HigHTiDERedondo Beach, CA // Redondo Union High School // April 1, 2011// Vol. XCII // Section 11

p12-13//Teacher Gillian Moberg returns from abroad.

p6-7//Students reflect on summer service.

p20//Football looks for first win of the season.

THEFACESOF

CHANGERedondo welcomes the addition of new staff in-cluding a new vice princi-pal and principal.

See more on pag-es 10-11.//

PacesFaces

NEWS HigH tide//

NEWS // SePt. 16, 2011 // 2

New

New

AroundRedondo “Did you like or dislike the first day?”

“it was al-right. it was too crowded and the new system was c o n f u s i n g . ”

—Alexis Garcia

12th“I liked the first day. it was an easy way to start and to get to know t e a c h e r s . ”

—Dominque Dodd 9th

“the spirit as-sembly was a waste of time, especially for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.”

—Kevin Ahir

11th

“i thought it was pointless. We should have just start-ed and gotten it over with.”

—Lisa Hurley

10th“the spir-it assembly was fun, but the morning classes were p o i n t l e s s . ”

—Megan Fabio

9th

//

For most students, the first day of school signifies the end of summer vacation and the start of a monotonous routine that is even-tually ended by another glorious summer vacation. In order to raise school spirit and wash away back to school blues, Assistant Principal Amy Golden, ASB Advisor Sherie

Gross, and Teacher Catherine Horzen de-cided to host Redondo’s first Back to School Celebration.

“When we heard about [the celebration] we thought it sounded really cool. Students don’t have as much spirit as we’d like them to [have] and we thought our teachers could use a boost as well,” Golden said.

While attending the CATA conference Golden, Gross, and Horzen heard the idea of a Back to School Celebration from a school that hosts one for their students ev-ery year and decided to give it a try.

“I was really happy with how it went. While I thought it went well, it’s not as good as it could be so we want to tweak it,”

by taylor Ballard

Golden said.One change that will most likely be made

is the material shown to each grade level. “I would like for each grade level to have

differentiated programs. I also think we are looking into a different schedule so our speaker can have a longer period of time,” Gross said.

While Gross believes the Celebration needs a few changes to be all it can be, she would not change the presentation on the A through G requirements.

“I really liked going through the rules and the A-G’s because I feel like a lot of stu-dents don’t know [where] they are and that’s half the battle of getting kids to meet their goals,” Gross said.

According to Golden, student and fac-ulty surveys will be taken later on to decide whether or not the Celebration will happen again.

“It was a big undertaking. I’m super glad we did it. I think it created some unity be-tween the staff and hopefully it started the year off right for students because we care about [the students] and we want to do stuff that’s fun for [them] too,” Golden said.

A new first day schedule is put in place by adminis-tration to increase school spirit

PHOtO BY JeNNY OetZeLL

Hands Up. Seniors celebrate at the Back to School Spirit Rally. According to Assistant principal Amy golden, the celebration was a success.

-Compiled by: daniel garzon Photos by: erinn Middo

NEWS // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 3

With a new school year comes new op-portunities to increase school spirit. That is exactly what staff members and the seniors of ASB are working to provide.

New class colors have been put in place: seniors have yellow, juniors have purple,sophomores have orange, and fresh-men have blue.

ASB Adviser Sherie Gross is excited about the change and feels optimistic about the upcoming school year.

“The idea of the class color change has been tossed around for years now. The goal has always been to increase school spirit.” she said.

According to Gross, the colors were chosen randomly by the class presidents in ASB.

“We knew from the beginning that the colors we chose needed to be easy to find.” she said.

Some seniors are upset about the change due to the fact that red will no longer be

their main class color.“You can’t always please everyone. To

make up for the disappointment few seniors may have about that, we kept their class

shirts red,” Gross said.Class colors are not the only thing that

will change this year. According to Senior Class President Madison Hall, a new Se-nior Sticker has been introduced so that students can purchase their tickets to both senior barbeque’s and the new senior pool party in advance.

248 students have already purchased the Senior Sticker, according to Hall.

The senior pool party will also take place later this year, providing an afternoon full of music, food, swimming and a movie for stu-dents that attend. ASB President Nia Vidal is confident the event will run smoothly.

“It’s the first time an event like this is happening, I’m really excited and it’s a great way to end the school year.” Vidal said.

Assistant Principal Amy Golden pro-posed the idea to ASB members this past summer.

“I’ve always thought that we could add more fun events for the seniors to make their year more special. We have an amazing pool facility and we should use it.” she said.

As for behavioral issues, Golden isn’t worried.

“I know that seniors will do the right thing. Even though its early, this year’s stu-dents are much more well behaved than last year.” she said.

by Jeremy Porr

Measure C construction will continue throughout the school year as renovations to the Cafeteria, Science Building, and Library be made .

According to Assistant Principal John Newman, plans for the Cafeteria, Science Building, and Industrial Arts building are still pending approval by the Department of the State Architect (DSA). The current plan is to begin work on the Cafeteria in mid-to-late December and the Science Building and Industrial Arts Building in mid April.

“We want the move out of the Science Building to coincide with Spring Break so that no instructional time will be impacted,” Newman said.

Science classrooms will be moved to the Chamber of Commerce building and into portable classrooms in the parking lot of the auditorium. The interior of the Science Building will be torn out and classrooms will be rearranged with plans for ten fully functioning science laboratories.

Since many of the planned projects came in under budget, Measure C made it pos-sible for new lockers to be installed through-out campus. Plans for air conditioning in the 800s building are still on hold, but, ac-cording to Newman, they will happen.

Renovations on the Old Administration Building are nearly complete; however, dur-ing the renovation, 50-year-old fire damage was discovered and plans to fix it are still

Construction continues into new school year, new lockers added over summer

pending approval by the DSA. Currently, the scheduled move in to the Old Admin-istration Building, which will house special education staff, in December.

The Large Gym is scheduled to be com-pleted in mid-March, and Newman hopes that the boy’s volleyball team will be able to

complete its season there.Improvements to the Library will begin

in December, and in the meantime, the bingo room will serve as a computer lab and textbook storage room.

Finally, according to Newman, the lack of a cafeteria has not impacted food service

by Daniel Garzon

New class colors, “senior sticker” aim to increase school spirit in students

The goal has always been to increase school spirit. -Sherie Gross

“

”

Poll: The High Tide polled its Facbook followers and found:

39% of stu-dents thought the first day activities were unnecessary.

3% of students enjoyed it

29% did not enjoy it at all

29% thought it could have been better

too severely. More food carts and an addi-tional line at the A.L. Young center have all eased the transition.

“I think [students are coping with the renovations] pretty well,” Newman said. “The project managers have all done a good job at only taking up the space they need.”

Science Building:Start: AprilNew classrooms and science labs

Cafeteria:Start: mid-to-late DecemberRooftop deck and stage area for rallyLibrary:

Start: DecemberThe bingo room is a tem-porary textbook room/com-puter lab

Large Gym:End: mid MarchSpring sports will be able to enjoy the new gym.

39%

29%

29%

3%

—Illustration by Meglyn Huber

—Nicole Pippard Today we are obsessed with change. We

change our possessions, style, opinions, friends, goals and taste in music. Change can be a beautiful and productive thing. It can open your eyes to new and different points of view on life. But why change something when it works? What’s wrong with a tradi-tion no one has a problem with? This year has already started off with many changes but are they for the best? Our class colors used to mean something. They used to be worn

proudly. The sudden change in class colors has caused controversy, es-pecially for the seniors, who have had the traditional red replaced with the wildly unpopular yellow.

From colors coordinating with the school (red, grey, white, and black) we have adopted the seemingly random and meaningless yellow, purple, orange, and blue. The change was an attempt to increase school spirit. Judging from less than favorable responses on Facebook and poor participation at registration, support for the new class colors seems to have fizzled out before the school year has even begun. Students feel an increasing distance between themselves and the school.

ASB should have made an effort to include the entire school in this decision. Certainly a majority vote would have done away with any sort of complaints about class colors. In fact, participation would have increased if we would have been able to vote for the color changes we wanted (if any).

Some may argue that class colors are not a big deal and many stu-dents would be inclined to agree. The problem is that in attempting to increase school spirit, the school instead succeeded in squandering it further. When class colors are literally picked out of a hat it’s hard not to feel like our elected officials in ASB aren’t listening to us. This is not meant to be an attack; it is a question as to how this whole school spirit concept is being run.

What we’re asking for is a little more time and effort. A little more representation of the student body through class surveys. Maybe some more common sense so issues like this are not left to chance. Redondo is willing to have school spirit this year, don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

OPINION HigH tide//

OPINION // SePt. 16, 2011// 4

AroundRedondo “How do you feel about the stricter dress code policy implemented this year?”“i think it’s pretty rea-sonable, but it doesn’t affect the school.”

—Elijah Aquilina

10th

“It’s fine. I think the thumb rule is too short. i think there should be more rules.”

—Tiana Chung 9th

“i don’t agree with it. the rules are too strict and it’s too h a r s h . ”

—Grant MacDonald

10th

“We need to be able to express o u r s e l v e s with what we choose to wear.”

—Tyler Clinton

12th

//

Pro / / ConAre the new school spirit colors

a positive change from the old ones?

For students, the grass always seems greener on the other side. After years of complaints, it is finally time for a change, but students are now questioning if that change is good. Redondo’s traditional school colors were changed from gray, black, white, and red to fun colors: yel-low, purple, orange, and blue. This change was put in place primarily because of com-plaints from students. The old school colors were rather boring, so ASB decided to re-

implement the old custom of fun class colors. One would think the student body of Redondo would be thrilled but instead of excitement there is only disappointment.

Throughout the years the desire for new school colors has always been an issue. We were one of the only schools in the South Bay that had boring spirit colors that corresponded to our school colors and not the fun, vibrant ones we have now. We have rallies without much spirit and we don’t pay much attention to class colors to begin with. Administrators at Redondo gave the students what they wanted, so shouldn’t we be thankful, not resentful?

Instead of complaining, all students at Redondo should embrace the new colors and look at them in a positive light. These colors will encourage the students at Redondo to become more involved and have more school spirit during rallys and other activities.

Although some students will argue that the colors are not fit for school, this is what we’ve been asking for all along, isn’t it? We’ve been pestering ASB and the administration to acomodate us so whining about not having our class color in our wardrobe is a bit uncalled for. These colors will also still distinguish upperclassmen from lowerclass-men just in a way that all classes can enjoy. There will be more spirit throughout the school with class competitions and rallies being more enjoyable.

This is what we’ve been asking for all along so students need to stop resenting these colors and embrace them. For those who don’t agree with these colors get used to because in the end, the new colors will end up bringing classes together and making activities around school more enjoyable.

by Cameron Paulson by Dan Furmansky

“it makes people less indiv idual-istic. they aren’t able to express their personality.”

11th

Compiled by Bethany KawaPhotos by erinn Middo

CARtOON BY COOPeR LOVANO

Welcome to your 2011-2012 school year everyone. Some of you may have jumped out of bed on the first day of school, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Some of you (and by that I mean me) may have slept past the blaring alarm clock and arrived late to your zero peri-od. But, whether or not you were ready, here the first day came.

A lot of changes seem to have hap-pened over night and plenty of people have raised concerns. Maybe “raised concerns” isn’t the right wording; “whined a lot” would be more appro-priate. I’m including myself in this group of whiners (“Yellow is a Costa color!!”) who have focused too much on all of the little changes and not the big picture.

When it comes down to it, high school is about one thing: preparing you for your future. Whether you leave these halls in four years or eight months, the time you spent here will shape you for the rest of your life.

Slightly terrified? I know I am.But don’t stress out too much. At the

risk of sounding contradictory, keep in mind that high school isn’t everything. Your life isn’t decided before you can even vote, but the memories you create here will last a lifetime.

If we’re lucky, our lives are really just beginning. Some of us may march off to college or begin a career. Some of us might not have any direction at all, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing: “Not all those who wander are lost,” said au-thor J.R.R. Tolkien.

Find what you want to do and do it. Or just do everything and anything you want. These opportunities are fleeting: You’ll never go to your first freshman basketball game ever again. You’ll never be able to take that pre-calc test again. You’ll never be who you are at this mo-ment ever again. No matter if you’re the youngest freshman or oldest senior, there are a thousand things you will never be able to do again if you don’t take advantage of the opportunities in front of you right now.

The last day of school is in 273 days. Make this more than just another school year. Take advantage of your op-portunities. Even if you decide to wan-der, be careful you don’t get lost.

During my summer, a number of people asked me which year of high school I would be starting. When I answered, “Senior,” almost invariably the response would be something like, “Oh! Are you excited?” Oddly enough, I never said yes, and I now feel those summer-time premonitions may not have been amiss.

In that all too familiar morning stupor on the first day of school, I sat down in my “spirit group” of that much anticipated senior year and at once I found myself watching a PowerPoint regarding the dress code, which explained how it would be enforced more than past years and that consequences would be much more serious.

In time we would become acquainted with our new food items, our new lockers, and our new staff members, but first and foremost: the new dress code. This was my first impres-sion of the new school year.

“This,” the situation seemed to suggest, “is more important than anything else.”

So maybe the dress code isn’t new. What is new is the notion that dress is a highly con-sequential potential threat to the integrity of our education. After the dress code Power-Point, Mr. Theodorou explained that for the school, education is job number one.

“If anything interferes with student learn-ing,” he said, “it becomes a concern.”

Student attire, it seems, became one of those concerns for our administration who clearly felt compelled to do something about it. But to what degree does dress impact our education? Let’s take a look at last year, a year utterly saturated with dress code violations (hundreds upon hundreds each day, I have no doubt.) Lower backs, bare shoulders and

HigH Tide//Staff

Editor-in-Chief: Alison Peet-LukesManaging Editors: Meglyn Huber; Madeline Per-raultNews Editors: Matthew Brancolini; Daniel GarzonOpinion Editor: Shannon Bowmanfeatures Editors: Taylor Ballard; Kimberly Chap-man; Anachristina Gonzalez; Bethany Kawa; Tricia Light; Emma Uriarte Sports Editors: Tatiana Celentano; Julie Tran; Zach ZentPhoto Editors: Erinn Middo, Jenny OetzellCopy Editors: Camille Duong, Jeremy PorrCartoonist: Cooper LovanoOnline Editor: Brianna EganStaff Writers: Taylor Brightwell; Torrey Bruger; Claire Chiara, Logan Collingwood; Navea Dasz; Mckenna Duffy; Camille Duong; Brandon Folk-man; Dan Furmansky; Shivaani Gandhi; Hana Ghanim; Andrew Hazeltine; Cedric Hyon; Craig Ives; Llana LaGraff; Vivian Lam; Anthony Leong; Cooper Lovano; Kayla Maanum; LeAnn Maanum; Isaiah Madison; Kylie Martin; Benjamin McLaughin; Hayley Meyers; Madison Mitchell; Rachael Orford; Cameron Paulson; Alegra Peelor; Alejandro Quevedo; Jason Rochlin; Nancy Silva; Jessica Shipley; Taylor Sorensen; Hannah Son; Jeremy Porr; Cody Williamsadviser: Mitch Ziegler

The High Tide dedicates itself to producing a high-quality publication that both informs and entertains the entire student body.

This newspaper is wholly student managed, de-signed, and written newspaper that focuses on school and community events.

The High Tide is published by the journalism class at Redondo Union High School, One Sea Hawk Way, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

Advertising is $7.50 per column inch, $6.00 if paid in advance. For information call (310)798-8665 ext. 2210.

Signed commentaries and editorial cartoons repre-sent the opinions of the staff writer of cartoonist and in no way reflect the opinions of the High Tide staff.

editorial: More activities needed to increase spirit

Dress code policy disquiets studentsfemale thighs could be seen everywhere–total chaos. In other words, an environment that must have been impeditive of our education.

However, last year Redondo’s CST scores showed more improvement than any other school in the South Bay. AP Chemistry didn’t just maintain its famous 100% pass rate, not one person got below a three on the AP test. In this light it seems evident that education requires no dress code to improve. Education can improve in spite of “inappropriate” dress.

It seems evident, however, that “inappro-priate” isn’t the same for everyone, nor do all agree that dress interferes with education. Se-nior Kevin Lofgren unwittingly exemplified this idea on that first morning:

“Honestly, I find the guys that dress like they’re in the ‘60s more distracting than short-shorts,” he said.

And thus we come to the crux of the argu-ment: Who decides what’s “inappropriate?” And, once that is decided, whose version of reality should everyone be forced to abide by? If you’re a student, part of the supermajority whose compliance is mandatory, the answer is an unfortunate “not yours” –– and that is what I see as the real problem.

OPiNiON // SEPt. 16, 2011 // 5

by Shannon Bowman

Everyone knows the usual first day of school routine: pick up your schedule at the cafeteria before school, try fitting all of your books into your tiny locker, and trudge to all of your classes while trying not to daydream about the carefree times of summer just a day before. But in an attempt to raise school spir-it, this year the staff and ASB came together to start school off differently with a day they called the “Back to School Celebration.”

Instead of going directly to the cafeteria, students went to “spirit groups” for power-points on rules and regulations, to pick up schedules, and to play team-building games. Instead of going from period to period, stu-dents went to the auditorium to hear a mo-tivational speaker and then marched down to the football stadium to watch ASB and teachers preform fun skits. The best part of the day was probably the end, where classes were a mere ten minutes, just enough to col-lect summer assignments and do a quick in-troduction.

The Back to School Celebration was an at-

tempt to raise school spirit and provide a fun and effective transition into the new school year. Although some students thought the rally was a refreshing way to begin a brand new school year, others felt that the rally and all of the other first day antics were a waste of time. Bored, tired faces met the inspira-tional speaker during his speech and yawned their way through the teachers’ “Saved by the Bell” relay race. For people who just want to come to school and get their day over with as quickly as possible, the first day was simply an annoyance.

The dark auditorium was just a place to catch some extra Z’s. The “spirit groups” were a place to catch up with your friends and share crazy summer stories. The rally was crowded and unorganized, and the speakers were hard to hear over the chattering of 2,000 teenagers. The attempt to make students more spirited backfired; instead, students were already fed up with school and not looking forward to the coming week.

Whose fault was this? Maybe in the poor

execution of a positive change. But mostly, the fault was with the students who were too cool to even play along.

Without student participation, how does the staff and ASB plan to raise school spirit for the rest of the year? They can’t force spirit onto students who don’t want it or onto students who come to school purely because it is com-pulsory or just want to graduate, go to college, and get far, far away.

Redondo has had a long history of lack-luster spirit. Participation in fun activities and spirit days is usually low; many schools put us to shame when they cheer louder than us at our home football games. Unless we as a student body become more involved, we can’t expect perfection in the spirit days ASB and the administration provide for us.

The effort put into the first day is admi-rable and the idea of a more spirited school is a great one, but the truth is students can’t be-come more spirited in just one day. It will take a lot more spirit days to convince the entire student body to become more spirited.

Back

Shannon’sShenanigansWelcome

by anthony Leong

PHOtO BY ERINN MIDDO

Busted. A student poses in a shirt that is giv-en to those who wear inappropriate clothing.

FEATURES HigH tide//

FEATURES // SeP. 16, 2011 // 6

Egan, Niebergall help provide medical care

In the cardboard village of Rio Blanco, a group of young children play a game of tag. Some of them have nothing to eat but garbage, nothing to drink but contaminated water, and nowhere to sleep but under roofs made out of trash bags. Nonetheless, the children smile, laugh, and play with their new American friends.

Seniors Alex Niebergall and Brianna Egan visited Hondu-ras with a group from a San Diego church that helps give medical care to impoverished children.

“It was shocking just to see the different levels of pover-ty that go beyond what you see in the US,” Niebergall said. “They live in conditions that I can’t even imagine living under, but are still so positive.”

In just eight days they established meaningful connections with many of the children.

“The most rewarding thing was just seeing the kids smile. It was beautiful and heart-warming. They barely had anything, but they had each other. The children were so full of love. It broke our hearts to say goodbye,” Egan said.

On their first day in Hunduras they helped lead song-a longs, craft time, and prayers with children in the only pub-lic hospital in San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in the country.

“Kids die of things that would be curable here in the US due to a lack of supplies and medical care,” Niebergall said.

They then continued on to the village of Rio Blanco, where the children were seen by doctors and received medication.

“This is the only medical care they [will] ever get, once a year. Kids have colds, parasites, and infections because of the poverty they live in,” Niebergall said.

Niebergall and the other teenagers helped entertain the children while they were being seen by doctors.

“The kids are really incredible. They are all very indepen-dent and help each other out,” she said. “We would see six year old girls carrying their baby brothers around.”

Their last stop was the Pena Blanca Orphanage, a home for orphans and children whose families are too poor to care for them.

“The kids in the orphanage were mainly healthy, but just needed to be loved,” she said. “What was most moving was how open and friendly they were, they gave to others [what little they had].”

Egan feels that the experience was “priceless”.“It’s so important to be in a situation where you are

humbled and can learn how to love,” she said. “The whole community is a family. All they have is each oth-er. It was amazing to be a part of that.”

Lew does missionary work Senior Chris Lew visited Thailand to not only make a dif-

ference in the natives’ lives, but to introduce them to Christi-anity, which was previously unknown to some of them.

Lew traveled with a church organization called Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF). Lew spent two weeks running a children’s program for children in long-term missionaries in Southeast Asia.

“I wanted to go because I’m thinking about working as a long-term medical missionary after I finish Medical School. I wanted to see the needs of the natives and hear from people that have experience working there,” Lew said.

The natives Lew worked with had not been exposed to Christianity, as most of the population is Buddhist.

“Our mission mentor told us that on average, a person in

by Kimberly Chapman

by Tricia Light

Thailand hears the gospel only once in their lifetime. Many of them had not heard the word of God before we came to teach them,” Lew said.

Lew enjoyed experiencing first hand how people in Thai-land live.

“I liked the second week of the trip better because that was the week where we stayed in a small village and we were able to interact and bond with [the natives] more,” Lew said.

After visiting Thailand and witnessing the hardships that the natives faced, Lew is now more appreciative of the life he lives here in Redondo.

“Hopefully we made a difference in their lives and they will remember what we have taught them for years to come,” Lew said.

Spreading the word. Lew visits Thailand with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship.

S U M M E R S E R V I C E

All Smiles. 1. Egan plays with children in Rio Blanco. 2. Many of the children live in poverty. 1.

2.PHOtOS COURteSY OF ALeX NieBeRgALL

PHOtO COURteSY OF CHRiS LeW

FEATURES // SEP. 16, 2011 // 7

Currie siblings volunteer in Coarsegold

by Alison Peet- Lukes

I stepped on to the plane, unsure of what the next three weeks would bring me. I remember I woke up really nervous that day. I threw on my blue Rustic Pathways T-shirt and shook off the nerves. “Everyone will love you!,” my mother told me as we said our good byes at the airport. The plane ride to Thailand was a long, awkward 34 hours. I jumped from plane to plane and endured layovers in Tokyo, Singapore, and Bangkok. Finally, I landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I met the other people who would accompany me on my trip to the Rustic Pathways Children’s Home and instantly felt at ease. They were just like me. I also met the goofy and friend-ly David Elbot, essentially the man that makes all of what I was about to do possible. After a four hour drive through winding streets in the pitch black night, we finally arrived in Mae Sariang and settled into our new home.

I almost instantly clicked with all of the western students at the home the next day. We weren’t going to meet the Thai students until later that night because they were at school, so we got acquainted with the Eastern and Western staff.

That day we visited the school that we would be teaching at for the next two weeks. The kids were very excited and eager to see us and interact with us. The Thai education system is very different from the western education system, and the teachers often have very little interest in their stu-dents. Most of the time, they are taught by repetition. For example, they would be forced to say and write the word “cat” 10 times, but would never really understand what it means.

Throughout the week we did numerous service projects, including building a library in the Ban Rai Lo village, teach-ing the students at the school, and planting rice in the rice

by Emma Uriarte

Peet- Lukes taught in Thailand

Sweat on their brows, sun on their backs, and the noises of power tools in their ears: this is how junior Kristen Currie and her sister, sophomore Kelsie Cur-rie, spent one week of their summer. They repaired homes for the Chukchansi tribe in Coarsegold, Ca, through the Sierra Service Project (SSP).

They braved 90 degree weather and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for one week straight, building additions to houses for families in need. But, according to Kelsie, the drawbacks of SSP

didn’t matter.“The physical labor was hard, but knowing I was help-

ing someone made it all worthwhile,” she said.This is their second summer working with SSP through

their church’s youth group. Kristen enjoys the sense of ac-complishment she gets when members of the Chukchansi Tribe see the finished work.

“The kids that live there made us necklaces because they were so appreciative of [being given] a better place to live,” Kristen said.

Kristen and Kelsie’s church was joined by two other churches. From living in tents to sharing meals and out-

fields. Everything we did was an amazing and enriching experi-ence that I could never classify as “work.”

One of the most important things to remember when doing service oversees is to embrace the culture of the people, not try to change them or make them more American. They have a beautiful and unique culture that should be preserved, not changed.

My experience in Thailand was very different from what I would call a “summer vacation”. I was taking cold showers, eat-ing rice for every meal, and enduring 90 degree heat. However, I would pass up any tropical paradise vacation for an experience like I had at the Children’s Home. The students at the home not only inspired me to be a happier, more humble person, but they chal-lenged me to be content with a simpler life. If I learned one thing from this experience, it is to build relationships with every person I meet, because once we die and our souls drift away from our body and all our possessions, the only thing that we have left is the memory of the impact we made on other’s lives. Now I live my life by this philosophy, and I believe that it has changed me forever.

door showers with the other churches, the Currie sisters were forced to take off their “cool jackets” and to put on their “social sweaters.”

“Everyone gets together as a community,” Kristen said. “It doesn’t matter how you look or how you dress. There is just a feeling of unity.”

According to Kelsie, that unity is what inspires her to keep coming back to volunteer with the SSP every sum-mer.

“My favorite part is that you can get together with people and make friends you will keep for a lifetime,” she said.

S U M M E R S E R V I C E

Service Abroad. 1. Peet- Lukes spent three weeks in Thailand. 2. She teaches at a school near the Rustic Path-ways Children Home. 3. Their classes provide a more practi-cal instruction in English.

1.

2.

3.PHOTO COURTESY OF ALI PEET- LUKES

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2012 // 8

FEATURES HigH TidE//

AbroadStudying

Hastings learns in Singaporeby Julie Tran

Going from a school popula-tion of 600 to one of about 3000, freshman Kyle Kosnoff tries to adjust to life back in the United States but does not forget the les-sons he learned while overseas in Hong Kong.

“It was amazing [to live there]. A lot of people understood my situation because ex-patriots come and go all the time in Hong Kong,” Cosnoff said.

Kyle’s father is a patriot, which is someone who leaves their na-tive country in order to live in a new one.

When Kosnoff was informed by his parents that he would be moving again–the fifth time since he started kindergarden–he was less than thrilled.

“My initial reaction was ‘why is this happening again?’ I was scared, but I thought it would be an interesting experience to go to a new country,” Kosnoff said.

While he was not originally fond of the idea of moving, Kos-

noff grew to like his new home in Hong Kong.

“Living in Hong Kong in-spired me to be more into service. It was really eye opening to see the poverty on the mainland,” Kosnoff said.

After discovering the poverty within a nation that seemed so prosperous, Kosnoff decided to participate in two trips to a school to give clothes and food to the homeless.

Now that Kosnoff is back in the U.S. he misses the friends he made in Hong Kong but plans to continue his services.

“I was upset because I wasn’t looking forward to leaving the friends I had made, and I was scared because I was going from a school with 600 kids to one with 3000. As for services, I’m looking into St. Baldridge right now. I’ve already done it three times and it helps fund cancer research,” Kos-noff said.

Kosnoff in Hong Kongby Taylor Ballard

All year nasty glances were cast her way. When she would meet their glances, their eyes would fall to the ground. Though she had the highest marks in many of her classes, the students spread vicious rumors about her. Junior Natasha Hastings felt a sense of superiority coming from her classmates at her old school in Singapore.

“I was the odd one out,” Hastings said. “They had the idea that I would have such a hard time because Americans were viewed as not the most intellectual kind of people, but to their surprise, I was among the smartest kids there, in the highest classes.”

Though the opportunity for Hasting’s father to work for Star Wars creator George Lucas’s company prompted her fam-ily to move to Singapore in the first place, the prejudices were the main factor in her family’s decision to move back to the United State in February.

“Singapore was one of those countries that claimed to be heavily influenced by western culture, but when it came to ac-cepting westerners, or rather outsiders, they were not welcom-ing,” Hastings said.

Another factor in their decision to move back was the ma-jor differences between American schools and Singaporean schools.

“They spoke English and they had block scheduling, but the similarities ended there,” Hastings said.

At St. Anthony’s, her school in singapore, modest uniforms were required. Students were expected to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and be at school at 6:45 a.m.

“It was sad and boring. And afterwards, you couldn’t just leave. There were mandatory extracurriculars. I had to [prac-tice] basketball for 6 hours after school,” she said. “The Sin-gaporean schools stayed true to their Asian culture by being more conservative and strict. It was the worst.

The only element she truly enjoyed was the Singaporean attitude toward friendship, which, according to Hastings, was a stark difference from the cliques at Redondo.

“There wasn’t any separation by cliques or anything along those lines,” Hastings said. “Any lines of social distinctions simply blurred. And if there were groups, then I didn’t know about them because they weren’t so shockingly obvious like they [are here].”

Despite her unfavorable experiences in Singapore, Hastings believes that moving has allowed her to develop mentally and has sparked her desire to travel to more foreign countries in the future.

“I went through a phase where I was acting immature. I didn’t want to be there, but I came to accept it,” Hastings said. “I got over myself and realized I got a lot more out of living in a variety of places than I thought. It’s funny how things work out.”

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2012 // 9

Neibergall twins abroad in Parisby Anthony Leong

For seniors Max and Alex Niebergall, a pass under the Eiffel Tower was simply a part of their daily walk to school during their eighth grade year spent in Paris. The two attended a small international school with 600 students spread out over the 13 grades.

“It’s a completely different education system,” Max said.

And to accompany this very different education system were some radically dif-ferent proportions of students. Rather than a total class size of 600 students, there were 600 students K-12, according to Max.

Having attended an international school, the two were able to experience a variety of cultures.

“There was a wide range of cultures,” he said. “It broadened my outlook on the world.”

Alex had similar sentiments.“When you leave America and you live

in a different country, you see things a little bit differently,” she said.

Alex felt that the experience provided a valuable, different point of view.

“It gave me more of a view than the typi-cal American view I grew up with,” she said. “It’s interesting to see the different ways

that people live.”In spite of their cultural enrichment,

the twins have different feelings about their school of preference. Max prefers Redon-do.

“It’s hot in Paris in the summer and cold in the winter,” he said. “There weren’t sports there. I also like AP much better than IB. AP is much more straight forward.”

Alex feels less decisive.“They’re collectively my two favorite

places on Earth,” she said. “I couldn’t pick [a country].”

For Max the positive aspects were less complicated. Max relished in being able to walk under the Eiffel Tower every day on the way to school. For Alex the pleasure ran deeper.

“Paris is gorgeous. It’s a really beautiful city and the culture is incredible,” she said.

In spite of Paris’s overall dreaminess, Alex still has ties that keep her anchored at home.

“It’s the best place on Earth with the weather and the beach,” she said.

For Alex, at least, the experience made it worth returning.

“It was an awesome experience, I would definitely do it again,” she said.

Paris. The Neibergall twins, Alex and Max, spent their eighth grade year studying in Paris, France.

NEWyear NEWs t a f f

As she walks through the empty campus on the first

day of school, she tries to steady her nerves. Although

she’s been a principal before, her first day entailed a flood

of emotions. With 14 years of experience in the education field un-

der her belt, Dr. Nicole Wesley is taking on the role of

our new principal. For the past three years, she has been

the principal at Adams Middle School.

“Being a middle school principal was a great expe-

rience. I had the opportunity to work with an amaz-

ing staff and develop programs because it was a smaller

school,” Wesley said. Although Wesley enjoyed working with middle school

students, she is enthusiastic about moving up to the high

school level.“Redondo’s three times the size as Adams, so I recog-

nize that it will be more challenging, but it is clear that

there is an eager staff here dedicated to meeting the needs

of students and that’s what excites me,” Wesley said.

Wesley hopes to bring positive changes to our school

while maintaining it’s distinctive character.

“There are many things about the school that I hope

will stay the same forever. However, I hope to create

a plan with our staff that will allow us to develop new

courses which will ultimately prepare our students to be

competitive in the working world,” Wesley said.

As our new principal, Wesley aims to support ath-

letics, participate in extracurricular activities, and moti-

vate our students to be the best they can be.

“I encourage the students to advocate for themselves

in a respectful way,” Wesley said.

A s s i s t a n t

principal Jens Brandt has lived and taught in many exotic

places throughout his life.“I was born in Germany and moved to egypt

when I was five, then I moved to the states when

I was 10,” he said. “Then I moved to Brazil for

high school.”He also has a prominent sports backround.

He participated in soccer, volleyball, and bas-

ketball in high school and continued playing

soccer in college. This past experience has influ-

enced his job, according to Brandt.

“Being the overseer of athletics is a really

good fit for me just because I’m really into

sports,” he said. “You can catch me riding my

bike or running on the strand on weekends.”

After college, Brandt taught spanish at the Pu-

nahou school in Hawaii. The portugese he learned

in Brazil helped him learn Spanish in college more

quickly because the languages are very similar.

Brandt also taught at a school in Watts for

six years. Seeing the situations of the kids in

Watts has greatly infulenced his life.

“Kids [have] hard lives. You can only picture

the kids there; they really appreciate school be-

cause it’s a safe place,” he said.

Brandt recognizes that Watts is very diffrent

from this school, and appreciates every opper-

tunity he has been presented here.

“[Watts] is quite different from good old

Redondo,” he said.

7THEFACTSFast facts on Dr. Wesley

Mr. Jens Brandt

FEATURES HigH tiDe//

FEATURES // SePt. 16, 2011// 10 FEATURES// SePt. 16, 2011 // 11

Dr. Nicole Wesley

by Anacristina

Gonzalez

Angie Yi is a new honors english teacher from Whit-tier that is teaching 9th and 10th grad-ers this year. She is attracted to Redon-do because of all of its great energy. “I came to this school because it’s very di-verse in multiple ways and I feel like there is great energy here that I can contribute to. The staff has been amazing so far and the students have been really great,” Yi said.The English Dept. has welcomed Yi with open arms.“I know that I can grow as a teacher and I’ve already learned a lot from what they’ve done. I’m already creating new ideas for the

students, so hopefully they get a lot out of it this year,” Yi said.Yi already has a great first impression of RUHS and hopes that it will stay consistent throughout the entire year. “It seems like a really special place. I feel like we get a really good collection of all kinds of students here. All of my students are great at communicating with me and are re-ally open to learning all new kinds of things,” Yi said.

Yi also has high expectations for the year and is excited for what this school year has in store for her.“I think it’s going to be a great year. I feel a really great energy coming from the new principal and the new assistant principal, so we’ll see what the year holds. I feel like there’s a lot of great things that are going to happen for Redondo and I’m excited to take part in it,” said.

Ms. Angie Yi

As 1st Sergeant Steve Mick reads the names from his roll sheet aloud, he is greeted by loud and coordi-nated replies of “Here, Sir!” from the ROTC class. He is one of the new addi-tions to the staff here at Redondo Union.Mick has 27 years of active duty in the Unit-ed States Marine Corps under his belt. Mick

is a veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm making him a goldmine of real world knowledge for the students in the ROTC pro-gram.

Before coming to Redondo Beach, Steve Mick was an ROTC instructor at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera. After they closed

down the program, he decided to take the job here and continue doing what he loved. “I live in Ontario which is about 56 miles away from here and I make the drive every day because I enjoy the community here and the school administration,” Mick said. According to the Sergeant, the faculty here is very gracious and he loves the hospitality. “The faculty has really opened up the cam-pus to me,” Mick said.It’s easy to see that 1st Sergeant Steve Mick

is happy to be here, even though he playfully jokes that the Mexican food in Pico Rivera was better. He admits that one of the things that makes him proud to work here is the degree of excitement and motivation shown towards the program by the students. “I’m looking forward to working with ‘Gunner’ Willoughby and being a part of the faculty hear at Redondo Union High School,” Mick said.

1st Sgt.Steve Mickby Dan Furmansky

by Cedric Hyon

by Maddy Per-

rault

“I have been to over thirty countries in-cluding India, Peru, Viet-

nam, and Egypt. I loves to travel.”

“I have a 16 month old baby.”

“I loves sushi and everything Asian, especially their culture, clothes, and food.”

12

“I was ASB president in High

School.”

“I love peanut M&M’s.”

3

“I ran track and cross country in High School and made it to state every year.

I had a record in the 4x400 at my school.”

4 “I like bike riding. I used to do a

hundred-mile bike rides for MS.”

5

6

7

COMPILED BY ALY PEET-LUKES AND MEGLYN HUBER

Principal

Not pictured: Mr. Robert Vanden Eikhof.

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2012 // 12

FEATURES HigH TidE//

ChangeA Body Concious Change

Senior Tess Wainwright stands at her locker think-ing about what book she needs for her next class. For-eign words suddenly disrupt her thoughts as senior

Jasmine Freeman shouts, “Hey skinny minny,” from down the hall. Wainwright does not turn around, knowing that Freeman was probably not talking to her. But as she hears footsteps coming towards her, Freeman says, “Hey Tess, you look great.”

“I couldn’t believe she was talking to me. It was the first day of school and it was a boost in my step,” Wainwright said.

Along with a new locker, new books and new classes for the school year, Wainwright also has a new slimmer figure. She decided to lose weight starting in June because she was tired of carrying extra weight on her body.

“I think my body was ready to lose the weight. No human body wants to be heavy. I don’t want this when I’m older, so I figured I would lose weight now,” she said.

Wainwright never felt completely comfortable in her skin.

“I never felt like looking in the mirror. When I did, I wasn’t looking at my body because I didn’t want to see it. I knew what I looked like and I kept it real,” she said.

Wainwright chose to lose weight the “healthy way” by slowly incorporating exercise into her summer rou-tine and eating healthy.

“I exercised everyday in summer for 20 minutes. I walked, jogged, and then did a combination of both. I was trying to get comfortable exercising,” she said.

To achieve weight loss, Wainwright stopped “bored eating”, cut bread out of her diet completely and con-

trolled her portions.“I’m never going back to the weight I was. It’s a

guarantee to myself,” she said.A couple of years ago, Wainwright tried to lose

weight to fit in. But because she was losing weight for other people, she did not see any results.

“If you want to lose weight, do it for yourself or else it won’t work,” she said.

Wainwright’s weight loss has not only had a physi-cal effect, but also an internal one.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt this great. Mentally I feel good and I’ve even started dressing a little differ-ently,” she said.

Wainwright has gained more confidence through her weight loss and now wears more fitted clothing in-stead of the over-sized t-shirts she used to wear daily.

“Now I wear jackets with tank tops and I love wearing that stuff. To everybody, it’s everyday cloth-ing, but before I wasn’t comfortable wearing things like that,” she said.

Wainwright has lost 23-30 pounds so far and plans to continue losing weight.

“I haven’t rushed losing weight. If I were to rush it, I would get sick of it. Right now, it’s a process,” she said.

Although she does not see a change in her body, others have noticed her weight loss.

“People have told me that I look better. I really ap-preciate when people say, ‘you look good,’ but I don’t expect people to notice. But let’s be honest, I like it,” she said.

Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle At a Time

She’s an everyday superhero- balancing her rigorous academic classes, serving as co-founder of Animal Rescue Club, vol-unteering at the Sea Lab, and still creating time to teach her peers about environ-mental awareness.

Her dedication led senior Charlotte Kim to hosting a free public event on Au-gust 13th called Plastic Day in order to educate the public about ocean pollution.

“It’s actually something I came up with at the Brown Environmental Lead-ership Lab which was a program I did in July. They have a task there for everyone in the program to come up with something called an action plan to do something small

and en-v i r o n -

mental related in your community,” she said. “Some people chose to make an or-ganic garden or something like that. But I wanted to do something that was about educating the public about trash, specifi-cally plastic waste.”

Kim feels that it is important for the public to be conscious about trash and other forms of waste that are not properly disposed.

“It’s really important for people to know that plastic is not biodegradable. There’s something called the Pacific Trash Island. It’s an island of trash that has been circulating in the ocean and finally the currents take it to someplace in the Pacific Ocean,” she said. “Scientists say it’s twice the size of Texas or more.”

According to Kim, animals are often victims in this unfortunate situation of ocean pollution.

“It’s especially bad for animals when they get suffocated by plastic. Near the islands of Hawaii, there are albatrosses on their island, Midway. The babies ingest all this waste. Scientists have uncovered dead bodies with the innards that are exposed and you can actually see pictures of where their stomachs are literally filled with bot-tle caps, asthma inhalers, or even children’s toys,” she said

Kim wants to educate students at Re-dondo as well as the public about how to preserve the oceans and wildlife that de-pend on the ocean for survival.

“I want them to learn that anything

that they throw away will never go away. The trash never really biodegrades. Even things that are supposed to biodegrade don’t biodegrade for years.”

Kim also wants to students to be aware about preserving energy and just taking care of their personal worlds.

“I think that anyone can make small changes such as walking to school or un-plugging their cell phones. Small changes can go a long way,” she said. “[Ocean pollution] is something that people don’t think about enough. You hear about peo-ple ‘going green’ but they don’t actually know why. I’m hoping that Plastic Day was a way for people to learn the conse-quences of their actions environmentally wise.”

By Bethany Kawa

By Joy Ohiomoba

Photo by Erinn Middo

1.

FEATURES //SEPT. 16, 2012 // 13

A Change of Scenery

Moberg gains a sense of global community in Af-rica with her family while teaching science to local students.

By Jeremy Porr

While many students spent this past summer traveling across the country to vis-it friends and family, science teacher Gil-lian Moberg spent time doing charity work and getting to know the local villagers of Lome, West Africa.

“The reason for the trip was the need for adventure. [My husband and I] wanted to have a different life experience and to show my daughter that it is possible, even exciting, to leave the comfort of your home and immerse yourself in another culture,” Moberg said.

During her year-long stay, Moberg en-countered many cultural differences. Togo, the small village where she stayed, is popu-lated by mostly Christian and Muslim de-nominations.

“It was especially hard for me to adjust to the way women are viewed. Females were expected to be modestly dressed. I had to keep my shorts and halter tops in the suit-case the entire time,” Moberg said.

The food took some getting used to as well: Moberg stayed away from such cul-tural delicacies like bat kebabs and rodent stews. Despite the strange dishes, most food was fresh and available for those who could afford it.

“Every day women would come down the street selling baguettes, fresh fish and eggs. On the corners you could find fried yams, plantains, porridge and sweets. We bought most of our fruits and vegetables at the roadside stalls,” she said.

While in West Africa, Moberg devel-oped a science program at the American International School of Lome.

“The students at the school loved life, they were eager to learn about the United States. They carried themselves with pride and tried to create a sense of family at the school,” she said.

According to Moberg, creating a close family with the students at the school was not hard seeing as there were only 94 stu-dents that attended.

“I tried to encourage the students to join the worldwide environmentalist move-ment. I organized community cleanups and ran litter education campaigns,” she said

Moberg had her middle school students carry out water quality tests at a local lake in hopes that it would demonstrate the need for public toilets and sanitation im-provement.

“So many countries in Africa lack the infrastructure to deliver clean, safe water to communities. While in Africa I finally realized what the term ’food security’ really means, and I am now more aware of water rights,” Moberg said.

The current famine in Somalia upsets Moberg, especially after seeing most of the food problems in Africa first hand.

“The drought in Somalia effects the rural communities more because they de-pend largely on the rain for irrigation, not reservoirs or large scale irrigation systems. To make matters worst, the political unrest is preventing the emergency relief of food, water and health care from reaching the people who need it most,” Moberg said.

Although the students at the school were bilingual, English was most often their weakest language.

“I had to learn to speak more slowly, enunciate clearly, and use more language oriented activities in my class,” Moberg said.

According to Moberg, these are skills she can also apply in the classroom.

“Some of our students here are second language learners too. I have gained tre-mendous respect for students who have the ability to speak more than one language,” she said.

The official languages of Lome are French and Ewe (a Niger-Congo language native to Africa), and while Moberg said she had made some progress with her French while staying there she now says that it is already “slipping away”.

Despite the many cultural differences she came across, Moberg feels as though living in Africa for a year was a nice change and strongly recommends travel to any-one.

“I would recommend living abroad to everyone. Travel truly is the best teacher. Immerse yourself in a different way of life. You’ll be glad you did,” Moberg said.

A Better Nation Through Education: 1. One of Mobergs students shows off the water she just learned how to test. 2. Students sit and listen to announcements at a morning assem-bly. 3-4. Moberg does a clean up project. 5-6. Students listen actively in Moberg’s class. 7. Moberg shops for produce in one of Lome’s many street markets. 8. Moberg stands with her husband and former students. 9. Moberg’s students take notes in a small classroom.

1.

Photos Courtesy of Gillian Moberg

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4.

5.

6. 7.

8. 9.

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 14

FEATURES HigH TidE//

Remembering

Their entire bodies trembled as they spent the longest hour of their lives waiting to find out what had just happened. While trying to look outside, all they managed to see was a black cloud of smoke consuming the streets. Muffled screams were heard from every direc-tion. Although ten years have passed since 9/11, it is still fresh in the minds of U.S. citi-zens.

Philip Comito, AP U.S. History teacher and boys’ lacrosse coach, had been living and working at an investment bank in New York in 2001. He was working in a building that was 50 stories high and about a mile away from the World Trade Center.

Comito vividly remembers the look of the city after the attack on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I saw the darkest, thickest, blackest smoke and I thought our building was on fire. I didn’t know what was going on,” Comito said.

Immediately following the first plane crash into the towers, no one knew what to think of the situation.

“It was an incredibly scary experience. No-body really knew what was going on or what else would happen. Initially, people ques-tioned whether the first [plane crash] was an accident,” Comito said.

Despite the uncertainty of others, Comito says that he knew right away that what had happened was no accident.

“It was the clearest, most beautiful day. Out of all the buildings you could avoid, [the Twin Towers] were the most avoidable,” Co-mito said.

Senior Claire Chiara’s experience differed from that of Comito’s. At the age of seven, she could not fully comprehend what was going on as her elementary school was being evacu-ated.

“Everyone was sent home or picked up by their parents as quickly as possible. They were totally freaked out and panicking because they didn’t know where the next attack could or would be,” Chiara said.

Although Chiara was placed amid this cha-os, she did not know why people around her were panicking.

“I didn’t see any of the attacks or witness anything because my dad refused to let me see the television. I literally had no idea what was going on at the time. In hindsight, it was for the better. I was too young to understand and it would’ve been too emotional,” Chiara said.

Chiara’s mother worked for a company in

by Anacristina gonzalez

New Jersey that had held a meeting on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center on the morning on September 11. Luckily, her at-tendance was called off last minute.

“My dad didn’t know she wasn’t at the meeting, so as soon as he heard about the first plane hitting, he immediately assumed she was dead. All he told me was that my mom was ‘missing’ and that everything was going to be okay,” Chiara said.

Chiara had known several people who had lost their lives on 9/11 through her mother’s job.

“My mom sat me down and tried to talk me through it, saying, ‘Remember so-and-so? He’s gone now.’ I had no idea what she was talking about and it wasn’t until years later that I realized I knew 30 people who were slaugh-tered on that day,” Chiara said.

Senior Brian Frew’s family experienced a tremendous amount of fear when they heard of the attack on the Pentagon, the same place where his father was scheduled to have a meet-ing on that very day.

Frew’s father, who is in the air force, did not have any contact with the family for hours fol-lowing the attack.

“My mom was freaking out. She was cry-ing a lot and was really worried,” Frew said.

A friend of Frew’s father pulled him out of class later that day to let him know that his father was all right. However, his father could not leave Washington, DC for a week.

A couple of months after the attack on the Pentagon, Frew’s family moved to Washington DC. Frew then witnessed first-hand the de-struction that had taken place.

“It was unbelievable because the Pentagon is huge. When you see the whole chunk miss-ing, you realize that there were people who had worked there every day,” Frew said.

Reflecting on the events that took place on September 11, 2001, Chiara feels deeply emo-tional and saddened.

“It’s so horrible to think that this happened to our country. It was the worst thing that I’ve witnessed in my lifetime and everyone I know from the east coast says the same thing,” Chiara said.

After seeing the devastation that the terror-ist attacks caused on 9/11, Comito has taken on a new perspective of life.

“Just about every year at this time I put my-self through those events again. It still feels surreal. It made me stop taking life, health, and safety for granted,” Comito said.

Students and teachers recount the day that changed America for the rest of their lives.9/11

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 14

Reflecting. History teacher Philip Comito reflects on 9/11, playing back the events in his head. He has taken a new persepective of life because of his experience.

Recollecting. Senior Claire Chiara keeps the memories of the 9/11 victims alive. Many of her mother’s co-workers died in the attack.

PHOTO BY ERiNN MiddO

PHOTO BY ERiNN MiddO

FEATURES // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 15

Her alarm rings at 6:00 a.m., waking her up for zero period. She lies in bed and tries to block the pain of her sore muscles. She musters up the strength to get out of bed and get ready for school. She puts a smile on her face and gets ready to take on her day despite her sore and painful joints.

Senior Emily Honnell is one of the 50,000 kids in the United States that is af-fected with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA).

“When I got my booster shot when I was two years old, the liquid in the vaccine had a false reaction with my body and I de-veloped arthritis,” she said. “That’s the only excuse we can find so far. It’s not hereditary and I’m the only one with arthritis in my family.”

According to [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov], JRA is a type of arthritis that affects children 16 or younger. It causes joint swelling, stiffness, and sometimes reduced motion.

Honnell says that people often do not understand her illness and tend to judge or bully her without getting to know her.

“When people see me, they think I’m either anorexic or that I have some kind of mental disorder. I’ve gotten a range of dif-ferent things that people thought I had,” she said. “But when I tell them I have ar-thritis, their automatic response is that they thought only old people get arthritis and I tell them that kids can get it, too.”

Honnell admits that she sometimes feels excluded socially due to her illness.

“When we go to the Farmer’s Market

for P.E. I have to say ‘Okay guys, I have to take it slow because I can’t walk for long distances.’ Or when we sit on the floor in class to do activities, that’s hard because I can’t sit on the floor that easily,” she said. “Things like that are hard because that’s when I feel excluded. Guys even look at me a whole different way. They don’t under-stand [arthritis] so they want to find some-one who is normal.”

Honnell also understands how hard it is for her parents to have a child with arthritis.

“My mom especially is afraid for me to do things like go to parties and go to the

mall. She’s afraid for my safety,” she said. “I try to tell her that arthritis doesn’t mean that I can’t handle myself. It doesn’t mean that I can’t do things like other kids my age.”

Honnell believes that part of her posi-tivity about her illness is due to the support

of her family and friends.“Most of my closest

friends have arthritis too. I go to conferences for it and I even participate in the arthri-tis walk in Santa Monica. This summer, I went to a camp for teens with arthritis called ‘Camp Es-peranza’ in Big Bear,” she said.

Honnell cannot imagine her life without arthritis despite the pain she often suffers.

“I probably would not be the same person I am today. If I didn’t have arthritis, I wouldn’t be as unique. I wouldn’t be able to relate to more people, especially older people. I think having it gives me a level of maturity that a lot of other kids don’t have,” she said.

Despite her struggles with ar-thritis, Honnell remains opti-mistic and excited for the future. She wants to continue educat-ing other kids about JRA as she moves on in life.

“My main thing is to teach that kids get arthritis too. It is not just an ‘old people’s’ disease,” she said. “I’m looking at a junior college right now. I really want to become an arthritis foun-dation representative and hopefully become a camp director.”

STANDING

TALLIt gives me a level of maturity that a lot of other kids don’t have. -Emily Honnell

“

”

Senior Emily Honnell wants to raise awareness for Rheumatoid Arthritis

by Joy Ohiomoba

Camp Esperanza. 1. Honnell (left) with camp director, Jennifer Ziegler (right). 2. Honnell (left) with camp friends Lydia Grabows-ki (middle) and Katie Giertz (right). 3. Honnell (left) with camp friend Lydia Grabowski (right) at a high ropes course.

PHOTO BY ERINN MIDDO

COURTESY OF EMILY HONNELL

PHOTO BY ERINN MIDDO

SPORTS // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 16

SPORTS HigH TidE//

Football, water polo practice to winBuilding the champion physique of a Re-

dondo athlete takes countless hours of practice. The intense end-of-summer workout known fondly as “Hell Week” were meant to increase the strength and agility of athletes, but often left them too tired for anything else. This past

August, the boys’ water polo and football players practiced longer and harder than ever before in preparation for the fall sea-

son.During Hell Week, football practiced three

times every day. “The real work starts in the off-season,” head

coach Gene Simon said. “We pretty much have Hell Spring and Hell Summer before Hell week.

Most of the extra practice time working on conditioning and strength training, on weight-lifting, circuits, and sprints.

“The coaches wanted us to be perfectly con-ditioned so that we would be able to play our best in the fourth quarter,” senior Michael Du-lay said.

The extra practices are meant to help the team handle tougher, more competitive oppo-nents, and to win Bay League.

“The long practices gave us a better work ethic,” Dulay said. “We have a tougher sched-ule this year and we’re looking forward to see our hard work pay off.”

The boys’ water polo team took to the same philosophy as well.

“Seven hours a day of water polo seems like a lot but we practice so we can be competitive,” senior Skylar Ulrich said.

Pressure ,&pressuremore pressure

, Fall sports athletes feel the pressure to bring home victory

by Matt Brancolini

Water polo, unlike football, spent their ex-tra time working on its offensive and defensive play.

“We’ve been working a lot on playing tight and counter-attacking on offense,” Ulrich said. “We’re also focusing on getting set up quick-er on offense and scoring earlier in the shot clock.”

The team has been practicing more during the season as well.

“Now our practices are two and a half hours and we have 3 mandatory morning practices,” senior Adam Rudow said. “We get most of our conditioning done in the morning so we have more practice time in the afternoon.”

Head coach Mark Rubke believes that the new facilities have provided extra conditioning and fitness opportunities.

“We started training in the weight room this summer,” Rubke said. “We also practice in a 25 meter pool, which is the longest high school pool you can play in. Since its all deep, they are continuously conditioning throughout practice. It’s been great for us.”

Despite the long hours of practice, the team is still enthusiastic about the upcoming season.

“This is a really enjoyable team,” Rubke said. “They have a good attitude and they always come to practice. I doubt anyone likes [the ex-tra practices] but they show up motivated and its caused improvement across the board.”

Even though the practices are long and gru-eling, the team feels it will all be worth it when the season starts.

“No one really hates the practices because we know it makes us better,” Ulrich said. “Sure, we could practice less but then we wouldn’t be as good. Why not try to do your best?

Going for the gold. 1. Senior Spencer Peak is ready to score the goal. 2. Senior Hunt-er Bradshaw tackled down by North. 3. Senior Adam Rudow goes for the ball against El Segundo.

1.PHOTO BY JENNY OETZELL PHOTO BY JULIE D’EATHPHOTO BY JULIE D’EATH

PHOTO BY ERINN MIDDO

2. 3.

SPORTS // SEPT. 16, 2011 // 17

Senior Tony Smith was not about to let his last season of football fall victim to apa-thy.

Smith’s motivation and self-disclipline were the driving force that enabled him to bike to practice under the unrelenting Au-gust sun.

“I [rode my bike to practice] because I want to be the best football player I can be,” Smith said. “I try to perservere through all the obstacles that stand in my way so I can look back and say I did what I could and however I end up was entirely up to me.”

The varsity linebacker has a dedication rarely seen in high school students, accord-ing to teammate, senior Ryan Spiwak.

“If I have a love for something, I will find a way to participate in it anywhere, any-time,” Smith said.

But it wasn’t always a smooth ride for Smith. Just as Tony encounters adversity on the football field, he encountered adversity on the daunting ride to practice, such as waking up late and taking a hard fall from time to time.

“My handles broke one time and I had to walk after I had fallen and hurt myself,” he said. “I rubbed some dirt on it and went to

practice. It’s all about getting back up.”Spiwak developed a great amount of re-

spect for Smith after realizing what he puts himself through in order to get to practice every single day.

“Riding his bike from Long Beach every morning just to get to practice shows how dedicated he is and how much love he has for the game,” Spiwak said.

Smith’s persistence in being punctual has delivered results. He now starts on the team’s imposing defense, which was a side of the football he did not see much playing time on last year.

Due to Smith’s relentless effort and com-

The pain shoots through her leg as she suddenly collapses to the turf and all she can think is “Oh no, not again.” Senior Amanda Johnson tore her ACL and meniscus for a second time.

“I knew how it felt because of the first time,” she said. “It was so devastating.”

During a soccer game, she jumped into a tackle with a straight leg and a girl on the

The dull ache grows in her leg with ev-ery step as her dreams of the perfect college fades away with the cross country season. Senior Danielle Hazeltine saw her future jepoardize when she was inflicted with a running-induced stress fracture.

According to Hazeltine, this season was supposed to be the determining factor in where she would attend college next fall.

“Depending on how fast I run, the more options I will have when it comes to picking one,” she said. “The better colleges, like the UC’s usually have fast teams, so I’m going to

have to run faster times.”To avoid the strain on her leg and stay in

shape, she does pool workouts and trains on a stationary bike or elliptical.

“It’s harder to stay in shape with the in-jury, but I’ve been working out really hard so hopefully my endurance stays the same,” she said.

Hazeltine plans to go to college for track, so she hopes this injury will not affect her running.

“It’s a little scary if I don’t reach my full potential by track season,” she said.

Teammate, senior Rachel Bush, believes her hard work will enable Hazeltine to per-

form well this season.“She never gives up,” Bush said. “Even

though she is injured, she fights through and finds alternatives so she can compete later.”

Hazeltine hopes to be able to compete to-wards the end of the cross country season.

“I miss my teammates so much,” she said. “They’re like my family.

For Hazeltine, the most challenging part of staying in shape is the lack of her team-mates’ presence. “When I’m running with my friends they support me, but when I’m on my own its more of a challenge,” she said.

mitment to make it to practice, Spiwak now feels more comfortable with Smith playing at his side.

“Tony has earned his spot, in my eyes,” Spiwak said. “I know I couldn’t have made the trip to practice every day like he did, and his dedication has shown results in his play.”

Although Smith could have easily made excuses not to practice hard, he showed no weakness or desire to take the easy way out.

“There are no excuses,” Smith said. “I did what I had to do and I worked for my spot. Yeah, it took a lot of energy, but I dont care. It was my way of

Smith biked to practice from Long Beachby Zach Zent

opposing team hit Johnson’s knee from be-hind, injuring her.

“I did the exact same thing in my other knee before, but this time I shredded the ACL and my meniscus tear was worse,” she said. “They had to stitch the meniscus in-stead of just cutting off the torn portion like they did in the left knee.”

Johnson had to undergo surgery for the second time. Because there is an estimated

six month recovery period from the surgery, she had to be on crutches for two weeks and wearing a knee brace for another four weeks.

“I have to do a lot of physical therapy so I can rebuild the muscles that atrophied in the surgery,” she said.

Although Johnson will make a full re-covery, she does not plan on playing soccer anymore.

“I’m really going to miss playing, but my body has had too many injuries to keep go-ing,” she said.

Johnson attributes her teammates for helping her through her injuries.

“[My teammates] were so supportive and such good friends no matter what was going on,” she said. “They really helped me return from the first ACL tear and they’re still there for me after this one.”

Multiple ACL tears put end Johnson’s soccer career

I rubbed some dirt on it and went to practice. It’s all about getting back up.

“

”-Tony Smith

getting to the thing I love and I would do it all over again.

Smith views being able to attend Redon-do Union as a blessing and he does not take it for granted.

“I will forever strive to be better,” Smith said. “Just give me the chance and I will make the best out of

my opportunity. That’s why I’m grateful for coming

to Redondo, because my chances of going places

and doing things has broadened. I am sincerely grateful.”

Hazeltine perseveres despite injuryby Maddy Perrault

by Maddy Perrault

Passing the torch. Senior Danielle Hazeltine passes off the baton to for-mer teammate Pamela Sherman.

PHOTO BY ERINN MIDDO

PHOTO BY JAKE COLLINS

SPORTS HigH tide// Golf seeks to continue improvement by Tatiana Celentano

Water polo defeated by Chadwickby Camille Duong

Preparation Path. Freshmen Mackenzie Jeffrey hitting in match against Costa.

photo by Jenny Oetzell

photo by Julie D’Eath

Pass of Success. Sophomore Jonathan Ortiz passes ball to team-mate in match against Chadwick.

Last Tuesday, the boy’s water polo team lost to Chadwick 9-7, despite being tied for most of the game.

According to senior Adam Rudow, the team did well overall.

“Overall, we had pretty good de-fense and took several good shots,” Rudow said.

Coach Mark Rubke agrees.“For the first three quarters, there

were a good number of defensive stops,” Rubke said.

Both Rubke and Rudow believe that the offense did well on counter-attacks.

“Our counter-attack has been get-ting better, so we were able to utilize that more,” Rudow said.

Senior Skyler Ulrich believes that the team did a good job finding the open man.

“We were able to put away some goals,” Ulrich said.

Rubke also believes that there was

strong play from senior Jacob Me-lendez.

“[ Jacob] had good stops, and did a good job ‘quarterbacking’ the coun-ter attacking,” he said.

Ulrich agrees with Rubke.“Jacob was able to block some re-

ally hard shots,” Ulrich said.The team went into halftime with

the game tied 4-4, but unfortunate-ly made some mistakes that “costed them the game,” according to Rub-ke.

According to Rudow, big mistakes were made concerning mismatches.

“We let Chadwick’s two best play-ers match up against some of our less experienced ones,” Rudow said. “We should have had our better defenders on them at all times.”

Problems the team faced included kick outs. According to coach Rubke, too many players were kicked out.

“Players continued to get kicked out and they didn’t make the defensive adjustments they

were asked to,” Rubke said.Ulrich believes that the team wasn’t

able to utilize open man situations.“We hesitated too long and by that

time [the players] were no longer open,” Ulrich said.

The team hopes to improve for its upcoming home game against Beverly Hills next Tuesday.

“We need to keep working on our swim speed, our counter-attack, and make sure that everybody knows what they are doing,” Rudow said.

Rubke thinks that the offense needs to play as a unit.

“We need to play as a more cohe-sive set offense. We were too random [Tuesday],” Rubke said.

According to Ulrich, the team needs to focus on setting up offense.

Rubke hopes that the team will learn from its mistakes for the fu-ture.

“I expect that players realize the mis-takes made and will minimize mistakes in upcoming games,” he said.

Yesterday girls’ golf lost to Mira Costa 233-191.

“Costa had good drives and amazing putting,” junior Brittany Shankar said. “Overall, they are a really strong team and we gave it our best effort.

Senior Megan Cormier believes the dy-namics of Costa’s team is, in part, the reason for their win.

“They have 5 solid players which in, comparison to our players, doesn’t match up,” Cormier said.

Freshman Mackenzie Jeffrey believes that each teammate helped the others keep going.

“Even though we didn’t play the best that we can, we kept encouraging each other to work hard and focus to improve on the next shot,” Jeffrey said.

According to coach Jim Burschunger, freshmen Robyn Ree was MVP with a score

of 38.“Robyn drives really well, they are always

long and straight,” Burschunger said.Individually the girls want to improve

their focus and mental thinking during their games.

“I don’t always play as good as I should because I let others get in my head. I need to work on keeping focus and keeping con-trol of my mental thought process,” Corm-ier said.

Shankar also wants to work on her men-tal focus.

“I need to work on concentrating and getting the put and drive off the tee in the hole,” Shankar said.

Next week, the team goes up against Peninsula.

“We need to improve and work on our short game, especially our putting and chip-ping,” Burschunger said.

SPORTS // SeP. 16, 2011 // 18

SPORTS // SEP. 16, 2011 // 19

Volleyball shuts down Bishop by Tatiana Celentano

Last Tuesday, volleyball won 3-2 against Bishop Montgomery.

According to Senior Devon Boga-rt, the team was surprised by Bishop’s improvement.

“We need to treat each opponent the same and not judge them accord-ing to how they played last season. We need to always bring our all,” Bogart said.

According to Senior Tiffany Mo-rales, Bishop improved in many as-pects.

“Bishop played very well and put pressure on us with serving. Our de-fensive effort wasn’t always up to how they were attacking,” Morales said.

According to Bogart, the team lacked a strong start.

“We came out to a slow start and expected a strong run. We were too confident and it took two games off of us,” Bogart said.

Morales believes the team could have performed better.

“We played a C+, game compared to what I’ve seen out of our players. This includes myself because it wasn’t a good or average game for me,” Mo-rales said. “Communication was our main problem, but we were being ag-gressive and tactically smart, which led us to our win.”

Bogart feels that the team collabo-

rated well for their win.“We had great next play focus,

and at times of adversity we came together and fought back,” Bogart said.

According to Coach Tommy Chaffins, junior Skylar Dykstra was MVP of the game.

“Skylar had 25 kills and made a

lot of big plays in the fifth game,” Chaffins said.

Junior Sade Mendez recognized junior Olivia Bustamante for her performance.

“Olivia improved her setting and helped move the ball around a lot,” Mendez said.

Kevin Norman, the current Bish-op coach, has an advantage of assist-ing Chaffins for the past seven years.

“Kevin knows this team pretty well, much more than I know about the Bishop team, which gives him a nice advantage,” Chaffins said.

While still reflecting on this game, the team will be heading to Las Vegas for a tournament this weekend.

“We need to work on our serv-ing because we missed a lot. We also need to work on blocking because we definitely will need a strong block for the tournament,” Bogart said.

According to Chaffins, the team is excited to compete in one of the toughest tournaments in the coun-try.

“I feel good about this weekend and I think if we put how hard we work at practice into games we should do well,” Morales said. “I’m not sure if we will take first because I haven’t seen the teams but we defi-nitely have the potential to be in the top 10 or top 5.”

Dykstra has confidence her team will perform with success in the tour-nament.

“[Tuesday was] a good win to go into the tournament with, it gives us confidence that this win will carry over to this weekend,” Dykstra said.

Determination. 1. Girl’s’ Volleyball team celebrates successful play. 2. Junior Katie Rotondo serves the ball over to Bishop. 3. Junior Skylar Dykstra and junior Han-nah Mosebar block hit from Bishop.

photo by Max Pittman

photo by Max Pittman

photo by Max Pittman

We came out to a slow start and expected a strong run. We were too confident and it took two games off of us. -Devon Bogart

“

”

1.

2.

3.

VICTORYAt 0-2, football is seeking its first win

against Millikan tonight.

Football remains optimistic despite their

past two losses. The team is 0-2 after

losing to Serra High School 21-0 last Friday night in a non-league match up. The team

had a hard time keeping up with a tough opponent, according to head coach Gene Simon.

“I think Serra’s basic speed and strength was too much,” Simon said. “We got a little overpowered and they were certainly faster than

we were. Plus, we’re a little inexperienced in some posi-

tions.”Despite the appar-ently lopsided score,

the defense was solid according to sopho-more quarterback

Harri- son Faecher. “It was all about the

defense,” said Faecher. “Hold-ing Serra to 14 points is a huge accom- plishment. Now we’re trying to get a spark on offense.”

The offensive woes are mostly the result of offensive inex- perience on the of- fensive line

Tennis holds high expectationsby Kimberly Chapman

by Matthew Branclini

Girl’s varsity tennis is prepar-ing for an “amazing” season as they begin a strenuous practice re-gime, according to senior Christie Goodman.

Goodman has a lot of faith in her team and believes that they are already headed in the right direc-tion.

“We have been practicing ev-eryday after school since school started. Our coach has been pre-paring us really well for this season and everyone has been working

SPORTS HigH tide// XC starting off strongby Julie tran

Last Saturday, the boys’ and girl’s cross country teams raced at the Cerritos’ Cow Run against 30 other teams. They placed fourth and first, respectively. Tomorrow, they will be competing in the first Bay League meet of the season against Peninsula, Palos Verdes, Mira Costa, and West.

According to junior Evan Ma-lone-White, the average time at the Cow Run was faster than last year for the boys, enabling them to place fourth .

Key scorers for the boys were se-nior Tyler Caracoza, juniors Evan Malone-White and Garrett Klatte, and sophomores Dustin Herold and Will Tait.

The weather conditions were less than perfect for running, ac-cording to Malone-White. The terrain was muddy due to rain and hail twenty minutes prior to their race.

“The one moment that really hindered us was going down hill,” Malone-White said. “It was so slip-pery. One kid even fell.”

Despite the soft terrain, the boys performed extremely well as a pack, according to coach Julie Ferron. She also believes there is a lot of talent in the boys’ team, but they are going against a tough league.

“Its gonna be a fight through the whole season, but we have great depth and incredible talent,” Ferron said.

The girls won first place by over a hundred points on the runner up. The top five scorers were seniors Lyndsey Mull and Rachel Bush, and juniors Cara Ulizio, Kayla Ferron, and Alexis Thibodeau.

“Our top four are some of the top girls in the state and are going to continue to dominate through the entire season,” Ferron said.

Ulizio attributes the success of the team to constant, hard work all summer. She believes they will car-ry their success into the first Bay League meet of the season, having won Bay League one and two last season.

“We were really focused and discussed before hand what we need to individually,” Ulizio said.

Ulizio believes that both teams are well-prepared for Bay League, but sees Costa and Palos Verdes as their best competitors.

“I’m excited to get out there and show the rest of the teams what we’re made of,” Ulizio said.

extremely hard,” Goodman said.Although Goodman is hop-

ing that the team has a chance to compete in CIF again, she really wants to make sure that her true focus is to just enjoy playing the sport.

“I want to just have a fun tennis season and just play my best every single match,” Goodman said.

Goodman wants to focus on herself before she worries about who she is playing.

“Instead of just focusing on winning tournaments, I am go-ing to focus more on my mental

toughness. During some matches, that is what determines whether I play well or not,” Goodman said.

Goodman wants to beat Costa and Peninsula this year.

“I am nervous for the league matches, especially against Penin-sula since they are number one in our league,” Goodman said.

Excitement is the first word that comes to mind when Good-man thinks of this season.

“I’ve always looked forward to being a senior on the team because I am someone who can be looked up to because of the many years of experience,” Goodman said.

Tennis. Senior Christie Good-man serves in a match against Bishop. As Varsity Captain, Good-man is “excited” to jump into the season.

and at quarterback.“Our offense is really young but we’re

getting better,” Faecher said. “We have no returning offensive lineman and I only had one off season to learn the of-fense.”

The team has welcomed their new quar-terback with open arms, according to senior wide receiver Davion Goodall.

“[Faecher] is doing a great job. Everyone is encouraging him and not letting him get down on himself,” Goodall said.

In an attempt to improve offensive out-put, the team has been getting back to the basics.

“We’re going back to the basic plays and working our way up to the harder stuff,” said Faecher.

“We’re focusing a lot on the fundamen-tals,” he said.

The team also plans to establish the run game in order to take some pressure off of Faecher.

“Its important [to run the ball well] because it keeps the defense by the line of scrimmage and opens up the passing game for Harrison.”

Since both of the teams lost their first games, Simon expects a close game.

“Millikan is currently 0-2 also so they’re desperate and searching for some wins,” Simon said. “Our guys are hungry for victory. We’re going to have to be better than them-play better, compete better and execute better.”

HUNgRY FOR

//

SPORTS // SeP. 16, 2011 // 20

PHOtO BY eRiNN M1ddO

A New Era. New quarterback Harrison Feacher throws a pass to a reciever. Feacher hopes to lead the team in a win agains Mi-liken tonight.