October 2, 2009

Santa Monica High School 601 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405
October 2, 2009
Volume XCIX, Issue I
Samo’s API
score satisfies
educational
requirements
Evan Kahn
Staff Writer
photo by Sam Bleiberg
SQUARING OFF: Senior Luke Zelon and his fellow Vikings start the season 1-2 but have a chance to break even with a win tonight against Valencia. Sports, p. 16
Samo alum headed for space
Jessie Geoffray
News Editor
A piece of Samo in the form of a centennial medallion will go to space and back, carried
by alumni Lt. Col. Randolph Bresnik aboard
the space shuttle Atlantis.
The mission to bring supplies to the space
station launches Nov. 11 and is scheduled to
last 11 days, complete with three spacewalks.
“When I was in high school, [being an astronaut] always interested me … but it wasn’t
something that I ever thought was possible,”
said Bresnik, who graduated from Samo in
1985.
His time at Samo included participation in
the orchestra and marching band, and he wasn’t
always set on a career. However, a strong interest in math, science and particularly the chance
to fly led Bresnik to consider the military option
in his senior year. He received a Marine Corps
scholarship through which he was eventually
assigned to NASA.
Bresnik’s accomplishments offer a strong
message to Samo students, principal Dr. Hugo
Pedroza said.
“It shows success is very possible, especially with the programs and rigor we have to
offer at this school,” Pedroza said.
Veronica Garcia-Hecht, activities adviser,
is now in the midst of arranging for Bresnik to
speak to the student body after his journey into
space. Bresnik hopes his message will resound
with seniors.
“The one thing that stands out looking
back, from this perspective,” Bresnik said, “is
that when you’re in high school its really important where you go to school, but once you
get beyond [college], it really doesn’t matter at
all. It’s the fact that you got the education, and
it’s what you do with that education that matters.”
Youth stabbing at Samo football game
Neil Thomas
Staff Writer
After last Friday’s football game, at approximately 9:43 p.m, an attempted homicide
took place outside the Santa Monica College
stadium when a 17-year-old Hispanic Inglewood resident was stabbed and taken to the
hospital with minor injuries.
The students involved were not Samo
students, and
according to
speculation,
may not even
be Santa Monica residents.
“ D u ring the game,
everything
was
under
control,” said
Samo principal Hugo Pedroza. “And
the situation
was handled
almost instantly.”
The
stabbing will
not have any
immediate
impact on security at school or at games. The
security at each game will be allocated on a
case-by-case basis.
“Our job is to remain to be as aggressive
about providing security as we always have,”
Pedroza said. “The most important responsibility is safety first.”
Gang violence is the incident’s most likely
cause.
“These gangs have roots,” Pedroza said.
“[The stabbing] may have been completely unrelated to the game.”
Though Samo students may not have
been involved, parents are understandably concerned.
“I hate to
see that kind of
thing happen in
our city at our
football game,”
said
Candy
Tanaka , aunt
of junior Azia
Calderhead,
who attended
the game.
As
of
Thursday, the
Santa Monica
Police Department was still
conducting an
investigation.
The Santa
Monica Police
Department
needs
assistance in identifying and locating a suspect involved in an attempted homicide. If you wish
to help and remain anonymous, call WeTip at
1-800-78-CRIME (1-800-782-7463). You will
remain completely anonymous and may be
eligible for a reward if your information leads
to an arrest and conviction, according to www.
santamonicapd.org.
“These gangs have roots...
[The stabbing] may have
been completely unrelated
to the game.”
--Dr. Pedroza
Fall TV
Preview
Day in the Life: Inside
Samo Custodians Perspective
The Samohi staff
critiques fall’s most
anticipated shows.
What messes do we Staff members take
leave behind?
an inside look at
events around
campus
Arts & Entertainment, p. 14
Feature, p. 8
Campus Life, p. 8
The results of the state tests from the 20082009 school year are in.
The California government set a goal for
Samo last year, pushing us to increase five
points from the previous 772 API. Instead,
Samo exceeded this amount, passing the goal to
make 778 points.
“We are living in an era of public accountability,” said O-House Principal Jose Iniguez,
“and the API score is a measure by which our
government has chosen to determine our level
of preparedness to compete in a global economy. Any progress is obviously a good thing.”
API (Academic Performance Index) is a
score given to a school judging by how well its
students do on their state tests; in California’s
case, these are the California High School Exit
Examination (CAHSEE) and the
California Standardized Test (CST), with
the score leaning more heavily upon the CST.
The score is calculated on a five to one basis: five is advanced, four is proficient, three is
basic, two is below basic, and one is far below
basic. Every student gets one of these scores,
and when added and averaged with the number
of students at other schools, the API score is
calculated.
“Everyone likes to have an easy tool of
measurement,” Iniguez said. “Like it or not,
API is what’s being used by the government,
public, increasingly universities, etc.”
Colleges generally look at a school’s API
score if they are choosing between two students
to let in. For example, if the tie were between
a Samo student and one from Palisades Charter High, which has a 797 API, then the latter
would be more likely admitted.
Though the 778 API is nothing to laugh at,
the school’s true achievement came from the
subgroups that students are placed under.
The categories, made for the purpose of
knowing how each community is doing on the
tests, are Asian, African-American, Latino,
White, Low Socioeconomic Status (Low SES),
English Language Learners (ELL) and Special
Education students.
The largest jumps this year were from the
Latino subgroup, which raised 13 API points
as opposed to the goal of five and the AfricanAmerican subgroup which raised 45 API points
from last year, with the goal being eight points.
“Not only is it an amazing thing,” said
Samo principal Hugo Pedroza, “it shows that
we care about everyone’s academic performance.”
This past year, though they achieved a
better score on the CAHSEE than the previous
year, 10th graders did not meet expectations for
News, p. 3
Campus Life....................4
Feature............................7
Special Report...............10
Opinion..........................12
Arts & Entertainment....14
Sports............................16
Photo Essay..................20
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News
Oct. 2, 2009
Team Marine marches again to ban plastic bags in Santa Monica
Lianna Cohen
Staff Writer
Team Marine and Heal the Bay
Surfrider Club participated in a march,
filmed by Nickelodeon, to ban plastic
bags in Santa Monica. The march was
the fifth “Ban the Bag” march in two
years.
A misconception exists that plastic bags have already been banned in
Santa Monica. The plastic bag industry
put pressure on City Council not to pass
the ban, and the city decided to conduct
an environmental review to determine
the harmful effect of plastic bags on the
environment.
This environmental review was
proposed in January and has not yet
been completed.
The march, in which about 20
people participated, went to city hall,
the pier and the promenade to spread
awareness and knowledge about the
prospective ban. Team Marine member Melanie Delia went so far as to be
a “plastic bag monster” to demonstrate
the amount of waste created by singleuse plastic bags.
“We also want to stop other singleuse plastics, such as lunch bags and water bottles and go reusable,” Delia said.
“Thousands of marine animals and
more than one million sea birds die every year from plastic pollution.”
“When we have a large group of
kids participate on the marches it really shows the community that youth
does care about environment and that
we want something done about it now,”
said Celina Stilphen, president of Heal
the Bay Surfrider Club. “It will take a
few years for the ban to be passed and
the only thing for eco-minded students
to do is march to keep encouraging the
city that something must be done.”
Page 2
photo by Sam Boloorchi
ANTI-PLASTIC: Members of Team Marine pose before the march, which promoted reusable bottles and bags.
Samo orchestra program partnership with LA SSA receives $1 million for
Philharmonic provides outstanding privileges bike safety improvements
photo by Reva Santo
THE BEST IS YET TO COME: Joni Swenson conducts Samo’s Symphony Orchestra.
Salonee Bhaman
and Jane Kivnick
Editors-in-Chief
The Samo orchestra program
will once again be participating in
the Los Angeles Philharmonic youth
orchestra program.
As a part of this program, Samo
orchestras will receive 24 coaching
sessions taught by L.A. Phil musicians and free tickets to performance.
“This collaboration has been
reinstated for the next two years,”
said Cathy Davies, president of the
orchestra program.
The orchestra program was adopted by the Philharmonic once before in 2007.
“LA Phil ‘adopts’ several
schools a year, so Samo is a part of
a program that has affected schools
in the greater L.A. area,” said Guido
Lamell, Samo parent and second
violinist for the Phil. “The L.A. Phil
has decided to re-adopt largely because of the fact that Samo has such
a fabulous orchestra program.”
The program will provide professional performance opportunities
for Samo’s higher-level groups, such
as the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
“Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform at Disney Concert
Hall as a part of the L.A. Phil’s
Youth Orchestra festival last year,”
Davies said.
The collaboration allows students to interact with professional
musicians and receive feedback
from a variety of sources.
“A few musicians from the L.A.
Phil will come to orchestra class periods and lead sectionals and small
ensemble rehearsals,” Lamell said.
“L.A. Phil musicians take interest
in Samo orchestra performances as
well.”
The Philharmonic has taken
special interest in Samo’s orchestra
program because of the exceptional
level of the student musicians.
“I believe that Joni [Swenson]
and Jason [Aiello] have done a
magnificent job with the program.”
Lamell said.
Lily Cain
Staff Writer
The California Department of
Transportation gave Santa Monica
$880,000 on Aug. 10, 2009 as part of
the Safe Routes to School program.
Santa Monica gave an additional
$100,000 to the program for a total of
$980,000.
The money will be used “for
pedestrian and bike safety improvements to streets around the Santa
Monica High campus, including installing hundreds of additional bike
racks on campus,” said former Samo
PTSA chair of transportation Alison
Kendall.
The Samohi Solar Alliance (SSA)
started Bike Day to reduce Samo’s
carbon footprint. Members realized
they had to teach students about bike
safety and make it safer for them to
bike in order to get more participants
on Bike Day.
“It’s to help [SSA]’s cause of
helping the environment,” senior cyclist Connor Vance said. “Adding
bike racks and better routes to school
makes it safer to bike.”
SSA’s purpose has been progressively more successful with the num-
ber of students biking to school from
30 in 2006 to over 160 in June 2009.
Due to the increasing number of
students biking and walking to school,
the Samo PTSA, with the joint efforts
of local cyclists and the Santa Monica
Police Department, has organized bike
safety classes and bike helmet promotions. The money in this grant will
be used to continue safety education
and to encourage walking or biking to
school.
“I understand that a certain percentage (10 percent) is set aside for
education and traditionally the largest
proportion is used for improvements
to the street design, crossing, pavements, etc,” said Michael Cahn, chair
of PTSA transportation.
Santa Monica received the grant
due to student involvement, unlike
many other schools that also applied
for the grant. SSA members wrote letters, attended Safe Routes to School
meetings, took surveys and showed
support through Bike Days.
The next bike day is Oct. 21,
2009 and SSA is hoping that there will
be more bikers.
“If [SSA] spreads the word about
this,” Vance said, “more people might
join.”
Barnum’s new theater organ excites music department
Tessa Nath
Staff Writer
The ever-evolving Barnum Hall
received a donation of a Wurlitzer theater organ over the summer.
Now installed, the organ ends the
decade-long restoration program for
Barnum, which began in the late 1990s.
The installation process took all summer and close to $1,000 to finally return Barnum back to its original design,
complete with a theater organ.
The newly acquired Wurlitzer
organ, donated by the Los Angeles
Theatre Organ Society, is arguably the
finest in its class. It is worth well over
$100,000, has three different manuals
(keyboards), and 19 ranks of pipes.
“It has expanded our repertoire
and done it effectively,” said Terry Sakow, band director.
The new theater organ in Barnum
has opened many opportunities for orchestra, band and choir.
To inaugurate the organ, Symphony Orchestra is playing Camille SaintSaëns’s third symphony (the “Organ
Symphony”).
“It’s an incredible piece of music
and we’re really looking forward to putting it together with our new organ,”
said Joni Swenson, orchestra director.
photo by Reva Santo
POSH: Sporting three keyboards, Barnum’s new Wurlitzer theatre organ has all the bells and whistles of a high-end instrument.
“It’s difficult and we didn’t know if it
would work, but we’ve been practicing
and it’s coming together so it’s really
exciting.”
In addition, the society — a branch
of the American Theatre Organ Society
— would like to perform at Samo at least
once a year, as well as provide technical
services for the organ.
Furthermore, Carey Upton, director of theater operations and facility
permits, has arranged for a portion of
the National Convention of the Theatre
Organ Society to take place in Barnum
Hall in 2012.
Until then, Samo’s music department is thrilled to be able to take advantage of this amazing instrument. They
can record tracks on the theatre organ,
and then play them later off a computer
with the full effect of the pipes sounding
in the background.
“The big thing is that the next time
you are in Barnum for an assembly, look
forward to hearing the organ play,” Upton said. “We are going to try and play
the organ every chance we get.”
Remarkably, Samo’s tradition of
organ playing dates back to the creation
of Barnum Hall. However, the current
organ was not always where it is today.
When Barnum Hall was originally
constructed in 1937, it was situated with
a different theater organ. Due to its severe old age and leaks in the ceiling, the
organ was irrevocably ruined. This was
a major blow to the music department.
“A theater organ of that day was
like the synthesizer is today. It was
meant to emulate the orchestra,” Sakow
said.
After careful research, Sakow
managed to get in touch with various
organ donors who were willing to support Samo.
“One day I was at home and I started surfing the Internet and I did a Yahoo
search on theater organs,” Sakow said.
“At that time, I didn’t know much about
organs. I was wondering what do we do
with the pipes?”
After years of effort, Samo finally
received their new organ. They took the
pipes and put them in Barnum, completely redoing the existing organ room.
Now finished, the room is designed so
that if there are any leaks, they will no
longer harm the organ. The organ can
be controlled from a separate consul
from anywhere onstage, while the pipes
sound in two separate pipe rooms on either side of Barnum Hall.
Samo is proud to have such an exceptional addition to the school, the only
thing that now remains is for some student to fulfill the dreams of Samo music
instructors and learn to play the organ.
As Sakow described, organ playing is a dying art, and for a Samo student
to bring it back would add a lot of depth
to the music department.
“It all started with an Internet
search and a phone call,” Sakow said.
News
Recent API score satisfies state educational requirements
(continued from p.1)
the CST. Approximately 35
percent of sophomores tested
below basic/far below basic
the 2009 test, and the percentage of proficient and advanced
students dropped to 57.2 percent on the English portion.
Even though the English
portion of the CST is the only
category that lowered its percentile, the math section is
just as it has always been: half
the score of the other sections,
with 29.4 percent of Samo students scoring proficient or advanced.
“Statewide,
math
suffers from a lower percentage
scoring advanced and proficient than other subjects,”said
Geoff Tipper, head of the math
department at Samo. “Large
amounts of freshman come
to Samo taking geometry, algebra II, some even attempting pre-calc. Plus, Samo has a
three-year graduation requirement for math, which is really
rare. So we push juniors into
math classes they might not
otherwise be taking. Overall, I
think that’s a good thing.”
There was a major effort
to raise the school’s API before the CST’s last year, with
many an administrator sporting pins exclaiming “Samo for
800 API!” However, though
Page 3
Oct. 2, 2009
Teleparent makes
its way to Samo
Taylor D’Andrea
Staff Writer
image courtesy of Dr. Iniguez
IMPROVEMENT: Samo’s API progress over the past few years reached a high point after last year’s testing.
Samo did not manage to reach
that goal, the school’s score
did raise. The state goal for
Samo was to raise five points,
and it sloped from 772 to 778.
This statistic brings up another question. Did Samo, as a
school, fail the buttons everyone so proudly wore?Pedroza
strongly disagrees.
“The ‘800’ buttons were
about a mentality, he said. “It
gave us the drive to excel, and
to give us a chance to explain
to the students why they really matter. Before last year,
some people who did bad on
the CSTs would just go, ‘so
what?’”
So how can the school improve its scores for the coming
years?
“It’s back to the basics,”
Tipper said. “Back to the California state standards, focusing on the key standards the
kids are going to be tested
Samo is making plans to implement a
new automated phone system called TeleParent, which sends preprogrammed, school-related messages home to students using the
number on school file.
Teachers can use this service to communicate with students about an upcoming
test or homework assignment, or to communicate with parents about a problem with their
child’s behavior or schoolwork.
“It helps teachers get a hold of students
and parents in a user friendly way,” said H
House principal Leslie Wells. “It will add to
the communication already happening between teachers, parents and students through
pinnacle”.
TeleParent doesn’t focus solely on the
negative messages, however. Teachers and
administrators can also send positive messages home, congratulating a student on a
good grade or improvement in class. It can
also send messages in different languages to
better communicate with all parents.
‘TeleParent’ has already been brought
to other schools in our area, such as the Anaheim school district and the College-Ready
Academy charter schools in Downtown Los
Angeles.
“It has really cut down on tardiness because we can give wake up calls to students
who have trouble getting to school on time.
The positive messages are also a great way to
let parents know when students are improving or succeeding,” said Dean Marolla, principal of the College-Ready Academy charter
school #5.
School administrators hope to fully integrate the system in the coming months.
Campus Life
Page 4
October 2, 2009
ASB Drive to help Darfur
Chloe Director
Staff Writer
ASB’s school supply drive has been raising
awareness about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. The
purpose is to send leftover school supplies to benefit the children in the region. In Darfur, 2.5 million men, women, and children have been forced
to move to refugee camps because of the violent
conflict.
Schools for the children in the refugee camps
are being built yet the supplies and equipment
for their education is scarce. The leaders of ASB
believe as a community Samo should reach out
to less fortunate students around the world. One
way Samo students can do this is by donating
school supplies to students in Darfur. So far $200
have been separately donated to the cause. The
organization that delivers the materials is called
Develop Africa. Visit at www.developafrica.org/
drive_information.
“We Have Hope!” is the prominent slogan for
The Samo School Supplies Drive.
Azia Calderhead, secretary of ASB and head of
the committee, spoke about the approach. “Now
that Darfur is getting more attention, schools are
being built. Survival and keeping families together is of main importance. We hope to improve the
education of the children and we also hope for a
future without poverty and violence,” she said.
Calderhead compiled photos and a video featuring different Samo clubs, sports and programs
showing their support for the people of Darfur and
helping to raise awareness about their struggle.
The video can be accessed on Google—“Samohi
has Hope for Darfur.”
Many teachers are getting involved, too. For
example, English teacher Berkeley Blatz has of-
Top 5 Supplies Needed
BY THE NUMBERS
Count of donations as of Sep. 30
1. Pens-- 61
2. Pencils-- 78, plus 42 colored
3. Markers-- 4 boxes
4. Crayons-- 96
5. Spiral/Composition Notebooks-- 18
Other supplies:
2920 sheets of paper
10 folders
4 binders
2 rulers
2 $100 checks
fered extra credit to his students for donations to the
supply drive.
Students can drop off donations of left-over school
supplies in room T103B until Oct. 9.
Campus Life
Page 5
October 2, 2009
Luck of the draw: senior parking lottery A view to noise pollution: lunch quad rally
The crowd is tightly packed as we eagerly await Mr. Morse’s next two words. These next two words
are the difference between looking for a spot two blocks south of Pico or paying at the expensive Civic
Center Lot and indulging in that glorious extra ten minutes of sleep that comes with a spot behind the Tech
Building.
As the crowd hangs on Mr. Morse’s every word, I
just pray someone in my carpool gets called. “Nick Katkov,” calls out the science teacher. A distant cheer erupts
as a small crowd roars in joy, another groans in envy.
The suspense builds as the spots keep evaporating.
“Rose Kleiman-Weiner,” calls Mr. Morse. Finally, a
spot for a carpool member!
For the next five months I can take the peaceful walk
down the History Building, through the Science Quad,
and into the magnificent and pristine senior lot. I will no
longer have to tolerate the arduous walk past the track,
across the street, and into the stifling Civic Center.
As the lottery ends, a deflated group of seniors curses
the school and the unpredictable lottery process. Regardless of their disdain for the lottery, I’m perfectly content
with spot 292.
Oren Friedman, Staff Writer
I’ve staked out a spot on a ledge to cover the year’s first quad rally. As the prerecorded
drumline for the songs team starts up I break out notepad and pen, hoping to record something
unexpected. Within a few minutes, however, it’s apparent that the quad rally is going just as
expected: nearly identical to all the rallies staged in years prior.
In due time the key aspects reveal themselves:
the scripted school-spirit rhetoric, interrupted by
gentrified Top 40 Radio songs that cut through the
air abruptly for a couple seconds at a time, followed by a series of team games meant to generate
collective suspense.
All these things have become expected, both to
me, and to those students for whom Quad Rallies
are not expressions of school pride but a source
of noise pollution, a big Blue-and-Gold roadblock
creating congestion between the Main and Science Quads. Reflecting on the issue following the
rally’s end, it is apparent that change is needed for
these events to actually promote school spirit, not
stymie it.
Art by Clare Sim
On page 6, Staff Writer Lianna
Cohen reports on how Cody
Williams’s teammates have
dealt with the tragedy.
Photo by Sam Boloorchi
ALL FOR ONE: A unified Samo football team emerges from the
locker room as it looks to overcome adversity in its Sep. 18 game
against Palisades. The Vikings won impressively in Cody’s honor,
35-0.
The longest fifteen minutes:
when Cody Williams went down
Photo by Sam Boloorchi
SPIRIT IN THE QUAD: Hundreds of Samo students
surround the Main Quad on Oct. 18 for the school pride
rally, spearheaded by ASB. (above) Students participated in one of the “team games meant to generate
collective suspense”: a water balloon toss. (below)
Maybe on a different field, in a different city, miles and miles away; maybe
a different kid, in a different jersey, at a different school; maybe a Spartan or
a Warrior or a Wildcat; maybe in the NFL, on television, in the news; maybe
Kevin Everett; maybe even the other team—but just not here.
Ambulances don’t drive onto Corsair Field. Samo players aren’t carried off
the field on stretchers. Routine plays don’t end in tragedy. Not here.
Then, Cody Williams went down.
The silence rang in my ears, stifling the buzz and anticipation that came
with the new season. Rows of kneeling players, lined up like a strange crop,
bordered the field. The entire stadium held one huge breath.
After five minutes, fans started to get restless; after 15 eternities, the away
crowd began their taunts.
The ambulance drove off the field and play resumed, but the moment did
not thaw. The game continued in the present, while I stood fixed in the past.
The whistle blew and the crops dispersed, borne by the task at hand.
Still, the field remained frozen, the night air congealed.
Sam Bleiberg, Sports Editor
Photo by Sam Boloorchi
Teachers and advisers weigh in on effect of house reduction
Teachers and administrators regard the changes in the houses with mixed emotions. While some teachers are not completely
settled in their new houses, others do not mind the move. However, all understand accepting the changes is necessary—at least
to some degree—in order to affect the students as little as possible.
Lily Cain
“It’s early on still, and there’s a fairly minimal impact.
I did have an excellent relationship with Ms. Wax-Gellis.
There are advantages to both [house systems]. Now there’s a
little more workload for advisers, but there is more flexibility
for schedules with fewer houses.”
Staff Writer
“It’s been tough, but it has been fiscally required. Everyone is
helping work it out. We’ll survive.”
M-House freshman and junior adviser Irene
Ramos
H-House math teacher Pat
Dunn
Photo by Reva Santo
Photo by Reva Santo
“We were all hurt to see A-House collapse, but we’re excited
about the new opportunities. I will miss the student leadership and
house events, but I like the new colleagues I’ve seen around campus,
but haven’t been able to work with. I’m making the best of it and I’m
excited for what’s next.”
O-House English teacher Jennifer
“It’s really not a big deal to me. My job is still very
much the same; teaching students to the best of my
ability. Probably the most difficult change is the longer
walk to my mailbox.”
Pust
I-House English teacher Michael
Surrago
Photo by Sam Boloorchi
“At first, I was very shocked and apprehensive about what sort of support I would have for
the next year, but now I’m feeling well supported.
[The worst part was] I didn’t know what house I
would be in until two to three weeks before school
ended.”
S-House math teacher Susan
Photo by Reva Santo
“I had a lot of friends, personal and work-related, and I
learned a lot from colleagues. It’s sort of like being a freshman in a new house, but change is good.”
Gaynor
O-House economics teacher Bryn
Boyd
Photo by Sam Boloorchi
Photo by Reva Santo
Campus Life
Vikes try to overcome Williams tragedy
Lianna Cohen
Staff Writer
It is no secret that football is a sport riddled with freak
accidents. A slight change in conditions could mean the
difference between a sprain or pull and something much
worse. Look at what happened to USC running back Stafon Johnson. For the past few weeks, the Samo community
has been coping with the injury of junior Cody Williams.
Junior Austin Ehrlich has been playing football with
Cody Williams since fifth
grade. The junior defensive end watched from the
field as his best friend was
taken to the hospital during Samo’s season opener
against Leuzinger High
School.
As the Samo community deals collectively with
Williams’s injury, people
must simultaneously cope
on their own. Ehrlich has
found solace in talking to
his dad.
“I was sad the first couple of days. Then I realized
he was going to be okay
and I stopped crying,” Ehrlich said of his reaction to
Williams’ injury.
The day after the Leuzinger game, the school offered counseling for all
football players as well as
anyone else who needed
it.
“Initially, I was really sad about it because I have been
playing football with him forever and we’ve become good
friends,” said Brock Miller, junior quarterback, linebacker
and friend of Williams, regarding Williams’ injury. “I’m
feeling better now because he’s doing so well in the hospital.”
The Cody Williams Recovery Fund was established
less than a week after Williams’s injury to help support
Williams and his family financially during his recovery
and to help cover insurance and living costs. More information can be found on the discussion board of the “We
Love You Cody Williams” Facebook group.
Chris Featherstone, a senior wide receiver and corner
back and Williams’ close friend, is trying to keep a positive outlook.
“It’s hard on all of us on the football team, but we’re
all having positive attitudes and working 100 percent for
Cody and trying to win
the CIF championship
ring for him,” Featherstone said. “My situation
with this was not good
at all. I got no sleep and
had a bit of counseling
but now I just look at
it that Cody is going to
be fine and I know he
doesn’t want me crying.
He wants me balling on
the football field.”
Williams’ condition
has been improving
steadily in recent weeks.
Support has come in
droves from his family,
friends and complete
strangers
expressing
their best wishes. He has
had several visitors at
the hospital, including
UCLA football coach
Rick Neuheisel and USC
football coach Pete Carroll.
“His story really struck us and we just wanted to reach
out and help in any way we could,” Carroll said. “We all
need to keep sending prayers, positive thoughts and good
wishes for Cody. That positive thinking goes a long way
and we need to keep being there for Cody and his family.”
“His story really struck us
and we just wanted to reach
out and help in any way we
could. We all need to keep
sending prayers, positive
thoughts and good wishes
for Cody. That positive thinking goes a long way and we
need to keep being there for
Cody and his family.”
Pete Carroll, USC football coach
Page 6
October 2, 2009
Dear Samo
Welcome to the 2009—10 school year, Vikings! I am Ross
Gordon, your student body president this year.
For those of you who are wondering what I do, where I work,
or who I work with, here’s a brief summary. Your Associated
Student Body, consisting of 52 members, nine of whom were
elected last spring, congregate during fourth period every day in
T103b. Our weekly agenda consists of two official meeting days
(Tues/Thurs), two committee days (Mon/Wed), and one day for
outside speakers or special activities (Fri). We welcome you to
speak to the cabinet during fourth period, come and observe how
we work, or even just introduce yourself as someone who would
like to be involved as a fellow student at Samo.
During the past three weeks, ASB has really stepped into our
role. We are still figuring out our limits and possibilities as an
organization to serve the school, but we are working in order
to be as successful as possible. As the year progresses we will
encounter issues where student input is vital, and we cannot wait
to represent the student population. Our main focus thus far has
been reaching out to the many communities in and around Samo,
as well as trudging through sleet and snow to get a Samo rally
officially on the calendar.
We have already formed a Samo team participating in the Los
Angeles AIDS Walk, collected school supplies for underprivileged students in Darfur, held a successful blood drive and unity
rally and started planning a year of events which will definitely
will include pep rallies and other fun events. Our year will only
get better.
We have two major goals. One is to bring back the traditions of our school’s past and reveal the immense history that our
school holds beneath our feet. The second is to strengthen the
bond between our cabinet and the administration of our school.
In order to truly implement change, get the students’ voices heard
and make our school a better place, we must have a solid trust
and bond with administration. Just know that we are always
working to make this happen.
When it comes to you guys, all I can say is that we want your
input. Without your ideas, criticism, or concerns, we only have
52 heads. We would like to represent all 3000 of you, so please
do not hesitate to speak up.
I look forward to a great year,
Hold up your V’s.
Ross Gordon
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
The Samohi Published
Senior Parent Meeting 7
p.m., Barnum Hall
SAT Testing
Immersion Parent Meeting,
AVID Grades 9-11 Parent
Meeting, 7 p.m., Cafeteria
AAPSSSG Meeting, 7 p.m.,
Cafeteria
Campus Tour
Reservations Req’d
[email protected]
Orchestra Parent
Meeting
College Fair
Band Parent Meeting
Site Council Meeting, 4 p.m., L201
ELAC Meeting, 7 p.m.,
PTSA Meeting, 7 p.m., Cafeteria,
College Admissions Panel
Great CA Shake-Out
Last Day to Drop Classes with
House Review
PSAT
SMMUSD Board Meeting,
5:30 p.m.
Bike Day
The Samohi publishes
End of 6-week grading period
ACT Testing
Feature
Page 7
Oct. 2, 2009
Dr. Pedroza: The Man Behind the Sunglasses
Compiled by Lulu Mickelson Special Report Editor
Ever wondered what kind of car Dr. Hugo Pedroza drives, or whether or not he has a girlfriend?
If so, you’ll enjoy this lighthearted, unusual question and answer session with our principal.
So let’s start off with something simple, what is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning?
The ceiling ... Actually, let me take that back. I have two chihuahuas, and invariably the first thing I see when I open my eyes
are my two little chihuahuas ... Chilito and Lolita. They are a part of the family.
What’s the first thing that runs through your mind when you wake up?
It depends. It’s not like, “Ugh. Can I have another hour of sleep?” Although, some days that might cross my mind. But usually,
I run through the things I have to handle to make it a good and productive day. One of the main reasons I am here is because I
believe in the human spirit. You all are our future and I want to do everything I can to make that an even better experience. This
is all philosophical. I don’t normally think this way; I just live in the moment.
So you have quite a commute from Pasadena every morning, what car do you drive?
Well, I don’t drive a Porsche anymore. [Laughs] No, I drive a truck, a Nissan truck.
What car do you wish you drove?
A Nissan truck. When I was younger, I did drive a sporty one. It used to be a priority, a car that defined you. But somewhere I
discovered that if a car has to define you then there is something missing.
So lets get a little more unusual. If you had a super power, what would it be?
The power to heal ... because that’s as good as it gets. If someone has a condition, I would like to have the power to erase that
so they have a chance to live life.
Have you had an experience that would have made this a priority for you?
My mom passed away not long ago. She had been suffering from all kinds of ailments. Seeing folks go through that, having to
withstand these things that stand in the way of their being great people, seeing folks dealt a hand of cards where illness is a part
of it, it opens your eyes. So that’s why I would want that power.
Would you say you have any hidden talents?
Well, I don’t know ... they’re hidden! Hmmm … I can cook some mean dishes. I have a really good chicken dish and a beef
dish that would just blow your mind.
Do you enjoy cooking? How did you start?
So, here’s a hidden thing I really haven’t shared here. I used to, some time back, compete in body building competitions. This is
all at the amateur level. But in order to do that, you have to learn how to eat properly and diet properly. Which means you have
to cook for yourself, because then you know exactly what you are eating. So as a result of that, I learned how to make things
that were healthy and tasted good. This was many years ago. But it was fun ... I won lots of trophies.
You should bring a few in.
Oh, no. [Laughs]
So when was the last time you laughed until you cried?
Wow. I can’t remember. But the last time I laughed really hard was reminiscing with my brother. I am the second youngest
and I have a big family. There were so many of us, when I got in trouble my mom would have to list all of my siblings’ names
before she could get to mine. So by the time she got to my name, I was long gone. As long as she didn’t call me by my name, I
was safe ... There were 16 of us — 10 brothers and six sisters. So you can see how I had time to run.
And who does your family consist of now? What is your relationship status?
Married. My wife and I have been together for 10 years.
What do you plan for the future?
I will continue to work diligently toward the education of students. I want to continue to make my family happy. I don’t know
how my third act is going to look yet ... but I think the work I will choose to do will somehow benefit others. I am an optimist
and I believe we have to do everything we can to make things better.
FUN IN THE SUN: What did Samo students do this summer?
Photos by Sam Boloorchi
Chloe Director, Staff Writer
Changing the world: Megan
Kilroy
When we think of summer, we tend to think of water.
Ocean waves, blue swimming pools, that crisp bottle of
water you chug on your jog at dawn, the taste of saltwater that lingers when you come home from the beach or
the smell of chlorine that will last forever on your new
bathing suit. Senior Megan Kilroy’s summer was also
defined by water, but her approach is a little different.
Kilroy has been part of a project with the “Roots
and Shoots” organization created by the Jane Goodall
Foundation, which provides Life Straws to people in
need. A Life Straw is a purifying water device that can
be used at any fresh water source. It’s designed so that
you can sip it like a straw where any water is despite its
contamination.
Kilroy, along with members from Team Marine, has
been collecting recyclables such as aluminum cans,
water and plastic bottles and glass. She then takes the
recyclables, exchanges them for money and sends the
money off to the foundation. The foundation sends the
Life Straws Megan provides to people in need in Cambodia.
“We got the idea from another environmental science team when we were competing at the Edison Challenge,” Kilroy said. “We were really impressed and it
got us started with the Life Straws project.”
Team Marine collected 13,000 bottles in just two
months over the summer, enough to raise money for 118
life straws.
Kilroy has continued the Life Straw project now that
the school year has started. But she feels as though anytime is a good time to reach out to the community.
“I always want to know that I’m somehow helping
the community, even if it’s the summer.”
And the Survey Says...
Summer Job
5.6%
Summer school
15.4%
Traveling
16.4%
Community
Service
4.6%
Hanging out
(beach, pool,
etc.)
41.5%
Other
16.4%
Photo courtesy of Google
Business savvy:
Jesse Alvarez
We all have creative ideas that are waiting to be executed. But it takes perseverance to actually get the work
done, and guts to show your creative work to the public.
Think of that crazy Jackson Pollack painting we take one
look at and argue, “I could have done that.” Maybe we
could have, but the point is we didn’t.
Instead of relaxing at the beach this summer, 17-yearold senior Jesse Alvarez was determined to do something
worthwhile. He spent his summer designing T-shirts,
working as a salesperson at PacSun and ultimately starting his own business.
Alvarez had been designing T-shirts for two years and
frequently wore the T-shirts to his job at PacSun. He had
only been working at the store for three months when the
CEO, interested in his designs, approached him. In no
time, Alvarez transformed from a PacSun employee to a
small business owner.
“Being a teenager and someone who buys clothes, I
know what’s in and what’s out,” Alvarez said.
His shirts feature graphic design images that make
use of puns. One of his shirts has a picture of an open egg
carton on it, and one of the eggs is a diamond: Below are
the words: ‘Chicks are a dime a dozen.’
Alvarez felt that even though taking on this business
opportunity over the summer was a challenge considering his age, he succeeded because he understood what
would be popular with his clientele.
“Hopefully by December we’ll be releasing our fall
line with new retro colors. Now that my partner is gone,
well ... it’s gonna be all me.”
His brand Virgin Liberation is sold at PacSun and will
soon additionally be sold at Fred Segal on Broadway and
Fifth Street.
Feature
Page 8
Big Fish in a Big Pond
Oct. 2, 2009
Because we attend such a large school, the hobbies, contributions and special talents of many
students exist under the radar. Not anymore!
Emilio Sanchez: Giving the photography world a one-two punch
Rose Kleiman
Staff Writer
Samo senior Emilio Sanchez always loved taking pictures, but it didn’t become a
passion until two years ago.
“I just exploded when I got
my first digital camera,” he
said.
With luck and talent, Sanchez has turned his hobby into
a career.
After taking pictures of
anything he saw for a year,
Sanchez joined the photo class
at Samo, where he learned the
techniques of film development.
“I thought my work was
just ‘whatever’ until one of my
friends told me it was good,”
Sanchez said. “Suddenly I
thought it was good, too.”
One day after school, Sanchez went to show his barber
a photo he had taken of a low
rider bike. Coincidentally, one
of the assistants of Estevan
Oriol, a world-renowned photographer, was getting his hair
done as well. The assistant
took one look at the photo and
set up a time when Sanchez
could meet Mr. Oriol at his
downtown Los Angeles studio.
After the meeting, Oriol
added Sanchez to his staff.
This incredible opportunity
has allowed Sanchez to go
behind the scenes of many
celebrity photo shoots—in
the past, Oriol has photographed Kim Kardashian
and many famous LA tattoo
artists.
“Estevan is my mentor,” Sanchez said, “I get
to watch and learn so many
great things from him. He
teaches me professionalism
and gives me the inspiration
I need.”
Sanchez supplements his
work with Oriol by continuing to take pictures of everything that intrigues him.
Recently, he has taken photos for the Virgin Liberation
clothing line, another business started by Samo students.
According to Sanchez,
the hardest part of photography is coming up with ideas
that will both look good and
be interesting. He has been
able to manage this with a
little help from his other passion: boxing.
Sanchez boxed for over
seven years. He stopped
competing in 2007 because
of his distaste for amateur
restrictions, but still practices three to four days a week
and is always snapping photos
of other boxers at his gym.
By another stroke of luck,
Manny Pacquiao, ranked number one in the world in his
weight class, is a member of
Sanchez’s gym. This has given
Sanchez an opportunity to photograph for Pacquiao’s photographer. He attempts to portray
the artistic side of the sport in
his photos of real matches.
“I have been boxing since
I was little, but now photography is my number one priority,” he said.
Sanchez said it is very hard
to balance schoolwork, boxing, and photography, and often finds himself going to bed
around two in the morning.
After high school, Sanchez
wants to go to a school that has
a good photography program,
but he does not want to limit
himself. Later in life, he wants
to be a professional photographer and have a booming business with “celebrities coming
in and out of the door all the
time.”
He hopes to continue taking pictures of fashion, boxing
and interesting people. Sanchez has very ambitious goals,
but his work and determination
leave no room for doubts that
he can and will succeed.
Photo by Kira Yoshimura
GAME FACE: Emilio often photographs boxers and attempts to portray the artistic side of the
sport, like in this photo of Manny Pacquiao, ranked number one in the world in his weight class.
Lianna Cohen
Staff Writer
Photo by Kira Yoshimura
Photo by Emilio Sanchez
Left: Senior Emilio Sanchez is a skilled photographer with an entrepreneurial spirit. Right: Sanchez
has photographed the clothing line Virgin Liberation for fellow Samo student/entrepreneur, Jesse
Alvarez.
HUMMUS:
Photo by Emilio Sanchez
The origins of hummus are a complete mystery, and
possibly stretch back to the 12th century. What we do
know is that it livens up any vegetable or slice of pita
bread! Enjoy this simple recipe.
Ingredients
2 15½ oz. cans garbanzo beans
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste).
Photo by Emilio Sanchez
STOP THE VIOLENCE: Sanchez took this controversial, symbolic photo to promote a message of peace.
Drain and rinse the canned garbanzo beans.
Puree all ingredients in a blender or food
processor, or just mash it with a potato
masher until it’s smooth. Add more olive
oil if hummus is too thick. Transfer to a
bowl and serve with pita bread, vegetables,
chips or anything else.
Feature
Page 9
Day in the Life: Samo Custodians
Oct. 2, 2009
As Dr. Hugo Pedroza reiterates on the P.A. most mornings, Samo is a disaster after lunch, barely visible under piles of food,
trash, lost clothing and errant sheets of paper. Somehow, our messes disappear by the end of the day. We owe this and other small miracles to our custodial staff, but how much do we really know about these members of the Samo community?
Photo by Reva Santo
SQUEAKY CLEAN: Custodian Maria Perez starts work at 6 a.m., and makes the cafeteria as spotless as possible after our messy lunches.
Taylor D’Andrea and Danny Karel
Staff writers
Photo by Reva Santo
SAMO’S FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE: Bruno Anderson works from 1 p.m. until 9:30
p.m. every day, and stresses the importance of students taking pride in their school
environment.
Before most Samo students wake up, Maria
Perez pulls on her work boots and unlocks the
school buildings at 6 a.m. in preparation for the
long day ahead. As one of the two daytime janitors, she has countless duties on her plate, making her life busy and often overwhelming.
Due to budget cuts, two custodians were
laid off in recent years, which makes life harder
for those still employed. They find themselves
working more rigorously, occasionally having
to miss their lunch break in order to finish various tasks, but with no increase in salary.
Throughout the day, Perez receives numerous calls from teachers and other members of
the administration who ask for assistance at all
times.
She walks or drives her cart around campus,
cleaning the library, cafeteria, pool and various
other locations. She proudly dons her class of
’01 shirt as she goes about her duties. Perez is
relieved at 2:30 p.m., when the afternoon and
after-school janitors come onto campus.
Michael Durham is the other daytime janitor
working alongside Perez, whose shift begins at
6:30 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. For Durham, who
has worked at every school in the district, working at Samo is a pleasure. To him, the administration is analogous to a helping family. But
sometimes his responsibilities can be too much
to handle.
“It can get chaotic, you get called for one
thing, then another thing, then you’re doing
three things at once,” Durham said. “Sometimes
we feel overwhelmed with just the two of us.”
Fortunately for Durham and Perez, help arrives at 1 p.m., when custodians Bruno Anderson, Saleem Omari and Jeff Peoples join the
team. At 3 p.m., the after school custodians arrive.
The final shift does not officially end until 11 p.m.
With such a long, hectic schedule, anything we
can do as students to make the custodians’ lives less
frenzied goes a long way.
“My least favorite part of my job is cleaning up
graffiti, because it is a never ending process,” Durham said.
Trash is by far the most annoying thing to clean
up, Omari and Anderson said. Omari explained
that birds scatter our leftover food and wrappers
throughout the entire campus.
“It would cut our problem in half if people put
their open trash and drinks in the trash cans,” he
said.
Both Omari and Anderson argued that making
our campus clean is in the best interest of students,
and failure to do so can have a negative effect on
education: extra cleaning supplies and trash bags
cost money that has to come from somewhere.
“These costs come out of the funds you need for
books,” Omari said.
Above all, Anderson and Omari are dedicated
to keeping the campus clean. In all aspects of their
lives, they value cleanliness, order, and personal
responsibility. These principles were ingrained in
them during their extended experience in the military: Omari was a Marine from the 1970’s until the
1990’s, and Anderson was in the Army in the 70’s
and 80’s.
What is most important to them is that Samo students take ownership of their campus and maintain
an environment they can be proud of.
“It all boils down to pride...kids need to take
pride in their school,” Omari said.
In the meantime, the custodial staff won’t relax
until they feel confident in the cleanliness of our
campus.
“It’s a beautiful school, and we want it to stay
that way,” Omari said.
What is the most disgusting part of your job?
Compiled by Danny Karel and Lindsay Reno
Staff Writer and Feature Editor
Michael Durham:
In the English building, the sewers backed up and everything that was in the
sewers came out of the toilets. Also, homeless people sometimes poop on
campus and we have to clean it up.
Saleem Omari and Bruno Anderson:
Photo by Reva Santo
TAKING A BREAK: Custodian Michael Durham posed for the camera and parted on
a friendly note by flashing us a peace sign and saying, “Peace, Brotha.”
In the boys’ bathrooms, sometimes boys will put whole rolls of toilet paper
in the toilet and go to the bathroom on top of that. Occasionally, we have to
clean vomit out of urinals.
E
E XP C T
Dear instructor,
I walked into your class hopeful. I was curious, up for a challenge, ready to learn. I left
with a dull headache and a looming sense of the
frustration to come. My hopes were dashed, my
excitement dampened. However, this letter does
not regard my hopes or wishes, but rather the
basic expectations I have for your course.
I don’t think that I expect a whole lot. To be
fair, I acknowledge that you have a difficult job.
High school kids can be real idiots – I deal with
them every day; I know.
I acknowledge that you have a classroom
of diverse needs and abilities. I understand that
there are way too many kids in each class and
that your plate is full. Maybe you’re even new
to this teaching gig. Unfortunately, these things
don’t exempt you from providing those of us
who want to be in that classroom with an education.
In fact, we’re really in a mutual relationship
here. You have expectations of your own, which
I presume you would have included in your syllabus, had you given us one. And I will comply
with your rules and procedures. But in response
to those, allow me to outline what I expect in
return.
I expect you to have a relevant lesson for the
day. I expect that you will prepare for the class
you are teaching. I expect that you will address
questions with more than just vague abstractions. I expect that you will have some semblance of an idea as to what the desired outcome
of an exercise will be. I expect that you respect
your class and the teachers on this campus who
do challenge their students to think a little bit.
I’m not an idealist, but rather a realist. I have
no expectations that you will inspire or invigorate a new willingness to learn where there was
none before. I harbor no delusions that you will
be able to provide insight or change the course
of my life. Not everyone is a gifted educator.
But I expect you to use whatever gifts you do
have to get the job done.
Really, above all, I have only one true expectation, a plea, above all else: please do not insult
my intelligence. I will never again eat in your
class, chew gum or speak out of turn if you simply do not assume that I am incapable of challenging cerebral activity. If you waste an hour
of my time with work that doesn’t stimulate
me, I have no qualms about being a disruption.
Lowering the bar is never the answer. Raise it,
and we’ll rise to meet the challenge – or drop
your class. Either way you and I both win.
Otherwise, you’ve just sentenced us both
to the limbo of listless chatter and unused
brain cells. A mind really is a terrible thing to
waste.
Sincerely,
Salonee Bhaman
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Whose motivation is it?
Nishok Chetty
Staff Writer
School is in full swing and
with it comes the hassle of
work, the iron-fist rule of merciless teachers and the 10 milehigh expectations.
Personally, my high expectations stem from my parents,
who are the kind that view perfection as success and anything
lower as failure.
Growing up in this environment is definitely a two-sided
coin: on one hand, I credit my
parents for steering me in the
right direction, but on the other
hand, they don’t always know
when to let go.
As a child, I questioned the
reason for school and homework. I was the kid in the
back of the class sleeping or
doodling. My parents, being
the stereotypical definition of
“Indian,” were astonished at
my lack of effort. They encouraged me, forcefully. And yes,
it helped. I began to care, not
necessarily as a result of my
own passion, but as a result of
my parents’ persistence. And I
began doing the work.
My success as a student is
indebted to my parents’ encouragement, but there comes
a time when enough is enough
and there comes a time for
them to hand the reigns over
to me.
I believe that at this point
in my life, I am mature enough
to finally take control.
I would understand their
involvement and endless nagging if I didn’t care about
school, but now I am a straight
‘A’ student who is meticulous
about grades.
Up until now, my parents have guided me through
school; their expectations
have been my motivation. But
it is time for me to finally take
hold of the steering wheel to
prove that I am a driven individual, capable of succeeding
later in my life. I need to prove
that my motivation comes
from within.
Senior disappointment
Lindsay Reno
Feature Editor
Ah, senior year. Our light at the end of the tunnel, our moment in the sun,
our last chance to embrace everything high school is supposed to be. So
why does it feel even more stressful than last year? The looming deadlines of college applications finally seem real, and falling effortlessly into
a state of “Second Semester Senior” contentedness will be difficult and
damaging in light of many teachers’ no-nonsense policies. A lot of hard
work, perseverance and optimism are necessary before I’ll reach the point
when I can actually relax. This is not what I expected.
Editor-in-Chief
“Living in a hispanic household ... I’m expected to
succeed academically, and to have a more advanced
future than other family members.”
10
– Jesse Alvarez, senior
“I expect my students to learn and think for
themselves.”
– Conrad Cuda, U.S. and world history teacher
“My
mod
prac
tion
rece
refus
A
O
N
T
T I
S
“Expectation is derived from the
Latin verb ‘exspectare,’ meaning
‘to await’ or ‘to look out for.’”
– Luke Henderson, Latin teacher
“Expectations mean raising
the bar from mediocrity.”
– Tina Ustation, Special
expectation for teachers is that they be eco-roledels for their students, demonstrating eco-friendly
ctices on a daily basis. For students, my expectais for you to dispose of your waste in the proper
eptacles, and to everyone: reduce, reuse, recycle,
se and rethink.”
– Benjamin Kay, marine biology teacher
The anti-stereotype
Evan Kahn
Staff Writer
Let’s start out with the blunt facts.
High school is a breeding ground for stereotypes.
Students judge people by how they look, whom they
hang out with and what’s on their iPod.
So when I first came to Samo as a blue-jeans-donning, red-T-shirt-wearing geek, that was who I was.
My Jew-fro was a blatant giveaway of my heritage, I
frequently wore glasses (apparently, a mark of my studiousness) and I hung out with a bunch of gamers and
artsy anime freaks, which I admittedly also qualify as.
In general, I lived up to people’s expectations.
However, two things always stumped people when
they learned more about me: my age and my sexual
orientation.
Having the ability to grow facial hair at will may
have something to do with it, but people are almost
always surprised when I tell them my real age. Most
adults guess somewhere between 18-25, and Samo
kids perpetually label me as an old, menacing-looking
senior (I actually just turned 16, and I am a junior).
Many people also jump when I tell them I’m homosexual. “What? You’re gay?! I never would’ve
guessed!” is a common response. Not only am I
openly gay, I’m a co-president of Samo’s Gay Straight
Alliance and have been officially “out” for more than
two years.
For most, my age is merely a surprise. But when
people discover I am gay, it can get me into trouble
– I have lost friendships and gained enemies. Homophobes are everywhere, many in this school, running
around campus spewing anti-gay profanity like it’s the
coolest thing in the world.
By my looks and actions, I’m expected to be
straight; I don’t fit into the lisping, preppy, theatermajoring stereotype that has become what people, especially high school students, think of. After all, it’s
what they see in the media.
But I don’t care. I’ve been living this anti-stereotype for long enough; I’m not rejecting who I am by
not “acting gay.”
I am who I am. And if that doesn’t meet your expectations …well, you’re going to have to find some
new ones.
Education English teacher
Almo
Neil Thomas
Staff Writer
st per
fect
“You need to drop something, anything! There
is no way you can succeed in all these classes.”
I’ve heard it.
I’ve heard it from my parents, from my friends,
from the monsters under my bed.
The only voice I haven’t heard it from is my
own conscience. I will call him my homunculus,
the little man at the control panel behind my forehead. Because of him, I can’t quit.
I set out to write this article with the idea that
I was a perfectionist. That my quest for perfection
is the reason I work myself until I am a blubbering mess each year. And after much deliberation,
and a heated argument with my homunculus, I’ve
realized this is not the case at all. I am not perfect,
I never will be, and I’m ok with that. I don’t want
to be perfect, but I want to be pretty darn close. In
fact, my high expectations of myself are often what
get me into trouble.
The little voice in my head never lets up. He is
an unyielding slave driver.
Too stressed? “Suck it up.”
Frustrated? “I guess you’ll never amount to
anything after all.”
He is the embodiment of all of the authoritative
figures I have met in my life: various coaches and
family members.
He is Jim Nieto, the judo coach who taught us
to lose weight at the age of seven, and rewarded us
for throwing up during practices.
He is my grandma, who constantly reminds me
that I ought to get a Nobel Prize. Every time I see
her, she asks me why I do not want to be a Biologist. “Is a Nobel Prize too much to ask for all the
love I’ve given you?”
My homunculus keeps me doing all the things
I do. He keeps the stress level just right. Between
him and my parents, I never get a moment of peace.
Many would say this incessant drive is my
greatest strength, and it is in a way. But, it is also
my greatest weakness. I am helpless against striving for high achievement. It dominates my life.
For those of you who don’t understand, appreciate
your
ability to underachieve for it
will serve you
Jeremy Naido, junior
well. Be thankful for every
moment you get to breathe in and not have scheduled activities lined up by the time you exhale.
Please, tell me how it feels, I’m curious. Writing
this article is the first moment I’ve had to actually
think about myself in quite a while.
Why do I do this to myself? I’m sure there are
logical reasons. I have expectations of myself. I
want to be successful later in life. I want to have
career and academic options. Quote any of the esoteric garbage that I was force-fed as an impressionable child. The only answer that makes any sense
is: the little man told me to.
“I want to succeed. I expect myself to finish high school, and
to always do the best that I can do.” –
To Samo, expectations mean...
“... the testing of my abilities.”
– Kylie Ryu, sophomore
“... I don’t know, disappointment comes to mind.”
– Che Sanchez, freshman
“...to go on in life and succeed.”
– Kathy Herrera, sophomore
Quotes collected by Mya Anderson, Lily Cain, Joe Colajezzi,
Evan Kahn, and Elena Kivnick – Staff Writers
Art by Gus Graef – Staff Artist
11
Opinion
Homeless?
Editorial: Student government
should represent a student voice
It is undeniably true that no singular
worldview can bring a balanced opinion
to a discussion, or leave such a discussion with an all-considerate resolution.
For a problem to be adequately addressed,
that problem needs to be met with an array of perspectives, each with a unique
insight into its solution. As is often the
case, though, and as has been too long
the case at our school, this basic concept
of a balanced discussion has been placed
second to arbitrary and assumptive beliefs regarding the validity of those opinions that should be taken into account.
The job of Samo’s administration is
to support the best interest of the student
body. There is no questioning their good
intentions — our best interest is undoubtedly what motivates their actions — but
it must be considered that a like-minded
body of individuals very much removed
from student life lacks some of the potentially beneficial perspective that would
come with allowing students to have input
in matters such as these. It is for this same
reason that students do not have all the say
in school matters; it is necessary that there
be a balance of perspectives in order to
facilitate the most balanced of outcomes.
The obvious contention with allowing
student input in administrative affairs is
the idea that all students share a common,
anti-school, anti-establishment mindset,
which would undermine the legitimacy
of discussions in which such a mindset is
Page 12
Oct. 2, 2009
somewhat unreasonable. Sometimes, it seems that
the perceived value of student input is overshadowed by the effort it takes to elicit it. But Samo has
a student government for a reason, and for as long
as any of us can remember, this supposed “governmental body” has been marginalized as an activities
committee and denied any say in the goings-on of
our school that matter the most to students. Even
issues that are ostensibly activities-based, such as
lower prom-ticket prices (an age-old platform for
student elections), are deemed too complicated for
ASB involvement. The doubt directed at the student government’s ability and willingness to weigh
student interests with reasonable fiscal constraints
exemplifies the pervasive mentality at our school.
Therein lies the second issue: if elected members of the eminent student organization cannot be
trusted to have an unbiased and fair-minded approach to such affairs, then they are both undermining the concept of student government and stripping
this government of its true function, which in turn
robs the student body of its most prominent hope
for a voice in those matters that affect it the most.
The bottom line is that it is necessary for students to have a voice in the issues of our school
that impact them, and that a student government
is a perfect conduit for that voice. No member of
the student body should stand by and observe this
problem idly; if you are in ASB, exercise the leverage you have to get the input you need, and if you
are not, go speak to your student body president, or
your dean of administrative services, or your principal, until you know you are heard. As has long
been the legacy of our nation, you cannot let yourselves be imposed upon without representation. Act.
Pass on the pig: Is the H1N1 vaccine safe?
Tessa Nath
Staff Writer
Since last spring, tales of the new
swine flu strain have been inescapable.
Now, with fear and media coverage dying
down, we wonder: Is the pandemic over?
Unfortunately,
it
is
not.
Most of us are already bored with all
the hype connected to the swine flu — all
the media coverage, inside stories and constant alerts. Why should we care, anyway?
The truth is that unlike the seasonal
flu that commonly affects the young and
old, H1N1 most often affects people five to
24, according to “USA Today.” This means
that as teenagers are particularly at risk,
we at Samo need to be especially careful.
Fortunately, studies sponsored by
various clinics are on the way to finding
a vaccine. However, alarmingly little is
known about these little antibody creators.
Students should explore other options before rushing to get a swine flu vaccine.
A study sponsored by the Australian-based CSL Limited attempted to
show that the swine flu vaccine was
just as safe as the seasonal flu vaccine.
“No one in the study died, but the
study was not big enough and did not
last long enough to identify possible
rare side affects,” USA Today said, summarizing the feelings of researchers in
The New England Journal of Medicine.
The new swine flu, or H1N1, vaccine is scheduled
to ship to the
United States around mid-October, to then be risk with this new vaccine, when disastrous erprepared for distribution as deemed necessary. rors are made all the time in this line of work?
In addition, flu shots often create other unWith such a new vaccine, should we really
take the risk? As The New England Journal of Med- comfortable side effects in people such as soreness,
icine described, studies have not been conducted redness, swelling, fevers and aches. If these are all
over long enough periods of time so that research- possible side effects, what is the difference between
catching the flu and
ers could detergetting a vaccine?
mine any negaThey are both untive side affects.
wanted nuisances.
These are peo“There are still
ple’s lives that
—The CDC estimates that about 1 million peo- many unknowns,”
scientists
are
playing with. If ple became ill with novel H1N1 flu (Swine Flu) said Andrew Weil,
M.D. and Director
something goes
of the Program in
wrong with the between April and June 2009.
—The H1N1 vaccine is created using the same Integrative Medivaccine, it could
cost
people processes and the same facilities as the vaccine cine of the College
of Medicine, Unitheir entire exversity of Arizona.
istence, regard- for seasonal flu.
—The CDC’s Advisory on Immunization Prac- “We don’t know
less of whether
or not they tices recommends people between the ages of yet if the virus is
mutating to become
actually
ever
have swine flu. six months and 24 years get the H1N1 vaccine, more or less dangerous than it has
In
1976, as they are at a higher risk to contract the flu.
an outbreak of
—Some forms of the H1N1 vaccine contain been in Mexico.
Health authorities
swine flu led 40
million people small amounts of Thimerosol, a mercury com- definitely expect to
see more cases, but
to be vaccinated. pound, as a preservative.
at this point there is
As a side effect,
Source: www.cdc.gov
no cause for panic.”
more than 500
If, as Weil
people, including President Gerald R. Ford, were diagnosed with says, there is no need to panic, then why should we
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. put ourselves at risk and try out this new vaccine?
This all resulted from a poorly tested new It seems to no advantage to try a brand new, barely
flu shot. Do we really want to take the same tested vaccine, only to put our silly minds at rest.
Fast Facts
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Art by Gus Graef
Editors-in-Chief:
Salonee Bhaman and Jane Kivnick
News Editors:
Jessie Geoffray and
Max Tamahori
A&E Editor:
Kourosh Shaffy
If you are really worried about
catching the swine flu, Weil recommends
a few smart and healthy alternatives
to vaccines. Taking astragalus, a wellknown herb that boosts your immune system, is a terrific way to fend off unwanted
colds and flu. In addition, consuming a
daily antioxidant multivitamin-mineral
supplement is yet another method of
keeping healthy. Nonetheless, before
taking Weil’s advice talk to your doctor
about what vitamins are best for you.
The best way to stay healthy
is to get sleep and to eat nutritious
foods. As a safety precaution, please
be aware of those around you, and
if you feel sick, stay home from
school to avoid infecting anyone else.
You should cover your mouth and
nose when you sneeze, and wash your
hands afterward. It is best to avoid
touching your eyes, nose or mouth,
as germs are most commonly spread
this way. And above all, stay away
from anyone who you know is sick.
That’s just an easy way to stay healthy.
Most importantly, keep in mind
that there are always alternatives to vaccines. Don’t just jump on a new vaccine out of fear or as a safety precaution, research it yourself and assess the
pros and cons of your specific situation.
Let’s all wait to see what will
come of the new vaccines. Until then,
we’ll all be munching on our vitamins!
The Samohi is a tri-weekly student-run newspaper funded by ASB and Lexington. Our
goal is to inform the student body and Samo community the best that we can. We do
not represent the views of the Samo Administration or staff. Unsigned editorials reflect
the views of the entire editorial board. We do not endorse advertisements placed in our
paper.
Staff:
Opinion Editor:
Sports Editors: Art Editor:
Mya Anderson, Sam
Carlee Jensen
Sam Bleiberg and
Zane Four
Campus Life Editor:
Photo Editor:
Pepito Escarce
Feature Editor:
Lindsay Reno
Kira Yoshimura
Copy Editor:
Katy Cain
Special Report Editor:
Lulu Mickelson
Clare Sim
Boloorcchi, Henry Boyd, Lily
Cain, Nishok Chetty, Lianna
Cohen, Joe Colajezzi, PhilAd/Business Editor: lip Dinolfo, Taylor D’Andrea,
Matt Rich
Chloe Director, Oren Friedman,
Anthony Garcia Taormina,
Gus
Graef, Evan Kahn, Daniel
Adviser:
Karel,
Elena Kivnick, Rose KleiKathleen Faas
man-Weiner, Andrew Locke,
Tessa Nath, Neil Thomas, Jason
Reicher, Reva Santo
Opinion
The Race Case: does it really matter?
Mya Anderson
Staff Writer
As many of you may have noticed,
there was a new form to be filled along with
other forms in our registration packets this
summer. The form was titled “New
Federal Race and Ethnicity Data
Collection and Reporting Requirements,” and students were required
to answer a two-part question. The
first part of the question was titled
“Ethnicity” and asked if students
were Hispanic or Latino. This is
ridiculous because there are clearly
more ethnicities aside from being
Hispanic or Latino. The second part
of the question was titled “Race.”
Students were required to check-off
one, two or three races they identified
with. You were not allowed to “decline to state” or mark “other,” and
if you by any chance happened to be
more than three races, tough luck.
After looking over at my calendar to be
sure that it was 2009 and not 1944, I thought,
“This is absurd.” Then I thought further and
wondered, “Why should it even matter?”
At Samo, we are required to take a year
of freshman seminar; a class in which we
are taught that race doesn’t exist and cannot
define who you are or what you’re capable
of. And then we get this ridiculous paper in
the mail. If this isn’t hypocrisy, I don’t know what is.
We spend an entire year in a class dedicated
to teaching that there is no such thing as race, and
that the color of your skin and your cultural background does not influence your abilities. If this is
the lesson that Samo wants to teach us, what pur-
instruction and measure student learning.”
This implies that in order to know
how much a student is learning in class,
the school must first find out his or her
race. Now that’s a difficult thing to do,
of course, since “race doesn’t exist.”
I was also troubled by the fact
that this form included about 10 different subcategories for people of
Asian decent, but if you’re of European descent, your only option is to
mark “white.” I found this insulting
because there is a drastic difference
between countries in Eastern Europe
versus countries in Western Europe,
and this form refuses to address that.
You would think this since this form
is a California law, the government
would be more socially conscious in
writing the options. But then again,
if the government were socially conscious, they probably wouldn’t have
written this law in the first place.
Compared to 50 years ago,
America has come a great deal in the fight
against racism and prejudice. But it is documents like this that retard our growth by encouraging us to group and generalize each
other. Our progress is as delicate as a house
of cards, one that is bound to fall if each
suit separates itself from the others. Until we learn to combine our cards harmoniously, we will never form a complete deck.
Documents like this...retard
our growth by encouraging
us to group and generalize
each other.
pose could this document possibly serve, except to
prove that they don’t believe their own message?
When I asked around about the purpose of
this form, I was informed that it was a statewide
requirement. Apparently California divides students into subgroups in order to figure out how
much funding a school can receive. The document
even says: “Accurate and reliable data are cornerstones in the system that we have built to support
Give blood, not hate
Henry Boyd
Staff Writer
Ever since elementary school, we
have been taught to accept people the
way they are. We’ve been told that it’s
okay to be different — that it doesn’t
matter what color your skin is, what
religion you practice or who you like.
I was a strange kid. I dressed up
in my mom’s clothes, pretended to be
a girl, and played with Barbies until
I was nine. When the time came for
me to enter high school, I was incredibly nervous, convinced that I wouldn’t
last a day the hostile, over-populated
environment. My parents warned me
that, being openly gay, I could possibly be the target of discrimination.
Shockingly enough, Samo and its
students rose high above my expectations. The second I walked on campus,
I felt at home, welcome and accepted.
I loved going to Samo and never felt
any serious threat against my orientation. In programs such as the GayStraight Alliance and Project Safe
Zone, I met others who were struggling with the same problems as I was.
A few weeks ago, however, my vision came to a crashing halt. When I attempted to sign up for the school-wide
blood drive, I found out about a Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation which prohibits sexually active
gay males from donating blood due to
the possibility of sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) and HIV infections.
The fact that this regulation exists
at all is upsetting, but to know that it
falls into action at high school blood
drives is even worse. I had never once
imagined that any law discriminating against homosexuals would affect
me while I was still in high school.
Faced with this prejudice, I have
to ask: are gay high school students really the main demographic for HIV and
AIDS? With so many school-sponsored
programs in place to teach us about safe sex, it
seems unlikely that a student would have unprotected intercourse with an infected person.
This kind of regulation may have
been acceptable in 1983, when it was first
passed. At that time, the AIDS epidemic
had only just shown up on the radar, and
doctors and scientists still didn’t fully understand what it was and who was at risk.
However, our understanding of AIDS
has come a long way since that time. Though
the cure remains to be found, we have a better understanding of the way the disease is
spread and how it can be treated. Now that
tools exist to fight the spread of HIV and
AIDS, the FDA’s regulation is unnecessary.
Logically, it’s ridiculous that only sexually active gay men are prohibited from giving blood. There are plenty of people at equal
risk for HIV who are still permitted to donate.
A straight woman who has unprotected sex,
especially if she has multiple sexual partners,
is also at risk for HIV. Regardless of this
fact, there is not a single FDA regulation preventing such a person from donating blood.
If the FDA is so concerned with the health
of their blood donors — well, don’t they have
your blood anyway? Why not test it and make
sure your blood is safe? There is another FDA
regulation that requires groups such as the
Red Cross to test all blood that is donated in
blood drives for traces of any harmful diseases. This includes tuberculosis, HGV, and
— you guessed it — HIV/AIDS. With this
regulation in place, the increased risk for HIV
and AIDS in gay men is completely irrelevant.
I wish I could think that this was the
first time that regulations have been passed
against homosexuals. But gays have been persecuted for hundreds of years. No matter how
hard we try to get people to open their minds,
there is no way we can get them to open their
hearts when they are blinded by prejudice.
I had hoped to donate blood in the recent
blood drive. However, since this FDA regulation has deemed my lifestyle too risky, I guess
I’ll have to wait for America to realize that my
blood has the same value as everyone else’s.
Page 13
Oct. 2, 2009
The Samohi asks:
How important is race to your
perception of your identity?
Unimportant
21%
Important
34%
Neutral
45%
Do you view yourself as
multiracial?
No
52%
Yes
48%
Complied by Mya Anderson, Lily Cain, Elena
Kivnick and Taylor D’Andrea, Staff Writers
Keep it moving,
folks!
Nishok Chetty
Staff Writer
Now that school has sadly begun,
students are forced to deal with all the accompanying evils: waking up early, sacrificing our evenings to homework and
— the one I dread most — dealing with
traffic at the Michigan Avenue gate.
Every morning, there is a long line of
cars waiting to drop students off at the Michigan gate. These cars stop one by one directly
in front of the gate, causing the traffic behind
them to grind to a halt. Ignoring the ticking
clock and the irritated drivers behind them,
students get out of their cars and proceed to
gather their vast array of luggage at a snail’s
pace. This act, repeated dozens of times by
dozens of equally inconsiderate drivers
and students, causes traffic jams that sometimes stretch all the way to Pico Boulevard.
Instead of being courteous and considering their fellow students, these people
ignore the growing line of cars to save
themselves a few seconds of walking.
Those of you who don’t get dropped
off at the Michigan gate should know that
the trauma from the daily traffic there is surreal. In order to get to period A without stress,
my carpool and I adjusted our timing to combat
the horrible traffic. We attempt to arrive at school
by 6:55 a.m. and, if we are successful, we beat
the traffic and I arrive at my disastrously early
period A without incident. However, if anyone
in the carpool is late — if our timing is thrown
off even in the slightest — we are stuck in a
line of cars for endless minutes, and I almost
always find myself running to beat the bell.
I’m certainly not alone in my experience.
Anyone who has ever driven past the Michigan
gate around 7 a.m. will tell you it’s a nightmare,
one that torments students and drivers alike.
This indecency may sound small, but at 7
a.m., its inconsiderate nature is enough to push
stressed and sleep-deprived students over the edge.
Students who hold up the line may not realize the inconvenience they are causing everyone around them. To those of you guilty of this
crime, there is a simple solution: drive down Seventh Street for a few extra seconds. Then, when
you have passed the crowded gate, you can get
out of your car without inconveniencing anyone
else. Though you may be forced to walk 20 extra
feet, this simple courtesy will do wonders to prevent a bad traffic jam — and a bad first period.
Art by Jason Reicher
A&E
Page 14
Television! Television!
Oct. 2, 2009
A series of reviews about some good, bad, and ugly new TV shows
Modern Family
Flash Forward
Phillip Dinolfo
Henry Boyd
Staff Writer
A new kind of family comedy has taken over primetime television.
Shot in the “mockumentary” style, ABC’s Modern Family follows
a suburban dysfunctional family coping with everyday life. Phil and
Clare have been married for sixteen years with three children. They are
dealing with one of the hardest parts of parenthood: raising a fifteen
year old daughter. Clare’s brother, Mitchell, is
gay, and he and his partner of five years decided
to adopt a child from Vietnam, which does not
go down well with Mitchell and Clare’s father,
Jay and his new and young Columbian wife,
Gloria. For just a pilot episode, the show seemed
to touch on some interesting subjects for a program that has been marketed as if it were the
new Full House, including teenage pregnancy,
gay persecution, and “soccer moms gone wild”.
Laugh out loud writing and smart casting make
for a perfect show that doesn’t beat around the
bush. One of the more sophisticated shows out
there, the style of writing is very similar to NBC’s
The Office. I highly recommend this to parents,
children, or anyone who wants to sit down,
relax, and laugh at other people’s misfortune.
The Fall Television Season is just gearing up, and as has been
the case for the last couple years, one of the major networks is
launching a new sci-fi series. This year that series is Flash Forward,
getting a cushy 8 p.m. time slot as a lead into (the decidedly non
sci-fi) Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays on ABC.
Joe Colajezzi
Staff Writer
Three Rivers
Photo courtesy of imdb.com
Anthony Garcia Taormina
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Community
“Community college: often called loser
college. A place for remedial teens, twentysomething drop outs, middle-aged divorcees,
and old people, keeping their minds active as
they circle the drain of eternity.” Here are the
opening words to Arrested Development director Anthony Russo’s new NBC comedy, Community. Like his critically acclaimed but short
lived comedy, Arrested Development, the show
starts off being hilarious. Funny man Joel McHale, host of E! Entertainment’s popular The
Soup is the show’s comedic lead playing a fast talking lawyer whose
law degree has just been revoked. The show’s premise is quite simple:
a group of dysfunctional and previously failing men and women try
to get their acts together by enrolling at community college.
The audience’s main attraction will of course be McHale, whose
performance is amusing albeit not entirely original. But as far as the
writing is concerned, the show relies too heavily on quick dialogue
primarily made up of a series of pop-culture references. One wonders
is this really is enough to keep a show running for a couple seasons,
let alone just one. Although it’s refreshing to see the absence of the
ever annoying, archaic laugh track, I fail to see anything original or
outrageously funny about the show to keep it running for very long.
The performances and dialogue are clever enough to keep you
amused for the approximate 23 minutes it’s on, but when compared
to some of the other great half-hour comedies that are on primetime,
why watch Community? Stick to shows like 30 Rock and The Office
folks, and let Community bury among the tons of already forgotten
prime-time sitcoms
The Forgotten
Never will I look at Network Television again; not after
watching the series premiere of The Forgotten, a new crime drama
on ABC about a group of normal people dedicated to identifying
John and Jane Does, murder victims unable to be identified by the
police department.
The group of would-be detectives is led by Alex
Donovan, an ex-cop portrayed by Christian Slater. Each
group member serves a purpose, save for Walter Bailey,
the electrician intended to be the show’s comic relief;
unfortunately for us, he’s just not funny.
Take new guy Tyler Davies for example, a medical
school dropout turned artist who happens to be extremely
gifted at sculpting. While this is quite helpful for the
team, it doesn’t make for quality television. Viewers
shouldn’t have to watch a montage composed of Davies
assembling and sculpting a face for upwards of two
minutes, let alone a poorly made one. And of course he
makes an almost perfect rendition of the victim, despite
openly admitting to the group he has no experience with
forensic sculpting.That’s one of the problems with the
show, it’s written terribly. In the first five minutes of the
show, there are around six characters introduced. That’s
absurd, there’s no reason to have that many characters
introduced at once, and especially considering that none
of them are given any context or history. How can I
care for the characters when I don’t even know who
the hell they are?
Adding insult to injury, the plot is just as awful as
the characters are. Everything is conveniently solved and
there is absolutely no feeling of tension whatsoever.
Honestly, I’m baffled as to how a show like this
could get a green light. Did anybody read the script
beforehand? Everything about The Forgotten screams
generic. It’s poorly paced, written, acted, and filmed.
(But hey, at least they got the name right...)
From the series’ first few seconds, it’s obvious that Flash
Forward owes a huge debt to ABC’s other post-modern mindbender, Lost: there’s the time-hopping storyline, ensemble cast
and a heady dose of mystery to keep the plot moving forward. Yet
unlike the trapped-on-an-island premise of Lost, Flash Forward
lays its scenario out on a global scale. For exactly 137 seconds,
every person on earth blacks out and receives a glimpse six months
into their future. Beyond the worldwide damages that result (with
most of the pilot set in L.A., we’re treated to a few great shots of a
magnificently wrecked Downtown) people now have to deal with a
premonition of the life they will (or is it could?) end up leading.
The pilot felt (ironically) a bit rushed; in trying to introduce so many characters, sub-plots and visions of the future in the
first hour, it felt as if the writers didn’t have enough faith in their
concept to allow it room to develop. Still, with such an intriguing
premise and what looks to be a solid cast (Bryan F. O’Byrne is an
early standout as an alcoholic who sees resurrected the daughter
he thought was dead), FlashForward has the potential to be one
of the most interesting new shows this year.
The Good Wife
Jessie Geoffray
News Editor
It’s the premise headlines have been begging for—wife scorned
by her politician husband’s betrayal. Everyone served witness to
the awkward press conference; the shamed public figure addresses
his constituents while his wife stands impassively beside him. This
is replicated precisely in the opening sequence, with the ‘Good
Wife’ played by Julianna Margulies, and Chris North (more commonly referred to as Mr. Big) as the husband. The pilot scratches
the surface of her psyche, delving into the reasoning behind her
decision to stand by her husband, yet her career as a defense
attorney takes precedence. Predictably, news of her husband’s
indiscretion follows her to the workplace, creating a show that can
most simply be described as Desperate Housewives meets Law
and Order. While it could easily fall prey to a variety of clichés
and overused plot techniques, the dialogue is sharp and Margulies
likeable. Thoroughly entertaining but not particularly stimulating,
The Good Wife provides as advertised: with drama.
What’s coming up!
The latest entry in the ever-growing medical genre of
television, Three Rivers promises even more interesting medical cases and dilemmas than the last show. Alex
O’Laughlin stars in this drama premiering Sunday on CBS
30 Rock
Photo courtesy of amazon.com
30 Rock, premiering Oct. 15. may not be a new show, but this
three-time consecutive emmy winner for “Best Comedy Series”
deserves a spot on any list of upcoming TV shows as it is without a doubt the best written and funniest show on TV.
V
Photo courtesy of metacritic.com
V, ABC’s highly anticipitated remake of the classic cult-hit
1980’s science fiction TV series of the same name is already
being heralded as an amazing, high quality new TV show.
Premiering Nov. 3, V should be quite the ride.
Sports
Page 16
Oct. 2, 2009
Vikings look toward week four after 1-2 start
Samo follows a win
over Palisades with a
31-28 nail biter loss
to Venice
Sam Bleiberg
Sports Editor
The Vikings’ upcoming game against
Valencia is more than just any regular season
game — it may define their season.
Coming off a heartbreaking loss to crosstown rival Venice, Samo is at a point where
losing the next game is not an option. A win
would put 2-1 Samo at .500, while a defeat
would drop them to a lowly 1-3.
Friday also provides Samo with an
opportunity to quell many doubts. Although
the team has been improving at a dramatic
rate, the offense has relied more on huge plays
rather than consistency. Linemen on both
sides of the ball have yet to prove that they
are capable of dominating a quality football
team for four quarters.
Although this dependence on big plays is
not ideal, it may be a necessary change from
last year, when the team’s strong offensive
line allowed them to sustain long drives. This
year, the team may have to rely on home-run
plays from its athletic wide receivers, such as
seniors Mikey Smith, Luke Zelon and Chris
Featherstone; all three average more than 10
photo by Sam Bleiberg
yards per catch.
G-MONEY: Senior captain and starting quarterback Garret Safron evades Leuzinger defenders in a 33-19 loss to the Olympians. Samo’s record stands at 1-2.
“We’re a much different team than last
year,” Zelon said. “This year we put the ball
“We just need to stay focused and not
“I know that our defense is capable of
in the air a lot more and have a lot of play shutting them down,” junior safety Kori take any plays off,” said Zelon, who averages
makers.”
Rushing Yards/Game:
almost 12 tackles per game as a linebacker.
Garcia said.
The defense may have an even larger
Senior linebacker Wyle O’Neill weighed “As long as we play fast, tackle well and
Brandon Taylor
79.0
chip on their shoulder. After shutting out in on defensive musts.
remain focused we’ll be able to execute our
Passing Yards/Game:
Palisades, they were unable to make crucial
“We need to remember our coaching and game plan.”
stops down the stretch against Venice.
Either way, the defense needs to do
be aggressive and focused. We can’t forget
Garret Safron
175.3
The Vikings have their work cut out for our responsibilities,” he said.
something to stop the Valencia offense. The
them. Valencia, whose mascot is also a Viking,
The good news: this young defense game against Venice completely took away Receiving Yards/Game:
stands undefeated at 3-0, and their tailback, is taking huge strides every day. Because any momentum the team had built up. After Chris Featherstone
72.3
junior Steven Manfro, is averaging 188 yards the team is still adjusting to a new system, tying the score late in the fourth, Samo failed
per game. Their passing game is also a force execution improves exponentially with each to stop Venice from marching down the field Touchdowns:
to be reckoned with: junior quarterback Alex additional practice. The bad news: there is and hitting a field goal with four seconds
4
Bishop is averaging 272.5 yards per game and only a week’s worth of practice between left to win the game. Nothing would be more Brandon Taylor
boasts a QB rating of 155.
rejuvenating a decisive win. Asked about the
games.
Fortunately, these numbers have done
Maybe, however, the defense just needs importance of beating Valencia, O’Neill said Tackles/Game:
Kealan Malone
13
nothing to faze Samo’s confidence.
frankly, “We need to win.”
to make a few simple mental adjustments.
Team Leaders
Cross Country: Boys win first league meet, girls falls just short
Sam Bleiberg and Danny Karel
Sports Editor and Staff Writer
Boys
photo by Alberto Jarrin
WOODBRIDGE: Junior Nick Salazar (right) pushes forward during the Woodbridge
Inivitational, Samo’s second meet of the year. Salazar finished with a time of 16:35.
After a successful first league meet at Kenny Hahn state
park, Samo’s cross-country team managed to once again
perform at a high caliber on Wednesday’s South Bay Cup.
Senior captain Jamie Levinson (16:02) ran a strong race,
finishing just two seconds before junior Nicholas Salazar
(16:04). Senior captain Daniel Reddick (16:10) followed
closely behind, who is an experienced two-year varsity runner.
The boys
cross-country team managed to
perform similarly at the Woodbridge Invitational
meet on Sept. 19. Although several members were
unable to make the race due to a religious conflict, the
team as a whole managed to show signs of promise.
Levinson (16:25) and Daniel Reddick (16:32) led the
team, placing 21st and 25th in their race, respectively. The
seniors as a whole failed to place, but this performance
is not indicative of their ability, as over half were absent.
“We still managed to have a solid day
for
Samo
cross-country,”
Levinson
said.
The younger grades were not far behind thanks to
excellent performances by junior Nick Salazar (16:33) and
sophomore Andrew Capron (16:58). This is Capron’s first year
running cross-country, as last year he exclusively ran track,
but he appears to have made the transition smoothly. “He
has shown that he means business this year,” Levinson said.
The freshman team, with Andres Cruz (18:01)
at the head of the pack, placed fifth as a unit, and the
sophomores placed third. The juniors came in 17th.
Levinson has high hopes for the new season. “We’ve
been silent for too long and it’s time to make some noise. Samo
cross-country could become a powerhouse in the near future.”
The consensus amongst the team is that
achieving these goals will be no easy task.
Girls
Beginning the cross country season is always
an odyssey. The Woodbridge Invitational looms in
front of you like a foe from whom you have not had
quite enough separation. Yet you triumph! Alas,
you are ready for whatever else will come your way.
Or so you thought. Just when you believe yourself
prepared, an even greater adversary arises, the year’s
first League Meet, which means Kenny Hahn, home
to the infamous “Suicide Hill,” and quite possibly the
most daunting of all high-school cross country courses.
To girls’ cross country, though, this challenge
is a mere stepping stone; the team finished its race
at Kenny Hahn on Sept. 24 in second place, starting
the season on a strong note. Samo runners juniors
Amanda Botfeld, Katya Mukhina and Montserrat
Llosa placed second, fifth and sixth, respectively,
competing well with rival Beverly Hills, and
outshining competitors Culver City and Morningside.
Again, at the South Bay Cup on Sept. 30, the team
excelled, placing seventh overall, only 10 seconds
behind El Segundo. Here, too, Botfeld led the girls,
this time in 17th place, and with a time of 18:51.
Girls’ cross country is ready to face whatever their
future might bring, with both a strong record, and a strong
mindset, supporting them. As Senior Stevy Stovall put it,
“I’m excited for this season because our team is so strong
and dedicated! We work hard, we support each other, and
push each other. That’s what makes us a good team!”
With that attitude, our girls will undoubtedly
triumph within league competition and hopefully
later in the season at CIF preliminaries, a competition
that has given the girls trouble in the past.
Sports
Page 17
Oct. 2, 2009
New coach in town: Samo alum Travis Clark
photo by Sam Bleiberg
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: New coach Travis Clark holds a meeting with his defense during Samo’s 31-28 loss to Venice High. Clark’s overall record as a Samo coach now stands at 1-2 after the loss to the gondoliers.
Sam Bleiberg
Sports Editor
The first step down a new road for the Samo
football program was taken with the hiring of coach
Travis Clark. Clark, who is replacing Zachary Cuda,
was first introduced to the team on Feb. 29.
Clark’s credentials include a defensive
coordinator position at Inglewood High School
and a tenure as a wide receivers/defensive
backs/return specialist coach at Samo which
included two California Interscholastic Federation
Championships.
In addition to successful coaching experience,
Clark could play the game back in his day. He was an
all-CIF player at Samo and an All-American at Utah
State University. This experience will surely earn
him respect among the players, in addition to the
knowledge he picked up during his playing years.
When asked to sum up his coaching philosophy,
Clark used the words, “Hard work, intensity,
physical, and intelligent,” values that are essential
to any successful team. So far, a change in strategy
is apparent. Given that he played wide receiver and
that Samo has a dynamic returning quarterbackreceiver tandem in seniors Garret Saffron and
Chris Featherstone, it has been no surprise to see a
departure from Samo’s run-based offense.
Clark’s hiring comes at a significant time for the
football program. The team has made the playoffs the
last two years, but lost in the first round both times.
With a transfer from the Ocean League to the more
competitive Bay League on the horizon, a new coach
may be just what the team needs.
The decision to hire Clark was made by a
committee headed by athletic coordinator Norm
Lacy. The original pool of 35 was narrowed down
significantly due to the fact that Samo was unable to
offer a teaching position to accompany the job.
“We didn’t only look at who we thought would
be a good coach, but who had the ability to manage
a program,” Lacy said. “What’s next is to facilitate
and help the new group of coaches [Clark and his
assistants] become part of the Samo family.”
Unlike many coaches, Clark did not set
unrealistic expectations for next year.
“Most importantly is for us to play as a team.
Of course I also want to win and take this team to
the next level, but our goal is to play as a family,”
he said.
This ties into Lacy’s definition of coaching
success. “Success in winning, success in academics,
success in mentoring young men; because ultimately
that’s what the job is,” he said.
In any case, a true gauge of Clark’s abilities
will require time. Still, one thing is certain: the man
knows how to make a first impression. So far, players
have given their coach nothing but rave reviews.
“He hasn’t been here long, but we’ve already
built a great relationship. We should have a successful
season,” Featherstone said.
Hopefully the next six months will be long
enough for the coach to acclimate to his team. Clark
said of the transition, “Change is never comfortable,
but hopefully everyone is approaching the process
with an open mind.”
Only time will tell.
Girls’ volleyball looks
ahead after a tough start
Andy Locke
Staff Writer
Samo’s girls’ volleyball team lost to El Segundo High
School on Sept. 22 in their first match of the season. The
Viking’s new team, predominantly composed of younger
players, struggled in the later games of the match, after
an initial win in the first.
The El Segundo Eagles are traditionally a good
team, adding their victory over Samo as their third win
of the season.
According to coach Liane
Sato, the Vikings played very well
in the first game.
However, she said she wanted
to try a few new things in the second
and third games to test some of the
fresh talent on the team. While the
result was two losses in a row, Sato
believes it was absolutely necessary
to experiment with the team.
— Coach
“I needed to see what works,
and what doesn’t,” she said.
Samo’s new girls’ volleyball
team stands in the shadow of last
year’s victories. The girls reached
CIF Finals in the 08-09 season, after an extremely
successful series of matches.
“Last year was a stellar year,” Sato said.
That team was almost all seniors, and it took years
to reach that level of success. This new team, however, is
young, and it will be somewhat of a struggle to achieve the
skill of last year’s core group. Sato is still determined.
“We’re reaching for the exact same goals,” she
said.
Samo played in a tournament at North High School
this weekend where the competition was tough.
The Lady Vikings beat St. Mary’s Christian and
Gardena, but lost to North Torrance and Chadwick,
the same team that the Lady Vikings defeated in last
year’s CIF semi-final playoff game.
On Oct. 7, the Vikings will face the Morningside
Monarchs on home turf. Last season Morningside
was less than spectacular, and there is little reason to
believe that Samo will lose to them next week.
Still, it is an Ocean league opponent, the Viking’s
first of the year.
Samo will then face off against 0-4 league rival
Beverly Hills the week after.
This means that the Vikings
might be able to add another win
to their October total.
“I think we have a lot of
growing to do as a team, but we
have a great foundation,” said
senior Jordie Cohen.
“We came together and
battled against El Segundo and
I think we are going to have
Liane Sato
a really strong season,” she
added.
Last year, Cohen stepped
up in the playoffs when thensenior captain Jeana Schkud
went down with a torn ACL.
As the crowd became silent, Cohen got off the
bench, began to warm up and then replaced Schkud
as setter, arguably the most valuable position on the
court.
This invaluable playoff experience will serve the
young Lady Vikings well as they attempt to retrace
last year’s footsteps.
Although this will be a difficult task, the Lady
Vikings believe they are up to the challenge and are
more than ready to prove that this year they truly
mean business.
“Last year was a stellar year. We’re reaching for the exact same
goals this year.”
Player Perspectives
“Coach Clark is a tough, but great
coach. His methods motivate everyone
on the team and despite our rocky start,
with his encouragement we’re destined
to go far.”
— Senior Shane Jones
“Coach Clark has really come in and
pushed us to be a better team. He brings
a new mindset to Samo football and
really wants to take the porgram to
where it once was ... CIF champions.”
— Junior Mitchell Eby
“Coach Clark is a great coach and he
brings a lot of knowledge to the team.”
— Sophomore Kori Garcia
October
FRI.
2
B Water Polo
South Bay
Tournament
7
B Water Polo @ G Tennis @
Culver City
Beverly Hills
8
G Volleyball vs.
Morningisde
13
G Tennis vs.
Inglewood
G Volleyball @
Culver City
20
14
Water Polo vs.
Milken
21
G Tennis @
B Water Polo
Morningside
vs. Torrance
G Volleyball @
Hawthorne
27
G Tennis vs.
Culver City
28
B Water Polo
vs. Culver City
G Volleyball vs.
Beverly Hills
9
Football @
Capistrano
15
16
22
23
Cross Country Football vs.
League Meet
Morningside
#2
G Volleyball vs.
Inglewood
G Tennis vs.
Football @
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
G Volleyball @
Morningside
29
B Water Polo
Hank Vallenkamp II
G Tennis @
Inglewood
3
B Water Polo
South Bay
Tournament
MON.
G Tennis @
Beverly Hills
5
Cross Country
Pepperdine
Invitational
Football @
Valencia
6
SAT.
30
B Water Polo
Hank Vallenkamp II
G Volleyball vs.
Culver City
Football @
Culver City
10
12
Water Polo @
Culver City
17
19
24
26
B Water Polo @
G Cross
Country Palos El Segundo
Verdes Invitational
B Cross Country Cal Poly
Invitational
B Water Polo
G Volleyball
Marlborough vs. Beverly
Hills
Tournament
Cross Country
Mt. Sac Invitational
31
B Water Polo
Hank Vallenkamp II
G Volleyball @
Redondo Union
Sports
Page 18
Oct. 2, 2009
Lady Vikings mean business
start with a 3-3 record, but back-to- make stupid errors. We need to stay positive.”
underclassmen are focusing on adjusting to
Positivity seems to be this year’s
back wins over Marymount and West
the quicker and stronger game play of varsity.
Torrance could catalyze a winning streak. theme for the Lady Vikes. Bersche
“So far the adjustment has been really
“We’ve had a lot of really hard matches,” said, “We’ve lost a few key matches
fun; all the girls are very welcoming. We’re
Nozik said. “When we get down on ourselves we but we’re going to step our game up.”
really close, we tell each other everything,”
said sophomore Rebecca Sherouse.
However,
with
the
fun
comes
new
responsibility.
“The team really relies on
Oren Friedman
you to always win your matches.
Staff Writer
We all know how hard we have to
After a rough end to the past year, the work and we need to continue to
Lady Vikings are poised for a comeback. Led work just as hard,” said Sherouse.
by senior co-captains Remy Nozik and Leigh With team sleepovers and dinners,
Bushnell, the team is ready for the new season. the upperclassmen are making
“The goal is to win league and advance to the transition to varsity much
one of the final rounds of C.I.F.” Nozik said. easier for the underclassmen.
The end of last
Senior
season left the Lady
Zoë Gillespie
Vikings
yearning
has been proud of
for a second chance.
the closeness of
“Last year was really
this year’s squad.
hard because it was so
“In my four
close,” Nozik said. “
years of being a
It was especially
part of the girls’
tough for the seniors
tennis team, I
knowing it was their last
have never seen
chance, but at the same
a group of girls
time it has inspired
as
close-knit
-senior Remy Nozik
us for this season.”
and determined
Last
year’s
as we are.”
loss left the team
I
n
with a chip on their
addition
to
shoulder, and they are determined to make advancing in C.I.F. this year, Samo
some noise in the Ocean League this year. is determined to get some respect in
The captains are also doing their the context of school sports. While
best to bring the team closer together. not the most heavily followed
“Our
team
has
become
more sport, the Lady Vikings are
unified; we’re here to encourage and starting to demand some respect.
be there for our team,” Nozik said.
“We want tennis to be
“We’re
trying
to
make
the taken more seriously than it
underclassmen feel as comfortable as has in the past,” Nozik said.
photo by Steve Shapiro
possible,” senior Haley Bersche said.
So far the team has been ACE: Seniors (left to right) Katerina Mozolyuk and Remy Nozik serve against Brentwood. They are members
As new varsity members, some battling
through
a
rough of a strong senior core determined to lead the team to an Ocean League Championship.
Girls’ tennis ready
for season, excited
for league play
“We’ve had a lot of really hard matches. When
we get down on ourselves
we make stupid errors.
We need to stay positive.”
Thea Lemberger:
Lady Bruin to be
Sam Bleiberg
Sports Editor
Everyone is familiar with the sickeningly
sweet story of the undersized athlete with oversized aspirations. This athlete watches television
and dreams of some day being watched. She sets
her mind on a single goal, and dedicates herself
to making it happen. Finally, after years of hard
work, she accomplishes her goal.
For the ordinary aspiring athlete, however,
the process ends after the first two steps — good
thing Thea Lemberger is extraordinary.
A senior at Santa Monica High School,
Lemberger recently verbally committed to playing basketball for UCLA. Her path in getting
there followed the trajectory normally reserved
for uplifting movies.
Ever since fifth grade, it has been Lemberger’s “major goal” to play division one basketball. After setting her mind to it, she did everything in her power to make her dream come true.
She began to work out frequently, and what she
lacked in stature, she made up for in resolve.
“I was obsessed with working out and
practicing,” Lemberger said. “I cared about
it [playing D1 basketball] a lot at a
young age — it was very important
to me — and that helped me get
where I am.”
UCLA coaches first took
note of Lemberger at a tournament with her club team, Cal
Swish, in early April. She received the offer to play later
that month, but chose to wait
on accepting in order to allow other options to surface.
And indeed, other options surfaced in July, when
Lemberger and Cal Swish
played four tournaments
— three of which they
won. The most presti-
gious of these was the Cal Swish tournament, a
Nike-sponsored event that, as the name suggests,
draws teams from across the country.
At the end of this hectic month, in which she
estimates she played around 30 games in 20 days,
Lemberger received interest from Cal, Oregon,
Ohio State, Vanderbilt and various Ivy League
schools.
After carefully weighing her options, Lemberger decided, on Aug. 3, to go with UCLA. She
attributes her decision mainly to the coaching
staff, headed by Nikki Caldwell.
“I really, really liked the coaching staff and
felt completely comfortable with them,” Lemberger said.
Caldwell will be going into her second year
at UCLA, and Lemberger will be amongst the
first set of recruits to train under the new staff for
a full year. “It’s a brand new start,” Lemberger
said.
There were also several additional factors
that caught this young star’s eye:
“The location, the academics, everything
about the school,” Lemberger said.
In her pursuit of her goal, Lemberger has
grown — both literally and figuratively. Her
freshman year, she stood only 5’2”,
but did not let that prevent her from
making the varsity team. Since then,
she has sprouted several inches, to
5’7”, and her game has come even
farther.
Her goals for the distant
future are lofty — just as they
should be. “I hope to be getting significant minutes by my
sophomore year. Eventually
I want to help put UCLA
at the top of the PAC 10
(UCLA’s division).”
In the meantime, she
will be content to lead her
Lady Vikings to victory.
photo by Reva Santo
Sports
Oct. 2, 2009
Greenies play ahead
and look forward
Philip Dinolfo
Staff Writer
For the boys’ water polo team,
the transition from summer to fall
marks the point where the brutal
practice regimen the have kept up since
June leads into their actual season.
The first few weeks of that
season are dedicated to a series
of games against far flung but
generally
unexceptional
teams,
almost a warm-up before the Ocean
League matches begin in October.
As in years past, the Greenies
have thus far been victorious,
laying siege to opponents both
familiar (Crespi and Peninsula)
and untested (Herbert Hoover,
from Glendale) since school began.
Still, members of the team are not
without their worries about what lies
ahead. Samo has the unique problem
of sometimes not being victorious
enough: when the team is talented
that shutting out the opposition 15-
photo by Reva Santo
LEAN BACK: Junior goalie Hunter McCarthy looks to pass the ball against Hoover.
0 is not unfeasible, winning 138 against a team like Chadwick
can seem almost complacent.
“We have a tendency to play
down to lesser teams,” said senior
captain Kirk Follette, “but I know that
when the time comes we can step up.”
More poignant are the concerns
the team has about CIF in November.
Varsity players recall how, following
an undefeated Ocean League run
last season, the Greenies made it
to the CIF semi-final game, only
to have their momentum cut
short by a controversial referee
call that sidelined then-captain
Zack White in the second half.
For
many
(this
writer
included), the call was the most
unjustified and disputable Samo
received that season, but for the
team the experience solidified both
their resolve to be champions this
year, and expectations to be as much.
“There’s a lot of pressure to
perform because of what happened,
particularly from [Zack] himself,”
said senior starter Max Malamed, who
played in the fateful game. Follette
concurs that the loss was “very
depressing”, but remains optimistic.
“We’ve really filled in all the
positions- drivers, sets, utilitiesthat we lost last year,” he said.
This sense of confidence
should hopefully be on display
when the Greenies bring the
pain to Torrance in their first
League game of the year, Oct. 5.
Page 19
photo by Reva Santo
Gearing Up: Junior driver Eduardo Navarette fakes out a Hoover defender
on Sep. 22. Samo won the match, 19-15.
On the Horizon: Upcoming Matches
@ the Torrance Tartars, Oct. 5
@ the Beverly Hills Normans, Oct. 7
@ the Culver City Centaurs, Oct. 12
@ the Bonita Bearcats, Oct. 14
@ the El Segundo Eagles, Oct. 19
vs. the Torrance Tartars, Oct. 21
vs. the Beverly Hills Normans, Oct. 26
art by Clare Sim
Freshman Experience
“I love the diversity here, everyone
seems to be so open
and outgoing.”
− Jessica Walker
Keoban Aguiler catches up on summer reading.
“I am excited and bored
at the same time. I like
that this school is really
big, at middle school
there were
only 300
kids.”
− Miles Greenberg
“I love all the
teachers here,
there are so
many more people to meet and
the campus is
beautiful!”
− Katharine Luventen
“The first day it was really crowded, everyone was really happy and
screaming when they saw their
friends. I like that there are more
people here and that there are more
places to hang out, even though my
classes are far away from each
other.”
− Messiah Bailey
Matthew Kimura
“The food here is
much better, I like
that the campus
is so big, and my
classes are much
more interesting
than in middle
school.”
− Lkyeiesh
Abera
“This school is much bigger,
and I have a lot of friends
here.” − Wade Stevenson
Photo essay by Kira Yoshimura, Photo Editor
Photos by Sam Boloorchi and Reva Santo, Staff
Photographers
“I’ve met a lot of new
people here, school
here is fantastic.”
− Amanda Pallett