Mt. Carmel SUN 2008-09 Issue 11 Section B

www.mcsun.org

Friday

SPORTS & ARTS

may 22, 2009

B Mt. Carmel SuN

Softball undefeated; high hopes for CIF

VIncent Pham Staff Writer

The dream season continues for the girls softball team. After scoring in double digits for the tenth straight game, not only are opponents losing, but they’re getting blown away like dust.

What’s been the cause for this recipe for success? Junior Ashley Romano believes the team’s aggressive batting approach mightily aids their power surge.

“We have jumped on the first good pitch we get when we get up to the plate and we have taken advantage of our opponent’s mistakes,” Romano said.

On April 30, the girls defeated Ramona 11-4. Senior Alexis Derango and juniors Kellie Fox and Alix Johnson all got three hits each, and combined for more than half of the team’s run production in the game.

On May 5, the girls crushed and squeezed the juice out of Orange Glen, beating them 22-0. They put up 12 runs in just the first inning, their most runs scored in a single inning this year.

Contrary to that, sophomores Breana Williams and Allysa Abrenica pitched their third combined no-hitter of the season, striking out eight batters in the process.

“Our team’s greatest strength right now is our ability to turn it on with the bats when we need to,” Romano said.

“It seems that we always have one big inning that fires us up and allows us to put more pressure on our opponents.”

On May 7, the girls made the long trip to Valley Center and came away with an 11-1 victory. Junior Kellie Fox had no trouble swinging for the fences as she hit two home runs in the game,

driving in four runs. Williams’ pitching capped it off with a complete game, allowing only one hit while striking out six batters.

Coaches Ruby and Caesar Chavez continue their stellar work from behind the dugout, pumping up the team and keeping their intensity level high throughout the games.

“They’re really fun people to be around,” junior Nina Villanueva said.

“They grew up with baseball in their family so they know a lot about the game.”

Traveling to Oceanside on May 12, the team was surprisingly in a tight game, only leading Oceanside by two runs entering the fifth.

But once again, they found a way to put up a crooked number on the opponents, piling up 10 runs in the fifth inning en route to a 12-0 victory. Senior Maggie Doremus went a perfect 3-for-3 with a triple and two stolen bases. Williams pitched another gem, allowing no hits and striking out nine batters.

Two days later, on May 14, the girls defeated San Marcos 10-1. This game was also a close one until the bats woke up for the girls, scoring eight runs in their last three innings. Romano had an incredible performance, going 4-for-4 with three runs, three RBI’s, two doubles, a triple, and a pair of stolen bases.

As the CIF’s are clearly on the horizon, the girls are not looking to relax and assume that they will cruise through the tournament with little trouble.

“There are a lot of good teams in the CIF,” Romano said. “I don’t think you can take any one team for granted.

We have to take the playoffs game by game and always give it our all no matter who the opponent across the field is.”

Mackenzie Lance Sports Editor

Ana Alvarez | Photographer

Brea Williams (10) winds up during their most recent game against Westview on Wednesday. The team has continued a very successful season as they head into the post-season games with an undefeated league record of 12-0. The team attributes their success to their ability to bat well when they need to. Although they did not lose in leagues, they plan to take the CIF games one at a time.

Swim, dive emerge flawless in season, send many to CIF ADiti Pai Staff Writer

on Saturday still looms.

“Both boys and girls want to win but no matter what we want to try our hardest and get best times,” senior MC swim and dive girls stuck their hands in the Danielle Spence said. “The team motto is we + will. middle of their big huddled circle and after a countdown This will help us because if we say “we will” win and shouted, “Good job MC boys!” “we will” swim fast then we have a better chance of They already glowed with pride as the announcer just actually doing it than if we don’t believe in ourselves.” handed them their first place trophy. The fact that the As the team prepares for CIF finals, they bring out boys team won just added to it. With excited yelps and their secret weapons, team spirit and closeness. screeches, the girls team rushed over to coach Dan Peck “Having a sea of red behind the lanes during races and shoved him into their home pool, jumping in after really pumps up the swimmers,” Spence said. “Knowing him with the boys. In a rare and exciting finale to league you have support of your team behind the blocks finals, both the boys and girls swim and dive teams won cheering in their bright red warm ups makes the race a league champions at lot more exciting and help our their home pool. swimmers race faster.”

The league finals had Before prelims, the team some very impressive The win against Westview was bonded with their pre-meet swims from seniors a major confidence booster for the pasta dinner but also with Harrison Van der Linde, their annual shaving party.

Patrick Nowak, Danielle team. Our last league victories were “Before CIF we have a Spence, and junior easy wins and beating Westview re- shaving party where girls shave Jacquelyn Gentes. assured us that we can beat good boys in order to make them While the girls swam swim faster,” Spence said. teams.” against their biggest “Then at CIF we have a spirit competition at the box of pom poms, necklaces, first meet of the year, - Harrison Van der Linde (12) and noisemakers that people Ramona, the boys use when cheering. Also a lot waited the entire season of people paint their faces for the last dual meet and bodies.” against Westview to test The dive team also proved their talent. In a very close meet, the MC boys narrowly to have a very successful season. At their league meet, won providing them with a bit of confidence to go into the girls team swept the top four spots with senior leagues with.

Allison Rogers placing first, senior Angela Woods “The win against Westview was a major confidence placing second, and juniors Sandy Shyu and Serena booster for the team,” senior Harrison Van der Linde. McClintick taking third and fourth. On the guys side, “Our last league victories were easy wins and beating freshman Alec Maisonneuve took third, and sophomore Westview reassured us that we can beat good teams.”

Jake Espino placed fifth at Leagues.

The swim and dive team’s lack of competitive teams Rogers, Woods, Shyu, McClintick and Maisonneuve, in the Valley league formed a worry that when leagues all qualified for CIF and will compete on Friday for and CIF arrived, the team wouldn’t be battle tested points that will contribute to the Swim and Dive team’s enough to beat them. overall place in CIF. Their win at Leagues proved promising but CIF finals “The dive team is delicious,” junior Jeanie Nguyen

“

Matt Coffelt | Photgrapher

Sandy Shyu (11) performs her dive at the recent Westview meet. The swimmers and divers will compete in CIF finals this weekend.

Tennis reaches season CIF goal; sends doubles to League tourney After months of harsh training, practice in the sun, aching muscles, complicated drills, and horrid tan lines, boys tennis has reached CIF and league season.

“Originally, our practices went from three to five, but we practiced much longer,” Junior Andrew Kim said. “Sometimes, we’d even go to six and six thirty. We all tried to dedicate enough time.”

The team as a whole was knocked out in the semi-finals, but individuals and doubles teams have advanced.

As of press time two doubles teams had advanced in the League Tournament.

The doubles teams included that of Andy Frey and Justin Fan, and Garret Smith and Taehee Han. The individuals were all defeated in the second round of League individuals.

“We played league individuals right now,” junior Shuyang Fang said. “We reached our goals as a team, getting past the third round in CIF. Everyone in the individual tournament got knocked out in the second round.”

Wes Lowe, who went to the League tournament as an individual, was happy with the overall season and has high hopes for 2010.

“It was a great season,” Lowe said. “We finished really strong and proved that we can complete. Next year, we should be even better and one of the top teams.”

Kim shares Lowe’s sediments about the future.

“Next year will be a great year for the tennis team because we will have a much more experienced team,” Kim said. “The switch in leagues has also helped us play against more fairly matched teams.”

As they think about the future, the team describes the great leaps the team has made.

“Since the beginning of our season, we had a very inexperienced team,” Kim said. “Last year, only a few players on varsity returned as a Varsity member due to the large number of seniors graduating and not a huge amount of juniors.

Starting the season, there were only two people who played varsity yearround.”

The new league made competition easier for the team, the but preseason was a learning experience.

“During the preseason, the team was given a chance to familiarize themselves with their new positions,” Kim said. “It was a great learning experience and helped shape the team up for the season matches.”

Along with the team’s lack of experience, personal conflicts played into some issues with the team.

“There were a few bumps we had to go through,” Kim said.

“There were certain team disagreements, position disagreements, but after overcoming those petty obstacles, we really had a solid tennis team going.”

Sundevil Scoreboard

Golf Tennis Gym. Swim B. Track G. Track G. Lax

B. Lax Volleyball Baseball Softball

8-4 7-4 10-0 8-0 7-0 6-1 9-4 5-11 10-0 5-6 12-0 *LEAGUE RECORDS AS OF MAY 20 FROM NCTIMES.COM

Sports

B2

Mt. Carmel SUN

May 22, 2009

Boys golf takes second in league, tees off into CIF MELISSA ROADMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITOR

Ryan Phife (12) follows through with his swing in a recent match. The boys finished second in Valley League and worked very hard to prepare for both league finals and for CIF on Wednesday.

Boys lacrosse learns from past mistakes; maintains positive, constructive mentality ABBY MANSOUR STAFF WRITER Optimism is a feeling that is hard to maintain, but according to senior lacrosse player Joey Pospichal “things can fall apart without it.”

They also played Carlsbad on May 6 with a loss of 4-15.

The team also took on Poway suffering a devastating loss of 1-15.

With these losses, the team has a philosophy in order to keep a positive mindset.

“Past mistakes can be corrected but past results can’t,” Pospichal said.

The team had their last home game against San Marcos on May 14, which resulted in another loss for MC. “Our record is not quite where we want it to be, but we plan to finish the season strong with a couple wins,” Pospichal said.

Pospichal claims that the team gets along extremely well.

“We are pretty much like one

big family,” he said. “We joke around a lot and have fun.”

The team played at Westview on Monday May 18 and came away with a devastating loss.

Despite these devastating losses, a few individual players have been able to showcase their talent.

Senior David Darling still manages to remain in the top five of league scorer leaders.

He is also second in points scored per game in the league.

In addition, he is the league goal leader.

Sophomore Kamden Luke is third in leagues for most saves.

On Wednesday, they took on Monte Vista in a non-league game at 7 p.m.

No matter what the outcome of a game might be, the boys are always learning from the past.

“We try to focus on the mistakes of the last game and other previous games,” Pospichal said. “We just try to stayed relaxed, positive, and focused on the upcoming game.”

In the sweltering heat last Monday and Tuesday, the boys golf team fought their hearts out for the Valley League title at Camp Pendleton Golf Course.

The first day of the tournament brought success for the Sundevils.

Three of the boys placed in the top five.

Seniors Jeff Hsiao, Ryan Phife, and Ben Young placed second, third, and fifth respectively.

With an overall team score of 415 after the first day of an 18-hole round, the boys found themselves in an unexpected second place, behind Ramona.

“As a whole, the team did pretty well,” Young said. “After the first day, teams were wondering how we did so well.”

The second day of the tournament proved to be harder for the boys to keep up the momentum.

According to both Hsiao and Young, they did not play as well on Tuesday.

Although many of the players scored higher, the team still finished strong.

Hsiao placed second overall in

the Valley League with a cumulative score of 151. Junior Marc Hermann finished in fifth place with 155.

Overall the team placed second with a team score of 790, behind Ramona.

“As a team, we played well and even gave first place Ramona a scare, but came up a bit short,” Hsiao said.

According to Hsiao, the team’s success in the tournament is due to the different level of competition in the new Valley League.

“Since we switched leagues, the competition hasn’t been as strong,” he said.

Young also believes that the practice time that the members put in helped with their success.

“Most of the team practiced a lot the weekend before leagues,” Young said. “This contributed to our second place accomplishment.”

The two day tournament determines the winner of the league title as well as who will move onto the CIF tournament, which took place this week.

Results were not available at press time.

The CIF tournament began on Wednesday.

Only those who make the cutoff

after the first day advance to the next round.

In order to prepare for the next level of competition, the team put in more time over the weekend practicing.

“Our team actually doesn’t practice too much, but we [made] an exception for CIF and work[ed] really hard over the weekend to prepare,” Hsiao said.

League Tournament

RESULTS FIRST

Ramona 767 SECOND Mt. Carmel 790 THIRD Valley Center 814 FOURTH Westview 835 FIFTH Orange Glen 866 SIXTH San Marcos 927 SEVENTH Oceanside 957

Team chemistry, bond lead to success in competition RACHEL MARTIN STAFF WRITER The girl managed to keep her balance all the way through her routine, ending it with a superb landing off the beam. The MC gymnastics team nailed virtually all their landings last Friday during league finals.

MC won with a score of 223.3 against La Costa Canyon, Fallbrook and Our Lady of Peace.

Senior Shelby Bruce won AllAround Compulsory with a score of 38.8 score, and senior Tina Wilhelm won All-Around Optional with a score of 37.2.

“They supported each other, and they competed very well,” coach Monique LamphiereTamayoshi said.

The girls have been extremely successful all season, going into today’s first round of CIFs with an undefeated record.

Lamphiere-Tamayoshi believes there is one thing that helps the girls succeed.

“They lean on each other,”

she said. “They know that each person is there to help them no matter what.”

Junior Frankie Coniglio agrees that their team chemistry is very strong.

“We have a really good team this year, and everybody gets along,” Coniglio said.

“In the past there have been cliques and stuff, but this year we all get along really well and everybody kind of motivates each other,” she said.

This ideal team chemistry also helped the girls reach victory in their meet at Westview a few weeks ago.

Many teams think they always do better at home, but the gymnastics team feels that they will do well no matter where they compete.

“It’s really nice because we have a lot of team support, so it doesn’t really matter where we compete,” Coniglio said. “[Westview is] pretty good. We beat them.”

With the CIF tournament

beginning today for the team, the girls have been working especially hard.

“Well in the beginning of practice, like this season, it was practice every skill and get everything down and clean everything up,” Coniglio said. “But now, like these next two weeks we have Leagues and then CIFs, so we’re just mainly working on routines, routines, routines, routines every single day.”

This kind of discipline may become difficult for some teams, but gymnastics has their way of motivating each other.

“All the seniors were told to bring in an inspirational quote,” Coniglio said. “So we do like little team bonding things that everybody’s a part of.”

The coaches are also an integral part of the team’s success.

“They give us little pointers like how to do better,” said Coniglio.

The girls will be competing today in the first round of the CIF tournament.

Sundevil Spotlight

ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

Angela Fajardo (11) competes in the beam event at a recent match. The team thrives off their close bond and are always confident in their competitions.

They enter first round of CIF today.

Bruce enjoys team bond, earns three gold medals Passion, dedication root of Darling’s lax success

SHELBY BRUCE KATELYN CUTTS NEWS EDITOR Gymnastics involves precision, technique, and perfection.

For senior Shelby Bruce, this demanding sport has become a part of her life.

Bruce has been competing in gymnastics for about 13 years.

“I have been in gymnastics since I was like four years old,” she said.

“I have been on varsity since my freshman year.”

Bruce has one event that stands out as her best.

“My favorite event is beam because it’s kind of scary but really fun when you can get the skill,” she said.

“My best event is floor, though.”

During this season Bruce received three gold medals at the annual Sundevil Invitational. The Invitational was on May 2.

She took home the compulsory floor and uneven bars gold medal, grabbing the compulsory all-around title for the second year in a row.

Besides the events, Bruce really enjoys

her team.

“My favorite part of gymnastics is definitely all of our team dinners,” she said. “I love food and our team is hilarious and we always have a lot of fun together.”

Although Bruce has devoted a large portion of her life and energy to gymnastics, she stopped participating in club at the beginning of high school.

“I used to go to club for 17 hours a week but I quit my freshman year,” she said.

Bruce, who is usually smaller than her competition, believes it helps her in gymnastics. “[My height] is an advantage, I would say, since most Olympic gymnasts are really tiny,” she said. “I mean I really would not know if it is hard being tall, so it is hard to say.”

Bruce is going to UC Santa Barbara in the fall.

“I have no clue what I am majoring in yet,” she said. “I am considering biochemistry, but I am still undeclared.”

According to Bruce, she will not be playing gymnastics in college and is not sure if Santa Barbara has a team.

Besides school and gymnastics, Bruce just likes to have fun.

“Outside of school and gymnastics, I like to just hang out with my friends and ch3ill at the beach or anything exciting,” she said.

Bruce is looking forward to her future at UC Santa Barbara. Since the university does not have a team, this next few weeks will be the last for Bruce’s gymnastics career.

QUICK HITS If you had spent $100 on anything, what would it most likely be?

Most likely clothes and food, especially food.

What is your greatest fear and why?

I am ridiculously terrified of spiders. It’s dumb how scared I am.

If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be and why?

Alarm clocks so no one would ever have to wake up early.

What’s your weirdest food combination? (Example: potato chips and caramel dip) Spaghetti tacos are the best.

What do you plan to do after high school?

I’m going to UC Santa Barbara Name one person or group of people that you admire.

Monique L.T. What is your favorite TV show?

House What is your worst pet peeve and why?

Really slow drivers. I get really bad road rage.

DAVID DARLING VANDANA BHAIRI STAFF WRITER Senior David Darling fell in love with lacrosse the minute he stepped on the field in seventh grade. “[At first] my mom made me,” he said. “Now I play because I love it.”

Being on varsity since freshman year, he plays the position of midfield, and has scored the most goals for the team.

When asked, Darling believes that there are more important things than scoring. “[I don’t feel] so good [about scoring], because assists are worth more in my book,” he said.

During this year, Darling went to the East Coast to play on an All-American team representing California.

“Out of the other teams, our team wasn’t as good because we were up against kids on the East Coast where lacrosse is a bigger sport,” he said.

Darling has also decided to go to college at Eastern University in

Pennsylvania and play for the team there.

What attracted Darling to Eastern University is the restructured lacrosse program.

“I liked the coach,” Darling said. “He is building a new lacrosse program for athletes.”

At home, Darling is the captain of the MC team.

He likes being captain because of the hard work, and being the role model for the younger kids. “[Being captain] is a challenge,” Darling said. “I have to set different ways to motivate the team. The younger kids look up to me and if they ask me a question that I can’t answer, I give them my best advice.”

Darling has such a passion for lacrosse, that all the free time he has is dedicated to working on his game.

“I practice every day, any time I get,” he said.

Darling is also talented off the field. His sense of humor was displayed at Senior Idol.

He also says that it does get tough to balance school and lacrosse at the same time.

“It’s difficult to stay on track with school during season,” he said. “I have to work hard on the weekends to finish my school work.”

But despite all the work, what Darling loves most about the game is that it takes more than strength. “[Lacrosse] is a game for athletes,” Darling said. “You have to use your brain more than your muscles. You have to know where everything is on the field at all times.”

QUICK HITS If you had spent $100 on anything, what would it most likely be?

Save it for spending money in college.

If you could own any brand of clothes, what would it be?

Nike.

What’s your weirdest food combination?

Yams with chocolate syrup.

If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be?

MTV because kids try to live fantasy lives after watching it.

What is your greatest fear and why?

Not reaching my potential.

What is your favorite T.V. show?

Family Guy. If you could have any super power, what it be?

The ability to blend into a crowd.

Name one person or group of people that you admire.

My parents.

What is your worst pet peeve and why?

Meat in my pasta sauce.

Sports

Mt. Carmel SUN

B3

May 22, 2009

Girls lacrosse captures best record ever; hopes to continue momentum next year Vandana Bhairi Staff writer

matt coffelt | photo editor

Erika Van Sickel (11) sprints toward the opponent’s goal during the Scripps Ranch game. The girls team has never been more successful, capturing an overall record of 14-5 as of Tuesday. They only lost three games out of the 13 league matches.

The team played their last league game on Wednesday and the result of the game affects whether they advance to CIF.

To say it frankly, girls lacrosse has done better this season than any other season.

They are 14-5 overall, and 10-3 in league, as of Tuesday.

Recently, the girls lost to Westview, Santana, Valley Center, and Scripps Ranch.

However, they crushed San Marcos, Granite Hills, Ramona, and Fallbrook.

Junior Carly Voris said that MC got off to a slow start against WV. Also, the fact that WV was better prepared and knew what they were going up against.

“They knew what they needed to do and they did it,” she said. “They knew who the leading scorers were, they knew who to shut down, and when they shut down our leading scorers, they shut down our team.”

Junior Camie Chapatte agreed that WV had better strategy.

“They basically double and triple teamed Carly and me, but even with that, we managed to score eight goals; we fought REALLY hard.”

Senior Ashley Blanco, the goalie, has found her own strategy to surprise the other team.

“I come out of my crease [the goalie box] more often,” Blanco said. “Usually, a lot of goalies don’t go out of the crease, so it kind of catches the other team off guard.”

Voris is saddened by the loss of seniors next year, and hopes that it won’t affect their game too much.

“It’s really tough that we are losing a lot of seniors,” she said. “But next year’s team needs to step it up and build confidence. We have the potential to be a GREAT team!”

Chapatte agrees with Voris, adding that the returners need a high level of commitment.

“We need more than just a few players playing off season and on the weekends,” Chapatte said. “Whether it is going to the wall or playing club lacrosse that’s what we need to do—that’s the only way we can get somewhere as a team.”

Chapatte also says that it’s up to the team to expand lacrosse not only at MC but on the West Coast.

“Lacrosse isn’t as well known here as it is on the East Coast (where nearly everyone plays it),”

she said. “There are pockets here and there on the West Coast who play, but it’s up to all of us to make it grow.”

In the past few years, MC girls lax has not only gained more popularity but has significantly improved as well Chapatte says that to improve even more, the team needs to play more like a team.

“We just need to work together,” she said. “Because when we work together, it is beautiful.”a

Girls Lacrosse League Leaders Goal leaders Camie Chapatte 62 Carly Voris 48

Points per game leaders Camie Chapatte 86 Carly Voris 54 Erin Menefee 31

Assist leaders Camie Chapatte 24

Save Leaders

Ashley Covington 56 *ACCORDING TO NCTIMES.COM AS OF MAY 20

Boys, girls track achieve goal of league champions, end dry spell; indivdiual success helps team triumph Abby Mansour Staff writer The boys track team is the dual meet Valley League champion, and the girls team shares the championship with Westview.

After over a decade of no championships, the dry spell has been broken.

“The league championships were one goal and we achieved it when many thought we could not,” Head Coach Dennis McClanahan said.

Part of their success relied on their performance at the MC- Westview dual meet.

The boys team victory over the Wolverines came down to the very last event, the boys

4X400 relay.

The track was lined with a flood of red, all to witness sophomore Alex Allen’s finish clinching the team victory.

“The meet was a total team effort, nobody quit, everyone contributed; the meet was won by the seconds and thirds that were fought for as much as the firsts,” Coach Paul Samaras said.

League prelims took place on May 12 and May 15 at Valley Center High. Many athletes competed very well.

McClanahan believes that leadership, as well as hard work, led to these successes. “[Success comes from] a lot of hard work from athletes with good attitudes,” he said.

“We have team members that are willing to be leaders and that have helped us.”

League finals also went well for the team, which showcased the many talents of MC. Junior Kenny James got fourth place in the 100 meter dash. Sophomore Alex Allen finished in second for the 400 meter.

Senior Sergio McGirr and junior Marvin Medina finished in first and third place for the 800 meter race.

For the girls, senior Alex Wright placed second for the 100 meter dash, as well as the 200 meter race.

Sophomore Alex Parks did very well as she placed first in the 400 meter event. Sophomore Lauren Hall also contributed to the success,

placing third in the 800 meter event.

As for the distance runners, junior Erin Menefee finished with a first in the mile and the two mile events.

CIF prelims start tomorrow, Saturday May 23, right here at MC. Finals also take place here at home on May 30.

“We should have some good results,” McClanahan said. “We have gotten better throughout the year and we have some athletes that are good enough to win spots to go the state meet as well as show well in the CIF Finals.”

Samaras sums up his confidence and pride about CIF and league finals.

“This is what we work for all year long,” he said.

Baseball struggles with tough league competition Kaveri Gyanendra Features Editor

In the Tuesday game against Westview, the boys lost 8-7.

Junior Wesley Wallace had a successful game, With a difficult season, boys baseball con- hitting two home runs. tinues to persevere and attempt to make the best “When I’m at the plate I am looking for a of what’s left. Overall, the boys faired well, with pitch I can drive,” Wallace said. “It’s exciting to get strong wins here and there. Toward the end of the a hit and it’s cool to see the crowd all excited.” season, the boys suffered against San Marcos, losUnfortunately, a series of errors and strong ing both games.

Westview hitting caused the game to slip from the According to senior Sundevil side in a single Dennis Bowman, the inning. games against San Marcos “We mentally They were all really close games weren’t focused and are what killed the winning and there were a lot of silly mistakes. didn’t play to our full momentum of the team.

“We got swept by San If we could take them back we could ability,” Wallace said.

Marcos,” Bowman said.

“We didn’t play to have won.”

“They killed us. When we our potential,” sophoplay as a team we do well, more Kenny James but when we have one thing Sansone said. “We beat - Brad Catcott (11) going right in one area and ourselves through our something going wrong in a errors. There was one different area it doesn’t work.” inning where they scored all their runs and if we In the previous set of games against of had done damage control we could have won.”

Oceanside, the boys won one and lost one. They The team also played the Wolverines on lost the first game, 2-1, and won the next face-off Thursday, however results were unavailable at 6-5. press time.

It was a similar situation for the games against “Overall it’s been a disappointing season,” Valley Center, the Sundevils won one and lost one. senior Kyle Karshner said. “This year the games However, this time around, the boys won the first were a lot more competitive since we are in a new league. The teams are an equal match and there game, 5-4, and lost the second game, 6-4.

“We really should have won all those games,” is actually a game rather than getting our butts junior Brad Catcott said. “They were all really close kicked. Next year should be stronger for the team games and there were a lot of silly mistakes. If we since we only had three starting seniors but a lot of could take them back we could have won.” strong juniors.”

“

ana alvarez | photographer

Jiordan Resolme (12) prepares to pitch the ball during a recent game at MC. The team struggled to win games against such closely-matched competition in league.

Games against San Marcos caused the boys to lose their final momentum. They hope the juniors will be able to pick it up for next year’s season.

Volleyball starts battle for repeat CIF title; receives top seed in playoffs Sara Shantz staff writer Many people thought that the boys volleyball team would be in for a tough year after losing seven crucial seniors last year, but the boys went on to prove them wrong by winning the Valley League and earning the first seed going into CIF. “I think it’s really exciting [being seeded first going into CIF] especially because we graduated so many kids last year…and for us to be this young and the number one seed is awesome,” Head Coach Patsy Malta said.

Being the first seed for CIF is an advantage because the boys get home court advantage until finals, but it also makes it harder on them.

The first seed is always the team to beat so every team is going to be even more motivated to play MC. “It’s nice to know we’re first but it’s also a big load to carry on our shoulders because we have to do well and we have a target on our backs,” junior Nick England said.

The boys are going into CIF as the returning champs and that also adds a lot of pressure.

Malta credits the boys’ work ethic for their success this season.

“A lot of people said that ‘we’re going to lose a lot of seniors’ and ‘you guys might have to a little tougher year next year’ and really, I only had one starter back this year,” Malta said.

“For us to do as well as we did, I think it’s really a tribute to them and how hard they work.”

The boys’ success this season may also have something to do with this year’s change in leagues.

“I also think it’s because we’re in the Valley League too and that’s a little bit easier,” Malta said. “But, we did beat Poway, and we did beat Westview. We’ve beaten every division II team that we should have.”

It was a little unnerving for the team entering the new league.

They knew it wouldn’t be as strong as the Palomar League, but they were concerned about teams that they’d never faced surprising them with their level of play.

“I’m kind of surprised (that we won league) because you hear about Valley Center and Ramona being very good and I wasn’t sure how we would do,” Malta said. “I thought we could compete with them but I didn’t know how we’d do, not ever being in their gyms before.”

Although the whole team has played at a very high level all season, only four of them are mentioned on the North County Times website for being overall leaders in the North County.

England, the starting outside hitter, and junior Jamie Ferguson, the starting middle blocker, are mentioned for being two of the overall kill leaders in North County.

England has 143 kills so far this season. Ferguson has 85 kills so far this season.

Junior Connor Mortland, the starting setter, has the third highest number of assists in the North County, with 434 assists so far this season.

Junior Stephan Lawrance, the starting libero, has 162 digs so far this season.

Malta has been cracking down on the team lately to prepare them.

“Malta recently had a talk with us about always giving our best effort and not being lazy,” England said.

England is hopeful about the team’s chances of another CIF title.

“Our team has great team chemistry and I think that as long as we bring our a game to CIF, we’ll have a really good chance of being repeat champs,” England said.

The team has a bye the first round of CIF and will play the winner of the match virsus Steele Canyon and East Lake in the quarterfinals tomorrow night at seven at MC. If the boys win tomorrow, they more on to play on Wednesday and next Saturday.

Entertainment

B4

Mt. Carmel SUN

May 22, 2009

TRICKS AND GAMES IN THE WORLD OF CARDS Title: Eureka Rating: R “Eureka” starts off with a bus hijacking and massacre from a crazy man with a gun. The only survivors were the bus driver, Makoto Sawai (Kôji Yakusho), and siblings Kozue Tamura (Aoi Miyazaki) and Naoki Tamura (Masaru Miyazaki).

After the incident, Sawai leaves town for a while. Two years later, he comes back to start his life all over again.

As for the kids, their father died, and their mother had left them long before. They were living together without an adult.

After Sawai gets back to town, a string of murders of young women begins.

Sawai then meets up with the two kids, and moves in with them.

Sadly, their lives are still scarred from the incident two years earlier.

Sawai tends to have many nightmares, and the kids never speak or show any kind of emotion.

One day, Sawai buys a bus. He and the kids, as well as their cousin, set off on a long road trip to try to find some brightness in life.

The whole movie was shot in a sepia tone to add to the gloomy mood. This movie shows what kind of psychological effects events like this can have on a person.

This is a great movie that is full of details, along with a great storyline.

The acting by everyone in this movie was amazing.

It is close to a four hour movie, but every scene is important on telling the story.

It was an interesting movie.

It shows how much a traumatic experience can affect someone’s life, and what they have to do to get their lives back on track.

-Sean Williams

Restaurant: Tutti Frutti Location: Carmel Mtn. Barely a couple of months old, customers are already making a “dip” into Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt.

Located in the Carmel Mountain Plaza next to Jamba Juice, Tutti Frutti offers customers a wide array of choices with eighteen different flavors and eighteen different toppings.

The store takes on a self-serving concept, much like Yogurt World in Mira Mesa and Convoy. You can customize your bowl of yogurt with anything and you pay according to how much your bowl of “froyo,” nickname for frozen yogurt, weighs.

If health is a concern, you don’t have to worry. Tutti Frutti’s frozen yogurts are prepared with probiotics, which are food supplements and serve as natural components in health-supporting foods.

Potential benefits of this could be strengthening your immune system and prevents harmful bacteria.

Flavors of frozen yogurt include anything from original, strawberry, and mango, to green tea, taro, coffee and cookies and cream.

If you are not sure about which flavor is right for you, the friendly staff can give you small sample cups for the flavors you want to try.

Some different items you can choose to coat your frozen yogurt include fruity pebbles cereal, almonds, Oreos, bananas, and chocolate chips, among many others.

After obtaining your frozen yogurt, you can choose to stay inside and enjoy the background music or go to the tables outside if you want to eat with a cool breeze behind your back.

With the highest quality and selection of frozen yogurt in San Diego, and a contemporary and vibrant workplace, Tutti Frutti will definitely leave you craving for more frozen yogurt even after you depart.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

SEAN WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER If you’ve seen the new “Wolverine” movie, you’ve seen the amazing card tricks Gambit does. Of course, most of these are impossible to do, but most of them are just extreme versions of simple and easy-to-do tricks.

There are many tricks you can do with a single deck of cards and a little bit of practice.

The most common trick is called “bridging.” This is the trick people do at the end of a riffle shuffle.

It doesn’t have much significance, except for putting the two stacks into one and showing off.

To do this trick, after your riffle shuffle, place your thumbs in the middle of where the two stacks meet. Then, arch the two stacks by pushing up from the bottom with the rest of your fingers and push the stacks together a tiny bit. Now, remove your fingers from the bottom of the stack and take the pressure off.

This should cause the cards from each stack to fall into one deck in your hands.

One of the more entertaining tricks to see and do is “springing the cards.”

This is the trick where someone transfers the deck from one hand to the other by “springing” them.

The easiest way to do this is to hold the deck long ways up with your thumb on the bottom and your index, middle, and ring fingers holding it on the top. The thumb on top should be holding the deck just by the fingertip. Begin to apply pressure onto the

deck by squeezing it until the deck begins to arc in toward the palm of your hand. The tricky part is letting the bottom of the card slip off the tip of your fingertip. After doing this, the rest of the cards should immediately follow. All you have to do then is practice catching the cards in your other hand.

This trick may take a lot of time and practice to get it right, but with the practice, you should be able to get it.

Another fun trick that is extremely easy is “shooting cards.”

What this trick does is flip the card out of the deck so that you can catch it with your other hand, or even catch it back in the deck.

This is pretty simple. First, hold the deck long way up with your thumb and middle finger. You have to hold it so that your thumb and finger are on the end of the deck, and the deck is sticking out (for example, if you are right handed, the deck needs to stick out to the left, and with your left hand vice-versa).

Then, you take your index finger, and grab the top of the first card with your finger nail. Pull down on the card, and slide your finger into the space between your middle finger and thumb. This should release the card and cause it to flip out in the air so you can catch it.

This is a favorite by senior Jin Yao. “I like the shooting cards trick because I can hit people with them,” she said. “I usually do this trick whenever I’m bored. It took me around two weeks to learn it and get it right.”

These are just a few of the many card tricks there are out there.

Card tricks are fun to do and are sure to amaze your friends.

Learn how to spring cards in four simple steps

STEP ONE: Prepare your catching hand’s fingers to be able to stop the cards from progressing forward or falling.

STEP TWO: Hold the cards in your springing hand with the cards being held by only the tip of your thumb.

STEP THREE: Apply pressure to bend the deck and let the cards slip straight off your thumb tip.

STEP FOUR: Position your catching hand close enough to catch all the cards, and then just practice to increase distance.

Hearts and Pusoy Dos act as effective time killers KEVIN LAGE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

You see every where around school nowadays. It seems like everywhere you go, you see groups of friends huddled in circles surrounding a deck of cards.

“At lunch, we like to play hearts and dos,” junior Kyle Staskus said. “Its fun and a good way to kill time when were bored, or to relax after tests or something.”

Hearts It is generally played with four players.

After everybody finishes organizing their hands by suit, each player passes three cards to the player sitting on to their left. After this is done, the player holding the two of clubs plays it. All other players must play either one AMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTOGRAPHER of their clubs, or should they not have any Three jacks and two kings make a full house in clubs, they may “slough” any card of their Pusoy Dos. The goal of the game is to get rid of choosing. The player who plays the highest your hand before your opponents do . card of the original suit of that round takes

power, and must play the first card of the next round.

The basic goal of the game is to not take points. Points are taken by winning a round in which a point card is played. Point cards include all hearts, which are worth one point, and the queen of spades, which is worth 13 points.

However, should you be dealt a hand in which it appears you will be taking most of the points, such as one in which you are dealt many face cards, it may be beneficial to try to “shoot the moon.” This is where a player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades.

If this happens, all other players take 26 points, which puts you at a huge advantage, because the game ends when a player hits 50 points.

Pusoy Dos Pusoy dos, commonly referred to as “Dos” in which the goal is to get rid of all of your cards first. The game is played with

four players. After being dealt your cards, the players should organize their hands into poker hands. You play your cards using poker hands. In the game, the two of diamonds is the highest possible card and the three of clubs is the lowest. The player dealt the three of clubs must use the three in a hand.

You must play the same level of hands as the previous player. So if someone leads with just the three of clubs, you may only play single card hands, and you must play a higher card or set of cards than the previous player. The progression of suits is clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. If the player cannot beat the previous card, they must pass.

If each player passes, then the player who played the highest hand has “power” and may choose which level of hand to play next.

The game is won when a player runs out of cards to play.

Unconventional card decks create innovative games MATTHEW GELLER STAFF WRITER

The world of cards is not limited to the 52 card deck. The card game Uno is perhaps the most famous game that uses nontraditional cards, but popular board games ranging from Monopoly to Scrabble have been adapted into card game form.

Another type of card game that uses a different type of deck is “Apples to Apples.”

In this game, players first draw seven red cards, which have nouns written on them.

The players then take turns drawing green cards, which have an adjective.

The players who don’t draw the green card compete for it using their red cards by picking the noun they think best suits the green card. The player who drew he green card determines the winner.

At first glance it seems simple, but

which card is deemed best suited depends heavily on the whims of the drawer of the green card.

“It depends on the person,” senior Chris Berg said. “Some people like it to be completely out there…Other people like it to be strictly within that adjective.” Apparently, one person who plays even favors “big, fiery explosions,” and will pick a red card related to that regardless of the adjective.

Humor is also a big factor. Who could resist picking a “sexy” Jack the Ripper or a “pure” Bill Clinton?

“It’s mostly reading what other people like,” Berg said.

Uno, a more mainstream game, is based on a deck of four colors, 10 numbers, and various other cards, including the allpowerful Wild- Draw four card. Cards can be played on the same type or color, with the exception of Wild cards, which switch

the color.

The other types of cards in Uno are the skip, the reverse, and the draw two cards.

There are two types of Wilds, one that just switches the color and one that makes the next player draw four.

A large part of Uno’s popularity is due to the fact that it is so different from a normal card game.

“If you get one card, it changes the order,” senior Chris Gallardo said. “It’s not just like dealing with five-card hands. It’s something different.”

Of course, the world of non-traditional cards is far more than just the two explained above. With a little searching, you can find games such as Ziggity, or the 24 Game. New kinds of card games are being invented AMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTOGRAPHER all the time, although a little searching is required. Try searching Amazon for cards This set of cards is a hand from the game Uno, one of many games using nontraditional decks. and see what comes up.

Entertainment

FADulous Mt. Carmel SUN

May 22, 2009

Hula Hoops 1950s-60s

The perfect ingredient to any summer BBQ or birthday party was indisputably the Hula Hoop.

Freshman Briana Pompa Hogan remembers vividly her childhood summers always spent with “a friend and a hula hoop.”

Way Back When

“It was kind of like ‘there’s nothing else to do, so we might as well’ at first but then I got really into it,” she said.

“Me and my friends would hula hoop for hours,” she said. “We would have contests: who could go for longest, who could do the most at one time, who could run

The infamous collection of plastic blondes took over the lives of girls and some boys when most of us were about 4-8 years old. In actuality, the dolls first came out 50 years ago, having been launched in 1959. Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the Barbie.

Mattel Inc. manufactures this widely known doll. Barbie has made it into pop culture several times, the most recent and controversial being the popular song by Aqua “Barbie Girl.”

1970s

In 1968, the first Hot Wheel, a custom Camaro, was introduced into the market. Since then the cars have overtaken their Matchbox rivals, gotten larger in size, and ride on tracks with names like T-Rex Rampage and SharkBite Bay.

Homemade mini skateboards meant for fingers first known to be created in the 1970s, but fingerboards didn’t become popularized until the Tech Deck company mass produced fingerboards, using real graphics from major skateboarding brands on their decks.

1990s 1990s

Yu-Gi-Oh started out as Japanese Manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, but it has since then formed an entire franchise. From the TV series to the trading cards, it seemed as though this was the new Pokémon. It was as though every third-grader wouldn’t be caught dead without his Yu-GiOh cards. I remember quite vividly of a few victims getting their cards confiscated by teachers. Needless to say, they weren’t very happy.

Lego, a Denmark-based company, released the plastic, colorful bricks that interlock in the 1940s. Legos have had multiple themed series like Star Wars and Harry Potter. The toy has expanded from small plastic bricks to amusement parks and video games.

U.S. Navy engineer Richard James was working on springs at his home laboratory when he accidentally knocked one down and it fell from shelf to shelf in arcs, inspiring the concept of the slinky, which began to be mass produced in 1946.

Tamagotchi 1990s In 1996, kids everywhere were introduced to their own virtual pet. Tamagotchi, is a digital pet that fits in the palm of your hand. The eggshaped toy allows kids to take care of their very own pet by using three buttons to feed it, play games with it, or just clean up after its messes.

Although the animal is not real, it still needs constant attention from its owner.

“I had a Tamagotchi for like a week and then I killed it,”

Each doll is based off a pre-teen girl from different eras in US history. The dolls were first sold in 1986 over mail order and have sold over 14 million dolls since then. The company has branched out to modern style-dolls in more recent fashion as well as dolls that can look just like you.

The mini stuffed animals made by TY Inc. became a phenomenon in the late ‘90s. Junior Emily Bell remembers fondly of her childhood with beanie babies.

“I liked them because they were cute and fun to collect,” she said. “I was about six when I really got into collecting. My sister and I probably shared around 100.”

“My friends and I made a video, pretending to be reporters on a ‘Beanie Baby News channel’,” she said. “We selected a few beanie babies to discuss and we described them.”

“It seems a little ridiculous now but it kept me entertained when I was younger,” she said with a laugh.

1990s-Present

Pokemon

Ever since the launch of its first game in Japan in 1996, Pokémon, created by Satoshi Tajiri, has become a very profitable franchise, spawning 40 video games, a T.V. series, a card game, and other types of assorted merchandise.

Sophomore Raymond Remigio has been a fan of the franchise since getting Pokémon Blue in 1998 upon its release in America.

“I grew to love the game because of its RPG (role playing game) elements,” Remigio said. “But after I grew to love the game, I wanted to see the franchise in its entirety.”

Since becoming addicted to the series, Remigio has been immersed in everything Pokémon, buying merchandise, devotedly watching the series, and buying every Pokémon game ever made.

“Let’s just say I don’t see my obsession going away any time soon,” Remigio said.

2000s-Present This fairly new line of toys by Hasbro Inc. came out in 2008 and appears to be very popular with pre-K to 4th grade girls. These plastic toys come in all different animals, from cats and dogs to rabbits and turtles.

Owners of these “pets” can buy all sorts of accessories to accompany them, even a house. Their slogan?

“How big is YOUR littlest pet shop?”

First introduced in the early 1990s, Pogs became an overnight sensation among kids. The game originated in Hawaii in the 1920s and was reintroduced by a Hawaiian math teacher in 1991.

Each pog has a different design on it ranging from a cartoon character to a famous person.

Its popularity reached a climax when pogs were being banned from schools because they were considered a form of gambling.

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E M A

N U O E DS? Y S FA N E A C TH US O 3 M A F ) 2 (IN 1 7

Click on MCSUN.org for more articles about other infamous fads throughout the ages, such as: -Mad Libs -Bakugan -Stamps -Magic -Lincoln Logs -K’NEX -Mah-jongg -State coins -Crazy Bones -Livestrong

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DANIEL THAN | PHOTOGRAPHER

Answers: 1. Yu-Gi-Oh Cards, 2. Beanie Babies, 3. Pogs, 4. American Girl Dolls, 5. Magic: The Gathering Cards, 6. Legos, 7. Rubik’s Cube, 8. Slinky, 9. Pet Rock, 10. Pokemon, 11. Littlest Pet Shop, 12. Fingerboards, 13. Hot Wheels

Today’s definitive fad is also targeting the younger generation. It combines the known successful business plan of the Beanie Baby with the increasingly popular online realm dominated by Facebook and MySpace. The franchise even includes a kind of trading card game.

Stuffed lions, tigers, and bears are basically purchased at local Hallmarks, along with their unique code, which allows owners to log them into the Webkinz World and watch their plushy “come to life!”

“My little brother and sister go on Webkinz like high schoolers go on MySpace,” junior Courtney Hedgecock said. “My sister has over 36 of them.

It’s such a waste of money, because each one costs like $12. But they love it.”

WRITTEN/ COMPILED BY KATELYN CUTTS | NEWS EDITOR MELANIE DICKINSON | STAFF WRITER ABBY MANSOUR | STAFF WRITER DENNIS SUN | STAFF WRITER JORDAN UGALDE | STAFF WRITER

Pogs 1990s

Polly Pocket, which received its name from its original pocket size height, was first produced in 1989.

The miniature doll comes with multiple different accessories and is known for its fashionable garments. Polly is now about three inches tall and has multiple friends, including boys.

Webkinz 2000s-Present

Nowadays

senior Anna Mendoza said.

Through her childhood experience with a Tamagotchi, senior Sarah George is concerned for the future.

“I am definitely not fit to be a mother because I was terrible at caring for [the Tamagotchi] and found them super annoying,” she said.

Over 70 million Tamagotchis have been sold since they were first introduced to the world.

Polly Pocket 1990s

Littlest Pet Shop

His hands move at great speeds. Every twist and turn is thought out meticulously, carefully thinking of every move in order to solve the Rubik’s Cube.

The Rubik’s Cube was extremely popular about three years ago. Everywhere you looked it seemed as though someone was solving the puzzle. The cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor Ernő Rubik.

Slinky 1940s

1980s

Beanie Babies 1990s

massive groups of people obsessed over childish toys.

Nowadays, kids are still afflicted with an obsession with fads. Bakugan, Webkins, and products similar to those have filled store shelves, only to be constantly swarmed and bought by hundreds of small children.

Seeing kids nowadays obsessing over toys like those may make some feel as though these kids are crazy.

But nearly all people have been involved in a fad at some point in life.

The MC SUN staff examined some of these fads, ranging from those of olden days to more recent creations, and everything in between.

Legos 1940s-Present

American Girl Dolls

Our generation grew up with the creepiest of new-age fads. A language-learning, lifeimitating, fuzz-covered robot named Furby gave an immeasurable amount of tweens nightmares when it was popular in the late ‘90s.

Despite what was described as a Furby “comeback” in 2005, this bug-eyed fad is destined to remain tucked away in attics or selling for dollars apiece on eBay

Rubik’s Cube

Pogs.

Pokemon.

Tamagotchi.

Names of products like these should stir up nostalgic feelings of childhood in many a high school student.

Almost everyone remembers the fads of their younger days. It’s difficult to find a teenager nowadays who has never heard of Pokemon.

If you ask, surely they will recall the cards, the action figures, and the video games.

Teachers may recall hula hoops as one of their childhood fads. Why, even way back in the olden days,

Within six months, the infamous pet rock rose and fell from national popularity, and made creator Gary Dahl over a million dollars.

“There’s a Barnum and Baileys quote that sums up what I think about the pet rock,” math teacher Joe McEachron said. “‘There’s a sucker born every minute.’”

Furbies 1990s

2000s

Introduction:

Pet Rocks 1975

1980s

Fingerboards 1970s

Yu-Gi-Oh

the farthest while hooping.”

Hula hoops originated around 3000 years ago in Greece, but they were most popular in the 1950s-60s.

Hot Wheels 1960s-Present

Barbie 1960s-Present

2000s

B5 Title: Star Trek Rating: PG-13

The script of the new “Star Trek” was satisfyingly cheeky, with all the plot contrivances perfect for a blockbuster. The animation was amazing. But when there’s a tiny replica of the Enterprise that doubles as a salt shaker, it’s gone too far.

It started out with an impossibly dramatic scene, where Kirk’s pregnant mother is giving birth to him as the Enterprise falls apart. They desperately cart her to the other side of the ship as Kirk’s father heroically dies, while fending off enemy ships.

The first 30 minutes are spent establishing Kirk’s coming of age.

After he grows up, Kirk (Chris Pine) meets Spock (Zachary Quinto). They immediately hate each other and get in a fight. Spock wins, because he’s cool like that, and has Kirk sent off to some icy planet.

But Kirk finds help from the person he was least expecting: Spock.

Old Spock (Leonard Nimoy), that is, who came back in time through a black hole. Apparently, black holes can act as either weapons of mass destruction or portals through time, depending on how much we care about the character.

Old Spock and Scottie (Simon Pegg) help Kirk get back on board to beat Young Spock, creating another interesting twist. It’s not often you get messed up by an older version of yourself.

Scottie gets trapped in a giant useless water tube on the way, in a sort of Willy Wonka-like chase scene.

And of course, here comes the scene that’s inevitable in any movie with an extremely stoic character: Kirk has to make Spock cry.

We still don’t know quite why a black hole must be at the center of a planet to destroy it, when having one anywhere less than a light year away would put us all in danger. The time travel doesn’t exactly make sense either, because the directors were obviously tired of having to deal with all of those “Back to the Future” complications.

Overall, it was a pretty good movie, right for both trekkies and nontrekkies. You won’t be disappointed.

-Laura Slusser

Artist: The Dangerous Summer Title: Reach for the Sun The Dangerous Summer first jumped on the scene two years ago with their respectable EP, “There is No Such Thing as Science,” but have remained mostly silent since then.

Perhaps this hiatus can be attributed to front man A.J. Perdomo’s stint of homelessness, but with the release of their first LP project, the band declares “I picked up where I left/and I waited two more years/and covered up my ears/I think I’m ready to sing this time.”

Ready they are.

Coming back with the help of Paul Levitt (All Time Low, Dashboard Confessional) TDS presents an album with a sound typical of their cramped genre, but song writing that only comes from personal experience.

The title track, “Reach for the Sun” especially expresses the growth and self discovery of TDS over the past two years, and the inner struggle that occurred in the meantime. “I wrote a song about war/the kind that lives in your head/I found a place I can sit, a place where everyday light hits.”

Although Perdomo belts each line with obvious sincerity, a punk group such as this can’t be held by vocals alone. The instrumentals have to be there, and that’s a team sport TDS mostly achieves.

The tracks are fast, no acoustic ballads to be found, but that’s just their style. In an effort perfect for summer, The Dangerous Summer presents a relatable album that acknowledges hardship, but more importantly, the opportunity life gives us to grow.

-Sarah Carrigan

Features

B6

Mt. Carmel SUN

May 22, 2009

From the End of Heaven

Some Sundevils go above and beyond in asking their dates to Prom Sarah Carrigan

Memoirs from the corner of where I am and where I’m going I have senioritis. Most seniors I know have it. Heck most sophomores I know have it too.

Or so they think, because in reality there is a small but distinct difference between Senioritis and PreSummer Anxiety.

The former is deserved.

I’ve put in 12 years of work.

I’ve been accepted to college. I’ve taken tough classes with no off-roles throughout high school.

And now, I need a break!

Some would argue that this attitude is stopping before the finish line, that all this “work” is good preparation for college. After all, higher education is hard.

Yes, I know, I understand, but here’s the thing: I’m ready to work in college. It will be not only a new step in schooling, but in life. It’s a big deal and I’m ready for the all nighters and tough course loads.

I am excited for college.

I’m burnt out on high school.

AP Literature teacher Gretchen Hughes-Taumoepeau describes Senioritis as, “A combination of exhaustion and ‘I’m just done.’”

This is the land I live in. A place where seniors don’t want to be here and teachers are, as Taumoepeau admits, babysitting.

In reality, there are many reasons why seniors don’t need to be here. Administration would disagree with this statement, but let’s face it, once AP testing is done, my school day consists of scrapbooking, playing with imaginary stocks, and watching movies.

Are these things fun? Absolutely! Could they have real life applications? Maybe. Nevertheless, they are hardly crucial to graduation and college preparation.

Taumoepeau suggests real life experience to fill the time between the last AP test and the last day of school.

“Seniors should have to report to a job or an internship,” she said.

“Something that will actually be beneficial to them.”

As proof that I’m not just lazy here’s an outline of my day today.

1. AP Gov: Read through court case re-enactment. Potentially beneficial for when I get called to jury duty.

2. AP Art History: Watched a movie about a trucker and a Jackson Pollock painting. Entertaining. Beneficial if I ever need to verify a Thrift Store Jackson Pollock.

3. Math: I actually learned stuff.

The Law of Cosines is fun!

4. AP Lit: Scrapbooked. Ate Mrs. T’s snacks.

5. Newspaper: Typed this column.

6. Chemistry: Taped things in my lab notebook.

And somewhere in all of that I went to what I thought was a career day on being a teacher but was really an SAT prep class. (Do you know what the connotation of delectable is? I do!)

Call it an excuse for laziness, but Senioritis is legitimate. It is the state in which children are ready to bridge the gap to adulthood.

We are coming to the cliff and slowing down to peer over the edge before we jump into the real world.

We know that only 13 school days separate us from the real world, and frankly what difference will 13 days of semi-busy work make?

I’m not sure. No one can manage to tell me. So there we go.

My name is Sarah Carrigan, and I have senioritis.

SARA SHANTZ STAFF WRITER The cliché way to ask someone to Prom is to simply buy them flowers and wear a smile but, some MC students went above and beyond this year.

Junior Wesley Wallace went through a little more trouble to ask junior Kellie Fox to Prom.

“He put a poster on my garage asking me if I would go to Prom with him with balloons…I just woke up in the morning and my mom was like ‘go outside’ and I saw the poster.”

Kelly responded with an equally cute gesture.

“I wrote on the balloons yes and made him a ‘yes’ poster.”

Senior Bryce Denham-Zemberi asked junior Anna Oh to Prom in a completely original way.

“He told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands and he put something fluffy in my hand and I thought it was an animal,” Oh said. It was a pink teddy bear.

He and Maddie Anderson had gone to Build-a-bear and stuck a voice box in it.”

“He asked me to squeeze it and it said ‘Anna will you go to Prom with me?’ I was so stunned, I said yes right away.”

Of all the creative ways people got asked to Prom this year, the way senior Chris Gallardo asked senior April Purdy takes the cake.

“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” Gallardo said.

“I did a scavenger hunt and there were different places she had to go to get the next clue. They didn’t say like explicitly ‘go here,’ it was like, they all rhymed but the rhymes sucked.

“The first one was at her car, then she had to go from her car to her house and her sister had the next one. From there she had to go to In-n-Out and then from there, to Borders, from Borders to the pool and the pool to Hilltop.”

“They [each spot she went] all kind of had significance].

“In-n-Out because we always go there after swim meets, to the pool because we spend way too much time there, her house just because it’s her house and her sister was there and she wanted to go with her.”

When Purdy got to Hilltop, there was a song from her favorite movie “Top Gun” was playing and Gallardo was standing outside his car.

All the guys that are still asking girls to Prom with just flowers need to get in touch with their creative side.

APRIL’S PROM SCAVENGER HUNT April Purdy (12) was asked to Prom by Chris Gallardo (12) through a scavenger hunt. This year many MC students were clever when asking others to Prom.

MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITOR ALL ART BY KELLY FAN | STAFF WRITER

PROM DOS AND DON’TS...

ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

Anna Oh (11) hugs the teddy bear Bryce DenhamZemberi (1) made at Build-a-Bear. When sqeezed, the bear asked, “Anna, will you got to Prom with me?”

GUYS

GIRLS

DO: Wear a tuxedo DON’T: Wear your dad’s Prom tuxedo from 1970 DO: Treat your date to a swanky dinner DON’T: Take your date to a restaurant with a drive-through DO: Open doors for your date DON’T: Shut it on the old lady standing behind her DO: Meet your date’s parents DON’T: Show them your fake ID DO: Get your date a corsage DON’T: Pick the flowers from your mom’s garden DO: Wear matching socks DON’T: Wear highwaters

DO: Wear a flattering dress DON’T: Wear a dress that you can’t comfortably dance in DO: Wear makeup to highlight your features DON’T: Look like a drag queen DO: Go to a party afterwards DON’T: Drive drunk DO: Wear dress shoes DON’T: Wear Converse DO: Get a boutonniere for your date DON’T: Stab him with the pin DO: Enjoy yourself DON’T: “Enjoy” yourself...

DO: Have a good time DON’T: Do something you’ll regret

Lady Sundevils hit the gym to obtain top physical fitness for Prom KAVERI GYANENDRA FEATURES EDITOR As the big day creeps closer, lady Sundevils dig out their running shoes and hit the great outdoors, or better yet, the local gym, for a quick workout to shed some extra inches.

Junior Michelle Clifford makes a large effort to spend about two hours at the gym at least five times a week.

“I start with a 20 minute warm up, which is normally something cardio, like running on the treadmill,” Clifford said. “Then I switch to lifting weights for the rest of the time.”

For a toned upper body for the typical strapless and open back dresses, there are various exercises that can be completed.

According to promgirl.net, “back lifts” will aid in getting the perfect upper portion body.

To complete the back lift, lie on your stomach, palms resting on the floor, shoulder height. Attempt to elevate both your head and chest off the floor as high as possible without using your hands. Maintain this position for 10 seconds, and then gradually lower yourself back down to the floor. Execute three to five sets, 10 times each set.

For slim shoulder and toned arms, triceps kick-backs and biceps curls are helpful.

Triceps kick-backs are done while holding a pair of weights.

Start by bending at the waist, with your palms facing forward.

Your back must be straight. Bring elbows up, and stretch arms back as high as possible. Repeat 10 times each, doing three to five sets.

Begin the biceps curls by hold a five- pound pair of weights.

Keeping your arms by your sides, palms facing inward. Slowly lift and lower the weights 10 times. Perform three to five sets.

For short dresses that show a little leg, calf raises and lunges are suggested for lean leg limbs.

Begin calf raises by standing tall with toes pointing straight, and feet slightly narrower than shoulder width apart. Push up onto your toes forcing your heels to rise up. Squeeze your calf muscles and slowly lower your heels. Repeat 10 times, three to five sets.

As for lunges, stand straight with hands placed firmly on hips, legs centered hip-width apart. Take a giant step forward with your right leg until your right thigh rests parallel to the ground. Return to the starting position, and then lunge with your left leg. Execute 10 times each leg, three to five sets.

To get fit in the abdominal area for the tighter fitting dresses, the floor bicycle movement are suggested in order to define abs.

Begin with lying on your back with your hands behind your head and legs straight out.

Then contract your abdomen muscles and lift one leg bending your knee while raising your shoulders slightly off the floor without pulling your neck.

Next, bring your elbow and knee together bending so that the elbow and knee just touch.

Following that, lower and then

change sides so the alternate legs in a bicycle movement touching knee to elbow. Repeat.

Move through the positions slowly. You can vary this abdomen exercise by bringing the knee and elbow of the opposite sides together requiring the upper body to turn slightly from side to side. This maneuver is very effective and works the oblique as well as both the upper and lower abdominal.

Implement the following routines and see an improvement in all areas of your body.

But don’t forget, regardless of your actual physical fitness, a positive attitude and sparkling smile will really make you shine on Prom night.

MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

Features

Mt. Carmel SUN

B7

May 22, 2009

Pilipino Culture Night:

This is Unity Music

Fil Am reaches out to community with annual event

NICOLE BUSTAMANTE STAFF WRITER “It’s the biggest event of the year,” sophomore Alexander Ty said. “And MC’s is always the best.”

Tonight and tomorrow night Fil Am will be presenting PCN Philipino Culture Night.

“PCN is basically a presentation where we express the Philipino culture to the public,” Ty said.

Club president Erwin Ingua has a similar take on the performance.

“It’s how we show the community our mission statement and demonstrate Philipino culture and values,” Ingua said. “We focus on more serious issues and deal with mixing the identities of Americans and Filipinos alike.”

Every year the club bases their performance on a problem or topic and theme and tries to enrich it. This year, the theme is “The Other Side of Me.” “Basically [we do this] to reach out to the community with a show/play/entertainment,” PCN coordinator Geoff Barba said.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the tickets cost $5 before and $7 at the door. It begins with and introduction and dedications to explain the purpose and background. Then the performances begin.

It is a show that consists of three performances: a cultural dance, a hip hop dance, and a skit. All members of the Fil Am Club are included in either one of these groups or the stage crew, which is in charge of the background.

“PCN is very widely known for performing arts and is enjoyable to watch,” Ty said.

For the skit portion of the performance, auditions are held and positions are picked, just like a regular play. However, for the other two parts of the performance anyone in the club is welcome to join.

Although Ty claims MC’s is the best, it is not the only school to present a Pilipino Culture Night. RB and WV both put on a show of their own.

“The executives [of Fil Am] work together to plan everything so we don’t have conflicting dates,” Ty said. “Other than that, everything is done separately and RB and WV have their own forms.”

Kylie Baranowski

A tough pill to swallow

PHOTO COURTESY OF MT. CARMEL FIL AM

The club practices every day after school for months until the performance; although, as it gets closer, people start to buckle down.

“The week before is always very serious and no fun and games,” Ty said. “But months before it’s always fun.”

While everything may seem stressful, there is a certain feeling or vibe that runs throughout the club.

Erin Menefee:

“The week before is very hectic because everyone is trying to pull everything together, and there is a sense of movement,” Ingua said.

Ingua believes that the end result will be something to be proud of.

“I’ll be pretty happy, proud, sad and all those sorts of emotions when it’s over,” Ingua said.

Master of multiple sports, excellent in the classroom LAUREN HALL STAFF WRITER She smiled big and bright as she sat herself down on the pavement. Her eyes widened nervously as she giggled at the thought of a one on one interview.

With such a modest and outgoing attitude who would have ever thought that junior Erin Menefee would be such a competitor in her three sports: cross country, track, and lacrosse.

Menefee may not look intimidating, but on the field as well as on the track she tears up the other competitors.

Menefee is ranked fifth in San Diego County in the mile with a time of 5:04. But the real wonder is how she manages to not only handle but excel in two sports in one season: track and lacrosse.

Not everyone has the motivation and strength to go from one practice to another.

“Knowing that I need to work my hardest at my practices to get better and to be there for my team motivates me to work harder,” Menefee said. “I try to do as much as I can so that I can be the best for my team.”

This team player mentality that is a major part of

lacrosse as well as track and cross country is what drives athletes to get the competitive edge in order for their team to advance farther. This desire to win pushes Menefee to become increasingly better and more competitive.

“With lacrosse I get really competitive, so it helps in track knowing that I don’t want anyone to beat me,” Menefee said.

Although she has a strong passion for lacrosse, she sees herself continuing to run in the future.

“I would like to continue with track and cross country in college because I like the individual aspects of the sports,” Menefee said.

And it is Menefee’s quest for perfection that keeps her focused in school and gives her academic success.

“I strive to get great grades because I want to do my best in everything I do,” Menefee said. “I want to put my full effort forth and push myself so that I can see how far I’ve come and how much progress I’ve made.”

In a way it is this sports mentality that she uses in all competitive aspects of her life.

“Sports have not only taught me work ethic,” Menefee said. “They’ve also taught me how to sacrifice myself for the good of the team.”

ERIN’S STATS -YEARS PLAYED: 5 -POSITION: CENTER -HONORS: VOTED CAPTAIN AS A

GIRLS

MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

LACROSSE

SOPHOMORE

-LEVEL: VARSITY

TRACK & CROSS COUNTRY

-800 METERS: 2:18 -1 MILE: 5:04 -3200 METERS: 11:11.93 -2 MILES: 12:03 -3 MILES: 17:50

Japanimation explores graphic arts, Japanese culture KELLY FAN STAFF WRITER That industry that began with a small fan group has spent most of this past decade growing into a widely-known phenomenon: “animemania” has taken the U.S. by storm.

A recently established club centered around this infatuation with Japanese culture, Japanimation, has likewise attracted great popularity at MC. Japanimation is managed by freshman Lovelle Cardoso, who has a certain club objective in mind.

“Through the popular topics of anime, manga, and video games, Japanimation is a club formed to help create an understanding and appreciation for Japanese art, animation, and culture,” Cardoso said. “We hope that through our club’s presentations, lessons, and activities, our members can form new friendships, while having fun and learning about anime and Japanese

culture in general.” asts through a broad spectrum of activities.

It is Cardoso’s passion for Japanese anima“Obviously, we deal with the major things tion that spawned this club. you would first think of: anime, manga…” Car“We want to doso said. show people that, “But we just like any book also cover or movie, anime Through the popular topics of anime, manga, topics such and manga can as drawing, and video games, Japanimation is a club formed photoshop, vary from shallow stories to the truly to help create an understanding and appreciation clothing and profound,” Cardo- for Japanese art, animation, and culture.” design, aniso said. “Sure, there mation, video editing, will still be those -Lovelle Cardoso (9) music, films, destined to believe and much the stereotype, saymore.” ing that anime and A n d manga are for kids, since its fi rst meeting about a month ago, the or are stupid and weird, but as the industry beclub has seen a massive number of interested comes more and more mainstream, we can only hope that more people will come to accept and members.

“The turnout on the first day was absoeven respect this often misunderstood art.” lutely amazing,” Cardoso said. “A grand total The club tries to connect fellow enthusi-

“

of 65 students signed up just on the first day.

Although the number of people has cooled down since then, the sheer size of our club is just incredible.”

Although a generic anime club has been long overdue to appear at MC, Cardoso’s club does not settle for any preconceived stereotypes.

“One cool feature we have is the point and prize system,” Cardoso said. “Basically, everything you do in the club gets you points, and every couple of weeks, we total up all the points and the person with the most will get to pick from a catalog of anime stuff.”

Japanimation will also be featuring several interesting events in upcoming meetings.

“We are going to feature our very first lesson meeting, which is going to teach either the basics of drawing, cosplay and crafts, or AMV creation,” Cardoso said. “We are also going to have an anime screening event pretty soon, as well as a huge fundraising event.”

Recently, at a high school in Colorado, a student found a fellow classmate’s “Kill List.”

The journal contained a list of eight names and drawings of girls dangling from nooses.

This was a particularly painful development for a community whose scars from the Columbine shootings are still healing.

Considering past events, local parents insist that the student should be punished, and that the threat should be considered viable.

Many insist that this child is clearly mentally ill and should be put on some kind of drugs to correct this imbalance.

But as I read this story, a different question formed in my mind. What could drive a child to this point?

Have we really strayed this far from our values as a country that our children lack simple human compassion?

Just telling our children to be kind is not enough. It is especially true when our own actions contradict our words.

It makes me sick that we insist on taking the easy way out of our problems. When a child is mentally unstable and upset, our solution is to send them to an expensive shrink and drug the hell out of them.

I’m not talking about the marijuana or cocaine that society has placed such a stigma on. These drugs that we siphon to our children are completely legal prescription drugs.

Just take the happy pills and everything will be okay. Or will it?

We fail to address the real problem at hand.

It’s easier to just throw money at our problems for expensive treatments than for families to actually talk out their problems.

“The Chumscrubber,” a movie

by Arie Posen, paints the picture of a community whose solution to every problem is pills, pills, and more pills. Its setting is a seemingly sickly perfect suburban community, Hillside.

When one looks closer, the vast cracks in this society become apparent as families are torn apart by their own self absorption.

Our society has become more like Hillside than we even know.

It seems that suddenly our simplest problems have been blown into a fullfledged mental illness.

Taking pills to mask our problems is easier than facing up to the real issues that are much harder to swallow.

But when we’re so drugged and sedated that we can’t feel our problems any more, we lose the capacity to feel altogether.

Is a life without feeling really living at all?

The “feel good pills” of Chumscrubber are a myth. These pills only mask problems below the surface as they get steadily worse.

Somehow feeling nothing is worse than feeling the burn of pain.

It’s ironic that people have this holier-than-thou attitude about destitute people addicted to street drugs when they are just as hooked on prescription pills.

Both are chemically dependent on a substance to get them through life.

I do concede that medication can be positive rather than detrimental in many cases. Medication has helped lots of people who truly have a chemical imbalance to live a normal life.

The only point that I wish to make is that medication should not be the first option that people jump to.

Over-medication is a serious problem. Parents should take responsibility and talk openly with their children about their problems.

Pills can help the truly mentally ill.

In my opinion, we cross the line when we begin to prescribe drugs as a quick solution rather than a last resort.

Features

B8

Mt. Carmel SUN

May 22, 2009

Senior scrapbooking allows students to reflect on childhood SARA SHANTZ STAFF WRITER Senior year is that scary point in a high school student’s life where they are standing at a crossroad. They have to leave their carefree childhood days behind them and prepare to enter the “grown-up” world. It’s a time to make serious decisions.

They must decide between moving on to some kind of post-secondary education, and entering the work force. Senior year is also a time for reflection. There is no better way to reflect on the good times and not so good times in your life than to make the senior scrapbook.

Most MC seniors that have to do the senior scrapbook think of it as a waste of time, but some MC seniors choose to take the “road less traveled by” and fully embrace this project.

Senior La Bon Fonssagrives is one of the students who enjoyed working on her senior scrapbook.

“It’s kind of like a trip of self-discovery,” Fonssagrives said.

“You see all of your accomplishments and major events in your life and it helps you to realize how much you’ve actually gone through in your life and that even though you’re not ‘grown up’ yet, you’ve already had so many life experiences.”

While sifting through old photos, some students are reminded of the good times and the bad times they’ve had so far in their lives.

“I found this newspaper clipping from seventh grade from when I won an engineering award, which is funny since I can’t

stand science anymore,” Fonssagrives said.

Senior Lindsay Schultz discovered some x-ray photos from her back surgery her freshman year.

It reminded her of how bad her back was before her surgery. She put the pictures of her surgery on her tribute pages in her scrapbook.

When photos are just lying around, they tend to get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes putting them in a scrapbook helps organize your memories and gives them meaning.

“I love going through all of the pictures because before the pictures didn’t have structure, how by putting them into a book, it kind of organizes my memories of my life up until now,” Fonssagrives said.

For some of the students who don’t like the senior scrapbook, it’s not the actual project they have a problem with, it’s the price of the supplies needed.

Some students are lucky enough to have parents who are willing to pay, or help them pay for their scrapbook.

Some have to pay for it out of their own pockets.

“You have to spend a lot of money on stickers and paper and all of that stuff,” senior Chris Serrano said. “The putting it together thing is easy, it’s the money [that makes it hard].”

The senior scrapbook…it’s a trip down memory lane…it’s a reminder of your ups and downs--your wins and losses. It is a tedious project, but it’s not just a project you’ll turn in once and get graded on, it’s something you’ll keep for the rest of your life.

ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

Juniors express American Identity through speech; connect to history and literature KEVIN LAGE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Junior paper, AP tests, SATs. For most juniors, all of these big scary obstacles, that used to instill fear in us, are now things of the past.

But for most of the juniors, there is still one huge obstacle looming in front of them: the American Identity Speech.

For a lucky few, the speech is no

MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ |

big deal.

They are satisfied with their grade, and it is secure enough that only a serious failure could result in the lowering of their grade.

But for others, the junior speech is their last chance, it is their final opportunity to raise their grade the crucial few percentage points that could get them the grade they want so badly.

In general, the speech is worth

about ten percent of the final grade, so it is understandably nerve-wracking for many students.

“I don’t really get stage fright, so that wasn’t really a factor for me,” junior Chris Figueroa said. “But for some people you could tell that they were super nervous.”

The basic purpose of the speech is to give a speech about what you feel America is all about.

“Basically, we have to pick a word

that we feel describes America,” junior Chris Figueroa said. “Then we have to come up with examples from literature, history, and current events that demonstrate why we think that Americans embody that trait. I think that the literature was actually the toughest part.”

In addition to the speech, students are also required to present a multimedia presentation demonstrating that trait.

“For [the multimedia portion], most people choose to do a song,” Figueroa said. “For that, you have to pick a song that you feel captures the theme of your speech.”

Unfortunately for many people, they have to do topics that they would rather not because their topics got taken early on.

“We were not allowed to do the same topic as someone else, so by the time that I got to pick my speech

topic, the one that I wanted to do was already taken,” junior Jeanie Nguyen said.

Aside from the negative parts of junior speech, some people actually manage to have some fun with it.

Nguyen thinks that the speech presents an interesting challenge.

“Now that I’m done with most of the tough stuff about junior year, the speech is kind of a fun way to spend the rest of the year,” Nguyen said.

Sophomores perform Culture Hero speeches for Humanities, become important people from history

Reader’s Theater challenges freshmen to step out of comfort zone in memory of Danielle Van Dam

NICOLE BUSTAMANTE STAFF WRITER

ABBY MANSOUR STAFF WRITER

Every year in May Michelangelo, Gandhi, and Beethoven all walk into the Humanities classrooms.

Although they may not be the actual Gandhi or Beethoven, for five or so minutes, students embody them.

In Honors Humanities, every student picks a culture hero, which is defined as a person in history who has made a significant impact on society. The list consists of names such as Shakespeare, Freud, Mozart, and Elizabeth I. The culture hero project gives students an amazing freedom to dress up, impersonate their character, and create a speech based on their life and inspirations.

Throughout the years, both Robin Blalock and Scott Currie have experienced creative and interesting speeches.

In 2006, a drama student had picked Queen Elizabeth as her culture hero.

She dressed up as Elizabeth, faked a British accent, and essentially had tea with the class. She called her segment “Tea Time with Elizabeth.”

“It was very conversational,” Blalock said.

In 2004, a student who was Bernini had a presentation that has stuck PHOTOGRAPHER in Blalock’s mind all

these years.

“It was before we had computer projectors so the PowerPoint was not part of the project,” Blalock said. “So he used the TV VCR in order to have an interactive with himself.”

The student who played Bernini had dressed up as Bernini and timed it perfectly so his in-class self, who was dressed like the Pope, would routinely argue with the Bernini on the TV. For example, when the Pope would say something like, “Bernini was born in December,” the TV Bernini would say, “Oh no no that’s all wrong it was….”

“It was quite meticulous and very enjoyable to the class,” Blalock said. “It was just, well, very good.”

This year, only a handful of students have come up with out of the box ideas for their culture hero’s speech.

Sophomore Max Khatsenko is one of these creative students who, as Sigmund Freud, has decided to give one student a therapy session.

“Because Sigmund Freud is a psychologist, I thought, ‘Why not have a therapy session?’” Khatsenko said.

He plans to have a student lie down on a chair and pretend to give them a therapy session, while he uses Freudian theories to explain what is happening to his patient and what has happened in his own life.

The Culture Heroes project is an interesting way for students to learn about various people who have made an important impact in today’s world.

T.J. Rivera-Alonso (10) gives his Culture Hero speech dressed as El Greco in Robin Blalock’s Honors Humanities class. Students work to impersonate their chosen heroes from history.

The classes flood into the performing arts center. They wait for the show to begin, not sure exactly what to expect. This is Bob Pacilio’s freshman English class’s end of the year project, a “reader’s theatre”.

“What we realized was that their stories about their lives showed that they experienced so many things: happy, sad, funny, tragic, and that other kids could benefit from hearing the stories,” Pacilio said.

The production was entitled “Talk.”

“The reason we call the show ‘Talk’ is that if one person saw the show and said ‘Hey I’ve faced these issues too;’ if just one person does that, then we’ve won,” Pacilio said.

The play had the illusion that the cast was just reading their essays, but freshman Danielle Bradley said the cast members the audience may have seen most likely weren’t reading their own essays.

“We all wrote auto-biographical essays and [Pacilio] picked the top 15,” she said. “They’re all personal, individual stories, and we had to work hard for the stories to sound ‘believable,’ that we were the actual author of these stories.”

Freshman Briana Pompa Hogan read the story of a girl who was in a car crash.

“It explains how in a car crash, everything is so surreal and everything’s a blur,” Hogan said. “I think it’s amazing how [the author] could put an event like that into the perspective that she did. In the script, she wrote how lucky she was that nobody died. It’s amazing how she

could remain so optimistic.”

Freshman Cole Heggem plays the part of a boy who is caught between his parents divorce, and what he learned through the hard experience.

Freshman Kiersten Bolt plays a girl who visits the Museum of Tolerance.

“It’s an emotional scene where she realizes the meaning and the depth of the museum,” Bolt said.

The show is dedicated to the memory of Danielle Van Dam. A few of the freshmen involved in the play were close to her before her tragic death in 2002.

“We realized that this is the ‘Danielle Van Dam Generation’ and that

these kids had been affected by that,” Pacilio said.

Some of the stories are very sad and tragic. Bradley, playing the part of “a girl who was close to Danielle [Van Dam],” brings up the pressure of representing somebody else’s potentially personal story.

“You have to get to know your script, because when you’re up there, you’re not yourself when you’re doing it, you’re somebody else,” she said.

Although Pompa Hogan admits she was nervous, she believes it was an overall worthwhile project.

“I think it was a positive experience because people who are shy wouldn’t have an opportunity to do this kind of thing,” she said.

DANIEL THAN | PHOTOGRAPHER

Andrew Martis (9) plays the part of a student going to the Museum of Tolerance in English teacher Bob Pacilio’s Reader’s Theater entitled “Talk.” Fifteen freshmen’s autobiographical essays were put together to create this unique production. “Talk” was dedicated to Danielle Van Dam, who was a classmate of many current freshmen.