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Written by Stephanie Trelease.Photographed by Simon Tran and Yearbook. The new school year began with a splash with Aloha Week. Taking place from Septem-ber 14 to September 18, this fun-filled week was a perfect opportunity for freshmen to become acquainted with Bishop and participate in new clubs and school events. As the first spirit week of the year, Bishop teemed with life and excite-ment. Before the week even began, the Big Ka-huna Hula on September 11 provided great so-cializing opportunities throughout the evening. When not dancing the night away, students en-joyed shaved ice, photo booths, and improv shows. Aloha Week began with everyone’s favorite kind of day: a minimum day. Students were wel-comed back on Tuesday with the first mass of the year, the Welcome Mass. Fr. Ken presided, and many students were thrilled and delighted with the upbeat,

Knightlife

Aloha week: a big kahuna hoot

October 7, 2015 • XLIX • ISSUE 1

Bishop Montgomery High School

Above:: Detriana Bodden ‘18 enjoys the Welcome Frosh dance by hula-hooping to the music.

recognizable songs. Junior Maya Currie enjoyed the music a well as the unity within the gym: “The first mass of the year was awesome. It showed how the power of Christ dwells within our student body.” Wednesday brought a different kind of energy to the Bishop campus through Luncha-palooza, which showcased the many different clubs and extracurriculars at our school. The Lower Field was decked out in club posters, with every club president encouraging their peers to join their club. Students mingled, flittering from club to club, collecting fliers and candy as they went. Margarita Herrera ’17 reflected, “it’s great to see how diverse interests are celebrated at Bishop through our extracurricular committees.” On Thursday, it was the freshmen girls who were decked out in posters for the Big Sis, Lil Sis lunch. Freshmen girls enjoyed the longstanding tradition, walking around with balloons, signs, and gifts from their senior sisters. Junior Margarita Her-rera commented, “All the little sisters had signs. All the big sisters put so much effort into their gifts! It looked like it was everyone’s birthday.” Continu-ing the fun event, the freshman girls enjoyed lunch on the Upper Field provided by their big sisters, allowing each girl to get to know the other bet-ter as music played in the background. Freshman Angelina Herrera expressed her approval of the event: “I thought it was really fun. I really liked it!”

Freshmen! Freshmen! Read All About It!

The week concluded on Friday with the Welcome Freshmen Barbeque for freshman families, allowing them to become more situated in the Bishop com-munity and meet other freshman families. Follow-ing the barbeque, the football team played an excit-ing game against El Segundo. Coming off the vibes of summer, the events of Aloha Week brought the Bish-op community together, and they were a great way to get the year off to an energetic and exciting start!Above: Senior Taylor Tillet enjoys lunch with Madison Hall

‘19 and Samantha Tobias ‘16 and Olivia Meehan ‘19.

Written by Emily Blair and Caroline Cusolito. Hey Class of 2019, the Knightlife staff hopes that your first month at Bishop Montgomery has been a blast! Starting high school can be both exciting and a little cha-otic, so we made it our mission to ask our very own seniors to give you some tips as you begin your journey through high school!

Left: Senior James Serrano, as well as his friends Je-rome Velasco ‘16, Jonas Bretana ‘16, Hayden Biernat ‘16, and John Nonato ‘16 pump up the crowd and control the music ath the Welcome Frosh dance.

Right: Juniors Evan Lim and Natsuki Hishinu-ma promote Key Club on Club Awareness Day by posing inside of a handmade Instagram frame.

“Seniors, if you could give any advice to the freshman class,

what would it be?”

“Don’t be afraid of change during high school. Lots of things will change so don’t be afraid when it occurs because not all

of it is bad, some of it is really good.” -Marcos Huerta

“My advice for freshmen would be to maintain a high GPA, join clubs and

sports, and to not procrastinate!”-Bianca Martin

“Go to high school dances and games. Before you know it, you’re going to be a senior and realize you only have one homecoming left or one football game.

Time flies! Be kind to everyone. You never know who’s life you’re changing and who you’ll be friends with next.”

-Kelly Huben

“Enjoy it and relax! Make friends and have a fun year. Try not to stress a lot, because each year it

only gets harder.” -Tylere Guzman-Touchberry

“Don’t be afraid to open up and try new things, but always be smart and safe and do what’s best for you. Re-

member that everything happens for a reason, so if something doesn’t go

your way don’t stress too much and do your best to move forward. Make time for yourself, and do things for you and

not for everybody else because you are important. Discovering yourself is a journey, but that’s what high school is for, so just make the most of every moment because these four years fly

by and before you know it you will be wondering where the time went but then you can look back and think of

all the great memories you have and in the end it will all be worth it.”

-Krystine Bernas

Knightlife pg.22

Campus Life

Written by Theresa Sitter and Lourdes Lidzbarski. Photographed by Stephanie Trelease and Theresa Sitter.

a Cruise on the Leadership

Every summer, Knights of all grade levels have the opportunity to attend leadership conferences as part of their summer vacations. This year, Bishop students participated in several pres-tigious programs, including the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Confer-ence, Christian Leadership Institute, and American Legion’s Boy’s State Con-ference and Girl’s State Conference. After an application and interview pro-cess, a group of eight juniors attended HOBY, a three-day and two-night pro-gram that focuses on empowering stu-dents to become service leaders in their communities. Juniors Angelo Pasco, Carlos Bernal, Natsuki Hishinuma, Nora Ward, Simon Tran, and Stephanie Trelease were split up into groups with other students from throughout Los An-geles. Many HOBY alumni describe it as a life-changing experience, and seniors Thomas Rocca, Lourdes Lidzbarski, and James Serrano, who returned to HOBY as junior staff members, agree. Our very own Dean of Activities, Mrs. McDermott, was also able to particpate in the program as a facilitator! Together, they participated in Leadership for Service activities, listened to guest speakers and panels, and grew closer through group bonding activities. Junior Nora Ward says,” More than any-thing, I took away a true sense of friend-ship with all of the Bishop HOBY people and a sense to make the community a bet-ter place.” The seminar culminated in our very own Carlos Bernal receiving a schol-arship to attend the prestigious World Leadership Conference, which took place

in Chicago in July for about a week. Eight other Bishop students were selected to attend a different leader-ship conference called CLI, or Christian Leadership Institute, including Krys-tine Bernas ‘16, Drew Duhovic ‘16, Eu-nice Gonzalez ‘16, Giovanni Meza ‘16, Lauren Mitchell ‘16, Danny Robinson ‘16, Nick Simone ‘17, and Theresa Sitter ‘17. They stayed at St. Mary’s Seminary for less than a week and were split into groups with other student leaders from different schools and parishes. Each day was packed full of helpful and en-gaging workshops that taught and prac-ticed new leadership skills for running a meeting, planning events, and orga-nizing groups of people. Senior Eunice Gonzalez says, “My favorite part of CLI was the week long transition the leaders made, which allowed us to have the ex-perience of actually leading a group and not just taking notes the entire time. I also enjoyed the overall environment which was very positive and nurturing.” Every year, Bishop Montgomery has the privilege of sending three incom-ing-senior boys and one incoming-senior girl to Boy’s and Girl’s State, respectively. This year, students Conor Starkey ‘16, Danny Robinson ‘16, Jeremy Pfahler ‘16 and Anna Leoncio ‘16 attended the con-ferences, which focus on political leader-ship by prompting the delegates to cre-ate their own governments. Pfahler says, “We had so many chances at leadership positions! I represented my county as our senator and was also the coordinator of sports teams in our ‘city!’ Shout out to

Carson City, Haley County!” Leoncio also expresses appreciation for her oppor-tunity, as she states, “Girls State was an in-credibly eye-opening and educational ex-perience for me! I learned so much about our state government, the election pro-cess, and issues relevant to our world. The best part, however, was definitely meet-ing so many young women - from a vari-ety of different backgrounds - who are so passionate about the world around them. I grew really close to the girls in my city ‘Crocker’, and I miss them all so much.” We are all extremely proud of what our student-leaders have ac-complished this summer, and hope to continue this tradition with our next generation of Knights!

Above: (left to right) Krystine Bernas ‘16, Danny Robinson ‘16, Drew Duhovic ‘16, Eunice Gonzalez ‘16, Nick Simone ‘17, Lauren Mitchell ‘16, and Theresa Sitter’17 pose with a friend at CLI.

Above: (Left to right) Mrs. McDermott. James Ser-rano ‘16, Lourdes Lidzbarski ‘16, Nora Ward ‘17, Natsuki Hishinuma ‘17, Carlos Bernal ‘17, Stepha-nie Trelease ‘17, Angelo Pasco ‘17, Simon Tran ‘17, Tommy Rocca ‘16, and Alex Rodriguez ‘15 smile after attending the HOBY seminar.

Above: Junior Carlos Bernal (top right) poses with two friends and Hugh O’Brian (bottom left), the founder of HOBY, at the World Leadership Congress.

Above: Senior Anna Leoncio (first row, third from the left) stands with her city at Girl’s State.

Friday night lights: a Q&A with the varsity football teamTouchdown!! The varsity football team kicked off their season in high style, currently standing at 4 wins and 1 loss for the season. We took a moment to ask captains Brendan Marafino ‘16 and Anthony Vicelja ‘16 about their feelings towards the season, being captains, and their goals for the season.

Q: How is the football season going so far?

A: It’s been great. We got off to a strong start and I’m looking forward to finishing out the season strong -Brendan Marafino ‘16

A: I think we have had a strong start to the season. We have really come together as a team and shown our resilience. We are looking for-ward to starting league and making a deep run into playoffs -Anthony Vicelja ‘16

Q: What’s it like being captains of the team? What are your responsibili-ties? What do you do to encourage your teammates?

A: It’s a big responsibility because everyone looks up to you and you always have to try and keep everyone together. I try to always stay posi-tive and push them a little further. -Brendan Marafino ‘16

A: I consider it a privilege to lead this group of young men. I always try to keep everyone in line and stay together as a team. Unity is the key to our success this year. -Anthony Vicelja ‘16Summer knights

Written by Caroline Cusolito. Photographed by Simon Tran.

Although summer vacation has drawn to a close and a new school year has begun, many students still hold onto memorable parts of their summer break. Knights spent their summer vacations in differ-ent ways, with some attending sum-mer school and others spending their time traveling with family and friends. Other students spent their time taking college tours and pre-paring for college applications in the fall. Many students attended over-night camps, retreats, and confer-ences, both in and out of the state! Junior Bronte Brewer said, “My favorite part of summer was vol-unteering at a language school and helping preschoolers. It was a lot of fun and the people were very nice!” Many teenagers find that volunteer-ing helps fulfill their free time dur-ing the summer and that it is very

rewarding in return. While some stu-dents stayed local this summer, many students took the summer time to travel and visit different places. Ju-nior Jade Murray packed her bags and headed to Santa Clara University. She says, “Over the summer, I went to a summer engineering seminar at Santa Clara University. There, I got to participate in hands-on learning about the different types of engineer-ing.” Another Junior, Aaron Glover, says his most memorable part about summer was traveling outside of Cali-fornia: “This summer was amazing! My favorite part of my summer was traveling to Cancun, Mexico because I got to swim in the clear water and I had a great time with my family!” As many students traveled near and far, they found their vacations to be memorable, as junior, Celina Villan-ueva concludes, “One of the things

I did this summer was going on va-cation to the Philippines. My fam-ily and I went zip-lining, visited beaches and waterfalls, swam with whale sharks, fished, and reunited with relatives and friends. My favor-ite part was sleeping later than usual! Overall, my summer 2015 was un-forgettable!” We hope yours was too!

Above: Aaron Glover ‘17 receives a kiss on the cheek from a dolphin in Cancun, Mexico.

pg.3 Knightlife3

Entertainment/Sports

STRAIGHT OUTTA JURASSIC WORLD: SUMMER MOVIES SET NEW RECORDSWritten by Carolyn Egekeze. Photos by Simon Tran.

This year’s summer movies crossed the whole spectrum of con-tent that included everything from genetically engineered dinosaurs, su-perheroes, singing, and a gritty biopic. The Avengers: Age of Ultron kick-started the summer movie season, grossing a total of over $190 million its opening weekend. The film fol-lows the heroes from the previous film as well as some new additions to the team to take on Ultron and save humanity. Pitch Perfect 2 fol-lowed a couple weeks later, opening to the tune of $60 million as viewers watched and laughed at the Bellas struggle to regain their sound among intense foreign competition and per-sonal issues. Both Pixar’s Inside Out and Universal’s Minions provided kid-friendly and humorous enter-tainment. The N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, which chronicled the Compton, California group’s rise and fall, became the highest grossing mu-sic biopic worldwide of all time. The biggest movie of the summer proved to be Jurassic World, the action-packed next installment of the Juras-sic Park series that followed Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dear-ing (Bryce Dallas Howard) as they try to prevent the deadly Indominus Rex from running rampant across the park and endangering attendees, including Claire’s nephews. The film broke several records, experiencing the biggest opening weekend in North America and worldwide and becom-

ing the third-highest grossing film of all time. But not all new movies expe-rienced record-breaking success. We are Your Friends, starring Zac Efron, only earned less than $2 million at the box office opening weekend, mak-ing it fourth worst debut for a film. In addition to summer films, this summer was filled with many fun and catchy songs that served as the soundtrack for the lazy days and ex-citing nights away from school. Some of the biggest hits included OMI’s “Cheerleader,” The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” Skrillex and Diplo’s

Rian Delarosa ‘19 and Max Hampel ‘19 reanact their favorite scenes from Pitch Perfect 2 and Jurassic World.

“Where Are You Now?” featuring Jus-tin Bieber, Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It,” and Maroon 5’s “Sugar.” Many of these songs were performed live at festivals such as the iHeartRadio Mu-sic Festival in Las Vegas. Despite the fact that summer has given way to fall, colder weather, and of course, the familiar grind of school, we look back on these movies and songs to remi-nisce about the good days and excit-edly wait for what’s coming up next.

Q: Does the team have any pre-game rituals to get pumped up? Anything you guys do for good luck?

A: We always listen to our pump up music before games courtesy of Fr. Pat. Check out his SoundCloud!-Anthony Vicelja ‘16

Q: What are your goals for this sea-son?

A: I want to win a playoff game because we haven’t done that since 1983.-Brendan Marafino ‘16

A: Our ultimate goal is to win a playoff game and enrich the Bishop Montgomery Football Tradition.-Anthony Vicelja ‘16

Q: What do your practices consist of? How do you guys train?

A: Most of it is just getting the plays down and getting those mental reps.-Brendan Marafino ‘16

We hope the boys continue to have a successful run as the season pro-gresses. Be sure to come out and support the boys at their next home games against Bosco Tech on Octo-ber 9th, which is the Homecoming game, and against Saint Anthony on October 16th! Go Knights!

Friday night lights: Q&Acontinued

Knightlife pg.4

ENTERTAINMENT

Drama Lab has done it again! On September 30, the seats of TMH were once again filled as the audience waited in anticipation for the show to begin. The cast and crew buzzed with anticipation when the lights dimmed and the directors took the stage. Unbeknownst to many, Arse-nic & Old Lace was the pioneer project for the directing duo of Ms. Evans and Mrs. Moreau (lovingly referred to as 7s and Mashby within Drama Lab,) but, boy, did they do an outstanding job! A dark comedy by Joseph Kes-

selring, every production of Arsenic & Old Lace has been known to leave its audience in stitches, and the BMHS Drama Lab production was no excep-tion. In the show, Mortimer Brewster (TJ Balaschak ‘16) brings his fiancee Elaine Harper (Stephanie Trelease ‘17) to his childhood home to announce their engagement. Mortimer’s family is rather peculiar, however, as it includes his brother Teddy (James Serrano ‘16) who believes he’s actually Teddy Roo-sevelt, his aunts Abby (Kathryn Graz ‘17) and Martha (Ellia Thornburg ‘17)

How ‘bout a hand?: A review of Arsenic & Old Lace

From Alex:

who have a rather curious talent with poison, and his other brother Jonathan (Jeremy Pfahler ‘16) who has recently arrived home after escaping from an In-diana prison. Needless to say, the char-acters themselves set up for a rather suspenseful, yet hilarious show that left its audience keeled over in laughter. When asked about the show, Stephanie Trelease ‘17, a seasoned Dra-ma Lab veteran, remarked, “Being in the play was so much fun, it’s almost hard to describe. I’m so glad to have been a part of it. It’s so gratifying to do a com-edy because you get to hear the audience enjoying the show while you’re on stage. It just makes for a great show. I love be-ing able to interact with the audience and feed off their energy. The cast and crew of this show were so phenomenal and I’m honored to have been a part of it. Mrs. Moreau and Ms. Evans also did a fantastic job, and I think the audience really felt the hard work that went into it. I think Arsenic & Old Lace will go down as one of the best Bishop plays in history.” TJ Balaschak ‘16, co-captain of the BMHS Improv Team (meetings after school Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room 307), expressed his agreement, “The cast and crew worked really hard to bring this play together, and I’m honored to have been a part of such an amazing show. It

was a different experience from other plays that I’ve done because I broke more things than I usually do.” Given that the set was created to be the home of two el-derly ladies, there’s no surprise that there was an abundance of glassware to work with, a fact that the crew quickly real-ized and adapted towards. New to crew, Rachel Maggio ‘16 heartily expressed her love for her position: “There is noth-ing better than crew! I have honestly never done anything more rewarding.” That’s Drama Lab. It’s an open and welcoming environment for learn-ing about theater, about others, and about ourselves. As Valeria Linan ‘18 so eloquently stated, “My favorite part of doing the play was meeting new people and laughing so much. By doing the play, I learned that even if you are shy you can always make new friends and have great experiences. If you’re inter-ested in joining Drama Lab, just know that it may be different at first, but dif-ferent is good, and it’ll only get bet-ter if you keep looking forward. It’s a fun way to meet people, and it’ll help you be more outgoing and ambitious.”Hats off to Arsenic & Old Lace, and hats off to Drama Lab. The Bishop com-munity can’t wait for the next show!

Written by Anna Leoncio. Interviews by Lourdes Lidzbarski. Photos by Simon Tran.

Above: Ellia Thornburg ‘17, James Serrano ‘16, and Kathryn Graz ‘17 discuss the digging of the Panama Canal.

New Bishop FacultyWritten by Emily Blair & Stephanie Trelease. Interviews by Stephanie Trelease & Theresa Sitter. Photos by Simon Tran.

Going back to school, students return to the same windows, same whiteboards, and same desks. Nothing is more excit-ing than seeing new faces and posters, hearing new footsteps, and getting new assignments. This year, Bishop not only received new students, but we’ve also been blessed with new teachers. The Knight community is more than happy to accept our new faculty and get to know them. Ms. Kim is new to the Math Department and teaches Geometry and Algebra 1. Like many of our interna-tional students, she was born in Korea, but moved to California in 1980, and to Torrance specifically in 1988. From a young age, she knew that she always wanted to be a teacher.“I used to teach my little brother and sister whatever I had learned in school,” said Ms. Kim. Before coming to Bishop, she taught at West High for 15 years, deciding to come join the Bishop community after taking a break. Her ultimate goal as a new teacher here is to simply become rooted at Bishop as a staff member. Mr. McGoldrick, our new Honors World History and U.S. History teacher, is no new face in the Bishop

halls. Having subbed last year, he also has a long family history at Bishop: his father graduated in 1970, and he and his five siblings also attended. He wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do, but teaching came naturally to him. It is a true passion for him, saying, “My wife thinks I teach too much.” This year, he wants his history students to understand and recognize primary sources and biases. When he’s not teaching, Mr. Mc-Goldrick likes to surf, play board games, walk his pitbull, Westy, and collect dice and coins. Ms. Hoppes is also a recogniz-able face at Bishop, having been a sub-stitute for the last two years. However, this school year she is a religion teacher for freshmen and sophomores. She joined the Bishop staff when a position opened up, and she loves working with her fellow religion teachers, describing them as “very kind and generous with a wealth of knowledge and years of teach-ing experience.” She has always wanted to be a teacher, and this dream led to her to live and teach in Egypt for a year. This year, she looks forward to learning more about Catholicism and its teach-ings, particularly using the textbook and

Catechism as guidebooks for the Catho-lic faith in our lives. She loves reading books, cooking, camping and traveling; she even proclaims that she would rather be outdoors than indoors! Ms. Rooney is new to Bishop’s English Department, but definitely not new to the love and joys of reading and English. She discovered Bishop when she started looking for something new and heard of Bishop’s family-like com-munity. Before coming to Bishop, she studied abroad in Russia and England, ultimately living in the latter for two and a half years. Ms. Rooney comes from a long line of teachers and has a deep passion for teaching English, but is still getting used to teaching at a private school through her Honors English II and English 10 classes. Not only does she love reading as a pastime, but she also enjoys listening to all kinds of music, except country, and going to concerts and music festivals, especially Coachella. Ms. Evans, the newest alumna-turned-teacher at Bishop, teaches English and Drama, as well as co-directs Drama Lab. She recalls her own senior awards ceremony, where she told Ms. Libbon and Ms. Vigon-Morffi her goal of returning as a Drama and English

Above left: Miss Rooney works diligently on her laptop .

teacher; now, she is settling into her dream job at Bishop, which she simply describes as “special.” She grew up in the South Bay, but as a child she aspired to work for the CIA and Disneyland before she considered teaching. We are also excited to welcome a new guidance counselor, Ms. Sabol, to our family! Ms. Sabol is no stranger to the area. She grew up in Torrance and attended CSUDH. For two years, Ms. Sabol lived in rural Caliente, Nevada and worked as a guidance counselor. She hopes to “bring all the students closer and to have the International students participate in the fun activities.” On her free time, Ms. Sabol likes to go hiking with her dog and enjoys camping. Receiving new teachers at Bish-op is always exciting for Bishop students and the community. We’re proud and glad to assimilate all new teachers and students to our school and look forward to their great successes in the future!

Above: Mr. McGoldrick points out details on his Smart Board.

The Knightlife newspaper is published by the Knightlife Club of Bishop Montgomery High School, 5430 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503.

Opinions expressed in this paper are not a reflection of those of Bishop Montgomery High School.

Knightlife 2015 - 2016 Board Editors-in-Chief: Lourdes Lidzbarski & Anna Leoncio

This issue: Graphic Designers: Lourdes Lidzbarski & Anna Leoncio

Peer Editors: Carolyn Egekeze & David Macaraeg

Staff Writers: Caroline Cusolito, Theresa Sitter, Stephanie Trelease, Emily Blair, Carolyn Egekeze

Interviewers: Emily Blair, Kassandra Madrigal, Caroline Cusolito, Theresa Sitter, Carolyn Egekeze

Staff Photographers: Simon Tran

Advisor: Mr. HongProofreaders: Mr. Marafino, Ms. Vigon-MorffiPublisher: Ms. Libbon