Issue 6 by The Pen Newspaper

the

PEN

Palos Verdes Peninsula High School www.pvphsnews.com Vol. XXXVI

Issue 6 March 18, 2016

WORTH ITS WEIGHT Students give back to the community and earn scouting’s prestigious Gold Award STUDENT LIFE PAGE 8

LIFE ON MARS Author of “The Martian” Andy Weir visits Peninsula and shares his journey NEWS

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STUDENT PRIVACY Judge backtracks on original ruling, but student information still being released OPINION

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TRANSFORMATION How style, speech and social behavior have changed over the decades FOCUS

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NEWS

THE

MAKING MARTIAN Bestselling author Andy Weir visits Peninsula

kaitlin bates On March 4, students were given the privilege of meeting Andy Weir, author of the award-winning novel “The Martian,” a science fiction book about a young astronaut named Mark Watney, who struggles to survive a risky journey alone on Mars after being accidentally abandoned by his crew. Watney spends his time on the planet in search of a way to contact NASA members back on Earth to rescue him. Weir spent three years (2009-12) creating this novel and considers it one of his best works out of the three novels he has written. Because Weir has been so fascinated with the science and technology of space travel since childhood, much of his writing has been space-related. “I’m a lifetime space dork,” Weir said. “Whatever hobby you’re interested in the most, you know more about it than the average person does.” Weir wanted to create stories which he could enjoy writing. Since space interested him so much, Weir began self-educating on the topic by watching documentaries about space, doing much research and delving into the mindsets of astronauts. Already a professional computer programmer, learning about the logistics of space travel came naturally to him. According to Weir, some of the main characters introduced in “The Martian,” especially those who are NASA employees, were based off people he has

worked with in the science-based settings of his career. Eventually, the lifelong space aficionado retained enough knowledge to write a scientifically accurate novel. Little did he know, “The Martian” would end up becoming a New York Times Bestseller, gaining a large audience of readers in a short period of time. Prior to publishing “The Martian,” Weir posted his works on a self-coded writing blog, Galacticanet.com. Many readers requested he turn the novel into an e-reader format, and eventually sell the e-book on Amazon. His book

“Whatever it is that you’re

most passionate about, that is what you should be motivated to pursue.” - Author Andy Weir gained enough popularity on Amazon that the publishing company Random House discovered his work and offered to publish it. “My biggest challenge was making sure my book was scientifically accurate, because I wanted readers to understand what [all the logistics] meant,” Weir said. Andy Weir gave an inspirational presentation to Peninsula students, letting them know that they could turn their own dreams into realities. Students were left influenced by Weir’s words and reflected on his perspective as a writer.

“He really put a lot of time and effort into this book,” freshman Alice Li said. “You could tell that he is really committed and he loves to write. He inspired me to not hold back and to do the things I want to do.” Weir visited two different audiences the day of his visit to Peninsula. The first audience was a randomly selected group of students who participated in a raffle drawing, as only limited spots were available to those who wished to meet Weir. After his first presentation, Weir gave a smaller presentation to the Publications Department, giving journalism students as well as faculty members the chance to have a meet-andgreet. During this second presentation, he gave advice to those hoping to pursue a writing career in the future. “Whatever it is that you’re most passionate about is, that is what you should be motivated to pursue,” Weir said to students. Weir is still pleasantly shocked at how readers praised “The Martian” so much that it turned into an award-winning movie. Producers of the movie asked Weir to be involved in its screenwriting, especially to answer technical sciencerelated questions to ensure accuracy in the film. “I think ‘The Martian’ gained a large audience because of its humor and suspense,” freshman Emily Komatsu said. “There are moments when you want to laugh and moments when you’re just waiting to read what comes next.”

Temishi onnekikami / The Pen

FROM NOTEBOOKS TO NETWORKS New courses introduced both in and out of the classroom

Summer courses link online SAFFY LAURIO

JACKIE

UY/ Th

e Pen

School curriculum expands kaitlin bates The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD) Board of Education has approved several new classes at Peninsula for the 2016-17 school year. Principles of Computer Science, Service Learning 2, Korean 2 and more options for physical education will all be part of the available curriculum next year. Principles of Computer Science is a new AP class that is an introduction to the current Computer Science AP class. Principal Mitzi Cress believes this new class will be a perfect fit for Peninsula. “Hopefully this will open up computer science and coding to those kids who aren’t necessarily math and science [oriented], to maybe those students typically interested in the arts and humanities,” she said. Though Service Learning 1 has been an approved elective for many years, no other class options existed past it and students were obligated to pursue further years as an extracurricular. This proved a disappointment to committed students, as many who had been in Service Learning 1 had started big community projects but soon realized the second year was a class without credit. Cress hopes that the continuation in credit through Service Learning 2 will encourage more students to join Service Learning. The fledgling Korean program started this year. Currently only Korean 1 is offered as a class; however, in order to pursue further years of education in the language,

Korean 2 will be introduced next fall. In February, the Board of Education accepted a request to implement yoga into Peninsula’s PE program, which will begin in the fall. One of Peninsula’s dance instructors, Heather Myrick, sent in a proposal a year ago to add yoga as an alternative to taking PE or any other sport. Kimi Hendrick also wrote a proposal to implement fitness trends such as Pilates, circuit training, barre and CrossFit into the PE program. This new alternative, called Fitness Trends, will be available to all students except freshmen, who were excluded by the Board of Education due to the required state-mandated fitness test. “Freshmen should prepare for the fitness test through proper physical education, rather than yoga,” Cress said in an interview with The Daily Breeze. Junior Hannah Dunbar participated in the PE dance class during her freshman and sophomore year. Currently, she is not taking any sport, but may enroll in yoga next year. “I think students would be happy to take yoga if doing another sport isn’t a good fit for them,” Dunbar said. Yoga is scientifically proven to eliminate stress. Myrick, who is certified in teaching yoga, knows that participating students will benefit from this form of exercise and feel relaxed and healthy afterwards. “I’ve read a significant amount of research which concludes that it helps manage stress, and gosh knows we have some stress here [at Peninsula],” Cress said.

To get all the credits necessary to graduate, many students take zero periods and summer school classes. Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD) will soon offer a third option for accruing credits. PVPUSD is collaborating with Pacific Coast High School to offer a variety of University of California (UC)- and California State University (CSU)approved high school (“a-g”) courses online and run by Between Fuel Education (FuelEd). The school board hopes to improve time management and make it easier for students to gain required school credits needed to graduate. While online classes will be just as challenging as normal classes, the school board hopes that online courses will give students a chance to learn at their own pace, whether faster or slower than in a typical classroom atmosphere. Students will be given the option of taking an online course in the summer or during the school year. The offered courses taken during the school year will cover the same subject matter as a normal class taken during the school year, and summer online courses will also allow students to enjoy summer break while still gaining credit points. A schoolwide email was sent out on Feb. 25 formally announcing the online courses. Courses available are World History (available to 10th graders), United States History (available to 11th graders) and Government/ Economics (available to 12th graders). Applications for the online courses

were also sent out in this email. The program has 200 course spots overall. Since the number of students who applied exceeded what the PVPUSD district could accommodate, applicants were randomly chosen through a lottery on March 14 and emails were sent notifying those selected. Those who were not enrolled were put on a wait list. Fifteen teachers trained by the Online Teacher Training Program (OTTP) will be provided for the PVPUSD online courses from schools within the district. Despite being an online course system, these teachers will meet their students in physical classes at least once a week, as well on the first day of classes, midterms and final exams. Planning for the new courses began in August 2015 and has continued since; plans are still incomplete and will most likely continue into June. To get teachers’ point of view, a committee made up of several instructors of various subjects has been created. Teachers such as Latin teacher Bettina de Guzman and English teacher Tim Coleman have been part of the decision-making committee since the program’s infancy. “[This project is] one of the best examples of districts working together that I’ve ever seen,” Coleman said. Decisions on software on which the classes will be run and styles of teaching are still in the finalization process. Official statements will be released as time progresses. Once decided upon, the agreement will be viable until June 30, 2017. Final decisions will be settled and released to the public before summer 2016, when the online courses begin.

Temishi onn

ekikami / Th

e Pen

Opinion THE PEN PALOS VERDES PENINSULA HIGH SCHOOL 27118 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274

DESIGN EDITOR Jackie Uy

NEWS EDITOR: Annie Benedict WRITERS: Kaitlin Bates Joseph Foard Ryan Frazier Saffy Laurio OPINION EDITORS: Marine Fujisawa Zoe Willoughby WRITERS: Chris Chien Nile Minn FOCUS EDITORS: Phoebe Borsum Esther Chu WRITERS: Anne Lee Nina Li STUDENT LIFE EDITORS: Amani Jalota Stella Yoo WRITERS: Alison Kim Emily McGinn Adrian Tai SPORTS WRITERS: Jordan Chang Zain Riaz GRAPHICS Jessica Nye Temishi Onnekikami ADVISER Jaymee Johnson “The Pen” is the student newspaper produced by the advanced journalism students of Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. It is published eight times per year. Advertising inquiries may be directed to Advertising Manager Isabelle Wang at (310) 377- 4888 ext. 652. The Pen editors appreciate Letters to the Editor, which are accepted up to one week before publication. You may submit them to H52 or to Jaymee Johnson’s mailbox. Copyright © 2016

Cover Design by Jackie Uy Cover Photo by Serena Tramm

OUR RIGHT, PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY EDITORIAL STAFF

Upon graduation, the class of 2016 will embark on the worn path of adulthood. For those reaching legal age this year, turning 18 will add more weight to our responsibilities as graduates; we will not only have legal permission to buy lottery tickets and cigarettes, but also to vote in the November elections. Though we are consumed by other life-decisions like commitments to colleges and summer jobs, which play a critical role in our own individual lives, the person who will be deemed president of the United States for the next four to eight years, could have a significant impact on our lives. Though some classes educate us on the state of the nation and the policies of the politicians running for offices, involvement

in the political process is less of a curriculum requirement and more of an expectation. The news oftentimes seems boring, repetitive and didactic, but the gravity of this presidential election, as Peninsula seniors merge into the world of working adults and parents, should grip our attention as it directly affects our futures. Whether or not we feel our vote has as much consequence as that of a mature adult, our civil responsibility is upon us. But it is not something we should fear or avoid; rather, we should embrace the power we have to vote. We are the generation that can take strides to initiate change concerning issues that directly affect us, such as mental health on school campuses and freedom of speech on media platforms. The

media focuses on national issues like immigration and healthcare, both areas that the federal government manages. However, the size of local politics allows us to have a greater impact on esoteric policies and ordinances. In March 2017, adults can vote to extend a tax that supports paramedic and fire service in Palos Verdes. As possible future Palos Verdes homeowners, this sort of proposition has a direct consequence on our future checkbooks. Rather than viewing this responsibility to vote as a burden, we should utilize this opportunity to actively assert our rights as students, and, most importantly, as citizens of the United States. Regardless of your views, you should cast your ballot in November for the politicians you support.

V O T E D

Students file lawsuit challenging teacher tenure Nile minn In the Vergara v. California case, a group of California students are battling to get particular tenure laws that can overprotect teachers repealed, therefore making it harder for new, and possibly better suited, teachers to land such positions. If inadequate teachers are kept, students may not be able to receive their deserved education, which may also discourage students from pursuing a career in education. However, this is not to say protective measures should be removed, as the tenure system provides important guarantees and due process protections for competent teachers. Instead, there should be a change in the system so that proficient and capable teachers remain while unqualified teachers are removed without undue delays. “It is really important to have a good teacher who wants to be there and understands what is going on in the classroom,” math teacher Michelle Slattery said. “At younger ages it is even more important since many middle school teachers come from an elementary background and they do not necessarily know the background behind the subject that they are teaching. Having a teacher with a good core base and a passion for teaching is essential for education.” The Vergara v. California lawsuit was first brought to court by StudentMatters, an education advocacy nonprofit organization. According to its website, StudentMatters is trying to strike down three laws that it believes are the reasons

that keep underperforming teachers in schools. The first law, the Permanent Employment Statute, makes it mandatory for administrators to approve or deny permanent employment to teachers by mid-March of their second year. The second law, the Dismissal Statute, makes dismissing a single ineffective teacher a complicated, expensive process, filled with years of performance reviews, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal fees, all without certainty that the teacher will be dismissed. StudentMatters argued that this law cheats underprivileged schools, because school districts will just move ineffective teachers to schools with a high number of low-income students, because firing these teachers can be too exhausting. The third law, Last-In, FirstOut (LIFO) Statute, forces districts to decide their layoffs by seniority, rather than competency. The original court case was decided on June 10, 2014, with the court ruling in favor of the StudentMatters. The judge ruled that the two-year period to offer tenure protection is too short, but the case was appealed by the State of California and the California Teachers Association and is being brought to the Court of Appeals. “I think it is unfair how these [bad] teachers stay in the school system and do not give us a good education, and we do not get any new teachers,” sophomore Joey Tsang said. “As students, we prefer fresh new teachers with a passion for teaching opposed to teachers who are just waiting

for retirement.” On the other hand, the tenure system came as a critical piece of protection for teachers to keep them free from dismissal based on unfair reasons, such as political ones. The National Education Association stated that this system has repeatedly given a safeguard for teachers during times when political agendas could have endangered teacher employment, such as during World War I or the Civil Rights Movement. A tenure system is critical for the protection of competent and effective teachers. “Tenure protects older teachers from being let go during economic uncertainty. Without it, many districts would fire older teachers when money is short in favor of young, cheaper labor,” Palos Verdes Faculty Association bargaining chair Tim Coleman said. “Tenure does not prevent a teacher from being fired if the need arises, but it does give teachers a modicum of protection from wrongful termination.” Thus, the problem is not the existence of the tenure system but parts of the protection laws that keep underqualified, incompetent teachers in schools. “I had no idea that this case was happening, but I am happy to see that students are taking a stand to get bad teachers out of the teaching system,” senior Deana Chae said. “I hope that by the time that I become a teacher, I will get the same opportunity as older teachers to show how willing I am to educate the next generation of students, instead of being laid off because I am new.”

mi/The Pen

MANAGING EDITOR/ BUSINESS & ADVERTISING Isabelle Wang

EDITORIAL

temishi onnekika

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Lauren Lee Tunika Onnekikami Noah Werksman

Privacy Endangered

California nonprofits given court permission to access student data Gino Abrajano/The Pen

chris chien overwhelming protests from parents, the judge backtracked on her original ruling, instead ordering that the records remain solely with the Department of Education, which must assist the nonprofits in gathering the information they need. Unfortunately, they will still be accessing sensitive information such as names, addresses and even records of pregnancy, addiction and criminal activity. Regardless of the cause these nonprofits claim to be supporting, the privacy of students should still be the top priority. Under no circumstances should anyone be able to access the personal information of minors without direct permission from a parent or guardian. “I think the cause is good but the solution is sub-par,” senior Ben Stout said. “It is also important to let everyone know that you can opt out.” Most consider privacy to be one of the most important human rights, especially when it comes to minors. Given their age, they should

theoretically be the most protected by the law. If the students’ information were to be hacked or stolen, it could put millions of students at risk for identity theft or even stalking. Even if the chances of this happening seem unlikely, it is very difficult to ensure that the data will remain safely confidential, as security breaches have even occurred at numerous large corporations in recent years. “In this era of hacking and identity theft, it’s very important for all of us to protect our social security number and date of birth,” parent Angela Tang said. “When the people involved are children, this becomes even more critical because students may not realize for years that someone is impersonating them for financial or other fraud. Any time a child’s name is connected with his or her address and put in the hands of someone [malicious], there is the possibility of personal danger, though I think the odds of this are rather remote.” Some may defend the

nonprofit organizations, as they originally had not asked for the full personal profile of all of the students. It is unclear as to why the Department of Education would not even allow restricted access to a limited portion of the student database, but there could be many factors in its decision. It is also unclear why the nonprofits had claimed that previous data provided to them from a California Special Education Management Information System database, which included the records of special needs students and those being tested, was insufficient. While the intentions of the organizations may be good, it is still too risky to give them complete access to the students’ information. At the end of the day, the privacy and protection of millions of minors should be the most important issue in this court decision. Perhaps a better agreement could be made about allowing the nonprofits access to only specific parts of the database. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

717,961 k-12 special education students enrolled last school year

10 million Jessica Nye/ The Pen

A recent court ruling threatened to release the school records of over 10 million California students to the attorneys of two nonprofit organizations, the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association and the Concerned Parents Association, which were seeking the data to ensure that schools have been properly educating special needs students in compliance with federal law. The lawsuit was filed against the California Department of Education by the groups after their request for data, which did not include students’ personal information, was originally denied by the Department. Even though the data search was to be monitored by a court-appointed overseer, parents worried about inadvertent violations of student privacy rights. The judge’s order that parents be allowed to exempt their child’s information from the data release did nothing to calm the situation. In response to

k-12 students’ data files were set to be released

Focus

Serena tramm/The Pen

camryn bush/model

Various changes in society have taken place over the years

photo courtesy of delphian , 1979

Changes throughout the ages

The perception of discrimination evolves nina li and Anne lee Although equality has been established as a ruling principle in the United States, there are still many people who struggle with different types of discrimination, such as racial, religious and gender discrimination. Peninsula is made up of many different ethnic groups, consisting of 46 percent Caucasians and 38 percent Asians. As a representative of a school minority, president of the Black Student Union and senior Brooke McAdoo leads a club to unite African-American students on campus. This group works towards the common goal of serving the Los Angeles community while recognizing African culture. “One day at a coffee shop, I placed my order and the people behind me, who happened to be non-African-American, received their order before I did,” McAdoo said. “I waited patiently trying to figure out what was going on and after everyone left, they gave me my drink.” McAdoo believes racism is still part of the American experience. Although most people no longer engage in overt racism, subtle racist interactions linger. In today’s society, racial discrimination is often expressed through different outlets, such as media. The media’s contribution to people’s opinions about culture and ethnicities can influence the way that people see things. One of the most recent displays of racial discrimination involves the selection of nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards. The tag #OscarsSoWhite spread across social media, which called out the lack of diversity of the Oscar nominees. According to the LA Times, the Academy

of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences problems persist.” nominated only white actors and Another problem that is present in actresses for the second year in a row. today’s society is religious discrimination. This raised again the issue of racism in It is stated in Title Seven of the Civil the film making business. Rights Act of 1964 that workplace Racism has gained a lot of attention or job segregation based on religion, in the past decade. As individuals and including religious garb and grooming groups address the institutional racism practices, is prohibited. Despite those that exists in the workplace and in some protections, people continue to struggle law enforcement agencies, many people with religious discrimination. An use their influence to initiate movements example from the 2016 election involves and activities. There will always be Republican candidate Donald Trump who more people who strive to make more suggested temporarily banning Muslims improvements, but aspects of racism from entering the United States legally. will still linger His proposal was in the lives met with enthusiasm “Peninsula only reflects a slice from his supporters, of students, families and but many accused of the middle to upper income communities. Trump of religious population and the [majority of discrimination. Based on a survey of According to the students] does not believe 125 students, junior Suha Ahsan, that there are racial issues, but people fail to realize 78 percent subtle problems persist.” of students that if Trump gets believe that - Senior Brooke McAdoo elected, he would the issue of have the power to racism has do this and that it improved over the past few decades. perpetuates the stereotype that Muslims Only 26 percent believe that there is are dangerous. a lack of diversity at Peninsula and 47 “I think that any type of discrimination percent feel that racism on campus is still starts with a sense of fear,” Ahsan said. present. “Once that fear is instilled in a group of “The definition of diversity is the people, it becomes powerful enough to condition of having or being composed take over and create an negative ideology of differing elements and the inclusion of toward the group of people being different races or cultures in a group or discriminated.” organization,” McAdoo said. “Peninsula Ahsan feels that the problem of only reflects a slice of the middle to religious discrimination is not as big upper income population and the of a problem at Peninsula as it is in [majority of the students] do not believe other parts of the world. She says that there are racial issues but subtle that this is because along with being

Use of slang transforms conversations nina li “Bae, your eyebrows are on fleek. HMU with where you got them done.” Translation: a really close friend’s eyebrows are shaped nicely. Tell them where they got it done. Throughout the years, the way people talk and the slang words they use have evolved into special words that get the message across with brevity. All of these words are unique to each generation. Slang is the language created by a specific era of people that includes words that are informal. The five most popular slang words in 2015 were “bae”, “on fleek”, “thirsty”, “basic” and “turn up”, according to the Huffington Post. Pertaining to the 21st century, informal words have gained popularity throughout the years to express feelings and thoughts. These words, which may appear as foreign to people of earlier generations, have gradually blended into ordinary speech. According to BBC News, slang has

been around longer than people might think. The phrase “hang out” has been used since the 1800s, along with many other words still used today such as “cool”. Author of the book “The Life of Slang” Julie Coleman said the use of these common words among this generation was created when people in a community from a lower class system found ways to make communicating easier. Some informal words used in the 1980s are still present in people’s vocabularies today. Words such as “BFF,” “ace” and “the bomb diggity”, are used among teenagers today with the same meaning. Sometimes vernacular from the olden times resurfaces in the present and becomes popular. According to US News, 64 percent of students who participated in a study reported to have used forms of shortening words for texting or social networking purposes.

English teacher Barbara Dewitt, who has four children of different ages, expressed her thoughts on the slang spoken among teenagers today. “When I was a child, some slang words were ‘that’s sick’, ‘let’s boogie’, ‘bogus’, ‘take a chill pill’ and others,” Dewitt said. “The slang words are similar today, along with words used when texting is changing fast.” The use of slang is controversial. Some people consider it as an intelligent way of shortening words while getting the meaning across; others regard it as a sign of vulgarity and of a limited vocabulary. Such differences could lead to misunderstandings and confusion. “Just like [how] the meaning of words change, slang changes with the generations,” Dewitt said. “[In today’s generation, slang allows people to bond with their peers, their region of the country and more.”

diverse, students at Peninsula are more educated and have the ability to think for themselves which creates a safer environment for Muslims. She says that it is important that students at Peninsula realize that Muslims are not a threat to them. “Less than one percent [of the world population] of the Muslim population are labeled as terrorists, and I feel that people [who judge the Muslim faith] based on this do not understand my religion,” Ahsan said. Prejudice in races and religions is a recurring problem today, along with another form of injustice, sexism. The earliest feminist who displayed resistance to the common conception of men over women was Mary Wollstonecraft. She wrote an influential pamphlet, A Vindication of the Rights of Women that prompted many women over the world to rethink their status. Gender discrimination has improved greatly throughout history. In the 20th century, hundreds of women began to protest about their rights in the government. Although America has made great strides in regards to the rights of women, discrimination lingers. Thus the call for equal pay for equal work and the movement to place more women in government and corporate positions. Generational changes have made the world what it is today. Racism, religious discrimination, gender inequality and more, have progressed over the last few decades. Despite these strides, students still struggle to see improvements implemented and feelings of discrimination remain.

77 percent

feel that media affects the way they talk

LOL

77 percent believe that slang affects their interactions with others

Top 5 slang words lol 78%% 67%% same 63% bae 56% af shady 45% *of 119 surveyed on March 15, 2016

Student Life 8

THE PROCESS

GIRL SCOUTS GO FOR THE golD Three students devote their time to their Girl Scout Gold Awards emily mcginn

BUILD A SUPPORT TEAM AND CREATE A PLAN. PRESENT THE PLAN FOR APPROVAL.

work a minimum of 80 hours and make a positive, SUSTAINABLE impact on community.

Academic Decathlon triumphs in competition Photo courtesy of Anna Farias From left to right: Isabelle Lee, Gordon Zhao, Anna Farias, Anne-Marie Voegtlin, Valeria Park and Chelsea Liu pose with their awards at the end-of-year banquet.

alison kim Two years ago, English teacher Anne-Marie Voegtlin decided to bring back the Academic Decathlon team following a request to do so by former Academic Decathloners who missed the excitement, collaboration and team spirit of the course. Academic Decathlon is an elective that values academic challenges in multiple subjects. Students use comprehensive, analytical and test-taking abilities to prepare for the United States Academic Decathlon

Competition (USAD). At this two-day competition students give speeches, participate in an interview and take tests in seven different categories. Originally cut because of budget setbacks, Academic Decathlon restarted as an official course a year ago and currently has 20 members. The main objective is to prepare for USAD by taking practice tests that students will be tested on in seven subjects: Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Math, Music, Science and Social Science. “[Although] cramming for the subject tests is [interesting], [students] have fun doing it as a team,” Voegtlin said. Within the team, there are three different threeperson sub-teams based on grade point average. Competitions are attended by nine students who represent the three sub-teams. This year’s USAD was held in El Rancho High School on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. On the first day, students had an interview, a prepared speech, impromptu speech and an essay. On the second day, students took seven subject tests and a super quiz. “The students are [most enthusiastic] about the prepared speech of the competition,” says Voegtlin. “This is where [students] get to be creative, show off their individual style and that’s definitely the most [interesting] part of [the competition]”. Every year, the competition is based on a certain theme to challenge students’ ability to study new things. This year’s theme was India; therefore, each of the subject tests had questions pertaining to India. There was also a Super Quiz, in which each sub-team takes a quiz based on all the subject tests that they took. Each

school’s sub team is on the floor of the high school auditorium at the same time. They see the question on the jumbotron and as they click their answer the crowd sees the answers from each team. “The Super Quiz is taken by each of the three different teams,” says Senior Co-President Gordon Zhao. “You collaborate with each other to solve questions [pertaining to the subject tests] and everyone cheers for the team whether they get the questions right or wrong.” The team’s ultimate goal is to place in the top ten schools in regionals for the USAD and qualify for State. Because only a total of nine students can participate in the competition, the remainder of the students help the participating students by asking interview questions and listening to their speech. The Peninsula Academic Decathlon team won 19th place out of 52 teams, winning 23 individual awards and 31 medals in total. The team won a total of five gold medals on the subject tests, four silver medals and three bronze medals. On the prepared speech, interview and essay, students brought home two gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals. On the super quiz, all three teams placed second. Sophomore Chelsea Liu and Zhao both won the Division II Highest Scoring Decathlete; Liu won silver and Zhao won Bronze. “I like the fact that we were not just another club that only focused on academics, but a [team] where we would help one another and win medals as a team,” said Academic Decathlon co-president and senior Valeria Park.

TEMISHI ONNEKIKAMI/THE PEN

“Having spent most of my life with my great-grandma and four grandparents, I am aware of how valuable their advice Peninsula Girl Scouts enrich the community with their is, no matter how wide the age gap. I wanted to ease this Gold Award projects, as Girl Scouts spend over 80 hours discomfort and show the youth in my community that in carrying out good deeds such as teaching and habitat order to create a better future, we must know about the restoration. Senior Bella Townsend, sophomore Alyssa Yeh past.” and senior Annaliese Wargin are three of many students Yeh was inspired by her great-grandma to launch a who have worked towards the Gold Award. During her project concerned with senior citizens. Yeh has already sophomore year, Townsend taught a creative-writing class found four volunteers. for two weeks at the San Pedro Boys and Girls Club. “I have been so surprised, and touched, at just how Inspired by her passion for literature, Townsend strove to happy they are to see me,” Yeh said. “My project is not just help children express their feelings in healthy ways through for my peers, it is also for the seniors themselves. Many writing. seniors struggle with loneliness and memory loss. I hope “I watched the students in my class write about feelings to stimulate their memories and bring them joy through a and struggles that they had never faced before and even simple conversation.” though it was only two weeks, I could see them growing Annaliese Wargin aspires to be an entomologist, a as they worked on creativity and character building,” scientist of insects, and used this interest to formulate her Townsend said. Gold Award project. She made presentations about insect Townsend felt her leadership and patience skills diversity and how they affect ecosystems at the San Pedro improved in working with these children. The curriculum Library and at the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy. She Townsend developed is still used at the Boys and Girls also informs inquiring children and parents at presentations Club in San Pedro and in Wilmington. about the benefits of insects in the community. “My favorite part was learning about the different lives “The goal of my project was to teach children about each of the students had lived,” Townsend said. “[I loved] insects in an attempt to get them to learn to respect watching them open up about their struggles and their insects, rather than irrationally fear them,” Wargin said. joys.” According to Wargin, her favorite part of her Gold Yeh is currently working on her Gold Award project, Award project was the researching, as she was able to which involves blogging the stories of fifteen senior citizens learn more, observe new insects and interact with curious in the South Bay. Her goal is to show the public that the children. elderly have valuable stories to impart. “Communicating with children and public speaking are “A lot of my peers feel uncomfortable around the two of my biggest fears, and I faced both of them through elderly and do not know what to say to them,” Yeh said. this project,” Wargin said.

FIND a community issue TO TARGET AND INVESTIGATE.

Peninsula alumnus Ali Diba, class of 2014, poses for a photo during a show at a music festival on Aug. 12, 2015. Diba was 19 years old and attended Santa Monica College.

Hachim Awad playfully poses for a picture while skydiving on July 5, 2015. Awad was 18 years old.

Photos Courtesy of Facebook

9 Peninsula community tragically loses two alumni in car accident saffy laurio The Peninsula family mourns the loss of two alumni, class of 2015 Hachim Awad and class of 2014 Ali Diba Nourollahi. The two lost their lives in a car crash in Huntington Beach at 1:45 a.m. on March 4. Locals close to the scene took immediate action and removed Awad and Nourollahi from the vehicle. They then attempted to revive Awad and Nourollahi by performing CPR, but unfortunately the two had passed by the time authorities arrived at the scene. Before authorities had cleared out, a small memorial had already been built by the scene of the crash. Hachim Awad’s body is being sent to Lebanon, where a majority of his family resides; Ali Nourollahi’s body is being sent to Iran, where he was born. AnneMarie Voegtlin taught both Awad and Nourollahi while they were at Peninsula. Awad was a student in Voegtlin’s summer school English 1 class, and later Nourollahi was a student in Voegtlin’s ELD 3 class during his senior year. “If there was fun to be had, Hachim would make sure he was having fun and

the people around him were having fun,” Voegtlin said. “[Ali] was always looking out for [his little brother]. He would ask me how he was doing and if he was keeping his grades up.” Grief counselors were provided to students the Monday after the crash. Principal Mitzi Cress stated that many graduated students had returned to Peninsula to speak with their past counselors after hearing about the car crash. “I think this experience was a reminder that even students who graduate still look at Peninsula High as home; they look at this as a safe haven,” Cress said. “I do think that shows that this [school] really is a family.” Peninsula alumnus and friend of the victims Chris Costantini began a GoFundMe called the “Ali Diba&Hachim Awad Memorial Fund” to support both of the victims’ families through this difficult time, emotionally and financially. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of Awad and Nourallahi and we wish them the best moving forward.

Sports

Spring preview Girls' Lacrosse

SWIm Varsity boys’ swim coach Brian Helmrich has had great success in prior years with the swim team and he hopes to make the team even better this spring season. “[We’ve had] a lot CIF qualifications very early in the season already. I’m very excited about that,” Helmrich said. Varsity boys’ swim have won eight Bay League championships in a row, with varsity girls’ swim having won five. “I think we’ll do really well,” varsity girls’ swim coach Ali Isham said. “Our goal is to win Bay League again and, hopefully, we can qualify more girls for CIF.”

Boys' Lacrosse

Varsity girls’ lacrosse looks to win their first Bay League title this year. “I’m really excited because I have a great group of girls who are really excited about playing hard and learning more, and of course they want to win Bay League,” varsity girls’ lacrosse coach Paula Borstel said. “My goals for this season are that the players reach their full potential and try for their personal best.” The girls’ captains intend to help prepare their team for their best season to date. “There are a few more things we need to work on, but hopefully we will be making history in Peninsula lacrosse,” senior and captain Shannon Nakamura said.

Boys' Tennis

This season, varsity boys’ lacrosse strives to continue its success in recent years. “The program has come a long way in the last four years. We were co-Bay League Champs with Palos Verdes [High School] last year, so we continue to get better every year and it’s exciting,” head coach Lane Jaffe said. “We’ve built our foundation based on accountability and effort. And that’s what we continue it on. When we buy in and we’re committed we’ve been pretty successful, so we look to continue what we’ve built.”

Varsity boys’ tennis plans to build upon the success they have had to begin their spring season. Peninsula tennis started off the season on a high note with a win on Feb. 27, defeating Torrey Pines, which had been undefeated for 3 years. “Our team has grown even stronger. We aim for the top. I’m really excited to see what the future holds,” varsity captain Tyler Yin said. “We have a bunch of potential and we can push ourselves and go really far this year.”

Baseball

Boys' Volleyball Boys’ varsity volleyball coach Kevin Williams is excited for the challenge of the upcoming season. “Our league is really tough, but I think we have the ability and capability to compete with the other teams in the league,” Williams said. “[We want to] make sure we’re having fun while trying to improve.” Williams believes his team can win a majority of its games and reach the playoffs.

Varsity baseball coach John Hangartner says he is very excited for this season. “We’ve spent a lot more time on defense and pitching and less time on hitting this year. I think that’s where we really lacked last year,” Hangartner said. “We have the means to do it. We’re heavy junior-wise, but our senior pitching is going to help us. Once they get grooving, hopefully, we will do well.”

Softball Varsity softball coach Tim Hall is excited for this season because there are many new additions to the roster. Hall is looking forward to seeing how the new roster can fit together well to translate to improvement. “I’m excited to see where this team can go by the end of the year,” Hall said. “My goals for this season are for the team to grow and improve, to come together, to learn how to play and to trust and support each other, and then with that we’ll see where we are in the standings in the end.”

Boys' Golf “In terms of the talent level, I think this is going to be one of the best years we’ve had in the last five years,” varsity boys’ golf coach Glenn Van Enk said about his team. Van Enk is happy with how the team looks this year and with the attitude of the players. He hopes the team can win Bay League this year. “I believe there’s a very good chance we can do it,” Van Enk said.

Track Track and Field sprint coach Bradley Wilkins is filling in for Coach Dale Thompson for the 2016 season. “I see a lot of potential. The [freshman/sophomore] team looks really good. We got a lot of strong runners, women and men,” Wilkins said. “And the varsity team looks really solid.” Coach Wilkins is excited about what he has seen from the athletes so far and is eager to get the upcoming season started.

Ahrens breaks seventeen year old pole-vault record Junior Jacqueline Ahrens soars to new heights during a March 5 meet at Paramount High School. That day, Ahrens broke a nearly two-decade old record in the pole-vault event.

photo Courtesy of jacqueline ahrens

Tunika Onnekikami On March 5 at Paramount High School, a track and field athlete broke a record that was nearly as old as she is. Junior and varsity pole vaulter Jacqueline Ahrens reached new heights in her event, beating the previous record of 12’2 by one inch at the annual Paramount Relays, taking first overall in the event and claim of the record. Since the meet was the first major competition of the year, Ahrens hoped, but did not expect to improve as much as she did; instead, the original record set by Leora Ward at the California State Meet in 1999, was a goal for her senior year. “We always believed that she would break [the record], because in practice she would go way higher than her [personal record], but we finally saw it happen in competition,” sophomore and teammate Ken Kuboshima said.

Though she had competed unattached in preseason meets during January and February, Ahrens had been unable to beat her personal best of 11 feet. “I think it has been more of a mental block, because I have just been bailing out halfway and not completing [my attempts],” Ahrens said. “The meet did not start out well, so once I knew that I had nothing to lose, I just tried my hardest.” Even now, rather than setting a new goal, Ahrens plans to focus on improving and remaining consistent at her current height. But with three months left in the track season, she has time to improve and do well in postseason competition. “[Ahrens] puts a lot of time into [training], more than anybody else, [even though] she is really busy with academics,” Kuboshima said. “Overall, she is really good at time management and the amount of effort she put into [training] was incredible.”

Then junior Zaid Vakil prepares for a shot during a March 25, 2015 match. Then junior Emma Fischer steps up to bat at an April 8, 2015 softball game against San Pedro.

TenNis

AMY SUZUKI/The Pen

Gino ABRAJANO/ THE PEN

GINO ABRAJANO/The Pen

In the homestretch of the 200m, then junior Tunika Onnekikami runs to the finish line during a March 5, 2015 meet.

Track

Softball Then junior Nolan Collins pitches during a March 17, 2015 baseball game against West.

Then sophomore Randy Kurokawa takes a swing on March 3, 2015 during a golf competition.

Courtesy of Kurt Jupin

ADRIENNE SHEH/The Pen

SERENA TRAMM/The PEN

Then junior Shannon Nakamura sprints down the field during a March 12, 2015 game against Downey.

GOLF

BASEBALL

LACROSSE