AP Test Stress
Drive to Dive
Take a closer look at the stress and commotion surrounding AP testing. Find out what the fuss is really all about.
The swim team takes a dive at getting a pool on campus. Learn more on how not having a pool on campus disadvantages aquatic teams.
News
Sports
May 2012
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Best Burger MavLife taste testers try a variety of unique cheeseburgers and rank each one. Decide what burger sounds best and go give it a try.
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MavLife La Costa Canyon High School, One Maverick Way, Carlsbad, CA 92009
Entertainment Page 19
Volume 6 Issue 6
Students M ake an 8,000 M ile Connection
A group of girls write letters to new Nigerian frie
nds
Photo illustration by Will Jones and Kiana Jackson
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Megan Mineiro Staff Writer
owards the end of the summer of 2011, sixty students, primarily from the San Dieguito Unified High School District, initiated correspondence with students at the Dr.William Kupiec Academy for Girls in Nigeria. Linked through surprising commonalities, the girls have created a bond with their pen pals that spans two hemispheres. Sophomore Shayne Walton serves as a spokesperson for Friends for the Poor
Africa, a non-profit charity that built the Dr. William Kupiec Academy for Girls. She has organized the pen pal group with each girl having her own Nigerian pen pal that she sends a handwritten letter to every couple of months. “Everyone was really enthusiastic about becoming pen pals,” sophomore Shayne Walton said. “It’s not that big of a commitment because it’s just four times a year at most. It helps people get involved with charity work where they don’t have to put too much effort into it.” The letters must be hand delivered
by an ambassador from Friends for the Poor Africa due to complications once the letters reach Nigeria. Once a letter is sent it takes a few months for a reply to arrive. “The mail and the government systems in Nigeria are really corrupt,” Walton said. “So if someone tried to send a mail package over there, it most likely would not get to the girls, because there are terrorists and other people that don’t want the supplies to get into Africa.” The advantage to the hand delivery is that more than just letters can be sent.
A girl can send a personalized gift to her pen pal and, rest assured, it will be placed safely in her pen pal’s hands just a few months later in Nigeria. “We have sent bracelets, necklaces, anklets, pens, pencils, stickers, and we are also sending books,” Walton said. “It’s not just saying ‘Oh, here is money for girls I don’t even know.’ I feel like I know them personally now and I love that fact.”
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TAP Students Walk the Runway
“It’s Good To Be Me” Club puts on fashion show for TAP students
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Rebecca Zilberman Staff Writer
heTAP (Transitional Alternative Program) fashion show was held on Friday, May 10 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in the theater. TAP students with special needs modeled in front of an audience on a night dedicated to them. The fashion show was the idea of senior Monica Vejar. “Monica Vejar came to me a year and a half ago in the fall, and she was like ‘I want to do this, I want to do a fashion show. I saw something like this on TV and I really want to do it,’’TAP teacher Elizabeth Engelberg said. Vejar was inspired by her desire to get to know students with special needs better during her time in the Best Buddies Club. “It makes me feel good that [TAP students] have their moment in the spotlight, and it makes me feel good that by doing something so little I can change their life so drastically,”
Vejar said. “I heard people saying,‘I am going to remember this moment forever.’ It makes me so happy that I could do that.” Another way that everyone prepares for the fashion show is the “It’s Good To Be Me” Club, started by Vejar, which has a meeting every Thursday. “This year I made it into a club so that everyone can get to know each other better, so that it wasn’t just me and the TAP students,” Vejar said. The students in the fashion show really enjoy and look forward to their fashion show. “It is a special moment, something you will never forget,” sophomore Sarah Bullen said. “It makes you feel good to have people watch and clap for you.” During the fashion show last year, volunteers were responsible for the students’ hair and makeup, while outside vendors donated food. “I know we are going to have a lot more volunteers helping [this year] because a lot of people last year said ‘I would have loved
Photo by Megan Mineiro
The TAP students rehearse for their fashion show in the theater on May 2. (From left) Adrianna Ramirez (9),Thomas Miller (11), Elizabeth Stress (9), Kessler Trujillo (9), Kaitlyn Goetz (9), Aly Hays (10), Sarah Bullen (10), Katie Flores (11), Dylan Linkenheil (11), David Sanchez (11), Julie Brown (12), and Ryan Wilson (12).
to help this year,’” Vejar said. The events leading up to the fashion show and the show itself are equally exciting, Vejar claims. “My favorite part is just planning [the fashion show] and the actual night of it,” Vejar said. “Just seeing their parents’ faces and their faces shine in front of everyone else is just really cool.” Each special needs student is given the opportunity to model two different outfits. “The first outfit was something that represents them,” Engelberg said. “That could be something that they wear everyday, but it could be something they love. The second is formal.”
The music played is also very meaningful to the students and to the fashion show. “They choose the music,” Engelberg said. “They choose [a song] that is more upbeat and then they choose [a song] that is very special [to them].” The students want everyone to come and watch them express themselves. “I get to express who I am,” junior Thomas Miller said. “[Last year] I felt proud and happy. [The audience] will be included, we are inviting them to share the celebration.” The fashion show means a lot to Vejar as well.
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