Volume 86, Cub Edition · January 27, 2012

highlightsBeverly Hills High SchoolBeverly Hills, Calif.

ASB Election Results

Head Row PresidentAndrew Schwab

VPSteven Neman

Secretary (Parliamentarian)Andrew Redston

SecretaryAnton Saleh

TreasurerNathan Cohen

Student Board MemberLucy Licht

Senior Row PresidentJoel Yadidian

Senior Row VPMatthew Spector

Senior Row TreasurerRebecca Ghermezi

Senior Row RepresentativesTyler Neman; Sara Newman

Junior Row PresidentJason Friedman

Junior Row VPNick Komlos

Junior Row TreasurerLili Eshaghzadeh

Junior Row RepresentativesMegan Yee; Michael Yosef

Sophomore Row PresidentDaniel Kahn

Sophomore Row VPBrandon Neman

Sophomore Row TreasurerGabriel Bogner

Sophomore Row RepresentativesAdam Rosenberg; Maya Steinberg

Freshman Row PresidentJosh Schenk

Freshman Row VPJackson Prince

Freshman Row TreasurerAlanna Schenk

Freshman Row RepresentativesJustin Shegerian; Ally Weisfeld

L.A. Measure E construction beginsDaniel Cohen

Staff Writer

Band invited to Winchester in 2013 Theron Herd

Staff Writer

Krystal SimStaff Writer

Construction workers and vehicles dig trenches for seismic activity assesment in the middle of the front lawn. The construc-tion, approved by Los Angeles’ Measure E, will continue and expand for the next ten years. DANIEL COHEN

tors want to solve by next semester.“The new design doesn’t result in fewer

thefts. People steal all the time. We’re try-ing to fix that,” Bullard said.

Some of the most commonly stolen foods are chips, beverages, and even pizza. Anything that can be picked up and car-ried out is a potential target for student thieves.

“We’re getting help from the adminis-tration and they’re doing their best, but we need a little more help to stop it com-pletely,” Food Services Director Tom Soi-ka said. “We asked the staff to keep an eye out, but it’s difficult because they have to sell food and do their own jobs.”

About $100 is lost every day because of the thefts. While Beverly Café has yet to find a solution to this problem, the stu-dents are overall rather satisfied with this innovation.

The staff also expressed great pride in the new cafeteria.

“The food is now restaurant quality,” Bullard said. “Next semester, my goal is for Beverly Café to continue bringing qual-ity food at affordable prices.”

Last year’s cafeteria has been redesigned into Beverly Café, which has a new de-sign and a new line of food to match. The changes have received positive feedback from the students.

“They brought new foods and more op-tions,” junior Melody Danielpour said.

Beverly Café’s stastions now include greens, sizzle, zest, panini, pasta, deli, bake, Austin Grill, and other sides.

Sophomore Jadine Kachan said, “Last year they had more oily food and now it’s more healthier food. ”

More than twice as many students come to Beverly Café this year than last year. Approximately 450-500 students come to Beverly Café daily while only 200-250 stu-dents came last year.

“The food is now restaurant quality and the flow is better and more active,” Ed-ward Bullard, District Chef, said.

However, there are still issues from last year that have yet to be fixed. Student theft is one of the problems that the administra-

not sure what music they will be playing, but they want to keep it interesting for everyone by using popular music so more people will watch and pay attention. Band will play music that is popular from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Band will spend most of the time there seeing landmarks and other attractions that England has to offer.

“It is a little too expensive, but If I could go, I’m sure I would be enthusiastic for a worldwide event where thousands of people see you perform and even more people watch you on TV. It is going to be a great trip,” Rosenthal said.

“We are going to play popular music so people don’t get bored and actually enjoy the music,” Rosenthal said. The band is

Band has been invited to attend the 2013 New Year’s parade in Winchester, Eng-land. Band Director Bill Bradbury will be attending with students.

When they go, Band plans on going on a two mile march, taking tours of the area, sightseeing and possibly performing at concerts. The band will perform music to celebrate the New Year. The event will occur during winter vacation and will not conflict with school days. Beverly’s band will not be the only band attending. Other high schools, colleges and even some middle schools have also been invited.

The trip will cost each band member $2,950. This covers a round-trip plane ride, six-night stay at either a four or five star hotel and two meals a day. Only breakfast and dinner are covered, as it is expected they will eat out for lunch. In or-der for the trip to happen, at least 50 band members have to say they will go. All cur-rent band members are invited, but if 50 do not sign up, the trip will be cancelled.

Third trumpet player Andrew Rudy said, “I think we will get the 50 needed. Every-one wants to go.”

“We are looking for corporate sponsors to help reduce the cost, or parents to chip in,” Rudy said. Band is looking to reduce the cost, in order to increase attendance.

Band students don’t get many opportuni-ties like this. Rudy expects the trip to be a worthwhile experience.

“I’m really excited, although I really want a lower price so more people can go, I’m sure it will be a great experience for anyone who goes,” he said.

Third clarinet player Isaac Rosenthal, said he will probably not attend.

The seismic activity in the area will determine the outcome of the metro and remodeling proposal. If the seismic activity is high near the high school, the metro and remodeling programs will be shut down. In addition, the state and district will have to suggest mov-ing the high school to a different, more placid zone.

“The end result in remodel-ing will provide the school with new technology, more open plans for the school and it will drasti-cally improve the walking traffic issue we currently have,” Woods said.

Although the construction will last roughly ten years, it will pro-vide a new generation with bet-ter resources after the project is complete.

partially for remodeling; which is criti-cal. And for the metro, which is undecided yet,” District Office Superintendent Dr. Gary Woods said.

The plan regarding remodeling and the metro have been planned out for about a decade now, and are finally being acted upon.

Most students have differing opinions than those of Woods and just want to get rid of the trenches

“It makes the school really unappeal-ing. Plus there’s graduation soon, so I don’t want those things to be there when it happens,” senior Eva Cohen said.

With this hefty sum, the state will provide better recourses for students and schools statewide. Such resources include school security, custodial staff, counsel-ors, nurses, librarians (and library books), arts and music teachers and programs. Measure E will also maintain vocational education and job training programs.

The remodeling will take place through-out the main building. The inside will be affected the most, with new technology and a more modern look to the school. Not to mention, the building will also be remodeled to make walking traffic more efficient.

“The construction is necessary. It is

By now, most citizens of Beverly Hills have noticed the construction that is hap-pening at the high school. The construc-tion is all under the proposition of Mea-sure E. The proposal was approved by the district as well as the state in November 2002. Measure E proposes building and refurbishing schools and educational cen-ters throughout Los Angeles.

Measure E proposes building and re-furbishing schools and educational cen-ters in Los Angeles. Although Measure E will cost approximately $370 million, it will prove to be beneficial.

BC gets good reviews

January 27, 2012opinionHighlights2

Marguerite AlbertsStaff Writer

Pasha FarmanaraEditor-in-Chief

Max StahlNews Editor

Jessica LuOpinion Editor

Matthew LeibFeature Editor

Adam Rosenberg-WolfSports Editor

Marguerite Alberts, Daniel Cohen, Sheila Farzani, Quinn Forrer, Shane Hakakian,

Angelica Harrop, Theron Herd, Glory Oh, Jessica Saadian and Krystal Sim

Staff Writers

Gaby Herbst and Katie MurrayAdviserst

This newspaper is produced by the Begin-ning Journalism class of Beverly Hills High School, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA

90212.

Send letters to the editor tobeverlyhighlights@gmail.com.

Feedback is appreciated.

The Staff

Winter formal is perfect conclusion to semester

Brown proposes diplomatic educational reformsOn Jan. 18 California Governor Jerry

Brown made his much anticipated State of the State address and dedicated a good amount of his speech to education. He stat-ed that academic costs consume the most tax dollars and “rightly so as they have a profound effect on our future.” Tough eco-nomic times are pressuring dramatic cuts and layoffs, and everyone is curious as to what the proposed changes are.

Brown’s speech was insightful and elo-quent, but the bulk of the new plans lie in the full budget summary, released earlier this month.

The first of many points he made is sen-sible: elected school boards and principals should have the power to make more de-cisions and be less reliant on plans laid out at the state or federal level.

A community does have a better sense of what the com-munity needs, but they do not always make the best de-cisions. Several kids at Bev-erly, for example, are affected by the phasing out of the op-portunity permit system, a decision made by an elected board official. The question is, where does the middle ground lie?

One mistake made by a board could im-pede the progress of an entire generation, which is unacceptable. If students have is-sues with a certain change, the complaint should first go through the local level be-fore reaching the state or federal.

Brown transitioned into addressing per-pupil level of funding. The full budget summary estimates $11,246 to be spent on each student in the next school year, sev-eral thousands of dollars up from the cur-rent school year.

According to Brown, his plan for a basic level of funding plus extra to disadvan-taged students would create “transparency, reduce bureaucracy and simplify complex

Jessica LuOpinion Editor

The more tests, the more time it takes to score and compile—with fewer tests, results could be accessible within weeks instead of months. Principals and super-intendents would then able to consider the results with timeliness and reorganize for the next school year more efficiently and accurately.

Brown also wants to experiment with a type of website that could evaluate each classroom separately. It’s a type of idea that would work best if developed at the school district level.

“My hunch is that principals and teachers know the most,” Brown mentioned.

Consider how much students hail Jupiter grades and more recently Juno. A site ac-

cessible to students, teachers, principals and higher officials could monitor test scores, organize class and hold oth-er useful informa-tion.

Although the plan can seem to be in-tricate and com-plicated, it is only a sketch of what could be in the fu-ture. The prospect of giving students the ability to log in

for their different classes and track their progress daily should be enough to excite administrators, teachers and students ev-erywhere.

The value of such an idea lies in whether or not the plan for a website will be imple-mented and how much helpfulness, acces-sibility and accuracy such a website can possess. The more attainable idea of less standardized tests will likely come first.

Education reforms are not black and white, and it is unlikely they can be ex-ecuted exactly as described. However, it’s a journey that the state has to endeavor indefinitely. Brown assured the students: “I embrace both reform and tradition…I’ll take good ideas from wherever they come.”

Correction from Highlights issue seven: Boys’ varsity soccer has been in second place in the Ocean League, not third place as stated. Goalkeeper Adrian Spitz saved five shots.

Right after winter break, it always seems there is not much to look forward to. Al-though the end of the semester is coming up, we have to deal with finals and then spring break feels too far off. However, the Associated Student Body has found the so-lution to this problem: a formal dance.

Instead of having formal at the beginning of the year during homecoming, this year formal is on Feb. 2, the night of the last fi-nal exam. It makes for a nice break between first and second semester and it helps to give students something other than finals to think about.

For most students formal dances are a place where good times are to be had, and lifelong memories will be created.

When going to a dance, most of us have hopes to go with someone, dance until our hearts are content and simply have a blast.

But is the effort and stress involved in preparing for formal worth the four hours scheduled for the dance?

Students have to deal with the social stress of asking the ideal person, bracing themselves for rejection and the general stress of physically preparing themselves for the evening.

Do not forget that the timing of formal coincides with finals, a time when distrac-tions are not welcome. No one wants to stress over a high school dance affect their grades. It’s just not practical for long term goals.

Formal can be stressful. However, stress is not always bad. It is what motivates us to do well.

If students are stressed over finals, they

will strive to do well, and have the relaxation of a nice night out as a prize.

None the less, if one does not make formal into a big of a deal, the benefits out-weigh the disadvantages. School dances are a part of what makes high school high school. They are a so-cial expectation that has been around for many years past, and will be around for many years to come.

The problem is, some find the social expectation of asking a partner difficult to meet. The process of asking someone out should not be a problem. Although rejec-tion hurts, if teenagers just accept that the person they have asked is not able to go with them, they will still be able to have a good time with friends. That is what friends are for, after all.

Formal is place to meet new people, reconnect with old friends and simply enjoy the party. Overall, it is an enhancing school experience shared by all types of high schoolers that one they look back upon fondly. Formal is coming up, so be prepared ahead of time in order to keep stress levels at a minimum and to fully appreciate formal for what it is.

Junior Sydney Segal grins as she accepts sophomore Josh Gelman’s proposal to go to winter formal together, an example of a suc-cessful part of formal. Photo courtesy of JOSH GELMAN

“You’ve got $12 billion in cuts. We protect kindergarten through 12th grade education.”

-Governor Jerry BrownState of State address

Published once a year, the student news-paper of Beginning Journalism at Beverly Hills High School is a public forum, with its student editorial board making all de-cisions concerning its contents.

Letters to the editor are welcomed and will be published as space allows. Letters must be signed upon submission.

Opinions in letters are not necessarily those of the staff, nor should any opinion expressed in a public forum be construed as the opinion or policy of the administra-tion, unless so attributed.

Policy Statement

funding streams.”Proposition 98 is the name given to his

new plan, and would only work assuming Brown’s tax proposal passes and that the revenue from the initiative is budgeted well.

There are some less desirable cuts from other areas not directly related to Proposi-tion 98. This includes hundreds of millions from State Department of Education child-care programs, California State Library and nutrition programs for private entities.

In some places there will be an increase in the flow of cash in areas such as char-ter schools, special education and certain child-care programs.

There are, of course, pros and cons of go-ing through with each action. However, in

a time of turbulence when the economy is unsteady and when education becomes in-creasingly important, Brown’s economic proposals are diplomatic and reachable. Any disagreements on budgeting can be solved through an elected board, which is exactly why Brown emphasized their im-portance.

The last few minutes of his speech were based on educational substance and how it should differ.

“I believe it is time to reduce the number of tests,” he announced, referring to stan-dardized testing.

The reasoning behind his words is prag-matic and not just merely a relief to over-whelmed students everywhere.

January 27, 2011 featureHighlights 3

Robotics Team does community service, changes lives

There is much more to the robotics team than meets the eye. Most students perceive the class as a group of adolescents hunched over a heap of metal and tools, working for many hours each day to build a robot. And this they certainly do. However, most members of Team 1515 are also avid vol-unteers. The two endeavors seem almost incongruous, but community service has been ingrained in the robotics program for the eight years the program has existed.

“We just designed it as part of our pro-gram, that we would do charity work,” ro-botics advisor Eileen Kahn explained.

The team is involved numerous causes, including volunteering at the Ronald Mc-Donald House, the AIDS walk, the Hygiene Drive, the Kick for a Cure program, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Cedars Sinai and the Dar Fur Dream Team Foun-dation. Through this myriad of volunteer opportunities, many robotics members reach 100 hours of community service within a few months, solely through team-sponsored undertakings.

“Last time submitting the hours, I think there were about four students that reached the presidential award just based on what they’ve done in robotics,” Kahn said.

Robotics began its community service when it decided to raise money for mus-cular dystrophy, a disease ailing one of the students on the team. After that, the dam had been breached.

“The kids just kept coming back with dif-ferent ideas of different organizations and they were all worthy charities, so we just started getting involved,” Kahn said. “I’ll do as many outreach programs as they want to do as long as they’re working on it.”

Among the many forms of community service it performs, the team seems to most enjoy volunteering at the Ronald McDon-ald House. Before going there, students raise money by recycling cans and bottles and using the money to buy food. They then prepare dinner for the house’s sixty-plus

Foreign language literary magazine Voic-es Around The World represents the 57 na-tionalities and 46 languages spoken at Bev-erly. Adviser Dr. Raquel Ramsey and her staff of 22 students create the magazine.

Beverly offers the foreign language liter-ary magazine Voices Around The World to its students. The magazine is composed of original student writing. The pieces are printed in both English and the language chosen by the author.

Very few people are even aware of the existence of this magazine. This year has been one of the years with more submis-sions, partly due to the amount of posters displayed throughout the school, and the offering of extra credit by more teachers.

Junior Jason Friedman submitted to the magazine for the first time. His incentive for submitting was based on the fact that his Spanish teacher offered extra credit.

Friedman said, “I submitted a poem. I received extra credit in my Spanish class.”

Although Friedman submitted for ex-tra credit, he still feels that the magazine serves a good purpose.

Friedman stated, “I think it is a nice dis-play of student talent because it showcases both cultural diversity and literary capabil-ity of our student population.”

Ramsey advises the magazine. She has seen the number of submissions fluctuate from year to year, and she claims that this year is one of Beverly’s better years.

Ramsey said, “We received 98 submis-sions this year. The submissions have var-ied from 66 to 111 submissions.”

Although the total number of entries sub-mitted appears to be a lot, not all of them

residents: children receiving treatment at Children’s Hospital and their families. The students also bring art projects to the house and play games with the kids.

“I like working with all of the kids,” build team member Michael Simozar expressed. “The kids are fun and nice, and they’re a little more willing to play around and stuff because they’re all so young and energetic.”

Although the team spends hundreds of hours volunteering, almost none of that time interferes with the building process. One division of robotics, the business team, is in charge of scheduling and performing community service. Because the build team also volunteers, the business team usually arranges the excursions for days the build team is not working on the robot. The rare instances when volunteer hours do coin-cide with build hours do not daunt build team members or significantly impede upon their progress.

“The volunteer work that is during the build season [is] not participated in by builders, or it’s at a convenient time. But for I’d say probably 90% of feasible hours we’re working,” Simozar explained.

The community service hours improve the team’s chances of winning the Chair-man’s Award at FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the organization that runs most robotics competitions. To the students, though, the biggest reward is simply the act of giving back.

“It’s awesome to give back. It is a cliché when people say, ‘giving is better than re-ceiving,’ but it’s also very true,” Simozar said.

Kahn agrees that her students have learned a vital lesson from community ser-vice.

“I think it’s taught them that the world is small here in Beverly Hills,” she said. “And when you get out and you help others you see that there’s just much larger issues out there in the world and you realize that you can actually make a difference by helping others.”

Max StahlNews Editor

Matthew LeibFeature Editor

Jessica SaadianStaff Writer

are selected to be in the magazine. The en-tries must go through a difficult process to reach the final step of being in the maga-zine.

All of the entries are sent to staff groups for their specific language. From there, the staff groups choose only the best ones to be submitted to the magazine. All of the members of the staff must agree that the submission is worthy before it is chosen for the magazine.

With all the publicity and effort put into this year’s magazine, they were able to at-tract more people to enter submissions, and expand on the number of languages that were submitted.

Ramsey said, “Seventeen languages have been submitted this year. Farsi, Korean, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, French, Danish, Finish, Indonesian, Thai, Croatian, Rus-sian, Indian, Arabic, Pashtun, Vietnamese and Chinese.”

As the amount of languages submitted to the magazine are never ending, so are the types of work students may submit. All types of literature may be published in the magazine. Along with the compositions, the magazine also offers student-created artwork.

Ramsey stated, “There are poems, short stories, journals, essays, limericks and Shakespearean sonnets. There is also great involvement of the art department of Mr. Rust and Mr. Federman.”

Voices Around The World is a project that requires work for the whole year. Work on the magazine starts in September every year, and concludes with the release of the magazine in May.

Hopefully Voices Around The World will be widely read this year, and will continue to prosper in the years to come.

Beverly assists in cure

Recognizing a treasure

Robotics students pose in front of a statue of Ronald McDonald at the Ronald McDonald house. While there, they fed the house’s house’s sixty-plus residents. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBOTICS TEAM

The lines at the concession stands were endless, and students cheered for their teams throughout the entire night at the Beverly home game. There was a tremen-dous amount of positive energy and there were many people who were excited to help raise money to support a cure for cancer. Students were walking around the stands with donation boxes, and people continu-ously gave donations for scientists to find a cure for several types of cancer. Milken Community High School and Beverly were reunited at the third annual Kicking for a Common goal double-header soccer game and fundraiser on Jan. 21.

Beverly and Milken were competing to decide which cancer organization to donate to. Beverly wanted to give the money to the Concern Foundation, which researches a cure for 13 different types of cancer, while Milken was competing for the Multiple Sclerosis foundation.

The varsity soccer teams planned this event while the members of the Service Learning class publicized the fundraising. Members garnered donations from many restaurants, such as CPK, Factors Famous Deli, Fresh Brothers and Chipotle. All of the proceeds went to the winning team’s cause. Service Learning also posted signs at the event and recruited the entertainment.

“It was nice to see so many people devot-ed to this campaign. I enjoyed helping out and being a part in this big event,” junior Ben Nosrati said.

Each member in Service Learning had a walkie-talkie during the event, making sure e v e r y t h i n g was running smoothly. As well as or-ganizing the event, the students were required to work at one of the stands to sell food and food tickets, and ask for donations.

“It all start-ed three years ago when we were helping Milken for charity and

we continued to do it every year. The char-ity event for Milken was a double header soccer game from the start and when Bev-erly got involved, we wanted help out an-other charity as well, so it started to become an annual thing,” junior Ariel Azhdam said.

In 2010, when Beverly first held the event, they supported MS and in the sec-ond year they supported the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. This year, Beverly aided the Concern Foundation. They have raised over $12,000 this year and in total, includ-ing the previous years, they raised about $28,000.

“One of the nice things about the Concern Foundation is that they were actively in-volved. In the other cancer companies that we supported, we wouldn’t see where the money went to because the company was so big,” boys’ varsity soccer coach Steve Rap-paport explained.

Almost everyone has a friend or a family member who has been affected by cancer. The president of the Concern Foundation went to Beverly and started the foundation as a Beverly Hills organization.

“I had cancer and one of the boys in the program is dealing with cancer as well. We felt really tied in to do this program because it researches 13 different areas of cancer,” Rappaport said.

This memorable event brought students together and grows bigger and better each year. Not only are they helping a great cause, but students have also learned that no matter which team wins, the money will help find a cure to fight cancer.

Senior Donya Enayati sells crepes and creme brulee to soccer fans to help raise money for charity at the annual Milken vs. Beverly soccer tournament. JESSICA SAADIAN

Sheila FarzaniStaff Writer

Shane HakakianStaff Writer

Wrestlers bond despite threats of disbandmentAdam Rosenberg-Wolf

Sports Editior

January 27, 2012sportsHighlights4

Wrestling is about conditioning and strength. Without those two essentials one cannot become a good wrestler. What really makes a wrestler great is superb character from each match and practice. Character is built from determination and being an excellent teammate. Bonding with team-mates makes each wrestler a better per-son. Building character takes years in the making, but freshmen wrestlers Cameron Flagel, Raven Castro and Jordan Wagner are trying to build character early enough to make themselves great wrestlers in the future.

Character involves off season training and learning to grip the ways of wrestling to obtain willpower to make themselves a better wrestler.

“We run a lot during the off season to build up stamina and drive for the upcom-ing season,” Flagel said.

The off season training involves long hours and a lot of sweat. “We condition hard in the off season of wrestling for many hours a day. We go do pushups, sit ups, 100 yard sprints and we do and Indian miles. The amount of conditioning makes us have more strength and energy so when we step on the wrestling mat we don’t give up and we fight without getting tired,” Wagner

said. The amount of conditioning these fresh-

men do is for a special reason; to become the best athletes at Beverly.

“We condition the way we do so our op-ponents will be wrestling is the most im-portant sport at Beverly,” Castro said

In addition to all the conditioning, the wrestlers like to bond with each other after school or on weekends.

I mean the practicing and conditioning is great and all, but meeting so many upper-classmen makes us bond more. Wrestling is a sport of sportsmanship and being a great leader and teammate,” Wagner said.

Knowing all of these upperclassmen wrestlers helps the freshmen wrestlers learn all of the basics in their upcoming wrestling futures.

“It is great seeing your teammates who eventually become your friends outside of practices and to be able to just talk about whatever you want. Since all the teams practice together, we become better friends either outside of the wrestling room or dur-ing school. The fact is that varsity and JV teams can help you out when if you are having trouble with your wrestling skills. Whenever we pass each other in the halls or outside of school we will talk and get to know each other better,” Castro said

Besides all the bonding the wrestling team has had, the program may have to

be stopped for a majority of time. With the lack of equipment and money for transportation, the pro-gram may be jeopardized.

“It’s really a shame that this is happening,” Fla-gel said, who is trying the best he can by saving the program. “My parents and I provide money to the wrestling program each year, but it seems to not be working.”

If the program is forced to close, all of these wres-tlers will have to find a new sport to play. “Wrestling is one of my favorite things to do, I don’t know what I will do without it,” Castro said The team is looking to have a fundraiser or an event to raise money for the program soon to come. “Were trying to think of something, we just need the time and space to do it,” Wagner said The team’s next match is Thursday against North Torrance from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Freshmen boys first in leagueFreshmen boys’ basketball is practic-

ing hard, and is undefeated in league. The coach is preparing every player on the team, making sure they are ready for what-ever comes their way. They have been run-ning, working in the weight room and com-pleting other basketball workouts.

As starting point guard Navid Refalian has a big role on the team and has always been an impactful player. Refalian had eight points, six rebounds and led the team with nine assists in their previous game. He is able to make the players around him per-form better.

“I always look to pass before I make a move. I walk up the court and try to find someone first or make a play. Then if the play doesn’t work I’ll try to come up with something myself hoping for a bucket,” Re-falian said.

Freshmen basketball always has plays set up and people moving around the floor, showing the fundamentals of basketball. They keep their offense going. In the sec-ond game of league, the freshmen team was able to outscore Morningside High School 30-9 in the first quarter.

On Jan. 20 starting center Jalen Sands recorded 11 points, 12 rebounds and two Forward Ryan Manoocherri makes a

bucket to help his team. ARMAN ZADEH

Girls’ JV beats Samo The Normans came out with a bang as

they defeated Samo 41-34 at home Jan. 18, with the first win against Samo in any division of the girls’ basketball team since 2006.

“We were down nine points, but to come back we made better passes, the bench cheered us on, and as a team we bounced back,” shooting guard Chelsea Simmons said.

The Normans found their rhythm and started turning the tables against Samo in the middle of the first half.

Point guard Daniella Hay stated, “During halftime, Coach Stern stayed calm and en-couraged us to play more confidently, and we lost our fear and went for more risks. We pressured Samo and increased ball steals to victory.”

blocks in the win versus Inglewood. Sands brings aggression to the Normans, and is vocal on both ends of the floor.

Sands said, “I’m always yelling so my players get up and put their head in the game. And I’m being aggressive because that’s how you play the game of basketball. The whole team should always be aggres-sive.”

The Normans’ freshmen team seems to be moving and aggressive in the first quar-ter, but then seem to be falling behind in the rest of the game. Small forward Eman Rafalian is one of the Norman’s starters and an excellent defensive player for the team. Rafalian recorded four steals in the win versus Inglewood with six fast break points all by himself. Rafalian seemed to know exactly what the problem was with his team starting to slack after playing well.

Rafalian said, “We always have the best energy starting the game with pushing the ball down the court and hustling on both offense and defense. When our team plays like this, we shouldn’t even lose one game this whole season. We are unstop-pable when we play like this. We start to slack when the team and I make excuses like ‘ok, we already won, let’s stop trying.’ We then fall behind because of our team is not running the plays, are taking bad shots, and being lazy. We got lucky at first getting

The home game versus Inglewood on Jan. 20 was less fortunate as Beverly lost 30-55. Inglewood showcased a fast-paced offense with many lay-ups. Simmons, Shana Mata-tov and Emma Aklilu contributed points throughout the game, but in the end the Normans’ efforts were not enough to catch up.

Coach Joe Stern said, “The girls must work on rebounding and focus on be-ing more aggressive, using height to a strength.”

However, the girls’ commitment and team spirit led to their triumph over Samo.

“We have won five games, lost one and have seven more to go,” Stern said.

Beverly lost to Culver City 46-32, but Ak-lilu scored 16 points, having her best game of the year.

“Hopefully we can win championship,” Hay said.

our wins. This is something we need to fix with our team.”

The Normans made the shots they need to be made with shooting star Ryan Ma-noocherri going three for four-from the three point line in the win versus Inglewood. Ma-noocherri brings the energy that the Normans need com-ing in. When the starters are tired Manoocherri comes off the bench fresh ready to make a difference.

Manoocherri said, “I play two positions on the team, so I’m always an option coming in the game for starters. And I am always happy to be a help to our team to stay in the game.”

A goal for improvement for the boys’ freshmen team is to always give it their all, so they can do their best. The team is preparing for their next home game against Culver City hop-ing to continue their undefeat-ed streak of 5-0.

Friday, January 27: Boys’ Varsity Basketball vs. Hawthorne High School Girls’ Varsity Basketball vs. Hawthorne High School 4:30PM Boys’ JV Soccer vs. Hawthorne High School 6:00PM Boys’ Var-sity Soccer vs. Hawthorne High School Wednesday, February 1: Boys’ Varsity Basketball vs. Morningside High School Girls’ Varsity Basketball vs. Morningside High School 3:00PM Girls’ Varsity Water Polo @ Torrance High School 4:30PM Boys’ JV Soccer vs. Morn-ingside High School 6:00PM Boys’ Varsity Soccer vs. Morningside High School 4:30PM Thursday, February 2: Girls’ JV Water Polo @ Torrance High School Friday, February 3: 3:30PM Boys’ Varsity Soccer @ Santa Monica High School 3:30PM Boys’ Frosh Soccer @ Santa Monica High School 5:00PM Boys’ JV Soccer @ Santa Monica High School Saturday, February 4: 11:00AM Boys’ Frosh Soccer vs. Loyola High School

Freshman Cameron Flagel attacks his opponent in the referee’s position. SANDRA FLAGEL

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