Talent Show features fresh and familiar faces By Jason Wang Staff Writer
Matt Winkel
TALENT SHOW Seniors Henry Sue and Nathan Pokpongkiat perform robotic dance moves in their act. See pages 6 and 7 for more performances.
Ten acts, ranging from a capella to electronic dancing, were featured during last Friday’s talent show assembly. Commissioner of Assemblies Marcy Kuo hosted the event, announcing the GQ nominees for each grade level in between performances. Judges representing the student body and faculty evaluated the talent show participants based on quality, uniqueness, execution, and ability. The show opened with a exhilarating string performance by seniors Samuel Chen, Julius Lam, and Arthur Puu on violin and freshman Geoffrey Lee on cello. The quartet played a compilation of “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragon Force and “Harder, Better, Faster” by Daft Punk with instruments illuminated with glow sticks, blending the two fast-paced songs into one seamless melody. In the second act, senior Xiomara De La O sang a cover of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons accompanied by junior Drew Hodis on piano, demonstrating a charming, yet powerful vocal range. The mood of the assembly was lightened by an a capella performance of Mr. Gray’s original composition, “Mr. Gecko,” a Hawaiian-
themed piece reminiscent of Disneyland. “The Amphibians,” made up of senior Courtney Chu, juniors Glenda Chen and Alex Wong, and sophomore Abraham Szilagyi mixed the high-pitches of soprano voices with the resonance of a bass. Seniors Andrea Rogando and Julius Lam sang a mashup of “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood and “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk, mixing their voices with melodies on the guitar and piano. Seniors Nathan Pokpongkiat and Henry Sue performed animation dancing to dubstep in an aura of orange fog, imitating the movements of robots. The dynamic duo began their series of fluid dance moves with an introduction from Delta Heavy’s Empire. Senior Justin Park concluded the assembly with a stunning cover of Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man,” embracing his solo with a powerful vocal range. For many performers, the talent show was a breath of fresh air, a chance to step out of their comfort zones. “I’ve wanted to participate in the talent show since freshmen year, but I had always been afraid of performing in front of crowds,” Rogando said. “Coming from a girl that sings only in the shower, singing for the whole school felt liberating.”
College Night presents juniors with information on admissions By Andrew Shults Assoc. Sports Editor The counseling department held its annual 11th Grade College Night to inform juniors and parents of the college admissions process. The February 20 event, which lasted from 6:30 p.m until 8:45 p.m., was divided into two parts, featuring a case study and a mini college fair. The first portion of the evening was dedicated to a case study where attendees pretended to be admissions officers for Redbrick College, a fictional liberal arts school. Parents and students were separated into different classrooms, and later into four teams in each classroom to review four applications. Each team was then assigned an applicant, and the classroom decided as a whole whether the student was accepted, waitlisted, or denied. “The case study was a very informative experience,” junior Garrett Tse said. “It gave me new insight on how the college admissions process worked. [I learned] that deciding who gets admitted or denied is much more complicated than I previously thought.”
For the rest of the night, attendees were invited to a mini college fair in the practice gym, which showcased several colleges from around the country and the world. This gave students a chance to meet with college representatives on a more personal basis and to learn more about the schools in which they were interested. “I really enjoyed the event. This was much more interactive than other college nights, and I learned a lot from both the case study and the college fair,” junior Justin Ninomiya said.
Matt Winkel
Community members commented on the documentary, “Miss Representation,” on February 24.
Miss Representation informs viewers at special screening By Kea Hudson Staff Writer
Raj Jain
Students and parents listened to a presentation on college applications on February 20.
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SPHS students and local residents packed the Community Room of the South Pasadena Public Library on Monday, February 24 for a special screening of the documentary Miss Representation. The event was hosted by The Healthy South Pasadena Community. Miss Representation explores how unrealistic images of women portrayed in the media affect female body image and lead to the misrepresented and underrepresented role of
Putin the Olympics to the test: Examining journalistic integrity and human rights violations both in Sochi and at home
women in positions of power. After the 90-minute screening, attendees engaged in a dynamic conversation about the issues presented in the film. Senior Charlotte Foley, a member of South Pasadena High School’s Feminists Unite Club, sat on the panel during the discussion portion of the event. “The movie was very informative,” Foley said. “The most striking thing about it was the attention it drew to our paradoxical obsession and objectivization of the preservation of prepubescent youth and naïveté.”
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Mrs. Patti Winkel, who runs a website that provides information to parents with college-bound children, was one of the event’s many coordinators. “The goal of the event was to raise awareness in our community of the hugely negative impact that the media’s biased messages and limited portrayal of girls and women has on our culture’s leadership and health,” Winkel said. “I wish we had had more time to hear from the audience but perhaps we can continue the conversation at a future Healthy South Pasadena community event.”
Soccer season slides to a stop: Read about boys’ soccer’s defeat in the second round of CIF playoffs that drew the season to a close
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