The Raider Report Trimester 3
June 3, 2016
Phone rules designed to help students Preview Teachers incorporate educational games into curriculum page 7 Video Game Review: Clash Royale page 5 Zoe Willoughby/Photo Shivani Jain and Ana Willoughby/Models
Vera Wang, sixth grade The phone rules at Ridgecrest are similar to other schools across the US in that students can use their phones during lunch and in the classroom with teacher approval. Any use of phones without adult permission can be punished. In order to use a phone, students have
to submit a form to the office and sign a waver stating that Ridgecrest is not responsible if the phone is lost, stolen, or damaged. “[I bring a phone to school] in case of an emergency,” Eighth grader Paige Connelly said. “I also use it during lunch.” Other schools around the
United States have similar rules. At Circleville Middle School in New York, phones have to be off and in the student’s backpack or locker. If students do not follow these rules, their phone will be taken away. Athens Middle School in Alabama has a policy that all electronic
Opinion page 6
Physical Education benefits students page 7 Students participate in annual 5k race page 2
New principal Kelli Keller joins Ridgecrest family Newspaper staff
Photo courtesy of The Raider Review
Last September, Ridgecrest Intermediate school welcomed a new principal. After starting her teaching career at the age of 22, principal Kelly Keller decided to transition into Administration, where she has worked for the past 11 years. Before coming to Ridgecrest, Keller was principal at a DUAL Language and STEAM magnet school. Keller’s first job was a Kindergarten soccer coach. “My goal at Ridgecrest is to make each student feel like a recognized individual who could be celebrated for their own unique talents and abilities,” Keller said.
This year, she has worked to implement the ‘Ready 2 Inspire Someone’ Campaign with the PTSA and SSA. This campaign, which teaches children to celebrate their differences, will continue into a school-wide model next year to refine all students' expectations of themselves and others while at school. Keller’s personal motto, “Remember why you started” means that her focus is to teach students and encourage learning. She looks forward to her coming years at Ridgecrest and is excited to be the new principal.
Photo courtesy of Twitter
Principal Kelli Keller poses with vice principal Taylor Holloway at Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk in 2015.
NEWS
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Students participate in annual 5k race
Photo courtesy of Jana Wallace
(Above) Ridgecrest students and community members take off from the starting line. Waiting for them at the finish line were many booths and activities. Aidan Pulmano, sixth grade The Ridgecrest 5K run/walk took place on April 24, 2016, beginning at Norris Center Drive, Rolling Hills Estates. This is the main fundraiser for the Booster Club during the school year and raises $20,000 on average. Each competitor paid $40 for a bib with a tracker, a shirt and some giveaways from sponsors. The annual Ridgecrest 5k event was organized by Booster Club president Kathy Thompson and members of the administrative staff and is financially supported by sponsors and donating families. “I enjoy running at [5K] races because I like the atmosphere that everyone is excited for the [upcoming] race,” Physical Education teacher Jason Smith said. This race drew in about seven hundred runners and hundreds of spectators. In previous years, the
race has taken place at the South Coast Botanical Gardens but was changed to the new course last year. “The course this year was a bit difficult because of the constant uphill,” sixth grader Aaron Wakefield-Carl said. Most of this enduring course was uphill with a brief run down Crenshaw Boulevard. Runners started by taking a left on Norris Center Drive to Indian Peak Road. As the runners reached the top of the hill, they took another left onto Crenshaw Boulevard, the only downhill stretch on this course. Participants took another left on Silver Spur Road and finally made another left on Norris Center Drive to complete one out of the total of two laps. Congratulations to all the participants who ran at the Ridgecrest 5K.
Photo courtesy of Jana Wallace
(Above) Former Ridgecrest principal Brent Kuykendall announces to participants the beginning of the race. He returned to help out at one of Ridgecrest’s main annual events.
page 3 (Below) Ridgecrest students participated in the warmup stretch in order to be prepared for the run. Former Ridgecrest principal Brent Kuykendall and former Ridgecrest student Allie Thompson led the warm-up stretches for the runners. Photo courtesy of Jana Wallace
Photo courtesy of Jana Wallace
(Above) Ridgecrest students posed together with Physical Education teacher Matt Acres before the 5k race on April 24, 2016. They were just about to head over to the starting line for the beginning of the race.
Top 20 Runners
Name; Age; Time (Minutes:Seconds)
1. Frankie Reed; 13; 20:11
11. Nanoko Hattori; 13; 22:13
2. Toby Wakefield-Carl; 13; 20:39
12. Aidan Pulmano; 12; 22:20
3. Jack Fischer; 13; 20:49
13. Daniel David; 12; 22:21
4. Aaron Wakefield-Carl; 11; 21:05
14. Jamie Porter; 13; 22:40
5. Cody Hashimoto; 12; 21:05
15. Sammy Monroy; 14; 22:49
6. Ethan Ikegami; 14; 21:10
16. Angelo Sarullo; 13; 22:53
7. Nathan Wang; 13; 21:59
17. Eric Shull; 11; 23:09
8. Sutter Leach; 14; 22:04
18. Timothy Yang; 14; 23:31
9. Hiroaki Arito; 13; 22:09
19. Aidan Flynn; 13; 23:31
10. Sam Ahren; 13; 22:10
20. Kanata Morishige; 13; 23:38
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
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Movie Review: Zootopia Ashley Yang, sixth grade
Disney’s most recent movie release, Zootopia, has been quite the hit for many families. Zootopia came out on March 4, 2016. The movie is about a fox and bunny working together to solve a crime. Judy, the bunny, has a dream to become a police officer. While all of Judy’s classmates at police training are at least able to haul themselves up on bars and excel in training, poor Judy is hardly able to keep up with her excelling classmates. However, Judy does not give up, she soon works her way up to the top of her class. While at Zootopia, a city where predator and prey live together in harmony, chief Bogo doesn’t believe a cute little bunny like Judy can become a police officer so she is stuck on meter duty while her fellow policemen receive actual police duties. But then things change when Judy volunteers to find Mr. Otterson, who has
been missing for quite a while, in less than 48 hours. Judy and Nick, the fox, team up and work together to solve the mystery of Mr. Otterson’s disappearance but what they are about to learn is much more than the simple disappearance of an innocent otter. Students at Ridgecrest both enjoyed and disliked the movie. “I liked the movie because it reflected problems in society,” eighth grader Arpit Jalan said. Eighth grader Anthony Nuber said that he did not enjoy it because he thought that the plot was good but he found the movie boring. “It was good because it represented how people have to work hard to achieve goals,” said eighth grader Cyrus Khaleeli. Cyrus and Anthony both said that they would definitely recommend the movie to younger kids but probably not to older kids.
*Movie poster for Zootopia from Disney
JOIN THE RIDGECREST NEWSPAPER CLUB Do you enjoy writing, want to improve your writing skills, or become a journalist? Then the Ridgecrest Newspaper club is perfect for you! Make sure to look for the Ridgecrest journalism program in next year's list of Booster Club activities!
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Students share their favorite YouTubers Caitlyn Lee, sixth grade
Since YouTube was created on February 25, 2005, it has been the top video-sharing website and one of the most popular forms of social media. This site allows users to upload, view, rate, share, and comment on videos. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all former employees of PayPal. Everyday, over a billion users watch YouTube. Obviously, there are certain YouTube celebrities that are more popular than others. In a survey of Ridgecrest students of the most subscribed to YouTubers, students chose between Pewdiepie, Smosh, Nigahiga, FineBros, ERB, Markiplier, SkyDoesMinecraft, WatchMojo.com, Zoella, TDM, and “Other.” The most chosen option was “Other.” Many of the students did not agree with this list, so they wrote down who they favored. For example, some Raiders chose Miranda Sings, Ricegum, and Joey Graceffa. Compared to what Ridgecrest students thought, the internet disagreed. Most people
are subscribed to Pewdiepie on YouTube. To get a better idea of what students see in their favorite YouTubers, two Ridgecrest students shared their thoughts on their favorite YouTubers. "I have a lot of favorites," sixth grader Katherine Robinson said. "I enjoy watching all different types of videos especially when they make me laugh. When watching YouTube, I likes when they aim their videos towards all ages." Sixth grader Hallie Emery’s favorite YouTuber is MayBaby. Her favorite part about watching MayBaby is that she is bubbly and sweet, her videos are well-edited, and she is very funny. “Watching MayBaby makes me feel happy,” Emery said. "I can easily relate to MayBaby because she is younger and aims her videos towards many different age groups." Depending on someone's interests, YouTube has a wide range of channels that can appeal to that person.
Most popular YouTubers among Ridgecrest students 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Other Nigahiga Pewdiepie Smosh 2
Most subscribed to YouTubers
1. Pewdiepie- 43,305,600 subscribers 2. Smosh- 21,998,447 subscribers 3. Nigahiga- 16,752,148 subscribers 4. Fine bros- 13,816,902 subscribers
Game Review: Clash Royale Eric Guo, sixth grade
to Arena One and begin battling count, they can either go up an other players. arena or drop an arena. "PEKKA's Playhouse is the “I have gotten so mad because coolest [out of all the arenas]," sixth of dropping arenas before,” ninth grader Mark Landisman said. grader Casey Escobar said. “The If a player win rounds, they have game is really frustrating and takes a chance to a lot of time I have gotten so mad earn different but it’s really because of dropping arenas fun if you get chests. The chests one can before. The game is really the hang of earn are silver, it.” frustrating and takes a lot of golden, giant, On May magical, and time but it's really fun if you 3, Supercell the best super released an get the hang of it. magical chest. update that When the -Ninth grader Casey Escobar allowed six battle begins, new cards to the player starts off with four cards join the war. These cards are the from the battle deck. Each time fire spirits, furnace, and skeleton a player achieve a certain trophy guards. Before the update there
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Clash Royale is a single player strategy game made by Supercell. The successful Clash of Clans game was its predecessor and was released globally on August 2, 2012. Since January 4, 2016, the release date of Clash Royale, millions of people have downloaded the new game. Once downloaded, players receive a tutorial known as Trainer Camp. During Trainer Camp, the player gets wooden chests that take 15 seconds to open. In one of the chests, the player receives an epic purple card. There are four epics cards that players can receive from Trainer Camp: a prince, baby dragon, skeleton army and witch. Once the tutorial is completed and the player unlocks an epic, they go
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used to be only two legendary rarities. But now, there are three new ones: the sparky, miner and lava hound from Clash of Clans. The spirits are kamikaze troops that self-destruct, the furnace spawns fire spirits, and the guards have a high hit point shield with low health and damage. The Sparky is a moving super-powered Tesla gun and does an astounding 1898 damage along with splash damage. Its only setback is the long recharge time of five seconds. The miner is a builder from Clash of Clans that does reduced damage to towers. Overall, Clash Royale is a new game that offers entertainment to students at Ridgecrest and people of all ages.
OPINION
page 6
Phone rules designed to help students continued from page 1
students are more frequently students organize their schedule, using technology inappropriately,” have access to online textbooks, Manuel said. “Too often I have and provide a way for students caught kids to contact playing games While technology is useful teachers if when they they have and can make some lessons are supposed questions. It more meaningful, it seems can also be to be doing something used as a way that students are more else. for students frequently using technology Unfortunately, to contact inappropriately. phones seem their parents to cause if there is Language Arts teacher Jill more harm something Manuel that good to wrong. education.” “Having a While a phone can be a phone at school is fine, but it would distraction, it can also help be better if students were to have
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devices must be off. Breaking the rule multiple times can result in suspension. There are many reasons why phones have to be off. For example, if a student’s phone rings in the middle of class, it distracts everyone. According to Language Arts teacher Jill Manuel, when students use their phones in class inappropriately, it causes the them to get distracted. This is because they cannot pay attention to bother the teacher and the phone at the same time. “While technology is useful and can make some lessons more meaningful, it seems that
them turned off or, better yet, leave them in their lockers and only bring them to class when upon the teacher’s request,” Manuel said. Overall, a phone is a good tool to have as long as students make sure that it is out of sight and turned off in the classroom. Students are advised to make sure that they use their phones for productive and educational stuff, not only games.
2016 Ridgecrest Newspaper Staff Supervisor
Kate Schumacher
Editors
Phoebe Borsum Zoe Willoughby
News Writers Violeta Peer Aidan Pulmano
Opinion Writers Candace Baik David Guo Vera Sung Bokai Zhang
A&E Writers Eric Guo Caitlyn Lee Ashley Yang
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Physical Education class benefits students Candace Baik, sixth grade
Physical Education (P.E.) is required in every school in California. According to the California Department of Education, all students in grades 7-12 must receive a minimum of 400 minutes of P.E. every 10 days. On average, this is 40 minutes of physical education each day. According to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, most of the P.E. class should have moderate to intense aerobic activity. However, many people may question whether or not P.E. is actually beneficial. P.E. helps students stay healthy and keep in shape. Physical Education teacher Nadia Tyson strongly agrees that P.E. is a beneficial and important school subject. “P.E. is crucial in schools as it teaches students fitness, sports, health awareness and lifelong exercise habits,” Tyson said. “It also teaches everyone to work together as a team as well as the importance of sportsmanship.” Students at Ridgecrest exercise through activities such as running
and playing sports. They mainly run or do a cardio activity on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and play sports on Tuesday and Thursday. Playing sports in teams helps to build good sportsmanship as well as giving students exercise. In addition to a P.E. class daily, students at Ridgecrest are also required to run a 5k each year in April. Although P.E. is helpful to students, some students wish that the P.E. curriculum was run differently. “I wish there was more of a yoga unit and inside activities and less running,” sixth grader Summer Hassani said. “And instead of running two miles continuously, they should break it up. You should also be able to walk when you are tired and not get points marked off.” Overall, P.E. is beneficial to students because it keeps students in shape, teaches them good sportsmanship, how to work together, and is a good way to help them socialize with each other. Although some students believe that P.E. is not beneficial, P.E. actually has more positive effects than negative effects.
Zoe Willoughby/Photo Paige Connelly and Shivani Jain/Models
Teachers incorporate educational games into curriculum Bokai Zhang and David Guo, sixth grade Many schools and teachers use educational games for teaching purposes and believe that it is a good way for students to learn. It can help them learn math skills, practice typing, and learn grammar. The main reason why teachers use educational video games is that they can be effective learning tools. Educational video games also help encourage kids to want to learn. “I feel that video games can be educational,” sixth grader Aaron Lin said. “Many students think that games are very fun, and so they will eagerly learn from playing educational games.”
Language arts teacher John errors. Players can use that money White likes to use educational to buy different cars. Free Rice games such as Free Rice and Nitro helps kids learn, and provides food Type for to someone educational I like to use [educational] in need every purposes. time someone games because I find that Nitro Type is gets a question a typing game kids are more engaged right. These that increases with learning when it’s fun types of people’s games are and a little competitive. typing speed. very helpful, Students - Social Studies teacher because they can compete enhance the Stephanie La Joie against student’s other players eagerness to online. Players receive tokens learn in an engaging way. depending on what place they are “I allow [my students] to use in the race and if they made any this site because most students
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seem more engaged. The more time they spend trying to improve their typing skills now, the more time they will save in the future,” Language Arts John White said. Some people may believe games cannot be educational, but they can help kids to improve their skills. Games like these help concentrate kids’ learning skills and still make learning entertaining. “I like to use [educational] games because I find that kids are more engaged with learning when it’s fun and a little competitive,” Social Studies, Communication and Citizenship, and Health teacher Stephanie La Joie said.
Congratulations Class of
2016!