Category: News

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.

On October 14, 2015, the Long Beach Unified School District had its first year of free testing for the PSAT/SAT.
Students were held different classrooms throughout campus to take their tests. Overall, there were 24,000 juniors and seniors test-taking.
These exams are for young adults to be tested on their abilities, knowledge and strength.
“The test was quite challenging and simple at the same time,” said senior Cherish Presley.
“Being able to have old material and questions being mixed with new ones are what make the tests a challenge,” said Junior Irene Davis.
“Taking the test is way easier than waiting for results,” said senior Maria Lopez.
These tests, along with Grade Point Average (GPA), are the factors that determine which college will accept and mold students into being the best that they can be. Students are encouraged and motivated to take the exams and to have the readiness for which universities suit their interests.
“The SAT is what help me to see my weakness and strengths, to know that I have the understanding to try harder in being good at something rather than fail,” said senior Ana Suarez.
However, applying to college isn’t an easy task, and is also a long process. Having amazing grades, outstanding test scores and wonderful results from the PSAT/SAT can without a doubt cause the schools to have interest into the mind sets of these students who try hard to achieve their goals and overcome the obstacles.
“Waiting for the results are nerve-racking because it’s scary to find out,” said senior Stephanie Garcia.
There are many opportunities to receive variety scholarships from different colleges and universities. The National Merit Scholarship is the biggest break point for juniors and seniors to see what they can conquer. This is a type of competition for recognition and scholarships. To participate for entry, students are required to meet certain requirements, including writing about your achievements and awards and having the results of the SAT exam.
“I thought it was an unfair advantage for students who are not in Pre-Calc to see a Pre-Calculus question on the PSAT. It made some kids’ self esteem lowered. I heard some kids say that they hated math,” said Paula Clemente.

Red Ribbon Week occurs over the course of October 19 to 23.
Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign.
It is observed annually in October in the United States.
“I’ve never met anybody who had a problem with drugs but I’ve seen and heard what they do to people, especially in our generation so I know to stay away,” said sophomore Jason Hy.
Poly showed Red Ribbon spirit by dressing each day to show drug free awareness. Rallies were also held during lunch.
The week began Monday, October 19, which was “Be A Jean-ius Dress-Up Day,” so students wore their best jeans.
On Tuesday, students and teachers wore sunglasses all day to “Shade Out Drugs” during school.
Wednesday was “Sock It To Drugs Dress-Up Day.” Power 106 radio station participated and a basketball rally was held during lunch.
Thursday held the theme “Red Shirt Dress-Up Day.” During lunch, there was another rally.
Friday will be “Pink Shirt Dress-Up Day.” There will be a rally for the girls tennis and the girls golf teams that afternoon during lunch.

The speech and debate team participated in the Package Deal tournament on Saturday, October 10, at Arcadia High School, with many Jackrabbits placing highly amongst a field of 280 entrants.
Freshmen Iyanna Blackburn, Dan Dao, Darren Hall, Aiyanna Johns, Thomas Robinett, Coco
Sanabria, and William Terlinden competed in this event. Senior Destin Bigsby accompanied
them as an event judge.
Being the only one of its kind in the nation, the competition gives first-time speakers the chance to explore both the oratorical and argumentative sides of forensics. Only novices, or first year members, are allowed to take part in this tournament.
Participants competed in a variety of events that day, starting off with National Extemp. Students were given 30 minutes to draft a five to seven minute speech on a random topic.
After competing in that round, they moved onto Dramatic Interpretation, which involved students presenting a serious story, play, or published work. Impromptu was the next event, in which they were given two minutes to prepare a five minute speech on a random subject.
“My favorite event would have been the impromptu. It was a new and interesting thing that I hadn’t done before, and I got [the Internet], a topic that I felt I knew perfectly,” said Terlinden.
After a lunch break, students concluded the day with Congressional Debate, in which they were tasked with either defending or opposing proposed legislation.
Participants won ribbons based on their performances in either the morning or afternoon rounds. Terlinden was awarded two ribbons for placing first, second, third, and second in his events. Sanabria and Hall placed highly in Congressional Debate, while Blackburn and Johns placed second in their Dramatic Interpretation rounds.
“The competition was a great experience. It helped all of the new speakers on our team to really get to know how a tournament works and what would be expected of us,” said Johns.
Led by long-time coach Brett Alexander, the speech and debate team has been very successful on the regional and state levels in past years. He has coached several state champions and finalists, all of whom have gone on to attend prestigious universities like Harvard and Stanford.
Their next competition is Fall Novice, which will be held at Gabrielino High School on November 14. The team is preparing itself for State Qualifiers at California State University, Long Beach in late February and early March.
“We have good senior leadership and a lot of new faces. The state championships are in San Jose in April, and I think we are going to have two or three qualifiers,” said Alexander.

The Poly Marching Band came in second place in a field competition at Segerstrom High School on Saturday, September, 26th. The band played its field show, called To Catch a Thief. “For a first competition it went very well. We decided to get an earlier start on our show this year and the score definitely showed improvement on past years and we are definitely optimistic,” said Poly Drum Major Elizabeth Kriebal. In marching band competitions, marching bands play music and make a series of formations called drills on the field. These drills may be pictures, designs, geometric shapes, or blocks of musicians. During a field show, marching bands are evaluated based on criteria including musicality, uniformity, visual impact, artistic interpretation, and difficulty of the music or drill. Marching bands are popular throughout the country. They often serve as entertainment at football games, and sometimes work in tandem with cheerleaders. The Poly Marching Band plays at almost all Poly football games, providing encouragement to the team. “There’s still work to do, but we’re off to a very good start,” said Kriebal.