Category: News

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.

AP Seminar, AP Government, and AP Economics teacher Daniel Adler is urging his students to participate and enter the Mikva Challenge competition, which is part of a program by Action Civics of Chicago that takes up to 150 students from various states including Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C. and takes them to Iowa. Eligible students will work directly with presidential candidates on their campaign in Iowa.
Schools or classes from around the nation that follow the Mikva curriculum are eligible to participate, making the program more exclusive and privileged for Polytechnic high school students. Students interested in entering the Mikva challenge must write either a 300 word essay between one of two prompts, produce a personal campaign video, or come up with other creative projects that show “Why you want to come on this trip and why we should take YOU.” The due date for submissions is November 30th, and the Iowa trip takes place around the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, January 15-17th.
“Mikva teaches them how to take an idea and create an action around it. In order to do that, they need to do the research necessary to understand what is going on,” said Adler.
This program has been going on for nearly two decades, and was named after Abner Mikva, a senator from Chicago who wanted to get young children and teenagers into politics. Students are given the opportunity to work with presidential candidates on a door-to-door basis in Iowa as it is more hands-on in contrast to fragmented advertising sprees in other states. Participating students will also be able to attend a summit with other participating students from across the country to discuss youth issues.
Adler plans to influence the AP Seminar class because the course has another project that adheres to the Mikva curriculum: Project Soapbox. Students who take AP Seminar are going to work on a speech competition involving a call to action or a change to a problem that directly affects the student, and proposing ways to fix the problem. Three students from each class are selected to represent Polytechnic high school to pitch their speech to the Long Beach City Council.

The month of October is filled with care, spirit, holidays, and awareness. Poly has always had a hands-on connection with the breast cancer community.
To show their love and support, everyone wears the color pink and sometimes they intertwine the pink and blue for men and women who have or have had breast cancer. The pink ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer awareness, and even though it is used year round, they are most commonly seen during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in October.
Friday, October 23, was the annual Lakewood vs. Poly football game at Veterans’ Stadium. Poly was raising awareness in various ways throughout the game. The Poly football team wore pink armbands and towels while student commission competed against Lakewood in the stands to see which school could raise the most money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. In addition, the cheerleading team performed with the football team’s old pink jerseys and adorned their hair with pink bows.
“There were many people at the game showing the love by wearing pink. It was really cool see that,” added sophomore Megan Villaverde.
At halftime the Dance Team honored the Lakewood and Poly staff members who were survivors of breast cancer. They were brought down from the stadium and applauded by the crowd, acknowledging and congratulating their perseverance.
“I’m really thankful to be a part of the dance team to pull together a wave of awareness to the breast cancer survivors,” said senior Therese Pingle.
Poly’s Dance Team along, with dance director Cynthia Negrete, organized an idea to bring out a selected survivor. This selected survivor was Maria Jackson who was diagnosed in 2005. She shared the hopeful journey, experience, hardships and struggles going through the process of fighting the terrible disease.
“It really brought tears to my eyes to hear the pain of the breast cancer individuals faced,” said Senior Miranda Deguzman.

Seniors: The Mr. and Mrs. Jackrabbit Pageant applications are available online or in room 805. They are due Friday, November 13th, and late applications will NOT be accepted. The pageant is on January 14th. Apply to showcase your talent!
Grad Night will take place on Friday, June 17th. The date has been changed from Thursday, June 16th. Refunds are offered if you purchased your ticket before October 22. This is a limited offer, until November 19. Tickets may be purchased though the Banker at $125, as long as you have the required consent form.
Tutoring: Algebra and Geometry tutoring is offered in room 915 every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Also, the AP Resource room offers tutoring after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, as does the library.
Students at Poly High swept the top four spots in the Long Beach Press Telegram’s annual scary stories contest. Seniors Keiran Reiser’s “Among the Broken Branches” claimed the first place and Noemi Summer’s “Lock” won second. Freshmen Lindsey Chou and John Henry Dy were third place and honorable mention, respectively.

Last year the JUSTICE faculty decided there should be an award system for the outstanding students in the JUSTICE academy. Thus the Student of the Month program was born. Since last year, one teacher in each grade is chosen to select one of their students for the Student of the Month award.
These students are supposed to show volunteer and social activism for the community. For example, some of the scholars last year attended Town Hall meetings to make changes and play an active role in our community. This year, some of the winners have been participating in a tree planting service in the Wrigley neighborhood with the organization I Dig Long Beach.
The October Student of the Month Award winners are freshman Vanessa Gutierrez and sophomore De’Andre Edwards.
Gutierrez was nominated by her Social Justice teacher, Ms. Mieko Harrington. “Vanessa is an outstanding student that participates in all activities with enthusiasm and great thought. Her commitment to helping others and making changes in her community has made her a natural leader in the classroom and outside of it,” said Harrington.
Edwards was nominated by his English teacher Mr. Ron Smith.
The winners can look forward to the luncheon held at the end of every year to celebrate all of the Students of the Month.

The Health Corps club is a Poly nonprofit organization that collects healthy, unopened food during lunch every day.
The program was first thought of by Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2003 to help America’s children escape the obesity crisis.
Students can donate healthy food during lunch in the cafeteria or the quad to the Health Corps students with the big decorative recycling bins.
The club sponser is Ms. Ejiro Ntekume. She is passionate when it comes to youth and is a good mentor for students when it comes to health.
“I would like to share my experiences and help give back to the students of Poly and pour my information into the students,” said Ntekume.
Students learn how to become leaders, as well as how to be healthy. The Health Corps club has 15 students but Ntekume has not stopped there, as there are more clubs to help students get more active. There is a gardening club, along with the Poly Fitness Club.
These clubs are not just for physical health, but also for nutritional and mental health. There is a physical activity club for Poly’s staff and during the spring, Poly has Staff Wellness program. To keep Poly aware of health issues the annual Health Fair will be held in February.

Several students at Poly have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program based on their PSAT/NMSQT scores. Brandon Deutsch and Edward Lu have become National Merit Semifinalists. They are the only students in Long Beach to have achieved this.
In addition, a short list of students have been recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars. These students are Caitlin Crahan, Christian Greer, Andrew Jones, Nia Kelley, Marissa Mak, Diego Monroy, Carl Olson, Erin Osman, Rudy Peterson, Kieran Reiser, Elizabeth Robinet, Sofia Salcedo, Steele Speelman, and Timothy White.
“I felt pretty confident about it but I was surprised when I got my score back because it was definitely higher than I expected,” said Deutsch. When asked if he had any advice for juniors who plan to take the PSAT, he said “I honestly think that a lot of the PSAT and SAT stuff is just trickery and my personal opinion is that the ACT is a better test. I’m glad they’re changing the SAT so future students can take a test that I think more accurately tests knowledge. But as of now, I’d say just get a prep book or take a course and study all of the different tricks they use to try and mess you up. Besides that, just try your hardest even though it’s a practice test because there could be some definite benefits.”
Lu, also had some advice for test takers. “You don’t need to take an elite prep course to do well. The best thing to do is to just take a practice test every week, and read a lot.”
Out of the approximately 1.5 million entrants into the National Merit Scholarship Program, about 34,000 become Commended Scholars. Of these, 16,000 become Semifinalists, and of these 15,000 become Finalists. From these Finalists, the program then selects, based on academic records, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation, about 7,400 National Merit Scholars.