INSIDE THE TIMES

Serving the SEHS community since 2006

Volume 5 Issue 4 April, 2010 www.lausd.k12.ca.us/south_east_hs

South East High School, Los Angeles Unified School District

Tagging Stays Because of Cuts pg. 2by Estevan Almanza

2010 Census pg. 3by Vicky Cuellar

Teenage Father Fighting His Way to Succeed pg. 5 by Annette Reyes

Juniors Ride The Queen Mary pg. 7by Mayra Lopez

Jaguar Times StaffEditor in Chief - Estevan AlmanzaFeatures - Annette ReyesNews - Vicky CuellarSports - Julian IzabalArts & Entertainment - Cindy SorianoOpinion - Juan Banda Jaguar Times Staff WritersCarlos Gonzalez, Sally Vitela, Erika Alcala, Mayra Lopez, Amy De Leon, Yamileth Manriquez, Jazmin Tapia

Jaguar Times ContributorsArnold Canela, Karla Rodriguez, Claudia Arrondo, Ricardo Cuevas

Adviser - Mr. Cottom

Jaguar Times

The Jaguar Times is always looking for talented additions to our staff. Please visit your counselor or Mr. Cottom in Room D108 if you would like to join us here at the Times.

The opinions expressed in this issue of the Jaguar Times are solely those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect that of South East High School or

the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Education Slashed by LAUSD Again By Annette Reyes and Jazmin Tapia

Features Editor and Times Staff Writer

Budget cuts affect SEHS

students, staff, and faculty mem-

bers once again.

Last year, many

staff and faculty members were

laid off due to budget cuts. This

year, the Los Angeles Unified School District is prepared to lay

off another 5,200 teachers, ad-

ministrators, counselors, librar-

ians, and nurses to help reduce

a $640 million deficit for next fall, according to the LaWeekly,

“This time it’s everyone,” said

Rogelio Carrillo, a senior.

On March 15, no-

tices were once again issued out

to administrators, school support

workers such as counselors and

nurses, janitors and maintenance

workers, and hundreds of teach-

ers. Although many teachers, stu-

dents, and parents have protested

against the LAUSD budget cuts,

and people still saw the pink slip

waiting for them in their mail-

boxes that will soon completely change their lives.

There are many opinions

and feelings towards this year’s

budget cuts. “This is worse than

last year. We’re all [in] the same

boat, which is a huge concern,”

expressed Mr. Acevedo, SEHS Librarian. “It’s tough. Fortu-

nately I didn’t receive a pink slip,

but I am at a loss for words [for

those who did receive it.] Some

doors close, others will open. It’s

not going to be like this for a long

time… when the economy recov-

ers, hopefully they can come

back. This is just a minor set

back, hang in there.”

Ms. Ordonez, SEHS dean, is also very concerned about what

the next few years will bring for South East High School. “You develop in a career with hopes

that you’ll be able to live in the

lifestyle that you’ve aspired

to,and having your career in jeop-

ardy changes all of that. LAUSD

is just a big monster,” she said.

Unfortunately, South East

High will no longer be expecting one of their popular and favorite

art teachers to come back for the

2011-12 school year. After teach-

ing for 25 years, Mr. Pickens must

say goodbye to SEHS due to the fact that he has not accumulated

the seniority that LAUSD is re-

quiring. “I think it’s appropriate

to base these layoffs on seniority,

but it’s a scary trend having our

school privatized with this budget

crisis. It is driving a lot of new

generation teachers out of the

industry. I would say that to edu-

cate students is the best economic

plan,” said Pickens.

Oscar Tapia, junior, said, “It’s

going to be so lame next year for us juniors becoming seniors. It’s

going to be overpopulated, but I

guess we just have to deal with

it.”

So, how will SEHS students do their part in making a change

within the school’s community in

regards to the budget cuts? Adams

said, “Students will have to pick

up slack and definitely honor their education. You have a qualified instructor, so put yourself into it.”

$640-million deficitYear wraps up, five days sooner

By Estevan Almanza

Editor-in-Chief

The school year will now

come to an end five days sooner

due to budget cuts. However, Jag-

uars don’t seem to be bothered.

According LAUSD, due to

a $640-million deficit, schools will have to shorten this school year in

order to save 2,100 campus work-

ers from losing their jobs.

Both the administrative and

teachers unions were set to vote on

whether or not to shorten the year.

The decision was finalized Satur-

day, April 10. According to the Los

Angeles Times approximately 80% of teachers voted “yes” to the five

day cut.

“The decision was made to

help these teachers keep their jobs

and this decision makes me glad.

It shows how people care and sup-

port others. Teachers have families

they have to maintain and provide

for. Losing their jobs would be ex-

tremely harsh,” said Ms. Torres, a

Special Education TA (teaching as-

sistant) at South East High School. Additionally, Iris Ortiz a

senior at SEHS said, “They made the right choice by voting “yes” be-

cause without their jobs how would

the staff be able to support their

families.”

Seniors and other students

at SEHS became thrilled with the result of the vote.

Marvin Bosque, a

senior at SEHS said, “I think its good and bad because I want to

graduate. But, I also want more time

with my friends.”

Graduating sooner for senior Ortiz

was not a dilemma either.

“For me, it doesn’t matter

if I graduate sooner. What matters

is that I graduate. I’m just thank-

ful that all of those teachers got to

keep their jobs,” said Ortiz.

In spite of that, se-

niors were not the only ones who

agreed to the decision.

Hugo Redendiz, a junior, said, “If I were a senior I

would feel excited because I would get the diploma faster and my col-

lege life will start sooner as well.”

With graduation day

not far away students at SEHS are satisfied with the final decision.

New

s

SEHS2 • Jaguar Times•

Tagging Stays Because of Cuts

By Estevan AlmanzaEditor and Chief

“Tagging,” a form of signing name anonymously in public

places has now found a way to stay on the walls of South

East High School.

“It’s depressing walking through SEHS hallways and having to look at our welcoming school get vandalized,” said, Angelica Chavez, a senior at SEHS. Due to budget cuts at LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District), SEHS has lost two custodians whose job was to maintain the school. The painting department has lost painters as well. This has resulted in tagging to staying on walls a bit longer. Maritza Avalos, a junior at SEHS, said, “Maybe it’s because the school doesn’t have enough money to get rid of tagging and if they take it down kids might tag again so the school will just be [unnecessarily spending] money.” On the other hand, Peter Alvarado, the Plant Manager at SEHS, said, “There is not enough manpow-er; the school does not have enough of a budget to cov-er all the graffiti. I mean to be able to cover all the graf-fiti we would need somebody here constantly on a daily basis who will only focus on removing graffiti,” said Alvarado. “Before, we had a person here on site and he would cover the graffiti. [But] when he came around the cor-ner, just to make sure he had covered all of the tag-ging there would be new tagging there,” said Alvarado. Alvarado could not specify the exact cost of vandalism to the school. Unfortunately, tagging can be found in any building at SEHS. “It depends on the way you see it.” said, Alvarado. Sometimes the variety of the tagging may not be so big and noticeable, however, students like Chavez and Avalos notice.“A school that is marked up becomes unappealing. This is a beautiful campus. If we are not careful it doesn’t take much to destroy it,” said, Mr. Adams, a Tech and Media Academy English teacher at SEHS. Tagging not only degrades the appearance of SEHS, but it also disrupts its students from achieving their academic goals. “Tagging isn’t a good thing, it affects the relaxing and safe en-vironment SEHS has and will certainly distract students from obtaining the education SEHS provides,” said Avalos. Tagging can be stopped if students cooperate with the rules and keep their “art” to themselves. Until then, if it continues SEHS may become like other schools that are infested with tagging.

LAUSD Under In-vestigation

By Juan Banda and Cindy SorianoJaguar Times Staff Writers

ESL student performances in their regular and ESL classes are being questioned. Could it be a lack of motivation or is their some-

thing else going on? ESL classes are made up of students who need help under-standing the English language. The ESL classes were designed to help an ESL student gain the ability to read, speak, and write in English to advance them into the regular English-Speaking language classes. These students make-up about a third of the Districts enrollment. On March 10th the Depart-ment of Education launched an in-vestigation to see if LAUSD is pro-viding adequate services to its ESL students. The LAUSD district was chosen as the first target of the in-vestigation because its ESL students have shown poor performance and little improvement. The investiga-tion is to provide an evaluation to help the district identify its suc-cessful programs and expand them. According to Mr. Duarte, there are 750 ESL students in the school. Duarte says that 10-20% of ESL studetns are recalssified every year. Duaret says that the Depart-ment “Has the right to conduct the investigation ; to improve the curriculum. According to Duarte the Office of Civil Rights is run-ning the investigation. Duarte says that the biggest problem recalssify-ing students is that not many score basic in the Calfornia Standardized

Test. Duarte says that there are only three ESL teachers inthe school. Ms. Grande, an English Language skills teacher at South East, said, “I think that it is an im-portant thing to do; many students are misplaced and don’t belong in the level they are at.” Accord-ing to Grande her ELS class has students of mixed levels, which makes the teaching hard. Accord-ing to Grande many people are not familiar with the course becuase it is only 2 years old and it is new to the district. Grande believes that the students who do not wish to im-prove will most likely not improve. Grande finds it challenging when students lack motivation to im-prove. Mr. Ibarra a teacher at South East High School said, “I think it could go both ways as a good and bad idea. It would be a good Idea because they could come and see how they can help our students. It’s a bad idea because they shouldn’t be [coming] to point fingers they should be coming to help our stu-dents.” According to Mr. Ibarra his ESL classes are going well and he claims that his math class is scor-ing a little bit higher than his regular classes in the periodic assessments even when the test are in English. Louie Rivera a sophomore in ESL at South East High says his par-ents do not see any improvement in his English. Rivera says, “As an ESL student I feel that ESL has a little bit more help than regular classes.” Ri-vera believes the classes do not have enough teachers explaining the work.

They met in C103 to vote during lunch and continued on after school. Teachers had weighed their pros and cons as did some students. They have come to the conclusion that the 4x4 bell schedule would be best for the benefit of the students and the teachers. Stu-dents now have a positive outlook on their future bell schedules. While observing the discussion taking place, one student objected of the decision. Many students, felt a bit irate by the consideration to the subject. One junior from SEHS, Ezequiel De La Torre, said, “Liter-ally, why would we want to change the bell schedule when there’s some students that don’t even do their work for four classes? It’s outrageous to think of the possibilities for failure.” About 30 juniors went to the poll in C103. Kev-in Tinoco a junior said, “First the budget cuts are already af-fecting us here at South East, the pink slips that many teachers got, and now the bell schedule being changed? What else are the administrators going to take away from us? It’s very stressful to be man-aging my education as it is, and now having six periods instead of four. This is going to be too much for me becoming a senior next year.” Students seem strongly to disagree with the concept of changing the bell schedule. Students need to know that having the 4x4 bell schedule is having the classes by longer time and having periods in the 6x6 bell arrangement is having the same amount of work just more time to establish the education. Many students agree that the 4x4 block schedule al-lows them to have their educational responsibilities and per-sonal responsibilities being balanced. Balance in those ar-eas was definitely weighed in their reasoning during their voting. Eduardo Santoyo, another junior at SEHS said, “It sounds like a good idea because I get distracted easily in the 90 minutes that we have for an entire class and having less time in them seems very appealing. But now that I think it through, having six classes in a day, I don’t think I’m going to manage my school work right because I don’t do work as it is.”

Photo of graffiti at South East High School Phtoto By Vicky Cuellar

4x4 Wins The VoteBy Jazmin Tapia

Jaguar Times Staff Witter

Juniors, sophomores, and freshmen at South East High

School were fired up from the discussions about the bell schedule being changed.

On March 18, teachers and students gathered to vote on the bell schedule for the 2010- 2011 school year.

SEHS 3 • Jaguar Times•

New

s

Photo taken by U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Offi ce

With resident’s help 2010 Census

can relieve today’s economic crisis

By Vicky CuellarNews Editor

By completing the 2010 Census

form, taxpayers would save up to

$1.5 billion dollars.

Mr. Adams, an English teacher of the Tech and Media Academy at SEHS and former President of Norwalk, La Mirada School District said, “If we can get an accurate count of the people who we try to service, it gives us a better plan to use money accord-ingly, for instance, if we fi nd out the number of kids born in South Gate, we realize how many kids we need in new potential schools.” In March, every resident in South Gate, as well as the United States, received a census question-naire to complete. Under consti-tutional law, the census is to take place every 10 years in order to estimate the number of seats your state occupies in the U.S House of Representatives. The govern-ment uses the census data to ad-vocate for causes like rescue di-saster victims, prevent diseases, research market, as well as locate the number of skilled workers. The census will also help communities receive more than $400 billion dollars in federal fund-ing each year for things such as: hos-pitals, job training centers, schools,

senior centers, and every day ser-vices. The census is being mailed to every resident and is composed of 10 questions that determine the number of members per house-hold. Any personal data provided is protected under federal law. In order to truly benefi t from the census, each city resident must turn in their completed cen-sus form. Mr. Jordan, a photogra-phy teacher in the Tech and Me-dia academy at South East High School said, “I feel the census keeps track of the always changing population, because the popula-tion changes the structure of how things work, the census helps the country make a lot of decisions that shouldn’t and should be done.” Mr. Jordan also expressed how he felt the census will not only benefi t communities but also schools. Mr. Jordan added, “Be-cause the census gives a more ac-curate count of people, ethnicity, and our social economic status, it can very well bring more of an accurate count of what schools in particular need the most.” Students as well as teach-ers understand the importance of the census. Genesis Rodriguez, a sophomore at SEHS said, “If ev-eryone fi lls the 2010 census, gov-ernment will know how to improve society, they will know how many schools, classrooms, and books are needed to educate our genera-tion as well as future generations.”

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Mid-Semester MoveBy Marlene Flores

Jaguar Times Writer

SEHS English teacher says, “This problem is caused because [of] the district budget

cuts…”

LAUSD, budget cuts are making a big impact on the South East High School students and teachers. Many teachers are being moved to other classes; while teachers from other schools replace them. Mr. Bustamante, a teacher at SEHS, said, “I think it is terrible, it is disruptive for both the students and the teachers.” Because current teachers will have to change classes many students will fi nd it more dif-fi cult to adjust to their new instructor. Bustamante said, “This is happen-

ing because our status [as] a long term-sub [means] we can only stay in [a] position for 30 days.” Teachers with proper credentials are com-ing to SEHS to take a position. SEHS assistant prin-cipal Ms.Criss said, “The teachers that are part of this process are working on credential issues.” Other prospective teachers look forward to the new change. Ms.Castaneda a former South East Middle School teacher said, “ I feel excited to come into a differ-ent class with a new set of students and I am super excited about the new materials and challenging events ahead.” Many students have different opinions about their teachers being switched. Minerva Garcia, a sophomore at SEHS, said, “I don’t like that we have to get used to a new teacher when we are barely getting used to our current ones.” Some students have to adjust to the fact that they are going to get new teachers. Sandra Martinez, a sopho-more at SEHS said, “I’m feeling troubled because I have gotten [used] to the teacher I have getting a new one will confuse me more.” This problem will trouble many stu-dents because of the new teachers different methods of teaching. This change will affect roughly 300 students.

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SEHS4 • Jaguar Times•

Some Seniors Struggle With Plans After High

SchoolBy Yamileth Manriquez

Many seniors at South

East High School are having

trouble deciding what to do and

where to go after they graduate.

As the school year for 2010 draws closer to an end some seniors are still facing ob-stacles, including, college ap-plications, SAT results, getting enough credits, and passing their classes for their last year in high school. For others everything seems to be right on track because they have been making plans since the beginning of the year. Yet, some students don’t realize they need to start now rath-er than later because it’s going to be too late to apply for college or a job. So, the time has come for them to become focused on their goals. Otherwise when the time comes to do something with their life there are not going to be as many opportunities for them as there are while they are still in high school. With the economic crisis and the recession seniors are fac-ing harder decisions than ever. College has become more ex-pensive due to the higher costs of tuition, books, etc. For exam-ple, Jennifer Carbajal, a senior at SEHS says, “Students are real-izing how difficult it’s going to

be for them to find the money to

pay, in case they don’t get any help, and it’s not easy to pur-

sue their dreams on their own.” Some students have de-cided to work part-time through college, but the fact of the mat-ter is that there are not a lot of jobs available for them. Also, if it comes down to a recent high school student graduate or a col-lege graduate for a job opening position, most likely the col-lege graduate is going to get the job because he or she has far more experience and education. If a student decides to work instead of going to school it’s go-ing to be really difficult. People

with a degree are getting fired

from their jobs and there are not a lot in their field or major. This is

also affecting their decision to go to college. Some students claim that going to college is not worth their time and money because they can see a college graduate still flipping burgers at McDonald’s.

This is not helping stu-dents realize how important it is for them to go to college. There is a lot of help for students get through college, but who helps them when they finish high

school? They don’t want to go running to their parents but some do. They want to learn the impor-tance of doing things on their own. Students need to decide what they are going to do, be-cause it will definitely affect them

as their life progresses. They need to find solutions for their prob-lems, because help exists they just need to learn how to look for it and become determined to get it.

SEHS Looks TrashedMarlene Flores

Jaguar Times Writer

Students at SEHS have to pick up after themselves.

The responsibility of keep-ing this school clean belongs to all students, not just the custo-dial staff. Students have to help the janitors on campus keep this school clean, so visitors do not criticize it and because students study and learn here. So, why do students want a place that gives us so much, to be dirty and filthy? The

school should also be kept clean because students wouldn’t want it infested with rodents and seagulls! There are many ways to keep SEHS clean and representa-tive of the students. One way to keep campus clean is to recycle. Most classes have recycling boxes. Another way to help is to clean up and throw away all trash and food. The biggest trash issue seen on campus is after lunch. Students on campus eat lunch and leave the trash expecting the janitors to pick it up. Many stu-

dents finish eating a snack and just

throw the wrapper on the ground. Some students even throw it at each other and leave it where it lands, instead of picking it up and putting it in the trash bin where it belongs. Peter Alvarado, SEHS

plant manager said “When I see a student littering on campus I think to myself and say the [student] aren’t helping themselves because they are making their campus look dirty.” Alvarado said, “The biggest trash issue I find on campus is after

lunch and sometimes after school.” Peter says that where

he finds more trash in school

is in front of the gym and in the lunch area. “We wouldn’t have birds around on campus if stu-dents were to pick up their food after lunch,” said Alvarado. Keeping the school en-vironment clean is important to both the students and the school. Some students are lazy, but a little effort wouldn’t hurt. Not only are students helping the school, but the earth as well.

Uncommon Pho-bias Affect Stu-

dentsBy Amy De Leon

Times Staff Writer

A phobia is an un-

reasonable sort of fear that

can cause avoidance and

panic. Phobias are a rela-

tively common type of anxi-

ety disorder according to

the Medicine Net website. Many people deal with different types of pho-bias everyday and some are part of their daily lives, but then there are those weird and strange phobias that some people deal with as well. Some students at-tending SEHS share about some of the fears they face. Nancy Munoz, a junior at SEHS, says, “I have a phobia of maggots I can’t stand them just talk-ing about them gives me the chills.” While some people could careless about maggots and don’t let them affect them at all. Munoz

said, “I can’t stand mag-gots because they look so disgusting and ugly.” Cynthia Gonzalez, a sophomore at SEHS has a phobia of vomit. Gonzalez said, “I get so scared when people throw up or want to throw up because this one time I was in the car with my cousin and she threw up on me and ever since that one time I’ve have had a pho-bia of people throwing up.” Other people like Jose Corona, a freshmen at SEHS, says, “I don’t have any phobias and I haven’t had bad experi-ences that have made me fear something.” Some people have the advantage of not having phobias of things like some people do. Each and every per-son is entitled to their fears while others may not have any fears at all. It all de-pends on those experiences people have had that have made them become phobic of weird and strange things.

What do students want to do before they

die?By Jazmin Tapia and Sally

VitelaJaguar Times Staff Writer

South East students speak

of their own “bucket lists.”

SEHS students share their idea for what they would like to do before they die. This is the ultimate question that many humans think about. Still some nev-er think of it, while others think of this question daily. For those who con-sider this question daily, “Carpe Diem” is the motto

they live by. They hesitate to wonder what the fu-ture might be like, because they know anything can happen in a mere second. Students at SEHS have far more interesting goals for their future than just achieving the obvious. “Before I die I want to take a vacation at the Maldives Islands,” said Erick Valdez, a junior at SEHS. The Mal-dives are some beautiful is-lands in the Indian Ocean.

Valdez is setting a high goal for himself in his own idealistic future and set-ting himself for excellence in his high school career. Andrea Chavez, a junior said, “I want to be a Sumo Wrestler and make a big house for homeless peo-ple.” Both of Chavez’s ideas are inspiring. It’s surprising to some in California to hear that a high school student wants to be a Sumo Wres-tler before their death. The fact that she wants to help homeless people is very car-ing and humanitarian to do so. Its not so often that one meets people who wonder what its like to be a Sumo Wrestler and willing to try it. Blanca Siodia, a ju-nior said, “I want to crowd surf before I die.” It could be something very simple for some, but for siordia it is a goal to achieve before her time runs out. Marianna Reynoso, a senior, said, “I want to bungee jump off a building before I’m gone.” Students at South East dream to achieve what seems impossible for some, but possible for many.

SEHSFe!"#r$

5• Jaguar Times•

Rogelio Carrillo, a se-nior at South East High School, is one out of many teenagers whose life has changed perma-nently. On September 14, 2008 his son, Nathan R. Carrillo, was born. “Ever since Nathan was born, my life has changed dra-matically. Even though I enjoy be-ing a kid, I have been forced to grow up quickly. My future isn’t only about me anymore; it’s about him now. Anything I do can eas-ily affect him,” said Carrillo. Carrillo was only 16 when he found out he was going to be a young father. He did not have a job, good grades, or even an idea about what his next step should be. “I never thought it could hap-pen to me. I just really didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know what it was going to be like to be a par-ent. All I knew was that I had to step up, get a job, and improve my grades. I had no experience, but I knew that I had the support I needed from my family in order to learn how to be a parent,” he said. According to Carrillo, it’s not easy juggling school in one hand and a baby in the other. “Sometimes I have to miss school because I have to be there for him when he’s sick or has his monthly check-ups. Na-than comes before everything and sometimes that affects my school-work because if there is anything that he needs me for, I am there in a heartbeat. However, I could be do-ing better in my classes. There’s just a lot on my mind – I think about my job, my son, and our future togeth-er. My first block, AP Calculus, is one class that I feel is a lot to handle when I’ve got so many other things going on at home and at work.” Many teenage fathers don’t acknowledge their own child. Ac-cording to the Teen Health website, 80% of teenage parents are only single mothers. However, Carrillo has been a part of Nathan’s life since the minute he was born. “I person-ally love being a father,” he said. “I didn’t even try to run away from it because it was something I did. I want- ed to be around, and never once did I question it. I faced my mistake and took responsibility for it. I wanted to face the challenge.” Carrillo was used to hav-ing a normal daily life schedule like going to school, taking care of his daily chores, and spending time at the park playing soccer, but all that changed when his son was born. “I have to go to school and then

hurry off to either go to work or to watch him. His mother and I switch turns watching him so that both of us get to spend the same amount of time with him. My first and fourth block can really affect my whole schedule. They both take a great amount of commitment. My fourth block, Yearbook, always has deadlines and when those days come up, I have to stay after school for hours which can take time away from Nathan. Then, at the same time, I have a job two days out of the week. All of it adds up and re-quires a huge amount of my time.” From Carrillo’s experience, having a baby is very expensive. Al-though he currently holds a job, his whole paycheck ends up paying for most of Nathan’s expenses like dia-pers, wipes, clothes, and other basic things. “I haven’t always had this job and the hardest thing to face as a father is the fact that I don’t get to support him completely financially. His mother doesn’t work, and I just started working not too long ago. He’s gotten the greatest amount of support from his grandparents, my parents and his mother’s par-ents, since the day he was born.” According to pregnant-teenhelp.org, more than 2/3 of all teenagers who have a baby will not graduate from high school. However, Carrillo will successfully graduate this year and he already has big plans. Carrillo said, “My son pushed me to succeed in or-der to give him and myself a bet-ter life and future. I’m set on going to college and am planning to be-come a pediatrician. I’m currently a participant of the Kaiser Perma-nente Youth Certificate Program to qualify for the full-time paid intern-ship they are offering this summer.” Although his journey as a teen parent is no walk in the park, he has proven that it is possible to achieve his goals and be a dedicated father all at the same time. “I feel amazed. Nathan is only a year and a half, and he can already talk like a 3 year old. I’m lucky to watch him grow every day. This experience has been the toughest and will always be, but it is nevertheless an amazing experience. I am proud of myself that I can come out of this and still accomplish anything I want. I don’t see my situation as a road block be-cause it is in my heart that I won’t stop until I reach my goals,” he ex-pressed. (continued on the next column..)

The Future Business Leaders of America Begin a New Chapter at

SEHS

By Annette Reyes Feature Editor

SEHS students can now get a hands-on experience in the

business field by joining the Future Business Leaders of America club.

Teenage Father Fighting His Way to Succeed

By Annette Reyes

Features Editor

“I never thought it could happen to me… my life has changed dramatically. It’s not about

me anymore,” said Rogelio Carrillo.

(continued) Although Carrillo enjoys being a father, he wishes that SEHS students will wait and consider the consequences of being sexually active at such a young age. “Just because you may think you’re ready, just know that it does not mean it is the perfect time. Always be careful because it is definitely not easy being a young parent. Not only do you go through a lot physically, emotionally, and mentally, but so do your parents and everyone else close to you. Everything you do affects others around you. Always remember the consequenc-es.”

There are many clubs that aim towards a certain ca-reer, and that is exactly what the Future Business Leaders of America do. The Future Business Leaders of Amer-ica, also known as FBLA, is a club that is nation-ally recognized throughout high schools and colleges around the United States and was formed at SEHS in the summer of 2009. FBLA helps its mem-bers prepare for business in the real world and also teach-es them about being an asset to America’s bad economy by becoming an entrepreneur. SEHS students could not have this opportunity if it weren’t for Ms. Biswas, Busi-ness and Finance lead teacher, and science teacher. “Once I became the lead teacher for the Business and Finance Academy, I was inspired and I thought of ways to get stu-dents involved in their acad-emy or in business. I did a huge amount of research and came to discovering FBLA. I put my heart and effort into making the club,” she said. Ms. Barragan, U.S. History and Government teacher, has also worked with Ms. Biswas to make FBLA a successful club. FBLA meets every Monday during lunch in D109 and currently holds seven students as official members. Although FBLA member-ship costs $3, it is benefi-cial to its members’ futures. Barragan says. “This club is for the students and about the students, no one

else. We just really hope to get it established and have a solid group. Students will learn about how to start a business, and it’s some-thing a student can par-ticipate in to identify them-selves with the academy.” According to Bar-ragan, being a member also gives the student a higher op-portunity at jobs and colleg-es because FBLA looks good on resumes and college appli-cations. “In FBLA you build great resumes, scholarships, and college applications. You also gain a great amount of leadership skills,” she said. Students also get to discover a career, make new friends, earn scholarships, gain business skills, be-come creative, and become effective communicators. Ulises Rea, fresh-man, said, “It’s cool [being in FBLA] because I want to learn how to be a busi-nessman and I feel it’s really helping me.” Maribel Diaz, freshman, said “It is an awe-some experience. You get to discover a lot of new things and meet new people.” Biswas expressed, “It is a great opportunity and experience for students, and I don’t see why a stu-dent would not want to join. FBLA is open to all stu-dents regardless of which-ever academy they’re in.” FBLA will be hold-ing a small free-food event during lunch time on April 19 to celebrate the start of a new club and Barragan says, “Everyone is welcome!”

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Two Winners For South East

Idol By Sally Vitela

Jaguar Times Staff Writer

On March 25 South East High School’s staff and stu-dents attended and voted for the 2010 South East Idol. The time of the year finally came for SEHS to choose 2010’s South East Idol. The South East Idol win-ner is determined by the au-dience, applauses and excite-ment filled the auditorium. The winner for 2010’s South East Idol was not one, but two students. Giselle Rivera, a sophomore, and John Bel-ton, a junior, who performed “A Whole New World” were this years winners. It is the first time that SEHS has had two winners for South East Idol. “You have a great voice and John too,” said Ms. Val-lens a teacher from the Vi-sual and Performing Arts academy, one of the judges.The judges had time to make their decision and reduced the number of 13 contes-tants to the top three final-ists. The top three finalists were Sandy Navarro who performed “Sway”, Giselle Rivera and John Belton who performed the duet for “A Whole New World”, and Alejandra Gastelum who sang “Stand By Me”. At the competition, the judg-es scored the contestants based on their performance and vocal quality and these six judges were Ms. Chavez, Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Mang-iliman, Ms. Vallens, Mr. Orosco, and Ms. Barragan. The event was held on Thursday, March 25 in the SEHS auditorium, at 6 p.m. The pre-sale tickets were $4 and $5 if purchased at the door on the day of

the event. It was free for all SEHS employees.“This year we have two groups of two people per-forming duets. We will also be having special guests of the winners from 2008 and 2009,” said Ms. Gragera, the choir director fo the Visual and Performing Arts Academy. The winner of South East Idol for 2008, Krystle Guti-errez performed first and 2009’s winner, Ashley Bailon performed last, right before the judges made the decision at the end to pick the last three finalists. Cristian Pelayo, a junior and Oscar Tranquilino, a senior at SEHS sang one of the duets: “Kryptonite”. John Belton and Giselle Rivera performed the sec-ond duet, which was Dis-ney’s Aladdin theme song, “A Whole New World”. On March 4 and 5 Gragera held auditions in room P100 during lunch and after school. Students audi-tioning were asked to sing a verse and chorus of the song they wished to present. The singers had a choice to per-form individually, as a duet, or in a group. Their options were to sing acapella (which means without a track), with an instrument, or with a CD with the selected song.One contestant Bryan Elias, a junior at SEHS, said, “Well, I feel nervous and nauseas every time I think about South East Idol, but every time I sing, all that doesn’t matter I just step in-side the song that I am sing-ing and I close my eyes and soon I’m in another world. I don’t know who will win, but what I do know is that everyone has a chance to win and I only wish the best for all of the contestants.”After they auditioned Grag-era elected 13 contestants that she thought they were able to fit the critiques. “I had a really good job with the auditions, so that’s why I had a really hard time making my decision,” said Gragera.

Students Excited to Watch Titans in 3-D By Sally Vitela Jaguar Times Staff WriterClash of the Titans is back and filled with fantasy action in 3-D.

South East High School students express their thoughts about this new and adventurous movie.

Who wouldn’t want to see fantasy action, special effects and fierce gods with swords? Clash of the Titans released on April 2 as a Warner Brothers production in 3-D. This film is actually a remake of an earlier version in 1981. Louis Leterrier who also directed The Incredible Hulk directs the mov-ie. “The movie theatre was really crowded the day the movie came out, they even ran out of tickets. I was surprised because I didn’t even know the movie had so many fans,” said Joel Uribe, a junior at SEHS. According to the Box Of-fice Mojo web site the movie has made up to $63,890,110 in the box office results since its release. “The movie was kind of predictable but it was still really good,” says Jose Gonzales, a junior at SEHS. The movie takes place in the Greek town, Argos. Perseus

(Sam Worthington) is born as a god, but he is raised as any other common man in his town. He is the son of the god Zeus, who is feuding with his brother Hades. “Clash of the Titans was cool be-cause Perseus was really deter-mined in defeating Hades,” says Blanca Siordia, a junior at SEHS. In the movie Perseus strug-gles to defeat Hades (Ralph Fiennes) who is the evil god of the under-world and wants to take over Zeus’s power and destroy the world with his evil ways. Hades is not Perseus’ only enemy; he also struggles to de-feat Medusa and the Kraken mon-ster. He is then determined rescue Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) from Medusa and the Kraken monster, marry her, and figure out his destiny. The advertisement had people everywhere talking about this movie before the re-lease. “The thing that attracted me from the previews is the vio-lence and action,” said George Sanchez, a sophomore at SEHS. Like every movie, Clash of the Titans received both positive and negative feedback. Some viewers complain that the movie is very predictable with poor acting. Even though the movie did not get very good reviews, it did make it to num-ber one in the top ten movies during its opening week the box office.

Photo By: Sally Vitela

The Sky Set Fire on South East By Juan Banda Times Staff Writer The Sky Set Fire rocked

the quad at SEHS in celebration of “The Boy Who Cried Panda.”

On March 17, Tony Pal-omero, a junior, and his band-mates showed off their musical talents by playing in front of the quad at SEHS after school. The band, The Sky Set Fire, played their unique, screamo, and rock-alternative music to celebrate the success of SEHS’ art and poetry magazine, “The Boy Who Cried Panda.” This event was orga-nized by Ms. Seager, the cre-ator of the magazine and Art teacher. Fans watched, support-ed, and applauded the upcoming band from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. “The band got its name when we were at a venue. A member gave us a random name and it just sort of stuck,” said Palomero. The band consists of only three musicians: Palomero, lead guitarist and vocal-ist, Joe Ibarra, bassist and vocalist, and Carlos Canovas, drummer and

vocalist. “It was awesome to per-form for Ms. Seager’s magazine because it was very interesting and showed a lot of meaning to me.”“I thought they were great! I mean they played a lot of different covers of different musicals genres, and they also did their own original songs. I think we have a very talented band and they are in no doubt headed towards success with their music,” said Elizabeth Carrillo, a junior. Felipe Sanchez, a junior, said,” Most of the original songs are based on relationships. Their songs have feeling and meaning.” “We have the smallest but great-est group of fans,” said Palomero. The band performed four covers and seven of their original songs. Their covers included songs like “Anything, Anything” by Dra-marama, “FCP” by Fall of Troy, “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down, and “I Found a Way” by Alkaline Trio. Their original songs were titled “Seriously,” “Honestly I’ve Tried,” “Cynical Dream,” and “Safely Spin.”“I just hope The Sky Set Fire can once again show SEHS what we can do with our guitars, drums, and voices. It’s nothing but the greatest feeling in the world,” expressed Palomero.

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Arts & E!t"rt#$!m"!%7 • Jaguar Times•

Juniors Ride T h e Q u e e n

Mary By Mayra Lopez

Jaguar Times Staff Writer

It was the ship with many

dark and spooky tales. How-ever on March 19 on the fourth deck, South East High School held the Masquerade Junior Ball for SEHS and their dates.

As many walked by to the ballroom, they were able to see stories of what may have been seen or heard from screams to ghosts. Many weren’t able to explore the ship, but those who did found it pretty amazing. There were pictures, rooms, and many other interesting ob-jects around the place. Even the bathrooms seemed spooky to SEHS students. Many did not go without a friend. “The bath-rooms were so small and scary I felt like a ghost might pop out in back of me. Another scary thing in the bathrooms was that the walls kept shaking,” says Erika Alcala, a junior at SEHS. The Masquerade theme had been selected by Leadership. Many covered their faces with decorated and fascinating masks.

The ballroom was a very nice place to hold the dance. Many were able to see the ocean view from the windows and murals were all over the dance floor and ceiling. It’s a very wonderful thing to experience, especially if it may have been your first vis-it to the Queen Mary. Outside, the ballroom had a large table full of pastries that many hurried taste. “The dessert was really good. Since, I am a fan of food I would give it an “A” for its [taste and decoration],” said Maritza Lopez, a junior at SEHS. Drinks were served and would fly away quickly with many thirsty people going back and forth from the dance floor. “The music was so great, the dance floor would get filled up. After the dance finished many kept dancing to the music that kept playing,” says Gilbert Padilla, a junior at SEHS. There were many types of English and Spanish music like Oldies, Cor-ridos, Hip-Hop, Pop, Cumbia, Techno and much more. One song that many ran to dance on the floor was Payaso De Ro-deo and Caballo Dorado. Even though there had been a small little incident, many just kept dancing and enjoyed the dance. At the end of the ball SEHS students left with joy on their faces. Many were just glad to leave the spooky Queen Mary.

It’s Synching, Not Singing By Cindy Soriano A & E Editor

Drama department to host the first lip-synching contest. Ms. Chavez, SEHS drama teacher, is in the process of creating the first lip-synching con-test taking place at the South East High School auditorium on the evening of April 29. Students will perform in groups or individually to dance and pretend to sing along songs like What You Waiting For? By Gwen Stefani and If You Wan-na Be My Lover by Spice Girls. Students, who want to participate in the lip-synching contest, must see Ms. Chavez for details. It’s not about the vocals this time – it’s all about the lips!

T h e L a s t Song

Stirs up student emo-tions

Cindy Soriano A & E Editor

In The Last Song a teenage girl tries to re-connect with her father,

while her parents are going

through a harsh divorce. In the movie the teenage girl

also finds love for the first

time. The Last Song won’t

be the last time Miley Cyrus

and Liam Hemsworth will

be seen together. South East High School students share their thoughts and feelings about this movie.

The Last Song is a new movie that was re-leased on March 31 and is based on the novel by the well-known writer Nicho-las Sparks. Which features the famous singer and actress Miley Cyrus and actor Liam Hemsworth.

“I think that this movie is very emotional, it’s a sad story yet very romantic because the Disney chan-nel star Miley Cyrus also known as Hannah Montana, finds true love for the first time. In this movie I feel that Miley Cyrus, leaves her childhood behind and starts her new career as a real actress,” said Carmen

Paz, a sophomore at SEHS.

In the film Miley Cyrus plays the role of a girl whose parents are going through a very tough di-vorce and falls in love for the first time. The irony in this is that Cyrus really does fall in love with her colleague Liam Hemsworh.

“ I loved the movie. I am a sucker for a tearjerker movie and that movie made me cry as if I had [a] water hose in my eyes. I haven’t cried like that since the Notebook and Marley and Me. I loved it because the storyline is just amazingly good and not to forget the guy is soooo cute. I would watch this again and again.” said Pauline Velazquez, a senior at SEHS.

The reviews had no real pos-itive feedback yet managed to stay Americas’ top mov-ie that night. According to the films fan web site even though the movie had poor reviews it still made $5 mil-lion the day it was released. The Last Song movie fan web site also claimed that only 8% of the critics said it was above average. Crit-ics say that it is very similar to previous movies Nicho-las Spark’s movies like the Notebook and Dear John.

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SEHS 8 • Jaguar Times•Swim Team Schedule

March 11 SE VS HAMILTON AWAYMarch 17 SE VS GARFIELD HOMEMarch 24 SE VS JORDAN AWAYApril 7 SE VS BELL HOMEApril 14 SE VS SOUTH GATE AWAYApril 21 SE VS ROOSEVELT AWAY

TRACK IN THE VIEW OF

TWOBy Julian Izabal

Times Sports Editor With the season just getting underway the Track and Field team is off to a slow start, but a winning streak may be on the horizon. The first track meet

against Garfield High School

was not a good start to the season. “The team did not seem to connect for the first

game, no one was cheering for anybody, there was pret-ty much no support”, says Giovanna Garcia, a runner on the Track team, and a junior

at South East High School. Nathan Mejia, a ju-nior at SEHS says, “The girls won but the guys lost because the junior varsity

team did not have much experience, and the Varsity team just was not ready or

pumped to run.” Garcia says that one thing that peo-ple would be surprised with is cheering, “You would be surprised how a few cheers would really make some-one push themselves.” To add on to what Garcia says could have been done bet-

ter, Mejia says, “You just

gotta be ready to run, you also have to really want it.” Although Gar-cia was injured for two

games, she says that she helped out by “Congratu-lating all my team-mates whether they won or lost.” When the time came to face Bell High School, Garcia was pumped and ready to run. Garcia says being back in the 4x4 re-lay was “Exciting.” She also says “It was crazy be-cause we [the team] only won by two points.” Mejia

says, “It was great cause we swept them, in shot-put.”Mejia practices for shot

put every day, with coach Cervantes. Coach Cer-vantes watches the team do their drills, he then tells the shot putters what to fix based on what he sees.

The team celebrates a game by going to the weight room and waits quietly to hear their scores. When they win “You hear every-one cheering,” says Garcia.

JAGUAR BASEBALL EMBAR-

RASSES THE SEA KINGSBy Ricardo CuevasTimes Contributor

On March 5, Cesar Car-rillo gives up one

hit against Palos Verdes High School.

Cesar Carrillo, a senior and pitcher at South East High School, threw a one-hitter on March 5. The Jaguars played the opening game away, against Palos Verdes High School. Car-rillo’s first pitch was a ball.

Before the game, Carrillo thought they were not going to be able to beat Palos Verdes. He said, “I heard they were good, and they won league last season”. Before games, Carrillo likes to fo-cus, listen to his iPod, and doesn’t like to throw until after he warms up.

During the game, Carrillo threw only two types of pitches; a change-up and a fastball. He said, “That was all I needed. My tech-nique was to go inside out, then throw some speed.” The team and fans cheered Carrillo on dur-ing the game. In the last out of the last inning he said, “My hand

got numb, I couldn’t open it.” But, he was able to get that last out with a fly out to center field,

and get the Jaguars their first win.

At the end of the game, Carrillo threw 106 pitches, and only gave up one hit. The Jaguars pounced on the Sea Kings as the final

score was 2-0. He said, “I couldn’t believe it. We actually beat them. I didn’t think they were going to be

difficult, until we started playing”.

The starting shortstop, Ar-mando Rodriguez, a junior, said,

“I believed Cesar would have been able to pitch the whole game. He started out in the beginning very good and he kept going.” Rodri-guez also said, “I couldn’t believe he threw a one-hitter, it surprised me and everyone. I was really excited and proud of Cesar”. Ro-driguez believes Carrillo can do it again because he has discipline and “what it takes” to finish the game.

He also believes Carrillo can possi-bly throw a ‘no-hitter’ this season.

PRACTICE LEADS TO IMPROVE-MENT

Claudia ArrondoTimes Contributor

South East High School’s swim team had an away meet on Thursday March 11, 2010 against Hamilton High. This wasn’t really considered an actual “meet”, better yet a practice meet where the team gets the feel of what to expect at actual future meets. The swimmers went to Hamilton High and par-ticipated with hopes of winning. Sadly, the meet didn’t end very well, but as they say practice makes perfect. Sandra Cervantes,

a junior at SEHS, said, “We may

have lost but I had lots of fun. Next time we’ll win.” And Ms. Serrano, the SEHS swim team’s coach, made sure that the mem-bers would have lots of practice to progress until their next meet. Due to the loss, Ms. Ser-rano made the members practice long and hard. The members meet either in the morning before school or after school. Though they

may be swimmers, the members had to part take in running laps.

The swimmers meet at South Gate Park’s swimming

pool since South East doesn’t have a swimming pool on cam-pus. The swimmers practice on their speed as well as their timing. One practice the team mem bers had to run from South East High School to South Gate Park, around the park for two

laps, and then run back to school.

This practice sounds brutal, but it’s all for the better of the team. Not only does it encourage the team to win, but it also improves the teams overall endurance. The team’s first actual

meet was on Wednesday March 17 at home versus Garfield

High. With the practice the team had undergone and having been to a practice meet, they were ready to succeed. The swimmers went on to South Gate Park looking to

bring home a victory and surely they did. Boy’s varsity team won but girl’s varsity team had a loss.

Christopher Ayala, a junior at SEHS, said, “Some

events are the 200 medley, 200 IM, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 500 freestyle, breast stroke,

back stroke, and some others.” There are many catego-ries which the swimmers can take part in. Some up-coming meets to look forward to include on March 24

v. Jordan High, April 7 v. Bell High, April 14 v. South Gate High, and April 21 v. Roosevelt High.