Author: adviser

  • Teachers you can trust

    Poly is known for being diverse and making friends is an easy task, with the majority of students being very warm and welcoming towards each other. However, only a certain percentage of those students spread that kindness onto their teachers.

    For the most part students usually interact with teachers when it regards classwork and homework, then each new school year upgrading to a new group of adults who also assign similar classwork and homework.

    For most years it’s the same story, cycling through a batch of students each fall.  Most students don’t usually take the time or interest to form bonds with the adults on campus, while very few others do. We went ahead and interviewed a few students and asked if they had an adult they trusted and why, or why not?

    Senior Guadalupe Bonilla said that she did have a teacher she could trust and confide in, 11th grade English teacher and softball coach Elizabeth Sanches. Bonilla said, “She cares about what’s going on in a student’s life.” Although Bonilla may not visit her as often, she considers Mrs. Sanches to be someone she can count on and talk to.

    Senior Destiny Oropeza has multiple teachers she considers trustworthy, specifically Danielle Sawyer and Daryl Holmlund. Oropeza stated that she can “talk about anything” with them at any given moment.

    Senior Elizabeth Velazquez-Rodriguez’s teacher that she trusts is English teacher Stephany Garcia. Velazquez often visits Garcia, and is a “teacher’s aid for her” currently and has known her throughout her high school experience, since her freshman year. Velazquez has grown to be comfortable around her and often visits Garcia’s class.

    Cristina Clemons’ go-to teacher would be Javier Llamas as she can “talk to him about any problems.”

    It seems most students have a teacher they can talk to easily and carry a conversation with them about almost anything. But there are still some students who feel differently towards teachers.

    Nancy Melena said she does not have an adult she can trust as she “[does not] interact with teachers”.

    For some students, teachers are people you can rely on, and for others, they are only the people who grade your tests.

    Some students have adults they can communicate with or hang in their classes, and hold those relationships close, while others see only other students as proper companions and only view their teachers as just that and nothing else.

  • Jazz Ready for Thursday Concert

    On November 1, the Poly Jazz Bands will have their first concert of the year in the Poly Auditorium. Each of the four bands will perform four songs, and each song will feature several improvisational soloists.

    Band director Chris Stevens said during Jazz “A” band rehearsal on Monday that he has been “looking forward to the concert for months”  and that the bands are “well prepared.” After several weeks of intense practice, he believes that each band is off to a “great start.”

    The concert will open with the “C” band, an ensemble of freshman musicians that are brand new to the Poly music scene and to jazz music. As the concert progresses, the age and experience of the players increases and culminates at the “A” band. Senior Jazz A trumpeter Adam Traut said that the band is able play “with lots of energy.” He’s proud to have made it to the top level for two years and will be a featured soloist tomorrow evening.

    While programming the concert, Stevens found a 1939 big band chart by the name of “The Bouncing Ball” tucked away in the Poly music library. As he unearthed it, he found the paper records from when the chart was last inventoried in 1940. Stevens handed it out to Jazz A and they will be performing it at the concert as a nostalgic nod to Poly’s long history of musical excellence.

    Junior trombonist Evan Hoover said that the piece would be a “great trip down memory lane” for the audience.

    Everyone in the Poly Jazz program is looking forward to another year playing in one of Southern California’s premier high school music ensembles.

    The concert will start at 7 p.m. in the Poly Auditorium and will run to approximately 9:30.

  • Hopes Legacies

    Hopes Legacies

    A new T.V. series Legacies premiered October 25 on The CW. It is a spinoff of the hit T.V. show The Originals. Legacies was created by Julie Plec, the creator of The Originals and co-creator of The Vampire Diaries.

    It stars Hope Mikaelson, portrayed by actress Danielle Rose Russell, known as the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall. It also features characters from The Vampire Diaries such as; Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), Alaric Saltzman (Matt Davis), Jeremy Gilbert (Steven R. McQueen), and Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig).

    The show focuses on Hope who attends school at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. The school is a safe place for kids who descend from the bloodlines of vampires, witches, werewolves, and any other supernatural creature. The school is a place where all the students can be themselves and not have to hide their differences from the outside world. The Salvatore Boarding school appears in the show The Vampire Diaries, where vampires, Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore live.

    So far only the pilot has aired but there are scheduled to be 3 more episodes coming out. The next episodes will come out November 1, 8, and 15 at 9 PM on The CW, Thursday nights.

  • Halloween Returns

    Halloween is a slasher horror movie that came out October 19, directed and written by David Gordon Green. It stars Nick Castle, reprising his role as the silent, ruthless killer Michael Myers, and Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role as survivor Laurie Strode, who suffers from PTSD as a result of the Halloween killings that took place in the original 1978 film of the same name.

    Going into this new movie, I was not expecting much. I thought, “This Michael Myers, he is just a normal dude, right? Can’t be that scary, right?” I was wrong. The killer’s humanity really adds to the horror, knowing that the person behind all the evil, gruesome killings is a human being. It grounds the horror and makes it feel real, like this is something that could happen. The deep dark evil desires that lie within certain individuals: that is real horror.

    Michael Myers’ stalking of his victims throughout the movie builds a constant tense, uneasy feeling. The audience almost always feels uncomfortable, like they have got this feeling in their gut that is telling them something is not right. Almost everyone has felt that way that way at some point in their normal lives, like when they are taking the trash out at night or walking home alone. You get that irrational, paranoid fear that something or someone is lurking in the shadows, watching you. The movie preys on this fear that most of us have, and that is pretty neat.

    The movie has a strong female protagonist (representation is always nice) while avoiding turning her into a cliched invincible, battled-hardened veteran. She is relatable. She shows vulnerability and fear. But she chooses to confront and fight the killer anyways, and that is what real courage is: being intimidated by some challenge but choosing to confront it anyways. So that was nice.

    The ending of the movie is pretty cliche and almost eye-rolling-ly predictable, the kind that makes you go, “Alright, c’mon. Really?” That left a sour taste in my mouth going out of the theater, but overall, while this movie isn’t exactly high art, I had a fun, frightening time. I’d recommend to anyone just looking for a fun scary movie to watch.

  • The Signs as Thanksgiving Episodes

    Aries: The Boondocks season 1, episode 10: ‘The Itis’

    Scorpio:  The Simpsons season 2, episode 20: ‘Bart vs. Thanksgiving’

    Pisces: Cheers season 5, episode 9: ‘Thanksgiving Orphans’

    Sagittarius: George Lopez season 2, episode 9: ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,

    Honey?’

    Leo: Friends season 5, episode 8: ‘The One With All the Thanksgiving Flashbacks’

    Taurus: That 70s Show season 1, episode 9: ‘Thanksgiving’

    Gemini: How I Met Your Mother season 3, episode 9: ‘Slapsgiving’

    Cancer: Bewitched season 4, episode 12: ‘ Samantha’s Thanksgiving to Remember

    Virgo: Gilmore Girls season 3, episode 9: ‘A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving’

    Libra: Modern Family season 6, episode 8: ‘Three Turkeys’

    Capricorn: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

    Aquarius: The Office season 7, episode 9: ‘WUPHF.com’

  • Lady Jackrabbits Humble L

    “We might of lost but that was one of the best games and some of the best competition I’ve ever played,” Allanah Cutler said after the close CIF game on October 25th.

    Poly Girls volleyball lost to Mater Dei in a close three sets: 25-18, 25-23, 25-22.

    Captains Allanah Cutler and Liz Schuster knew that their team needed to give it their all to beat the top ranked team in CIF and the number 2 ranked team in the nation.

    Each set was extremely close and every point was well deserved. The Ron Palmer Pavillion was packed with tons of Poly fans and athletes cheering for them to go to Division 1 CIF finals.

    During the first round of CIF on October 18, Poly was favored to lose but this athletic and talented team swept Mira Costa in three sets: 25-20, 25-20, 25-18.

    You could see the fire in the Lady Jackrabbits during both of these matches. Junior Aniah Cutler said “I loved the unification and team love,” after beating Mira Costa.

    The defense and serve receive led by senior libero Sofia Skukan was spectacular. The crowd could feel the front and back rows giving it their all.

    This talented Poly team is not done yet. They qualified for  the Division 1 State t\Tournament beginning the first week of November.

  • XC Impresses at Mt. SAC

    On October 20, both boys and girls cross country teams competed in the famous Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational.

    The annual meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA features many of the best teams from California and around the country. The course is three miles with several loops around a central area, accompanied by several steep inclines and sharp down hills testing the runners hill skills.

    Because of the quality of the competition, the race is one of the few races looked at by college cross country scouts to really see how good a runner is.

    Starting off with the boys varsity, Poly placed third overall in their division with their number one runner, senior Will Frankenfeld, also placing 3rd in a finish time of 14:47.

    Girls varsity also performed well with an 8th place finish altogether with their premiere runner, Laura Yontz, placing 21st and finishing with a phenomenal 20:48.

    Boys and girls junior varsity also raced above the standard placing 3rd overall with runners, Coco Sanabria with an astounding  21:21 and Ethan Dwinell running 16:12. Moving along, boys sophomores placed 10th with the lead runner Pablo Lopez-Garcia running 18:54. Girls sophomores played conservative as Moore League Finals is just around the corner, running only two athletes, Vanessa Garcia running a 25:15 and Chloe Bricker with a 25:43.

    The freshmen boys placed 9th in their heat with Joshua Zuniga leading the pack in 18:04. Freshmen girls came in 6th with Bella Ungar racing a 22:40.

    Both boys and girls will compete next at Moore League Finals, the threshold for Poly’s cross country team to qualify for the state competition.

    Concerning this meet, Danny Nguyen a sophomore cross country athlete said, “Moore League finals is the time where everything is on the line. Where you’ll see the most personal records and improvements stemming from all the hard work we’ve done.”

    New runner Kellan Lim added, “After Moore League 2 with all the hills, I’m just about ready to run on flat ground with the subtle incline and declines Heartwell holds. I have great confidence that we can take over the stage and win this final Moore League race.”

    The Moore League Cross Country Finals takes place at Heartwell Park on October 31, with junior varsity starting at 2:30, frosh/soph at 3:30PM, and varsity at 4:30.

  • Ultimate Fall Playlist

    “Beach House” – Boy Pablo

    “Tamales” – Eddie Zuko

    “Needed” – Brent Faiyaz

    “Pink+White” – Frank Ocean

    “Empathy” – Sylvan LaCue

    “Oh Honey” – Delegation

    “Just to Keep You Satisfied” – Marvin Gaye

  • Senior Katherine Grubbs

    Senior Katherine Grubbs

    Katherine Grubbs is on the Girls Varsity Golf team. Grubbs joined the golf team in her freshman year because she played golf with her dad as a little girl.

    Grubbs quit volleyball and joined golf. She struggled in her junior year, and had to relearn how to swing due to the fact she did not play league for two years.

    But last season was her  most successful season. Grubbs qualified for Moore League finals and made 8th place.

    Grubbs is extremely proud of her teammate, senior Azraa Adamjee. Grubbs said that Adamjee was courageous becase she “did awesome because she had an injury, but still helped out the team and coached the new freshmen on the sidelines of their games.”

    Grubbs said that her dad  was supportive of her quitting volleyball to join golf and has been to every single one of her matches.

    Grubbs  practices  five days a week, but  she still maintains a healthy relationship with her friends. Grubbs said she also  does  babysitting, she does a lot of traveling and she works in the Care  Center during 4th period.

  • Sweet Potatoes Recipe

    Who doesn’t love candied sweet potatoes? If you don’t, you simply haven’t had the right ones. Here’s a delicious recipe that will satisfy your sweet tooth during the Hallowthankmas season!

    Prep Time: 15 minutes

    Cook Time: 30 minutes

    Servings: 4

    You will need:

    3 Large Sweet Potatoes

    ⅔ Cup of Sugar

    ⅓ Cup of Water

    2 Tablespoons Butter

    2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

    Scrub and wash potatoes to remove all dirt. Then, boil the potatoes in water until they’re tender.

    Peel potatoes and slice them into the desired shape and size.

    Place potatoes in a glass baking dish.

    Make a syrup by boiling the sugar, water, butter, and orange juice together.

    Pour the syrup over the potatoes.

    Place potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes. Baste the potatoes once after 15 minutes has passed.

  • Fall In Love Fall Dates

    Go hiking

    A drive-in movie theater

    Try out a new restaurant

    Walk around a bookstore and pick out books for each other

    Go to a pumpkin patch

    Cuddle under a blanket and binge a show

    Make a playlist for each other and listen together

    Make your own pumpkin spice lattes, cookies, brownies/Decorate the house with fall decorations

    Carve out pumpkins

  • Senior Tajahnai Clemons

    Senior Tajahnai Clemons

    Tajahnai Clemons, a senior at Poly, says that at her first initial thought was to join the golf team to avoid taking PE, but after playing for a while she found herself enjoying the sport. Clemons’ season ended in mid-October and she said, “Compared to last year, I’ve improved a lot. But I feel like I could have done a lot better if I practiced more and stayed with my personal coach.”

    Clemons came to love golf so much that she is even thinnking about pursuing it in college.

    Clemons says that her dream is to go to college and major in business.

    Clemens major support system is her family. They are supportive of her choice to join golf and they all go to her games to cheer her on.  She said they help her with a lot of things, from practicing her swings to helping her with her studies.

    Even though she’s busy being a student athlete, she still has time to do all the things that she enjoys such as reading, singing and watching movies on Netflix.