Students gather for Club Rush
Plan for junior privilege cards in the works By Jackson Atwater Staff Writer
By Matt DeFulgentiis Staff Writer Club Rush took place on the Tiger Patio on September 21 and 22. The event gave students the opportunity to scramble among tables and screaming club advocates and sign up for as many clubs as they desired. According to Commissioner of Clubs Michelle Ozaki, the preparation for Club Rush was extensive. “I set an early deadline for all the clubs to get their applications in, but many clubs turned in their forms late”, said Ozaki. “This year we had 84 clubs participating in Club Rush.” The most popular clubs this year are Key Club and Red Cross. Both received more than three hundred signatures. Other popular clubs include the American Cancer Society, Pink Club, and World Wildlife Fund. Not all clubs support charities. According to junior Lauren Riley of the Astronomy Club, “We go out and look at the stars and learn how to use a telescope, and we’re going to take a field trip to the Griffith Park Observatory.” Wiffle Ball Club president Ben Hillman said, “No other clubs play wiffle ball because they don’t understand how awesome it is.” Kea Hudson and Karinna Loo of Epic Mealtime stated, “We will make disgustingly delicious meals with bacon. They are over the top, to the point of gross – but good.” Ozaki said, “Overall, I think Club Rush went well, even though it was a hectic two days for me.”
Theo Mandin-Lee
Club Rush: Commissioner of Clubs Michelle Ozaki helps to promote the Red Cross Club, which had over 300 sign-ups. Ozaki and ASB promoted and organized the event. See page 3 for more coverage.
National Merit scholars for 2012 announced By Natalie McLain Staff Writer Eleven students from South Pasadena High School were named semifinalists in this year’s National Merit Scholarship program, a scholarship organization that focuses on students with high PSAT and SAT scores. These students are Fedor Kossakovski, Yee-Lum Mak, Michelle Lam, Isabelle Rosenthal, Mei Chung, Tiffany Chen, Aiden Louie, Melody Sue, Haseeb Khan, Alex Tranquada, and Max White. Though generally excited to be receiving such an honor, students varied in their reaction to the program itself. Some, such as Khan, attributed their success to hard work. “I read a lot when I was younger which helps with the Critical Reading, and I started do-
ing math much sooner than most people do. Also, I got a good night’s sleep,” said Khan. “I think I did well because I prepared all summer for the SAT and took the October one. So, because the PSAT was right after, I did pretty well,” said Sue. However, others thought fortune had played more of a hand in their success. Rosenthal said, “To some extent I think I got lucky, because I know some people who are definitely smarter than me who did not get to be semifinalists.” Differences in opinion aside, most of the semifinalists shared high goals for the future. Louie is looking primarily to University of Chicago as his school of choice, and plans to go into cardiothoracic surgery. As a whole, the students seemed enthusiastic about their experience thus far. “Being a
semifinalist is very rewarding... The most exciting part is looking forward to the announcements of who qualified as a finalist,” said Kossakovski. The school hopes that all 11 seminfinalists will be selected as finalists in the coming months.
Bill Glazier
Eleven SPHS students were named National Merit semifinalists.
Senior girls vie for a spot on Rose Court By Clair Fuller Assoc. Opinion Editor
Katherine Whitworth
Senior Victoria Carlos registers at the first round of Rose Court auditions on Sept. 17.
“I was so nervous!” said senior Nicole Lussier, speaking for many of the young women aged 17 to 21 from the Pasadena area who auditioned for the 2012 Rose Court on Sept. 17 at the Tournament House in Pasadena. Lussier and several other girls hope to be chosen as one of the six Rose Princesses or the Rose Queen who presides over the Tournament of Roses Parade every new year. SPHS seniors Taylor Levine, Nicole Lussier, Victoria Carlos, Chloe Acebo, Evelyn Ashleigh, MacKenzie Forman, Marika Stanford-Moore, Helena Cassil-
ly, Miranda Gontz, Brianna Loo, and Lillie Moffett were notified on Tuesday that they had been chosen to move on to the semi-final round of auditions, set to take place on September 29. They are part of a select group of about 75 girls from the San Gabriel Valley. A Tournament of Roses representative first visited SPHS on September 8 to discuss preliminary information regarding the Court. The first round of auditions attracted around a thousand young women to the Tournament of Roses mansion on September 17, where applicants were given 15 seconds to tell a ten-person judging panel why they wanted to be on the Rose Court.
Around 250 young women, including several SPHS students, were selected to continue to the second of four auditions. The quarterfinals were held on September 24, where Rose Court hopefuls answered judges’ questions for a minute and a half. Judging and selection is, according the Tournament of Roses website, based on a variety of qualities “including academic achievement, poise, personality, public speaking ability and appearance.” The seven members of the Rose Court receive additional benefits, including scholarships, makeovers, and the chance to attend a multitude of public and media events. The semi-finals are being held today at the Tournament of Roses House in Pasadena.
A new batch of students gains the privilege of an unrestricted lunch period every September. If things go as planned, that batch may soon double in size. Administration is attempting to gain approval for privilege cards for juniors who have proven themselves worthy of the ticket to leave campus. The idea for the new cards originated as an incentive for students to scored well on California Standardized Tests during their sophomore and junior years. The intent was that juniors and seniors would have equal opportunity to earn privilege cards based on their academic performance. Principal Ms Janet Anderson said, “We started talking about junior privilege cards last year, midyear, and part of what we were talking about was incentive: how do we make achievement on the CST’s mean more to kids? We talked about changing the senior cards so that junior CST scores might be figured in. That’s one thing, give responsibility to kids, have them take a little more control over academic performance.” The initiative to begin giving the cards out began in the middle of last year. The issue of senior privilege cards got as far as discussion at the school board level, where there were multiple concerns. The board discussed the risks of having more students off campus, including potential problems for area businesses, and issues regarding students arriving late to classes or rushing to get on and off campus in the forty minute time slot. The administration has been asked to present data to support its case. The issue is currently under discussion in School Site Council meetings. “We talked about what we need to do, which is pull together some data that will show us how many juniors currently would have met the proposed guidelines [to get a card], if this was in place. How many people is it really going to unleash on the community?” Anderson explained. If the answers to these questions stack up in the right way, privilege cards for both groups of upperclassmen may well be coming. Administration has high hopes that the cards will be approved in the near future. It is estimated by the administration that cards should be in place next year for the class of 2014,” said Anderson.