Author: Nataly Hernandez

  • Long Beach Poly Dance Show

    Long Beach Poly Dance Show

    Like they say, once a jackrabbit, always a jackrabbit. That includes one of the new teachers at Poly, Luis Lira. He came here as a student, and now he is the dance teacher, taking over for Cynthia Negrete, who retired last year. 

    He’s been choreographing dance since he was 14 years old, but teaching dance since he was in college. His favorite style is jazz. He was inspired to become a dancer by the creative connection he had to music. We all have been inspired to become what we want to be in the future, but for him, he said, “I have always known I wanted to be in the teaching field or to be working in high schools. So my love for dance and teaching just kinda merged together over the years.” 

    This is Mr.Lira’s first year teaching at Poly High School. He said, “It feels great to return home and be able to give back to a community that really fostered my own dance background and my dance experience and ability. And it feels good to give back to a place that gave so much to me as a dancer.”  

    Over the years, everyone has a quote they heard or have been told that sticks with them. Mr. Lira’s is this: “If you don’t have haters, you’re doing something wrong.” That’s a strong quote. A tip that he would give to his students is “Everybody starts somewhere.” 

    Now, for his first year here at Poly, he and his dancers had their first dance show of this school year. He said, “From the feedback I got from people in the audience and family members and friends who came to watch the show, I think they were able to see that our dancers are really putting their heart and soul on there and that was a big complement that I received and they looked like they were having fun and they look like they were enjoying themselves and looked like they wanted to be there.” 

    That show was amazing. The music was so good, and the dancers really looked like they enjoyed themselves out there. At the end of that night, Lira said, “My favorite thing that night was the fact that I felt there was an overall sense of students feeling proud of what they did, and for me, as a dance director thats my job to make sure that students feel safe, comfortable, and confident on stage.”  Well, that night was a great show for him and his dancers. Can’t wait to see what they do for their next dance show later on in the year. 

  • Long Beach Poly Girls FlagFootball

    Poly’s girls’ flag football teams are all doing so well for the halfway mark of their season.  Varsity coach Robert Shock said, “This season, we are working on building chemistry within the team. We are asking young players to step up into bigger roles this season. We are also dealing with a few injuries that have hampered the progress of our program.” The varsity team record stands 8-0, and our girls remain undefeated.

    Now, with our JV girls, their record stands at  8-0 And our girls also remain undefeated. They are doing so well, Coach Sabrian said, “I am proud of the girls because they play as a team, they have a strong sisterhood, and they are very coachable. I love the fact that they have played strongly from the beginning of the season up until now; they are still keeping their foot on that gas pedal.”

    Now, to our newest team in the girls’ flag football program, our frosh/soph, they have recorded  1-1 so far. They’ve been playing very well for a frosh /soph team. Coach Danny said, “I feel right now the girls have gained a lot of knowledge from summer to now. I feel they have improved their game skills to a new level.” They really have, from day one to now; all the girls from each level have improved on their game.

    Moving on to our lady jackrabbit star player, Makalya Lumpkin. She’s a junior at Poly in the MEDS pathway. Lumpkin plays girls’ flag football as a quarterback for JV and basketball as a point guard. She’s recently moved up to play with the varsity girls’ flag football. When she grows up, Lumpkin said, “I don’t want to become a professional flag football player because  I want to go to school and become a physical therapist.” Lumpkin has big dreams. And I know she will achieve them. Lumpkin has been playing flag football since her freshman year at Poly and basketball since 7th grade. She has good memories from both sports, but she said, “One of  my favorites would be the number of friends I make with just one sport.” Lumpkin doesn’t just think of them as friends but as sisters.  Most people are inspired to play sports by someone or something they see. Lumpkin said, “I was inspired to play flag football by my dad and brothers since playing football is all they did, so I would be out there catching the ball.” A quote Lumpkin said, “When you have a challenge in life, just know you will overcome it. God gave you that challenge because he knows you will overcome it.” I hope Lumpkin takes that quote with her as she continues to grow up and accomplish good things in her life.