November 25, 2014 Volume 78 Issue 2lbhsnews.com

By Kylie GeorgeEditor-in-Chief

Sogo’s mathletes serve up some humble π

By Megan McBeanOpinions Editor

LBHS welcomes new principal

On Saturday, Nov. 22, Chemistry and Advanced Chemical Research (ACR) teacher Steve Sogo took 12 students to the Caltech Har-vey Mudd Math Competi-tion (CHMMC) at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont to compete against 48 other teams. They are still await-ing their results.

The 12 students were bro-ken up into two teams of six, and then they participated in a 75-minute team round, a 60-minute individual round and a surprise mixer round.

“We believe that we got three questions right in the team round and that every-one got at least 2 right in the individual round,” said Sogo.

Team 1 consisted of ju-niors London Carter, Clay-ton Haines, Natasha Keces, Marianna Krumrine, Stuart Webb and Michael Wogulis; Team 2 was comprised of juniors Kara Dunne-Dom-brink, Marcus Gunnell, Ta-mara Houalla, Dylan Kram-er, Camerton Tipton-Ortiz and Nicolas Vidas.

“It was really fun, and we met new people, but it was definitely very extreme,” said Krumrine.

Sogo selected these stu-dents primarily from his advisory class where his stu-dents’ problem solving skills are challenged weekly.

“It’s not all about what you know,” said Sogo. “It’s more about what you can do with what you know.”

In addition to the CHMMC, Sogo has started

a weekly math competi-tion during SDL called the “Team Scramble,” which is sponsored by National Assessments and testing. Senior Halle Redfearn, ju-nior Katie McCombs, ju-nior Zach Spitz, senior Nick Rieckhoff, sophomore Au-tumn Geil and sophomore Isaiah Galland are the team leaders that plan the weekly competitions.

The goal for the SDL competition is to solve 100 various math problems in 30 minutes. Those 30 minutes are incredibly hectic: Over 30 students collaborate on their assigned problems that they are best suited to solve (geometry, calculus, algebra, etc.). They have to scramble to write their answers on the board - hence the term “Team Scramble.”

“As a leader of the com-petition, I was responsible for helping recruit senior members for the competi-tion who preferably un-derstood calculus,” said Redfearn. “During the com-petition, I was one of the managers who gave specific problems to students and helped with the flow of fill-ing in answers.”

The SDL Team Scramble gave Sogo an additional pool of students to choose from for the CHMMC.

“The Team Scramble gave the select people who participated in the CHMMC a taste of what the Harvey Mudd environment might be like,” said McCombs.

Both the CHMMC and the Team Scramble were good opportunities for LBHS students to compete

with other schools’ top math students and to showcase their elite math skills.

“It’s a wonderful feel-

ing to have that ‘Aha!’ mo-ment, and I wanted to bring that here to LBHS students,” said Sogo.

Above is an example problem from the CHMMC Indi-vidual Round from the 2013 competition. The Brush and Palette is holding a contest for whoever can solve the above problem. The students who complete it correctly will have the opportunity to be featured on our website. Submit your answers in Room 52 to Mr. Brusky.

Top Left: (Photographed by Tami Herzfeld) Herzfeld displays his war wounds from a bike ride in Aliso and Wood Canyon Park, Laguna Beach. Top Right: (Photographed by Chris Herzfeld) Herzfeld takes a candid selfie with his 4-year-old daughter, Ruby. Bottom: (Pho-tographed by Thomas Biertly) Herzfeld shows off his dirt-biking skills on a local trail.

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New principal Mr. Chris Herzfeld was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, then moved to Colorado and lived there for nearly 30 years.

He attended Fort Lewis College, CO where he earned a degree in Psy-chology and a teaching degree in social studies; he also earned a Masters in Education at the Uni-versity of Colorado, Den-ver.

“I wanted to use these studies for something big-ger,” said Mr. H, a name of endearment the Break-ers have already begun using.

His desire to learn about the way people be-have led him to the pro-fessional world of edu-cation. He then started a teaching job with “at-risk kids,” students who did not like school or who hadn’t thrived in a tradi-tional learning structure. Working with these kids, he became extremely in-terested in how to rethink

schools so that they could connect with kids in dif-ferent ways. His work in Denver led him to rethink educational foundations and work on a deeper level with students. His fascination with restruc-turing schools led him to pursue another degree in Education Administration from the University of Colorado.

In 1999, Mr. H decid-ed to move to Newport Beach, California. From there, he transitioned to Laguna Beach in 2002. Prior to becoming the new principal at LBHS, Mr. Herzfeld was the principal of Fountain Val-ley High School. In his 14 years at FVHS, 10 of them were spent as prin-cipal.

“I definitely feel like a freshman here again,” said Mr. H when describing his first weeks at LBHS.

“I can see myself hold-ing this position for a good amount of time… I like to get to know a cul-ture and continue to im-prove it.”

FUNKYMR. H FACTS

Favorite celebrity: Kelly Slater

Favorite color: “My daughter says my favor-ite color is blue”

Favorite animal: Dogs

Favorite time of the year: Late fall/autumn because “the air gets crispy, there are anticipated snowfalls, and there are great snow sports”

Favorite sports: Skiing, surfing and mountain biking

Favorite food: Burritos

Favorite place to travel: Whistler, British Columbia Least proficient subject: Math

Favorite subject: Philoso-phy

Favorite adult: His wife, Tami

Favorite kid: His 4-year-old daughter, Ruby

News2November 25, 2014

¡La profesora nueva es muy buena!

By Katie GraydenNews Editor

(Katie Grayden)(Left/Right): Garcia emphasizes the Latin American culture by planning activities around holidays. (Middle): Students Rose Niermeijer and Lily Tabrizi enjoy a discussion with Señora Garcia after class.

PRIDE passes encourage positivityBy Dylan MorganReporter

As of Nov. 17, the following students have been re-warded with pride passes at LBHS.

Evan KawashiriLauren SperaKirra NashEvan McLaughlin Tanner FlagstadMadeline LundAva PachecoRosie MorrealeIsabella OrrMaria BadagliacoJosh HernandezRuby MussenAlex RounaghiNicholas RahderJake Robbins

Alex FritschmannGriffin Knutson Katelyn Carballo Riley Bumgardner Keila GonzalezCharles WarnerAngelique AlexanderMaximilian Casper Dario GarciaRiley BumgardnerChad Kanner Madison Cecil Hayley HidalgoEvan BarkerTrenton Caserio

Jamey OriasAmy HewlettTaylor CorriganHannah ConleyLiam DuncanAnthony CerdasTorrey Menne Hannah ConleyQuin SeelyIsabel RichesKobe HendersonJoseph KerfootAidan HopeConnor CoscinoJesse FrenchGeorge KrantzLilli CookQuedisha Denham Kathleen KimballDominic DroulezMila KrajinaAlec FritschmannAllegra FetykoMable YoungAnna Kunkel

Lydia SteinhoffCole CoscinoAlli JochimRamsey Elmewefy Katie HaydenAlexa AndersonGrace LaMontagneTaylor AddisBrenden BloomChantele CarterElla SteinbackKeila GonzalezDarien RichardsonConnor CampionStella LoFrancoWesley EagletonDanielle TreadwellGeoffrie FriasAnthony CerdasEvan HaglundJack RaffoJessica RollinsZane FairAlessandra Ricci-FisherJeffrey Danford

Natalie KimballBella ToroHailey MeisterSofia DeCastroJoe GallegosJeffrey BruntjensNick CarpinoKeila GonzalezRonald AlfaroHailey McCulloughNohlan CampbellJames WeirBethany LewisAlexis BeckmanAiden HopeJane SelinTeva ClarkElle MahdaviIsabel RichesGiovanna SulahianDaisy JeffersZach LevineBrenden BloomLindsey LowellMolly McMillan

 

 

 

Laguna United Football Club

30025 Alicia Parkway #188

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

info@lagunaunited.org

Laguna United is a local nonprofit soccer club whosE mission is to provide a positive, fun and safe environment dedicated to the

highest level of development of the players through advanced training.

This school year, new Spanish teacher Carita Garcia joined the LBHS staff. Garcia teaches four classes: Spanish 2 Hon-ors, Spanish 3, Spanish 4 Honors and AP Spanish Language. The Spanish teacher has implemented several different tech-niques to teach her stu-dents Spanish grammar and culture.

“I think it’s very impor-tant to change activities so that you can reach all kinds of learning styles,” said Garcia.

For instance, she teach-es Spanish through music and games such as Piction-ary, Battleship and other games. Specifically, Gar-cia uses a website called Kahoot. Sometimes after teaching a lesson, Garcia will allow students to test their knowledge using Ka-hoot, which is a quiz that assesses students on the materials they just learned.

Garcia changes the ac-tivities for her AP Span-ish class. Since this class learns six thematic units, Garcia shows them news articles and organizes de-bates for students to apply

their knowledge.“She is very enthusias-

tic and cares a lot about the subject. Her teaching style is interactive, which makes the class entertaining,” said senior Halle Redfern.

In order to prepare her classes for the AP Span-ish Language test, Garcia thinks it is important to teach them about the Span-ish culture.

“I think an easy and natural way for students to learn more about the Span-ish culture is listening to songs from different parts of Latin America,” said Garcia.

Garcia wants students to see the value of speaking various languages. In or-der for her students to gain a better Spanish accent, Garcia urges her students to speak only in Spanish while in her classroom. By doing so, she believes that students will also gain better listening compre-hension and become bet-ter prepared for future AP exams.

“I am excited about the progress I have seen so far,” said Garcia.

Since Garcia encour-ages participation, many students take an active role

while in her classroom. This awareness and con-stant activity positively impacts their understand-ing of the language.

Garcia also emphasizes grammar; thus, she plans each lesson around activi-ties from Spanish books. The grammar books in-clude vocabulary and grammar, allowing stu-dents to gain extra practice and a thorough explana-tion of certain grammatical uses.

“She teaches really clearly and provides really good examples for each Spanish lesson,” said se-

nior Nolan Gunsolley.For Halloween, Garcia

planned several activi-ties for each of her span-ish classes in order for her students to gain a bet-ter understanding of the language. For example, Garcia planned to make “altars” for remembering important Latin American individuals in some of her classes. For her other class-es, she helped her students create “calaveras,” which are skulls made of sugar or clay.

“This school already feels like home!” said Gar-cia.

Starting this Fall semes-ter at Laguna Beach High School, teachers have begun passing out PRIDE passes to recognize and reward good student behaviors.

PRIDE is an acronym for the ideal traits the school wishes to develop for every student on campus. It stands for Problem Solver, Resil-ience, Integrity, Dependabil-ity and Engagement. Teach-ers are encouraged to pass out two each week or 40 each semester.

“The passes should be

passed out acknowledging positive behaviors which in turn, teaches other students the correct behaviors. For some students, this might be the only recognition they ever get so please try and spread them out,” said assistant prin-cipal Lisa Brackez in an en-couragement to the teachers on campus.

The prizes range from a Breakers pen to a $10 dollar iTunes gift card.

“Honestly, the prize and teacher acknowledgment were great. I don’t think they could go any higher in value,” said ninth grader Anthony

Cerdas after being awarded a PRIDE pass.

As encouragement for teachers to hand out PRIDE passes regularly, administra-tion has rewarded participat-ing teachers at random selec-tion during staff meetings. Government teacher Jen Lundblad’s name was recent-ly drawn.

“I chose the Laguna Beach sticker because I thought my five year old son would love it,” said Lundblad.

Students are to stop by the Activities Office once they receive PRIDE passes to claim their rewards.

P R I D Eroblem solver

esilience

ntegrityependability

ngagement

Features3 November 25, 2014

LBHS reflects on retired Spanish teacher Señor Ortiz

Señor Ortiz, previous teacher of four different Spanish classes, officially retired at the end of June last school year. Each year he joked to his students about how next year would be the year he would leave LBHS, but no one believed him. Last year he sealed the deal and left his students in tears. To the majority of us, he was more than just a Spanish teacher. He was a storyteller, a friend, and, to some, a second father. He not only taught us about the subjunctive and Spanish culture, but also about what was right and wrong. Ortiz wasn’t afraid to step away from the day’s lesson plan and talk about controversial issues. His bold and blunt nature made us stronger as we grew up in his class-

room from freshman to junior year. Through his ad-venturous stories, that may or may not have been real, and his vast knowledge, we learned a lot from him. As most of his students would agree, he was one of the most influential teachers

LBHS has ever had. Even with him gone, we will al-ways hear his voice in our heads telling us not to forget our chips, dips and cookies.

Infamous for his final exams, Ortiz had students answer up to 400 questions in addition to multiple es-

says. These finals kept stu-dents after school often and entertained Ortiz always.

Ortiz believed in teach-ing Spanish through talking and storytelling. Some of his stories were unbeliev-able, but he always main-tained that they were 100% original and true.

His room was quite a spectacle, too, as he stored decades of worksheets and teaching material in ceiling high stacks. His walls were covered in key concepts and comical posters. As disorganized as it seemed, he managed to know the location of every paper he needed.

Through all his crazi-ness, it was always ap-parent that he had a deep connection to his students and a love for teaching. His passion for Spanish and life was evident in every lesson he taught.

By Carlee ResslerReporter

“Señor Ortiz made our Language Department closer and more tight-knit. Without him, we are not the same. Ev-erything I learned, I learned from him. He instilled a ‘no-nonsense’ policy in the way I taught and made me a better teacher,

“Ortiz was one of the most influ-ential teachers I’ve ever had be-cause he taught me to stop translat-ing in my head, and to start thinking in the language, said senior Domi-nic Droulez.

“I miss being in that class and be-ing under the influ-ence of his deep, deep wisdom. He was like a father to me, and I will never forget him, said senior Pierce Ashworth.

”

“

“

said spanish teacher señora johnson.

From Nov. 3 to Thanks-giving break, ASB and the Laguna Beach Food Pantry Club are hosting a canned food drive. All of the dona-tions will support the La-guna Beach Food Pantry’s commitment to helping lo-cal families in need.

“Last year we raised close to nineteen hundred pounds of food which we were very happy with, but this year we hope to bring in at least two thousand pounds,” said ASB advisor Yvette Kelly.

If every student brought at least one can of food, whether it is soup, peanut butter or any other canned non-perishable food, the ambitious goal is certainly achievable.

In order to encourage student participation, ASB is offering a free breakfast to the advisory class that has brought in the most cans by Nov. 25.

ASB is pairing with Colby Pratt, president of the Laguna Food Pantry Club, to provide as much help as possible for the local charity.

“It is my goal to establish a group of students who be-come friendly with pantry employees and [those in need] so that we may work

at the shelter and continue the growth of the club for years to come,” said Pratt.

Further endeavors of the Laguna Food Pantry Club include holding additional food drives, volunteering at the pantry and increasing awareness of the Laguna Food Pantry. They plan on hosting numerous fundrais-ers this year, including one at Hospitality Night and many at sporting events. They hope to raise enough money to help the work-ers at the pantry buy new flags, signs and equipment. The club is always looking for new members, as two

students are needed to vol-unteer every Saturday from 9-11 a.m.

According to the La-guna Food Pantry’s Face-book page, it provides “free, fresh, and supplemental food to Laguna Beach area residents.” Also, 20% of the pantry’s food goes to kids in need here in Laguna Beach, and the pantry serves any-where from 50-70 families a day. They are open daily before 11 a.m., and their most-needed items, known as “The Big Six,” are peanut butter, cereal, canned tuna, pasta, pasta sauce and jelly.

The pantry collects 2,500

pounds of food every day, giving it out free to anyone who depends upon the pan-try as a primary food source as well as to those who need supplemental groceries to meet their families’ needs.

Volunteers are always needed, especially in No-vember, National Hunger and Homelessness Aware-ness Month. For those in-terested in getting involved, see Colby Pratt on campus or call the Laguna Food Pantry at (949) 497-7121.

“As we give thanks for everything we have, it is im-portant to remember the less fortunate,” said Pratt.

November 25, 2014 4

FeaturesClub inspires campus-wide food driveBy Madison SinclairFeatures Editor

By Olivia RobertsEntertainment Editor

Winter gets festy

On Saturday, Dec. 6, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) will be hosting the annual Winterfest fundrais-er in Laguna Beach High School’s Dugger Gym. This fundraiser was originally known as the LBHS Holi-day Boutique, but it was re-named by the PTA this year.

The Winterfest fund-raiser is a community-wide event, full of live entertain-ment, homemade food and plenty of vendors. The fun-draiser has also added a gift-wrapping service, sit-down café and a craft area for kids to entertain themselves

while parents shop.All vendors are encour-

aged to participate so long as their goods are school appropriate and do not com-pete with the food, drinks and desserts being sold by the PTA. There is a flat fee rate of $75 per vendor. Vendors must check in at the Dugger Gym between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The Winterfest fund-raiser is not only a great opportunity to get in some holiday shopping, but also to help PTA’s ongoing sup-port of our schools. The Winterfest will be open to all patrons from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the day of the event.

The Laguna Beach Food Pantry Club encourages students to bring canned food dona-tions. The club has recruited over 60 members; new members are always welcome.

(Marisa Schatz)

The Winterfest is an annual holiday fundraiser held by the PTA. This event has been a success in years past.

(Olivia Roberts)

FeaturesNovember 25, 20145

Economics students get a lesson in the real worldBy James FastPhoto Editor

Math teachers reinvent Algebra I Walking for water needs YOU!By Marisa SchatzPR Manager

By Kylie GeorgeEditor-in-Chief

In addition to undergo-ing traditional learning, economics students are gaining real-world skills through the Stock Market Game.

“The game is as close as you can get to invest-ing without using real money,” said economics wizard Mark Alvarez.

Students are given $100,000 in virtual money to invest as they see fit. Bonds, stocks and mutual funds can be purchased, and any stock sold via NASDAQ or NYSE that is above $3 may be traded.

“The stock market game is pretty cool be-cause we get to take what we learn about money and the economy and actu-ally apply it to something real,” said stock aficiona-do Annie Brown.

Although the game provides students with a hands-on experience, there are flaws regarding the timing of the game’s market.

“My biggest issue with

the game is how long it takes to update. Prices seem to be based only off of closing price and aren’t updated in real time. This makes trading more dif-ficult because you don’t know when your order will be processed or if it will be processed at the price it was at the time,” said 12th grade financial guru Harrison Gregory.

Both the AP Macro-economics and the regular Economics classes partici-pate in the game, with the only difference being the duration of the game.

“For my regular class,

the game starts in October and ends in December,” said Alvarez. The AP class begins its game in Sep-tember and plays through April.

The time frame for the game is another drawback. The focus isn’t on long-term investing; it’s on short term trading, which very few people are suc-cessful at in the real world, according to Alvarez.

“You can be very suc-cessful doing long-term investing, but not short-term trading. Most people who do that lose. I worry about the habits that [the

game] might create be-cause of the unusual be-havior it fosters,” said Al-varez.

Due to the short-term nature of the game, suc-cessful students hunt to find low cost investments with a high return- a rela-tively risky investment.

“Typically students who do well are looking for stocks with a lot of volume. They’re looking for smaller companies with lower share prices, so they can buy a lot of shares at a very low price. Those share-price moves generate a lot of results,” said Alvarez.

The introduction to in-vestments at such an early age can be truly beneficial, as it opens students’ eyes to an aspect of life previ-ously unknown to them.

“The stock market game has shown me un-limited possibilities of stocks. I definitely see myself using stocks and bonds as a way to invest my money in the future,” said 12th grade aspiring investment banker Wil-liam Wheeler.

Imagine not being able to go to school every day be-cause you don’t have enough water to survive. Imagine having to walk all day across difficult terrain, just to reach drinkable water. Imagine contracting a deadly disease then dying from dehydration because you were not strong enough to make the 6-12 hour trek for clean water.

These horrible living conditions are what citizens in Burkina Faso and Kenya have to survive every single day. Luckily, a club here on campus is here to help.

Walking for Water is a club that raises money to build wells in Burkina Faso and Kenya. The club also helps put children in schools, so they can receive a proper education. The club has al-ready placed approximately 1,000 Burkinabe children in schools.

“The more people we give water to, the less chil-dren have to walk to go get water,” said Susan Grimsley, club advisor and parent of 12th grader Branner Grims-

ley. “Right now, however, it is such a priority just to have water to survive.”

Walking for Water is LBHS’s branch of the non-profit organization Wisdom Spring Inc., which gives 100% of its funds to the projects in Burkina Faso and Kenya.

It costs roughly $10,000 to build wells in Burkina Faso, and it costs even more to build them in Ke-nya. So far, Wisdom Spring Inc. and Walking for Water have raised enough money to place 28 wells in areas of need.

“Despite the high cost of the wells, they last for sev-eral lifetimes, and they will serve these people for gener-ations to come,” said senior club president Taylor Addis.

Last year, the Walking for Water club collaborated with a school in Virginia to raise enough money to build a well in Kenya. Once they

raised enough money, the advisor of the east coast branch traveled to Kenya to oversee the construction of the well.

The Walking for Water club is looking to do simi-lar things this year; the club needs more students to be-come involved. Joining such an important cause can open students up to activities and organizations that they may want to continue to partici-pate in for the rest of their lives.

“I believe that every young person has a gift to bring to the world, so I like to have young people come to this club and realize that they have have a gift that they give to the project,” said Susan Grimsley.

To become a part of the Walking for Water club, come to Mr. Hendrickson’s classroom, room 53, during lunch on Wednesdays. You won’t regret it!

(Taylor Addis)

The Walking for Water club gathers during a teenage art event that was held to raise money for water filtration in India. In ad-dition to helping citizens in India, the club has raised money for 28 wells to be built in countries in Africa.

(Greer Jacobs)

Jamin Schwerner and Francisco Godoy work together to solve a challenging math problem. The Algebra 1 curriculum has undergone changes to fit the new Common Core Standards.

(Marisa Schatz)

With the holiday season fast approaching, what would you recommend investing in?

“As an aspiring invest-ment banker, the obvious choice is to invest heavily in Wheeler Tinker Toys Inc., the leading producer of tinkering-tonks.”- William Wheeler

“Anything except E-40’s rap career. G-Eazy, please never let ‘E-Feazy’ tell his story ever again.” - Pierce “Son” Ashworth

“People tend to indulge in sweets during the holidays, so I would invest in the Clark Sweet Shop; they are master bakers!” - Livie Clark

“If you don’t invest in The North Pole Coal Company then you missed a great op-portunity.” - Lauren McKeehan

This past summer, La-guna Beach High School math teachers Kimberly Rood and Lara Greco spent a significant amount of time creating a new Al-gebra I curriculum to fit the new Common Core Standards.

“The Common Core Algebra I standards in-clude many of the pre-vious Algebra I content standards as well as sev-eral standards from the current Algebra II cur-riculum. The curriculum also includes statistics and probability,” said Greco.

The educational pro-gram focuses on new styles of teaching and

learning. One new ap-proach is the student-use of scientific and graphing calculators as a learning tool, which has previously been prohibited due to old state testing requirements. Teachers will be spending extensive time going over real world problems.

“We are demanding more critical thinking from our students so that they can apply what they have learned to their sci-ence classes and in real life,” said Rood.

As of now, the new curriculum only affects Algebra I students; how-ever, the other teachers in the math department are spending more time with students working on group projects that dem-onstrate problem-solving

skills. “All teachers in the

math department have spent countless hours in-volved in important de-cision making and cur-riculum changes that will eventually affect all future courses and stu-dents,” said Greco.

Students have respond-ed well to the new Alge-bra I curriculum. Their comprehension level is higher, as they understand the content much better than before. Going over real life problems brings a sense of relevance into the classroom, which engages students effectively.

“The newer curriculum is easier to follow, and the teachers really explain the material well,” said fresh-man Keila Gonzalez.

Join this club if rais-ing money to build wells in Africa inter-ests you.

Ebola in Perspective

= One death by Ebola

>>> >N

S

EW

*image not to scale*

AfricA -Approximately 5,000 deaths

-Hazardous hospitals and conditions

-CDC , WHO, and volunteer health care professionals

-Cases began in 1976

Ebola is a rare and deadly dis-ease caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus. The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple

countries in West Africa. The risk of an Ebola outbreak affecting multiple people in the U.S. is

very low.

As help from the UN and the U.S. flooded into

Liberia, the rate of infection and death declined in recent weeks, though the disease continues to flare in neighboring Sierra Le-one and Guinea. The number of daily Ebola infections in Liberia has declined from nearly 100 a

day to about 25.

AmericA-Two deaths (both contracted

Ebola in Africa)-Modern medical care and

facilities-Two cases in 2014

Sources: cdc.gov, http://www.who.int and http://www.nytimes.com

On Sunday, Nov. 23, the Park Avenue Players performed the last show of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by drama teacher Mark Dressler. This work of Shakespeare contains three stories leading up to one main event. Each story ties into the wedding of The-seus, the ruler of Athens, and his bride Hippolyta, a prisoner. One of the three stories contains the forbidden love of a girl

named Hermia and her love Lysander. Hermia runs away to escape an arranged marriage and instead meets her true love in the enchanted for-est to elope. During that time, in the second story, the king and queen of the fairy realm fight over the possession of a child. In the last of the three sto-ries, a group of common-ers rehearses for a drama competition. The play is to be put on by the Duke for his wedding in the en-chanted forest, where all the stories tie together.

“The thing I found re-markable was how beau-

tiful the show was to watch. It appeared magi-cal and light when the dancers moved,” said in-structional aide Kimberly O’Brien-Young. “The synergy on stage between the actors was amazing.”

The cast for A Mid-summer Night’s Dream consists of King The-seus (Ethan Schlat-ter), prisoner Hippolyta (Cameron Anderson), teenage lovers Hermia (Shelby Clark) and Ly-sander (Bayley Thomas), fairy world rulers Oberon (Zane Fair) and Titania (Anya Gourley), amateur dramatist Quince (An-

drew Humphries) and lead actor Nick Bottom (Wyatt Ship).

“We are proud to have put on a show that rein-vented the setting into an even more magical place,” said Clark.

The production has al-lowed the drama team to showcase their collective talents in stage design, costuming, choreography, music and humor. Seeing this play was incredible. Dressler did a great job of directing the comedic twists. The elaborate cos-tumes and makeup made the characters come to life during scenes. Actors

and dancers exceeded spectator expectations. The production was a great start to the year for the Park Avenue Players.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream had drama, come-dy and many moments of visual splendor. Our goal in the direction of this piece was to bring an au-dience a friendly produc-tion of a classic play - to weave music, dance, dra-ma and color into a splen-did display of theatre,” said Dressler. “Our aim was to provide satisfying, intellectual entertainment to all levels of audience sophistication, especially

our younger viewers for whom this might have represented a first-ever ‘Shakespearience.’”

Some students are reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream in their English classes, so at-tending the show rein-forced their learning. The play offered other stu-dents the chance to visit with friends, have fun and watch a quality drama production.

Aspiring performers should mark Dec. 14 into their audition calendar, for the musical Bye Bye Birdie will hit the stage this spring.

Entertainment8November 25, 2014

An experimental rock band has emerged from La-guna Beach High School; Box Hotel is a band formed in August, consisting of members Fox McMillan, Emily Roberts, Jovan Ma-jano and Elijah Meisse.

The band has a good mix of ages and talents; Majano is currently a sophomore at Chapman University, Mc-Millan is a freshman at Sad-dleback Community Col-lege, Roberts is a senior at LBHS and Meisse is a soph-omore at LBHS. Majano plays the synth, McMillan and Roberts play the electric bass and guitar and Meisse plays the drums. Roberts and

Majano provide the band’s vocals.

“Our band was started with the intention of creat-ing experimental music that could reach a widespread audience,” said Roberts.

Box Hotel is in the pro-cess of writing their first album, and they currently have around 12 songs writ-ten and the hope of playing shows regularly.

“We don’t really have a hard-hitting rock sound,” said Meisse. “It’s more of an alternative feel.”

Although Box Hotel is a new band, the members of the band are not new to each other; most of them have been good friends for a long time.

“I’ve known Emily since the start of my senior year. I met Jovan when Emily and he first came to me when we first started the band. Final-ly, I met Elijah when we had the first band practice with him,” said McMillan.

Most of the band’s sound is influenced by bands such as Muse and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The genre “experi-mental rock” comes from the band’s wide variety of personal music styles and their desire to allow them-selves room to experiment with different sounds.

“Elijah has a super good jazz sound on the drums, Emily is more rock and roll, Jovan is definitely classical and I play more of a funk-bass,” said McMillan.

I definitely recommend checking out this band be-cause they are dedicated to their music, and they love what they are doing, not to mention they are all such great people.

“Advice for the students: get involved in music. It’s really chill - go out there and have some fun. Don’t be shy; music is your friend. Peace late homies, and shout out to Brody Seebass,” said McMillan.

Box Hotel is planning to have a few of their songs up on SoundCloud soon.

A new band takes LB

Midsummer enchanted audiences

By Brianna BrownBusiness Manager Hannah VogelSports Editor

(Left) Sam Dameshek, Nanette Smith and Ian Winefordner portray mischievous pucks. (Center) Zane Fair lifts Anya Gourley as they dance upon the stage. (Right) Spirits and fair-ies dance gracefully together.

(Roark Gourley)

By Kammie GeorgePR Liaison

Fox McMillan, Elijah Meisse, Emily Roberts and Jovan Majano at one of their first band rehersals. Box Hotel was formed in August and they identify as an experimental rock band to allow room for creativity in their music.

Playstation or Xbox?The question that has

plagued this generation of console gamers all year: Microsoft’s Xbox One or Sony’s PlayStation 4? This is a very complicated issue, and there is no “right” an-swer.

The PS4 has a slim, seductive look to it when compared with the Xbox’s chunky appearance. The PlayStation’s futuristic qualities look like a Pagani Zonda (Google it) when compared with the pickup truck Xbox. That’s 1-0, Playstation.

The Xbox One runs at a speed of around 1.7 GHz, while the PS4 tops out at about 1.8 GHz, which is slightly faster. The higher speed is noticeable in high frame-rate games, such as Battlefield 4. Both consoles have 8 gigabytes of RAM. However, the PlayStation has the GDDR5 variant, which allows games to run faster and look better. That’s 2-0, Playstation.

Sony has been up and down with their controllers since the first PlayStation was released twenty years ago, but this year we seem to have an easy-to-use con-troller with a touch sen-

sor and speaker. Similarly, Microsoft has delivered a stunning alert controller that makes every move-ment a pleasure to execute. This suits the style of most Xbox games, being spon-taneous and awake. On the other end of the scale, Sony’s luxurious and rigid controller is catered toward the more story based games of the PlayStation. 2-1, PlayStation.

It’s no secret that Xbox has a better accessories department. The kinect, a motion sensing camera, allows you to navigate the operating system with ease, although sometimes being unresponsive. The Xbox One also uses a more complex operating system based on Windows 8. Sony

chooses to stick to the minimalistic operating system that puts more em-phasis on the games them-selves. This round goes to the Xbox; score tied at 2-2.

Now comes the most important part, the video games. Microsoft is a com-puter company, whereas Sony has a large part of its company working on mov-ies, allowing them to have better story-based games. Even so, some people wish to have an action-based game instead. The dif-ference with Playstation games is that they are not action-based games but are interactive movies. At this point, it’s personal prefer-ence. The results are in, and Playstation vs. Xbox is in fact a tie!

By Marccon SalibReporter

Joel, from The Last of Us, faces off against Master Chief, from Halo 5. This dispute shows the battle between the gaming consoles known as the Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Opinions 9 November 25, 2014

By Olivia RobertsEntertainment Editor

By Greer JacobsCartoonist

Bullying hurts everyone involved

It really is not funny College visits help students

By Katie GraydenNews Editor

By Amy HewlettEditor-in-Chief

Bullying, the use of superior strength or influence to intimidate

someone, can range from teasing a friend to physically and men-tally torturing another.

“You never know what somebody is go-ing through outside of school; teasing them could make more of an

impact than you would have ever guessed,” said senior Bella Toro.

According to re-cent studies by JAMA Psychiatry, kids who

were bullied and acted as bullies themselves were at higher risk for depression, anxi-ety and panic disorder years down the line compared to those with no history of bullying.

Bullying can be traumatizing; it is common for a victim of bullying to cope with his or her pain, in turn, by bullying

others. Many times, a bully will develop anti-social personality disorder, a lack of empathy and mistreatment of others.

B u l l y i n g should not be viewed as a part of life that kids must go through, nor should it be regarded as in-significant. The short and long term effects left by bullying shape

the rest of one’s life, whether he or she is the bully or the vic-tim.

“Everyone de-serves a place where they feel safe and sup-ported,” said Cowles.

Every day, high school students are bullied physically and verbally. Many people associate bullying with physical contact; how-ever, I believe bullying can take many forms. Although there are not many occurrences of bullying at Laguna Beach High School, students should still try to be respectful to their peers.

Whether it’s teas-ing a girl about her clothing or personality, you shouldn’t quickly judge. The girl might come from an abu-sive household, might lack money needed to buy decent clothing or might constantly feel pressured to fit in. It’s no different for a boy. Although many boys tend to act tough from the outside, many in

high school struggle to fit in and act “cool” out of insecurity. However, before you tease a boy based on his clothing or overconfidence, you should consider what type of environment he comes from.

As technology has advanced over the years, bullying has be-come more prevalent, particularly cyberbul-lying via popular so-cial media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Teens may spread false rumors on sites like Facebook to hide their insecurities behind a screen. Unlike spreading a rumor in person, rumors spread more quickly on me-dia sites. For instance: by updating a status on Facebook, your sta-tus will notify all of your friends. Thus, the choice to spread false rumors online not only can damage the vic-

tim’s reputation, but can also emotionally hurt the victim’s self-esteem.

For a long time I couldn’t pinpoint why certain people choose to bully others through technology. Then I re-alized why individuals feel inclined to bully others; bullies are in-secure. By criticizing others, bullies demon-strate these insecurities because they feel more confident by bullying others. Thus, they take advantage of popular media sites.

In any school, bul-lying can exist in many ways. Therefore, if students are sitting by themselves or seem depressed, how hard would it be to talk with them, say hi or even just smile? A simple act of kindness could build up a student’s confi-dence and brighten his or her day.

Teasing [someone] could make more of an impact than you would have

ever guessed.

“

“As the 2015 senior class

enters its final year, many overwhelming emotions and pressures can take over a student’s mind. From col-lege applications to leaving friends and family behind, students can easily become immersed in a realm of chaos and stress.

Luckily for students of all grade levels, our school provides students with proper guidance and op-portunities to help allevi-ate anxieties. I, along with many other students, am so grateful to have such attentive and helpful staff members with me along the way.

One of the beneficial ex-periences the high school offers revolves around on-campus visits from various colleges throughout the na-tion. These visits have indi-vidual representatives from different schools that come to our campus and share their schools’ information with our students.

Although the experi-ence of having a face-to-face interaction with a college representative can seem nerve wracking, it ul-timately has great benefits.

Not only are you able to learn about a potential col-lege that interests you, but you are also able to ask any questions you may have that would not have been answered otherwise. This valuable contact not only provides our students with a greater knowledge of the colleges but begins to make their dreams a reality.

Opportunities such as these are not given to all high school students. From essays to counseling, our students are given ample guidance throughout their high school years. This very assistance proves to be advantageous to every-one who accepts it, espe-cially throughout the appli-cation processes.

Getting ready for col-lege is a tough process, and visiting with a college’s representative can truly make or break one’s deci-sion to apply to a particular school.

These visits help stu-dents grasp a better un-derstanding of their future goals. By getting help from some of the college specialists on campus, stu-dents can feel less stressed when beginning their se-nior year.

From application es-

says to supplemental essays, seniors have a lot on their plate. By getting a head start and taking every opportunity to get ahead, students get a jump on the strenuous task of applying.

Without the help of our staff and counselors, col-lege applications could very well leave hundreds of students feeling defeated. If it weren’t for college and career center specialist’s Dawn Hunnicutt and Lynn Gregory, students would be at a major disadvantage when beginning the college application process. Fur-thermore, without coun-selors Angela Pilon, Nich-ole Rosa and Jen Hoffman holding our hands through the process, some students could potentially give up on applying all together.

It is of the utmost impor-tance that you take advan-tage of everything provided for you. Although simple things such as college vis-its and essays might not seem daunting at first, they can be your worst night-mare if not executed with time, care and passion. By reaching out to those who provide guidance, students can ease their stress levels and truly flourish when ap-plying to colleges.

Social media has changed our world, but the way it affects our culture isn’t always ben-eficial. It has sparked a terrible trend of anony-mously judging and de-grading others. People use media sites like Twitter and Instagram to post provocative statements and pictures, and many of these state-ments refer to topics that should not be joked about.

For example, the Ebola virus has broken out in the United States, provoking fear all over the country. However, this is no new virus. It first broke out in Africa in 1976 and killed 602 people in two separate outbreaks. However, America’s media has caused the Ebola scare to be blown way out of proportion.

Sadly, people find it funny to anonymously tweet on accounts such as @EbolaTheVirus morbid things like, “fol-low me or someone in your family will get

Ebola in the next 48 hours.”

There are hundreds of other topics that Ameri-cans carelessly joke about on social media.

People have even made jokes about sui-cide. Oftentimes, people will tell their friends things like “go kill your-self” in a joking way, but suicide is no joke. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “sui-

cide is the third leading cause of death, behind motor vehicle accidents and homicide, for young people 15-24 years old.”

There are thousands of social media ac-counts about Ebola, sui-cide, and a long list of other things that people struggle to deal with in their everyday lives. People should really think before they post jokes about such serious matters.

Opinions10November 25, 2014

Let’s change the face of learningBy Kirsten LandsiedelEditor-in-Chief

(Kirsten Landsiedel)A student struggles to fit into the strict educational box society expects him to conform to. He doesn’t feel like his intelligence was fairly represented.

What exactly is the purpose of modern education? Learning? Not really. The rea-son we educate our children is to best pre-pare them for the economy of tomorrow. As much as we all would like to say we educate to open minds and instill a sense of curios-ity among a rising generation, these days that is simply not true. Curiosity and thirst for knowledge are simply bi-products of our modern education system. We drill dis-cipline into children, telling them to avoid technological and social temptations, in ex-change for the more bland subjects we offer in school, when we should be encouraging them to explore the advancing era we live in and embrace the societal changes we are experiencing.

The first public schools were opened to all economic and social classes during the Industrial Revolution and tailored to the needs of that time. As soon as these schools were established, their ways of operation changed little. Schools are a bit absurd in practice when looked at as a bigger picture. We dress kids in uniforms, pace their days on the ringing of bells and group them by age.

Getting through school and obtaining a degree used to mean you would secure a job;

that’s no longer true. Scholastic motivation seems low due to the realization that even a college degree doesn’t guarantee success.

Furthermore, we have come to assume that intelligence can be measured math-ematically. Intellectual ability cannot be measured by these standardized tests we impose upon students. Intelligence comes in many forms. It’s as if your whole life is determined by multiple choice questions on exams like the SAT and ACT. If you aren’t that specific type of thinker that can excel at them, then you are pretty much doomed to failure.

We need to wake students up to the world around them and let them contribute to the changing world in their own way. It is vital that we find a better way to gauge in-telligence. We must stop the childish act of forcing square blocks into triangle shaped openings- they will never fit. Just because a cube doesn’t fit into that triangle doesn’t mean that the square should be discarded. It simply means that we have to build a new opening.

There are a few things that we can work to improve upon: we shouldn’t look at our students and college applicants as a series of numbers that define their intelligence; we should look at their body of work and their commitment to their work.

We shouldn’t isolate our students when they are learning new material; we should encourage group effort.

At times we must crack open a textbook or memorize formulas, but public education can offer so much more.

Students don’t want to sit calculating meaningless numbers. However, your var-

sity basketball kid may want to apply that new mathematical formula to calculate the arch necessary for shooting in order to achieve the highest probability of scoring.

The main thing to remember is that there is a lot more to a person than the tiny bubbles he or she fills out on a scantron. We have a long way to go reforming public education.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.By Kammie GeorgePR Liaison

Amy HewlettKirsten LandsiedelKylie GeorgeKatie GraydenMadison SinclairOlivia RobertsMegan McBeanHannah VogelMarisa Schatz

Editor-in-Chief/Managing EditorEditor-in-Chief/ Production ManagerEditor-in-Chief/ Web ManagerNews EditorFeatures EditorEntertainment EditorOpinions EditorSports EditorPublic Relations Manager

Kammie GeorgeBrianna BrownJames FastGreer JacobsDante FornaroMarccon SalibDylan MorganCarlee ResslerJim Brusky

Public Relations LiaisonBusiness ManagerPhoto EditorCartoonistPhotographerReporterReporterReporterAdviser

Staff BoxThe

Lately, I’ve been noticing people frequently making negative comments about ideas they don’t fully understand. People often make remarks that slander another person’s personal, religious or cultural beliefs.

“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… all I ask is that you re-spect me as a human being,” said Amer-ican baseball player Jackie Robinson.

Sometimes people can make remarks that they don’t realize are hurtful until after they are said. This is easily pre-ventable. Even though others’ views may challenge your own beliefs, you must seek to understand different view-points. People don’t grow up the same way and aren’t raised by the same peo-ple. Different opinions on certain topics are understandable.

Furthermore, although you may pos-sess different opinions than other peo-ple, you don’t have the right to say that the other person is wrong.

“Respect yourself if you would have others respect you,” said Spanish phi-losopher Baltasar Gracian.

I’m not saying that you should force yourself to change your opinions to agree with everyone else’s, but seek a way to learn from others’ opinions and educate yourself. This way, you can learn how other people developed their opinions and why their views have sub-

stance.It’s okay to defend your views if you

notice someone is offending them or is trying to change your opinions. How-ever, be cautious with this; you should defend yourself in a respectful manner.

“It’s no good being too easily swayed by other people’s opinions. You have to believe in yourself,” said fashion de-signer Donatella Versace.

Arguing with someone over differ-ent opinions pertaining to topics such as politics, religion, music or sports can lead to bitterness and resentment. Hon-estly, it’s not worth falling out over. If you feel as though talking about your differences with someone will only start an argument, then it’s okay to avoid talking about it.

Perhaps Irish novelist Laurence Sterne said it best: “Respect for our-selves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.”

(Kammie George)

EditorialNew Staff vs. New Students

By: The Brush and Palette Staff

When it comes to new students at LBHS, we shut out the newcomers. This is not because we are mean or snobby. It’s mainly because we are strongly connected with the friends we’ve known since the 1st grade, so it’s hard to imagine anyone else joining our little crew. In our small com-munity, it’s noticeably hard to break the barrier between new students and Laguna Beach adolescents. However, it’s not nearly as hard for new staff members on campus. When it comes to new staff at LBHS, we are extremely welcoming and warm. Why can’t we treat the new students like we do with new staff? We need to take a step back and re-evaluate our actions towards new students. Everyone on campus should be more than open minded about the influx of new students. After all, we have 96 new students on campus this year. This change could simply begin with talking to that new kid in your class. Make an effort to seek out the students who sit alone at lunch, or even have a small conversation with new classmates during passing periods. The smallest gestures could make the greatest changes. Let’s make the new students feel as comfort-able as the new staff!

The Brush and Palette is published by Laguna Beach High School students throughout the year. Editorial opinions and comments expressed in The Brush and Palette are those of the staff and do not represent the position of Laguna Beach High School’s students, administration or the Laguna Beach Unified School District. The Brush and Palette does not endorse the printed advertisements. The Brush and Palette is a free publication that complies with Ed. Code 48907, amend-ed in August 2010.

Advertisement11 November 25, 2014

SportsNovember 25, 2014 12

Willy Wheeler: Boys SoccerForward- #1

I started playing soccer straight out of the womb.

My earliest soccer memory is winning.

My goals this season are to score another bicycle kick and win CIF.

By Marccon SalibReporter

The boys water polo team diThe boys water polo team did exceptionally well this season in both league and CIF, with an overall record of 25-6. They won the division 3 CIF champi-onships on Nov. 22 at the Woollett Aquatics Center

against Montebello High School.

Leading the team to a 4-0 record in CIF, coach Ethan Damato is satisfied and proud of the team.

“Our maturity and dis-cipline was something that needed to improve for us to be great. I feel we have done that in big games this year, and that has been a

big key to our success as a team,” said Damato.

In looking back at their performance this season, the players are just as satis-fied.

“Apart from a few sting-ing losses, we did great,” said senior Trent Sadler.

Our athletes have had to hne their mental prowess. The ‘smarter, not harder’

approach proved successful all season.

“We had to mentally prepare ourselves for every game, since we aren’t the biggest or tallest players,” said senior Cade Baldridge. “We had to learn the game better than anyone else.”

The CIF team included a lone freshman, Sebastian Jacobs, who will be one of

the team’s leaders in the seasons to come.

“I had a ton of role mod-els that all came to be my brothers, and I wish I had another year with them,” said Jacobs.

The players beat Mon-tebello high school 12-8 in the CIF championship. With a 4-4 score at the end of the first, our athletes

powered through the rest of the game.

The team is more like a family now, forged with stinging losses and hard won victories.

“It’s really hard to describe; I’ve been playing with these guys since before I can re-member,” said senior Jack Dodson.

(Left) Senior Cade Baldridge drives down the pool in heated pursuit by an opponent. (Center) The water polo team celebrates after their CIF championship win. (Right) Senior Jack Dodson rips the ball into the back of the net, despite the opposing team’s best efforts.

(Dante Fornaro)(Dante Fornaro)

Boys water polo takes CIF title

Scan this for anadditional interview with Alex!

Scan this for anadditional interview

with Willy!

With winter sports approaching, keep your eyes open for

these star athletes:

Alexandra Lewis: Girls BasketballForward- #33

I started playing basketball when I was in second grade.

My earliest basketball memory is winning the championship on my All-Net NJB team.

I want to break the record for most three pointers made in a career.

Haley Evans: Girls Water PoloAttacker- #3

I started playing water polo when I was eleven.

My earliest water polo memory is practic-ing with the exact same group

of girls I play with here at the high school.

My goals this season are to win CIF, to be completely in sync with one

another and to continue to improve.

Summer Stanaland: Girls SoccerCenter defender- #14

I started playing soccer around the age of four.

My earliest soccer memory is scoring in the wrong goal in one of my first ever

AYSO games.

My goals this season are to first win league, then CIF. I also would like to work

on my game in the air.

Karam Jones: Boys BasketballShooting guard- #24

I first started playing when I was four years old.

My earliest basketball memory is playing at the YMCA junior Lakers when I had just

started.

My goals this season are to win league, to improve my all around game and to know

all the plays.