May 2013 Grant Gets Threat Forces Kids Books Magnet English Poly Lockdown Teacher Michelle Mitchell Is the Santa a Worried Mother’S Call Put the Fresh- Claus of Books
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The Poly Optimist John H. Francis Polytechnic High School Vol. xcviii, No. 10 Serving the Poly Community Since 1913 May 2013 Grant Gets Threat Forces Kids Books Magnet English Poly Lockdown teacher Michelle Mitchell is the Santa A worried mother’s call put the Fresh- Claus of books. man Center in full lockdown mode dur- ing Thursday morning’s CST testing. By Walter Linares Staff Writer By Yenifer Rodriguez we made the call to Freshman Center Editor in Chief teachers,” said DeSantiago. Magnet English teacher Mi- Freshman Center security person- chelle Mitchell received a $5000 nel include DeSantiago, Jeppson, A Parrot freshman is in cus- grant from Pepsi to buy books for dean Gabe Cerna and security aide tody following his alleged threat of kids. 80% went to books, 5% to bags Photo by Lirio Alberto Angie. History teacher Juan Campos violence to the Freshman Center on and tags for the books and 15% to also serves as a dean for the second FUNNY BONE: Evil witch Evilene has a laugh during the drama’s dept’s Thursday, April 28 during the last administrative costs. part of the day staging of 1975’s ‘The Wiz.’ Read the OPTIMIST review on page 3. day of CST testing. “Pepsi provided me with a Visa DeSantiago confi rmed that the “At 8:11 am, a mother called card,” said Mitchell. “Most of the student who allegedly made the saying ‘I’m very worried, there’s books were bought at Borders and threat was never on campus. Teachers Recognized a threat,’” said Freshman Center Amazon. I bought them within a instructional specialist Lourdes few weeks of getting the Visa. I was DeSantiago. “Whenever we hear [ See Frosh, pg 6 ] given the money in two installments History teacher Chante Calzada and her there’s a threat to the school and the of $2500 each.” CSF class know how to throw a party students, we have to take it seri- Mitchell provided Pepsi with a ously.” report on how and where the money Parrots At By Mayra Benitez Excerpts from “The Wiz,” Poly Principal Ari Bennett was was spent and who received the Staff Writer an “apple tower,” cupcakes topped with cupcakes, immediately informed of the threat books. ladles of mashed potatoes, corn and chicken, salad and by DeSantiago and Bennett put the SLC Fair “I had to write several impact let- fruit, and a personalized heart for every teacher on cam- Freshman Center on lockdown. ters on the effects for the communi- By Yesenia Carretero pus, this year’s Poly Teacher Appreciation luncheon was a sight to behold. Bennett put Poly’s main campus ties,” said Staff Writer “Thank you Poly teachers for working so hard to make a difference for our on perimeter lockdown at the same Mitchell. “I students,” Parrot Principal Ari Bennett told the assembled scholars. “You are time. A perimeter lockdown means also provided the best team a principal could hope to have.” no one is allowed in to or off of the The Poly Tenth Grade Center Pepsi with The luncheon was organized by History teacher Chante Calzada and the campus, but students are allowed to held its annual SLC Fair Wednesday pictures of California Scholarship Federation (CSF) students. go to class and use restrooms. in the Science Building. All Parrot the book dis- “This was all student-driven,” Calzada said. “We started to prepare for this Freshman Center coordinator sophomores were invited to view tributions and about three months ago. We met every Wednesday for three months.” Kirk Jeppson called campus police, presentations and make choices letters from Some 25 CSF members brainstormed over ideas. who arrived at the Freshman Center about which SLC best fi t their needs. volunteers.” “All the ideas came from the students, from the decorations to the food to campus, along with Bennett, at ap- Poly’s three upper level SLCs are Mitchell the entertainment to the cards the teachers received,” Calzada said. proximately 8:23 am. HABIT (Hospitality, Agriculture, had student volunteers and adults Calzada cited four CSF members in particular - Katherine Pozada vol- “Our protocol is to notify school Business, Industry and Technology), from her church locate children in unteered 29 hours, Bernice De La Cruz, 24 hours and Tatiana and Tiffany police,” said Bennett. “School police FAME (Fine Arts, Music and Enter- need of books. The distribution was Avenaoff, 20 hours. notifi ed LAPD. I contacted ESC tainment) and Sports/EHS (Educa- over a two-year period. “The students had the vision,” Calzada said. “CSF recruited all the other North and they sent people to sup- tion & Human Services). “We also received several dona- clubs and students organizations to help make that vision happen and make port us.” Below are summaries of what tions of books from Poly students the event possible.” “I mobilized all my staff imme- students saw and heard from various and teachers,” Mitchell said. diately and placed them in different presenters. Mitchell worked with elemen- [ See Teachers, pg 6 ] areas that needed to be covered and tary bilingual teacher Tina Ricketts. HABIT (Room 44) Ricketts has worked in the Riverside HABIT coordinator Chi-Sun Unifi ed School district for over 30 Chang introduced each station. years specializing in literacy. Rick- Hospitality (Urciola, Higgins) etts donated books and helped chose Scholars Honored at Senior Awards – Cooking class seniors Melissa books with the grant money. his year’s Senior Moreno, Vivienne Mo, Vanessa Umana, Daniela Moran, Montes and Cyrus Pozos handed out “We mostly contacted school By Lisa Guardado Staff Writer Awards Night Young Kim, Guillermo Contreras, Kimberly Molliner, cupcakes, explained what happens in principals at schools with low- recognized seniors Jasmin Aquino and Paul Marty. the class and recruited students with income students and asked if they T who have excelled Students with GPAs of 3.0 to 3.59 received a silver a sign-up sheet for the club and the had students who needed books in academically or have performed tassel, those with 3.6 and above receive a golden tassel. class. their homes,” Mitchell said. “Most service to the school. Nearly 1000 parents, family and Senior Class Cabinet and Senior Council also re- Agriculture (Colon) – sophomore responded yes and from there we friends attended the ceremony held Thursday evening in ceived recognition for their hard work and dedication. Marciela Cortes, seniors Giovanni worked with teachers in grades K-6 the auditorium. A number of students received scholarships. Diaz and Rosa Martinez and junior to determine reading levels and the Each Poly department is given an opportunity to Jasmine Aquino received a UCLA scholarship which Michael Mendoza said students needs of the students.” nominate students for a top award trophy and a certifi cate pays for everything but $3,000 a year and a $450 Upward make fl ower arrangements, clean Ricketts enlisted the help of her of recognition. In addition, students are recognized who Bound scholarship. outdoors two days a week and col- husband and daughter to distribute have received scholarships from former Poly alumni who Aquino also got awards from Social Studies and Jour- lect bugs. the books. Ricketts also sat with have donated money to help future Poly students attend nalism and certifi cates from English, First Responders, Business (D. Lewis) – sopho- the students and read a few pages college. Upward Bound, Bi-literacy, Red Cross, Junior Achieve- mores Janette Rodriguez, Ruby with them. Students were extremely Special honors were given to Valedictorian Gi-Hun ment and the Young Senators Program. Ruiz, and Erika Padilla told students happy to receive the books because Choi and Salutatorian: Alejandro Garcia, ranked #1 and # Jasson Soto won a $250 LAUSD Employee Spon- “it’s easy to start a business but to they did not have books in their 2 academically at Poly. sored scholarship. maintain it is a lot of work.” homes. Students with GPAs of 4.0 and above will gradu- “I’ll spend the money on my housing or books,“ Soto Industry – Chang talked about All of the students selected to ate Summa Cum Laude and were also honored. They said. “San Francisco State is pretty expensive.” Lamos’s woodshop class. receive books were from low income included Gi-Hun Choi, Alejandro Garcia, Valentina De Other awards Soto received included a gavel for Technology (Rios) – junior Hayk families. Most of the students came La Rosa, Jae-Young Choi, Asher Jeong, Woo Ree Kim, Daniel Larin, Maureen Kang, Itzel Martinez, Fernando [ See Senior, pg 6 ] [ See Students, pg 6 ] [ See Books, pg 6 ] She Gets Parrots Down Carried Away Dons Twice Lucky Prom King and his Romo hurls shutout in lovely Queen carry on. 1-0 Parrot road win. Photo By Lirio Alberto SENIORS - page 4 Photo by Lirio Alberto SPORTS - page 8 2 May 2013 The Poly Optimist polyhigh.org/opt.jsp OPINION EDITORIAL Don’t Take Mom for Granted Mother’s Day is a day to thank your mother for everything ents’ time will come too, just like it did for Clementine. I don’t she has done for you. want to live with the horrible regret that I didn’t do all I could Most teens are so distracted by the opposite sex, prom, have for them. Facebook and daily high school “drama” that we forget the real So this Mother’s Day, show your mother how much you reason why we’re even here wasting our good time. truly care for her. Our mothers. If you’re like me and have trouble expressing your feelings, Too many of us take our mothers for granted. just write her a letter, put it in the mail box and address it to I had a dog named Clementine since the fifth grade.