Before starting life, you have to complete senior year

December 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment


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!

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Community service: a high school requirement you may enjoy

December 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment


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.

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More than just school work: community service hours

October 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment


By Chantel Carter, Fremont High School

As we all know, most high schools require students to complete hours of community service in order to graduate. This 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.

We also know that the last thing that we want to do on our vacation, in the cold and dreary California winter, is community service. I don’t know about you, but 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.

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Cheerleading: a real sport

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment


imageBy Erdavria Simpson, Hamilton High School

Cheerleaders always feel that they don’t get recognition, always bringing school spirit to games and school events and still get talked down. From administration in schools to students talking about how they are boring. Some of this might be very constructive but most of it hurts since we are still not seen as a sport.

Cheer takes so much out of so many people. No time for the beach-I have cheer practice, no money in my pocket—I have cheer payments, no money in my mom’s pocket—she just paid for cheer camp. “Hey babe can I see you today?” –from boyfriend, a cheerleader’s answer: “I’m sore and sleepy. Catch me tomorrow.”

Even as I write this I’m in pain sore in a chair because of a stunt accident.

We tried a set it up stunt, which included the flyer, me, jumping over her back spot. No one caught me and I landed hard on my left foot and tore a few ligaments in my ankle. So I’m out for a while, but it’s okay because that’s what happens in cheer.

We work hard, practice rough, and always give 100% to everything we do– from stunts to tumbling dance and cheer; we have to be assertive and diligent. I know all of this from experience, I’ve been cheering for the past four years of my high school career at Hamilton High and each year we have been improving constantly.

Yet throughout those years the criticism of the team has been intense. It’s bad enough cheerleaders already have negative stereotypes of which we recognize and try to change. Television has done absolutely nothing to help change them; our effort in school has been completely undermined. Administration blames cheerleaders for lack of school spirit and instead they compare their high school days to ours, when everything has changed since then.

Students just don’t care about school. This generation looks at school for fun and not for education, they would rather chill with their friends than attend or support a pep rally. By trying out to become a cheerleader and effect change it is clear that we understand the lack of school spirit in our high schools.

Students tend to degrade cheer efforts just by spreading false rumors, or constantly complaining about how we are not awesome or don’t do enough “poppin’ cheers.” Our football players say that we don’t support them enough, but while they are on the field we are on the track. If they are playing and it starts to rain we are cheering in the rain.

And then there are the few who make cheer worthwhile, besides the connections you make with other girls and getting cheer sisters, and seeing work effort get paid off in the end with great dances and cheers. You make new friends, get to know and understand your school with a deeper connection by seeing how you could change it and make it better.

So I’m still a cheerleader and always enjoy cheering, dancing, and encouraging a crowd or team with and without recognition—recognition just helps.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

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