If she could only eat one food for the rest of her life, she would eat sushi

Dance for Hope performers boogie for American Cancer Society

Brian Fang Staff Writer

Big fan-ig fan- XueQing Li, Xing Chen, Hong Yu and Fei Wen performed a Chinese folk dance for Dance 4 Hope. “I feel very happy that our dance can help others,” Wen said. They are a small informal dance group who prepared dances for Lunar New Year. Jessica Zhou/Prowler

Th e lights dimmed in the Newbury Park Performing Arts Center on Feb. 1 for the 10th annual Dance for Hope concert. Th e curtains opened, and the crowd clapped and cheered as music fi lled the auditorium. Th e performers smiled.

Dance for Hope is a multicultural dance event in which people from around the community come together and raise money for cancer research. Hosted by the Interact club, dancers from the Dance team, a Chinese Dance Troupe, Aspire, Th rive, Academy of Dance Westlake, Zumba, IB Dance and the Bollywood group performed.

Enthusiasm and sweat was put in by the dancers to make the event a success. Zain Kazi, senior, helped the bollywood boys bring out more emotion. “I make sure to model my techniques in a way that I’ve always been an advocate for. I’ve seen multiple situations where people I have danced with have been discouraged because they were laughed at or moved to the back row of the dance,” Kazi said. “Th is year, I made sure to fi nd the best qualities in each dancer, motivate them and boost their confi dence which allowed them to shine.” Priya Setty, senior, also had to take on more responsibility as the leader for the bollywood girls this year. “ Th e past few years...I was just responsible for making sure I knew the dances and performed well. But being in charge of the dance I have to choreograph the steps, teach the dance, move around practices to fi t everyone’s schedules, organize formations for the stage and (much more).”

To give the audience a more engaged experience, performers further went out of their way to take more risks. “Th is year I took a diff erent approach than the past few years. I tried to incorporate some modern hip hop with the Bollywood mixes in order to bring the crowd to life. I felt that the fusion of the diff erent types of music appealed to both the dancers and audience,“ Kazi said.

Amiya Prasad, senior and president of the Interact club, is proud of letting our community express their varied backgrounds. “I think this event helped our community as a whole because it brought together people of diff erent cultures and made them more aware of how diverse our community is,” Prasad said. “Th ey were willing to help at every turn and showed how strong our community really is.”

Th e benefi t raised $3,100 in the end, including a generous donation of $1,500 from the NPHS American Cancer Society club and event proceeds. Additionally, a volunteer match program is currently in the works with the help of a dancer who works for Amgen. “It took so much work and eff ort from so many diff erent organizations to put this show together, but the overwhelming support and the contributions to American Cancer Society made it so worth it,” Setty said.

Work it-ork it- Varna Kanapuram, junior ar NPHS, and behind, Humna Ahmad, senior at Royal High School, strut their stuff as they perform a Bollywood dance routine at Dance For Hope. Together with students from across CVUSD, the Bollywood group was the fi nale performance for the benefi t dance concert, which is in its 10th year. Emily Nagamoto/Prowler

Netflix’s documentary is Fyre

Hailey Washington Staff Writer

During our last four-day weekend I decided to watch a few documentaries, and upon strolling through Netfl ix I found “Fyre-Th e Greatest Party Th at Never Happened.” Both Hulu and Netfl ix created documentaries based off of this event. Th e Hulu documentary is called “Fyre Fraud” and the Netfl ix documentary is called “Fyre.” Th is a small diff erence, but the documentary styles and approaches are quite diff erent.

When I watched the Netfl ix documentary, my initial reaction was “Why?” Why would anyone go on a trip if someone like JaRule is involved. Th ere are many failed businesses run by rappers, but others become the face of the project when it succeeds.

Take the rapper Soulja Boy and his “new” game console, SouljaGame Console, from last year. We all knew that was not going to be successful. My point is that the people who bought the tickets to go to this “festival” were easily tricked. However, Hulu’s documentary changed my view on these people.

Hulu’s viewpoint was that all these people bought tickets thinking they would be missing out on the biggest festival to ever exist, and ads for the festival were no help. Displaying famous models like Bella Hadid and Elsa Hosk just fueled the perceived need for people to go this event. In this way the Hulu documentary was better. Th ey had a better perspective on the consumers of the festival. However, the Netfl ix documentary did an overall better job.

Not only did the Netfl ix documentary have better cinematography, there was a better perspective on the people who worked on the festival itself. Take Billy McFarland’s angle, the co-founder of Fyre Festival. Th e Netfl ix documentary displayed him as a charismatic businessman who seemed to be able to accomplish anything -- even giving personal accounts illustrating festival workers’ feelings about how they could somehow pull a win, because of him.

Hulu didn’t even try to answer the question of why they would continue doing the festival knowing it would fail. To add to this, Hulu interviewed Billy McFarland and it was very weak without any new information being added.

Th e Netfl ix documentary was able to better incorporate footage from the festival than the Hulu documentary. When watching the video I noticed that the Hulu documentary oft en used video footage that was only partially related to the festival, in order to fi ll in gaps. For example, they included footage of a random bank or of random stacks of cash. Netfl ix didn’t do this; they stuck to footage from the Fyre Festival itself and Billy McFarland’s other business ventures.

Overall, the Netfl ix documentary was far better than Hulu’s. So, if you want to fi nd out more about the Fyre Festival scandal, I would stick to your Netfl ix subscription.

Get ravenous at Taiyo Ramen

Hailey Washington Staff Writer

On a Sunday aft ernoon I walked into the restaurant Taiyo Ramen, which is across the street from Th e Lakes shopping complex. On the left there was a wall of bowls forming a wavelike image and on the right a wall of mirrors to open up the small space. In front of me was three TVs, one playing football and two playing anime. Overall, I feel that the “look” of the place was very appealing, but not really authentic to what I would expect a ramen place to look like.

Since I went during a time is wasn’t busy, the place was quite empty and there was not any customers around. However, I also went on a Friday night and the place was completely packed. Like I said before, the space was small, so when it was full it just felt smaller. Th ough the place was full, it didn’t stop the restaurant from providing great service. I only waited for ten minutes on a busy day, and 7 minutes on the day that it was empty. So their service, at least to me, was very effi cient.

Next, I would like to talk about the food. When I went on Sunday I bought two things: Spicy Tuna Over Rice and Miso Tonkotsu (Pork) Ramen. Th e Spicy Tuna Over Rice was just like it sounds, raw spicy tuna on top of plain rice. Personally, I didn’t like it was much as my sister and my mother did when we went. However, in hindsight I don’t even like spicy tuna, so I feel that

Bowl of joy-owl of joy- The Tokyo Tsukemen Ramen is a specialty ramen of Taiyo Ramen. A bowl of soft dry noodles in dry fi sh-based dipping sauce, with chashu pork, egg, lime, roasted garlic and green onions. Jessica Zhou/ Prowler

if you like spicy tuna sushi you will really like the Spicy Tuna Over Rice. Another part of the restaurant that I found intriguing was the snacks in the front of the room. When I entered the restaurant I really wanted to eat them, however, by the time I had fi nished my meal I was so full I could barely look at them. So though having them is somewhat a good idea, I don’t think people will be buying them that oft en.

Finally, let’s talk about the ramen. Th e options that are given include Tonkatsu (Pork), Chicken and Veggie. Th e soup can be either Shoyu (Soy Sauce), Miso or Spicy Miso. I choose the Miso Tonkotsu Ramen and it came with both good and, a few, bad things. Personally, I thought that the meat was somewhat lacking fl avor and there was a bit too much green onion in the soup. However, these small faults didn’t really aff ect the overall quality of the ramen. Th e noodles were much thicker than a typical Top Ramen and absorbed most of the fl avor. Th ey were the best part of the ramen. Th e next best feature was the egg, it was cooked to be soft -boiled and contained a runny yolk, which made the ramen even more delicious.

Overall, the restaurant is inviting and the small space doesn’t limit your experience. Taiyo Ramen is a great local restaurant to begin your ramen experience.

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Dance Team leaps to victory

Jaycen Sussman Back Cover Editor

Among the Newbury Park Athletic teams, the NPHS Dance Team has solidifi ed itself as not only one of the most successful in the school but one of championship caliber. Over the course of three months ( January-March), the team commits itself to what they call “comp season,” or competition season, where the team performs and competes against various schools in Southern California with their eyes set on Grand Champions.

Th ird year dancer and Team Captain Peyton Tovey, junior, went over the team’s philosophy as they fi nish the fi rst three weeks of competition season.

“Going into comp season you really can’t set expectations for how you want to do because dance is so subjective and you go into it kind of hoping that the judges like you. Th is year we have a lot of potential and have been doing very well at each competition, but we don’t let the results from the previous comp aff ect our performance for the next. We always keep an open mind and go into it working harder than the last,” Tovey said.

Since the end of January, the team has competed in three competitions and dominated their competitors. Dance Team has earned the title of Grand Champions in two out of the three competitions thus far, and second runner-up for the other. Th e group also took home various awards such as best technique, best showmanship, best choreography and a total of 16 fi rst places.

With the several awards obtained so far in competition season, Shyah Butcher, junior, earned the Dancer of the Year Award all three weekends. Butcher explained that as satisfying as it was winning the award, it took an immense amount of time to get there.

“It’s been pretty crazy, I wasn’t expecting to win not only once but all three times… I’m really hard on myself personally to be the best I can be and to work hard no matter how I’m feeling that day because I know there’s somebody else who wants it just as much as I do, and if I’m not giving it my 110% each time I’m aware that somebody else sure is,” Butcher said.

Looking forward, the team is preparing for Nationals, a nationwide tournament. With hopes to win National Champions, Team Captain Rhea Vermani, senior, assures her team that although winning is nice, they must keep their foot on the pedal.

“We keep trying to remind ourselves that we can’t sit back and relax. It’s fun to win, but it also means that most other teams are really going to want to beat us going forward, and we have to show the judges that we’re still working to get better. We usually will watch videos and try to fi x our dances with things that judges give feedback on, and spend time with our teammates having fun too so that we can go into Nationals with a good attitude,” Vermani said.

Th e team members rely on each other for support while they work hard towards their goals. Th ey realize the importance of staying focused and having a good work ethic.

“Th e dedications and commitment of our team is unreal and I wouldn’t be able to make it through all the practices without them. We all push each other and have a lot of fun and our goal is to win Nationals this year, so we all have been pretty hard on each other and making sure each rehearsal we are completely focused so we feel absolutely the most prepared for when we go to Nationals,” Butcher said.

Th e team feels that it is truly a team eff ort with each member giving it their all. Obviously, their hard work does not go to waste as it shows in their results, winning competition aft er competition, never taking a break from the grind.

“Winning feels so rewarding because each person gives up so much for this team, and coming together and winning it all is so awesome especially when you don’t expect it,” Tovey said.

Let’s Dance-et’s Dance- Arianna Mah, senior, performed her solo at the West Coast Elite Dance Competition. The competition was hosted in Thousand Oaks High School on Saturday, Feb. 2. “Doing a solo can be really nerve racking but having your team there cheering you on and supporting you is the best feeling ever,” Mah said. Mah danced to the song “The Weight” by Amber Run. Jessica Zhou/ Prowler

Y Stand- Catie Parker, senior, performed a solo routine to the song “Dancing” by Elisa. This is the fourth year Parker competed in the West Coast Elite dance competition. “We’ve put in a lot of extra time and effort preparing for competition this year and it’s a great feeling to walk out on the gym fl oor and show the audience what we’ve been working on,” Parker said. Parker is now preparing for the oncoming CADT and nationals dance competitions. Jessica Zhou/Prowler

Los Angeles Rams tackle hunger

Gianna Spiro Ad Manager

Recently, the Los Angeles Rams participated in the “Souper Bowl of Caring,” a national nonprofi t aimed to use the energy surrounding the Super Bowl and transform it into a time of giving and caring for poverty and the food insecure.

Th e Rams used Food Share, the food bank of Ventura County, as another facilitator and resource for community outreach. Food Share is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. Th e nonprofi t is dedicated to feeding, nourishing and educating the hungry residents of Ventura County, educating the community on those who are hungry, and advocating a reduction of this issue. Th e nonprofi t have continually fed 75,000 people each and every month.

Food Share has been partnered with the Rams for about two years. “We love partnering with the Los Angeles Rams. From the moment they arrived in Ventura County, they were looking for ways to support. Th eir excitement for helping the community is contagious,” Monica White, President and CEO of Food Share said.

Jennifer Caldwell the Director of Marketing for Food Share was also enthusiastic about the Rams participation. “We are

Giving Back-iving Back- While partnering with Food Share for the Souper Bowl of Caring two week food drive; the Los Angeles Rams donated $10,000. From left to right: Napoleon, Rams, Cheerleader, Randy Hinton, FOOD Share Board Member, Joe Schroder, Food Share Board Member, Lysa Urban, Food Share Board Member, Monica White, Food Share President & CEO, Rampage, Rams Mascot, Stephanie, Rams Cheerleader, David Bayer, Food Share Volunteer, and Jenny, Rams Cheerleader. Jennifer Caldwell/With Permission

lucky that Food Share was one of the people that they wanted to partner with, this is the fi rst time they wanted to partner and do a specifi c event. On top of the collection, they also gave us a generous $10,000, which was pretty incredible,” Caldwell said.

A big fan of the Rams, Randy Wright, senior, feels like he has been supporting the team with good morals. “Th e team is super fun to watch and I think they’re great people on and off the fi eld and I’m really glad they came to LA because it’s just another sports team that I can cheer for,” Wright said. “Th e food drive shows that they care about the community and food insecurity is a big problem, but it’s nice to see that people with that much money can help out the community and have a positive impact.”

Besides the recent food drive, the Rams have been very active in the Ventura County community. “Most recently we honored fi rst responders and people aff ected by recent tragedies in the community at our Monday Night Football game in November vs the Chiefs,” David Weingarten, Community Aff airs and Engagement Coordinator for the Rams said.

Th e food count total has yet to be determined but so far the partnership created over 1,000 pounds of food.

Panther wrestlers grapple to gold

Jacob Malone Staff Writer

As the wrestling season comes to a close, Newbury Park walks away with the title of Marmonte League Champions. Now, the Panthers have time to refl ect on the season and how they got where they are now.

Aft er defeating Th ousand Oaks by 12 points in a 43-31 victory on January 19th, the Panthers were able to capture the Marmonte League title, their second title in two years.

“Th is is the second year in a row in which we are league champions, so back to back league champions, and it’s just a testament to their hard work, setting a goal, and working toward that goal as a team to achieve it,” Chris Kilbane, coach, said. “We competed in CIF team duals and we made it to the semifi nals which is the farthest any Newbury Park team has advanced to.”

Kilbane has been coaching the team for the past few years, and is extremely happy with the team’s progress and how they reached their goals.

While the wrestling season was quite tough, Kasra Memarzia, junior, was proud of his personal accomplishments.

“My goal was to make it through the season, and see if I would like it enough to do it again. I also wanted to have a positive win to loss ratio, and I achieved that,” Memarzia said.

Memarzia also believes that the wrestling season has helped him build his teamwork and leadership skills.

“To see leadership in another sport and another group, it changes the way I can help others as well as showing work ethic and commitment,” Memarzia said. While some wrestlers mainly enjoy the leadership of the sport, other wrestlers, such as Urias Merlo, senior, participate for a diff erent purpose.

“It’s honestly an interesting, complex and trying sport where your strength is tested a great deal and the bonds made with teammates run deep,” Merlo said. “I’m very proud of the team, both JV and Varsity.”

Merlo also played his part in the team’s title this season, pinning several opponents across a variety of teams. He also believes that wrestling has helped his character develop.

“As a person I think wrestling has made me a lot more humble. You realize that there are people who are better and know a lot more than you do, coaches being a prime example, but also people that you compete against in wrestling,” Merlo said.”

To Merlo, wrestling is more unique than any other sport due to the companionship between teammates and the competition one can fi nd on the mats.

“Wrestling has also made me a lot more disciplined, it makes you come to the realization that things are never given,” Merlo said. “Like Tom Brands said, ‘You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you earn.’”

Focus- Getting ready to begin the drill, senior (left), practices at TOHS. The wrestling team has select members continuing to practice after season due to the upcoming CIF matches. “It’s honestly an interesting, complex and trying sport where your strength is tested a great deal and the bonds made with teammates run deep,” Merlo said. The practices last for two hours and consist of strength and endurance training. The team has been practicing with other Marmonte League champions in preparation for their final competition.” Clarissa Shin/Prowler

Nico Young travels to Boston to race

Sarena Kabir Staff Writer

While some people struggle with running, Nico Young runs the mile with a time of 4:14, an attribute he has worked on tirelessly over the years.

Young has been running since he was fi ve years old in youth track and fi eld. When he reached high school, he joined the cross country and track team his freshman year and has been improving ever since.

With the help of his coaches and fellow teammates, Young was able to be invited to compete at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an indoor race, in Boston. Th is was Young’s fi rst time ever racing on an indoor track and he could feel the diff erence in racing terrain.

“Th e positioning is so hard on such a short track,” Young said.

Even through Young’s struggles and naivete, he was still able to manage a time of 4:14, place 8th in the race and set a personal record for himself in the mile.

Sean Brosnan, the head coach of track and fi eld and cross country, has guided and supported Young in every one of his moves.

“I have been able to bring Nico to this level slowly and progress him in a manner that works best for Nico,” Brosnan said.

Brosnan’s intentions are to never overwork his athletes and train them in a way that would maximize benefi ts with mitigating the harm of injury.

Young and his team have extensive routines to stay healthy throughout their long season.

“We run seven days a week. Two to three of those days being harder workouts, long run on Saturdays and recovery and training runs sprinkled in throughout the week,” Ethan Ronk, senior and team captain of the track team, said.

Young has put his blood, sweat and tears in for running. Nonstop practicing, an extensive devotion and his peers are the main factors that have drove Young to reach the level he is at.

Not to mention, Young now carries the second fastest mile time in Newbury Park history. “I would defi nitely like to go back. Th ey told my coach that they would like to see me again next year at all possible (events), and I’d defi nitely like to go. I think I learned a lot about indoor racing so next time I’m going to be able to do better,” Young said.

As a junior, Nico Young has achieved many accomplishments and with the rest of this school year to come there is still a lot of time for him to make even more.

Th ere are no secrets to improving in the future. Everyone just needs to do all the things required to stay healthy and run fast,” Brosnan said. “In high school the athletes have too many races on the schedule in a single season. I feel we as coaches need to pick our battles wisely and choose what’s best for our athletes.”

Juggling athletics and

academics is never easy, but Simone Overbeck has it covered. Challenging herself is what she enjoys. “I want to be competing with the best of the best, even if that means I have to be challenged,” Overbeck said. Her advice to other athletes is “to find your drive and what pushes you, whether its family, or wanting things for yourself. You just find your drive and just push for what

you want.” Sarah Lu/Prowler

Even at three years old, Eden Quiroz knew what she wanted. Soccer has been her passion ever since she started, and now she hopes to be able to start for San Diego. Being recruited is something that all should be proud of. “If you work hard, pay attention to what your coaches tell you and have a good support system, if you have that with you along the way, you can be whatever you want to be. Just keep pushing.”

Sarah Lu/Prowler

Not many people can get into UCLA, let alone on almost a full ride scholarship. However, Gino Cruz did it for track and field, specifically discus. “I’ve always wanted to play a sport

in college, because I like the idea of a student athlete,” Cruz said. Cruz contacted colleges during his junior year, and recommends it to others as well. “Know how to talk to coaches, how to address them

and continue to put yourself

out there.” Sarah Lu/Prowler

For 12 years, Chase Knapp has been playing softball. It’s finally paid off. “You obviously have to put in all the work. Hitting lessons, fielding lessons, workout. You can’t

really slack off,” Knapp said. “If it’s something that you really want, you just have to put 110% effort until it pays off.” During recruitment, “it’s so easy to get discouraged, but you just have to believe it’s gonna happen, no matter what.”

Sarah Lu/

Prowler

After playing on South Coast

Aquatics for six years, Bailey Stubblefield, senior, got

recruited by San José State University for water polo. “Overall San José just felt right. Not just for the water polo, but academic wise as well,” Stubblefield said. “You have to be dedicated and committed to working and training hard.” For Stubblefield, “(water polo) was just something that I couldn’t see myself not doing.”

Lu/Prowler