Category: News

  • Choristers Get Opportunity of a Lifetime

    Choristers Get Opportunity of a Lifetime

    On Wednesday, January 31 and Thursday, February 1, LBUSD’s high school honor choir  performed alongside the Long Beach Symphony at the Terrace Theater for third through fifth graders.

    The honor choir includes the following high schools within LBUSD: Poly, Millikan, Wilson, Lakewood, and Renaissance. They met at Millikan for weekly rehearsals since the beginning of January.

    Eckart Preu, the eighth Musical Director of the Long Beach Symphony, conducted both the symphony and the choir.

    He started the concert off with two pieces from Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet, one with featuring a trumpet solo and the other featuring the choir singing in French. The next piece was “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor composed by Alexander Borodin. This song and “1812 Overture” composed by Peter Tchaikovsky were both sung in Russian.

    The “1812 Overture” originally featured live cannons to emulate warfare, but the Terrace Theater would not allow those, so instead a red button was used to play recordings of the cannons. Preu selected a child from the audience to hit the button when he signaled them. After that piece the honor choir took a break for two symphony only songs.

    The first piece was “Ride of the Valkyries” composed by Richard Wagner. This is a song that is used in many commercials and movies so it was recognizable for the children. The second piece included an additional student volunteer who got to conduct one of the pieces.

    The last piece of the show was a real crowdpleaser. It was “Duel of the Fates” from The Phantom Menace. The kids went crazy over hearing a song from a movie they knew very well and were amazed by hearing that song with a live symphony.

  • Community Reminisces the History of MLK Day

    Community Reminisces the History of MLK Day

    Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist who fought for equality and human rights for everyone during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

    He was known for his strategy of fighting injustice through peaceful protest. He was the force that brought together events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

    King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, thanks to his wife, Coretta Scott King, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986 when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that created a federal holiday to honor King.

    On Saturday, January 13, the Martin Luther King Jr. parade celebrated King. Poly’s JROTC program, band, and cheerleaders were among the participants who was a part of the parade. The parade in itself had a great turn out that ended with a celebration at the Martin Luther King Jr. Park which had booths set up with food and services. The parade demonstrated the huge impact that Martin Luther King had on people  that we celebrate him to this day, and he will be continue to be celebrated in many years to come.

  • Spring Semester 2018 ASB Cabinent

    Spring Semester 2018 ASB Cabinent

     

  • Creativity at its Finest

    Creativity at its Finest

    A new mural and garden have recently been added to the school. Both the mural and garden are located northeast of the 600 building. The mural was created by one of Poly’s very own students. Ahmad Ali, an 11th grader in the intensive studies program, was the one who created the design for the mural. The chance to create the mural was given to all the art classes at Poly, but in the end Ali’s design won and was chosen.

    Intensive studies teacher Indria Jimenez feels like the garden is a great chance for the students to learn about gardening and healthy eating habits. Also, they’re going to have inclusion between the general education classes and intensive studies students by developing STEM, environmental science, and gardening lessons.

    To make the garden and mural come all together, a lot of people put in time and effort into the process. A local artist volunteered to come and outline the students art work for free. Auto mechanics teacher Chris McColm gave used tires for them to use as planters. Two additional garden beds will be donated by Bobby M and Mr.Hazel. Also, students from multiple programs provided help in painting the garden beds and tire planters. The paint was donated by Allan H-building maintenance worker. With the help from all these amazing people and students the mural and garden was created.

  • The Wait Pays Off

    The Wait Pays Off

    On December 19, 2017, Poly had its grand re-opening for its auditorium after an almost three-year renovation. The service was held at the side entrance on 15th Street and included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, along with a string quartet and Jazz One playing and caroling to welcome the guests. There to welcome back the public to Poly’s auditorium were board of education members, such as Megan Kerr, and Poly staff, including choral music director, Brian Dokko.

    The renovation was long overdue but was finally pursued in January 2015, mainly due to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requiring access for people with wheelchairs, along with the damages from the earthquake of 1933.

    Now with the changes, the auditorium has an elevator lift available for those that require it. The building also has “the original stage but new interior walls and ceilings, seats, lighting and sound,” according to Dokko. The latest model of the walls and ceiling have allowed for better acoustics for choral music and the cushioned seats have the audience in a more comfortable state during performances.

    However, the alterations do come with a cost.

    “We got rid of the balcony and suffered the loss of around 400 seats,” Dokko said. “We are just over 1100 seats now.” But, it’s a price worth paying especially no longer having to go offsite for performances.

    Poly’s choral, instrumental, and dance concerts along with events such as Jackrabbit Pageant and Baccalaureate are ready to take on the old stage of the new auditorium.

    “I’m super happy,” Dokko said. “It feels wonderful to be back. It’s been so long. We forgot how it feels like to be in here.”

  • What in the World?!?

    Monday, November 20

    An Argentine submarine with a crew of 44 members went missing, and a satellite call raised hope only for officials to realize it was a false alarm.

    Tuesday, November 21

    Thirty-two people were killed in an Iraqi town by a suicide bomber, which was confirmed by both the central government in Baghdad and Kurdish regional authorities.

    Wednesday, November 22

    A Filipino Catholic Priest was accused of molesting two boys from North Dakota in the 1990s. Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras explained that the priest was arrested and flown to the United States because of his alleged sexual advances, which will soon appear in the North Dakota court.

    Thursday, November 23

    Three sailors went missing on Wednesday from a US Navy aircraft crash, and American and Japanese officials are searching the Philippine Sea.

    Saturday, November 25

    French President Emmanuel Macron began an initiative to tackle violent rhetoric against women in France and end the stigma around the harassment of these women.

    Sunday, November 26

    1.9 million doses of vaccines were delivered to Yemen by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

    Tuesday, November 28

    Peace talks were supposed to take place with a meeting involving Syria and the UN in Geneva but Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s delegation was absent.

    *Information was obtained from the World Digest section in the Washington Post*

  • A Night to Remember

     

  • Freedom in Philly

    Two weeks ago on Thursday, November 2 through Sunday, November 5, three Poly students were chosen to be a part of the Freedom Foundation Youth Conference. Juniors Carina Ayala and Lenny Khan, along with Senior Elaina Miskiel were the chosen participants to go to Philadelphia and experience the fundamentals of the program. They stayed on the Freedom Foundation’s campus at Valley Forge.

    The Freedom Foundation was started in 1945 and has been running successfully ever since. It’s focused on “overcoming challenges to freedom by providing experiential educational programs while challenging participants to examine our history and discuss the issues of the day” according to their website. Each of their programs have been thoughtfully planned out and designed to ensure that both young people and adults gain new or deeper appreciation for the significance of the founding documents and acquire tools for engaged, responsible citizenship.

    Since its beginning, Freedom Foundation’s mission was and still is to educate Americans on rights and responsibilities, honor acts of civic virtue, and challenge all to reject apathy and get involved.

    Carina Ayala explained that her experience “definitely changed the way [she] think about Congress” and “[she’s] learned so much”. All participants expressed their enjoyment of the time they had and the new information that they learned. Lenny Khan said, “It was good to see other’s perspectives on how they view politics. It was fun to meet others from other states.”

    During their trip Ayala, Miskiel, Khan, other students from other schools had the chance to go around the city and sight see some of Philadelphia’s landscapes. Some of the landmarks that they had the opportunity to see in person were the Liberty Bell, the Independence Hall, the Philadelphia Courthouse, and where George Washington’s home used to stand. They had the opportunity to be a part of a mock trial of the Masterpiece Cake Shop, Ltd. versus Colorado Civil Rights Commission while in the courthouse which is in fact a real case that will occur on December 5 of this year.

    Khan described the lessons that the trip taught him personally: “Be more open, don’t shut other people’s thoughts down. Consider other’s ideas not only your own.”

  • Poly’s Day in Court

    On November 2 Poly’s mock trial team tackled the first round of the court case People vs. Davidson and were rewarded by a winning verdict. The trial happened at the Los Angeles Superior Court with real judges and attorneys.

    Charlie Dodson is an AP World History teacher and is the advisor of the mock trial club at Poly.

         “The Constitutional Rights Foundation sets this [mock trial] up every year,” Dodson said. “A competition for LA county, which over 60 schools participate in  and our school has participated for a number of years. Teams are divided into prosecution and defense. We are given a single case.”

         Sophomore Tammy Pham described the experience  she encountered as a member of the club.

    “You are presented with a case and you would have to go into court and present to the judge whether the defendant is guilty or innocent, depending on the side you are on,” said Pham.

    Poly’s mock trial team was given the case, People vs. Davidson, and Dodson explained that the case was centered around Casey Davidson’s felony of the murder of Alex Thompson with a walking stick.

    “The case was about murder,” he said. “There are forensic reports for the prosecution and a rebuttal. There are witnesses for the prosecution and for the defense. For round one, our job was to defend Casey Davidson, the defendant, to prove him not guilty by creating reasonable doubt, which we did.”

    Senior Marco Romero is the president of the Mock Trial club. He was on the defense team for the case and described the difficult, yet exciting experience.

    “I think it is a great way to expose people who either want to be lawyers, want to step out their comfort zone, or just want to get a taste of what lawyers do,” Romero said. “The competition is judged by a real life judge and scored by either lawyers or law students.”

  • Students Explore Aquarium

    Students Explore Aquarium

    The sharks were a big hit for Poly’s Intensive Studies students during their first field trip of this school year.

    Student Alexis Rojas was uncomfortable at first when it came to actually petting the sharks, but according to senior Kendall Cascell, towards the end of the trip Rojas “was petting the sharks like nobody’s business.”

    Intensive Studies teacher Indira Jimenez explained how the idea of taking a trip to the aquarium became reality.

    “It was a free scholarship that we obtained,” Jimenez said. “They gave us a workshop of different animals, where they live and their different habitats, and a free tour of the Aquarium of the Pacific.”

    Jimenez said that she invited Cascell and senior Abigail Brown to be a part of the field trip on Wednesday, November 7 because of their International Ambassador project dedicated to the special education program at Poly.

    The focus of the project is to give students in Intensive Studies classes the chance to diversify their activities with interests, and the aquarium field trip served as an activity for those students fascinated with marine life.

    “We got to explore the aquarium and then the students broke up into two different classrooms and got to look at some parts such as turtle shells, shark teeth, and sea otter fur,” Cascell said. “It was an activity to get the students to think how the items on the different tables were similar.”

    After analyzing the anatomy of marine animals, the students explored the pools where they could touch, interact, and observe sea creatures.

    Many students enjoyed the sharks, but according to Cascell, sophomore Paula Thuong loved the seals.

    “Abbi and I called Paula the seal whisperer,” Cascell said. “The seals only came out for Paula and followed her inside of the tank.”

    Brown added that the seals would just watch Thuong through the glass.

    The most memorable experience, according to Jimenez, was watching her student’s reaction when touching and feeling the different sea animals.

    In the end, the students had the chance to explore different interests, and Brown explained that it was enjoyable to see students including Rojas and Thuong interact with a marine world outside of Poly.

  • ROTC Pays College Tuition

    ROTC Pays College Tuition

    It is officially college season and this is the time when high school seniors are working on college applications and looking for any and all ways to get money for tuition.

    Unfortunately, not all scholarships guarantee a full ride for college. However there is always the choice of a military scholarship that does in fact pay for all years of a student’s college education. The Air Force, Army, and Navy branches of the military have Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs in colleges that give scholarships to anyone willing to apply.

    While the scholarship provides students with full college tuition, in return the student has to be committed before the start of their sophomore year in college to stay in the program while they remain in school. That student has to not only be committed to the ROTC program but also to being a commissioned officer in the military at a minimum of four years after college. The choice of being enlisted to the military is always a choice but there is also the choice of going into the military as a Health professional; there are many choices for health professions in the military, anyone can be anything from a Doctor to Obstetrician to Veterinarian and anything in between.

    Unfortunately neither the Marines nor the Coast Guard have the option of ROTC for college students but they do have something similar. The Marines have an option under the Naval ROTC program that allows students to apply for a Marine Corps scholarship and the Coast Guard has a separate program called the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative that gives students who may be interested, the chance to get a scholarship as well.

  • DACA is Still a Thing

    DACA is Still a Thing

    About 9 months into his presidency, Donald Trump has managed to repeatedly mortify many Hispanic families. Apart from the fact that he is still working on building his “border wall,” he has repealed DACA impacting many Hispanic members who were part of the program.

    The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and allows certain people, or Dreamers, who come to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation. Recipients are able to request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years which is then to be renewed.

    DACA increased wages and labor-force participation of DACA-eligible immigrants and has increased the odds for a career and better standards of living than previous family members.

    One Poly student has felt the impact of Trump’s DACA repeal.

    “I, out of my whole family and my two brothers, am a DACA recipient,” the anonymous student said. “One of them is graduating this year and when he got the news it struck our whole family hard.’’

    Around 800 college and university presidents have signed their institutions support onto a letter urging Congress to pass legislation as soon as possible to permanently protect Dreamers. These universities would like to provide security for dreamers who currently study on their campuses, and who will be seeking an education with their establishments in the future.

    “Colleges and universities have seen these remarkable people up close, in our classrooms and as our colleagues and friends,” according to the letter posed to congressional representatives. “Despite the challenges they face, they have made incredible contributions to our country and its economy and security.”

    Many people think that DACA is no longer an issue, however, it still impacts a wide variety of Poly’s surrounding communities.

    “The repealing of DACA was a big hit to many other families and I know, some way, my family such as other families will not stop fighting for our loved one’s dreams,” the anonymous DACA recipient said.