Author: adviser

On Sunday, December 7, Student Commission and Red Cross hosted the second annual Holiday Project, an event in which low-income families from around the neighborhood of Polytechnic High School are invited to participate in.
Members of Student Commission, Red Cross, staff, and student volunteers from clubs volunteered to encourage children and families to participate in the various holiday-oriented stations spread out across the quad area of campus: cookie decorating, face painting, card making, and arts & crafts, and a photo-op with Santa.
In addition to the five stations at the event, children indulged in the many live entertainment shows that were offered at the event: ROTC’s Dark Knights rifle spinning and Unarmed drills, an informative puppet show from Red Cross regarding disaster preparedness, a musical duo featuring new teachers Daryl Holmlund and Matt Knapil, holiday renditions from Jazz Combo 2 featuring Knapil, and carols from Jazz Vocal 1.
“It’s heartwarming to see lots of little children experience the Holiday spirit-something that I did not experience myself,” said Mr. Gonzalez, a father pleased to see his son with his unopened gift.
One of the main attractions of this event was the jumper, which is the newest addition to the Holiday Project this year. “I have connections with party rentals, and I talked to the person I know that rents jumpers. I told him that we were doing a non-profit event for low-income families, and he gave us a discount,” said Victoria Cruz, Commissioner of Service Projects.
“This year, we got approximately 450 toys. Our goal was 300 toys, and I was very happy about the turnout. I was very nervous because on Tuesday, we only had about 60 toys. Luckily, teachers pitched in by offering extra credit to students as incentive for donating a toy,” said Cruz.

On Sunday, November 8, at McBride High School, Mikva Challenge hosted the Long Beach Project Soapbox public speaking competition. Poly students from Dan Adler’s AP Seminar class and students from the AP Capstone program attended. The students were selected through a competition in their classes.
“I think it went really well. It seemed to run smoothly and everyone I spoke to was very impressed with how great everyone’s speech was,” said senior Kaitlyn Frawley, a volunteer at the competition.
One standout speech was freshmam Nicholas Gillogly’s speech on water conservation.
“Basically, I talked about water wasters and some ways that we can save water. I also talked about my invention for saving water. [For my invention] I used a reservoir to hold shower water while it’s heating up, so that water that would usually go down the drain and be wasted could be used to water plants,” said Gillogly, who was selected as a semifinalist.
There were multiple rooms where students gave their speeches. After everyone had given their speeches, 8-12 semifinalists were chosen. These semifinalists then competed on the main stage in front of everyone.
Out of Adler’s students, junior Elizabeth Bigham won 2nd place for a speech on sexual harassment. Junior Amelia Haynes won 3rd for a piece on mental health. Poly semifinalists included freshmen Matthew Kempfer and Nicholas Gillogly, for speeches on mass transit and daught and water conservation, respecively. The winner of the Long Beach competition was Wilson junior A. J. Walker.
Walker will go on to compete at the state level later this year. The winner of the state level will then go on to compete at the national level. The prize has not yet been determined, but in 2013 the winner at the national level got to attend the inauguration of president Barack Obama.

Student Commission is organizing the second annual holiday project at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, which is a service project mainly supported by the Red Cross club and will occur on Sunday, December 6.
Though Red Cross is the main contributor to the event, volunteers from all school clubs are invited, as this is a project that is run almost entirely by students with very little adult intervention. Students who volunteer will be eligible for community service hours.
Low-income families from around the neighborhood are invited to the event, and children are encouraged to participate in the various activities going on during this event, including face painting, drawing, making holiday cards for veterans, decorating cookies, and photo oppportunities with Santa Claus. Last year, children were entertained throughout the event with holiday songs from Choir members, music renditions from Jazz members, and even a puppet show from Red Cross club members. This year, a bounce house will be added as an extra way to accommodate a larger crowd and satisfy the children in attendance.
In addition to the activities at the holiday project, free toys will be given to the children that come to the event. Poly students are encouraged to make toy donations that are at least $10 in value. They do not need to be wrapped, but must be in their original packaging. Students willing to make the donation will be able to do so in Room 805, commonly known as the Activities Office.
“Being able to interact with children was fun itself, but being able to see them experience the joy of receiving something as simple as a toy was far more rewarding. Giving back to people who struggle to make ends meet is its own reward,” said senior Tiger Khou, co-president of Red Cross.

On Sunday, November 15, as part of the Miss Southern California Cities pageant at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, Poly junior Zephyr Zimmerman was crowned Miss Teen Long Beach.
The pageant was held at the Long Beach Center for Performing Arts Terrace Theater, and required a lot of preparation on the part of the contestants. During the competition, the contestants introduced themselves, modeled swimwear and evening gowns, and were interviewed by three judges.
The interviews were a crucial part of the selection process, Zimmerman explained. They ask about the competitors’ lives and what they hoped to accomplish as Miss Teen Long Beach. “They asked me about Best Buddies and about the mission trip I went on to build houses in Mexico,” said Zimmerman.
Miss Teen Long Beach Pageant is an experience for Zimmerman that she cherishes. “This is a big part of my life because… I come from a low-income family [and] I haven’t had opportunities for me,” said Zimmerman. “I wanted to be in the pageant and it costs a lot of money to even enter,” so she asked the community to sponsor her this year.
As it was her third year in the pageant, she was determined to win. “My community has given so much to me and I wanted to show that I can give back, represent them, and show them what I can do,” said Zimmerman.
When she was announced winner out of the thirteen Miss Teen Long Beach Pageant contestants, Zimmerman was ecstatic. She recalls returning home afterwards and wearing her crown and sash as she did her homework, the residual excitement carrying over into the hours of obligatory school work.
The annual Miss Southern California Cities pageant also includes competitions for Miss Long Beach, Mrs. Long Beach, and Little Miss Long Beach. The pageant is put on by Justin Rudd and it benefits Community Action Team, a non-profit that aims “to promote social well-being among the general public.”

Poly kicked off this year with its annual Sadie Hawkins dance on Tuesday, November 10th. The dance was held in the school’s quad area.
The Sadie Hawkins dance brought an opportunity for the young ladies to experience being nervous and shy before asking that special someone to the dance. The gender roles were flipped. Originally, it’s the gentlemen’s turn to ask the girl of their dreams. Eventually there was a way for the girls to ask the guys. The girls now struggle that guys have to go through to simply ask their crush to the dance.
The temperatures were extremely cold, the sprinklers unfortunately were turned on, and the students were rushing because they were afraid of getting wet. The backdrop was amazing filled with variety of hanging lights, seating sections, signs and wonderful dessert and food.
“I saw a lot of beautiful dresses and the area were amazing,” said junior Ashley Applewhite.
The DJ was playing the music on top of the 100 building roof. The students, teachers, and administration was jamming along.
“The DJ was amazing, it was great because we listened to the music that we like,” noted senior Constance Canada.
“I didn’t regret going because I had fun and the snapchats were going up,” stated junior Essence Walker.
After having ticket sales in the first week, ASB worked hard to promote and make the dance perfect for everyone.
Girls soon built up the courage to persuade the ideal guy to take them to the dance and the Sadie’s proposals began. They put their creativity to the test and created the perfect posters and come bringing gifts. Each poster said cute little phrases to catch the eye of the selected boy. There are also proposal announcements to share openly with students.
During the dance, the girls with their dates were given the choice to take part in a slow dance. Overall, the dance was a success because of the laughter, dancing, and photo-taking.
“It was an amazing experience to see friends and fellow students that had fun,” said senior Khayrssa Malone.
“I’m glad I kick my first year with this dance,” said freshman Marko Lepre.
To be surrounded by many faces and hearing good music is what brings people together to just have fun and enjoy the memories and cherish the moments. The outcome was that the students enjoyed it and they can’t wait for the next dance to be promoted.

Last Thursday, November 12, Poly’s varsity football team had to forfeit three league wins over Cabrillo, Compton, and Wilson, in addition their season-opening win against the Centennial Coyotes in Arizona, due to an ineligible player.
The league forfeits left the team in a limbo of whether or not they would make it to the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 playoffs, something they had done every year since 1979.
“The seniors took it hard. It’s never happened before that. We weren’t expecting that to happen. When Coach told us we were in awe,” said senior guard Amire Rogers.
Since Poly was technically no longer in first place, the Moore League title was awarded to Wilson, whose only league loss was to Poly. The second place spot went to Lakewood, leaving Jordan, Cabrillo and Poly in a three way tie for third. The final Moore League seed was given to Jordan in an envelope draw.
Poly could have entered into the bracket as an “at-large” team. This means that Poly would ask to be entered into the playoffs. Most at-large teams are able to make the playoffs because although their records were not great, their strength of schedule can reflect that. It is speculated that since the Moore League as a whole is fairly weak, Poly would not meet the criteria for an at-large team.
“We were coming together at the end of season. If we took that to the playoffs it would have been nice,” said senior Kristian Tafao.
Because there is not much competition in the Moore League, most players have their time to shine in the playoffs. Since the opportunity for playoffs was taken away, so was many of the players’ time to show colleges and recruiting teams what they had against teams with a challenge.
“I feel bad for us seniors,” said senior wide receiver Lohia Marks. “Our season got cut short for something we as a team did not do.”
“Although I am already going to Florida State University, it really does suck seeing many of my teammates not have something to look forward to like I do,” said senior quarterback Malik Henry.
Senior receiver Jack Jones said, “Its a pretty bad situation but there isn’t much we can do about it now so all I can do is get ready for college and further my career there.”
Although the underclassmen players of the team will have their chance to make it to the postseason next year, many were still heavily affected by the shock of not making it this year.
“Many of the seniors are like my brothers,” said junior defensive back Joshua Talbott. “And not being able to get a championship ring with them is something I will never get over.”
Junior linebacker Joshua Brown is using the forfeiture as motivation for next year. “Next year me and my team will come out motivated and use this as energy to power us up for the 2016 season and we’ll come out strong.”
“I felt like the seniors played best to their ability. We celebrated out there and had fun,” said senior receiver Jonah Alfaro.
The upset over playoffs caused an uproar on social media with players and supporters of the team voicing their opinions load and clear. The hashtag #FreePoly trended all over Southern California, with people who felt Poly was done wrong. Most people felt it was unfair that one person’s mistake could ruin the whole team’s chances of doing something that they felt they earned. Some also felt that it was the responsibility of CIF officials to make sure that all players are eligible since they are the ones to clear them. Others also felt like the punishment came too late for Poly to even be able to fix the problem. Other school players were shocked
“It’s unfair. We’re a public school. CIF doesn’t want public schools to succeed. We’re the only dominant public school. That’s why they took away our opportunity, in my opinion,” said senior receiver Daveon Howard.
Many non-supporters also took to the internet to voice their unpopular opinions on the matter.
“I feel we got cheated. I feel they shouldn’t take it out on us,”
said senior lineman Marverlous Lamsam.
Some people felt that Poly got the fair punishment to fit the crime and others made jokes of the matter. There was even a picture of a rabbit piñata made by Millikan High School students with “LBP Cheaters” on the front of its clothes. The picture on Twitter was taken down and the “mascot” did not make an appearance at that Friday’s game where the Jackrabbits crushed Millikan 70 to 3. But it did show that not everyone was rooting for Poly.
Long Beach Poly is a school of tradition and one of the longest traditions of playoff football has been broken. The team cannot live up to Poly’s motto of “Home of Scholars and Champions” because the opportunity was taken this year.