Category: News

Second-place winner junior Amelia Haynes and third-place winner junior Elizabeth Bigham of the AP Capstone Project Soapbox speech competition visited Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia’s office on Monday, January 4, and were greeted by the incredible invitation to intern at the mayor’s office over the summer of 2016.
The AP Capstone classes convened at McBride High School in November for a district-wide speech competition with Wilson student AJ Walker winning first, with Haynes and Bigham placing second and third, respectively.
Haynes’s speech tackled the stigma surrounding mental illness.
“I have family and close friends who suffer from mental illness and I hated that they felt ashamed,” Haynes explained about why she chose the topic. “I was… angry at the way society treats mental illness.”
Bigham discussed sexual harassment in schools in her speech. After doing some research, she realized that sexual harassment is “a lot bigger than the media might put forward.”
“I started off by addressing sexual harassment in college and the fact that college women don’t come forward about incidences [of harassment]… We need to stand by victims of sexual harassment to make sure that they can get through [it],” said Bigham.
Both girls were excited by the opportunity of a paid internship before even starting their senior year of high school. When they arrived at the mayor’s office, the winners had no idea what was coming.
“I was not expecting that at all,” said Haynes about the internship offer.
Bigham expressed her eagerness to participate this summer. Bigham said, “I am super excited about the internship and… an amazing experience.”

This past semester, JUSTICE Academy teachers Mieko Harrington and Charlie Dodson have made it a point to show their students what the real world is like in the law enforcement profession.
Charlie Dodson, the Criminal and Civil Law teacher at Poly, organized the Allstate Street Law Program where students spent two days in class working with ten lawyers and paralegals from Allstate’s Torrance office. Additionally, Harrington, the Intro to Social Justice teacher, organized seven in-class guest speakers to talk to her students about their careers.
In the Allstate Street Law program, the students focused on two types of liability situations: sexual harassment and host responsibility for underage drinking. Then, on Wednesday, December 9, the students traveled to the Torrance office and participated in Mock Trial scenarios and interviewed all of the employees about their different career paths.
“Participating in the Allstate Street Law program assisted me in figuring out what I want to do with my future by giving me an insight on what happens behind the scenes. This program helped me understand there’s way more to every career than you see or hear about on the outside,” said junior Jaclyn Pangelinan.
The purpose of the program was to show students different jobs in the office, from lawyers to claims adjusters, demonstrating that you do not have to be a lawyer to work in the field. It also gave students an inside look on the day-to-day life of being a lawyer.
“Street Law has really enabled me to see through the eyes of a real lawyer, a profession I fully intend to carry through out school,” said senior Marina Bowley.

“The legislation that runs our government and most importantly, involve themselves in real life ethical issues that they usually don’t experience in everyday life.”
Harrington organized seven guest speakers who represented different aspects of the justice profession. She brought in a Correctional Officer for a level four all men’s jail, a Signal Hill Police Officer, and a Long Beach Police Sergeant to show the law enforcement side of the justice system. A Parole Officer and a Probation Officer came in to speak about the rehabilitation aspect of the law. A family attorney spoke about the law profession, and City Councilwoman Stacy Mungo represented the political aspect.
Hearing from each guest speaker is beneficial because “[students] get firsthand information from people who work the jobs, bringing in real life stories and incidences,” said Harrington.

On Tuesday, December 8th, Student Commission hosted their annual blood drive for the first semester. This year, 267 pints of blood were donated, potentially saving up to 801 lives. Medical volunteers from Cedar Sinai Medical Center come to Poly biannually to offer their service to draw blood from students donors. In addition to assuaging the fears and encouraging the donors, the staff and volunteers also offered snacks to rejuvenate those who gave blood.
“They were very sympathetic towards the donors, and made sure no one passed out,” said Tiger Khou, member of Student Commission.
Donors had the option to choose between receiving a complementary Lifesaver T-shirt or a coupon for a free pint of ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Sophomore Katherine Khiev, Commissioner of Welfare, organized this event. “The blood drive event had a great turn out,” said Khiev. “There was a total of 267 pints donated, therefore this season we have saved many lives. There was a lot of time and effort put into the event, but in the end of the day it was a team effort. I’m thankful for all the volunteers and donors who helped make this event happen.”
“It’s the holiday season, and I wanted to give back to the community by donating blood and saving lives,” said Senior Andrew Sovanasy. Blood drives occur once every semester, and Student Commission urges students who have missed the opportunity to donate blood this semester to donate in the next semester. Donors must wait eight weeks until donating blood again, however.

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.