Category: News

Poly held an out of state college faire with twenty nine different universities on Friday, February 19. They were all set up in the quad and each had their own booth where students came and spoke to the college representative and asked questions about the university they selected.
Along with many other states, representatives from Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Arkansas came out to Long Beach to educate and persuade potential students about their respective universities.
They had brochures at their tables which explained and showed the main focus of each university. The booths circled around the hedges in the front of the 100 building and were full of students trying to get their questions answered.
“My choice was the University of Nevada because it is one of the universities I’ve been wanting to go to since I first heard of it in my freshman year,” said senior Rath Kim.
If you were unable to collect a flyer from Ms. Sylvia Womack, facilitator of the Career Center, you could have also asked the college representative what level of GPA would be needed and the requirements for your school choice. Some of the schools do not come with scholarships and depend on your SAT scores so that is why it was best to be sure to check up on the schools.
“After I am finished with my two years at Cerritos College, I would like to go to Hawaii Pacific to get out of Long Beach and experience some place new,” said senior Karla Figuerou.
Many of the students who have not chosen their college yet were able to go around and pick up multiple brochures to see which college best suited their personality or major.
If you missed the faire, you can get some more information on your colleges from Ms. Womack in the Career Center.

This year, Poly High School has the only National Merit Scholarship Finalists in the entire Long Beach Unified School District. Seniors Brandon Deutsch and Edward Lu have moved on to the final round of the competition.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation names 15,000 National Merit finalists, from which the winners are selected. The winners are selected based on PSAT score, academics, student activities, counselor recommendations and essay. The winners of the scholarship are awarded $25,000 by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
“I think [I advanced to the finalist round] because I was honest and straightforward in my essay. It’s important to keep in mind that even if you don’t get the scholarship, everything’s still going to be okay,” said Lu. “It’s much more important to just go out there and say, this is the kind of person I am, and this is what I believe, than to say, I was president of five clubs. It’s much better to be honest and talk about things that matter to you in a way that is genuine. I think [in my essay] I talked a lot about jazz, and how it has helped me grow as a person.”
The National Merit Scholarship Program has existed since 1955. Students are initially judged based on their PSAT scores. In later rounds, students are judged based on their academics and essays.
“It’s all about getting to the semifinalist round, its all about working hard to understand the content,” said Deutsch. “I think there’s going to be some issues next year since they’re changing the SAT. It’s really important to get the content down so you can get a high score… and on your essay, be honest.”

In coordination with the Saving Hearts Foundation (SHF), Poly held a free heart screening on Saturday, February 6.
Unexpected cardiac arrest is a leading cause for death among athletes. However, a lot of people are unaware of the condition and its prevalence among athletes.
Last December, Poly suffered a devastating loss when senior football player Frank Murphy passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest.
Remembering Murphy, Poly wanted to make sure that its athletes and the community had access to possibly life-saving tests.
“UCLA came to us last year and asked us if we would want to do a heart screening,” said Activities Director Ngoc Nguyen. “When Frank passed last year, we decided to host this event in memory of him.”
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), is very common amongst young and healthy athletes, which is why it is usually very difficult to target during regular doctor visits. The condition is only detectable through special equipment.
The SHF Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by students at UCLA aiming to raise awareness of SCA by providing free heart screenings, CPR, and AED training in the community.
The free EKG test was available to everyone ages 14-24 in the Big Gym and was even made mandatory for all of Poly’s student-athletes.
Over 320 students came to the screening, and four needed follow ups with their doctors and parents.
Thanks to the generous volunteers at SHF and the Poly administration, this event gave the Long Beach athletes and community an opportunity to prevent any further cardiac arrest losses.

Teacher Daniel Adler and student volunteers hosted the annual VITA Tax Fair on Saturday, February 6. The event was organized by seniors Kaitlyn Frawley and Alyssa Wren.
Though the turnout was not as high as anticipated, the volunteers were exceptionally prepared and toiled tirelessly to make this event happen.
“We did about 25 returns―not as much as we’d have liked, considering last year’s results were higher―but it was amazing,” said Adler.
Typically, those who visit Poly High School for the VITA tax returns come back every year to get taxes done for free―it just so happened that less people showed up.
Many positions at the tax fair were held by students―senior Timothy White, for instance, was the sole person in charge of helping people register to vote. On Saturday, March 26, the Los Angeles County of Equalization will be aiding the VITA team by rounding up people in need of getting tax returns complete―this means that resources will not need to be used for advertising and producing flyers on VITA’s behalf.
Those interested in getting taxes done with the VITA team at Poly High School may contact (562)-607-7986. Tax returns will continue on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

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.