Photos by David Moore
Tag: Long Beach Polytechnic High School
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Time for City Corps
JROTC is preparing to start off strong this year with their City Corps competition coming up on October 4 at Cabrillo High School. City Corps is an event between four schools: Lakewood, Paramount, Cabrillo, and Long Beach Poly. At the event, the top four cadets will be interviewed by all the instructors from each school.
The commanders have chosen their top four cadets to represent Poly, which will be senior Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Justeny Arias, senior Cadet Major Shaina Tudayan, senior Cadet Major Matthew Sann, and junior Cadet Command Sergeant Major Carina Ayala. These four cadets will be answering questions to see what position they will be able to hold on the Junior ROTC Staff.
“This is nothing they can really study for,” Senior Army Instructor Sergeant Major Wright explained. “It’s just gonna be military knowledge on how they would handle certain scenarios.”
As for cadets being chosen, they were carefully picked to represent Poly.“The cadets are very dedicated to the program of ROTC and the needs for Poly High School,” Wright said.
Junior Cadet Carina Ayala explained how she is very excited to be attending and feels honored to be the only represented junior out of the four chosen. Ayala dedicated her 3 years at Poly to Junior ROTC and is looking forward to potentially hold a higher position for her senior year. “I love ROTC because it has pushed me to be the full potential version of myself, and as well, I know I will do great in the competition,” Ayala said.
After this event passes, JROTC’s next event will be the Veteran’s Parade on November 11.
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Pathway Equality
I absolutely hate the way that a lot of PACE and CIC kids can be treated completely different than kids in other academies. Because I am in PACE, I’m going to mostly focus on that for this article. I remember when I was a freshman in PE, hearing that PACE kids who didn’t dress didn’t have to worry about getting picked up by ACE.
PACE kids usually end up being more informed about college and APs than other kids. Once there was a non-PACE senior in my AP Spanish class who had never heard of the AP test until the teacher explained it to him. Once when I was talking about college to a friend, another friend asked us, “How do you guys know so much about college?”
It also bothers me to my soul the way that I see many PACE kids treat and talk to non-PACE kids. I remember one student in my PE class saying, “Honestly, if you aren’t in PACE or CIC you aren’t smart,” or another kid once saying, “PACE kids deserve to have their own building because they are the smart ones.” I remember freshman year I had a BEACH girl in my group of friends and one of the PACE girls made a comment to her telling her that she wasn’t smart.
I have never been stopped when I was walking around school without a pass during class. I feel like in my classes with non-PACE kids I get preferential treatment.
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The Serialized Adventures of John P. Chandatlantic, Part 2
Part 1 of the “John P. Chandatlantic” was published in the High Life on February 23
I heard a senior call the area between the 200 Building and the 300 Building as “The Meadow.” I like that. It’s cute. A good place for flowers and bunnies and—crap, Dad has me making Jackrabbit puns.
Everyday when he drops me off he always says, “All right, hop along now, have a good day.” Every. Single. Day. Hop along.Oh, who am I kidding, I love puns. Last Thursday in math, the girl who sits behind me was talking to her friend and her friend says, “Dude, my sister literally locked me out. I had to climb the tree up to my window!” The other girl goes, “Wow, you’re really branching out.” So I turned around and was like, “I cannot be-leaf you just said that.” She laughed and then I didn’t really know what to say so I just turned back around. Nobody said anything for a little while so I kinda half-turned around; then realized I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t. Then I turned around and asked if she would be interested in Batman Club.
She was kinda cute actually…
I still haven’t really found a lunch group yet. Most days I just chill in Mr. A’s room during lunch. My friend Evan and I play Speed. Sometimes when the computers are open we’ll find some stupid browser game to play together, so that’s fun. And there’s Batman Club once a week. We just get together and Mr. Maddison plays episodes of the Batman Cartoon. Evan comes with me, when he remembers. There are usually one or two other kids, and sometimes we chat.
I still haven’t really found my niche though.But the other day I was looking out of Mr. Maddison’s window— that one that can’t close because it’s broken— and down into the Meadow and I noticed that she was sitting there, laughing and chatting with some of my classmates. There were little white flowers in the grass and a couple of her friends were making dandelion-bracelets for each other. I knew everyone she was with; most of them I talk to in class.
On screen, Batman punched the crook off a dock and the end of lunch bell rang. Evan threw his arm around my shoulder and dragged me off to my next class.
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Mathletes Take the Pi(e)
On Wednesday, March 1, Poly’s cafeteria hosted the Bay Math League’s first of four annual competitions.
“It’s a big deal,” says calculus teacher and coach of the Poly Math Team, Pam Amici. “There are schools from all over California coming here.” There are twelve schools with teams in the Bay Math League. Poly is the only school from Long Beach Unified District. All others came from schools farther north.
These schools crowded into the cafeteria, filling it with pink “I’m sec C and I know it” jackets and several variations of the Pi symbol made up of various other numbers or mathematical constructs. Poly’s team claimed the largest swath of the cafeteria and, though they had the home field advantage, they did seem to be lacking something the other schools were not: snacks. But, unlike most of the other teams, Poly’s team is not funded by the school.
Most of the schools there had one or two teams of roughly a dozen people each. Poly on the other hand has sixty students on its team. “I believe that I let everyone who wants to participate participate,” says Amici. The only reason she caps the volunteers at sixty is that the bus to the other venues can only hold that many.
According to a handful of the seniors on the team, the main motivator for joining is the extra credit, though there are a handful of underclassmen on math team for the pure love of math. One such mathlete is sophomore William Terlinden, who says math team has given him “perspective on [his] study methods.” He says, “It’s been a way to evaluate my actual skill in math instead of how much I can cram.”
Senior Mani Vu has a different reason for joining Poly’s math team. “On math team,” says Vu, “I attracted so many girls it was ridiculous. I was like a chick magnet.” He then got serious and reflected on how math team has allowed him to embrace his “inner nerd.” He believes that the Math Team is one of those communities that makes Poly such a special place. -
Swim Starts Off Strong
Poly’s swimming season has started. There was a girls swim meet against Los Alamitos and Marina, which in they lost by a small margin. The thing with those swim meets is that they were D1 teams which made it harder because they were faster. This made good turnouts to the girls swim team with the fact that they can get an idea of the future of the season.
The biggest competition so far is with Wilson High School since the Bruins have been maintained a 44 year winning streak in the boys swim meets. Boys varsity swim team is hopefully going to kill it this season because the boys have the capability of beating Wilson from all their hard work and effort.Most of the good swimmers have gotten a head start on this sport, having played five years old, such as Isabella Magalong a senior student member in the girls swim team, and Leilani Davila, a former member of the swim team. Many think that swim should actually be considered an individual sport but our swim team has a different opinion about that. As Magalong states, ”Before high school swim I would participate in club swimming, which in the time I saw it as an individual sport, but now I see it as a group sport,and as a team everyone has an aspect and each get points and have it as an accumulative effort.”
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Softball Starts Off Rough
The Long Beach Poly softball team has started their season with a rough stretch with a 2-4 record. Against Tustin High School Poly won 8-2 and unfortunately St. Anthonys beat us in a 7-1 loss this past weekend.
3 year varsity player and returning shortstop Evelyn Sablan said, “our defense did a good job, we hit the ball hard but it wasn’t the outcome we were looking for.” The girls have been playing well but some teams are better than others, but that’s not a problem for our Lady Jackrabbits they are ready to face the Moore League teams and hope to win Moore League.
Their next game is not until March 25 which gives the team time to practice harder and improve on their communication skills. Returning catcher, senior Crystal Cepeda says, “I’m looking forward to playing with the team after taking a year off and enjoying my last year playing softball as a senior.”
Another key point is that the team needs to work together as two year returning varsity catcher Alexis Durand said “I’m looking forward to everyone playing together as a team, I think we can be better than last year if we put in enough hard work we can succeed.” The team has a lot of potential this upcoming season after moving players up from junior varsity. “There is a lot more talent on the team, which should lead to a Moore League title,” said senior Jaclyn Pangelinan. -
Softball
The girls varsity softball team will start their season in a tournament on February 25, which is this coming Saturday at Katella High School in Anaheim. “The girls have been practicing hard to prepare for the upcoming tournament,” said senior and three-year varsity player Jacyln Pangelinan. Girls varsity softball coach Kenith Munger has been coaching for many years, and knows the game very well. He hopes to lead the team to a Moore League title.
The team has a chance with the new additions to the team who came from the Junior Varsity team. First baseman and two-year varsity player Madison Demos said, “I can’t wait to get back between the lines and play.”
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Black History Month
I remember in middle school and elementary school when we used to spend time in February learning about important Black Americans and their impacts in American innovation, culture and society. I never realized that we would no longer discuss any of this once we “promoted” to high school. The only ways for Poly students to discuss or learn about even the most minute piece of Black Americans’ role in America is to take Black History or Ethnic Studies as an elective, or be lucky enough to have Sarah Schol for English.
It is beyond annoying that as an African American I spend most of my life learning only about the accomplishments of people who look nothing like me. I feel like many people of color feel the same way that I do. In all honesty, I can’t even remember a time when we learned about Hispanic Heritage month in class. Even when the High Life staff discussed writing about Black History Month, one staff writer didn’t even know February was Black History Month.
For this reason I feel like public education system is failing students of color in the history department and it is time something is done about about it. The district should put more emphasis for students to learn about minorities and the influence that they have in American culture.
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The Bachelor: The Pros and Cons of Corinne
Pro:
This season of The Bachelor features Nick Viall, age 36, who has been on two seasons of the Bachelorette – twice as a runner up (how unfortunate) – and a contestant of 2016’s Bachelor in Paradise. Now Nick is ready to find love as the Bachelor. But this is only the beginning.
The first episode started with 30 women and the number has now dwindled down to a mere four. It’s so bizarre… each one of these women considers herself the Bachelor’s girlfriend. So many women have been sent home heartbroken and the tears are quite overwhelming. The show needs a theatrical factor, and that’s where Corinne Olympios comes in.
Disregarding some of the things she does in her “relationship” with Nick, Corinne, who is a twenty-four year old co-owner of a billion dollar company, is hilarious.
She naps after almost every time she talks with Nick because she’s completely over it, but can we blame her? She can be found eating and drinking as much as possible at the cocktail parties before the rose ceremonies and is, in my utmost opinion, the most honest contestant on the show.
Corinne keeps it real and said she feels “like I’m not being myself, but I am trying really hard to be myself, but because I am trying really hard to be myself it’s making me even more not myself.” Yes, this is an actual quote from the twenty-four year old herself.
Watching Corinne cry for sushi is what makes Bachelor 2017 memorable. Although it is a reality TV show where love is molded and synthetically created for an audience, Corinne is the actual entertainment, what would you really expect more?Con:
As I was scrolling through Hulu one night trying to find something new to watch, I noticed a new season of The Bachelor had started up. I figured I would pop my Bachelor cherry and I watched.
I was shook by the fact that initially 30 women were all fighting for affection from one guy, granted Nick Viall is bomb fire delicious. I became super invested in the first couple women in the show, like both of the Danielles because they are just such pure beans, because they seemed to have good intentions and were super likable, then Corinne Olympios popped up.
She is the epitome of everything I hate. She thinks she is all that because she runs her own business and has a nanny. She is super disrespectful; she once slept through a rose ceremony because she had already received a rose (immunity). She is constantly napping at the most important time – I guess she really needed some beauty sleep.
In one episode, a group date consisted of a wedding photo shoot. She was jealous of Brittany, who was chosen for the Adam and Eve wedding and her “wedding dress” was nothing but a leaf bikini bottom and her long hair covering her bare breasts. In order to catch Nick’s attention, she decided to take her top off and have Nick cover her boobs with his hands for her.
She won the photo shoot and earned extra alone time with Nick, even though she already has plenty because she snatches him away from the other girls constantly to increase her alone time.
I believe her winning was totally unfair and sends the wrong message about how to get a man to like you. She disgusts me in everything she does. She is making everything about sex and she’s SOO whiny and I just can’t deal with her. Her personality is your typical Regina George Mean Girl.
It makes it seem like Nick just wants someone to fool around with when he is on The Bachelor for the third time because he wants to settle down. It’s unfair to all those women who are there to get into a serious relationship.
I cannot believe Corinne has lasted and made it into the final four. Since the beginning I have been rooting for Raven, a sweet Southern girl who once walked in on a boyfriend cheating on her and who honestly deserves better. Corinne is the reason that people bash the Bachelor and is only there to be the butt of the joke. -
Humans Of Poly
On herself:
“I’m Sakeena. My name means tranquility in Arabic. I like photography and traveling. That’s basically me really.”
On discrimination:
“Well I’ve been pretty fortunate because we’re in California so there aren’t very many people who are overtly discriminatory. I’ve heard snide side comments, but not anything towards me, personally, which has made me want to be more of a positive presence. I don’t want people to even have to think about making comments like that. I want people to know true Islam and that’s why I made the presentation.”
On her presentation for World Hijab Day:
“I talked about the concept of hijab which basically just translates to modesty, and how it applies to both men and women, not just women. Women do show it more, we cover our hair. But hijab doesn’t just apply to appearance, it’s also about the way you talk and the way you act. I also pointed out that Islam’s not the only religion that encourages modesty. Nuns in Christianity, [and] some orthodox Jewish women also cover their hair. So basically, it’s just about feeling closer to God. For me, it’s about being comfortable in my religious identity.”
On ignorance:
“Don’t be afraid to ask [about Islam]. We don’t bite. I love to answer questions. I would love to clear up any misconceptions that anyone has. If you are ever confused, don’t hesitate to ask.” -
Kake Hashi Exchange Program at Poly
From February 2 through the 4, some of Poly’s own got a chance to host students from Akita, Japan, and got the opportunity to expose the exchange students to the campus and southern California. During their journey, they got a glimpse into the best, and the worst, of American culture, experiencing everything from Hollywood to Disneyland. A whopping twenty-three Japanese students, along with two chaperones, accompanied a select handful of Poly students around.
During this past summer, Poly students went to Japan, along with Christine Tram and Susan Watson, to visit the same students at their high school, Akita Minami. This unique exchange program is made possible by Kake Hashi (Japanese for building bridges), an organization that is aiming to form a bond between Japan and the United States by allowing youth of both nations to better understand each other’s culture. “Well, taking my students to Japan benefits my class because they get to actually use their Japanese in a real life situation, and they got to see all the stuff they learned in class. I wasn’t making up Japanese, I was teaching them real words,” said Watson with a reminiscent smile.
Can you imagine going to school for six days a week in a suit and tie, or a blazer and pleated skirt? That’s what daily life is like for a high school student in Japan. They uphold a professional appearance to keep up with their world renowned academic reputation. But, can you imagine not being able to show public displays of affection to your significant other? These sort of regulations are commonplace in a Japanese high school, so you can imagine their surprise when they came to Poly with couples snogging at every corner and fashion choices from ponchos and bell bottoms to flip flops and crop tops. Akita is covered in nearly three feet of snow right now, adding to the cultural distinction.
However, there are a few aspects of the culture that American students can relate to. Around this time of year, Japanese students are anxiously going through the process of pursuing a higher education in college. In America, we have numerous chances of getting a good enough SAT score to impress the colleges of our choice. In Japan, however, they have one shot. They go to said institution, take the test, and wait at the edge of their seats for results. Though this may seem inconceivable, Japanese students grew up with this healthy, competitive attitude towards their education, and consider anything else to be foreign. “It inspires me to just work hard and be grateful that I live in America, a country where, just like college, you have multiple opportunities to be successful,” said senior Tatiana Tate, as she recalls the difficulties Japanese students have to face.
Both Japanese and American students alike got an enriching experience from the exchange. Exposing the exchange students to American culture may have been rewarding by way of freedom of expression through clothing and physical contact with other humans, but could also remind them of their academic advantage from being in such a cultivating environment. American students, on the other hand, would jubilantly return to their five-day school weeks and multiple opportunities to achieve success in their scholastic endeavours. However, the slight division between the two is the very foundation of the bridges being built through the Kake Hashi program. The experiences it provide to students from both sides of the world are unforgettable, and emphasize the importance of blending cultures in order to improve global relationships. “No matter where you are from around the word, you typically have similar morals and similar hobbies,” said senior Kayla Sanders.
Future exchange opportunities in the Poly Japanese language department include partnerships with Long Beach’s sister city, Yokkaichi, that extend beyond surface level explorations. On July 20, 2017, two students and one teacher from each city will be sent on a three week trip to Japan to act as goodwill ambassadors. On July 31, four students and one teacher will embark on an eight day environmental summit, learning about innovative ways Yokkaichi is helping the planet become more environmentally friendly. Application deadline for both of these opportunities are on Friday, February 24.