Jaguar Times

JAGUAR TIMES

The Student Voice of South East High School

Volume 7 Issue 4 January, 2012

INSIDE

THE

TIMES

IN NEWS:

$2 million grant

IN OPINION:

Autism speaks

IN FEATURES:

Mr. Lopez outgoing life

IN SPORTS:

Powder Puff

Special:

The End is Approching

Gong Hey Fat Choy!Happy New Year’s

By Mauel Mejia Editor-in-Chief (Design)

It’s a brand new year; 2012 to be exact. “Gong Hey Fat Choy” is what a cou-ple of South East Jaguars had to say to welcome the year of the dragon dur-ing the Chinese New Year parade on Saturday, January 28 in China Town. Interact members, including Interact clubs from Bell, Hawthorne, West High, El Segundo, and Palos Verdes were assigned a task in front of the march. “We had to lead the pa-rade holding an American fl ag and say a Chinese saying, “Gong Hey Fat Choy!” [Happy New Year’s],” said

Luis Torres, a senior in the Business, Finance, and Leadership small school, and the president of the Interact club. The parade was approximate-ly an hour long walk and welcomed participants with a warm sunny day and cheery spectators. Additionaly some of the Interact members had good things to say about their experi-ence in the parade, “While walking we had to say Happy New Year’s, al-though we had to walk... in the sun, I really enjoyed it,” said Bianca Gon-zalez, a senior from the Visual and Performing Arts small school. Oth-ers knew the experience would be fun, since there were some students

who had previously participated in the event. “I had been in the previ-ous parade, so I knew it was going to be fun marching,” said Kevin Balam, a senior in the Health, Sci-ence, and Environment small school. The parade consisted of many different beautiful and well-designed Chinese dragons. Inside the dragons one could fi nd children, adolescents, and adults participating in the parade. Marchers wore a red T-shirt, branded: “The Immortals.” Music, fl ags, and a variety of bright colors could be en-joyed from the sidewalks along with the dancing dragons. Car models, such as the Batmobile and Mystery

Machine, which came out in

famous TV shows and movies were driven and displayed and greeted by many shouts and cheers. The parade continued on while all the Interact club members were re-routed back to the destination where it originally started. Interact members seemed en-thusiastic and have many goals for this New Year both inside and outside of school, some of which they have achieved or plan to achieve. “This New Year is coming along great, both at home and at school…I have accomplished getting grades for this semester and I hope to keep that up,” said Adilene Garcia, a senior from the Business, Finance, and Leadership small school. Torres, the president of

the Interact club said, “The fall se-mester was pretty hectic with all the college applications, but now I have more time to devote to Interact. We are already planning more upcoming events.” Torres seems to be on track, ready to embrace the New Year. The club has a goal to donate $1,000 to Heifer International. “They will use the money to provide food for African families,” said Torres. A Happy New Year’s indeed. It seems the Jaguars at South East are prepared for this year with set plans to come and achieve.

Check out Manuel Mejia’s blog http://manuelmejiablog.blogspot.com/

Illustrated by Manuel Mejia

Photo by Manuel Mejia

NEWSPage 2

MESA students work together to excel in math, science & engineering

Story by Ambrocio Almanza Reporter

Story by Jaime Carrillo Reporter

Proposed 2012/2013 New Bell Schedule

Breakfast 7:00 a.m. - 7:20 a.m. 20 Minutes

Period 1 7:30 a.m. - 8:29 a.m. 59 Minutes



Lunch 10:37 a.m. - 11:12 a.m. 35 Minutes

Period 4 11:17 a.m. - 12:16 p.m. 59 Minutes

Period 5 12:21 p.m. - 1:20 p.m. 59 Minutes



Dean Lopez in his office discussing about

the new schedule.

Ms.Corral working hard on new changes for

next year.

A school improvement grant

has been set forth which would add more hours to school and add one more period. This will be the second schedule change in two years. This

year’s seniors had to go through the

process of becoming accustomed to

the new six periods and now with another change the 2013 seniors will

have to get accustomed to a second

change to their school schedule.

“To me if everyone [stu-dents and instructors] is on board with the new schedule and dedi-cate time into adjusting to it, then

it will succeed,” said Dean Lopez.

The intention of the improve-ment grant is to help students im-prove their academic work. The grant

requires intervention and enrichment,

which means that the grant will not

only target struggling students, but

also students that are high-achieving.

The only way for this to get done would

be to extend school hours, which

would help with remediation, credit

recovery, and enrichment classes.

The improvement grants

funding is about $2 million. If the

funding were delivered on time the

new schedule would be in place by next year. This grant will not only ex-

tend the hours in which the students will have to attend, but also hours

for teachers and staff. The opportu-nity of this grant was given to the

school because test scores in the past years were at a low. This did not go

into play this year because funders were revisiting the schools that were

granted this grant prior to South

East, so the plan was put on hold.

Summer school has become an issue as well since it has been cut. This would mean that students that have failed classes this year or prior to this year will not be able to make them up. The improvement grant will

A robot created by M.E.S.A. Photo By Jasmine Marin

Jaguar Times

Editor-in-chief (Content)

Jacqueline W. Aldana

Editor-in-chief(Design)

Manuel Mejia

Opinion Editor

Angelica Farris

Ana Uruga

News Editor

Rosemary SanchezGritsy Urrutia

Features Editor Eva Luna Sports Editor

Juan MendozaLuis Gonzalez

Arts&Entertainment Editor

Jesus Nunez

Special Editor

Oscar Basurto

Photographer

Luis SanatanJuan LomeliMariana MontoyaAshley CovarrubiasJose DiazJacqueline MartinezMelissa MayoralJeffrey MendezAnthony LopezSergio Gallegos

Monica Rodriguez

Jazmin MarinAlexis QuirozDaniel Navarro

Reporters

Jaime CarilloRamiro SuazoLeonardo MartinezAmbrocia AlmanzaRicardo GarciaJessica Iniguez

Breshawna RamseyAnnabel GonzalezRichard PerezAlejandra Aguilar

Desiree Villatoro

Jocelyne RamosDaniel CanalesVanessa NavarroAlejandro Baltazar

Adviser

Mr. Cottom

The Jaguar Times is generally an eight-

page publication produced by the South

East High School Journalism department.

The entire student body, the primary audi-ence, receives the paper free of charge

to encourge readership and to ensure the

showcasing of student journalistc work.

The secondary audience for the paper is the faculty, staff, and administration of the

school district. Other audiences include members of the local community, other school jour-nalism programs throughout the counrty,

and organizations that promote the develop-ment of scholastic journalism. Without their support, the department cannot maintain a

high-quality program.

The newspaper attempts to inform and entertain it’s audience board, fair, and

accurate manner on all subjects that af-fect readers. The publication seeks also to provide a forum for the opinion students,

the staff, of the paper, and the faculty, thus

encouraging an exchange of ideas and opin-ions on issues of importance to the readers. Although the staff will allow

constructive criticism of any part of the paper before publication, final authority for

content of the paper rests solely in the hands of journalism students. In accordance with

State of California Education Code 48907,

despite the court ruling in Hazel v.. Kuhl-meier; administrators rely on the adviser and staff to make all content decisions.

Many people wonder what the MESA club is really about, and, sim-ply, it’s an after school program that

helps students that have the potential to excel in the fields of math, engineer-ing, and science or computer science.

The MESA club provides a collabora-tive environment where students can work together and guide each other

with their support. Anyone is eligible

to join and there is no grade point

average requirement. Students just

fill out an application and they’re in.

The MESA club also prepares students for a career in Mathematics,

Science and Engineering with fun

activities and competitions. “Stu-dents get to compete against other

districts in different categories,” said

Mr. Abad, a math teacher. Some of

the competitions include: mousetrap cars, model brains, gliders, bridges,

egg drops and much more. Students

who build inventions enter them into competitions against other schools,

and the school with the best inven-

tion that works without any mal-functions win it all. “It’s a positive

thing to put [on] their college appli-cation,” said Abad. MESA also of-fers various types of academic sup-port to get a step closer to college.

This may sound very uninter-esting, but it gets pretty intense. In

their previous competition, which was

held in San Diego, students walked

in with their heads held up high ready

to battle any school that came their way. The freshman, sophomores, and

juniors were divided into their own competitions, and each grade had

their own winner. Some schools were more advanced and had built more efficient robots, but the students

weren’t going out without a fight.

Students are preparing themselves

for their upcoming competition by

building their own individual robots

and adding new designs with new

gadgets. Students will also have to

make them work without any mis-haps or malfunctions, which will

help them win the competition. This year’s MESA club will be the first

to compete against other schools.

“Since this is our first

year competing, were

considered as the rook-ie team,” said Abad.

Their upcoming competition

will be held in Long Beach, Califor-nia in March. The MESA club needed a sponsor in order to join the competi-tion where they needed to pay $6,500

dollars for an entry fee, which was do-nated by JCPenney in Carson, Califor-nia through Mr. Preston the manager.

help by adding an additional

class in which students will be able to receive a credit r e c o v e r y c l a s s . U p to now the most that has been figured out

is that the grant has

been ap-proved and the change of schedule will

happen. The schedule itself has not been released or fi-nalized because the money has yet to be received by the school. Staff is still in planning

and nothing has been finalized.

“The intention is to make an impact in your education and be able to provide for you and looking at both sides, not

only intervention and the stu-dents that are failing, but also

enrichment,” said Ms. Cor-ral, an assistant principal.

While the staff criticize this as a good thing many of the soon-to-be

seniors see this as a bad thing. “Be-coming a senior frightens me. I can’t

believe I’ll be a senior in a matter of

months. I’m not in favor of seven pe-riods because some students are strug-gling with six. Besides the extra class

will mostly be an unwanted elective class,” said Daniel Vazquez, a junior in

the Health and Science small school. Much has to be said about this by the students who seem to be the ones that will be affected the most. “I think this new seven periods and

longer school day is going to be aw-ful. It’s bad enough that we changed

from the four-by-four and now anoth-

er change, I just think it really isn’t

fair for everyone that we have to go

through another change,” said Hazel

Martinez, a

junior in the Justice, Law,

and Service small school. A l -though the

majority of students have said much n e g a t i v e

about this grant, some find it positive

as well as negative. “ I believe there

are pros and cons to having seven pe-riods. It would help a lot of students

catch up in classes and credits, but if

you’re caught up then seven classes

would be useless,” said Joseph Folgar,

a junior in the Tech & Media magnet.

Much was also said by the new freshmen. “For me this would be a

new change because in middle school

we had a six period bell schedule so the transition from middle school to high school wasn’t that tough,

but now that the schedule is gonna

change it’s going to take time to ad-just,” said Alexis Valenzuela, a fresh-man in the Tech & Media magnet.

For most students this is seen

as a thing that will affect them nega-tively. This is for the fact that the school day would be longer which

would include more work. What isn’t taken into consideration is that fact that this was done for the better of the school. This will not only af-fect the students, but staff and teach-ers as well. More hours means more time everyone will have to put in and more work everyone will have to do.

For more information on MESA go

to www.sehsrobotics.wordpress.com

Photo by Juan Lomeli

M.E.S.A club members working to-gether in a group activity.

Photo by Jasmine Marin

South East Receives $2 Million dollar Grant

Photo by Juan Lomeli

“To me if everyone [stu-dents and instructors] is on board with the new sched-ule and dedicate time into adjusting to it, then it will

succeed,” said Dean Lopez.

News Page 3

Students now under Surveillance By Stephanie Robles and Alberto AnguianoReporters

The school campus is now under the lenses of security cam-eras located around and within the school campus. “They are being watched,” said Mr. Lopez, one of two deans in campus. Cameras were installed over a four-week period, which in-cluded Winter Break. They were paid for by the District’s own fund-ing which means there is no exact sum of money it took to purchase and install the security cameras. “This is new to us,” admit-ted Mr. Losada, one of the school’s assistant principals. Cameras will be provided with sufficient funds to help maintain their overall condition for the years to come. These security

cameras are fairly easy to use. Any administrator or staff member can use a log-in username and password to access live footage of any cameras installed around the school. It is cur-rently unknown if this action is pos-

sible outside of the school campus. South East is now a part of a list of the LAUSD’s campuses with security cameras. Jordan High School, Bell High School, and Wilson High

School all have surveilance cam-eras. Even Jefferson High School has a “single room filled with mon-itors.” Surveillance cameras are known to monitor people’s actions to prevent any or further problems but only time will tell if these cam-eras do their job.

Dean Lopez Returns

By Aldo Alcala

Reporter

After an absence of a few months which went most-ly unnoticed, Jesus Lopez, Dean of Discipline, has returned.

Lopez was absent on account of “pa-perwork issues,” as he said. Contrary

to many rumors he said, “I was not on vacation… this job is my vacation.”

Lopez seems enthusiastic about being back with the Jaguars. How-

ever, he does express some disap-pointment; “[the rest of security] relaxed some of my rules” he said, referringto hat and iPod policies.

“ Having aides does make my job a lot easier… but more security

doesn’t mean anything if they’re not doing much,” Lopez commented on the extra security that has been add-ed to the school. He later went on and said the same of the new security cameras. For example, he expressed that while cameras can, indeed, catch someone, they won’t necessarily stop them from breaking the rules.

When it comes to students, many have expressed their relief at Lo-

pez’s return. “It’s good to have Mr. Lopez back to make the school safe for us,” said Luis Figueroa, a junior in the VAPA small school. Other students, like Matthew Andrade, a junior from the Justice, Law and Ser-vice small school, said that without

him the school was “very chaotic.”

Other students seem to be excited to see him back.

Clarissa Ruiz, a senior in VAPA said, “It’s good to have Lopez back,

the was missed bunches.” Sam-mantha Sahagun, a senior in

VAPA, said with a smile, “there will never be another Mr. Lopez.”

Dean Lopez working on an important job in his office. Photo by Aldo Alcala

“...there will never be an-

other Mr. Lopez,”said Sam-matha Sahagun

Photo by Aldo Alcala

byAlejandraAguilarreporters

Last year Wise-Up! started a scholarship for un-documented students and this year they are doing the same. Wise-Up! Is fund-raising to raise a $500 scholarship for an un-documented students who is unable to re-ceive financial aid. A p p l i c a n t s must seek an edu-cation beyond high school in order to be eligible for this scholarship. These applicants also have to write a small essay on why they deserve to

win this scholarship. In order to pick a winner and not be bi-

ased Wise-Up! trades applications with Bel-mont High, then Bel-

mont picks a winner. Although, the money

does not seem much it can make a big differ-ence in aiding student

education with books, computers or other essential materials.“ Even though, we don’t know which of our friends are un-documented we must do something to help them succeed,” said Elsie Andrade, a ju-nior in the Health and Science small school and Wise-Up! member.Applications will be available sometime dur-ing May. For more in-formation students can attend Wise-Up! Meet-ings, Tuesdays in room B200 during Lunch.

Wise-Up! helps undocumented students

Errors & Omissions In the article “MESA a hidden wonder at South East” in the De-cember, 2011 issue factual errors should be corrected to read: • The robotics team had a $6500 registration fee for their First Ro-botics Competition and JCPenny was their sponsor. • In this competition, they need to build a robot that balances, ma-neuvers, and shoots a basketball.• Both MESA and non-MESA students that are interested in robot-ics are involved.

In the article “Interact club announces Toy drive cancelled” in the Debcember 2011 issue factual errors should be corrected to read:

A request form was sent to a teachers’s mailbox for permission to the toy drive.

The request form was never sent back, so they did not collect toys or seek an organization.

Photo by Abraham Mireles

Photo by Alejandra Aguilar

Daniel Zamudio a Junior in Tech & Media walking under sur-vallience cameras.

Dean Lopez speaking to a group of students.

Opinion Page 4

Autism speaks

By Breshawna RamseyReporter

For children like Kylie John-son, a kindergarten student at Bar-rack Obama charter school, every day is a challenge. Even the simple things that many people take for granted. Things like holding a con-versation with a peer or staying focused for a single class period. To Johnson time is very im-portant. For her everyday is man-aged by a consecutive timed sched-ule. Everyday she wakes up, gets ready, eats, and leaves for school at the same time. Any minor set-back in her schedule and she will have what she calls a “bad day”. These days for Johnson makes it hard for everyone around her. Her behav-ior and attitude becomes a struggle to deal with according to her mother.

“She can’t focus on work longer than 10 minutes because she gets [distracted] by oth-er sounds like people talking outside or she gets frustrated if she can’t do [the work],”

said Johnson’s mother Denise Gaye. Kylie faces communication and be-havioral struggles due to her disabil-ity. She feels attacked and often tries to go hide at school when being disci-plined by a stranger such as a teacher or staff she doesn’t know. Attempting to send Johnson to a school that can offer her the educa-tion she needs, Gaye now commutes 10 to 15 minutes to a charter school near her home. Gaye tries to help her daughter by sitting in on some of her classes and helping her stay focused whenever the teacher can’t. There are schools made to assist ASD, although they cost. “[LAUSD] doesn’t want to

p a y for a school to help her because of the lack of funding,” said Gaye. She’s in kindergarten and has al-ready attended four different schools, more than most people attend from elementary through high school. In the average special education class the students aren’t separated by dis-ability or grade level, although par-ents do think that the teachers and aid can handle the various disabilities in one class. “If the teachers are trained and can give every child that one on one that they need there is no end to what they can do,” said Gaye. Some parents and students who are affect-ed by autism haven’t been fortunate

enough to find a school that rightful-ly accompanies the needs for autism. According to autism speaks, a movement that helps raise aware-ness about autism, ASD (autism) is a learning disability associated with difficulties in social interaction ver-bal and non-verbal communication and repetitive behaviors also with difficulties in motor coordination and attention. According to autism speaks autism affects 1 in every 110 chil-dren and 1 in every 70 boys. Imag-ine, one boy in every physical educa-tion class is affected by this disorder. People with ASD may re-act to certain situations in a violent manner. People with mild to severe

ASD have an essential need for a consecutive time and detail schedule.How prepared are LAUSD teach-ers? “[A law] is on the table where all special needs teachers will have to be experienced with au-tism,” said Ms.Mura, the bridge coordinator for SEHS. Here at SEHS there are 17 autistic chil-dren ranging in age and grade level. But should every autistic child be treated the same? “Each student with a disability has an indi-vidual educational plan or IEP each student is assigned a teacher and they test them and [make] a plan to help them be successful,” said Mura. There is a team that is assigned to work with autistic children and their educational development. These stu-dents are put in to classes to accom-pany the severity of their disability. “Depending on [whether] they are determined [to be] severe [or not] then they are in a class with other se-verely disabled children. There may be other disabilities or another child with autism [in the class],” said Mura. Kylie and other children di-agnosed with ASD struggle with day-to-day things that are taken for granted by most people. Their par-ents struggle with dealing with their child’s disability and finding a good school that will give them the educa-tion they deserve. To these parents the silent cries of their child doesn’t go unheard, neither should autism.

Social networks role in lifeBy Jacqueline Viera & Reyna FloresReporters

Today, social networking on-line is everywhere. It is normal to find parents, children and teenagers on the social network sites such as Face-book, Twitter and Tumblr amongst others, but are these social networks depriving the people from actually forming a life in society? The larg-est groups of people using these so-cial networks are teenagers or young adults according to Pew Research Center; they are spending more time on Facebook than on their daily ac-tivities such as homework, chores, and even jobs. “I usually get on Face-book [from] the morning till I fall asleep at 11 or more like 24/7 since I have it logged in on my phone,” said Francisco Gutierrez, a junior in the Business and Finance small school.

Facebook is the leading so-cial network amongst those teenag-ers and young adults according to Web Aware. But, Facebook allows users to alter their personality to fit one that is most desired. “I usually go on Facebook to change my pic-tures and to see what people think about them,” said Estefania Marti-nez, a junior in the Justice, Law and Service, small school. Facebook has become a huge part of its user life; a dominant Facebook user has the same brain waves as a regular co-caine user according to PLoS One. People have begun to lie online, but is the social network to blame? People have come across dif-ferent social networks like Twitter, but continue to rely on Facebook be-cause they find Twitter “Pointless,” said Gutierrez. Whereas Tumblr has become a substitute for Myspace because it allows its theme to be changed to meet one’s personality.

However, in a survey of 60 students 66% said Facebook was their preference over any other site on the web. Facebook con-tinues to be the domi-nant social network. Facebook has positive effects, as well as neg-ative effects. It brings people closer in com-munication and keeps people notified about important events go-ing on, but users are being exposed to lies and inaccurate in-formation from us-ers themselves. Not everything online is accurate or as truth-ful as it may seem.

Check Out Breshawna’s Blog: http://breshawnara-msey.edublogs.org

Bridge coordinator Ms.Mura organizes special education activities. Photo by Ashley Covarrubias

But is it loud enough?

“I feel safe [at] this school because it can happen anywhere. I think a couple of security cameras will end up working.:

“I don’t feel safe at this school because cameras aren’t going to stop weap-ons from coming in to this school.”

“I don’t see why I wouldn”t feel safe. I feel like I’m being watched [by cameras] and i don’t like them.”

Do you feel safe?

Catalina Encarnacion, senior from Heatlth Science, and Enviroment small school. Robert Nelien, senior from Justice,

Law, and Service small school.

Jonathan Rodriguez, sophmore from Buisness, Finance, and Leadership small school.

By Annabel Gomzalez and Jose DiazReporter & Photographer

By Vanessa NavarroReporter After winter break when stu-dents came back, to their surprise, as they walked around school cam-pus and the halls they found them-selves being watched by security cameras. It goes without saying that the cameras are meant to stop van-dalism. Though the idea is long overdue, having cameras could have made a difference. It could have ben-efited the school by saving money

in having to repaint walls contain-ing graffiti over and over again.

Last year in 2011 Mrs. So-tomayor would constantly have to call in to have the school repainted, “ It would always be having a painter once a week, two days in a row, their pay, the materials that they needed to be paid for them, time for the people painting, all of that in seven years adds up in the long run, it was a great investment in the distrisct’s part to

help with this,” said Mrs. Soto-mayor. In-stalling these c a m e r a s has already made posi-tive chang-es. “Since the cameras, I’ve called the paint-ers once, they fixed

all the mess, and noth-ing new has come upon, which is a great thing,” said Sotomayor. This idea came upon student body leadership, and Mrs. Sotomayor loved it. During Spring 2011 the stu-dent Body Leadership invited Yolie Flores, a board member for LAUSD at the time who was in charge of

SEHS. Student body Leadership ex-plained how it was that kids weren’t appreciating the halls, and were van-dalizing. “It was through her that a commitment was made, it’s a process in which a permit must be granted, and over winter break they installed the cameras, we went from every week having painters, to having none

at all,” said Sotomayor. These cam-eras record all activities from day to night, and the ability to know what’s going on is possible from the offices of administration, and

the dean’s office. These cameras

can see from all angles. Sotomayor said the expensive approximate cost

approved of $180,000.00 isn’t that great, because not only will van-dalism decrease, but students will be safer which is what counts. This funding was made possible by bond funds approved by Yolie Flores. “I think it’s better so that peo-ple won’t get away from the trouble they cause,” said Sandra Navarro, a junior in the VAPA small school. Positive comments have already been given from students, par-ents, and faculty. “They benefit the

schools because this will mean less violence,” said Fernanda Napoles, a junior in the VAPA small school. It’s definitely something new

for the school, but safety never takes a holiday. This idea sets stu-dents straight and gives them the safety required in school. “The purpose is to deter people from do-ing things that they shouldn’t do.

Does it always work? I think for the most part it does,” said Sotomayor.

Thrilled at having the halls clean from Photo by Sergio Gallegos vandalism and violence, Ms. Sotomayor finds the cameras to be a good

investment.

OpinionPage 5

Vandalism Comes to an End

Is School Spirit Dying Out?By Alejandra AguilarReporter Over the last two years many juniors and seniors have noticed a decrease in school spirit. “Personally I think school spirit is important to schools because it emphasizes school pride, but I feel as though it’s dying off. Little by little participation seems to be decreasing in my eyes,” said Lindsey Alas, a junior in the Tech and Media magnet. Many people may not attend pep rallies because they may

find the pep rallies a waste of time.

“ I don’t go to pep rallies be-

cause I don’t see them as fun for some

reason,” said Gracie Mendoza, a ju-nior in the Tech and Media magnet. Many people say that the lack of stu-dents at pep rallies is due to the same music and routine in the pep rallies and many people get tired of seeing it over and over again. “I think that people don’t participate because they don’t really see it as important and they don’t want to waste their lunch,” said Daphne Duenas, a senior in the Health and Science small school and a Leadership representative. The only people that many students have seen participating in school events are the seniors, and it may be due to the fact that they want to enjoy their last year in school.

They want to par-ticipate in any activ-ity that the school can of-fer them as their last year comes to an end. A l s o when it c o m e s to spirit week not a lot of

people get into the spirit

of dressing up. “People don’t dress up for spirit week because they think it’s lame. I would do everything senior year though,” said Mendoza. Many people don’t like dressing up because they think that it’s too childish. “ I think a lot of people see it as a waste of time and money to find something

to wear for spirit week,” said Due-nas. Many students may not partici-pate in activities such as spirit week because they rather save their money in this time of financial crisis rather

than buy a costume for spirit week. Besides spirit week and pep rallies, not a lot of people show up to

home games for some sports in sea-son. Some sports are overlooked and not a lot of people go to the games to cheer on their school even when some of the games are free to see. Students should show a little more school spirit because later on in life they might regret that they didn’t try having a little fun in high school.

Lack of students attending home sports events show Jaguar school spirit. Photo by Monica Rodriguez

Students like Fernanda Napoles appreciate newfound safety Photo by Sergio Gallegos from security cameras.

Seniors show spirit as they dance in the quad. Photo by Sergio Gallegos

Editorial Many kids are affected by bullies. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s (ASPCC), an organization that helps kids who are bullied, website “6 out of 10 American youth witness bullying at least once a day.” If it’s wit-nessed so frequently why aren’t there as many school reports on bullying? Kassandra Escamillo, a junior in the Health and Science small school, reports to have been bullied as a child. “They would call me names,” she said. Be-ing bullied at such young and vulnerable stage in her life, Kassandra feels that though it did build her char-acter. It was a lot to go through. She now sees that there are other ways to handle bullying and encour-ages others to “report it if it’s too serious.” Schools are funded by the government to have programs or counseling for bullying. Here at South East there are administrators like Kalpatrick and deans like Mr. Lopez who help in keeping students safe from bullies. Mr. Lopez himself doesn’t like bullying, “I hate bullying. I detest it because you[the bully] make someone feel uncomfortable for no reason,” said Lopez. When he’s faced with a bullying report his course of action is to intimidate, suspend or transfer to another school. He believes in putting a bully in the “spotlight” and sending them to another environ-ment. Bullying may seem like a small issue, but in reality it’s a leading cause to the suicide rate among teenagers. It has even received it’s own title “bully-cide”. Bullycide is described as suicide provoked or caused by a dangerous case of bullying. As the victim, a friend of the victim, the bully or a witness; know that no loss of life is worth it. Remaining quiet and not helping someone in danger is as bad as being the bully. You can’t wait for someone else to step in, maybe it’ll be too late. Be the one to make a difference, and help those who are trapped in a life of misery.

“I think that peo-ple don’t partici-pate because they don’t really see it as important and they don’t want to waste their lunch,”

Nuclear warfare

Photo by Alexis Quiroz

Photo by Alexis Quiroz

“I think Romney will win, Mitt Romney has more money, and is more organized,” said Mr. Cazares.Photo by Jeffrey Mendez

“I think Gingrich will win, hes more visible to the pop-ulation,” said Ms.Cancino.

“Rick Santorum was a sur-

prise candidate, so it’s a bit

difficult to know if he’ll win,”

said Mr.Palomo.

Illustration by Emmanuel Delgado

20December

Tsunami

Wra

th

Apocalypse

Earthquake

Page 6

2012 candidates tackle educationBy Diego Munoz and Christopher CasillasReporters

12•21•12


If planet earth does not come to an end as many have

predicted, what will happen in the elections of 2012

in regards to education? There have been a lot of ideas put on the table by the candidates running in the elections of 2012, but education concerns students.

Antonio Velasco, a junior in the Tech & Media magnet said,

“Education is an important subject in the elections of 2012, especially

for students. I will be graduating next year, but I don’t know what the

future is holding for me in regards to education. It is going to

be nearly impossible to pay for my education because the

tuition for good universities is e

xtremely expensive,

unless I get scholarships or grants. Hopefully

there is a positive outcome in this elec-

tion that will benefit every student

in the United States.”

According to Barack Obama, the current president of the

United States in his State of the Union speech, “Colleges and uni-

versities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. Some

schools have re-designed courses to help students finish more

quickly. Higher education can’t be a luxury; it’s an economic imper-

ative that every family in America should be able to afford.” Some

students feel that immigrants should receive equal education. “What Obama said in his speech about education

sounds really promising, but what really worries me is the

future of those immigrants that also want to have an education

and become successful,” said Itza Mendoza, a sophomore in the

Health and Science small school. Obama said, “Let’s remember

that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in

this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren’t yet

American citizens. Others came more recently to study business,

science, and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree,

we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs

somewhere else.”

On the other hand, the Republican Party has other ideas

and concepts in regards to education. According to the 2012

Republican-candidates organization, “Mitt Romney brought forth

a scholarship for all kids that graduate in the top quarter of the

class known as the John and Abigail Adams scholarship, which

was four years tuition free entry to state and universities.

Newt Gingrich would provide students at hopeless

schools with private school scholar-

ships.”

Some students show their position and favoritism towards the Democratic

Party. “I have heard of some objectives of republican candidates in regards to educa-tion. They show potential, but Obama’s goals

seem to convince me because of his support

for immigrants. That really does it for me,” said

Cynthia Rodriguez, a sophomore in Justice,

Law, and Service small school.

Immigration and education combined are what most

Jaguars are concerned about and not all believe that Obama’s

proposal is the best. “I think that all immigrants should have

the right to go to school, but in the long term us stu-

dents that are citizens will end up losing. I don’t think

Obama will help us because he wants the Dream Act.

I know that it’s good but all the help that citizen

students would get would be reduced to help the

immigrants out. I think Mitt Romney has a bet-

ter chance and a better proposal,” said Carlos

Gonzalez, a junior in Tech & Media magnet

small school.

Not only do the candidates want

to increase the chance of students going

to college, but also improve the lower

education. According to the 2012 Republi-

can-candidate organization, “Mitt Romney

wants better pay for good quality teacher to

improve the quality of teaching; Gingrich

would reward girls that leave high school as

virgins.” Not all students are in agreement

with Gingrich idea. “I don’t think that is ideal

because it’s invading our privacy. He should

focus on rewarding those who have achieved

academic success and participated in extra-cur-

ricular activities,” said Melissa Marcia, a junior in

Tech & Media magnet. Education is what students

want. The main concern is to develop better pro-

grams to have better education.

Check out more of Christopher Casillas and Diego Munoz at: diego-

[email protected] and [email protected]

Zombie Plague

The End is Approaching?

Asteriod

Armageddon

The words are not in the word search.

012

Illustration by Oscar Basurto

By Leonardo Martinez Reporter

“The

re is

no

scie

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c pro

of, n

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st th

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id M

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Nibiru

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Page 7Class of 2012 opinion on the end of the world. Photo by Luis Santana

Word SearchWords: 1. Nibiru2. Mayan calendar3. Doomsday4. Tsunami5. Earthquake6. Nuclear warfare7. Asteroid8. God9. Wrath10. Armageddon 11. Apocalypse12. Zombie Plague


The end of the world is nothing new. It has at least been go-

ing on since the beginning of this century. There was New Year’s

in 2000 also known as Y2K. Then came June 6, 2006, and

“Judgment Day” in May 2011. The next end is De-

cember 21, 2012 when many people believe that

the world is ending. “God’s left hand will strike us all in one second,” said Eduardo Mar-

tinez, a junior in the Tech & Media magnet. Martinez has

believed shortly after ru-mors were out. Martinez has a special feeling towards the end, “I feel happiness,” said Martinez, expressing his feelings for the end of the world.

Others may not believe in the end

but at times they do see signs that the world is

approaching the end.

Jose Montes, a junior in Tech & Media

magnet, doesn’t believe in the end, but believes

there are signs to the end. Montes believes he has

heard the Angel’s trumpet on January 20, 2012

around 2 p.m. in the afternoon. “A weird sound that I

really don’t know the meaning of it, very creepy.” The

New International Version (1984) of the Bible says, “For

the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a

loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the

trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

Others may not and will never believe in it until there is

proof. Or just a lie to get people all excited and go crazy.

“No, because the world isn’t going to explode or [any-

thing], people are just crazy,” said, Sergio Lopez, a

senior in the Health and Science small school.

“There is no scientific proof, no evidence, just theories,”

said Ms. Diaz, a teacher in the Tech & Media magnet. She

believes there will be no big disaster, just that God will come to

you and take you as it is. She believes that it’s just made up. It is

just to get people excited and to get everyone all panicked. She

doesn’t believe that the Mayan Calendar indicates the end. She

raises questions such as the Mayan Calendar saying we are die-

ing on December 21, 2012. The world can end at any time; no one knows when it

truly ends. Everyone has a different point of view about 2012 and

everyone expresses it differently. Time can only tell what will

happen in the near future.

Check out more of Leonardo Martinez at: [email protected]

FeaturesPage 8

Jennifer Gonzalez strives For Success

There are people with impor-tant roles in every school. People have different roles to play on staff. Some are principal, assis-tant principals, teachers, janitors, etc. Here at South East one of the

many important people is Mr. Lo-pez. Lopez’s position in the school is the Dean. According to Answers.com, Deans play five essential roles as academic leaders of schools: representatives of their school to the district, especially district admin-istration: representatives of district leadership to their schools; and rep-

resentatives of the school and district to external bodies.

Lopez was born on October 2, 1969 in Hol-lywood, California. For most of his childhood, he lived in Hollywood. Then his family moved to Hollydale. Lopez attended the Santa Monica Blvd. elementary school. He attended middle school Our Lady of the Rosary. Then, finally, he went to the high school at Pius X. “Life in high school was for like many other students, boring and just full of homework,” said

Lopez. Lopez was not much into extra-curricular activities in school. When he came to school, all his focus was into his work. Like many high school grad-uates, Lopez went to college right after high school. Lopez attended Long Beach State University. He studied International Business for four years, then history for two years and finally he studied for a teaching credential for one and a half years. Lopez figured he wanted to become a teacher. “I never liked the idea of teaching the same thing every day,” said Lopez. After his years of teaching, Lopez finally became what he would finally think was the right job for him. He became a Dean. Until now he has been working here at South East for almost five and a half years. He is currently the dean of this school. Lopez says he enjoys what he does. “Being a Dean is great, I feel that I really enjoy working here. You [can] easily see the results as Dean,” said Lopez.

Scholarships serve a num-ber of benefits. They allow students to focus less on working their way through school and more on learn-ing, and also help them worry less about graduating in debt. Jennifer Gonzalez, a senior in the Justice, Law, and Service small school, received a $1000 dollar scholarship from Woodcraft Rangers because she applied and completed a per-sonal statement essay. “With the scholarship I received, I know there are no limits. It gives me a greater sense of achievement. This is also a boost for me because my family doesn’t have the finical stability to give me what I need for my future. It also makes me realize that I got this on my own.” This has gave Gonzalez more determination to go to college. “It’s a great feeling to know that all my hard work in school with my classes and clubs has paid off.” She has been involved in many extracurricu-lar activities, such as softball, and the Youth Advisory Board for Wood-craft Rangers for about two years. She has taken advantage of taking AP classes as well. She plans to at-tend Denver University and major in Psychology. She was astonished that Woodcraft Rangers selected her for this scholarship. “I would also like to give thanks to Liz Gomez for all her support and encouragement, always pushing me to be my best,

and strive to better myself.” said Jennifer. Chris Jhonson the CEO of Wood-craft Rangers showed up to South East High to present her a big check on her birthday during a YAB meet-ing. As Gonzalez continues her last five months at South East she works hard and gets the support from her teachers. “Statistically the chances

of receiving a scholarship are sig-nificantly increased if prepare early, applying for a scholarship is similar to applying for any academic schol-arship and the procedures are the same. Write a great cover letter. If an essay is required make it personal and compelling. Get together all the references you can from coaches, teachers and anyone else who will attest to your number crunching aca-demic skills.” said Gonzalez.

By Ramiro Suazo PinedaReporter

Mr. Lopez’s outgoing life

Mr. Lopez monitors the tardy line. Photo By Anthony Lopez

“I would also like to give thanks to Liz Gomez for all her support and encouragement, always push-ing me to be my best, and strive to better myself.”

(Above) New dean Mr. Islas (left) and Mr. Lopez (right) show school pride.

(Below) Mr. Lopez inside his work area. Photos By Anthony Lopez

“Being a Dean is great, I feel that I re-ally enjoy work-ing here. You [can] easily see the results as

Dean.”

(Top Right) Woodcraft Rangers Liz Gomez and Jennifer Gonzalez.

( Bottom)Jennifer Gonzalez wins a scholarship from Woodcraft Rangers. Photos By Jocelyne Ramos

By Desiree VillatoroReporter

Features

There’s been much buzz about the soccer team winning the Division I CIF Championship last year, and the football team winning the Division II CIF Championship this year; but what about South East Track and Field? The track team has been working hard since Christmas break; while most students were at home sleeping, the track team was out at 8 a.m. running and working out at South Gate Park and the LA River to prepare for the 2012 season. Alexis Salas, a sophomore and re-turning track runner, said that cross-town rival South Gate, “[still have] not begun conditioning” to this day. Mirella Parra, a potential captain for the girls said, “The very best way to get better at running is by running” and that is exactly what the track team has been doing as Karen Cruz, a junior and return-ing track runner boldly states, “We have been conditioning real hard, busting our [butts off], and running nonstop.” Mr. Sanchez, head coach for the track team, says that he has “Very high expectations for this year’s track team, boys and girls.” The track team goes unno-ticed here at the South East campus, most students and staff don’t even realize that Mirella Parra, Pamela

Pelayo, and many others have be-gun to embark on the quest to the LA City Section Championships. Joseph Scott on the other hand, is aiming much farther than that, as he hopes to make it his second consecutive sea-son competing in the California State Track and Field Championships.

Outside of the track, some see Scott as “the colored eye guy”, but people who know what he’s ca-pable of, such as Coach Sanchez, depict him as a “machine” that has superlative speed and exceptional endurance. When he is on the track, he is no longer seen as the “curly haired,” “tall,” “colored eye guy;” he is christened names such as “a monster,” “an epitome of a true run-ner,” “one of the elite,” and “one of the best runners in the state of Cali-fornia.” These are just some of the brands embedded into his persona. Esmeralda Tranquilino, a sophomore and cross country run-ner, sees Scott as “an individual that demonstrates dedication and strength.” Coach Sanchez confirms her assertion when he states, “[Scott has] started [preparing] since then

end of last year’s track season… then joined cross-country with Coach Ji-menez.” He also adds, “Right now he’s working out with the team, plus has a personal trainer… not only do-ing what we ask of him, but he’s go-ing above and beyond on his own to make him[self] a better runner. It is fairly easy to say that the backbone of the South East track team is well respected and well known within his fellow teammates and coaches. Many track runners look up to Scott, for example, Cristy Figueroa, a sophomore and returning track runner, said, “[Joseph Scott] in-spires me to train my best to be the best I can be.” Alexis Salas, a dedicat-ed scholar and 800 meter [two laps] runner, states that the first thing that comes to his mind when he hears the name “Joseph Scott” is, “2011 Cali-fornia State Track and Field Cham-pionships, because he was the first in school history to ever make it that far.” Coach Sanchez also said, “Jo-seph Scott has always been a good athlete; I think anything he try’s he’ll be good at it.” He continues by say-ing that he should be “[the] Eastern League Champion…the city cham-pion… [and is] amongst the best run-ners in the state of California.” Being the high quality athlete that he is; his teammates and coaches believe the end of his Track and Field High School career will finish in high quality.

Joseph Scott strives for state championship

By Jose PiconReporter

Joseph Scott finishes ninth place in cross-country League Finals. Photo by Megan Espinoza

“[Joseph Scott] is... one

of the best runners in

the state of California,”

said Sanchez.

Page 9

by Jacqueline W. AldanaEditor-in-chief

Juan Bravo is a senior in the Tech and Media magnet. He is in-volved in four clubs, enrolled in three AP classes and a part of the National Honor Society. He is very involved in his academics and is described as a great leader and an incredible friend, by both Andrea Martinez, a junior in the health and science small school, and Victor Arechiga, another senior and Bravos best friend.

“He takes on chal-

lenges that most people

our age wouldn’t. He

strongly believes in the

ability of himself and

others,” said Martinez.

As a partner in MESA they have worked together for two years and

according to Martinez he has always shown him-self to be a kind and car-ing person, and always remains posi-tive. Since freshman year he has been involved in clubs first be-ginning with the college club then go-ing into clubs like MESA. As a senior, he is current-ly a member of Interact and Chess; sergeant of arms of both NHS and Wise-Up!, and is president of MESA.

H e

is very interested in science. He pre-fers Physics and Biology. He hopes to double major in both subject, Bi-ology for the money and Physics for fun. “When you look at science it’s

not just memorizing the facts, but discover-ing new things in the world,” said Bravo. He describes science as “the puzzle of life.” Arechiga, believes that with having such great ambi-tions and a great personal-ity, Juan Bravo will succeed. “I believe he’ll go far in life not because he’s smart, but because he has huge ambi-tions for the sake of other, and never once fails to achieve

them,” said Arechiga. Ac-cording to Arechiga, Bravo is no longer the shy, timid boy he once knew in the seventh

grade. He has grow to be a coura-geous and outspoken person thinks Arechiga and Martinez. Bravo has applied to colleges like Cal Tech, MIT, Harvard, Yale or Dartmouth, to pursue his dream ma-jors in Physics and Biology.

Who is Juan Bravo?

Juan Bravo and Mr. Abad, MESA advisor, check a creation for errors.

Photo by Sergio Gallegos

Juan Bravo works with Victor Arechiga on a MESA project. Photo by Sergio Gallegos

Jacqueline VelaReporter

With the semester coming to a close, testing begins. For sopho-mores, most will soon be taking the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The CAHSEE is a pre-requisite standardized test that all high school students within the state of California must take in order to graduate and earn a diploma. “It’s so rewarding,” admits Ms. Corral, Assistant Principal for the Justice and Law small school. The test con-sists of both English and Math and is initially taken in the tenth grade by eligible students with sufficient credits. However, if a student does not pass it the first time, the individ-ual will then be given more chances

to take the test in following year. In order to ensure that students here at SEHS pass with a minimum score of 380, the school’s goal, a Satur-day CAHSEE Prep Program has been created to prepare for the CAHSEE. Corral is part of the group of teachers, clericals, staff members, and parents, who help organize the pro-gram. Corral su-pervises and makes sure that students receive the suffi-cient information. Initially set up by Principal Sotomay-

or, the CAHSEE Prep program was designed to help students taking the test to not only prepare, but to also review and work on whatever

subject they need most help in. Corral’s efforts have come a long way. According to the LAUSD Per-formance Meter, of the 692 tested

in 2010-2011, 77% passed and 45.80% reached proficient, compared to the 2007-2008 test results, only 68.80% passed and 32.80% reached profi-cient. This proves that with the help of the CAH-SEE Prep Program, test results have increased. Corral insists that despite her various efforts, it’s not just her running this program. “I can’t do it myself,” she admits, “This program would not be successful without the

support of our staff, teachers, our clericals, and our parents.” Adding to that, Corral also expressed her gratitude to a few individuals. “I supervise, but there are two teachers who have helped set up the curricu-lum and put it together. For the Eng-lish, Ms. Andres and Ms. Moore. For the Math, Ms. B. Gutierrez and Ms. Manzilla.”Overall, the program means a lot to Corral because not only does she want to see students pass the test and “get it out of the way,” most importantly, she wants to see them graduate. “It’s so rewarding,” says Corral with a triumphant smile on her face, “Seeing a student walk the stage and getting a diploma and then coming and telling me ‘Miss, I did it!’ That’s the motivation.”

Corral takes one CAHSEE

By Jacqueline W. AldanaEditor-in-chief

Starring Brad Pitt and based on Mi-chael Lewis best-seller, “MoneyBall” is a movie on the Oakland Athletics trying to make their way back in his-tory. Brad Pitt is the well known and not respected Oakland Athletics Gen-eral Manager, Billy Beane. “MoneyBall” is an outstanding, out of the blue, sports story. It’s not like the typi-cal sports story that ends in a last min-ute win and a huge celebration. This is the story of how the Oakland athletics pulled together their

best team on their lowest budget. With the help of Peter Brand, who’s played by John

Hill, and his com-puter knowledge; he pulls together a team based on their sta-tistics and not their

fame. The two gather all the facts of unappreciated and undervalued base-

ball players. They began to make house visits to players off payroll and gather ev-eryone who once had a great place in baseball history. Con-structing this team right off of their statistics went against all standards of baseball recruitment.

Throughout the movie Billy Beane struggles with the

Oakland Athletics coach, trying to get him to play a new member. The new member was Scott Hatteberg, played by Chris Pratt, who was a base player who could no longer through well enough to be behind the plate. Billy Beane tried to make him fi rst baseman and have him relive his moment of glory. By perform-ing a team based solely on ability they change the traditional ways of a baseball team composition, and make it their own. Using the computer generated team the two take the Oakland Athletics to the playoffs, making their mark in the his-tory of baseball.

Arts and EntertainmentPage 10

By Alejandro Balta-zarReporter

As the year starts the publics is introduced to a new upcoming line of ac-tion-packed cinemas. Among those action movies is Red Tails. Red Tails is a movie about African-Amer-ican pilots who are given the chance to show their courage,

during World War ll. This group of pilots where facing deep racism and segrega-

tion while in training in Tuske-gee and on the front lines. They later gain the respect of their fel-low com-rades and the nation for their heroic duty said Oscar Lemus, a senior in

the Tech and Media

magnet. This movie made more than $18 million and was ranked number two

on opening weekend trailing behind Un-

derworld Awakening. Some of the actors that are seen in the movie Cuba Good-ing Junior, Method Man, Ne-Yo, Bryan Cranston, Terence

Howard. Directed by the famous George Lucas. Known for his most recognized fi lm or saga of Stars

War. Even though this movie is be-ing ranked number

two in the theaters, there have been many harsh critics that have disliked the movie. “When I went to the movies to see Red Tails, I was waiting to see a lot of action but instead I saw a bit of cheap dialogue and was disappointed in it,” said Robert Roldan a senior from the Business, Finance, and Leader-ship small school. Despite all the criticism, the movie is ranked one of the highest in the box offi ce and is an action movie the family will enjoy. That shows the Af-rican-American cul-ture can overcome segregation, racism, and put aside differ-ences to the nation in its time of need.

Red Tails Review

MoneyBall Review

SEHS Music Taste

Photo by Jeffrey Mendez





Diana Zamora a se-nior from VAPA small school listens to Treasure Fingers and Frozen Autumn.

Angel Martinez a senior from Tech and Media listens to In Flames- Deliver Us

Mr. Islas is a fan of Bob

Marley and Exodus is his choice.

Leonel Olivas a senior from the Justice and Law small school listens to French in Hell- Wiz

Khalifa.

Come Together- The Bea-

tles is Ms.Stone’s favorite tune.

“I really liked the mov-ie. It was worth watch-ing and the money I spent on it”

Band takes a break

By Alejandra Aguilar and Jacqueline W. AldanaReporter and

Editor-in-chief

Ms. Lange and all band members are preparing for March

festivals and concerts. Though it is a competition against other schools Ms. Lange explains it as more of a competition amongst each other. “You’re not competing against other schools; more [against] perfection,” said Ms. Lange. These competitions are more

about per-fection and how well you know how to play your piece, because the judges al-ready know how it’s supposed to sound. So the musician has to learn to perfect that piece. Though they are preparing for March, band is very relaxed, be-cause they are given an opportunity to explore other things. They can join other bands like the jazz band, mariachi, or orchestra. They also have the opportunity to enter the winter guard and winter drum line. Being in band is a great ex-

perience for stu-dents, “It’s a fun program, you meet a lot of weird people that become your family,” said Joseph Fogar, a junior band member. Fogar has been in band for the past three years and he expresses those years as the best years of his high school life. Beginning their practice after

school some band members end up leaving campus until around 7:30 p.m. practicing their instru-ments. Ms. Lange stays with them to help them and ensure their safety. “I stay because I don’t like the idea of kids stay-ing alone in the dark,” said Ms. Lange, the band director. Ms. Lange has a lot of hope for all her students. She believes that they will all be successful in life because of their dedica-tion and commitment to music. “They’re respectively compet-ing against schools with private

sessions and expensive instru-ments, I wouldn’t be surprised if they all did something success-ful.”

Students who wish to join the band for the second semester are advised to see their counselors.

Photo by Jaqueline W. Aldana

Joseph Fogar plays guitar.

Photo by Jacqueline W. Aldana

Ms. Lange with her fi rst period band members practicing mariachi.

Ms. Lange play the violin.

Photo by Jacqueline W. Aldana

SPORTSPage 11

Girls’ soccer kicks in the new season

As the girls’ soccer season starts, new players and returners welcome new additions to the program. Mr. Pelayo, the varsity coach and Mr. Ibarra, the junior varsity coach, and varsity assistant coach are new for this season. “Without [the coaches] we wouldn’t have gone so far. They [have] done a good job. It’s just a mat-ter of adjusting to one an-other,” said varsity middle #6, Carina Arechiga, a junior from Health and Science. Their fi rst game was

against Roosevelt Rough Riders, but was postponed due to the rain. The season offi cially kicked off when

they played against the Bell Eagles. The Eagles proved to be a tough team to beat, since both junior varsity and varsity lost. However, junior varsity proved to be victori-ous when they played against Roosevelt, Huntington Park,

South Gate, Jordan, and Gar-fi eld where they took the win.

Junior varsity, #28 left-right middle wing, Lindsey Alas, a junior from Tech and Media magnet feels de-lighted in their triumph. “I feel extremely glad [that] we won. Our score repre-sents our school and shows how much we have worked

because we have succeed-ed, so it feels great to have beaten [them],” said Alas. Varsity is also up on top. They beat Roosevelt, tied Huntington Park, lost to South

Gate home game, beat Jordan, beat Garfi eld, and won South

Gate away game. Arechiga is well aware of being part of a team and believes that varsity is capable of doing so much better. “We train a lot and know how to work well

[with] one another. We can improve more on the way we communicate. [But] overall, it isn’t that diffi cult to improve

[with] what we need to be a better team,” said Arechiga.

Varsity Captain, #5 sweeper and a senior in Tech and Media magnet, Stepha-nie Marquez believes that the main goal for this soc-cer season is simple. “Stay as a team,” said Marquez. With upcoming home and away games, Mr. Ibarra, the junior varsity coach and var-sity assistant coach believes that the soccer program is one to look out for. “They [soccer

girls] are an astonishing team as a whole. It’s a solid team, and [they] have a good shot at going into playoffs. With everything that has been go-ing on, they are [bringing] the best [out] of each other. “ With soccer play-offs right around the cor-ner, the Jaguars are striv-ing to bring home the win.

Girls’ basketball team shoots for the win

Jessica IniguezReporter

The girl’s basketball

team won against South Gate, junior varsity (26-23) while varsity also won (62-14). The lady Jaguars pulled to-gether all their skills in order

to beat the Rams on January 13. “Basically [we] looked at

it as a rivalry (South East vs. South Gate) so we prepared mentally and physically for [the game],” said #32 junior varsity point guard, Bren-da Avalos, from the Health and Science small school. Avalos helped the

lady Jaguars with getting 11 points and a couple of as-sists throughout the game. She also tries to attend all the practices and makes the extra

effort in the games, even if it means that she hurts herself in the process. “[The team should] work on teamwork

because not everyone looks

when passing,” said Avalos. Overall, Avalos tries winning every game but believes that basketball is all about having

fun and having a team that supports them in each game. Both the lady Jaguars and Rams never lost hope and struggled to come out victo-

rious in their junior varsity game. “Defense was hard, but we picked it up during half-

time,” said Avalos. According to Maxpreps.com, after half-time, junior varsity managed to get 15 points which added up to their current score, re-sulting in an overall score of 26 to beat South Gate by three. The varsity game also seemed rough in the begin-ning. However, Maxpreps.com also reported that they shot more than the Rams, which helped them receive such a high score. “There was a lot of good passes as well as throws,” said #5 se-nior varsity point guard, Aisel Alfaro from the Health and Science small school. The girls practice everyday from 1:30 to 3:30. They practice their dribbling, passing, shooting, and overall techniques for the games. The coach, Rascheed Tapscott, tries to get the girls to work

together and improve on their skills on free-shooting and

passes. “[The girls] practice ball handling because han-dling is a fundamental in good basketball,” said Tapscott.

Even though South

Gate doesn’t have a frosh team, the basketball team is

always supportive. “Keep up the good work,” says #24

freshman frosh wing player,

Michelle Gomez from the Health and Science small school. In all, the girl’s bas-ketball teams have been suc-

cessful most of their games.

Photo by Jessica Inguiez

Photo by Melissa Mayoral

Photo by Melissa Mayrol

Middle position Carina Arechiga takes aim. Photo by Jessica Inguiez

Varsity soccer girls from South Gate High School and SE run for the ball.

Jaguars try to block a shot from South Gate.

Coach Rasheed crouches down with his players for a minute to talk about strategy.

Daniel Canales Reporter

Lady Jaguars’ soccer team upcoming games:

Date Games02/01/12 Bell vs. South East (Home)02/03/12 Jordan vs. South East (Home)02/06/12 Garfi eld vs. South East (Away)

02/08/12 Roosevelt vs. South East (Away)

“We train a lot and know how to work

well [with] one an-other. We can im-prove more on the way we communi-cate. [But] overall, it isn’t that diffi cult

to improve [with] what we need to be a better team,” said Arechiga.

“Basically [we] looked at it as a rivalry

(South East vs. South Gate) so we pre-pared mentally and physically for [the game],” said Avalos.

Sports Page 12

Powder puff: When roles are changed By Richard Perez

Reporter

Swimming Jaguars

By Ricardo Garcia & Jessica Iniguez

Reporters

Winter Sports Schedule

Boys Soccer

JV/Var

Date Opponent Place Time

2/3 Jordan Jordan 2:30 p.m.

2/6 Garfield SEHS 2:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball

FS/JV/Var


2/3 Jordan Jordan 2:30 p.m.

2/6 Garfield SEHS 2:30 p.m.

2/8 Roosevelt SEHS 2:30 p.m.

Girls Basketball

FS/JV/Var


2/3 Jordan SEHS 2:30 p.m.

2/6 Garfield Garfield 2:30 p.m.

2/8 Roosevelt Roosevelt 2:30 p.m.

Girls Soccer

JV/Var


2/3 Jordan SEHS 2:30 p.m.

2/6 Garfeild Garfield 2:30 p.m.

Coach Serrano prepares for new swim season. Photo by Mariana Montoya

As the Jaguars begin to settle

into the New Year, many students are

pumped about the upcoming swim

season. Most of the returners are ea-

ger to kick in the New Year by do-

ing what they have a passion for:

swimming. “I’m pretty excited for

this upcoming season,” said Sarah

Serrato, a junior from Tech & Media

magnet and a returner. Others that are

thinking about trying out, see it as ac-

complishing their New Year’s reso-

lution or simply as something new.

Returners are more

than excited to finally get back into

shape and start competing. Sayuri

Sarango, a senior at International

Studies, is thrilled to see many of

the other returners and new potential

swimmers. “I [am] so excited about

this year’s team! I feel confident that

many of us will be going to city fi-

nals and it’s definitely something

I look forward to,” said Sarango.

“This year so far is

going pretty good a lot of newcomers

are really good,” said Serrato. Many

returners are in hopes of getting bet-

ter and beat their old personal times

and possibly get a chance to go to

CIF. Serratto hopes that with all the

practicing that swimmers will im-

prove and overall condition. “ I ex-

pect to get better this year and make

it to CIF and win,” said Serrato.

The official season begins

early February although tryouts are

being held throughout the last two

weeks of January, where impend-

ing swimmers condition on the

track and at South Gate Park’s Pool.

Ms. Serrano along with

Coach Ruth Anguiano, are both de-

termined to help improve the swim-

mers by having future JV and Varsity

practice in the early mornings (be-

fore school), Friday afternoons, and

as well as evening practices. Serrano

said, “We are once again bringing

Students condition for tryouts un South Gate pool. Photo courtesy of Sarsh Serrato

back morning practice so our team

is a lot more conditioned than last

year.” With more exercise Serrano

hopes to lead more swimmers into

CIF, and make the swimmers more fit.

This year she hopes to have

more lanes open for them [the

swimmers] at south gate pool to

have all the swimmers in the wa-

ter, so they can work on reducing

their times. “We have made im-

provements each year so I expect

even more this year,” said Serrano.

“Everyone has po-

tential in being a

good swimmer, and

it’s interesting to see

what this year’s sea-

son will bring us,”

said Coach Ruth An-

guiano.

Powder puff is just

right around the corner and ju-

niors and seniors are signing up

to be a part of this yearly event.

“Powder puff is in April.

Most likely, the day is

settled for April 20,” said

Lindsey Alas from the

Tech & Media magnet.

Sign-ups have ended, senior

tryouts are the week of February 6

and junior tryouts are February 2,

7, and 9. Senior practices are Febru-

ary 15. Students who sign up cannot

miss more than three practices and

must exercise good sportsmanship.

Powder puff is not a typical

football game where the guys play

football and the girls are cheerleading,

“Powder puff is ba-

sically girls’ foot-

ball,” Alas said.

In powder puff roles of the

game are changed where girls play

football on the field and guys cheer

for the players and the

crowd. Ar- temio Lu-

jan, a future cheer-

leader for juniors in

the powder puff game

said, “It’s a time for

girls to step up their

g a m e , while

t h e

guys

c h e e r t h e m

o n . ”

Qual-

i f i - c a -

tions f o r

play-

e r s

a r e

g o o d a t t e n -

dance good be-

havior and hav-

ing a 2.0 GPA or

higher. In order to

be part of this

e v e n t , students

also need to clear

all deten- t i o n s .

Safety in p o w -

puff is essential and is enforced

with no tackling. A clean game is

expected by, student participants.

“A fun experience

is expected,” said

Yvette Perez, a ju-

nior in leadership. The game can get very com-

petitive by the players followed by

a “hilarious” performance by the

cheerleaders. The game

can get very competi-

tive by the players

followed by a “hi-

larious” performance

by the cheerleaders.

“Powder puff is

an amazing and

enjoyable ex-

perience…it is

definitely worth

the time and ef-

fort especially

since it is such a

batty switch…I

do not think Juniors listen to Ms. Barragan speak about Photo By Mariana Montoya

rules and regulations for Powder Puff.

anyone can understand

how fun, yet overwhelm

ing powder puff is until

they try it themselves,”

said Giovanna Garcia, a

former powder puff player.

In the meantime, the com-

peting seniors and juniors are in

for some hard work ahead of them

them to prepare for this school event.

“Powder puff is going to be

a lot of fun, the seniors will

have a good time…they are

going to help with school

spirit and bring the morale

up,” said Ms. Barragan.

Jaguar Times

Documents

chinese new year parade

brand new year

club members

leadership small school

environment small school

arts small school

fat choy

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