve seen live. He got the crowd hyped for the the main performance. There was also a DJ that was on before Bronson and he played 80’s and 90’s music. It was pretty good but the crowd was anxious for the main performance.

After 3 hours of waiting and standing finally Action Bronson came on. He recently released his debut album titled “Sincerely Mr. Wonderful” and he was on tour for it. He opened up with the first song on the album named “Brand New Car”.

He also played “The Symbol” “Actin Crazy” and one of his most popular songs “Easy Rider”

in which he sampled a very psychedelic guitar riff that makes the song unique because it is something most rappers don’t rap over. Through out the show he poured water bottles on himself and was so hyped he jump around the stage.

In typical Action Bronson matter you don’t know what he was going to do because he is so unpredictable. In some past concerts he left the venue and bought fried chicken from the shop that was across the street. In this concert he gave away a BBQ smoke pit that he had covered with a black sheet on stage. To be even more random the actor Denzel Washington was backPhoto courtesy of Joshua Alcaraz stage watching the show.

Rapper Action Bronson performing his well known song “Ac To end the night he tin Crazy” at the Belasco Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. screamed “I LOVE YOU LA!” and threw the mic to the crowd. he body slammed a fan that went favorite rapper right now and While walking off he saw a on stage and threw him back to going to his show was a great person trying to climb on stage the crowd. experience to go to your favorite so he kicked him right in the

All in all it was a great artist concert. chest and the guy fell towards the concert. So much so that by the crowd. It was not the first time he time I had left my voice was did that to a fan, on a past show gone. Action Bronson is my

Page 8 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

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Entertainment

Furious 7, Paul Walker’s Final Ride: A Movie Review SPOILER ALERTS

by REBECCA GUITERREZ

$392 million at the box office opening weekend, and $800 million worldwide in two weeks. It wasn’t surprising to see the theater packed on opening day, but it was great to see the cast which consisted of Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker/Cody Walker), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), and Tej (Ludacris).

The opening scene of the movie starts with Ian Shaw talking to someone in a hospital bed. Now, to recall who was in the bed in the previous movie (Fast & Furious 6), was the antagonist Owen Shaw, making, Ian Shaw his brother.

After that scene the movie continues catching up with the rest of the cast and we got to see the adorable son of Mia and Brian, Jack. But the real action started when Shaw contacted Toretto by placing a random package in front of the Toretto household, which then exploded, destroying the house endangering Dom, Mia, Brian and Jack.

Like most of the Fast

and the Furious movies, there is always that one part of the movie that looks completely fake. Like in the first movie, when they were driving, if you looked outside the car you would see the lights on the streets flashing in a blur, then in Photo Courtesy of Rebecca Guiterrez Fast and FuriPoster of the movie Furious 7 at The Regal Theatres in La Canada. ous 6 when he Toretto calls it “family”, was (the audience) go watch if you jumped from his implied way too much in the haven’t yet seen the film. car to save Letty. However in this movie.

Every few seconds, they

The final scenes of the installment it was very difficult would put that in.

This made movie left me in tears. On the to figure out which scene looked the movie cheesy and repetitive, beach was the whole crew sitting fake thanks to the great editing. because we already know that around watching Brian, Mia,

With cars flying out of Dom thinks his friends or people and Jack playing on the beach. a plane, them speeding down he is surrounded by are part of When Dom is in his car about to cliffs, and with O’Connor having his family.

It makes some sense leave, the song See You Again those moments where he could they used the theme family since by Wiz Khalifa starts playing in have died, the audience was in this movie was for Paul and they the background, and we see Paul need of some comedic relief to thought of him as family.

Walker pull up in his car. The bring their anxiety level down.

The last action scene of song was perfect for the scene And that is where Roman and the movie was one of the most since it was a tribute to Paul.

Tej come in. With Roman always emotional action scenes in the second guessing and blabbing history of Fast and the Furious When they had their last ride, his mouth every chance he got, movies.

With Dom’s near death they head toward the intersecand Tej always giving him those experience and Letty getting all tion and go their separate ways, chances they made the perfect of her memory back, and with and that is where the film ends. comedic relief duo in the movie. a surprise that I will let you Before the credits there is a trib This crew, or how

Word Search Puzzle

Word Bank: ACT April Baseball Blazer Flowers

GradNite Legally Blonde Muiscal Mustangs Prom SAT

Softball Spring Swim Testing Track

ute to Paul, where they gathered clips from the past movies Paul was in and dedicated the movie to him.

In 2001, the first installment of the film was released, and it was also the first time I’ve seen the movie. If my calculations are correct I was only 3-4 years old and fell in love with the character Brian O’ Connor.

14 years later, Furious 7 was released and Paul Walker deceased.

Imagine all those people who grew up watching the movie, like me. Seeing that final scene was like an empty space in the heart. Paul was one of the main characters in the movie and knowing he is gone forever you would expect that this would be the final film.

On a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Vin Diesel, an actor of the Fast and the Furious movies said that this movie leads to another movie based in New York. Diesel confirmed that they will make an eighth movie saying that “Furious 7 was for Paul and Fast and Furious 8 will be from Paul.” I am looking forward to watching the eighth film but I just have one question, will Brian O’Connor be in it?

Review: Handwritten by Shawn Mendes

by VIRGINIA DEJESUS

If you like Ed Sheeran, then you would like Shawn Mendes. Mendes, 16, is an upcoming singer-songwriter from Canada who just released his first album called “Handwritten”.

He started his fame by posting many cover videos on Youtube and Vine in 2013. He gained many views and fans in just a couple months which led him signing with Island Records, touring with Austin Mahone in the summer of 2014, and now touring with Taylor Swift.

Handwritten is all about love and heartbreaks. It shows Mendes as the type of guy that is fascinated with the idea of love, but doesn’t want to get his heartbroken by the wrong girl.

The album starts off with Mendes’ hit single “Life of the Party”. Some of the songs talk about him being in love such as “Kid In Love” with the lyrics, “Maybe I’m just a kid in love/ If this is what it’s like falling in love/ than I don’t ever wanna grow up”.

Other songs talk about him being broken hearted such as, “The Weight” with the lyrics, “But when you try to take me back/my heavy heart just breaks/ No I can’t lift the weight”.

After listening to his first album, as a major fan of Mendes, I lost my mind.

I love each and every song he comes up with because there is so much meaning to the songs such as, “A Little Too Much” (one of my favorite

songs) in which he talks about those moments some may have where life gets “a little too much”, but we have to keep trying because everything will be okay.

My least favorite song from the album is “Air” ( a duet featuring another artist signed to Island records named Astrid) because I dislike the beat a bit and how they sang the word “air” repeatedly.

I also like that Mendes written the album himself and his songs aren’t about money, sex, and drugs like most songs are now, it’s pretty hard to find decent song nowadays.

I disliked that most of the songs he wrote aren’t as upbeat except one called “Something Big”. His songs mostly puts you in the mood to either fall in love or just really think about life or a significant other, sounds a lot like Sheeran’s songs doesn’t it?

Also, I think he should take a break from his guitar in at least one song and just focus on his voice more than the chords.

Now don’t get me wrong, his voice is amazing. I got to attend a show he performed at and he doesn’t need auto-tune at all but think about it, he’s amazing now playing his guitar, but imagine how great he will sound without thinking about which chords to play.

There’s many people that dislike his music, but that does not change the fact of how much Shawn’s fans (including myself) enjoy his work.

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The Blazer News

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Page 9

Entertainment

An inside look at Coachella The Lincoln: A restaurant review

Photo courtesy of Anthony Persaud A gathering of people at the Empire Polo Club for the Coachella music festival.

by DESTINY ARRIAZA

Coachella is an annual event that takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It is a two-weekend event that started this past weekend, April 10th, and continued this weekend April 19th. Coachella is considered the biggest music festival that is held and contains a wide variety of performers that people travel from everywhere to see.

I had the privilege of seeing the whole stage and set up and it was totally worth it. Seeing all the thousands of people there was mind-blowing and it showed just how much fun the festival would be.

This event may seem easy to set up and plan, but it really isn’t. My father, who has been going to work on Coachella for 4 years and stays up there for almost a month working on it, told me that not only are they working all day, but they work in the scorching, hot sun.

He is in charge on running the generators and making sure the power stays on.

Around 2,000 workers are sent to Indio, California to set up and make this music festival come to life. Not only do they have to work on Coachella, but right after they have to begin setup on the country festival.

Past Coachella performers include artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Eminem,

“

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay Z, and many, many more. This years line-up will contain Drake, ACDC, The Weeknd, Alesso, David Guetta, and those are just 5 of the hundreds.

The creators of this festival not only have to find artists that people would want to pay to see, but artists that are not on tour, which can be very hard at this time of the year.

Hey! We aren’t the only people that attend Coachella either.

Many celebrities attend also, of course having private tents, but they still go for the same reasons that we do. They

killed the show, rapping some of his classics and yelling out for the crowd to join him. In my opinion, his performance was the best one from the whole weekend. He stepped up to the plate and blew everyone away.

My favorite performance, other than Drake, had to be The Weeknd. His voice was flawless and everyone was silent as he captivated them with his vocals. He performed his songs off his album including “Earned it” and my absolute favorite “Often”.

And I know most of you saw pictures of the butterfly or the caterpillar and they were two pieces of this years art. The caterpillar was set up in the day and as soon as darkness began to fall they switched it out with the butterfly. The Destiny Arriaza,colors that they used Studentfor the structures were so bright and made you feel so happy and full of life. go to have fun, party, and many

I highly recommend that even get special access to see the you attend this event because it is performers rehearse days before. worth it. This festival is an unfor Now this year, I got to gettable experience that anyone see how big the stages were and would kill for so those that are all the hard work the constructors planning to go in the near future, do. The bands were absolutely be careful. But also just have amazing and everyone was havfun and enjoy everything that ing a fun time. Not only did I got thousands of people have worked to see phenomenal performers, to make and for what you paid but I got to talk to people who almost $400 dollars or more on. came from different states just for this event.

Drake! He literally

Drake! He literally killed the show, rapping some of his classics and yelling out for the croud to join him.”

Photo courtesy of Cynthia Sandoval An inside view of the Lincoln restaurant.

by CYNTHIA SANDOVAL

What used to be an old warehouse up the street from Muir is now called Lincoln, a restaurant with the adjacent building serving as a candy shop and a private dining room.

Owned by business partners Christine Moore and Pam Perkins, Lincoln is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m..

Everyday, the restaurant offers fresh-baked pastries, sandwiches, farro bowls, charcuterie boards, salads, and egg dishes for breakfast.

I had the opportunity to experience Lincoln for myself.

While there I had a ham and brie sandwich, a baily, and a chocolate chip cookie. Although the ham and brie sandwich was good, the bread was too thick. I understand that it’s called a ham and brie sandwich for a reason, but the fact that that’s all it contained did not make it worth $11.

With the sandwich came a small side of greens which weren’t bad, but the dressing was way too acidic for my taste.

The baily I had, which is something like a small pizza, was topped with tomatoes and cheese and was really good. The dough was really airy and chewy the cheese in between it made it delicious. It is something I would definitely recommend and was definitely worth three dollars.

The chocolate cookie I had was the right combination of crunchy and chewy. It was satisfying, but I’m not sure it was worth a $1.50.

Despite the bright, open, nicely decorated building, I felt out of place. In my opinion, the Lincoln isn’t meant for students, despite the fact that it’s in very near proximity of a high school.

Maybe it’s because some people don’t even know it’s there that students don’t go, but the fact that there were no other students, besides my friends and I, makes one feel out of place.

It appears that Lincoln is meant for an older audience, looking to try something new.

It also seemed that Lincoln attracts a certain crowd, leaving little room for diversity.

This was an observation, not a dislike or complaint.

I don’t mind at all actually, it’s just that the people I saw there didn’t look like my friends, family, or the people I go to school with. Some may argue that this is gentrification in the making, but if Lincoln helps develop the community and bring new things to it, I see that as a good thing.

The prices at Lincoln, considering that the people who live in the neighborhood around it are low-income, are too high. I doubt most of the people that live or eat around this neighborhood would pay $11 for a sandwich.

Page 10 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

muir.pusd.us

Sports

Baseball continues to struggle through the season

by JOSHUA ALCARAZ

Varsity baseball had an away game at Arcadia High School yesterday April 21st.

The outcome of the game was a 13-1 loss. The team is 0-7 in the Pacific league and 0-15 overall.

This is the seventh game of the season and second meeting between the two teams. The first meeting was the opening day of league play in which the Mustangs lost of a score of 12-1.

Recently, the Mustangs played Crescenta Valley High School in which it resulted in a 10-0 loss. “The season has a bumpy start,” said Coach Robert Galvan, “It was mostly due to some chemistry Photo courtesy of Joshua Alcaraz and grade issues.”

2nd basemen Isaiah Irby throws to 1st basemen Michael Hawkins to land a double play in a

A close game with game against Arcadia High School.

Glendale High School ended wasn’t a missed cue early in fort in the game of baseball.”

“The team had some in a with a loss of a score the game,” said Pitcher Bryan Barrios also said they felt very changes over the week and of 3-2. “We actually should Barrios, “ but it’s a team efconfident playing them again. the chemistry is at its best this have won that game if there

“

The season has a bumpy start. It was mostly due to some chemistry and grade issues.”

Robert Galvan, Baseball Coach point,” said Galvan, “ Home field advantage should be beneficial.”

This Friday the Mustangs will play crosstown rivals Pasadena High at 3:30 at home.

“Barrios wants the ball [on the mound],” said Galvan, “The team is pumped and there is nothing like HS week.” Barrios added “We are feeling great [for the game] we are going to play hard. We know if we played hard we could take the win.”

Track continues to prepare for upcoming Championships

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by LOGAN PATTON

Runner David Smith won first place in the 300 meter hurdles at the Hoover Meet located in located in Hoover High School. With the track team in the midst of their season, they are now preparing for the San Gabriel Championships.

“I tried hurdles for the first time and that went okay, I mean I got first,” said Smith who ran the 300 meter hurdles in 45 seconds.

The team also participated in the Arcadia Invitational for days one and two at Arcadia High School. On the first day, shot putter Jasmine Harris threw for 33 feet and

“

participated in the 4x100 relay running in 44.53 seconds. The four runners who competed were Taeon Mason, Edward Jones, Eddie Jones, and David Smith.

“[The invitational] was alright. We would have run faster if one of the twins wasn’t sick with the stomach flu,” said Smith.

Coach Micah Brodi would like to see more progress on the team, not only for the next meet but for the next season. Brodi mentioned that they need to work harder and dedicate more time to conditioning.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs in con-

It’s not where I would want to be or where they want to be but there’s a lot of room for growth.”

Micah Brodi, Track and Field Coach

10 inches.

Earlier in the season at the Pasadena Games, located at Pasadena City College, Harris threw for a season record in both the discus and shot put throwing 104 feet and 11 inches and 37 feet and two inches respectively.

“I was a little disappointed because I’ve thrown farther and better at other meets, but it was a great experience,” said Harris.

The next day the boys

sistency [and] it could be a lot better [but] I am excited about a lot of my underclassmen.

They have a lot of potential and I’m excited about what they’re going to do. It’s not where I would want to be or where they want to be but there’s a lot of room for growth,” said Brodi.

The San Gabriel Championships will be taking place on Saturday, April 25 at San Dimas High School.

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The Blazer News

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Page 11

Sports

Softball, still searching for first win, loses to Arcadia

by JAIR GONZALEZ

Muir’s softball team has lost all pre-season and league games, leaving them with an overall record of 0-6.

Their most recent season game was on April 16th against Crescenta Valley. Varsity lost the game with a score of 19-0.

Despite losing every game, varsity out-fielder Jasmin Pena said, “The past few softball games have definitely demonstrated how much the softball team has improve over the past year.”

Prior to the most recent game, varsity played against Burroughs High School on April 14th. Muir went home with a loss, scoring 15-0.

On April 9th, Muir played against Burbank, resulting in a loss for Junior Varsity (JV) with a score of 15-0, and a loss for Varsity with a score of 17-0.

Third base player Amber Davis said, “We weren’t bad. We just knew we could do better.”

Varsity also played

against Glendale on April 4th, and lost the game with a score of 13-0. JV lost as well, with a final score of 15-0.

On April 2nd, varsity played against Hoover, losing with a score of 15-2. JV lost to Hoover the same day at a home game with a score of 17-3.

Yeimy Hernandez, JV captain and pitcher said, “It was a really good game because we were all focused. We lost because of little errors, but even though we lost, we still had fun.”

JV pitcher Roxana Gallegos stated that the team has improved since last year. “We’re improving. The Hoover coach even mentioned that he sees improvement in our team since last years game.”

Muir had their first season game against Arcadia on March 31st. Varsity played at Muir, while JV played at Arcadia High. Varsity’s losing score against Arcadia was 14-0.

Mileydis Garcia, one of the JV

Photo courtesy of Joshua Alcaraz A Mustang batter hits the ball for a single in a game against Hoover High School.

captains playing center (field), was upset that the team lost. “I felt like we were trying our best.

We definitely need to communicate in the field. It’s the number one thing.”

Varsity’s next game will be today against Arcadia High School at 3:30.

NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown speaks to Mustangs

by LOGAN PATTON

Photo courtesy of Logan Patton Hall of Famer Jim Brown sits in Roland Bynum’s room speakingto students from across the nation.

National Football League (NFL) Hall of Famer Jim Brown came to John Muir High School in late March for the special event Heart of a Hall of a Famer Series. This firsttime event occurred in Roland Bynum’s room during advisory, 6th period, and part of lunch.

The Heart of a Hall of Famer Series was an event that allowed the NFL Hall of Fame to reach out to schools to promote the importance of developing a great character.

The characteristics required to develop this great character, called the gold standards of character, were commitment, integrity, courage, respect, and excellence.

“That [the development of the gold standards of char-

acter] is the Hall of Fame and I live by them,” said Brown.

Throughout the course of the event Brown spoke about subjects that ranged from the importance of an individual’s character to why he decided to retire from the NFL.

The event had a variety of people in attendance ranging from students, coaches, and football players to Pasadena Unified School District [PUSD] member Tyron Hampton.

“I think the event went very well, I think the questions were great and the answers were superb,” said Hampton, “I was invited [and I’m] a John Muir alumni so anytime we get someone as honorable as Jim Brown in the house I’ll most definitely come, and I’m always at John Muir anyway.”

Senior Shaka Terry was the student from Muir who asked Brown about the influences in his life who helped develop him into the man he is today.

“I thought it was a great experience. Mr. Brown was very responsive to the students and I felt that I learned a lot about how to develop good character traits” said Terry.

Brown plans on participating in this event annually at schools across the nation.

“Communication between the students, coaches, and principal was great,” said Brown, “[so] I’m sure i will [participate in a similar event] because Mr. Baker is the new president of the Hall of Fame and this is his concept and I’ll work with him however I can.”

Baseball Sudoku

How to play?

Fill the columns, rows, and boxes with the remaining baseball positions (1B, 2B, 3B, P, C, SS, LF, RF & CF). All 9 positions must be used in each box, row, and column. They cannot be repeated. Use the given positions as clues to figure out the empty boxes. There is only one correct solution!

There is only one correct solution!

Level of Difficulty: Hard

Puzzle by Cecilia Valle

Page 12 | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Blazer News

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