NP Legacies

Faculty remembers George Hurley

Gianna Spiro Ad Manager

In the midst of the many tragedies and su# ering in the community, NPHS lost a beloved coach. George Hurley, more commonly known as Coach Hurley, served over 40 years at NPHS as a teacher, coach and mentor. Hurley began his teaching career in 1972, before he coached the Panther football team for 37 years. A" er ! ghting cancer for 14 years, he passed away on Nov. 19, but his legacy and many memories will last forever.

Ryan Hurley, campus supervisor and Varsity Football and Track coach, reminisced about his childhood and the popularity of his father in the small community. “My dad had a great sense of humor, he was very sarcastic and witty. I de! nitely grew up idolizing him, almost feeling like he’s a celebrity back then in Newbury Park. Wherever we went people knew him,” Hurley said.

Kelly Welch, assistant principal, knew Hurley since 2006 when she began coaching girls’ soccer. Coaching at the high school level was a new experience for Welch but Hurley and a few other coaches that she considered her mentors helped her “address the whole student-athlete.”

“Coach Hurley was always friendly, always had a smile, always had a word of encouragement or something positive to anyone he encountered. He was very impactful to me, and helped me become a better coach,” Welch said.

When Jason Klein, athletic coordinator, ! rst became the head coach of NPHS in 2007, he received two things from Coach Hurley. “He brought me a little small coaching handbook that he had for a long time, which emphasized that the safety and wellbeing of the kids came ! rst. When we won our ! rst game, he got me a little trophy. $ ose two things showed the thoughtfulness and how he always put others before himself,” Klein said.

On campus, Hurley was well-known by many students and faculty for his caring personality. “He was passionate about working with students and being a positive in% uence in their life. He cared about them and their issues, whether it was inside or outside of the classroom, on or o# of the ! eld. (He was) just an all-around genuine person,” Welch said. “Coach Hurley was everything it means to be a Panther. We talk about NPHS standing for nobility, potential, humanity, scholarship, and Coach Hurley embodied all of those characteristics and expected those things out of his student-athletes.$ at helped to create the culture here at this high school.”

Gary Fabricius, teacher and former coach, always liked that “he was very family oriented.” “My wife was always grateful, because he put family ! rst...but if we ever came to him and said ‘my wife needs this or that’ he would say ‘go, it’s ok,’” Fabricus said. “He would always allow family obligations to come ! rst. He was big on not bringing the players in on Saturday...George was one of those that said, ‘Saturday is for you to be a kid.’ And that stuck with me as well -- it’s not a job, it’s supposed to be high school fun and he kept that in perspective.”

When Hurley retired a" er the 2009-2010 school year, he continued to help out and make an everlasting impact on NPHS. “He always put others before himself. He’s really going to be missed. Even when he stopped coaching he still help(ed) coach our lower levels. He always helped out with study hall, or helped me out with wrestling...he’ll really be missed,” Klein said.

Giving direction (above)-iving direction (above)- George Hurley coached the NPHS footballeorge Hurley coached the NPHS football teams for 37 years, creating an encouraging atmosphere on the eld whileeams for 37 years, creating an encouraging atmosphere on the fi eld while emphasizing family and fun over competitiveness. He is also rememberedmphasizing family and fun over competitiveness. He is also remembered for his thought-provoking quips. “He was very, very funny. He’d re off aor his thought-provoking quips. “He was very, very funny. He’d fi re off a joke really quick and you would have to think about it, and go ‘gosh thatoke really quick and you would have to think about it, and go ‘gosh that was really good,’” said Coach Jason Klein.

“Just his humor really standsas really good,’” said Coach Jason Klein. “Just his humor really stands out.” Courtesy ofPawprint Yearbookourtesy of Pawprint Yearbook

Ear to ear (left)-ar to ear (left)- In addition to football, George Hurley also coachedn addition to football, George Hurley also coached wrestling. He poses with a grin for a picture in the yearbook.restling. He poses with a grin for a picture in the yearbook. Courtesy ofourtesy of Pawprint Yearbookawprint Yearbook

Daniel Cravens leaves behind fond memories

Manas Khatore Staff Writer

Daniel Cravens, a student at Moorpark Community College, passed away on the morning of Nov. 17. An NPHS alumnus, the 20-year-old touched the hearts of many here on campus.

Julie Cravens, senior, Daniel’s sister reminisces the memories that she made with him. “Honestly, I consider him my ! rst best friend… Sometimes he would keep me up until 2 a.m. just talking to me about a story,” Julie Cravens said.

She describes him as an introverted person who cherished the close relationships he made throughout his life. “As soon as (Daniel Cravens) got comfortable around anyone, he would be extroverted,” Julie Cravens said.

Many of the relationships that Daniel Cravens formed at NPHS were with his teachers, where he had a reputation for being a standout student. Lucia Lemieux, English teacher, taught him in his 10th grade English class and remembers Daniel Cravens for his mature character. “He was very beyond his years in a lot of ways. He had this wit and wisdom that most people his age don’t have,” Lemieux said.

In particular, Lemieux appreciated Daniel Cravens for his dry sense of humor. “He would come up with these one-liners ever so o" en, but he’d do it in such a dry, calm way… as you got to know him better, it was quite endearing.”

Along with his sense of humor, Daniel Cravens had a knack for writing. Lemieux introduced Daniel to the Acorn’s Fiction in a Nutshell contest, which he won in his senior year. In his senior year, Daniel served as a TA for Lemieux’s creative writing class and was an integral part of the learning process. “He’d always come up with really astute critiques and point out exactly what needed to be ! xed in this piece… we really enjoyed having him there,” Lemieux said.

One of Daniel Cravens’ greatest passions in high school was singing. “He was in every single choir you could be as a guy,” Julie Cravens said. John Sargent, choral music director, can attest to his talent for singing and his exceptional character. “He was one of our very best basses… a person of quality character and high values. I treasured him deeply,” Sargent said.

During a choir festival in San Francisco, Daniel Cravens won the Maestro award, an accolade given to only one student at each festival for an outstanding performance. “He had a real artistic slant to him, artistic abilities that went beyond singing,” Sargent said.

In his short life, Daniel Cravens was able to form close connections with many people. “It’s actually going to be my goal to publish and to ! nish his stories for him,” Julie Cravens said.

When asked how she wanted Daniel to be remembered, Lemieux responded with the three facets of his personality that she cherished the most. “His smirk, his witty comments, and his glorious voice. All of those things,” Lemieux said.

Hands on Earth educates the community

with staggering trash and recycling research

Kessa Chavez DPS Editor

“It’s estimated that the average individual creates around 4 pounds of trash per day, which adds up to nearly 1,500 pounds of trash per year,” according to recyclenation.com.

On Oct. 20, the Hands on Earth club met at the high school in order to kick o! their trash audit event.

Katie Rose, senior, attended the event with her friends who are also in the club. “We wanted to collect data on the percentages of recyclables that go into the trash and vice versa and how much compostables are in the trash,” Rose said.

Hands on Earth hosted the event in order to supply viable information for the grants that the club plans on applying for to create better trash and recycling programs at the school which would improve the environment and actually save the school some extra money.

Suha Hussain, senior and club vice president, shared the eye-opening reality of the event’s results. “We basically went through 40 trash bags...and sorted it into paper, cardboard, compost ales, recyclables (like) glass, cans, plastic and trash,” Hussain said.

Since the event was a bit short on people with an overall person turnout, the club reduced the sample size of their data to 15.

“We weighed the contents of each category.

Good food wasted-ood food wasted- Pounds of unopened, unexpired food were sorted at the Hands On Earth trash audit held on the morning of Oct. 20. Overall, 22 percent of items thrown away were compostable food waste and of this, 13 percent of the weight of waste was unopened food. Brian Fang/Prowler

Daria (Azizad) and Clare (Wang) ran some statistical tests on our data and found that around 60% of our trash (is improperly disposed),” Hussain said. By weight, about 41 percent of the trash was actually recyclable and nearly 9 percent was compostable.

Tommy Joseph, senior and member of Hands on Earth, attended the trash audit to support his club in their endeavor to uncover where our waste truly goes.

Joseph found that collecting data from the event was a tedious but necessary task. “I saw compost, a lot of uneaten food, a lot of waste from school lunches. " e majority of the waste I saw could have been repurposed if we had the proper means of doing so. We just need to invest more money and resources,” Joseph said.

Hands on Earth worked to recover 501.4 pounds of trash the day of the trash audit. " ey additionally found that a staggering 92 percent of waste in recycle bins was actually trash, leaving only 8 percent of the waste to actually be recyclable material.

“We can use the data and its results to develop strategies to increase recycling which is better for the environment and will actually save our school money,” Rose said.

CVUSD moves to district-based elections

Marli Davis News Editor

" e Conejo Valley Uni# ed School District will move from at-large elections to district-based elections by 2020. " e CVUSD school board voted 4-0 at their last meeting on November 21, 2018 to begin the transition to district-based elections by adopting Resolution 18/19-11. While an at-large system means that the people vote for the same number of candidates as seats available, a district-based election divides the area of people eligible for voting into speci# c districts, then the people only vote for the seats up for election in their district.

“Conejo Valley Uni# ed School District currently has an at-large election system, where voters of the entire city elect all members of the School Board. ‘By-district’ election systems carve the city into geographic districts. Voters in each geographic district then choose their School Board representative, who must also live in that geographic district,” Mark McLaughlin, CVUSD superintendent, said. " e vote comes a$ er the board received a letter from law # rm Shenkman & Hughes on June 8, 2018, demanding that board elections change from an at-large election to a district-based election. Shenkman & Hughes is a Malibu-based law # rm representing the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), an organization founded in 1974 in order to ensure the voting rights of Mexican-Americans in the Southwest. " e letter stated that “voting within the Conejo Valley Uni# ed School District is racially polarized, resulting in the minority vote dilution, and, therefore, the District’s at-large elections violate the California Voting Rights Act of 2001(CVRA).”

SVERP did not respond to attempts to contact them for this article.

“" e board was presented with information that lead me and my fellow board members to believe that not moving to district-based elections would result in a lawsuit against the district and that that lawsuit would cost many thousands of dollars and that we would lose and have to go to area elections anyway,” Betsy Connolly, board member, said on why she chose to vote in favor of district-based elections. " e board must now hold public hearings on the topic and draw the voting districts. According to Connolly, “geography, school clusters and concentrations of residents who share identi# ers such as ethnicity, race or income” will a! ect how the voting districts are formed.

“" e map is created by a demographer using information collected during public hearings at # ve di! erent board meetings, as well as a range of other factors including, but not limited to, equal population, communities of interest, compactness, contiguity of the districts, visible boundaries and respect for voters’ wishes and continuity in o% ce,” said McLaughlin on how district lines will be drawn.

All board members, including those recently elected on Nov. 6, will serve out their four-year terms. However, it is possible that the new system could create con& ict during the next election cycle between any two current members who live in the same district. " e system will be used in a CVUSD election for the # rst time in the election of November 2020, in which board members Betsy Connolly and Sandee Everett will be up for re-election.

Board members Mike Dunn, Pat Phelps and Sandee Everett did not respond to attempts to contact them for this article.

“As noted in Resolution 18/19- 11, the Board has always strived to listen to all voices in the community and represent all of our community. Whatever action is ultimately decided – the hope is for all of the diverse families we serve to continue to feel engaged, and well represented,” McLaughlin said.

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Marli Davis/Prowler

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