Interview with Stephanie Melara



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Foshay Learning Center student Abraham Riviera interviews Stephanie Melara about the best moment of her life and her love for soccer.

Interview with Stephanie Melara by melissaleu

Creative writing: Winners!



Sentence by sentence, Foshay Learning Center Room 13 students work together in teams to develop a story from the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s famous novel The Metamorphosis. Students were given one minute each to write a sentence, then pass it to their peers to continue the story. The result was a hilarious combination of wit and imagination.

How did they turn out? Check out the winners!

FIRST PLACE:

Group 9: Eduardo Bodillo, Eduardo Morin, Steven Phan, Jonathan, Rogelio
imageAs Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He was an ugly spider with no feet. He started to roll around the bed trying to find a cure. As he rolled, there was a giant dog sniffing around. The giant dog was sniffing for leftover food. As he was looking for leftover food, he found a cave which led to a secret path. The secret path led to a room where Chuck Norris was at. Then Chuck Norris just so happened to start turning into a spider too. He then talked to Chuck Norris in a spider-like language and found out the steps to curing his transformation. First, he had to eat ten flies. Second, he had to speak to the Messiah who was at the top of a hill. He started heading toward the hill where there was a palace. When he opened the door he found the cure, which was milk.

SECOND PLACE:

Group 5: Edward Gonzalez, Jocelyn Castra, Travis Philips, Stephanie Melara, Mario Arquello
imageAs Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He didn’t know how to react. All he could do was scream. Gregor walked outside to find a wizard performing magic on his house and saw a big spider. I don’t know what happened, but he died. Then, he was reincarnated into a beaver. The beaver didn’t have a family, so he decided to go to a family of giraffes, and the giraffes ate him. The giraffes smiled with gratitude. Suddenly, the beaver burst out of the giraffe and said, “Thou shall not eat me!” The giraffe chuckled saying, “Fool, GET IN MY BELLY! >;D” He woke up again to realize it was all just a big dream.

Student interviews



Interview: Cassandra Cerrato

By Travis Phillips

On October 19, 2005, Cassandra continued the day like any other. She got up to go to school, and started the day by eating her favorite breakfast, Lucky Charms. While she was enjoying her breakfast, her mother got an unexpected phone call. Cassandra looked up with curious eyes to see the shock on her mother’s face. “What’s wrong?” Cassandra whispered. Her mom didn’t respond with an answer, but instead sent Cassandra to her neighbor’s house, where she spent the remainder of the day.

She came back to the house to see most of her family. She found out that the man her aunt divorced came back in a jealous rage. He shot her aunt several times, including her uncle and her grandmother. Her uncle was killed instantly, and her grandmother was put on life support. The family decided to take her grandmother off life support. She was able to see and hear but not move. Luckily, her aunt survived the incident. This was a very sad moment in Cassandra’s life and one she will not forget.

Interview: Daniel Aquino

By Edgardo Chilin

The person I interviewed is Daniel. He told me his favorite memory. When he was around ten, he visited Mexico with his family. He said he was walking around his aunt’s neighborhood. He was walking towards the end of the street when a wild dog suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He started to run, and the dog chased him down. He ran to his aunt’s house. He was about to run into the gate when he tripped and fell, scraping his arm. His family heard the noise and came outside to scare the dog away. This, he said, was one of his funniest memories.

Interview: Abraham Riviera

By Stephanie Melara

Abraham enjoys playing soccer. He has been playing since he was two years old. Even now, it’s his favorite sport. One of the reasons he plays is because it distracts him from any problems he may be having. For example, whenever he has a bad day, when everybody seems to be getting on his nerves, he’ll play some soccer to just forget about everything. After playing, he is in a much happier mood. Abraham plays in a league outside of school at Exposition Park. In a few weeks, he will be playing for the Junior Varsity Soccer Team at Foshay because he just got a spot on the team.

Interview: Edgardo Chilin

By Daniel Aquino

Edgardo and I didn’t talk much, but from the things he told me I can say that he has many skills. One of his skills is that he can solve most Calculus problems that are given to him. I learned that Edgardo has a dream of becoming an engineer. I can honestly say that he will become one in the near future, even though he said that he wants to start his career as a nuclear engineer with a six-figure salary after attending a four year college. He is going to have to work hard for that, but it is something that he will learn on his own.

Interview: Harold Mendez

By Roderick Richard, Jr.

I interviewed Harold Mendez who is proud to be a student at Foshay High. He is 14 and lives with his mom and brothers. His happiest moment was when he went to Guatemala with his family. Even though a lot of times his family had some problems, he has been strong ever since. He wants to attend college at USC. He’s not sure what he wants to be yet, but he knows that he wants to be remembered in a healthy way.

Interview: Lucia Godoy

By Pauline Welcome

The person I interviewed was Lucia Godoy. From the interview, I thought Lucia was a very cool person. She is very kind and funny. What was so interesting about Lucia is that she plays soccer and all kinds of sports.

Interview: Travis Phillips

By Cassandra Cerrato

Travis and Daniel were best friends. They went everywhere together, until school ended. At the end of sixth grade, he said goodbye to Daniel, excited about the next school year. As he was getting ready for school, he grew worried when he didn’t see Daniel. He thought to himself, “He’s probably sick or something. I’ll call him tonight.” Later that night, he called Daniel, anxious as the phone rang.

“Hello?” Daniel answered.

“Hey, Daniel. It’s me Travis,” Travis said back.

“Oh, hey man.”

“Why didn’t you come to school today?” Travis asked.

Daniel hesitated and said, “I moved to Manual.”

Travis, hurt and shocked that Daniel told him nothing, replied, “Oh okay, catch you later.”

And just like that the conversation was over. After that Travis, went all that week missing his best friend Daniel. Until one day, he met his new best friends Steve and John. It was November of his sixth grade school year. One day in class he was misbehaving and got detention. While he was in there he noticed a couple of boys who seemed to be twins. They started talking and introduced themselves, and realized they had a lot in common. They became best friends and hung out at nutrition and lunch. They practically went everywhere together. For Travis, Daniel was a loss that was made up for with the gain of meeting Steve and John, and that was the happiest day of his life.

Interview: Shiffarah Villaneuva

By Sarady Merghani

Shiffarah was born in Belize. Her mother abandoned her when she was eight years old to go on a year-long trip. Left alone, Shiffarah was forced to take care of herself and her younger sister, who was three. She had to take on the responsibilities of the house and cook, clean and feed her little sister. While spending her childhood years being an adult, her inspiration of manga kicked in. She began reading books such as the Death Note and Shugu Chara. In fact, her favorite manga book was Naruto because it had a lot of action and that was interesting. Manga kept her happy and inspired her to start drawing her favorite manga characters.


Interview: Robert

By Darwin Chavez

On December 29th, Robert’s niece Katy was born. Robert described that day as being the happiest moment of his life. He remembers the night when his sister was in labor. He was not at the hospital when Katy was born, but he wished he could be. When I asked Robert what one of his favorite memories with Katy was, he said it was when his niece slapped his Mom. The whole family was amused.

Interview: Roderick Richard, Jr.

By Harold Mendez

Roderick Richard enjoyed elementary school very much. He said his favorite thing to do was to play ding-dong ditch on other classrooms. One time he got caught because one of his friends tripped on his shoe laces, which caused them all to fall. The teacher saw them and took them to the office. Roderick didn’t take this seriously. He laughed about it. Then the school called his mom. Roderick still wasn’t that worried. His mom just gave him a long lecture, and that was it. He kept playing ding-dong ditch and getting caught didn’t stop him.

Interview: Ana Ordonez

By Iris Maldonado

Ana is 14 years old and is currently living in Los Angeles. She’s proudest of her mother and thinks of her as a role model. Her mother works hard six days a week, leaving only Sunday. That’s the day she pays bills, rent or even buys food. Her mom gives her everything she needs even though she barely sees her. Sometimes, Ana’s mother plans a day out on Sunday to spend time with her. Her mother inspires her to do her best in school and when making important decisions.

Interview: Iris Maldanado

By Ana Ordonez

Ever since Iris was little, she considered her dad Luis to be one of the most important people in her life. He has influenced her in a good way. Unlike others, he never stopped believing in her during difficult times and would give her advice when she needed it. He would try to motivate her to graduate, get a good job, and to be successful in life by telling her stories about his childhood, like when he had to stop going to school in 8th grade because his parents had health problems and other struggles in life. One of the things that her dad taught her is to always be precise on the things she wants to accomplish in life. This is why when it comes to making important decisions, she thinks twice. Iris hopes to repay him by having a good future and making him proud.


Interview: Lois Campos Ochoa

By Mario Arguello

Louis Campos Ochoa’s favorite hobby is to listen and play music. He plays four instruments: piano, guitar, bass, and drums. The first instrument he played was piano at 7 years old. He also sings and makes covers for other artists, a great way to start as a musician. He likes his personality as a musician. It’s fun, like me. I’m a musician too.

I started to know him in 8th grade. His best moment was when he met me and his other friends. He was happy about making new friends. His saddest moment was leaving 8th grade, because many people that he hung out with left for other schools. Some of them went back to where they were born.


Interview: Rogelio Santana

By David Yira

At the young age of 16, Rogelio Santana experienced the happiest moment of his life. He was astonished when he looked outside of his window and saw a guy holding his dream bike. He went to look closer, and it was true. This “random guy” was selling the $700 speed bike for only $40. It was unclear where he obtained it and why he was selling it, but he was. Without hesitation, Rogelio purchased the “awesome red speed bike.” To this day, Rogelio still has the bike in his possession, and considers this event as the happiest moment of his young life.

Interview: Stephanie Tobar

By Jocelyn Castro

Stephanie Tobar was a sad 9-year-old girl. That was the age she found out her parents were getting divorced. After she found out, she became depressed. She was too young to understand and didn’t know how to react. What made this even worse was that she found out her parents were splitting up because her dad cheater on her mom with another woman. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I went from being a fun little girl to someone who only wanted to sit alone in a room looking out a window,” said Stephanie, remembering her time before therapy.

When her mom found out about Stephanie’s depression, she quickly sent Stephanie to therapy. “I went for like two months,” Stephanie said. After going to therapy, she began to see a change in herself. She no longer wanted to stay alone inside, but would rather be outside playing with friends. Even to this day, even if you don’t know her, you can see what a happy girl she is. Whenever you see her, she is dancing, laughing, jumping around, and being happy. Stephanie is always seen with a smile on her face. She has learned to live to the fullest, not letting anything bring her down.

Interview: Eduardo Badill

By Steven Pham

Eduardo Badill regrets yelling at his mom. If he stopped, the house would be happier, Eduardo said. By this, he means the house would be a more peaceful place to live in. When he argues with his mom, his brother cries. When that happens, it makes the whole argument even worse. If he could change the past, he would build a better relationship with his mother.

Interview: Stephanie Melora

By Abraham Riviera

Stephanie Melora isn’t like most kids. Most kid’s proudest moment is learning how to ride a bicycle. Her proudest moment was getting into the University of Southern California’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI). She applied and got accepted. In high school, she had to apply again and was accepted again. She was very excited to hear that she has an opportunity to go to USC. Now, she plans to work hard to get a scholarship.

Interview: Edward Gonzalez

By Eduardo Marin

Edward Gonzlaez is only 14 years old, but he has already lost someone very important to him: his mother. His happiest memory is thinking of her. He remembers everything about his mom, like how she kissed him goodnight every night, how she treated him, and how she loved him. Although he loved her very much, he doesn’t think he made her happy because he did “many stupid things” like being disrespectful sometimes.

One day he came home from school and his mom wasn’t acting her usual self. A few months later, his mom was hospitalized. He played songs of Ricard Argona for her, because that was her favorite singer. Unfortunately, he fell asleep one night hoping to see her in the morning, but she passed away that night.

Interview: Abraham Riviera

By Jasmine Taylor

Abraham Riviera gets scared when he’s left alone at his house. About two years ago, all of his family left when he was asleep in the house he currently lives in. He was asleep and no one woke him up. When he finally woke up, he was terrified and began to cry.

Interview: Leslee Perez

By MaryAnn Cabrales

Leslee Perez used to live right next door to her favorite aunt. Leslee would wake up around 7 a.m., run to her aunts house screaming, “Tia Chioh, Tia Chioh, Tia Chioh!” She was always extremely excited to see her aunt, because her aunt was extremely important to her. She was a close relative to Leslee that took care of her when she was an infant. Leslee considers the morning routine her favorite memory because it was when she was happiest.

Interview: Sarady Mergani

By Shifarah Villanueva

Sarady was born in Africa and grew up in a country called Sudan. As a child, Sarady says that she never knew much about her father. Shortly after her birth, he moved to America in order to receive his degree and finish his studies. However, Sarady describes her childhood in Sudan as a “beautiful experience.” When her mom told her they would be moving to America, she felt scared and uncertain. Then she met new people, including her estranged father. In the future, Sarady wants to be a children’s doctor and has a dream of building a children’s hospital called Mergani’s Children’s Hospital. She also sees herself having a family: a husband, one girl and two boys. “I would like to die of old age,” Sarady said.

Creative Writing: Gregor Samsa



Sentence by sentence, Foshay Learning Center Room 13 students work together in teams to develop a story from the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s famous novel The Metamorphosis. Students were given one minute each to write a sentence, then pass it to their peers to continue the story. The result was a hilarious combination of wit and imagination.

This is what they came up with…

Group 8:
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He knew this was a dream because he had this one before. He rose all sweaty from his dream. He was terrified. Although, after he realized he was awake it was all better. He then rose from his bed to brush his teeth and saw himself in the mirror. He was a praying mantis. He then began to scream in horror. His worst nightmare had become a reality, and he didn’t comprehend what was going on. He learned from the movie “Inception” that to wake from a dream he had to have a feeling he was falling. In an attempt to wake himself from what he thought was a dream, he tried it. As he fell and only hurt himself from the impact, he realized it was his reality.

Group 9: Eduardo Bodillo, Eduardo Morin, Steven Phan, Jonathan, Rogelio
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He was an ugly spider with no feet. He started to roll around the bed trying to find a cure. As he rolled, there was a giant dog sniffing around. The giant dog was sniffing for leftover food. As he was looking for leftover food, he found a cave which led to a secret path. The secret path led to a room where Chuck Norris was at. Then Chuck Norris just so happened to start turning into a spider too. He then talked to Chuck Norris in a spider-like language and found out the steps to curing his transformation. First, he had to eat ten flies. Second, he had to speak to the Messiah who was at the top of a hill. He started heading toward the hill where there was a palace. When he opened the door he found the cure, which was milk.

Group Slugg
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. Then he jumped out of bed and ran to go find Raid. Raid instantly screamed after seeing Gregor in only boxers. He told him, “Are you crazy?! Put on some clothes!” After that, they got out the house and went on a mission – to find who was the one making his bed transform. Then they found a big insect in the middle of the front yard, and he got scared and screamed and ran. They went and bought some insect repellent so they wouldn’t have to worry about the insects and find out who was doing this. Later, they found out it was Gergor’s ex-girlfriend trying to get revenge because Gregor had cheated on her with the girl next door. He was furious and told her to get a life. Overall, she was very disappointed in what had happened.

Group: Ana Ordonez, Iris Maldonado
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. A balloon floated around the room and then popped. His head started aching, his veins popping, blood dripping, and his head inflated. As a cockroach, Gregor ran to the kitchen and then fell into a pickle jar. All of a sudden, a huge rat crawls in from nowhere and it starts barking. After hours of struggling, he finally makes his way out. He walks out of his house. People start staring at him, and a bus squishes him into another bus. He later disappears and finds himself tangled with an octopus. He then saw a toad and jumped on its back, then found himself getting a taste of it. Later, he sleeps and faints. He awakens and finds himself in a needle bathtub, and then he starts to feel drowsy. When he fell asleep and woke up, he found himself almost falling through the hole of the bathtub into the drain.

Group: Sagrario, Joe, Kimian, Lucia
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. So, he went to the bathroom, but he couldn’t go because he couldn’t reach it. Cursing under his breath, he decided to go into the kitchen. He climbed the refrigerator door and jumped into a big box of Cheerios but encountered Fruit Loops instead. He was very disappointed. So, he committed suicide by drowning in the milk from the bowl. Unfortunately, he survived his milky demise and leaped from the bowl. He murmured to himself about this one commercial he had seen about Jenny Craig. So, he decided to take a field trip to the mall. At the mall, he found gorgeous, glittery high heels. So, he wore them until a lady came and put them on and squished him.

Group 5: Stephanie Melava, Jocelyn Castra, Edward Gonzalez, Travis Philips, Mario Arquello
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He didn’t know how to react. All he could do was scream. Gregor walked outside to find a wizard performing magic on his house and saw a big spider. I don’t know what happened, but he died. Then, he was reincarnated into a beaver. The beaver didn’t have a family, so he decided to go to a family of giraffes, and the giraffes ate him. The giraffes smiled with gratitude. Suddenly, the beaver burst out of the giraffe and said, “Thou shall not eat me!” The giraffe chuckled saying, “Fool, GET IN MY BELLY! >;D” He woke up again to realize it was all just a big dream.

Group: Leslee Perez, Jessica Sanabria, Roberto Recinos, Carlos Segovia
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. When he became an insect, he became a spider. He was terrified and jumped out the window. As a spider, he dreamed of being president of all spiders. He wanted to be the main hauncho. ;D His favorite food was mint chocolate chip ice cream with little flies, but he wanted something else on his ice cream. Was it cockroaches or ants? He got it. He wanted to eat a rate. He wandered through the grass, and in the end flies and mint chocolate chip ice cream ate him. The ice cream and flies bonded together and made a monster and got revenge. MUAHAHA! After he got eaten his body parts were still moving and he was beating up the flies and the mint chocolate chip inside. He ate him and little ants started to grow inside of him. He then went to heaven and became a god! But finally, he woke up and noticed he had dream of waking up! >.< Group: Jasmine Taylor, Pauline Welcome, Darwin Chavez, Roderick Richard, Sarady Merghani
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He looked in the mirror to see the red hourglass on his small stomach, not being able to wipe it away. Then while tripping over his candy wrapper, he fell off the nightstand. While lying on the floor a spider crawled into his ear and ate his brain. Just when the spider was finished, Gregor jumped out of bed! He woke from his dream dazed and awaken, alive yet shaken!! Afraid to go back to bed, he told his brother about the dream. His brother laughed and slapped him across his face. And in his bed at 12;00 a.m., he lays and stares at the ceiling slowly fading into the dark. When morning comes, the bug pops out and tries to eat him. Except this time, he catches the bug. So he ended up dying as a bug. A big, black, ugly bug.

Group 6:
As Gregor Samsa awoke from a night of uneasy dreaming, he found himself transformed in his bed into an insect. He has a strange craving for… marshmallows. This odd craving was driving him made, so he went to his kitchen to make smores and found his roommate, Steve, staring incredulously at the sorry excuse for food he had in his hand. He asked, “What the hell is that?’ “It’s s’mores, man,” he said. At this point, the “dude” was lost. He was like a monkey in a jungle just swinging from branch to branch. Ahhh, Chihuahua. From there he lost his craving for s’mores. Not it was bananas. He found himself fighting a monkey for bananas, and the monkey tried to eat him. Then he woke up in his bed next to Steve. He woke up to see his friends face, eyes shut, lightly kissing his cheeks, Gregory woke up, stared at Steven, and blushed. “Why?” Gregor asked. “Because I wanted to lay next to you, soaking up the beauty that is your face,” Steven said.

Radical radishes and more at Crenshaw garden



by Kevin Rivera, Crenshaw Digital Media Team

The Crenshaw High School Garden is definitely on the road to being beautiful as it can be with all of our natural plants and vegetables blossoming. So far there have been beautifications done along with some major clean-ups around the garden. The Crenshaw High School Digital Media Team, our horticulturist Mrs. Lauri Burrier and our sponsor Ms. Daphne Bradford have been taking care of our broccoli, cabbages, tomatoes, and radishes. My peers and I assisted in pulling unwanted weeds near our radishes so that they wouldn’t make the rest of our garden look unattractive. image

The radishes we planted during the Martin Luther King Jr. day of service back in January surprisingly popped out of the ground this month, with some of them ready to be harvested. Before picking our salad-ready-veggies, everyone checked and observed the radishes size, color, and texture. From a glance, the radishes have grown very naturally and firm. They were so extremely red that we all decided to call our radishes “Radical.” A few of the Radical Radishes were a deep beet red and a bright ripe pink color. After getting a first pick of them, followed by a bath to remove the dirt, the Crenshaw Digital Media Team had the chance to taste our Radical Radishes. image

With a delicious crunchy taste along a spicy flavor for the red ones and a sour taste for the pink ones, these radishes are like no others you’ll find from any supermarket, especially since these were eaten fresh from the earth. With all our efforts of growing a wonderful garden our broccoli, cabbages and tomatoes will be ready to be harvested soon so the community can get a chance to taste every radical veggie being grown at the Crenshaw High School garden.

A Look Inside the Ring



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Nestor Nunez

My sweat, the lights, and fear that’s inside my body. Knowing I am walking up the ring with no way out. The emotion I see in the audience faces makes me bashful, but when I listen, I hear the audience rooting for my name. I also see posters with my name on them. This scene takes my nervousness away and tells me that I’m in it to win it.

March 17, 2005, was just another ordinary day of school. My dad picked me up and said, “We’re leaving to go see your uncle fight for this event he is having.” When I heard the news I knew I was going to like it. When we arrived I saw the lights, I heard the music, saw the girls, and smelled the ring. This position was a new picture to me. My dad and I sat. There are two fights before my uncle enters the ring. I liked every piece of it. Everybody gets quiet and a theme song called “Eye of the Tiger” pops out. My uncle emerged all pumped up and waved at us.

By the second round, it was clear my uncle was the winner. “Knock Out by Francisco a.k.a. Pancho!” the announcer yelled. From that day I knew boxing was my new thing.

Joining boxing classes and having a personal trainer made me feel like a pro already. When I hear my trainer saying “We have a champ” I knew from that start I was going to do well in this career.

Now I had a new schedule, every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I’ll have training. On Wednesday I have sparing. Everyday my preparation gets harder and harder. Even though the trainings are tough I had to commit to my word and to my sport. I had about a year of training already preparing myself for an extraordinary event.

I’m in the locker room having my trainer helping me with my hand wraps and also advising me what to do and what not to. Training for five minutes before the fight gave me a cool sweat. “Nestor Nunez aka the Golden Boy, Jr.” the narrator says on top of the ring. I advance to the ring sweating, nervously seeing the people around me, and also my opponent. I see my family rooting for me. From the point I felt like Manny Paciao who is also my role model.

Hearing the bell and hearing the referee say “Fight,” felt like war just started. Walking to the opponent using every technique the trainer has taught me was actually coming in handy. It was third round. Hearing my opponent breathing hard I knew for a fact that he was tired. I had two minutes to take a break. Receiving water from my dad and my coach professionally telling me to stay balanced and to knock him out, felt like this match was all mine. One jab straight to his chin, seeing my opponent getting lightheaded I knew that one more punch it was over for him, and so I did. The match was over and the announcer said my name with joy and screaming “the winner”.

Boxing is the sport I mostly like and if people feel like this sport could be the right one for them, make sure you bring your heart and your “A” game.

Before starting life, you have to complete senior year



By Jennifer Macias and Nataly Flores, Fremont Magnet High School

Oh no! The SATs! The ACT! The AP tests! Finals! God, can life be any more complicated? Oh wait, it can: college applications. If I knew senior year year would be so difficult, I would have dropped out in kindergarten—JUST KIDDING! But I’m not kidding about the stress.

We don’t want to freak out incoming seniors, but eleventh grade and senior year are on two totally different levels. If you think finals are hard enough, just wait until you take a four-hour test that determines your future.

For those in the Magnet program at Manual Arts High School, you know that you’re expected to complete a “Life Plan” in Mr. Edwards’ government and economics class. This report is like no other report you have seen. It is a detailed project that encompasses the next ten years of your life after high school. When I say detailed–I mean it. The average length of the “Life Plan” is forty pages!

Another thing on a senior’s agenda is prom. Ah, prom, the night where seniors can finally let loose (but not too loose) and enjoy the fact that they are finally leaving high school. Girls spend a few months trying to find the perfect dress and guys spend a few months trying to find the perfect date.

Don’t think, however, that senior year is going to be a huge bomb that’s going to explode in your face. There are some days where stress is nowhere to be found. The company of your friends is really going to help relieve some of that stress. But then again, it’s difficult to party it all off when you have the ghost of the “Life Plan” looming about.

The “Life Plan” might seem like an extremely overwhelming task, but that is why you have a year to accomplish the project that should, in turn, help you have an idea about your life after high school.

Setting the “Life Plan” aside, which you shouldn’t do because procrastination will only hurt you, there are many projects that must be completed before graduating high school and starting life. You must first get through the tasks of standardized tests, college applications, prom and, of course, walking the stage!

Community service: a high school requirement you may enjoy



Chantel Carter, Fremont Magnet High School

Many high schools in Los Angeles require students to complete community service hours before graduating. At Fremont Magnet High School, all students are required to complete 160 hours and many have trouble choosing a good place to volunteer.

Community service is a good thing. Working for local organizations enables you to become an involved citizen in your neighborhood. Also, when the time comes to apply for college, community service always looks good on the application and gives you an advantage over students that haven’t taken the time to contribute to their community!

I know that the last thing that you would like to do when you’re not doing schoolwork is waking up to volunteer. I’ll take being lazy in bed over being an “involved citizen” any day. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we can wish for this requirement to go away, it won’t. So we’ve got suck it up, wipe the sleep out of our eyes, and get it out of the way. And with four years to complete these hours, there is really no excuse not to complete your service.

Can’t think of where to do your community service?

A misconception that a lot of students have is that community service means that you have to go out and pick up trash on the side of the freeway. That’s not always the case. The truth is, there are many places you can do community service that are right in your face. You can do community service anywhere, like a school, church, or a local business.

If you don’t want to do community service in your neighborhood, there’s always the possibility of traveling. If you go to another state with your family, see if there’s anyway that you can get a few hours done on your vacation. If you can’t leave the state, you can do something small like go to another city, or even another part of Los Angeles! Just know that there are opportunities everywhere to do your service, and who knows? You might just find something that you really enjoy, and those 160 hours will just fly by.

No home to call my own



The author of this piece has requested to remain anonymous.

By a student at Crenshaw High School

Do you know how it feels to lose a parent not to death but the government taking them away? Or to have to grow up with people you know but really don’t like? Well, I don’t live with either of my parents or my family members; instead I had to join someone else’s. None of us are really related but somehow we call each other family. The government or foster care want us to call each other family, but the people I live with are not.

I had a family but the police took my mother away, and they have had her for two years now. They just keep changing her court date and blowing her off because she was not born here. And my father lives in another state, calls every now and then but I don’t feel like he’s doing all he can. They want me to call the house we live in my home but yet I was not born into it, I did not buy or choose it.

I live with a lady, her spoiled daughter who is 11 years old (but thinks she’s 30.), and her husband who has a problem with yelling. There are also two foster boys who are 13 and 7 years old. The 7-year-old is what society calls mentally challenged and the 13 years old is clinically depressed and has to take pills. Then you have my sister still in state of shock by the death of her father and for some reason, hates everyone in the house. I think she is like this because she lost her dad at an early age. She’s depressed and should probably take pills for help.

Then you have me. Born in Kingston, just turned 17 years old and I feel like I’m grown because as long as I have lived, I have been taking care of everyone else. I’m always cooking, cleaning, yelling or mad, because I have a life but can’t live it. I have to watch the kids and the truth is I don’t really like little kids.

When I grow up I want to be an attorney for children or a social worker because I don’t want other kids to have to go through things like this. Don’t get me wrong, I love helping people solve problems and doing important things for others, but chores aren’t the same as my work at home. All those kids and it’s only me doing house work. I have to get rid of my anger and problems by listening to music because I can’t do anything else.

I have to fake like I belong here but the government doesn’t want me because I wasn’t born here. I know the truth and all the answers to everyone’s questions about my mother’s situation but I’ve been told that if the truth is told, it might kill her.

I’m the girl who wants to show my emotions but I’m told not to and that I have to be strong. The girl who had it all until the justice system came and made it into their own story, something they would like to read. That story was once someone’s life, my life, and now it’s a memory, a dream I’m waiting on to see come through.

My life now is just waking up to yelling and arguing, going to school and getting in trouble for something stupid. Coming home and forgetting to do something and getting in trouble for it. My social worker says I have to go to school and get good grades but how am I to do that when I always have to go to court for paper work? She also gave me anger management classes but I don’t think I have any problems –it’s just I don’t like when people say they are going to do something and then don’t.

On Sundays I wait by the phone to get a chance to speak to my mother. I’m waiting on the call and to hear my mom say the judge has released her, but each time it’s her saying they pushed her date back.

I’m doing all I can so that I can join the justice system and try and change some things about the way it works because these people in charge have power and don’t know how to use it. They stay they are helping me by doing all this but when I ask to get a job, ask for help or ask for anything, nothing ever gets done. I just want everything to go back to the way it was, the way things are supposed to be.

Life in a different language



Irving Velasquez, Crenshaw High School

When I came to the United States in 2004, I started school in the 7th grade. My first day at school was the worse day of my life. I did not speak a word of English and most of my teachers did not speak Spanish, my native language.

I was in my first period. The class had barely started, and I wanted the class to be over already. When the period ended, I felt like crying, but I knew I had to be strong. I knew that what was happening was not going to be forever. I knew that I would learn the language and would succeed in life.

In order to succeed in life I knew I had to get some kind of help. One person that helped me a lot those days was Ms. Sanchez. I am very thankful to her, because she helped me when I needed it the most. She was my math teacher, but she turned into an English teacher in order to help me. She would help me with everything I needed. In nutrition and lunch I would go over to her class so that I could practice my English. That helped me a lot. Now I’m in high school, about to graduate, and it’s all because of my courage and her help. If one day I had the chance to help someone that needs it like I needed back then, I would do it with my best intentions, because I want to give back what I once received.

Some people don’t know how much teachers can help. I know, because I once needed that help and, lucky for me, I found it. Not everyone looks for help in their teacher, because they think that nothing will change the situation. Well things are not like that. Teachers will help if you let them.