2021-2022 Issue 4 by The Lancer

the

LANCER

Volume LIV, Issue 4 » February 6, 2022 » Thousand Oaks High School » 2323 N. Moorpark Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 » www.tohsthelancer.org » thelancer.tohs@gmail.com » Circulation 1,900

REBOUND FOR SUCCESS The TOHS boys basketball team proves superior after a season record of 17-5. pg. 23

THE 90’S ARE BACK

TRASH OR PASS?

MIND ON MUSIC

Staff writer, Jake Crandall, discusses why the 90’s was the best decade.

The Lancer provides a breakdown of how to be mindful about our waste.

pg. 7

pgs. 12-13

TSpotlight on senior Nate Lee who just released his new Soundcloud album. pg. 16

PHOTOS » DYLAN COCKERIL » THE LANCER PHOTOS » RICO CALARA & SARAH ZIFF » WITH PERMISSION

NEWS

Hits and Misses

STAFF EDITORIAL

Can’t Buy Me Love

What’s Up and Down with The Lancer Hit: The growing popularity of Wordle is testing our patience and our spelling skills, too bad we can’t guess the word in less than four attempts.

Miss: Winter Formal has been postponed to the Lancer Luau, now on Mar. 5th. We better see a tropical dress-up day.

Hit: Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow lead their teams to the Super Bowl, an unexpected match-up between the Rams and the Bengals on Feb. 13th. GRAPHIC » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER GRAPHIC » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER

Is Valentine’s day a fake holiday?

EDITORIAL BOARD

yes

People often hear that Valentine’s Day is a fake holiday that was made up by greeting card companies. While the holiday was definitely not made up by greeting card companies, it is still highly driven by consumerism and materialism. Today, Valentine’s Day is severely commercialized and most people simply associate the holiday with buying flowers or chocolates for a loved one. Pope Gelasius started Valentine’s Day to honor Saint Valentine who died on Feb. 14th, 296 AD. It was not until hundreds of years later that the holiday started to be about showing love for the special people in one’s life. Nowadays, the holiday essentially materializes and demeans the real meaning of love. It puts pressure on relationships to show their love by buying their significant other flowers or chocolates. But in reality, it does not take the money and a holiday to show someone they are cared about. A 2015 online survey of a sample of adults in the United States found that 66 percent of respondents agreed that “the consumerism surrounding Valentine’s Day has ruined the romance.” Valentine’s Day leaves people in relationships with costly expectations and leaves single people out. Even after tons of money is spent on gifts, flowers, expensive meals, and more, people are still left feeling like the holiday didn’t live up to their high expectations. As happy couples may fill social media feeds it can be easy to start comparing or questioning one’s own relationship based on what they see online. These seemingly perfect couples may lead someone to wonder why their relationship isn’t like that one too

or why they are not in a relationship themselves. It’s too easy to idealize what is on social media as it is misleading and can be destructive to relationships in real life. According to a survey done by the National Retail Federation, people are expected to spend an average of $161.96 on Valentine’s Day for their significant others, children, parents, friends, and coworkers. There is so much pressure on people to show their love through materialism. It can be both an emotional and financial strain as many struggle with finding the money to pay for such expensive gifts. Yet they feel that if they do not buy anything then they cannot show their significant other, friend, etc. that they care about them. In addition, restaurants are packed on Valentine’s Day making it even more difficult for people to get reservations. This difficulty piles on the stress of meeting the high expectations that come with this holiday even more. High expectations often lead to disappointment as they can be close to impossible to meet. All this pressure on relationships during Valentine’s day can actually harm them. A study tracking Facebook breakup statuses found that couples tend to break up more frequently after Valentine’s Day. There shouldn’t be a special day that forces people to show their love. This holiday dismisses the small acts of love and appreciation people show every day. Instead of emphasizing the holiday’s real goal of just simply showing someone they are loved, it just feeds into unnecessary consumerism.

THE LANCER STAFF 2021-2022 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kendall Flemming NEWS Madeline Convy Nathan Yang Ella Wauchope OPINION Jake Crandall Griffin Lester Momo Sonada

ENTERTAINMENT Boden Adema Riley Keeler Finley Swanson IN-FOCUS Miles Cleary Nazo Niazi Molly Norton Abigail Tripp-Bullough

FEATURES Brooklyn Bonilla Karla Garcia Sara Guy Bella Moreno SPORTS Alex Aguilar Becca Glaubke Chase Patterson Hayden Mckinney WEBSITE EDITORS Dylan Cockerill

BUSINESS MANAGERS Remington Beaudoin Grace Williams PHOTOGRAPHER Dylan Cockerill ADVISER Tasha Beaudoin

Miss: Basketball season is done. The Green Hole couldn’t show up, but the Green Tea Hole was living their lives at Boys Varsity Soccer games.

Hit: Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are having a baby. Hopefully the gender reveal party doesn’t result in a fire.

Miss: The COVID-19 testing site on campus is taking up the parking lot, if you are late to school, good luck finding somewhere to park.

Hit: This week is going to be above 70 degrees, finally we can get a break from the freezing California winters.

The Lancer is the official school publication of Thousand Oaks High School, created and produced by students in Advanced Journalism. This publication as well as additional stories can be found online at tohsthelancer. org. The Lancer reserves the right to refuse advertising deemed inappropriate for high school publication. Guest editorials and “Letters to the Editor” are welcome, but must be signed and are subject to editing for length, libel, obscenity and grammar. They can be sent to thelancer.tohs@gmail.com. The Lancer is a member of the Journalism Education Association (JEA), National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and NSPA All-American Hall of Fame.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT: www.tohsthelancer.org

OFF-CAMPUS PASS

Quincy Jones was one of the original founders of the Institute for Black American Music and made history when he got 79 Grammy nominations and 27 awards John Mercer Langston was the first African American to become a lawyer in 1854 Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery

Interracial marriage was banned in the United States until 1976

In 2008 Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States The month of February was chosen to represent Black History Month because it has the birthday’s of Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson played in his first baseball game as one of the Brooklyn Dodgers

BLACK HISTORY MONTH Black History Month is an entire month to putting a spotlight on African Americans who have made contributions to our country. Shirley Chisolm was the first African American women to be elected to the House of Representatives in 1968 On February 12, 2021, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated it’s 112th birthday

The United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands celebrate Black History Month in

October

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-facts https://www.rd.com/list/black-history-month-facts/

Civil Rights Leaders helped popularize Black History Month In 1890 George W. Johnson, a former slave, became the first famous black musician

Historian Carter G. Woodson was the creator of Black History Month

BHM was created to focus attention on the contributions of African Americans in the United States The Black Power fist is a logo associated with black nationalism, black pride and solidarity PHOTO » OLADIMEJI ODUNSI » UNSPLASH

NEWS

DEFAULT

LATE START, NEW BEGINNING Three years ago, the state of California passed a bill requiring public high schools to begin school no earlier than 8:30 a.m. starting in the fall of 2022. After months of debate and many proposed schedules, Thousand Oaks High School has settled on the Default schedule. MADELINE CONVY

FLEX-TIME

HYBRID-FLEX

News Editor

On Friday, Feb. 4, voting ended for the second proposed “Flex-Time” schedule, and because it did not meet the 70 percent approval threshold, Thousand Oaks High School will implement the Default schedule in th upcoming school year. “I’m not sure starting later will be as beneficial as the state believes it to be,” UACT representative and chemistry teacher Rhonda Frohn said. “Studies show it will help teens by starting later, so if it is true, then I’m all for it. It will be an adjustment for all of us, but the last few years have shown that we can all be pretty flexible, so I’m sure we will be able to adapt.” There have been numerous proposed schedules in the last few months. For a schedule to be finalized for the upcoming year, teachers at TOHS had to vote to pass it with a 70 percent passage rate. The previous Hybrid Flex-Time schedule proposed failed with only 66 percent of votes in favor of it, leading to the creation of the second Flex-Time option. After the vote for this option also failed, the fall-back Default schedule must be implemented. Before the Default schedule was decided on, the Lancer interviewed students on how this change could upend their daily routines. “It would be good to get more sleep and have more time in the morning,” sophomore JC Arriaza said. “Although, getting out later would be a bit of a problem for work and having to change the hours.” In one of the earlier proposed schedules, Social Emotional Learning periods were included throughout the week, where students would have the opportunity to learn valuable real-world skills. In addition, there has been a large push from faculty to introduce Flex periods to campus, where students have a one-hour free period during Wednesdays and Thursdays. With this, students would have the ability

to catch up on assignments in the morning before school or during Flex time. “I feel like I’m more productive in the mornings,” junior Olivia Jewett said. “It depends on what I want to focus my energy into–do I want to focus on learning new things? Or do I want to focus on finishing homework from last night? Overall, going later would probably be better.” As the Default schedule is now the finalized decision, students will start at 8:30 a.m. and finish at 3:54 p.m. While students may have the ability to choose an “A period” or “zero period’, the schedule does not include Flex or SEL periods. “Before voting, we reviewed scheduling software for our Flex periods. It was important that we knew our idea could actually be implemented successfully,” Frohn said. “Once we found the right program, we now wait to see if it is something we implement.” Feedback was collected from parents, teachers, students and faculty regarding which options were both desired and practical. “I’m very excited over the possibility of the Flex periods,” Frohn said. “Whether it is just time set aside to get extra help, or a quiet study period, or a special guest speaker, or a seminar on test taking strategies for AP tests, or maybe just a group of kids playing chess, it’s different and I think it will be so valuable.” After voting this past week, the decision of the use of the Default schedule was finalized, leaving behind hopes for the possibility of a Flex schedule system. In addition, instead of periods six and seven following lunch, the Default schedule will include periods five through seven after lunch. With this change, all seniors taking five classes will no longer be released at lunch, and the majority of students will get out approximately 30 minutes later than the previously proposed schedules entailed.

SCHEDULE DECISION—(Yellow) With failed votes on other options, the Default schedule will be implemented in the coming school year. (Blue) Faculty voted on the Hybrid-Flex schedule, and it did not pass. (Green) The Flex-Time schedule was also voted on, but did not pass.

100 students surveyed

GRAPHIC » MADELINE CONVY » THE LANCER

NEWS

A Mental Break With the current pandemic, students are now allowed to have ten mental health days off per school year, allowing students to have necessary rest during times of high stress.

Nathan Yang

PHOTO » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER

Mental Health Statistics 1.9

4.4

1.4

Million Million Million Million Of children between ages 3-17 suffer from depression

Of children between ages 3-17 suffer from anxiety

Children who suffer from depression also have anxiety

Children who suffer from anxiety also have depression SOURCE » www.cdc.gov

News Writer

Typically when a person isn’t feeling well mentally and wants to skip school for a day, they will call in sick as opposed to stating the actual reason for their absence. Yet in times of a pandemic, calling in sick isn’t always the greatest idea, as sick people are required to quarantine or get a negative test result to prevent the spread of the virus. In addition, isolation from peers and a jarring shift for learning have worsened many students’ mental health. According to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Data from 2009-2019, there was a 40% increase in high school students who had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness from 2009 to 2019. As such, the ability to take a day off for mental health has been implemented into the Conejo Valley Unified School District in order to differentiate and potentially alleviate mental health issues. “Stress and anxiety can cause symptomatic reactions which in turn can make a person feel sick.” Lindsey Yount, a marriage and family therapist said. It is important for students to be able to be in the best shape they can to succeed in school. By targeting the root of certain problems which are based on mental health instead of physical through chain reactions, students can be more accurately diagnosed and receive better treatment without having to deal with COVID-19 regulations such as quarantine. “If you don’t take the time to take care of yourself, you will definitely not function and perform as well as you could in school.” senior Dylan Pfankuchen said. Mental and physical performance are closely correlated and can affect each other’s performance. Aside from academic studies, keeping good mental health is important for personal lives as well. “Taking good care of mental health will improve a person not only mentally, but physically as well.” Diana Jauregui, a graduate student at California Lutheran University and an intern at the Wellness Center said. An athlete cannot stay in shape and be able to compete in their games if they do not have the motivation to keep exercising. Personal problems aren’t the only issues though as the stigma which exists around mental health can negatively affect those who are trying to get treatment. “Stigmas surrounding mental health make it seem like asking for help is a bad thing,” Pfankuchen said, “even though it is the best thing that you could do.” Thousand Oaks High School provides help with the wellness center, offering walk-in crisis counseling that includes confidentiality to a limit. To be specific, topics such as harming others, harming self, and being harmed by others cannot remain confidential. “We’re here for you,” Jauregui said, “seeking help mentally isn’t bad.”

OPINION

... That’s Debatable Should shoppers be consuming paper products over plastic?

YES

The choice between paper and plastic bags has gotten increasingly divided, but what should shoppers really be choosing?

Plastic is better than paper

Paper is better than plastic MOMO SONODA

KENDALL FLEMING

Staff Writer

What we eat today is significantly different from the food of our ancestors, but one change in human diets that no one anticipated was the addition of plastic. Each week, people consume a credit card worth of microplastics. When shopping, there are a variety of reasons to choose either paper or plastic bags, but it is undeniable that the benefits of paper bags trump those of plastic bags. A major benefit of plastic bags commonly cited by plastic bag proponents is the production of the product: plastic bags take one-fourth of the energy required for paper bag production. However, people who see this as the reason why plastic bags are more environmentally friendly fail to consider the life of plastic post-production. Since the 1950s, more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic has been produced. Of this, only 9% has been recycled. Bags that are not recycled become waste and litter. Looking at the production of the two products paints a picture of paper bags being harmful to the environment, but the overall benefits of paper bags are enough to make up for its production. While plastic bags are notorious for killing marine life, sea animals aren’t the only things that plastic bags kill. Thin plastic easily conforms to a child’s face and creates a barrier that prevents the child from breathing. From 1980 to 1997, 2178 cases of baby suffocation were recorded in the United States, and plastic bag suffocation accounts for 20% of non-transport-related child fatalities. Harmful plastic is not always in plain sight. People consume an average of 2000 particles of microplastics (plastic particles smaller than 5mm) each week, and they are everywhere. A recent study conducted at Hull York Medical School found that microplastics can harm your cells, and they have since been linked to intestinal inflammation and other gut problems. While research on microplastics is limited as they are a recent development, it is apparent to scientific experts that they pose many health risks to humans. Each time a plastic bag is used and thrown away, it is creating numerous issues for human health. “We need to tackle plastic pollution at its very source [and] stop it from getting into nature in the first place,” said Kavita Prakash-Mani, the global conservation director at WWF International. Paper bags circumvent the severe and damaging effects of plastic bags. We must start using paper bags.

Paper is recyclable because they don’t contain toxic gases that plastic bags emit when getting recycled

Americans use 7 trees per person a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees

It’s estimated that more than 10 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.

Paper bags make up 68% of US recycling

Average person in the US uses more than 700 pounds of paper every year

Plastic bags generate 39% less greenhouse gas emissions than uncomposted paper bags and 68% less greenhouse gas emissions than composted paper bags

In 2018, landfills received 27 million tons of plastic

SOURCE » www.nationalgeographic.org » www.epa.gov » www.perfectpackaging.org GRAPHICS » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER

In 2020, nearly 80% of all mills used some recycled paper to make new products in the United States

Editor-in-Chief

Companies across the nation have begun to claim the banishing of plastic from their businesses and lives. Whether it is the straw for your smoothie, single-use grocery bags, or simply just food wrappers, the nationwide shift from plastic to paper has been quick, and may not even be as beneficial as it seems. While upon surface-level paper is assumed to be the “better” option between the two, although it too has harmful environmental impacts. In contrast to plastic bags which are made of petroleum byproducts, the production of paper bags requires a raw source leading to more deforestation and habitat damage. The production is also much more resource intensive. According to the website rethinkdisposable “About 10 percent more energy is used to produce a paper bag versus a plastic one, and about 4 times as much water.” Reports also show that large quantities of paper bag waste have been linked to acid rain and damage to water based ecosystems. So all of the habitat damage you’ve heard about from plastic items, yeah, that’s happening due to paper as well. Completely disregarding environmental impacts, plastic straws are cheaper and much more practical for the consumer. Despite what is commonly shown through media, paper products are a lose-lose for both the environment and businesses. The shift from paper to plastic straws was a controversial one. On one hand, you’re made to feel good about your choice to use the paper one. But on the other hand, you’re unable to finish your drink because the straw is utterly disintegrated by moisture after three sips, leading you to grab two extra straws in the expectation of the first not doing it’s intended job. Studies have proven that the thin, easily produced plastic bags can be used multiple times, most often twice: once coming home and once as a trash bag. Plastic bags can also be recycled, though few people do it which leads to an influx in litter and landfill capacity. Large-scale retailers offer bag recycling services, however, if that’s unavailable, ideally consumers should opt for reusable fabric bags. But, let’s be honest. That’s simply not realistic, as customers have to remember to bring their bags to the store with them, or else they end up purchasing more, completely dismissing the environmental benefits of fabric bags. Plastic bags are just the way to go.

OPINION

WHAT IS THE BEST DECADE? As this new year moves onward, we continue the 2020 decade. So now I ask this question, what has been the best decade?

1990

2010

1991: World Wide Web Project publicised 1995: First full-length CGI film

1992: Los Angeles Riots

1998: First MP3 player created.

2015: Paris Agreement passed

How long is a decade? Hint, it’s 10 years. And since it’s the new year, let’s just pretend we are still in the 2010’s decade for this story’s sake. Everyone knows how absolutely rancid this “decade” has been and is tired of being reminded why everytime they walk into public, so no need to go over why. But at the same time, so has every decade in history; so now, I ask this extremely on time and relevant philosophical question, what is the best decade? This decade may have had its bad’s, but what was good about it? Well, besides all the things I cannot mention, some pretty cool stuff happened. Technology has advanced at an unprecedented rate, leading to strange things such as school still being possible in a worldwide global pandemic. Society will keep progressing, making everyone’s lives (hopefully) better. And besides that natural progression of humans, not much else good has happened this decade. I mean in pretty much every way, everything else is getting worse, from societal divisions to environmental catastrophes as we slowly kill our planet. Pretty sad. So, what a shocker, 2010 to now is gone from my mind. What isn’t though, is my 100% opinionated winner, the 1990’s. One thing everyone can point to for this is if you weren’t born in that time period, what do you even know about the 90’s? Not to insult you, my beautiful readers’ intelligence, but for me, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that was a historical memory as important as those in other decades. Most of the 1900s was spent in constant war and misery, whilst the 90’s were far enough away from the major conflicts where things were now starting to settle down.

This is also when technology was really seen as a major part of the future. Home computers were becoming more popular, and cell phones were first being used. The World Wide Web, the thing you are using to read these amazing articles, was also invented around this time period. Hope was high to improve the conditions of America, and as such, the entertainment business boomed. Approximately 98% of Americans owned one television in their home, almost everyone was now able to keep themselves entertained for long periods of time from the comfort of their own homes. This boom also led to the rise of some of the most popular franchises to this date, which could possibly have impacted my opinion and maybe also yours. All these positives lead to more in a domino effect, poverty shrunk in this time, and the economy as a whole in the U.S was on a drastic rise. And this is all to not mention the main reason people know of the 90’s, the culture. Anyone who hears of the 90’s can imagine in their heads the type of wacky clothes and hairdo’s present. And although some of these may be stereotypes created by the media and not perfectly accurate, it’s memorable enough to where it leaves a nostalgic impact on all of those who witness the spectacle of 90’s stereotypes If I were to compile a list for the reasons each decade was awful, it would be a pretty long list. However, the 90’s would be obviously far near the far bottom. This research, along with an unbelievably copious amount of 90’s media consumed, brings me to believe that this is by one of the best decades expierienced, most definitely beating the last painful year’s society has been living through.

2020: First COVID-19 case recorded.

1997: First cloned creature

Staff Writer

2012: Boston Marathon Bombing

JAKE CRANDALL

2012: Neil Armstrong passes away

2011: World population reaches 7 billion

GRAPHICS » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER

ADVERTISEMENTS

ENTERTAINMENT

The Word is “Musical” Thousand Oaks High School theater department prepares for its next performance: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”.

PHOTOS » FINLEY SWANSON » THE LANCER

Sydney Uliasz and Cianna Wilkins

Sage Davies and Valerie Morales

Ava Davidson and Hailey Savage

Remy Fortney and Catelin Flores

as Olive Ostrovsky

as William Barfee

as Leaf ConeyBear

as Marcy Park

Bree Silva and Andrew Bergholtz as Chip Tolentino

Lucia Davidson and Aran Denis as Logan Schwartz

Cast A - Thursday Saturday 7 p.m. and Cast 1 - Friday Saturday 2 p.m.

Comedy can release stress

The musical is built around improvisation

Originally ran on Broadway in 2005

Four guest spellers will be called from the audience

SOURCE » MUSICAL THEATRE INTERNATIONAL SOURCE » ARIZONA BROADWAY THEATRE SOURCE » MAYO CLINIC

FINLEY SWANSON

Entertainment Editor

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” first opened on Broadway in May of 2005, Playbill describing the story as “several socially awkward youngsters finding joy, heartache and a purpose in competing at the regional spelling bee”. Throughout the championship, the eclectic group reveals their home lives, personalities, struggles, and passions. According to Brenna Mack, Thousand Oaks High School theater teacher and director, the musical had been performed at TOHS six or seven years ago. Following the school’s recent production of “Romeo and Juliet”, she chose this musical to follow their fall tragedy with a spring comedy. “I chose it primarily because it’s a really fun musical,” Mack said, “It’s about little fifth graders… whole life and death revolving around this spelling bee. We have...the hyper controlling parents who show up, the neglectful parents who don’t.”

While spelling bee is a comedy through and through- Jesus appearing at one scene to help a speller- it also deals with emotional topics that come with childhood. The spellers deal with stress, parent pressure or neglect, and self-esteem issues. One key aspect of the show is it’s focus on improv. Originally starting as entirely improv, the performance still holds much to its roots. Mack comments that there are a lot of strong improvisers at the school, and the also musical includes four audience members. “So if you’re an audience member and you sign a consent form at the beginning of the show, you can spell in the spelling bee and be a part of the musical. You can come up and we improvise with you and you get out and we sing you goodbye and you get to be on stage,” said Mack, “I think after a year in this pandemic having audience members get to be a part of the show is really important. We encourage teachers and students [to be guest spellers].”

ENTERTAINMENT

Mainstream Memes Students at Thousand Oaks High School keep the tradition going with their various school meme accounts. BODEN ADEMA

@tohsbathrooms @madladsoftohs @tohsbanana @tohsbathroomfeet

Entertainment Writer

Meme accounts in Thousand Oaks Highschool have persisted on campus for over 5 years and a new wave of meme accounts continues despite being delayed by the corona virus pandemic denying the ability to go back to school. All of the T.O meme accounts are active on the social media app Instagram, posting photos from around campus and joking about current events. These accounts interact with the community by asking their followers questions on their story and commentating on the responses. One popular account, @tohsbathrooms, has amassed 581 followers at the time of publication and a total of 43 posts. “I was not anticipating this many people to see it all,” says one admin who runs the account. The two admins both wish to stay anonymous, and started posting around October 2021. The pair clarifies who posts comments and main posts by leaving an emoji corresponding with themselves in each post. One of the admins, a sophomore, signs using a mushroom emoji and the other, a junior, uses the blue water closet emoji. Despite their name, tohsbathrooms does not just focus on the bathrooms, but anything around the school. “We started the account to document the bathrooms and just random stuff on campus because no one had yet,” one admin said. When the account started the two admins started off by posting only odd situations in the bathrooms at tohs but since then have added posts of strange things of all over campus as well as more community based content like funny photos of student’s pets and the

“Each account has their own punchline and charm.” -Ryan Shaefi

PHOTOS » TOHSBATHROOMS » WITH PERMISSION

PHOTOS » MADLADSOFTOHS » WITH PERMISSION

cancellation of anything-but-a-backpack spirit day. Another major tohs meme account is the account @madladsoftohs which has amassed a total of 666 followers at the time of publishing. One of the oldest accounts, it has a total of 88 posts, all being memes of some sort. Their ﬁrst post was in november of 2019 and has kept consistently posting to this current school year. Madladsoftohs is run by only one person but was passed down eventually to the owner. “It was initially made in 2019 by a senior and has been passed down ever since,” madladsoftohs said. Madladsoftohs interacts with their Instagram community similar to tohsbathrooms, by posting stories or posts containing funny information about current events at TOHS. They post anything from administration decisions to struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s been mostly positive, especially when we are basing newbury park high school.” says madladofstohs. TOHS meme accounts are also in a sort of competition with rival schools’ meme accounts at Westlake and Newbury park high schools, which have grown following the recent surge in TOHS meme accounts. Madladsoftohs and Tohsbathrooms are far from the only Instagram accounts. @tohhallways covers strange happenings in the hallways of the school, @ tohcaughtyousleepin posts pictures of people sleeping across campus, @tohsbathroomfeet posts “people’s feet under the stall when they don’t know”, @tohs_ banana covers banana based photos, and there are many more. “These accounts provide a good laugh to those who need it and aren’t harmful” freshman Ryan Shaeﬁ said. These accounts can help students get through school and lighten the academic pressure.

ENTERTAINMENT

Game Time Playing games just got a whole lot more fun with these top games from 2021, and 2022 that are very fun to play solo or with friends. RILEY KEELER

Entertainment

The top rated, and most widely known PC or mobile games through 2021. One of the most played games, which a lot of people probably already know. It peaked in May of 2020 with 200 million players, and now has 350 million monthly active players, “Fortnite”. “Fortnite” is a battle royal game where 100 players fight against each other to win, and you can play solo or with friends. It requires a fast-pace and strategic thinking to win. “Being able to do and create whatever I wanted and the exploration of randomly generated worlds made playing ‘Minecraft’ fun for me.” Sophomore Cassidy Kajita said. Another very popular game most of you probably already know is, “League of Legends”, it came out in 2009 and had its peak in 2017 at 100 million active players. “League of Legends” now has 123 million monthly active players since 2021. “League of Legends” is a team based strategy game where you are fighting to destroy the other team’s base, before they destroy yours the winner is whoever gets the other base first. Very well known, and a favorite among lots, it came out in 2011, “Minecraft”. A popular survival building game where you are able to do hundreds of different cool things, and play with other people. “Minecraft” peaked in 2012, 2013 and has had 141 active players in 2021. The most recent, but very popular first person shooter game that came out in 2020 is “Valorant”. It is free to download, but there are in game purchases

able to be made. You can pick a character to play with it’s own abilities, and you play in teams of 5 to get the most rounds won going to 24 rounds. “Valorant” had 14 million monthly average players. It has become very successful, very fast, and is still growing while more people download it. “My favorite game is ‘Valorant’ because of the competitive mode and how it has abilities which allows for people to develop infinite strategies.” Freshman Ryan Shafiei said. A hit game that went rapidly viral, and is now a meme it came out in 2018 is “Among Us”. It peaked in August 2020, and took the gaming community by storm with 300 million active players in 2020. Though now it is dying down a little, you could say it was a one hit wonder. “Among us” is a multiplayer game, not really about fighting and defeating each other, but a mind game. The point is to try and figure out who is the killer in the game, while the killer goes around trying to kill others without being noticed the “crewmates” are doing tasks. They are trying to finish all their tasks before the “imposter” kills everyone while they can vote out who they think the imposter might be. Last but most certainly not least is “Genshin Impact”, it is an action role-playing game where you play as characters, and do quests to level up. “Genshin Impact” came out in 2020, and peaked in 2021 with 11 million active players monthly. Some players describe “Genshin Impact” as a gacha game because of the characters that you can play in it, each character has their own element and abilities that make them unique to themselves.

PHOTO » RILEY KEELER » THE LANCER

“Being able to do and create practically whatever I wanted and the exploration of randomly generated worlds made playing ‘Minecraft’ fun for me.” -Cassidy Kajita 10

PHOTO » RILEY KEELER » THE LANCER

IN-FOCUS

Got Waste? The Lancer breaks down the recent change in how we dispose of our waste and how to remain conscientious as a student.

Q: What does this have to do with Athens Services?

Q: What should we separate our trash into different bins?

A: California passed bill SB-1383, which took effect starting January 1, 2022, and was done so in an effort of reducing our emissions of shortlived climate pollutants. These pollutants are responsible for up to 45% of greenhouse gasses affecting our planet. This law also calls for organic and landfill waste to be disposed of in separate bin

A: Athens Services provides homes with a recycle bin, organics bin, and landfill bin to dispose of their waste. Separating our organics from landfills allows less build-up in our open landfills, as well as opportunities for creating rich soil. Another factor is that Athens offered a lower bidding price to the City of Thousand Oaks.

Toxic Waste: Asbestos disposal and soil contaminated by wastewater.

Landfill: Glass, paper, bubble rap, and garden hoses.

Recycle: Egg cartons, wrapping paper, and milk and juice cartons.

Organics: Flowers, leaves, untreated/unpainted lumber, and grass clippings.

ALL GRAPHICS » NAZO NIAZI » THE LANCER

IN-FOCUS

TRASHY CAMPUS—(Below) After lunch, there are often copious amounts of trash found around campus.

Why Does This Matter? 40% of the world’s trash is burned in a landfill and omits dangerous greenhouse gases.

Open landfills were found to represent 91% of all landfill

methane emissions. PHOTO » FINLEY SWANSON » THE LANCER

Gettin’ It In The Bin When it comes to proper disposal of trash on campus, Thousand Oaks High School needs a bit of help. As the campus piles up on trash, the environmental club enlightens The Lancer with hope and future environmental projects that may push students forward in cleaning their campus.

MOLLY NORTON Infocus Editor ABIGAIL TRIPP- BULLOUGH Staff Writer While separating trash is one key to a safer environment, making sure our trash gets in the can is extremely important for reducing waste that ﬂies into our oceans and wildlife spaces. As seen every day and reviewed in Dr. Bergmann’s Green Sheet, the Thousand Oaks High School campus has a problem with the amount of trash that piles up throughout the school week. After lunch, the quad is often ﬁlled with trash from the cardboard lunch trays to the afternoon’s food. With no current recycling process accessible to students on campus, and a few trash cans here and there, picking up and throwing out the trash doesn’t seem to be happening as much as it could. Could this issue be the result of a lack of student awareness towards making the campus cleaner or is it the fact that there is a lack of appropriate disposal options? A recycling system at TOHS could be a solution to the amount of trash on campus. With a more organized and variatized disposal system, TOHS could be looking towards a greener and much cleaner campus. The TOHS environmental club and its members are dedicated to an eco-friendly school community and raising awareness about the environment to the student body at TOHS. This includes their hope to impact the school by cutting down the amount of trash on campus by considerable amounts. The environmental club also encourages recycling, which plays a large role in what their future projects have in store. “[Environmental Club] Encourages students to make mindful decisions in their daily lives so that they can acknowledge the impact that their choices have on our planet.” sophomore and Environmental

Club Vice President Ramon Moreno said. The students of TOHS, aside from the environmental club, also feel strongly about the conditions of their campus and the issues with throwing away trash. “It’s a simple thing to throw away your trash.” senior Sara Nguyen said. Nguyen isn’t the only student who feels that the campus is not experiencing its golden years right now. “As a person who doesn’t eat lunch on campus, but once did, it’s disappointing.” senior Sydney Uliasz said. Hopefully, there will be a solution in the near future and the community of TOHS will strive to keep the campus clean and environmentally friendly. Until then, it’s up to the students to make smart choices when it comes to the environment. To attempt to prevent littering, don’t keep trash in your car that may fall out, and make sure that when you throw an item away, it actually ﬁnds its way into the bin. In the quad the amount of trash is astonishing, and a lot of it is food waste. One way to lessen the amount of food waste is to actually eat the food that is provided, save it for later, or try to predict what will be a reasonable serving size for oneself. Environmental issues can’t be solved immediately, but any assistance from those inhabiting the planet is a step closer towards a greener society. SOURCE » ATHENS SERVICES SOURCE » SB 1383 SOURCE » MILLER RECYCLING SOURCE » RECYCLING TIPS AND SOURCES SOURCE »WASTE MANAGEMENT SOURCE » EARTHDAY.ORG

Landfills bring hazards such as odor,

smoke, noise, bugs, and water contamination.

FEATURES

Welcome to the Tea Party There is a brand new Tea Club at our school. This club offers games, socializing, an opportunity to put something extra on college application, and of course tea. SARA GUY

Staff Writer

The start of a new year brings opportunity and new ideas. This year, in early January The Tea Club was brought to Thousand Oaks High School. This new club is an environment for socializing and bonding over the love of tea. Every Tuesday, the club meets right outside of Mr. Smith’s room at J1 for games and hanging out during lunch time. Robert Svitek and Owen Farkas are the co-founders of the club. “[The club was] mostly spawned out of an idea my brother had. [We are] not the ﬁrst tea club at TO, He started a now defunct club in 2016,” Co-Founder and Junior Robert Svitek said. The leaders of this club plan out activities and games for the club to enjoy while at each meeting. They plan Kahoot games for people to join and play to involve students. They also play games like what they call “tea pong” which is basically a game of beer pong but with tea instead. The club promotes just coming together, the games are not a requirement to be in the club. “It’s a very chill and welcoming club. There are no restrictions or overwhelming responsibilities, it’s just a club that brings people together over some tea,” new member and Junior Sirena Donate said. According to legend, tea was discovered by a farmer named Shennong when he accidentally poisoned himself 72 times while in search of edible herbs and grains. Before the poison could kill him, a leaf drifted into his mouth. He chewed on the leaf and it revived him. Archaeological evidence now shows that tea was

first cultivated as early as 6,000 years ago in Ancient China. These leaves were turned into a drinkable liquid only 1,500 years ago when people began to notice the many ways to manipulate the flavor. This very old tradition spread and stood the test of time. Tea has even found a way into the lives of 20th century teenagers. “It’s mostly intended to just be fun and [to] drink tea,” Co-Founder Owen Farkas said. This tea club continuously brings in new members to experience their fresh environment of tea drinking and socializing. Their second meeting brought in new attendees. Their offer of giving students an additional extra curricular for college applications to further help them gain interest from their goal colleges and meeting new people brings in plenty of people. “Our first meeting we had 17 and we were ecstatic about that but we knew we could do better so we just announced it a lot and next thing we knew we had [new people] at our meeting,” club Treasurer and Junior Isaack Garcia said. This club serves as another option for socialization during the school day. All kinds of different people come together to take part in the simple enjoyment of games, friends, and above all tea. The long tradition of appreciating tea has not only held on for generations but it has also played a part in this year’s school dynamic. This new club gives all students more opportunities for this school to feel like a welcoming home for all people.

PHOTO » LUCAS SHIN » WITH PERMISSION

CLUB CHAOS—A photo taken of the aftermath of the full club attendee photo. The fun chaos of a new club.

PHOTO » KENDALL BROWN » WITH PERMISSION

NEW COMERS— The club had many new attendees after tons of effort dedicated to advertising. As a result of their determination their second meeting brought in 41 new students.

PHOTO » SARA GUY » THE LANCER

GREEN HOLE— The club got together and formed their own green hole for to support the lancers during the varsity boys soccer game on January 28.

NEW START START—The club members have their first meeting outside J-1. Owen Farkas and Robert Svitek provided tea for this club meeting. PHOTO » ERIK SVITEK » WITH PERMISSION

SUBstantial Lives

FEATURES

Classes have substitute teachers every day who are just a little part of our daily lives. But subs have lives of their own. Get to know some of these educators seen on campus. BROOKELYN BONILLA

The Lancer: Do you have a certain hobby you enjoy outside of your job? Kaitlin Miller: I enjoy gardening and watercolor painting. However, I don’t get much time to do that, so I use my free time to read and enjoy time in the backyard with Kaladin, my cat. TL: What is your favorite part of the day? KM: The few minutes of “chill time” before sixth period ends. My sixth period is full of really silly students and I love to hear what they’ve been thinking about all day. It could range from controversy to Ratatouille it’s always amusing. TL: What was your profession before being a substitute teacher? KM: I graduated from CSU Channel Islands in May of 2020. I’m a history teacher by training. I don’t have a job outside of this one for now, because this job is full-time.

Staff Writer

KAITLIN MILLER

PHOTOS » KAITLIN MILLER » WITH PERMISSION

NANCY RIVERO LEON PHOTOS » NANCY RIVERA LEON » WITH PERMISSION

The Lancer: Do you have a certain hobby you enjoy outside of your job? Nancy Rivero Leon: Shopping, but I also like to do folk dancing, pickle-ball, and racket-ball. TL: What is your favorite part of being a substitute teacher? NRL: Being a long term substitute, I get to enjoy the opportunity to get to know students and interact with them over a long period of time. TL: Did you have a job before this or during this job? NRL: I have had some positions in the district teaching physical education. I am credentialed in teaching that subject. TL: How are you different from school to your home? NRL: When I am home I am more relaxed and more easy going.

Artist Nate Lee describes his progress and original creations in the underground music industry.

Welcome to my World

FEATURES

Go here to listen to Nate Lee’s “The End is Near”

ISABELLA MORENO

Features Editor

“ I learned a lot about myself from quarantine. I just wanted to express that creatively and I chose to do it through music,” senior songwriter and producer Nate Lee said. Over the past couple years, students have dealt with a time of abnormality and change. Like many artists, this period of time for self reflection inspired him to expand his musical talents to singing and songwriting. “I’ve been playing the drums for about 10 years now, but I only started to write my own original music at the beginning of quarantine.” Lee has released singles under his name since the beginning of 2020, as well as one of his proudest projects not released under his name, an album called “Twin River Park.” Lee’s style is always evolving, but for now it has established itself as what he describes it as, “...indie folk with some elements of pop.” Inspiration from current trends and underground artists influence his work the most, including aspects of new wave and punk music. “As a parent who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I’ve always played a lot of music from that era,” Lee’s mom, Debbie Lee, said. “I can hear that influence in a lot of what Nate writes.” Compiling instruments and coming up with intriguing lyrics is not Nate Lee’s only talent. He is also mastering the art of production and getting his music out into the world via social media and numerous music streaming platforms. “In terms of the creation of the music, the distribution, and the advertisement of it; that’s all me.” Nate Lee said.Advertising music vidoes and unconventional artistic publicity is how he expresses himself as an artist and an individual, as well as spreads the word about his music. “Nate’s passion for music was one of the first things I learned

about him,” senior Sean Jacob said. Their friendship began in 2019 during their sophomore year. Jacob witnessed Nate Lee’s prime time of developing his brand and finding his purpose in the world of music. “I saw that Nate was starting to take music seriously when he switched from doing mostly covers to recording and uploading original songs to Spotify and other music streaming platforms.” Jacobs said. One of Nate Lee’s most successful songs was released since 2020 under his real name called “The End is Near” and can be streamed on both Spotify and SoundCloud. With currently over thirty thousand plays, it has proven itself to be the most popular song that he’s released under both his name and his other title “Twin River Park.” While the community is slowly returning to normalcy, Nate Lee has not stopped creating music and does not plan to stop any time soon. “I have my second Twin River Park album coming out in March called ‘Elephant in the Room.’” Nate Lee said. “This album incorporates the type of music I made when I first started and the style I’ve adopted with my recent music…My top three musical influences for this album have been The Strokes, Jean Dawson, and PUP.” The music world is constantly changing, with new sounds being created and old trends resurfacing. Nate Lee continues to present his talents in a fresh and stylistic way, challenging the boundaries of the underground music industry, as well as inspiring others to show off their eccentric musical talents. “It just doesn’t matter. No one has to see or hear this except for you. Just make whatever you think sounds cool and until you find something you’re proud of,” Nate Lee said. I truly believe that anyone canc reate great music, they just have to find the courage deep inside them to put it out there into the world.”

ALL PHOTOS » NATHAN LEE » WITH PERMISSION

INGRID SLATTUM

BLAKE LAURITZEN

FEATURES

SYDNEY KORKOSZ

If you could talk to any animal what would it be and what would you say? I would talk to my cat Nala because I just wanna know why she wants to keep biting my fingers because it is so weird and unnecessary

Would you rather break into dancing or scream every time you hear the word bug? I would break into dancing because I am the winner of dancing with the T.O. stars so I kinda have some skills in that

What is a lie you tell yourself the most often? I tell my self I will go to Yale, someday

EVERY LANCER HAS A STORY Every Lancer Has a Story is a reoccurring feature in the Lancer about students who are selected on campus at different times and places. Each student is asked a different question about their unique life experiences. KARLA GARCIA

ERIN KAUFMAN

Would you rather have your eye twitch every time you are mad or confused? When I’m confused cause I wouldn’t want people knowing I’m mad or upset with them but instead just when I’m confused

AFONSO GAMA

It disappears into a random dream obviously.

BRANDON RIVERA

Where do you think a thought goes?

Features Writer

What role could you perform better than the original actor in any movie? I would say Bad Boys because I’m stronger than Will Smith and faster.

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FEATURES

Helen Reveles FEATURED STUDENT OF THE MONTH Sophomore Helen Reveles of the Thousand Oaks Choir was selected as one of 107 Calif. vocalists for the 2022 Calif. All State Honors Ensembles. She will travel to Fresno in Feb. to be a part of the honor choir weekend. Reeves has been singing almost her entire life, though she never planned to actually get into the All State Honors Ensembles. “For me, music has always been a big part of my life,” Reveles said, “Singing is what helps me express myself in a lot of ways.”

SINGING IN HARMONY HARMONY—(Left) Helen, along with other choir members, are performing during the SCVA Concert at Redlands University Chapel.

LANCER LEGENDS KENDALL FLEMING

Editor in Chief

TAKING THE SHOT SHOT— (Left) Varsity basketball player, Caleb Chin, takes an impressive three pointer shot during a game against Westlake.

Senior Center Caleb Chin lead Thousand Oaks to a three win and zero loss week against Newbury Park, Oaks Christian, and Westlake. During this stretch of games he averaged 18.6 points, 9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. Even oﬀ the court, Chin is known to be a great student by his teachers and peers.

FEATURED ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

CALEB CHIN PHOTO » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER PHOTO » SARAH ZIFF » WITH PERMISSON »LANCER LEGEND

SPORTS

It’s All in the Hips, Baby! Boys golf prepares for their first full scheduled season since COVID, with hopes of going to the CIF tournament. Hitting the Range—(Top) Fouryear starter, Quinn Fetch at Los Robles Greens working on mastering his 9-iron swing.

PHOTO » KENDALL FLEMING » THE LANCER

ALEX AGUILAR

Staff Writer

The start of the second semester also brings the start of spring sports. Thousand Oaks High School’s boys golf team in particular will begin their season on Feb. 24. Their last season was solid but this year they hope to improve even more and avoid the obstacles they faced last year with COVID-19. The team practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and most Thursdays in preparation for the upcoming season. They mainly practice at Los Robles Greens in Thousand Oaks where they hit balls on the range as well as practice chipping and putting. “We also have a lot of practice rounds planned at Los Robles golf course this year, and this will hopefully sharpen our golf game even more.” junior player Daniel Darwin said. For the majority of last year’s season, Los Robles Greens only allowed hitting up to 175 yards on the range due to a lack of netting. This yardage cap forced players to focus more on their short game, speciﬁcally their irons. Scheduling was also an issue for TOHS Boys and Girls Golf last season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some courses were closed while others were busier than ever since golf was one of the few activities that could be done throughout the pandemic. Matches often had to start very early causing the players to miss lots of school. Additionally, tournaments were even scheduled during Advanced Placement testing which caused an issue for some players. “A lot of matches last year got canceled, but we have a ton scheduled this year. I just hope that the schedule stays the same and things don’t change with Covid again.” Darwin said. Although their season may be aﬀected by COVID

yet again, the team has kept their eyes concentrated on their opponents and their performance for the season. Oaks Christian in particular has had an impressive record in previous seasons, finishing 1st out of 6 teams in last season’s Marmonte League Final Tournament. Due to Oaks Christian’s history of winning, Thousand Oaks sees them as the team to beat. Because golf is also an individual sport, players often practice outside of when the team meets. “Everyone on the team has been grinding the game either on their own or with the team, so I am confident we will come together as an improved set of players.” senior player Quinn Fetch said. Their main goal for this season is to qualify for CIF. Usually only the top two teams in the Marmonte League qualify, making the tournament competitive. However, the team did qualify for CIF last year. “We are aiming to make CIF playoffs again this year with the hope that we will place high enough to move on where we stopped short last year,” said Fetch. Additionally, individual players can qualify for the CIF individual tournament. In order to qualify, players typically have to be in the top 7 of all players in the Marmonte League. “I would like to see us put at least two boys into individuals this year.” coach Jordan Daigneault said. Last season, Gavin McCormick, a sophomore at the time, qualified and represented TOHS Boys Golf at the tournament. He averaged 2.8 strokes over par last season and is currently leading the way in practice rounds this year as well. The team has been working hard to improve their game for the upcoming season, and starting Feb. 24 they will hopefully get to see all their hard work begin to pay off.

Last Season’s Averages Gavin McCormick:

2.8 strokes over par

Matthew Fisher:

5.8 strokes over par

Evan Jiang:

6.9 strokes over par

Preseason Averages Gavin McCormick:

2.6 strokes over par

Matthew Fisher:

less than 4 strokes over par

Daniel Darwin:

less than 4 strokes over par

Evan Jiang:

less than 4 strokes over par

Quinn Fetch: Jayden Dodwell:

5 strokes over par 5.5 strokes over par

SPORTS

STATING POSITION— (Right) Senior Makenna Bloom on the blocks before last year’s CIF quarterfinals.

co re

Star swimmers and their coach reflect on their four years swimming varsity and how they got to where they are now as their final season as Lancers approaches. HAYDEN MCKINNEY

Sports Writer

With an abundance of gifted athletes in various sports programs, many can be found on the swim team. In preparation for the first meet on Mar. 3, head coach Tarrik Daou is hoping to start off strong. Last year, boys swimming placed second in the Coastal Canyon Finals, while the Girls team finished in third. Both teams currently feature many talented swimmers, two being Senior Connor Henry and Senior Makenna Bloom. Connor Henry, a passionate swimmer, has let his experience and hard work speak for him. “I’ve been swimming competitively since the third grade so it’s something that’s really ingrained in my life,” Henry said. “I’ve been doing it for so long because it’s one of my favorite things to do, and it’s so fun to see the hard work I put in during practice translate in meets.” Moreover, putting in work outside of school seems to benefit the two. Whether it is participating in a club team or simply going to the gym. Bloom, a swimmer with many accolades, tries to do so as much as possible. “Outside of the pool I do strength training at the gym as well as yoga to help with flexibility,” Bloom said. In terms of accomplishments, these two Lancers have made many in their high school swimming career whether it is making CIF as an underclassman or winning league events. “I would say my biggest accomplishment was winning

FINISHING TOUCH—(Left) Senior Connor Henry competing in the 100-meter butterfly in league finals at Rancho Simi Community Center.

Tim

both of my individual events at league finals last year,” Henry said. “I was seeded second going into finals, but I still wanted to win and ended up out touching the swimmer who seeded first.” Being a senior athlete means many things, however the one that stands out the most is that the younger athletes require inspiration to go and do better. “Makenna Bloom will without a doubt be the Girls Varsity Captain two years in a row,” Daou said. “She is a tough and inspirational swimmer, best known for her mental fortitude, who shows up to practice and motivates everyone to do their best even if they don’t feel like it.” Furthermore, bearing the stress and pressure of a senior is crushing as they have more responsibility as students and athletes. Nonetheless, that does not stop Henry from being competitive academically and athletically. “Connor learned Chinese, marches in the marching band, is on the board of Southern California Swimming, works as a lifeguard, and maintains a high GPA all while swimming doubles practices in the morning and the evening,” Daou said. “He has always been the hardest worker and has been on varsity all four years.” So far, these two swimmers are on the path to success. Next fall, Henry is headed to Georgetown University and Bloom will decide where she will attend in March.

OT OS OS » M » C AK ON EN NO NA R HE BLO NR OM Y »W »W I IT H TH PE PE RM RM IS SI ISSI ON O N

BACKSTROKE START START— (Left) Bloom leaps off wall for a backstroke start during medley relay at last year’s league finals.

FREESTYLE—(Right) Henry winning the 100 meter freestyle at last year’s league finals.

SPORTS

Swim Strong, Swim Fast, Swim Bold.

PASS—(Right) Kendall Culhane going in for a pass.

The girls Varsity Water polo is filled with talented and ambitious players, working hard to keep their overall record of eleven wins and five losses. Becca GLAUBKE

Staff Writer

Over the years, the Thousands Oaks Girls Varsity water polo team has been very successful as they are number 2 in the Coastal Canyon League. With 11 wins and 5 losses, they are only 6 points behind the opposing team, meaning the girls can easily take home the win. Senior Renee Fouriner is having a great year, but as she gets older she needs to set new goals for herself. Being a Senior, her next big goal is getting into college, “Setting big goals for myself is still kind of new to me and something I am working on in general,” Fouriner said. Since she is a senior, she has to focus on something else. “This year I would say my main goal is getting into college and figuring everything out.” Fouriner said. She couldn’t have done it all without her mom because she is her biggest fan. “She is my biggest supporter and she is really encouraging too. It means a lot to me that she is on my side because she is also my hero. I look up to her a lot,” Foreigner said. Fouriner’s journey all started on her first day of practice as a freshman. She had started her freshman year in swimming, but then switched to water polo. “It was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. I really enjoy the sport and I love my teammates.” Fouriner said. Senior Emily Boughn is another hardworking driver and attacker, playing with her lucky number, five. Boughn is constantly motivated by her boyfriend and family to play harder, “My biggest inspiration is my family and boyfriend, Peyton, because they always push me to be better and work harder.” Boughn said. Her next step in life is to go to college and get a job.

Although Emily says the easiest part about water polo is defense, she says the hardest part about playing is trying to outplay competition especially ones who are bigger. “The easiest part of water polo is defense and the hardest part is having to outplay people twice my size.” Boughn said. Senior Kendall Ribber’s love for water polo began her first practice as a Freshman. “I started my freshman year playing water polo. I fell in love at my first practice.” Ribbers said. Before becoming as good as she is now, Ribbers faced many challenges such as staying positive during the game. “Some of my biggest challenges would be staying positive throughout the game. Especially when you face bad referees or dirty players, it is always frustrating.” Ribbers explained. Although it is hard to do, she can always find the bright side to problems. “I usually try to shake it off, but other times I just smile and laugh. That is one of the biggest things I do when I’m frustrated, laugh.” Ribbers explained. Thanks to her coaches, Ribbers is in the place she is today. She couldn’t have done it without them. “One of my biggest inspirations in my life would be my coach, he pushes me to be a better player, but also teaches me how to play better everyday.” Ribbers said The girls are working hard to take home the Coastal Canyon League win. With help from their coaches and head coach, Kacey Creek, family and friends, they are working hard to be the best they can, especially when they had to take time off for COVID in 2020. They have worked hard to get back to the top and show who’s boss. The team is ready to conquer and challenges that come their way as a team.

REACHING— (Left) Emily Boughn lunges, reaching for the ball, trying to take it from the opposing team.

DEFENSE— DEFENSE (Right) Rachel Lewis blocking a pass from the other team.

HUDDLED—(Right) The girls are getting a pep-talk by their coach, Kacey Creek. GRAPHICS » KENDALL FLEMING

ALL PHOTOS » SARAH ZIFF » LANCER LEGEND

SPORTS

ORDER ON THE COURT Boys Varsity Basketball season comes to a close and the prospect of making it to the end of playoffs keeps the Lancers motivated, even without the Green Hole to cheer them on. CHASE PATTERSON

Sports Editor

Coach Rich Endres and his Varsity Boys Basketball team are looking to make a run for CIF amidst COVID-19 scares. Having a lineup stacked with twelve seniors, it’s a now or never scenario as after this season, Thousand Oaks loses four of their five starters with only three players returning, Sophomore Elias Chin, Junior Cole Caudill, and Junior Jacob Kjarval. When asked about the state of next year’s team, “It’ll be very important for younger players to step up and fill the roles that the seniors left,” said Elias Chin. While this year, one of the strengths is the abundance of experience, that’s the same thing the team will be lacking next year. “The team looks the best it has in years and I think this is one of the best chances the school has ever had to win CIF.” said Chin In order to qualify for CIF playoffs this season, the team needs to have the first or second best record in the conference. The Lancers haven’t failed to achieve that goal thus far, having a record of five wins and one losses record. The Lancers have a very experienced line up this year with Senior Caleb Chin at the forefront. Due to this experience coupled with his dominance, Chin has become one of the main leaders within the team. “As a senior, I am more aware of other players on

the team,” said Chin. “It’s a conscious effort for me to keep people motivated and playing at their best.” Thus far, Thousand Oaks has had a strong start within the conference, winning all games over twenty points within the first five games. With blowout wins against Oaks Christian, Newbury Park, and Westlake, the team shows no sign of slowing down. Thousand Oaks has dominated other regions of California prior to league such as Arroyo Grande and has been able to compete at the highest level of high school basketball. Despite the impressive season so far, the rule of four people per player restricts the ability to have a student section. The lack of atmosphere on the court can really limit the skills of the players on the court. As is a possible issue for most sports teams, the Lancers have persisted through many injuries throughout the seasons as well as COVID-19 protocols issues. Prior to League Play, Caleb Chin suffered an injury to the knee and was out for two weeks. Although this hampered the ability of the team, this didn’t stop the team from maintaining their winning record. Throughout this season, the Lancers have shown a lot of potential towards the prospect of playoffs. With an experienced team and last year’s 1st Team All Marmonte Center Caleb Chin, the possibility of a highly competitive chance to make CIF playoffs. With a roster top heavy with seniors, it’s now or never.

ELIAS CHIN

CALEB CHIN

PHOTO » RICO CALARA » WITH PERMISSION

PHOTO » DYLAN COCKERILL » THE LANCER

11 6 .8

Points Per Game Rebounds Per Game Blocks Per Game

14 9 1

SQUARED UP — Senior point guard Patrick Saari releases the ball on a free throw in a 68-63 loss to Calabasas. PHOTO » DYLAN COCKERILL » THE LANCER

EAGLE EYED — (Above) Senior forward Cade Huggins shoots a freethrow in a 52-43 home game victory against Westlake. PHOTO » DYLAN COCKERILL » THE LANCER

BACKPAGE

FOR

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ALL PHOTOS » DYLAN COCKERILL » THE LANCER