The Paper - May 8, 2009

16 PAGESFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009VOLUME 37, NUMBER 8

THE PAPERDana Hills High School

Dear Baja Kids, I don’t want to hear about it.xoxo, DevonHear Devon’s Opinion,10

Fleming Trial Delayed for the 6th time. Fleming was indicted in 2006.Read all about it in News,2

By Pia BhathalNews Editor

photo by Emily Roulund

The Gang’s all Here! Clinton’s Scandal, ‘Saved By the Bell,’ Pacman--Reminisce on Centerspread, 8-9

An uncharacteristically unhappy jester, played by senior Aston Reyes, reminisces over the encouraging words of his deceased father.

A lawsuit facing a his-tory teacher at Capistrano Val-ley High School accused of making derogatory comments about Christianity came to a close, with a judge ruling that only one of the statements he made violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The highly publicized 2007 case against 36-year-old James Corbett, AP European History teacher at CVHS, initi-ated by sophomore Chad Farnan claims that Corbett had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by “express-

Lawsuit Against Capo Valley Teacher Comes to a Close

Piano virtuoso and as-piring Grammy award winner, senior Vijay Venkatesh, will be performing a one-hour solo recital in the Porthole on Mon. May 18 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the charity concert are available to purchase for $15 at either the SOCSA website (www.sos-caarts.org) or the choir room. Venkatesh hopes to raise at least $7000 in proceeds from the event, all of which will go towards funding a new 1500-seat performing arts theatre for the school and the SOCSA program.

An intimate performance for the school is something

SOCSA’s “Once Upon a Mattress,” a twist on the classic fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea,” took place on Apr. 23-25 and Apr. 30-May 2 in the Port-hole Theater.

With an almost-full house every performance, “Once Upon a Mattress” earned over $2,000 to be used for fu-ture productions.

The musical opened with the Minstrel (Michael Groover) narrating the fascinating story that occurred “many moons ago.”

This prologue set the mood for the whole plot, which centers on Prince Dauntless (Seb Arrieta)’s search for a

suitable bride. However, until the prince

is happily wed, no one else in the kingdom is permitted to marry. The desperation of the kingdom is vividly expressed in “An Opening for a Princess,” sung by the ensemble.

Sir Harry (Jeremy Knappe) and Lady Larken (Taylor Wahl) are a love-struck couple that is nearly torn apart by the law prohibiting mar-riage.

Sir Harry tries to solve the problem of the marriage law by presenting Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Ra-chel Rothman) as a potential bride for the prince.

Winnifred makes a last-ing first impression by wildly dancing with the young bach-elors in the kingdom, falling out a window, and swimming the castle moat (twice).

The prince is immedi-ately infatuated with her.

Despite Winnifred’s bubbly personality and undeni-able charm, Queen Aggravaine (Michelle Guidas) treats her with contempt.

With the assistance of her minion, the Wizard, the queen deviously plots to reject Winnifred as a genuine prin-cess.

Hence, a tiny pea is dis-creetly tucked under twenty mattresses to test the princess’s sensitivity.

Although Queen Aggra-vaine obviously does not feel Princess Fred is a worthy bride for her son, the king is much more tolerant.

The jovial, kind-heart-ed King Sextimus (Sindre Karevoll) is cursed with being mute “until the mouse devours the hawk,” a prophecy that has confounded the kingdom for centuries.

Despite the queen’s measures to make the princess fall asleep, including a singing Nightingale bird (Dominique Brillon), Winnifred is unable to sleep during the night.

Queen Aggravaine’s plans are thwarted - it is later revealed that the Minstrel and the Jester (Aston Reyes) placed armor under the mattresses to cause the princess’s discom-fort.

When Prince Dauntless defies his mother and professes his devout desire to marry Win-nifred, King Sextimus’s curse is reversed.

The king regains his ability to speak, and the once omnipotent queen is subdued to a silent subordinate.

Venkatesh to Perform For SOCSA Theater

Venkatesh always wanted to organize before he graduated.

He explained, “It’s a way of giving back. It’s a very special place to have [one] con-sidering it’s the school that I attend and because it is an all-charity event to benefit Dana Hills.”

The event will be an op-portunity to see Venkatesh—potential America’s Got Talent participant and 2008 honoree at a Library of Congress reception in Washington D.C.—perform a collection of pieces by two composers, Chopin and Liszt. Venkatesh said, “[Piano] has come to define who I am. It is my passion and dream to be-come a concert pianist.”

He concluded, “for ev-eryone who has wanted to see me play throughout the years, this is your chance!”

By Sara GoldCopy Editor

Belting out ‘Happily Ever After,’ Princess Winnifred (Ra-chel Rothman) is pampered by her ladies-in-waiting (Kelsey Clifford, Sam Bentson, and Alissa Wilsey).

‘Once Upon a Mattress’Invigorates Audiences

ing hostility towards religion” in his AP Euro class.

Some of the comments include “When you pray for divine intervention, you’re hoping that the spaghetti mon-ster will help you get what you want” and “When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.”

U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled that Corbett’s comments that “Creationism is ‘superstitious nonsense’,” had no discernable secular purpose, therefore violating the First Amendment.

“The court cannot dis-cern a legitimate secular pur-pose in this statement, even when considered in context,” Selna’s decision said.

The establishment clause prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”

With a heavy majority of the statements dismissed by the judge, the case now focuses on two statements made by Cor-bett, one of which portrayed

Creationism as “superstitious, religious nonsense.”

“Some phrases were taken out of context – that’s all it was,” said Corbett’s attorney, Dan Spradlin, to the OC Reg-ister.

By Andre BrownEntertainment Editor


photo courtesy of OCRegister.com

Rallying in support of Dr. James Corbett, a former student stands outside of Capo Valley High School. The trial ended last week. The judge found Corbett guilty of one count of violating the First Amendment’s establishment clause.

[See CVHS Teacher, Pg. 2]

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009PAGE 2 THE PAPER

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The Grove of Anaheim Offers Refreshing Atmosphere for Prom

Trial for Indicted CUSD Superintendent Delayed

Students Elect New ASU

By Andre BrownEntertainment Editor

By Jake RosenOpinion Editor

The grand jury trial for ex-Superintendent James Flem-ing and his former Assistant Superintendent was delayed for the sixth time, pushing the drawn-out trial to Aug. 17.

“There’s some dispute over whether the conduct con-stituted a crime,” said John Barnett, the lawyer representing Fleming for the past month.

Fleming’s former attor-ney, Ronald Brower, asked to be removed from the case on Apr. 7, citing “legal and ethical conflicts of interest.”

Browser had represented Fleming for two years prior.

Despite this being the sixth request to move the trial date, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals granted the request.

“We objected to a con-tinuation, but if the court was going to continue it over the

people’s objection, then Aug. 17 was going to be acceptable,” Deputy District Attorney Keith Bogardus said.

Fleming and former As-sistant Superintendent Susan McGill will face a grand jury over charges that they cre-ated a list of enemies within Capistrano Unified School Dis-trict, showing their political op-ponents.

Fleming has been charged with use of school funds to urge support or defeat of a ballot measure or candi-date, conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public, and misappropriation of public funds.

The revelation came at the same time that parents were trying to recall all seven of the school board trustees; an effort that failed.

Massive amounts of doc-uments have been subpoenaed from the district, including board meeting agendas, audio recordings, and internal memos to/from the Superintendent.

The first three delays

Facing charges of compiling an enemies list, ex-Super-intendent James Fleming has had his trial delayed for the sixth time.

photo courtesy of OCRegister.com

The lovely Grove of Anaheim will have the plea-sure of holding approximately 800 exuberant students for this

year’s prom.Taking place from 8 p.m.

to 11:30 p.m. on May 16, the dance’s theme is “Come Away with Me.”

The Grove was booked in 2007, not only because of the legendary concerts that have taken place there, but be-cause of its venerated title of

Leading ASU next year, elected officers (from top left) Mia McKown, Connor Angle, Elijah Thomas, Amy Gersten, (from bottom left) Aly Trachtman, Amy Nilmeier, and Shea Gomez look forward to their new positions. (Not pictured: Jeremy Lin)

photo by Kevin Fuhrmann

By Ben LimComputer Technician

in the case were requested by prosecutors, who needed more time to gather and understand the evidence. The last three

were requested by Fleming’s attorney, the current one push-ing the case forward 2 and 1/2 months.

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the “#1 Prom Venue in Orange County.”

The dance will differ from last year because “it’s a bigger venue with double dance floors and a cooler at-mosphere,” commented junior class president Molly Churlo-nis.

“It comes with a lot more

that kids enjoy,” she added. This includes karaoke, a

candy bar, and a Starbucks bar, which is presumed to be the most successful attraction of the night.

However, the dance is going to be extraordinarily ex-pensive, costing ASU between $5,000 and $8,000 for the ven-ue and about $500 to provide crowns and scepters for the court.

The venue payment in-cludes decorations, food, and a DJ.

Starting Mon. May 11, $25 late fees will be added, $50 late fees will be added on Wed. May 13, $75 late fees will be added on Thurs. May 14, and $100 late fees will be added on Fri. May 15.

However, the bids might be sold out by next week. Full refunds will be offered on Tues. Tickets can be purchased before school, at breaks, and at lunch.

Semi-formal attire is mandatory. This means that girls must wear dresses and boys must wear a dress shirt, coat, tie, and dress slacks.

CVHS Teacher Accused of Bashing Christianity

On Fri. Apr. 24, eight students were elected to fill of-fices in ASU for next year.

Sophomore Jeremy Lin (ASU President), junior Aly Trachtman (ASU Vice-Presi-dent), junior Amy Nilmeier (Senior Class President), junior Shea Gomez (Senior Class Sec-retary/Treasurer), sophomore Connor Angle (Junior Class President), sophomore Mia McKown (Junior Class Secre-tary/Treasurer), freshman Eli-jah Thomas (Sophomore Class President), and freshman Allie Gersten (Sophomore Class Sec-retary/Treasurer) attained their offices through tireless cam-paigning and perseverance.

There were run-offs for the positions of ASU President, Senior Class Secretary/Trea-surer, and Sophomore Class President as a result of candi-dates not gaining a majority of votes in their races.

In the run-off for ASU President, sophomore Jeremy Lin won against sunior Saam

Alikhani. His victory was unprec-

edented for the sophomore class, as ASU has never had a sophomore win the title of ASU President.

During the race for the position of Sophomore Class President, Victoria Lang was announced the winner on Mon., Apr. 27, but in the absence of Assistant Principle and ASU Advisor Ken Nedler, there was a mistake.

The following day, Eli-jiah Thomas went to Nedler asking for a recount because he felt the election may have been unfair.

Upon recounting, Nedler and Recording Secretary Amy Nilmeier realized that four Spanish I class’s votes were un-accounted for during the count on Mon.

With the addition of the votes from the four classes, Thomas was a clear winner.

Lang was notified of ASU’s mistake, but no an-nouncements were made.

When all the dust set-tled, Nedler and ASU were satisfied that race was honest and the true winner gained the position.

[Continued from page 1]

Farnan used a tape re-corder to record Corbett’s lec-tures, according to him to listen to the lectures at a later date.

However, Corbett claims he does not allow tape record-

ing in the class.“Dr. Corbett declined to

give permission to tape because part of the purpose of taking a college level course is for a stu-dent to learn to take notes dur-ing class,” said the response to the lawsuit. “Dr. Corbett never

saw Farnan tape record a class lecture.”

The judge posits that all of the other statements were completely appropriate in the context of the lesson.

“The court notes that these views are not necessar-

ily hostile to religion and are relevant concepts for discus-sion in an AP European history course,” Selna said.

“We are thrilled with the judge’s ruling and feel it sets great precedent,” said Farnan’s attorney, Jennifer Monk.

photo courtesy of Google Images

Deemed “Come Away With Me,” this year’s Prom will be held at The Grove of Anaheim.

NEWSFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 3

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

S t u d e n t s Bewitched Anna WilliamsEditor-in-Chief

Blood Drive Raises Eighty Units of BloodLexi CotcampFeature Editor

Entering a trance, (from left) Alina Vergara-Hegi, Nelly Hosseinipour, Chase Frishman, Paige Smith, and Dalton Doi were hypnotized at the Senior Dessert.


Preparing to give blood, Sara Standon and Kaylie Fernald wait in front of the Red Cross Van.

photo by Katie Albright

WWW.COLLEGEBOUNDACADEMICS.COM

Doing its part to help give back to the community, Dana’s student government again organized its annual blood drive through which students were able to contribute to the 2,000 units of blood needed per month for thousands of children at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Sponsored by City of Hope and the Children’s Hospital of LA, the blood drive recruited high school students to donate blood to be collected at the LA Children’s’ Hospital Blood Bank.

The Blood Bank supplies

blood for “transfusions, immunohematology services, and transfusion medicine” according to the hospital.

Sign-ups for the event were posted the week following Spring Break, while the actual date was scheduled for Apr. 15 in the gym.

The blood drive enlisted 200 students to participate in the blood drive and sent out reminders the day of the event.However, all 200 registries were not in attendance on the day of the event.

“We had big expectations for the event, but half of the students did not show up. That was kind of disappointing,” commented Activities Director Kenneth Nedler.

Donors were required

to be at least 17 years of age and weigh no less than 110 lbs. People donating were also instructed to make sure they were in good health before donating blood.

In addition, increasing fluid consumption, eating a healthy meal, and avoiding fasting was recommended in the hours leading up to the event. Participants also needed parent consent per the rules of the hospital. After giving blood, students were asked to wait 15 minutes before returning to class. Refreshments were set up in the center of the gym to promote recovery.

A total of 80 units were collected for donation by the end of the day, accumulating roughly 4% of the amount of

blood needed per month. Junior Lindsay Gersten

organized the Blood Drive as a part of her duties on ASU. This was Gersten’s first time coordinating the Blood Drive.

Regarding future years, Gersten commented, “The more the better; hopefully, we’ll be able to improve each year.”

People who wish to donate blood may do so once every eight weeks, but no more than six times per year.

To ensure that the blood provided is safe, all donor organizations are required to abide by precise guidelines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the California Department of Health, and various other health associations.

End of the year senior activities kicked off on Apr. 20 as 208 seniors gathered in the mall to enjoy the traditional “Mr. Hypnosis” performance.

The event lasted from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and included an eclectic display of desserts as well as a round of musical chairs that encompassed almost the entire mall floor.

About 17 students were

chosen from a raffle to engage in the hypnotist show, with parent permission.

“It was a fun night,” stated senior Kristina Smith, “definitely better than senior social.”

Armed with ice cream Sundaes and the company of their peers, the students came together to raise approximately $1000 for their senior gift.

If students have recommendations for the senior gift they should see Jonathan Gossett or Lizzie Strupat in ASU.

CorrectionThe “Mexican

Drug War Impedes Baja Field Study” story in the last issue incorrectly named a CUSD official Dennis Smith.

The correct name of the CUSD official is Sherine Smith.

This story also misquoted Principal Dr. Nye saying that “they [the CUSD board] are placing safety before the trip.”

Nye actually said that “the benefits of going on the trip don’t outweigh the safety concerns.”


FEATUREDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

“World peace!”- Nastacia Magidow,

12

“Free car insurance.”- Dylan Marsh, 11

Survey: If you were a So-malian pirate holding a U.S. ship captain hostage, what would your demands be?

“We would have no demands; all we ever wanted was a friend.” - Alex Bradley, 11

“To get me some really good Britney

Spears tickets.”- Heather Cable, 11

photos by Emily Roulund and Ella Rivera

“For him to find Captain Jack Sparrow so he could get me an

autograph.”- Crysta Kavanaugh,

11

“An Obama auto-graph.”- Chloe Harris-Glea-son, 10

Baja Field Study Moves to CatalinaBy Tiffany HanFeature Editor

Despite an earnest effort to reverse the deci-sion to cancel the an-

nual Baja field study at a board meeting held on Apr. 16, this year’s Marine Ecology students are now looking forward to a week-long study on Catalina Island.

Instructor Randy Hud-son, with the help of a group of parents, set the new location as Emerald Bay, where the stu-

dents will complete a research assignment.

This new trip is consid-erably shorter than the original study in Bajia de las Animas, which would have required 15-hour trips there and back.

The initial cost of $465 was raised to $500, with the option of scuba diving for an extra fee.

Although disappointed that they are no longer traveling to Baja, the 63 seniors who are going are nevertheless “excited to spend a week there with ev-eryone,” according to Tess Fox. “It should still be really fun

Surrounded by dozens of young orphans, senior Tali Con-stantz explores the region of Kibuye in Rwanda during her trip last summer.

photo courtesy of Tali Constantz

Random Kid Spotlight:Tali Constantz, Slumdog SaviorBy Lexi CotcampFeature Editor

Meet senior Tali Con-stantz. Pokemon-ob-sessed, Peet’s Coffee

addict, and die-hard Copeland fan can only begin to describe this far from typical high school student.

Constantz stated, “Well, I do read economics books in my spare time…That’s proba-bly the most interesting thing.”

Inspired by her pastor father and missionary mother, Constantz has also worked in homeless shelters and traveled globally since age seven with friends and family.

Last summer, Constantz visited India for one month and worked with Cooperative Out-reach India (COI).

Along with visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra and stay-ing on a houseboat near the Himalayas, Constantz worked with kids in the slums (think Slumdog Millionaire), teaching them basic skills including how to use a computer and how to sew.

Constantz commented, “Everything was fun, but my

favorite part was working with the kids.”

Though she already visited Sri Lanka the summer prior to her freshman year, Constantz is planning to return to the poverty-stricken country this summer.

Traveling with a small group of students from Orange County, including fellow senior Michelle Johnson, Constantz will work at a community cen-ter in Columbo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

Following her work in the community center, Con-stantz hopes to travel to north-ern Sri Lanka, where civil war rages daily.

Constantz then plans to visit culture-rich Kandy, where she will have the opportunity to ride and interact with elephants at an elephant orphanage.

As for academics, Con-stantz has a different college in mind than most students: Moody Bible Institute.

Known for its free tu-ition, outstanding social works program, and strict regulations, the Chicago-based college of 1,500 students allows students to pursue weekly community service as part of the Practical Christian Ministry (PCM).

Just a few school regu-lations include no hugging for long periods of time, no attend-ing concerts aside from classi-cal or Christian, no watching movies or television in dorms, and no entering the opposite sexes’ dorms.

“I kind of want to break a rule, so I can get ‘counseling’ for a punishment!” laughed Constanz.

Punishments for violat-ing the school regulations con-sist of fines, counseling, aca-

demic probation, and formal warnings.

After graduating from college, Constantz hopes to attend the University of Delhi and subsequently live in one of the many major slums in Mum-bai, India.

Her dream of living in Mumbai also parallels her ulti-mate goal to eradicate poverty around the world.

“My overall take on life: love recklessly, live restlessly,” remarked Constantz.

even though it isn’t Baja.”Because of the change

in location, two students have opted out of the trip, due to the increased trip cost and issues with grades.

The rest of the students will take a ferry from Long Beach to Two Harbors, from which they will then hike to the specified location.

During their stay, they will also have access to the facilities in the area, including showers and bathrooms.

“It won’t be the same as actually camping down in Baja, obviously, but at least

we’ll have bathrooms! ” said Amy Fraze.

Hudson has also been planning a night-kayaking event, during which students can kayak to another beach to spend a night there in their sleeping bags.

In response to the un-precedented predicament, Hud-son has been revising the cur-riculum for the trip, replacing portions of the study with new assignments.

To reconnoiter the new location, Hudson took a two-night trip to Emerald Bay on Apr. 29 to May 1.

Make-a-Wish President Awarded Disneyland ScholarshipBy Aralyn BeaumontSports Editor

Most students are full of fear when they are called out of class to

go to the principle’s office, but senior Shelby Kwait had noth-ing to fear.

Awaiting her in Dr. Nye’s office were her parents, guid-ance counselors, teachers, rep-resentatives from Disneyland, and balloons in congratulations for receiving the Disneyland Scholarship Award.

The Disneyland Schol-arship Award is awarded to stu-dents who have shown dedica-tion to community service.

Only ten $5,000 schol-arships of were given out to the 138 applicants and Kwait was the only recipient in all of CUSD.

Being the president of the Make-a-Wish club, Kwait was recommended for the award by Make-a-Wish Youth Coordinator Megan Guild.

Beyond the amount of community service completed by each applicant, applicants are asked to define what com-munity service means to them.

“It is my passion know-ing that you are doing some-thing to make a difference in someone else’s life,” Kwait an-swered. “It is definitely a part of me, I love it.”

Kwait’s forte is putting on a variety of fundraisers for various organizations, most frequently for Make-a-Wish.

The first fundraiser Kwait held was with her fam-ily at the age of 13 for Make-a-Wish.

They raised $14,000 do-ing a softball hit-a-thon.

For Make-a-Wish Kwait puts on various events, from dances to sporting events.

The Havanna Nights for adults consisted of an auction, three course meal, cash bar, and

seven piece band.Then of course there is

the popular Glow Dance that came back for a second year.

“I like to appeal to all crowds when fundraising,” Kwait stated.

The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation is another organization Kwait has been involved with for many years.

She has been designing holiday cards with the founda-tion since she was four, raising over $50,000 for the research foundation.

The scholarship will go towards Kwait’s studies at UCLA.

For the time being Kwait doesn’t know what she wants to study but she does know that she wants to get involved.

Kwait does know that she wants to continue to work with Make-a-Wish.

“In my future I want to give back and help people in a variety ways,” Kwait con-firmed.

Kwait has a bright future ahead of her and is very appre-ciative of all she has.

“It’s just a really big honor,” Kwait smiled. “I’m re-ally grateful that I was given that award.”

Along with a Disney cap and balloons, Shelby Kwait en-tered Dr. Nye’s office to receive a hefty $5,000 scholarship.


FEATUREFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 5


On Sun., Apr. 19, the Plotkin Foundation awarded certificates

of excellence to 11 SOCSA seniors to commend them for their artistic achievements.

Dominique Brillon, Ryan Vescera, and Aston Reyes

were recognized for outstand-ing performance in musical theater.

“I thank the Plotkin Foundation for allowing young people to express their art,” said Reyes.

Continued Reyes, “The award makes me feel accom-plished in all of my hard work over my high school years.”

Vescera remarked, “The students given awards, as well as all the SOCSA kids, have

dedicated a great deal of their time and have shown profes-sionalism and courtesy to make our program the best it can be. The Plotkin Foundation awards mean a lot because of all the effort my peers and I have put into SOCSA.”

Brillon said, “Through SOCSA, I have learned there is technique to acting and to appreciate that order. The pro-gram has helped me open up my personality, and I feel more

comfortable as a performer.”Bassist Daniel Smith

and saxophone player Kiefer Greenspan were applauded for instrumental music.

“Receiving an award shows that being in SOCSA orchestra as the bass section leader allows for a concerted effort that keeps SOCSA and instrumental music alive,” said Smith, who has been playing the bass for seven years.

“During my four years in orchestra, I have learned about the importance of setting a good example, hearing others’ input, and being a good leader,” added Smith.

Rachel Rothman and Taylor Wahl each received a certificate for vocal music, and a dance award was given to Breanna Rathbun.

“It was a really amaz-ing honor to be recognized by people not affiliated with the SOCSA Foundation,” gushed Rothman.

“Through SOCSA, I have become much more confi-dent on the stage and with act-ing. I am not afraid to become my character,” she added.

Wahl said, “Getting a certificate was a nice validation of all the work I have put in over my four years in SOCSA.”

“There are lots of deserv-ing seniors,” furthered Wahl. “I am just grateful that I was rec-ognized among them.”

Visual arts certificates were awarded to Taylor Tim-mermans, Alexis Kubicki, and Kristiana Burgi.

Timmermans is a con-summate painter, Kubicki is talented at both painting and

By Sara GoldCopy Editor

ceramics, and Burgi specializes into darkroom photography.

Drawing and painting teacher Chou Tran reflected, “I’ve enjoyed watching the art-ists grow, maturing into young adults. They have natural tal-ent; my job as a teacher is to exploit their natural talents and channel them into the right di-rection.”

“The three talented artists who were recognized exemplify the hard-working students we aim to produce through the SOCSA program,” added ceramics teacher David Luciani.

The 11 students were presented with their respective awards at a SOCSA student art exhibit and performance at the Plotkin Family Foundation Gallery in Lake Forest.

Select singers, danc-ers, actors, instrumentalists, and artists were featured at the event.

Junior Savannah Barker and a chorus, consisting of Jane Papageorge, Julie Wickstrom, and Leah Bray, presented a new song written by a Plotkin fam-ily member.

“All aspects of SOCSA were well represented at the Sunday afternoon’s event,” commented SOCSA artistic di-rector Ray Woods.

In addition to award-ing the certificates, the Plotkin Foundation donated a $5000 grant to the SOCSA Founda-tion.

Much of this amount will be used for SOCSA-spon-sored scholarships at the end of the school year.

SOCSA Receives Plotkin Foundation Grant for Achievements

photo courtesy of Rachel Rothman

Aspiring to be the next Michelangelo or Picasso, Alexis Kubicki (left), Taylor Timmermans (center), and Kristiana Burgi (right) display works of art, ranging from photogra-phy to painting.

photo by Ella Rivera

With four years of outstanding artistic achievements in the areas of music, visual, or performing arts, SOCSA seniors proudly display their awards. Certificates were presented by the Plotkin Foundation were given to (back left) Aston Reyes, Ryan Vescera, Daniel Smith, Kiefer Greenspan (front left) Rachel Rothman, Taylor Wahl, Breanna Rathbun, and Dominique Brillon.

FEATUREFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009PAGE 6

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOLTHE PAPER

Students Twitter Across the Web

What do Britney Spears, Ellen Dege-neres, John Mayer,

Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King have in common? They’re tweeting (no, I’m not talking about birds)!

Hailed as the next Face-book or Myspace, Twitter was launched in 2006 as a social networking and blogging site. Recently, celebrities joining Twitter have increased the

popularity of the site. Essentially, Twitter is a

way to send brief 140 charac-ter or less messages to all of your “followers,” people who choose to be updated every time you make a post. Fol-lowers can range from close friends to fans of celebrities.

Users only have to an-swer one simple question: “What are you doing?” Mes-sages can be sent via text, in-stant message, email, or Twit-ter.com, plus a variety of other resources.

Users have profile pag-es, where all of their posts are listed. Friends can read each

Time Capsule at DanaBy Brennan WhitleyNews Editor

Rumored throughout the years, a time capsule from the Class of ‘74 exists somewhere on campus.

Thirty-five years ago the Class of ‘74 captured a bit of themselves and

Dana Hills to bury away in a time capsule.

While rumors have abounded over whether or not this time capsule actually exists Tony Krogius, ASU President of ‘75; Karen Pauling, Senior Class Secretary of ‘74; and James Walsh, Activities Director of ‘74 have all confirmed that the time capsule is real.

However, its location is still highly disputed. According to Walsh the time capsule is definitely buried somewhere in the mall.

Krogius “recall[s] it being along the east wall of the mall [where lockers now stand],” while Gary Lapple of the Class of ‘74 recalls the time capsule “being buried in [a] planter box” that once stood where the dolphin statue is now.

However, Pauling “believe[s] they buried it under concrete near the flag pole,” which was corroborated by Class President of ‘74, Steve Miklos.

Originally two duplicate maps to the time capsule location were made and placed in the ‘74 ASU files and Assistant Principal Phil Grignon’s files. However, both maps have been lost.

As for what the Class of ‘74 left for future generations to unearth, the time capsule supposedly includes, “lots of

photographs, beach sand from Salt Creek, a class ring, Dolphin t-shirts, the dolphin logo, track tapes, and lots of [other] things about the beginning of the school,” said Pauling.

There are also disparities over when the time capsule was to be dug up. “The idea wasn’t to dig it up ourselves but to leave it for the next generation to find,” said Pauling who believes the time capsule was to be opened in 100 years.

Interim substitute Merritt Grimm thinks the plan was to uncover it at the 40 year high school reunion.

If the location were ever discovered and a time to open it was agreed apon, Principal Dr. Robert Nye said, “[The administration] would work with the district to go in. I think [the time capsule] would be a neat thing for the students.”


other’s profiles or these mes-sages directly on their phones.

Twitter allows users to send instant messages to the phones of followers and allows the “tweeters” to ex-change words via Internet or cell phone.

Twitter may seem use-less among friends who could text each other much more eas-ily, and the site seems like an invasion of privacy to watch our friends’ every move and update.

However, it is unique in its ability to connect you with celebrities whom you obvi-ously would not be able to text otherwise. Many stars reply to tweets from fans, and the in-stant updates give us a glimpse into their lives.

Imagine sitting a class, bored, and receiving a text from the Jonas Brothers: “Just played an amazing game of kickball,” or even an inquiry from P. Diddy: “What’s your favorite inspirational quote?”

While these updates may seem somewhat overkill or unnecessary, they are un-deniably interesting to fans of these celebrities.

Over one million people around the world are on Twit-ter, with about three million tweets sent per day, so what are you waiting for? Get tweet-ing!

New to the Internet, Twitter has proved popular to students and celebrities alike.

photo courtesy of Google Images

By Elizabeth ChaddockStaff Writer

FEATUREFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 7


“It’s a bunch of creative people coming up with ideas and doing the

best they can,” remarked co-anchor of “The Splash” Nikki Mathews who, along with the rest of the Digital Media class, unites to bring a new episode of “The Splash” every two weeks.

“Everyone has creative

By Brennan WhitleyNews Editor

Splash.”Another issue the Digital

Media class faces is a lack of effort from many digital media students.

“We have the opportuni-ty to show the school a product but it sucks that not everyone in the class is dedicated. The opportunity gets wasted,” said lead editor Lizzie Strupat.

As a way to mitigate

Everything ‘Splash!’: The Inside Lookthey would like, Digital Media students have continued to soak up the experience.

“You learn how to work with a group of people and how to have a deadline for some-thing,” said Haghighi who dur-ing her time with ‘The Splash’ has also discovered a variety of other useful information such as that “the inside of the Dol-phin mask smells like tootsie rolls” and that pancakes don’t come out of hair easily.

Likewise, Mathews real-ized the importance of avoiding giant hysteria-invoking beetles while being filmed, since “The Splash” does have the power to incorporate bloopers.

Some highlights of the year include the “Good Samar-itan Rap” and the 2008 Presi-dential Election episode. This was also the first year that “The Splash” was hosted by two girls and aired episodes that came out bi-weekly instead of every Friday, allowing more time to be devoted to the segments.

Several students took a Digital Video Production class during the summer to prepare for Digital Media where they visited museums and news sta-tions and learned about pho-tography, Photoshop and Final Cut.

“You watch ‘The Splash’, and they make it look so much easier than it is,” said Mathews.

One of the problems “The Splash” faces is that “It’s hard to earn a rapport back after two bad years,” said Haghighi, and as a consequence many students do not watch “The

freedom,” said production man-ager, senior Kimia Haghighi, concerning the process in which ideas for “The Splash” are put together.

This year the staff has tried to avoid “what has be-come known as ‘Splash humor’ jokes that aren’t as funny [as] we come out of the dark ages of ‘The Splash’,” said Haghighi, referring to the past two years in which viewership has been low.

However, despite not at-tracting as large an audience as

The ‘Splash’ squeaks like a dolphin. “We’re like the news-paper, without the newspaper. We’re like yearbook without the yearbook. We’re the ‘Splash’ and we’re on tv. And oh ya... we get online hits from Scotland,” said head editor Lizzie Strupat.

photo courtesy of Google

these difficulties, an application process will be instated to se-lect next year’s staff. “We want people who are technically skilled, creative, good writers, and [most of all] people who care,” said Strupat. Anyone interested should talk to Digi-tal media advisor Mark Reid in Rm. 205.

The next episode of “The Splash” will premiere on

May 15, so check it out.If you are interested in

joining the ‘Splash’ for the 2009-2010 school year, see Mr. Reid in room 205.

The ‘Splash’ is looking for creative people, technical people, and just smart people in general. If you are even mildly interested in writing, film pro-duction, or just being a creative person, give it a look!


Presented for your viewing pleasure in all their glory, the staff of the Dana Hills ‘Splash’ unite! Front Row (from left): Tim Le, Sara Standen, Editor Lizzie Strupat, Megan Davis. Middle Row: Morgan Simmsgeiger, Maxwell Shiffman, Chase Engelhardt, Jack Bush-nell. Top Row: Phillip Pilko, Robert Punya, Alexander Wold, Nico Castagnola, Jonathon Mayne.

CENTERSPREADFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 8-9

What do you miss most from the 90’s?

The Spice Girls.- Hannah Brown,

9

My birth.-Monica Linzmeier,

11

Fruby’s and Slap Bracelets.-Sarah Nilmeier, 11

Backstreet Boys, Slinkies, SClub7, my yellow Game-boy, and not worrying about school.

- Anais Ziae-Mohseni

Saved by the bell; because who doesn’t love Zach Morris and AC Slater?-Michelle Colston, 12

“Hey Footballhead!”Many of us high school students fondly remember

waking up early on Saturday mornings to get our daily dose of sugar-covered cereal and comedic cartoons.

Whether it was cheering on Ed, Edd, and Eddy in their endless search for a jawbreaker or hoping Helga will finally get her kiss from Arnold, most of us never missed an episode of our favorite show.

Playground comebacks consisted of call-ing your arch nemesis “shoobie” and “brace-face”, and your recesses included playing hand-ball and demanding that your best friend “bring out the dancing lobsters!”

From Eliza Thornberry’s miraculous ability to communicate with animals on Nickelodeon, to the Powerpuff Girls’ ability to effectively fight crime on Cartoon network, the colorful char-acters and repetitive plot lines that surround-ed our youth constantly entranced us.

Most of us were amazed and disturbed by the biological impossibility sur-rounding Catdog and t h e i r

supposed parents, and cringed at the sight of the infamous Winslow finally ruining their lives- and their house.

Daytime Emmy-win-ning Doug dominated air-time on Nickelodeon

with its literally col-orful Doug Fun-nie fighting Roger

Klotz for the attention o f his all time crush Patty Mayonase, a n d hanging out with his best friend Skeeter Valen-

tine and his dog Porckchop.More teen-aimed shows such as

Dawson’s Creek, My-So Called Life, Freaks and Geeks and Saved By the Bell

provided advice and comedic relief to the dra-matic lives of highschoolers.

Whether you were an avid Nickelode-on, Cartoon Network or Disney Channel watcher, we all remember the classics.

- Aly Vander Hayden

The Shows we grew up with

When we reminisce about our elementary school years, nostalgia envelops our emotions, and memo-ries of care free peaceful days seep into our pores.

Then we re-call the items that we wore at the time, and the nostal-gia dissipates.

Who wants to go back to the time when we wore neck-laces called chokers?

Who could yearn for a time when children couldn’t wait to turn 18 so they could

Now, before you quickly turn the page in fear of resurfacing memories from your awkward adolescence let’s remember the good things about the 90’s. There was more to the 90’s than your infamous ‘brace face’ and slightly embarrassing obsession with the Hansons; it was also a time of economic prosperity, the rise of Starbucks, and epic cartoons the generation that follows us will forever be deprived of. With the new millennium came trashy reality T.V. shows, Y2K, and George Bushisms leaving us all nostalgic for our childhood naivete and bliss.

The Grungy, The Plaid, and the 90’s

Retro Video GamesWhat comes to mind when I say, “old school

games?” For you seniors, you were fortunate enough to be

alive for the release of the very first Game Boy. The Game Boy was the first hand held gaming device,

and it was awesome; crazy super awesome. However, what really propelled Game Boy into great-

ness was Tetris. Tetris is the purest and greatest game of all time. It involves placing different combinations of

four squares into solid lines, to score major points.

“It (tetris) is kind of repetitive, yet undoubtedly addictive,” said sea-soned gamer and programmer Jason Cox. “You keep playing and playing and play-ing because you feel compelled not to lose. And if you’re good enough, you can play forever.”

Coming up next on the old school gaming list is Sega Genesis.

Sega Genesis, released in 89’, featured the most revolutionary Japanese gaming technology. Sonic the Hedgehog marked the peak of Genesis.

“Sonic was a strange game,” re-members Cox. “It was such a large series, where the major-ity of the games fail. They adopted a hit and miss style of producing games, with mostly misses.”

Genesis sales were stunted in 1991 by the release of Nintendo’s Super Ninten-do Entertainment System (Super Nes).

Super Nes graphics pwn’ed

those of Gen-esis.

T h e c o m -

b i n a t i o n of bet-

ter graphics and

The Music from the ‘Time of Our Lives’ When we think about

the music of the 90s, we think of boy bands and girl groups.

I cannot deny the fact that as a child, I smothered lipstick on my lips and then kissed one of the many Backstreet Boy/N*Sync posters that covered my walls.

Pop music streamed from the radio every hour of every day, and this is prob-ably why when we think about the music of our child-hood, it is bands like Spice Girls and Britney Spears that come to mind.

Al-though this g e n r e w a s

popular, we tend to let it fog over the memories of good music.

Rather than letting “Baby Got Back” and “Can’t Touch This” define the 90s, lets remember “One” by U2 and “Buddy Holly” by Weezer.

There is no doubt that there was a considerable amount of horrible pop music that was released in the 90s.

It is fact that Celine Dion and Va-

nilla Ice were in the top of the billboard charts, along with

Ricky Martin, Sugar Ray and Counting Crows.

H o w e v e r , “Loser,” by Beck, was re-leased in the

90s along with

pierce every centimeter of cartilage on their bodies?

It is the 90s that are to blame for boys sagging and girls showing their under-

wear and bra straps. It is the 90s

that are to blame for ripped jeans

and cut offs. You were not

the only one who thought to yourself “what was I wear-ing?” when you no-ticed the scrunchie holding your hair back in a loose ponytail and the overalls that made you look like a hick

in your elementary school picture.

Everyone, including grown girls, were wearing this.

Though most of the fashion from our childhood was horrifying, when we look past the midriff and crimped hair, fashion from this generation was also filled with some dark sil-houettes and zany looks.

Oakley Blades was

a result of the 90s along with flannels, high waisted jeans, and cropped sweat-ers. Though we have since thrown away the rubber bracelets, Blossom hats, and lace-up Doc Martins, some of the edgy fashions have managed to survive and have given this generation some flare.

- Lauren Breece

games deemed Super Nes the winner of its battle with Genesis.

“Super Nes was a fun sys-tem,” recalls Cox. “Smash TV was a fun game featuring massive carnage all over the place.”

Between 1991 and 1995, a wretched drought

plagued the gaming in-dustry.

The drought was bro-ken by the release of PlayStation.

Despite being cooler than having a Ferby, Cox is saddened by the first Playstation.

“The first Playstation sucked; one of the worst systems ever. The overall quality of games was terrible.

Up until the era of modern gam-ing, Pokemon games for Game Boy were the

best. “Pokemon revolutionized the hand held gaming industry,” said Cox.

E.J. Debowski is one of the oldest seniors at our school.

He was around since the beginning of every-thing.

Here’s what he’s got to say about old school gaming. “I’ve been gaming since Nintendo 64. That’s forty-six years of straight

gaming. Boom! I’ve been playing Poke-

mon on da OG (original) Game

Boy since I was in da womb.

“The leg-end of Zelda basi-cally encompasses

who I am today. The only home I know is the lost

woods.”-Geoff Hardaway

“Good Riddance” and all the other good Green Day songs.

The 90s have been given a bad reputation when it comes to music but when we ignore the pop music and

focus more on rock, the fact is that a lot of great

music came from this generation.

Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Neutral Milk Hotel were still going

strong at this time. 2pac was alive.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins,

Blast from the Past: News from the 90’s1990: Germany reunifies, Nelson Mandela is re-

leased, Iraq invades Kuwait, Margaret Thatcher resigns as UK Prime Minister, NASA launches Hubble Space Tele-scope, mayor, Marion Barry, of Washington D.C. arrested for drug possession, Jim Henson dies, Dances with Wolves won best picture

1991: The Gulf War ends with minimal casualties, the Soviet Union collapses, police beat Rodney King leading to racial riots in Los Angeles, research- ers exhume President Zachary Taylor’s body, The Silence of the Lambs won best picture

1992: Yugoslavia continues to fall apart, Hurricane Andrew hits Florida, Mike Tyson convicted of rape, Johnny Carson leaves the To-night Show, US –led coalition enters Somalia, Mall of America opens, Me-tallica lead singer James Hetfield is set on fire at a concert, the comeback kid Bill Clinton wins the 1992 Presidential Election after a long shot campaign and third party candi-dacy of Ross Perot, Unforgiven won best picture

1993: Jurassic Park premiers in theaters, Pow-er Rangers begins airing, Czechoslovakia splits,

terrorists bomb World Trade Center, NAFTA ratified, US leaves Somalia after Somali fight-ers shoot down two Black Hawk helicopters,

Schindler’s List won best picture1994: Newt Gingrich and The

Contract with America lead the Re-publican Party to take control of both houses of Congress, Rwandan genocide, TV Show Friends airs,

the World Series is canceled due to baseball player strike, Kurt Co-

bain commits suicide, Richard Nixon dies, OJ Simpson sur-renders himself to police after a slow-speed chase, Forrest Gump won best picture

1995: Timothy McVey bombs a federal building in

Oklahoma City, Captain Scott O’Grady is shot down flying over Bosnia, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin assassi-nated, cultists release nerve gas in Tokyo Subway, Golden-eye is released, Braveheart won best picture

1996: Wal-Mart removes Sheryl Crow album from shelves for lyrics attacking Wal-Mart, 1996 Atlanta Summer

Olympics are bombed, Lance Armstrong diagnosed with cancer, Bill Clinton defeats Bob Dole in Presi-

dential election, Ross Perot runs for President a second time, US barracks bombed in Saudi Arabia, JonBenet Ramsey mur-dered, Nintendo 64 released, The Eng-lish Patient won best picture

1997: United Kingdom gives Hong Kong to China, Pathfinder lands on Mars, Princess Diana dies in a car accident, scientists cloned Dolly the Sheep, Gianni Versace is murdered,

Titanic became the largest grossing film of all time, Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, J.K. Rowling published the first Harry Potter book, Mother Teresa dies, Brett Favre leads the Packers to defeat the Pa-triots in the Super Bowl, Pokemon released, Titanic won best picture

1998: Peace agreement made in Northern Ireland, Newt Gingrich resigns as Speaker of the House, The House of Representatives im-peach Bill Clinton, Senate finds Clinton inno-cent, Pakistan and India begin nuclear testing, International Space Station launched, Seinfeld airs for the last time, Shakespeare in Love won best picture

1999: The Matrix is released, JFK Jr. dies in a plane crash, the Euro created, Musharraf takes over Pakistan in a mili-tary coup, George Harrison dies, Colum-bine massacre, NATO begins bombing Yugoslavia, Panama Canal given back to Panama, a failure to use correct unit sys-tem causes two Mars probes to crash, American Beauty won best picture.

-Willie Hodge

Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails kick-started their ca-reer in the 1990s. There would be no Notorious B.I.G without the 90s.

When it comes to the top Billboard hits of the year, than I will not argue the fact that music sucked in the 90s. Though we must look past other peoples hor-rible taste, or else the mu-sic from our generation is also doomed. Instead, let us remember the illustrious bands that have come from this generation and how they have influenced the brilliant music of our generation

-Lauren Breece


OPINIONDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

THE PAPER33333 Golden Lantern, Dana Point CA 92629

Rm. 708 (949) 240-9497 E-mail: [email protected]: www.dhhspaper.com

Editor-in-Chief Anna WilliamsNews Editors Pia Bhathal

Brennan WhitleyFeature Editors Annie Bubinski

Lexi CotcampTiffany Han

Geoff HardawayOpinion Editors Tyler Hartung

Jake RosenCenterspread Editor Devon ShawEntertainment Editors Andre Brown

Gina ScottSports Editors Aralyn Beaumont Lauren Breece Stephanie WrightPhoto Editors Emily Roulund

Ella RiveraAdvertising Sales Aralyn Beaumont Bookkeeper Devon Shaw Subscriptions Stephanie Wright Computer Technician Ben LimWebsite Manager Jason CoxCopy Editor Sara GoldArtist Seb ArrietaAdviser Paige Prescott-Gilbert

Writers: Aralyn Beaumont, Pia Bhathal, Lauren Breece, Andre Brown, Annie Bubinski, Elizabeth Chaddock, Lexi Cotcamp, Sara Gold, Geoff Hardaway, Tyler Hartung, Tif-fany Han, Willie Hodge, Ben Lim, Jake Rosen, Gina Scott, Devon Shaw, Devin Valenciano, Aly Vander Hayden, Brennan Whitley, Anna Williams, Stephanie WrightPhotographers: Emily Roulund, Ella RiveraDistribution: Mrs. Prescott-Gilbert’s 4th PeriodLifesavers: Kevin Fuhrman,Tim Sampson The Paper is published monthly throughout the year by Dana Hills High School newspaper students. Com-ments and editorial opinions expressed in The Paper are those of the staff and do not represent the position of Dana Hills High School, its administration, student gov-ernment, or that of the Capistrano Unified School District. Advertisements are not endorsed by The Paper.

It is the opinion of The Paper that...

Lifestyles of the Rich and (not) Famous

By Stephanie WrightSports Editor

Facebook: Not for Old People

By Devon Shaw Centerspread Editor

Cancelling of Baja Justified

Picture this: you’re checking all the usual notifications, group invitations, bumper sticker requests, and wall posts when you get to friend requests.

You accept the girl who sits behind you in math and that one guy who helped you once with history. Then you deny that creepy half-naked stranger you’ve never seen before, and stop dead in your tracks. Your mother sent you a friend request, and you are horrified.

Facebook is not intended as a parent-child communication portal. If Mom or Dad wants to ask you a question, can’t they just come upstairs and ask in person or call your cell phone?

And furthermore, no one wants their mom or dad to see what they’ve been up to online, what they’re saying to their friends, and worse, what their friends could potentially be saying to them.

By parental standards, most Facebook pictures and applications are inappropriate, even if we don’t think so, and we really just don’t want to have “that talk.” So, you hit the ignore button and pretend like it never happened.

Until, that is, you get a request from your dad, your aunt and uncle on the east coast, and even a teacher from last year.

You start to wonder where the line should be drawn. For the answer, we look to the past. Facebook was originally intended to be a network only for college students. It even required a student identification number to register.

However, as these restrictions have been removed and Myspace has slowly begun to fall out of favor with many former users, Facebook is starting to look good to younger generations.

It offers the same opportunities for communication with friends, without building a shrine to yourself in your About Me and one to your boyfriend or girlfriend

in your Heroes. However, as the popular network gained users, the age span became more extensive.

Because many high school students have much in common with original college student users, some of the intended feel of the site has been preserved. Our 40-year-old relatives and instructors, however, do not.

Not to mention, it’s just weird to picture your mom or dad sitting on the computer at work procrastinating on Facebook like you do on your homework, or using it to organize a family get-together instead of finding out what the math homework was.

We don’t want to see pictures of our parents at cocktail parties on the internet, and some of us are even so unfortunate as to have family who posts pictures of us as children that they think are funny.

May we assure the older generation: those pictures are not funny. Despite the annoyance of having your parents stalking you on Facebook, that is not the worst age problem occurring online.

What’s even worse is when you find your 10 or 11-year-old little sister online. Admit it; you don’t want the little sibling that looks up to you seeing what you’re doing on Facebook. You don’t want them using the language that can be found there, and you definitely don’t want them relaying this information to the authorities in your household.

That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong, but do you really want your mom asking you about the drama your little sister heard about between your best friend and her boyfriend?

This information just isn’t their business, and they have no reason to know about it. So spread the word.

Facebook should be restricted to high school and college users only. You have a phone and e-mail and as an adult, you just don’t need the kind of communication that links students.

And if, for some reason, a 40-year-old person is still entertained by Bumper Stickers and photo comments, then he/she have a serious problem.

Children: learn to communicate. Parents: get a life.

Here are the facts: there have been over 1,000 murders in Mexico this year alone (ABC News, Mar. 10), a 19 year old man (who was living and working

in the OC) was found stabbed to death in Tijuana on Mar. 30 (LA Times), and the largest West Coast travel firm has canceled its planned trips to Baja California because of the crime crisis in Mexico (OC Register, Mar. 10).

The drug cartels in Mexico are trying to gain control of the city through violent, public demonstra-tions; and what exactly do you think a bus full of high school students is going to look like? An opportunity.

The Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools, Carolyn Williams, and Deputy Superinten-dents, Sherine Smith and Suzette Lovely, canceled the trip in order to protect your SAFETY, not because Wil-liams has some sort of tiff with Hudson, and definitely not because she’s being paranoid.

If it weren’t necessary, I’m sure the trip wouldn’t have been canceled. Do you think the district wants a bunch of angry students and parents yelling at them?

Although I am not enrolled in Marine Ecology, I appreciate the fact that you have worked hard to get to go on this trip.

Marine is an extremely difficult class, and I un-derstand that; however, you could have taken a much harder class without the privilege of going on a trip. Be-cause that’s exactly what the trip is: a PRIVILEGE.

Besides, you still get to go somewhere. Granted, Catalina is not Baja, but you’re still missing a week of school to be with your friends on beautiful beaches; the only difference is a few abalones, running water

(toilets!), and the number of drug cartels. Which, if you ask, me isn’t too bad of a trade.

I think it’s safe to say that 99.9% of you signed up for the Marine Ecology for the sole purpose of going to Baja (don’t lie-we all know you wouldn’t put the effort into memorizing a thousand different types of algae just for the educational experience), but I think it’s also safe to say that 99.9% would like to keep your life, limbs, and valuables intact. So stop complaining.

It’s the hard truth, and it’s nothing anyone wants to hear, but the trip to Baja is dangerous, and the dis-trict officials were completely justified and logical in their decision.

Sure, nothing happened last year, but it’s com-pletely naive and absurd to believe that the situation has gotten better.

Last year the death count due to the drug war was around 1,600 (LA Times, Dec. 8, 2008), and that’s for the whole year.

We are only five months into this year, and the count has already reached more than half of that num-ber (1,000).

On top of that, the U.S. only recently became se-riously involved in the drug war, making Americans even more of a target.

Obama is cracking down on drug trafficking across the border and even made an appearance in Mexico to show his solidarity on drugs and guns in Mexico (LA Times, Apr. 16).

I do think it is unfortunate that the trip was can-celed-it isn’t anything anyone wanted-but I do believe it was necessary.

Specifically, Williams is our ex-principal and has always supported the trip in previous years. I com-pletely respect her decision and the decisions of the other district officials, and I applaud them for making such a tough choice and standing by it.

It’s the trite theme of an uncanny number of 80s movies. It’s the pinnacle of the high school experience. It’s the ultimate cliche. It’s the senior prom.

From near infancy, or at least since the begin-ning of second semester, senior girls and guys alike have been contemplating the idea of senior prom.

As Mr. Nedler has announced over and over, “Come Away with Me” will be taking place at the number one prom location in Orange County: the Grove of Anaheim. Lavish dinners, grand party buses, and overpriced mini-dresses will character-ize the evening. Everyone who’s anyone will be there. Well, except those who cannot afford it.

With tickets alone priced at $180 for each couple without ASU cards, the dance is far from practical. It’s down right unaffordable and will unfortunately prevent many seniors (as well as ju-niors) from partaking in the landmark event.

Granted, ASU did bid for this location two years ago, when the recession had not yet become a national issue. Still, even last year, $180 tickets was not an affordable price for many students on campus.

Yes, we live in an affluent community where many students drive to school in BMW’s and drop hundreds of dollars on designer clothing. But things such as prom should not be oriented towards this over-the-top lifestyle.

Unless the school is willing to sponsor every student who cannot afford to go to the dance, future proms should not be held at such expensive loca-tions. The days of warehouse proms with balloons and streamers should not be obsolete.

Hate to break it to you, but this is in fact high school.

OPINIONFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 11


LETTERS POLICYPlease submit legibly written, signed letters to room 708 during sec-ond, fourth, and fifth period to Mrs. Prescott’s mailbox in the office, or to [email protected]. The staff re-serves the right to delete or condense letters to meet space requirements. Unsigned letters will not be accepted.

Letters to the Editor

By Anna WilliamsEditor-in-Chief

Dana Students Whine About Meaningless, Erroneous Things Today

By Pia BhathalNews Editor

AP Class Periods After Testing Hardly Qualify as Educational

Cries of dissatisfaction ring out throughout the halls. Every teacher is horrible, every assignment, unfair and every rule, stupid.

If Dana Hills were a jungle, we’d all be sloths. Self serving creatures characterized by extreme laziness, if there is one thing I have learned over the course of my four years at Dana it is this: unless something is easy and worry-free, we students will groan about it.

Instead of being praised for his/her work ethic, the teacher who grades everything is deemed too tough.

On the other hand, a teacher who opts to give credit for each assignment is ridiculed for being too lazy. Regardless of where a teacher stands on the spectrum of intensity, students find something to complain about.

It’s a general consensus that teachers talk too much, require far too much from their students, and always seem to believe that their class is the most important.

I have come to believe that whether or not a teacher is liked has very little to do with the quality of education he/she bestows upon his/her students and more to do with the students themselves.

Whether it’s the result of social pressures or just the nature of mankind, somewhere along the way the value of learning has taken a backseat to one’s GPA

and ability to spend as much time as possible lounging on the beach.

Don’t get me wrong, I am no exception. I have found myself moaning alongside my fellow classmates time after time about assignments and teaching methods. But really guys, it’s getting a little out of hand.

Now before I saw what I’m about to say, I feel we should get something straight.

I don’t suck up to anyone. That being said, I believe that teachers are much like parents.

Neither are in the sense that they both go generally unappreciated until much later in life.

But really everyone, this isn’t a good thing. The next time you go and make some negative comment, speak with your mind, not your emotions.

Bringing Back Main Street Change from Taxpayers to Washington By Willie HodgeStaff Writer

In preparation for AP tests in May, hundreds of students work hard throughout almost the whole year. After eight months of dragging ourselves out

of bed at 5:30 every morning, racking our brains to finish homework during the wee hours of the morning, and stressfully studying for multiple tests at once, we deserve a break.

Not a break like winter break or spring break—spent doing copious amount of homework—but a real break.

Thankfully, we receive one during the week fol-lowing AP tests; however, what we are required to do during the last three weeks of school is frustrating.

In many of our classes, we are burdened by point-

less projects that don’t pertain to the class in any way but still require hours of busy work on our part.

Even worse is that fact that sometimes these projects require us to work in groups, and our grades are determined by how well the group performs as a whole. The last thing I want to do after studying for AP tests is pick up other people’s slack because they’re too lazy to do their part and attend class. Although on the other hand, I don’t blame them entirely.

Class time after AP tests hardly qualifies as edu-cational, and the prospect of waking up early or pass-ing up lunch off campus to attend a class in which we all we do is sit around for two hours while an unenter-taining movie plays in the background is anything but motivational.

It’s understandable that we are obligated to at-tend school after AP tests because of state law, which requires each school to meet a certain number of edu-cational minutes per year. But is it really that difficult

to think of something to do that’s relatable to the class and enjoyable at the same time?

Maybe if we took part in something more atten-tion grabbing and useful, we wouldn’t feel a sense of regret halfway through class when we begin to con-template all the other worthwile things we could be doing.

And we’d surely think that at least we’re doing something that’s not a complete waste of time, even if we are required to come to school.

I realize that there are some classes in which we spend our time doing something a bit more interesting and useful than the aforementioned tasks. Hence, to those teachers who take the time and initiative to plan something that is both relaxing and educational for their students after AP tests are over—thank you.

You keep us motivated, involved, and most im-portantly provide us a reason to attend a class that would otherwise seem pointless.

Barack Obama’s administration is far from atypical. His innovative stimulus package discovered old ways to reward traditional Democratic inter-

est groups. Besides bitterly condemning Republicans, the

Obama administration demonizes the upper classes. The mantra is always “we are cutting taxes for the bot-tom 95% of Americans” or “only the super rich Ameri-cans, who can afford it, will see their taxes raised.” Additionally, tax increases will rob the private sector

of much needed capital, prolonging the recession, and reviving the specter of a depression. The true saviors of the American economy are the entrepreneurs, who possess a keen business sense, able to act upon inge-nious plans and models. These men and women need capital from the private sector, without it their busi-ness successes will never come to fruition.

The top 5% of income earners has a broad spread, ranging from those barely making $200,000 to War-ren Buffett and Bill Gates. Many in the this income bracket barely hold onto their assets from year to year. Raising taxes causes them to lose homes, spend less, and fire more workers.

For example, someone makes $400,000 gross from a small business in a good economy. The next

year a recession, and the businessperson gets only $250,000. They must fire two workers to keep the business profitable. However, taxes increases result in the employer firing four employees or closing the business.

Tax increases hurt middle class families, suffer-ing high interest rates on credit cards and loans. Some families have gone into debt others are losing homes. These families are the government’s bailout. The middle class will pay for the tripling of the debt that occurred in the last three months. Lacking foresight, the administration has doomed the American economy to stagnate.

How can a federal bureaucrat decide who can af-ford a tax increase?

n ASU Apology

To all of the Dana Hills students, candidates, and fam-ilies,

I, on behalf of the Dana Hills, ASU would like to ex-tend an apology to all of those negatively affected by the re-cent elections.

We realize that by not properly collecting all votes, and by prematurely announc-ing election results, Victoria Lang and Elijah Thomas were both hurt in the process, and for that we are truly sorry.

We as an ASU always try to learn from our mistakes, and are therefore taking pre-cautions to make sure errors like this never happen again.

Again, we are truly sorry and sincerely apolo-gize to those who were hurt by the election process.

Sincerely,- Ken Nedler & the

Dana Hills ASU

n CSF Lacks Nec-essary Organization

Out of all the insanities at Dana Hills, CSF is by far the most ridiculous.

To be blunt, the disorga-nization and lack of communi-cation between the leadership board and the students is a rather large problem.

Should the largest club on campus not also be the most organized?

Because of the large amount of students in CSF, the leadership board should have tried twice as hards this year to keep a record of its members.

This, of course, did not happen.

Every other Thursday CSF called its members to the gym for the biggest waste of 15 minutes at Dana Hills.

After running through the agenda that anyone could read on their own, the leader-ship board braces itself.

Within seconds, all of the California Scholarship Fed-eration rushes to the gym floor for validation of attendance.

The pushing and shov-ing make it quite a struggle to get one’s name checked off of a list.

Being a part of that crowd hardly seems worth-while. Solution? Attendance at the door. Q.E.D.

As for recycling, mem-bers of the club blindly recycle bottle and cans from the nu-merous recycling bins placed around the school.

Where exactly is the money from all of the bottles and cans going?

I’m sure the “I Y CSF” shirts didn’t amount to all of the recyclables placed in the blue dumpsters.

Though membership into the club constitutes me a very nice shirt, it apparently does not constitute anyone not part of the leadership board any knowledge of finance.

I am a part of this club.

I do respect the club’s attempt to bring itself back up to speed with e-mail notifications and CSF board applications which were a failure the year before.

To further communica-tion, perhaps a Facebook group for next year is in order.

- Alex Sloan

n Thon Should Be Put Into Use

For centuries, English-

speakers have been subject to a heart-wrenching choice: “Did anyone bring their water?” or “Did anyone bring his water?” or “Did anyone bring her wa-ter?” or “Did anyone bring his or her water?” or “Did anyone bring her or his water?”

The first choice is gram-matically nonsensical (“any-one” is singular, while “their” is plural); the second is sexist; the third is no less sexist than the second (and is hard to not laugh at anyway); and the last two sound pretentious when

spoken and wordy when writ-ten.

Finally, there exists a sixth option that will solve lit-erally all problems: THON, a wonderful replacement of “he/she” created in the late 19th century.

A fundamental flaw in the English language—that a singular of “they” (supposedly) doesn’t exist—needs not be there at all. “Does anyone have thon’s water?” will gloriously roll off future tongues.

Although purists may deny it, languages evolve. Un-fortunately, there’s a miscon-ception that said evolution ex-ists out of anyone’s control, as if the constant changes are an unstoppable river.

What people don’t real-ize is that we do have a say! The river is very controllable, and we shouldn’t miss the chance to push it in the right direction.

Of course, The Paper should adopt it as well. If Dana is secured, “thon” will eventu-

ally start diffusing to colleges through graduating seniors.

I have been told that it is impossible. Various teach-ers have refused to incorpo-rate the word in their curricula (although I strongly encourage it), and others deny that “thon” will ever take hold. These people should know that they are on the wrong side.

I envision a future when our lives are cleansed of both grammatically impurity and the ridiculous “(s)he,”. I promise you this: my daugh-ter will sit on my lap and ask me, “Daddy, if someone calls me names, what should I do to thon?”

- Salil Dudani


ENTERTAINMENTDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Tiffany HanFeature Editor

Who cares if she didn’t actually sing her song live? Or that she didn’t even pretend to lip-synch half the time? This is Britney Spears we’re talking about. Britney Spears!

Junior Maddie Schotl remembered that spectators did not refrain the least bit from expressing their enthusiasm. “It was unreal seeing her. Like, I was sitting next to these guys who started crying when she came on!”

On her seventh headlin-ing tour, Spears performed 19 of her hit songs. In between acts; trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, and clowns enter-tained audiences.

“The circus people were so rad,” exclaimed senior Emma Schweid. “They were doing the craziest things!”

Amidst the chaos that has defined Spears’s life since first bursting into the spotlight as an innocent schoolgirl-gone-bad from the Mickey Mouse Club, she has finally proved that she is, indeed, back.

Showing off her hard-earned dance figure, Spears underwent at least ten costume changes, reappearing from all areas of the three-ring stage.

With complicated dance routines, pyrotechnics, and somewhat skimpy outfits, Brit-ney knows how to put on a show.

Not a single girl or ho-mosexual wasn’t screaming the lyrics along with “The Legend-ary Ms. Britney Spears.”

As for the poor boy-friends who were dragged along by their crazed girlfriends, no show could have been more worth attending.

“It was amazing,” clamed Schotl. “It’s Britney Spears; there’s just no compari-son.”

Britney’s Circus Comes to O.C.

I Think I Threw Up a Little

I walked solemnly, with shoulders hunched and face drooped low, avoiding the faces of the surrounding passersby. I purchased my tickets online so as to retain any last morsel of shame that I had still man-aged to hold desperately in my grip. Walking quickly into the theater, I found myself a dark seat in the corner where I could finally ease up somewhat.

The lights dimmed, tak-ing my last fragments of hope with their brilliant beams. As the countless teenage girls

hit pitches I thought impos-sible with their bloodcurdling shrieks, I realized how low I had sunk.

Let me start by profess-ing my deeply engrained bias concerning Hannah Montana, or should I say Miley Cyrus. Further, it is my honest belief that a large portion of students could muster the talent it re-quires to perform on the level that she does.

At the start of the movie, Cyrus’ fame starts gettting to her head. She engages in a to-tally realistically-placed shoe fight with Tyra Banks within the first ten minutes, proving to her father that Hollywood may have turned her into a spoiled bucket of lard. Think the pro-

By Devin ValencianoStaff Writer

ducers are hinting at some-thing?

Her dad flies her back to her hometown in Tennessee to try and bring back some of those healthy southern morals. Of course, she quickly finds a boy to fall in love with, one who oddly enough is remi-niscent of a teen model. Who knew there were so many of those just walking around rural Tennessee towns?

The story tries to play Cyrus’s life off as a difficult trial, one which she must over-come with an emotional matu-rity and devotion beyond her years. Apparently, being a Dis-ney star who soon will be worth $1 billion is a lot rougher than it seems. She is torn between

photo courtesy of Robert Hoffman

Showing off her figure, Britney Spears puts on a show at the Honda Center.

With an upcoming na-tion-wide tour, sold out shows at the House of Blues and Ir-ving Plaza, appearances in Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazines, and a clean-cut schoolboy image, Honor So-ciety- a pop/rock band hailing from New York- is set to take over the music scene this sum-mer.

her fame and her roots, for she cannot stand to bear the weight of her alter ego any longer after only a couple of weeks away from Hollywood.

From there the story plunges like a sinking ship. Cyrus must assume the role of Hannah Montana to save her town from an evil developer. Yes, that’s right - our Miley is a hero as well. The moral to this story is that being extremely successful can be torturous, es-pecially if you’re a teenage girl lacking in talent and drowning in hormones.

But who can resist Miley Cyrus? Certainly, she, with her 20 year old boyfriend, is a per-fect model for a new generation of girls to loyally imitate.

The band is composed of four people: Michael Bru-no (vocals and guitar), Jason Rosen (piano, synths, harmony vocals), Andrew Lee (bass and harmony vocals) and Alexander Noyes (former Jonas Brothers’ drummer). High school friends, Bruno and Rosen, formed the band in 2004; Lee and Noyes joined later. On Fri., Apr. 24, Honor Society had a concert at the San Diego House of Blues, fea-turing Frankie J, all-girl rock band KSM, and Ruby Summer.

Honor Society performed 12 songs, including web-hit “See U In the Dark” and covers of “Heartless.” The “gentlemen of Hon-or Society,” as they call them-selves, are all about having fun and, as they say, “crushing” various tasks. When they are not selling out venues (with the slogan, “We don’t play shows, we throw parties!”), the gentle-men can be seen hanging with fans at various locales. You can see them this summer on tour with the Jonas Brothers.

Honor Society Will ‘See U In the Dark’

By Elizabeth ChaddockNews Editor

Rocking out, Honor Society frontman Michael Bruno performs in New York City.

photo courtesy of the Orange County Register

ENTERTAINMENTFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 13


By Aly Vander HaydenStaff Writer

Performing on the Outdoor Stage, Fleet Foxes set the mood as the sun sets in Indio.

photo courtesy of Sung via losanjealous.com

Surrounded by remind-ers of the past three days (SPF 50, a ratty pair of Rainbows, granola wrappers, and sun-glasses), it felt unfamiliar to be awoken by my alarm in my own bed back in Orange County on Monday morning. My weekend in Indio, filled with incredible music, entertaining people, and unforgettable experiences, was behind me, and first period APES was my unfortunate des-tination instead of the scorch-ing yet calming polo fields.

Beruit created a unique orchestral set with two trum-pets, a trombone, a ukulele and an accordion Friday night. Front man Zach Condon was con-stantly cheered for his trumpet and ukulele playing skills, and

the entire crowd was impressed by how well the band was able to execute the extraordinary gems off the mere 23 year old’s past few albums.

M.I.A’s baby weight wasn’t the only hindrance im-peding the quality of her per-formance on Saturday night. After playing numerous un-eventful and dull songs, she

asked her crowd of shrieking teenage girls to jump over vari-ous barricades of the Coachella Stage for a “stage invasion.” M.I.A seemed to pick up the pace after her adoring fans left the stage, ending with her Grammy-nominated “Paper Planes.”

Fleet Foxes performed harmonizing vocals and sooth-

Coachella: Rockin’ in the Desert

“Change of Heart” Thrills and SurprisesBy Stephanie WrightSports Editor

New York Times Best-selling author Jodi Picoult’s newest novel “Change of Heart” continues her trend of “Law & Order”-esque story-telling. The plot follows the troubling case of a quiet car-penter believed to have hei-nously assaulted a young girl and killed her step father.

After suffering the mur-

ders of her police officer hus-band and oldest daughter, June Nealon is faced with a more difficult choice than anyone could ever imagine: should she accept the heart of the murderer to save the life of her other dy-ing child, or hold onto hate and deny the gift that could prolong her life?

Shay Bourne was on death row for 11 years, but in the final months before his ex-ecution, things begin to change. When he is moved to I-tier at the state penitentiary, Bourne,

ing acoustics at sunset on Sat-urday night on the Outdoor Stage.

Although singer-guitar-ist Robin Pecknold stated that they didn’t “feel super comfort-able at these things,” their lack of assurance failed to hinder the superiority of their set.

Devendra Banhart filled the infinitesimal Gobi tent with relaxing and beautiful songs late Sunday afternoon, attract-ing more people than the tent should probably hold. Intro-ducing a new “pop” song and then a “more festival” song, Banhart led the disenchanted Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fans away from the Coachella Stage.

Beating the insane traffic of the parking lot early Sunday night, the eagerness for next year’s trip to the desert and the nostalgia for the departure from the weekend already began tak-ing over my exhausted body.

a 33 year old carpenter with a troubled past, begins to per-form miracles. The question arises of whether or not Bourne is some sort of Messiah, and he turns to a religious leader, Fa-ther Michael, for comfort and answers.

Bourne believes that in order to atone for his crime, he must donate his heart to Claire Nealon, June Nealon’s last sur-viving daughter.

He accepts legal repre-sentation by an ACLU lawyer named Maggie, who planned

to use the case as an excuse to create drama over the death penalty and hopefully have it declared unconstitutional.

Each character gets caught in the crossfire, whether legally, religiously, or emotion-ally.

Picoult writes with flu-idity and cohesiveness, never leaving the reader confused or having to reread. Changing the point of view of the speaker each chapter, she gives the reader insight into the minds of each character.

By Lauren BreeceSports Editor

He has done rock n’ roll, he has done folk, he has done pop and now he has perfected blues. Bob Dylan, no matter what genre he is playing always seems to impress his audience with his soothing sounds and poetic lyrics.

At age 67, this talented musician released the album “Together Through Life.” The album contains various instru-ments such as an accordian, mandolin, banjo and trumpet, that give the album a similar sound to those of the 1950’s Sun and Chess records.

“I like the mood of those records- the intensity,” said Dylan in an interview. “The sound is uncluttered. There’s power and suspense. The whole

vibration feels like it could be coming from inside your mind. It’s alive. It’s right there. Kind of sticks in your head like a toothache.”

Dylan started off record-ing the song “Life is Hard,” which was written for Olivier Dahan’s (director of “La Vie En Rose”) new movie about a journey of self discovery. After recording “Life is Hard,” “the record sort of took its own di-rection,” said Dylan.

Dylan’s voice, now even raspier than ever, had the calm-ing and melodious quality sim-ilar to that of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen.

With a new sound and elegiac lyrics such as “You slipped so far away, where did we go astray. I passed the old school yard, Admitting life is hard,without you near me,” Dylan excels once again.

Dylan ‘Together Through Life’

Bob Dylan performs on stage in New York City in 1990.photo courtesy of the Rolling Stone


SPORTSDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Willie HodgeStaff Writer

Swimmers Make Waves

Volleyball Aces Opponents

By Devin VelencianoStaff Writer

Tennis Overcomes Obstacles

By Geoff HardawayFeature Editor

After a solid league sea-son, the boys volleyball team made the southern section CIF playoffs. The boys closed out the second half of league with three wins and two losses.

The Dolphins suc-cumbed to two losses to Aliso Niguel, as well as San Clem-ente.

The loss to San Clem-ente occurred on Apr. 24 on Triton turf. The boys were defeated in the first two sets of the match 20-25, and 21-25. The two teams were closely matched. However, as seen in

both instances, the Tritons pulled away just at the end. The boys rallied in the third game, but were defeated in the fourth set.

The loss to Aliso Vie-jo, also an away game, was a heartbreaker. The Dolphins were defeated in the first set, 32-30, and played a tough game.

After the devastating loss in the first set, the boys were not in sync for the final two games, leaving Aliso with an easy 3-0 win.

Inbetween the Aliso and San Clemente losses the boys scored an easy win over Capo Valley. Being the last home game of the league season, it

As is customary at Dana Hills, the boys’ Varsity tennis team has performed at a level deserving of praise.

After a stunning unde-feated performance in league, the boys are preparing them-selves for the ultimate chal-lenge of high school athletic prowess – CIF.

Recent wins have been awesome considering Dana’s caliber. Senior Warren Hardie won singles in league finals, crushing his opponent by an enormous margin.

Junior Jim Myers and sophomore Trevor Dell com-peted for the top doubles spot in league finals, however the team they had to beat was also from Dana Hills.

They managed to beat junior Kevin Fuhrmann and sophomore Chris Bloom in two tight sets. The high quality of the tightly contested match gives the team confidence in CIF.

“Not only did I play my best tennis of the season, but Wilson even complimented me afterwards,” gushed an en-thuastic Fuhrmann, continuing, “That’s a first!”

Both teams, along with Hardie, qualified for CIF indi-

vidual competitions with their results.

“The goal was to get as many of our players into CIF individuals as possible, and we accomplished that,” comment-ed Coach Justin Green with satisfaction.

Overcoming a Varsity roster slightly weakened by the absence of recent graduates, each player used this season to build upon the precedent set in previous years.

Myers and Hardie stood out among their peers, each capping off an undefeated sea-

Trevor Dell backhands his way to a win against Teso-ro at a home match.

son in league.The team’s ability to win

without its star senior player Hardie attests to the talent of the Dolphins and bodes well for the future of the program.

Hardie was absent for a three-match stretch, and skep-tics began to doubt Dana’s chances at performing well without him. The Dolphins won all three matches, and not by small margins either.

Be sure to wish each of these amazing players good luck, for surely their skills will be tested in the coming month.

was also senior night. Senior Chris Neally

performed well in his moment of excellence. He served awe-somely, helping the Dolphins defeat Capo Valley in three straight sets.

The next match against Mission Viejo the boys came out strong, winning the first two sets. Pushed to the limit, the boys came back from two set losses to win the fifth set, and the match.

“It was a hard-fought match with our leader McKay Smith playing on a sprained an-kle. However, Peter Adams and company were able to push us through the troubled waters,” said senior Chase Frishman.

BoysThe swim team has been

fighting through their season this year.

The team has worked hard all year long and has high expectations.

“We expect several of swimmers to make CIF,” stated senior Roger Chin.

The boys feel that they will be competitive with Capo Valley in the league finals.

OC Varsity currently rank Capo Valley as number one in swimming.

On Apr. 29, the boys swam against Tesoro in one of their closest matches. At first,

Dana was trailing closely be-hind Tesoro.

In the last relay, sopho-more Jonathan Amato, junior Tyler Gavigan, junior David Gonzalez, and senior Michael Matchett won, giving Dana enough points to defeat Tesoro.

Gonzalez shaved three seconds off his personal record during the relay.

To liven up the stress-ful environment Matchett led a clever dolphin dance in which the team acted like dolphins, boosting team morale.

Chin noted, “Our young swimmers are growing up fast.” He went on to say, “We are car-rying on the legacy of Rosa’s beard.”

Girls“It’s been rocky but

we’ve had a lot of fun and we’ve all gotten pretty close,” commented junior Jessie Ash-ton on the girls swim season.

On Sat., May 2, the la-dies participated in a swim meet in Palm Springs, California.

“We got 7th out of 25 teams at Palm Springs which was awesome because we’re such a young team,” said Ash-ton.

The team currently has five seniors. At the meet, many of the girls performed excep-tionally well including senior Lauren Campbell, one of the team captains, in the 200M and the 100 Breaststroke.

In addition, junior Kelsey Gallitto swam well in these events. Ashton’s best performance at the meet was the 500 Freestroke.

Not a Stroke Too FewBy Willie HodgeStaff Writer

Dana Hill’s Boys’ Golf team continues to triumph on the golf course as the regu-lar league season comes to a close.

Tied for second in league play with Tesoro, Dana possesses an eminent presence in the sport, setting a school record of 175 strokes in one of their matches this season.

Dana is the sole team in league to have defeated the number one San Clemente golf team. However, Dana lost to Mission Viejo, gain-ing their third league defeat. Mission barely beat Dana by a mere stroke, with a score of 200-199. Junior Bobby Uchida

explained, “[the match] was somewhat of a fluke … by our standards we played very poor-ly and by their standards played extraordinarily well.”

On Apr. 30, Dana played a critical match with Capo Val-ley, who lost to Dana in their last match by 29 strokes. The match was crucial to securing their spot in the top three teams in the league. Dana won the match securing their spot in the finals.The team expects to go to CIF finals on May 11. Only the top three teams go to the team finals.

The finals will take on place at the Talega public golf course. San Clemente has try-outs and non-league matches at Talega. This may give their team a slight advantage over their competitors.

However, Talega is a public course, thus golfers from other teams are welcome to practice on the course prior to the finals.Uchida takes les-sons at Talega. He said, “[The] San Clemente team is strong but their main strength is their home course.”

He has been playing golf for three years for the enjoy-ment and because it is relaxing. Additionally, Uchida relishes in the challenge. “It is considered the most difficult sport in the world,” commented Uchida.

The top players on the team will participate in the League individual finals on May 18. seniors Josh Hurst, and Chris Lungo, and junior Mike Brockington lead the team currently in individual performance.


Chris Kearney and McKay Smith leap into the air, and spike the ball back into opponent territory.

Photo by Emily Roulund

SPORTSFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 15


Lacrosse Teams Bring Successful Seasons to Close

By Gina ScottEntertainment Editor

Softball Succeeds in LeagueBy Elizabeth Chaddock Staff Writer

Thus far, the softball players have had a series of close games to bring them to a record of 2-3 in league. On Apr. 14, the girls started off with a bang when they crushed Capo Valley 11-2. Junior Jenna Jor-genson hit a home run in the third inning.

The second league game on Apr. 16 against Aliso Niguel resulted in a 2-1 loss. Sopho-more Kelsi Ott pitched, and sophomore Jenny Hurst hit a double in the fifth inning to score one run.

In a third game against Mission Viejo on Apr. 21, the ladies lost with a score of 8-1. Sophomore Kaylee Uddberg hit a double in the third inning scoring the only run. On Apr.

23, the team lost a close game to Tesoro with a final score of 1-0. Tesoro’s only run was scored in the fourth inning. The team came back with a win on Apr. 28 when they dominated San Clemente, winning 9-4.

The lady Dolphins tri-umphed over Capo with a score of 14-1. Sophomore Jordyn Larkins, whose hitting aver-age in league is .682, hit four for five. Uddberg also hit four RBI’s. “We hadn’t beat Capo in the last three years,” added head coach Margo Melendrez. Junior Kiley Ordos made an impressive offensive perfor-mance and went three for four with an RBI.

The results of the May 7 game against Mission Viejo were unavailable at press time. Melendrez noted, “The next three games are really impor-tant and if we can beat Mission and Tesoro we’ll go to the play-offs, and that’s our goal.”

Boys

An impressive winning record of 11-5 is how the boys’ lacrosse team ended their regu-lar season this year.

“Our team is a lot better than last year and our record shows that,” said sophomore Michael Paul.

Unfortunately, the team suffered a series of losses to tough teams in the previous weeks. On Fri., Apr. 3, the Dolphins lost an extremely close game with the score 9-10. On Sat. Apr. 3, spirits rose

after they won a non-league game against Servite 7-5. “As a whole, the team has become really close,” Paul commented.

Freshman William Dan-iel agreed, saying, “I really like being a freshman on varsity. Everyone is really accepting and we all work well together.”

Wed. and Fri. of the fol-lowing week, both the Tesoro Titans and the San Clemente Tritons handed defeats to the Dolphins.

They lost to Tesoro, a well-established lacrosse pro-gram, 6-11.

This was the second time this season they faced San Clemente. The first time they faced each other, our boys re-ceived a 9-11 loss, their first of

Dodging a Laguna Hills player, junior Cole Altuzarra cra-dles the the ball up field.


Swinging for a win, sophomore Jessica Smith goes to bat against Aliso Niguel High School on May 5.


Baseball Steals LeagueBy Pia Bhathal News Editor

Preparing to take a swing, senior Danny Ward winds up in the setting sun at Mission Viejo High School on May 6.


the season. This time, they lost again, 7-13.

“We didn’t play as well the second time we played San Clemente. The first time we performed a lot better,” stated Daniel.

Capistrano Valley trav-eled to Dana to face the wrath of the Dolphins. The Cougars ended up being defeated, 9-8, as when they faced the Dol-phins a few weeks prior. The team dominated Aliso once again on Fri. Apr. 24 with the final score 8-5. At Tesoro on Fri. May 1, the boys performed well in their final league game. They dominated the field, win-ning 13-9.

The win at Tesoro quali-fied the team for the playoffs. Their first game of playoffs was May 5 against El Toro, one of the top ranked lacrosse teams in the county. They lost the game 16-4, but just making the playoffs proves how far this new team has come.

Girls

The girls’ lacrosse team has improved greatly compared to last year and has ended their season with an overall record of 9-9.

“This year we have im-proved a lot. Our skills are so much better than last year,” said sophomore Shannon Sleeth.

On Tues., Apr. 14, the girls journeyed to Tesoro and faced an extremely experienced team. They suffered a devastat-ing loss of 6-18, but played a great game.

“We had a lot more team activities this year and I think that it helped us to play much better as a team,” stated senior captain Amy Fraze. Fri., Apr.

17 the Dolphins played San Clemente for the second time this season. They defeated the Tritons in an exciting game that ended with a score of 8-6.

“I think that our victo-ries over Mission and San Cle-mente were our best games,” commented starting midfielder and sophomore Ruth Frey.

On one of the hottest days of the year, the girls trav-eled inland to Capistrano Val-ley. The game ended with a Dolphin win of 7-6.

The ladies went to Aliso Niguel on Fri., Apr. 24. The Wolverines have been one of the girls’ toughest competitors this season.

“The Aliso games hurt. Both times we’ve played them we have only lost by one,” said senior captain Amy Fraze.The game was tied towards the end, but the team let this one slip away, with the score of 8-9.

The most exciting game of the year was undoubtedly against Mission. The girls were close the entire time, and ended up pulling out the win in the last 17 seconds, with a score of 13-12.

“The Mission game was definitely out best,” comment-ed Coach Mike Weinell. The final game of the 2009 season for the girls was on Fri., May 1. They played Tesoro at their home stadium.

At half time of the game, seniors, Tiffany Han, Kelsey Coggins, Amy Fraze, Shasta Catli, Meggan Weinell, and So-phie Winckel were honored.

Although the girls lost 14-7, they had a great season. Fraze added, “Mr. Weinell is the best coach ever and I’m going to miss everyone on the team next year.”

The baseball team—cur-rently tied for second in league with Tesoro—has made prog-ress in their ultimate goal of reaching CIF by maintaining a solid league record of 7-4-0.

Coach Tom Faris com-mented, “If our pitching can continue to do well, I like our chances of making the play-offs.”

The boys defeated Teso-ro 10-8 on Apr. 3; however, the Dolphins had reason to be wor-ried when the Titans pulled off an impressive six-run come-back during the sixth inning.

Fortunately, the team had significantly extended its lead during the fourth inning, when junior Danny White con-tributed to a total of six runs by hitting a home-run.

Despite a slow start, the boys maintained their winning streaks against San Clemente on Apr. 6.

It was a nail-biting game as the team turned a four-run deficit into a two-run advantage over the course of four succes-sive innings, two of which pro-duced no runs for either side. The final score was 9-7.

The following day, San Clemente’s early lead proved detrimental.

Although the boys dom-inated the last inning 3-0, they were not able to turn the game around for a win and conse-quently suffered their second defeat of the season, 4-5.

The team’s next game on Apr. 22 resulted in a narrow loss to Capo Valley, 0-1. The Cougars, who are in first place, hit a game-winning double in the seventh inning, leaving the

boys unable to close the gap in the short time left.

Two days later, the Dolphins succumbed to their second consecutive loss. Capo Valley once again showed that they were tough competition as they defeated the boys 2-5.

The team was able to put the score within one run dur-ing the fourth inning thanks to home run by senior Spencer Kuehn. But during the fifth in-ning, the Cougars extended their lead to three runs, putting the game outside of the Dol-phin’s reach.

Although the team dealt with setbacks during their pre-vious two games, they quickly rebounded. The Dolphins comfortably defeated Aliso

Niguel on Apr. 29 and May 1 even though senior Eric Ehlow pitched with a broken nose.

The final scores were 5-1 and 7-3, respectively.That completed a three game sweep over Aliso Niguel.

On May 6, the Dolphins beat the Mission Viejo Diablos 11-9.

With several wins al-ready on the board, the boys are set for a strong finish to league.

Faris said, “The final two weeks are the toughest. Mental toughness will be the key to our success.”

The first of their final three games is this afternoon at 3:15 p.m. against Mission Viejo at home.

SPORTSFRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 16


By Annie BubinskiFeature Editor

Boys and Girls Track Set New Records


Flying high, Connor Ito soars over the crowd in a winning home meet against Mission Viejo on Apr. 22.

photo courtesy of dhhs.net

Tackling the hurdles at a home meet against Tesoro on Apr. 29, junior Kimmie Conner leads her teammates, (from left) Annie Bubinski, Shelby Murray, and Megan Jones, to vic-tory.

Touting the title of 2009 Orange County Champions, the Dolphins became the first team ever, boys and girls, to win championships back to back.

Track repeated its suc-

cess from the previous season and completed the year unde-feated in both girls’ and boys’ Varsity teams in league dual meets.

The results from South Coast League Prelims have un-officially made Dana the favor-ite going in to the South Coast League Finals.

Both girls and boys will

compete at San Clemente High School this afternoon for the championship.

Sophomore distance run-ner Connor Kaddatz explained, “I’m looking forward to finals. We [Kaddatz and his team-mate] are hoping to break 4:30 in the mile and 9:51 in the two mile. Hopefully, with both the support of our teammates and all the hard work we have put in, we will be able to achieve our goal.”

The team’s most recent success was a league meet against Tesoro on Apr. 29, which was concluded with a score of 94-42 on the girls’ team and 101-30 on the boys’ team.

At Orange County Championships, fondly known to the team as “OC Champs,” the top two Varsity athletes from each event competed against South Coast League rivals and other teams from throughout the county.

On Apr. 22, the track team competed against long time rival Mission Viejo High School.

To prepare for the much-awaited competition, both the boys and the girls gathered on the “DH” in the center of the field for pep talks given by the upperclassmen.

Two mystery guests, who suspiciously resembled Dana Hills track athletes, rallied sup-port at the meet by cheering on athletes while dressed in the in-famous dolphin costumes.

At the end of the day the boys emerged with a grand to-tal of 78 points, proving victo-rious over Mission’s 58 points. Meanwhile, the girls’ also tri-

umphed with 83 points to Mis-sion Viejo’s 53.

Sophomore Devin Har-rison remarked, “Mission was my favorite meet so far because it was challenging, yet easy. We knew we had to do well, but they weren’t as big of a threat as we thought they would be.”

Prior to the Mission meet, Dana competed against Aliso Niguel on Apr. 16. The height of the meet came at the end as freshman Katie Cornella captivated the entire team as well as the spectators with a spectacular winning jump of 5 ft. 2 in.

Cornella received her varsity letter for the outstand-ing jump and will compete at the Varsity level for SCL Fi-nals.

Cornella commented, “I did really well in my hurdle race earlier, so I had a lot of

confidence going into the high jump. As my team cheered me on, I felt even more nervous, but it still helped me in the end. Receiving my varsity letter was a moment I will never forget.”

Sophomore Megan Jones also earned her varsity letter at the Aliso Niguel meet. Jones’s main events include sprint re-lays, the 100 meter hurdles, and the 300 meter hurdles race.

Competing for the first time on the Varsity level, Jones explained, “I knew the Varsity level would be more competitive,but I just felt even more encouraged to push my-self.”

Girls’ Varsity finished the meet with a generous 98 points, while Aliso scored only 38 points. The boys finished strong as well with a score of 95-41.

Arcadia High School

held its annual track invitation-al on Apr. 10 and 11.

Particularly outstanding performances were put forth by senior Grace Esslinger, junior Kimmie Conner, Jones, and sophomore Annie Bubinski in a less common event called the shuttle hurdles.

Each of the four athletes ran one leg of a 400 meter race, totalling a time of 1 minute and 3.03 seconds, the leading time for the event in the nation.

The previous day Con-ner competed in a heptathlon at Arcadia High School. The competition consisted of seven events including 100 meter hurdles, 800 meter sprint, jav-elin, shot put, long jump, high jump, and 200 meter sprint.

Earning a total of 4,558 points, Conner was declared the winner of the event after a nail-biting 800 meter finale.

The Paper - May 8, 2009

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