Tag: Long Beach Polytechnic High School Newspaper

  • What is the Ideal Date?

    My ideal date is anything that someone put their effort and creativity into. It doesn’t have to be expensive; it should just be enjoyable and fun.

    Some examples of some great first date ideas are active dates like going to one of those trampoline places or going go-kart racing or mountain climbing; pretty much any date where there won’t be any awkward quiet moments that I would have to fill in with boring conversation about school or lie about enjoying things. I also like the idea for a date that is something I could talk about for the rest of my life. I want to be old and decrepit talking about a date I had in high school with some guy who later cheated on me with my best friend, but that’s just me.

    Pretty much all I’m saying is a little effort goes a long way. Especially because we are all kids and are probably not gonna end up with who we are currently with.

  • Ayanna Clark Named McDonald’s All-American

    Ayanna Clark Named McDonald’s All-American

    The biggest stage for any senior high school basketball player in the United States is the Mcdonald’s All-American Game in Chicago, Illinois. Poly is blessed to have girls’ basketball player Ayanna Clark inducted into the game, and boys’ basketball players Zafir Williams and Myles Johnson have been nominated.

    For Ayanna Clark and other players inducted into this year’s 40th annual Mcdonald’s All-American Game on March 29, this is a dream come true. For this game, the top 600 best players in the nation are nominated, then around 30 are chosen to be able to play. With thousands if not millions of high school basketball players in the country, chances for any player being inducted is slim. However, Ayanna is the fifth girls basketball player from Long Beach Poly to be named for the big event.

    On January 31, Clark was given a ceremony during lunch where she was named as an All-American and also received her all-american jersey. After being awarded, she thanked everyone, “I just want to thank

    my coaches and my teammates and everyone else who’s been there for me” Clark said.

    Her varsity coach, Carl Buggs, also had some words to say. “I’m just so proud of her and what she’s done the past four years. Now she is rewarded, great job. Love you girl!”

    Clark is committed to USC and looks forward to playing on the next level. She has been a force to reckon with in high school, and it seems that it will be the same thing in high school. Many Mcdonald’s All-Americans end up playing pro-ball in their future, and we will see if this is the same case with Clark.

    Nominee: Myles Johnson

    Myles Johnson also known as “Myles The Monster” is a senior basketball player at Long Beach Poly High School. Myles’ effort and passion for the game has ended in great results, one of them being that he has been nominated to play in the All American 2017 McDonald’s High School Basketball. Myles is a dedicated player that has grown up playing basketball and having great influences.

    Nominee: Zafir Williams

    When Myles got nominated he said he felt honored to be nominated and it felt good to be chosen from the wide variety of other high school students that there are all over the nation. His goal is to pursue becoming an NBA player like one of his family members. He has many opportunities to enter colleges. Johnson explained, “Colleges contact me all the time.” He has received offers from many competitive colleges such as Yale, Princeton, Cornell, UC Davis, and UC Irvine.

  • Zoe’s Recent Rants

    There are 365 days in a year, multiply that by four, add one, and 1461 is the number of days I will be a legal, voting adult with Donald Trump as my president. That’s fine, because he legally won, thanks to the electoral college, but it’s not fair, because I didn’t vote. And it’s not that I chose not to vote because I think my vote doesn’t count. I didn’t vote because I couldn’t, because I turned 18 after November 8. But I turned 18 before January 20, so the entire 1461 days of Presidents Trump’s reign *cough* I mean presidency, I will be of voting age, and yet not have been allowed to voice my opinion. All citizens who will be of voting age on or before January 20 should be allowed to vote, especially since they will feel the impacts of the president just as much as those born two months earlier.

    Straight-Haired People, Shut Up!
    As a proud member of the curly-haired community, I can with little reserve say that if you have straight hair, you need to shut up. Not only is your hair ridiculously easy to deal with compared to my corkscrewed rats nest, it also conforms with the majority of images touted by fashion and beauty magazines of today, making you just that much closer to modern standards. I’m sorry you think your hair is boring, but at least you don’t have to douse it in conditioner in order to run a brush through it. Don’t get me wrong—I love my curly hair, but can the straight-haired people of this world please stop complaining?

    The Bowling Green Massacre
    It is embarrassing that an atrocity such as this has been ignored for so long, and no, I’m not talking about Kellyanne Conway. I’m talking about the terrible Bowling Green Massacre. How could the citizens of America go on with their normal lives without so much as recognizing that nothing is going on in Bowling Green, Kentucky? It’s not like nothing happens in Kentucky that often! I am asking for you to wake up, open your eyes, and look at the stunning number of dead bodies (zero), and say, “I will not stand for this! I will not idly stand by and let nobody be killed! This is America, damnit!”

     

    Don’t Discredit the Media
    Since I write for the school paper, I have plenty of opinions on newspapers and the media in general, and I am the first to say that media isn’t perfect. But now is not the time to turn against the media, because it is the counterweight, the last source of truth. By discrediting the media, the current government is manipulating the general population to believe that journalists are criminals who make up news. This is helpful because when an important story that is disagreeable to the government is aired, it will be easy to believe it is just another lie. Do not discredit the media; it is the media’s job to fact check, and if that bother’s you, deal with it.

  • Boys Basketball

    Boys Basketball

    On Saturday, February 4, the Long Beach Poly boys basketball team played Orange Lutheran at the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High. Poly won the game with a score of 72 – 49.

    Poly’s senior guard, Jeremiah Sadler, made a total of 26 points throughout the game. Sadler was 9 of 16 from the field, including an impressive 5 out of 9 from 3 point range. Sadler scored 16 of those just in the first half, and made 4 out of those 5 three pointers in just the first 16 minutes of the game.

    The first quarter ended with Poly leading 27 – 11. Out of those 27 points, 13 were made by Jeremiah Sadler. Senior Myles Johnson added 13 points with 15 rebounds and senior Zafir Williams added another 11 more points and 12 rebounds.

    This game Jeremiah Sadler showed off his skills because this game was really important to him. He recently had surgery and couldn’t do anything related to basketball for 7 months. Jeremiah is just now getting back to playing basketball and adjusting to practicing and being on the court again.

    Poly’s next game is Thursday, February 9 at Long Beach Polytechnic High School vs. Compton.

  • Girls Basketball

    The Poly Jackrabbits girls basketball team won a home conference game by a score of 76- 33 against Millikan on February 1.

    The girls started off the game well, with the first quarter score being 26-8. The more games the girls have played, the more used to things they are. Their competitive side always gives them the advantage. Varsity team player, Makauaenalahni Diamond Salevao, said it best when she stated, “It was a good game. It was a little more competitive, I feel like I could have played better.”

    It seems no matter how great the Lady Jackrabbits play, they always

    feel the need for improvement. They stay hard on themselves and practice just as hard. With an overall record of 20-3, that hard work is definitely paying off.

    On the February 7, they played the Cabrillo Jaguars and the Jackrabbits ended up winning once again. There was nothing for them to worry about, as they ended the game with a score of 86-16.

    On Thursday, February 9, they will play yet another game against Compton. They have so much going on that when Makauaenalahni Diamond Salevao was interviewed, she was unclear on which game was which. As far as she’s concerned, “All the games are competitive, hard, and still very fun.”

  • JJ’s Jam of the month: “Yes. I’m Ready”- Barbara Mason

    Not everyone has been in love, but at one point, we’ve all wanted to be. People of all ages find themselves wanting someone to spend every moment with. More than a want, but a need for love. We all need love. This song expresses the stage of being ready for a relationship. Whether it’s your first relationship or your millionth, new love can be so difficult. It’s hard to start over, to trust and be vulnerable to a new person. It can take a whole lifetime to find the right person or it can take no time at all, but when you do decide to take that first step, it’s the most beautiful and terrifying thing. The good thing is, from that point on, it gets easier, or so they tell me.

  • I Hate High School Couples and You Should Too

    I Hate High School Couples and You Should Too

    “Oh my God I have like the best boyfriend ever! He’s so romantic!”
    Who. The Hell. Cares? Stop bragging about your boyfriend, you both are so irrelevant. What? You think you’re something special because he took you to Denny’s and you guys saw a movie? Sweetie, that is not romance, he is just trying to get you in bed by the end of the day. Did he show up to your house with a box of chocolate and a rose? How cliché! First of all, he got the gross chocolate from Wal-Mart and he ate half the box anyway, then he picked the rose from some random old lady’s garden. He put minimal thought into this. And honestly, if you are going to buy into his crap you can at least keep it to yourself; there is nothing more frustrating than trying to get to class and having to walk slowly behind two idiots trying to cuddle and walk at the same time. You look ridiculous. By the way, I hope you realize all your friends hate him too; they think he’s a douche. They are right to think this. You wouldn’t notice, though, because you’re too busy thinking you’re in love. You girls really need to calm the hell down. No, you don’t need a boyfriend, what you need is to do your damn homework. So does he. I know he’s failing at least three classes because he’s too busy flirting with you (and your best friend when you’re not paying attention). But that’s none of my business. *Sips tea* Bye, loser. Happy Valentine’s Day!

  • Child Prostitution Is Still A No

    Many news articles have come out recently stating that child prostitution has been legalized in California. This is because Governor Edmund Gerald “Jerry” Brown, Jr. signed into law SB-1322 (Senate Bill No. 1322) on September 26, 2016. This bill changed the way prostitution would be treated for minors. The existing laws were that it was a “crime to solicit or engage in any act of prostitution” or to “loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution.” SB-1322 made the existing laws about prostitution in California inapplicable for those under the age of 18. This bill allows children who are trafficked into prostitution to no longer be tried as criminals, but instead as victims. So instead of having to serve prison time, Child Protective Services will be called.
    Many of those against this new legislation claim that it will cause an increase in prostitution because now more children will want to prostitute because there will be almost no consequences. They also claim that more pimps will target children knowing that they don’t have to worry about the prostitutes getting caught and going to prison. This could be true in a minute minority of instances, but in the majority this will make it much easier for those victims of human trafficking to seek help.

  • Flowers for Nobody

    You walk into a store
    Red packages in the shape of hearts invade every possible space.
    You watch as nervous boyfriends and husbands approach
    the flower display.

    Hoping for a perfect bouquet of roses, their petals velvety- soft, the color of A bleeding heart.
    You turn away.

    But later, as you’re about to leave the store,
    You turn back towards the flower display,
    You ignore the looks of the boyfriends and husbands.
    You feel their pity upon your back as you grab a bouquet of the most Perfect red roses.

    It’s as if
    They know there is nobody to… So
    You walk away.
    You and your flowers
    For nobody.

     

  • Comedy Sports: Teachers vs. Students

    Poly Comedy Sportz hosted a teachers versus students event on Friday, February 3, in the Poly Playhouse. Teachers versus students was a great event if you were looking for a good laugh. Admission was three dollars and they had snacks for sale too. It was an overall good audience of students and parents.

    In the event, teachers and students that participated were divided into two teams: staff and students, and played games for points.

    They had different types of games such as improvisation games, jokes, and even dance battles. At the end of the event, they played slow motion music and announced each of the players off the stage. One of the top players for the staff was journalism teacher Daryl Holmlund, who had some pretty good jokes. “A shoe walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘We don’t accept your kind.’ The shoe says, ‘well, why not?’ The bartender says, ‘I’m sorry, we’re just giving you the boot,’” told Holmlund. There were many other fun jokes like this. Drama teacher and captain of the staff team Linda Bon said, “The staff came off swinging with all their weapon unleashed and some ended up browned-bagged. The staff triumphed.”

    Brown-bagged is when a player said an offensive or just plain bad joke. They would get a brown bag put over their head and had to ask the crowd for an apology. Algebra teacher Steven Perrin, who got browned- bagged twice, said “We all had a great time and I’m sorry if they did not appreciate my jokes.”

    The staff dominated most of the games and won the final score. “Although the students are experienced pros, the staff just appeared to want it more,” Bon said. The participating students were Ryan Bacon, Kaelah Franklin, Shank Vamanrav, Gabby Kaiser, Nicolas Garcia- Zacher, Mika Dao, Adrianna Luna, Eliana Valenzuela, and Veggie Bacon.

  • Letter to My Ex

    Dear Bitter Loser,
    You really need to get your life together. You screwed up, deal with it! Stop calling and texting me; I blocked you for a reason. Stop texting my friends; they hate you and so do I. No, we can’t be friends. I tried being your friend after the break up; you screwed that up too. I don’t care that you miss me; the feeling isn’t mutual. I don’t care if your life is falling apart; it’s not my problem anymore. No, we can’t “talk it out,” there is nothing left to say. You f’d up. I hate you. End of story. Have a nice life, or maybe don’t; I couldn’t care less.

    Yours for-never, Jordyn

  • Does Valentine’s = Love?

    Does Valentine’s = Love?

    Love is a very beautiful thing. It can be possible for two soulmates to find each other at such a young age, but all this puppy love makes me roll my eyes so far back in my head, I’m scared they’ll fall out one day. I would love for a guy to offer me his hand, dance with me, and ask me questions other than “Send nudes?” but, sadly those days of young romance are just gone.
    For example, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were both already married when they met each other. Yoko had been married twice and was 36 years old. I have yet to meet a couple who genuinely love each other and who have lasted as many years.

    I don’t believe that romance is dead, I believe love evolves, and relationships change. Since the Victorian era, women’s only goal in life has been to catch a husband and pop out a bunch of babies. The way we date may have changed, but our end goal hasn’t, and why is that? This is a new era and a new generation. Love is so much more than one day of gifts, than a marriage, than planning a future together. Love is now, love is for everyone, and it’s everywhere. Spreading love is everything, but being in love isn’t. Focus on yourself, be the amazing person you deserve, reach your goals, marriage doesn’t equal success.

    If real love comes around, don’t celebrate it once a year with expensive gifts and empty promises. Love is everyday, Valentine’s is everyday. Single, taken, interested, irritated, high school is our time to grind, not plan a wedding.