25255 Toledo Way, Lake Forest, CA 92630 www.etbulletin.org Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - Volume XXXII, Issue 3

IndexFeature ...........................................Page 2entertaInment ............................Page 3OPInIOn ...........................................Page 4SPOrtS ............................................Page 6

Coldplay hits a vibrant chord with their new album Mylo Xyloto.

Teachers’ exposed sala-ries spurs an ethical dilemma.

Girls’ basketball surges forward, win-ning the Fountain Valley Tournament

Football surged into CIF finals with a wave of over a thousand blue-and-gold-bleeding fans at their backs in Angel Stadium on Saturday.

“We have done something that hasn’t been done in over 16 years and to be a part of that is a tremendous honor,”

junior Conner Manning, quarterback, said.ET came out with in full force against Tustin High School,

making two touchdowns within the first six minutes of the game and went into halftime winning, 21-7.

“I thought in my head that if we could stop their running attack a couple of times in the second half that we would win the game,”

Coach Robert Frith said. “I wanted the guys to understand that we sim-ply needed to win the second half of the game and we would be CIF

champions.”The teams returned to the field and expected Tustin to give it their best.

According to senior Brian Moreen, linebacker, they needed to come up hard and stop the runs since they expected them to run the ball a lot.

“They just kind of out-muzzled us and just powered down the field,” Moreen said.

Tustin took the lead in the last quarter, 21-35, and with a little over six minutes left ET scored. With only 2:37 left on the clock, Tustin intercepted the ball and held on, ending the game, 28-35.

“Tustin is an excellent team rich with winning tradition. I knew that they would come out and leave it all out on the field in the second

half,” Frith said. “I also knew that the El Toro boys would not simply lay down for them either. Our boys fought valiantly and I am extremely proud of the way they fought for all 48 minutes.”

As the boys walked off the field with their heads held high, the massive crowd of ET fans raised their arms, forming the Charger Bull, and the crowd erupted in cheers of “Chargers, Chargers.”

“It doesn’t make the loss any better, but just to know the school has rallied

behind the team-- it’s awesome to see all the love the school has shown and all the love the season has created between the students here,” junior Jacob Furnari, running back, said.

They ended the overall season, 12-2, an improvement on last season’s record of 6-6 and their 2009 record of 8-4. The last two years they made it to CIF quar-terfinals. The team attributes a lot of its success to the school’s encouragement.

“We love that there’s so much support from all the Chargers,” Furnari said. “Seriously, it was the greatest thing to see all them cheering us on. All of our love goes out to them.”

Even before finals, Frith was just happy for the team to get that far, especially for the seniors who had worked so hard the past four years.

“These are guys that have made sacrifices that most high school athletes are not wiling to make or choose not to make,” Frith said. “Now they’re reaping the benefits of that and for them to get the notoriety.”

He said their recognition now is a testament to their hard work and dedica-tion to the program though the seniors had their ups and downs.

“I don’t think they had the greatest experience as a freshman group playing football,” Frith said. “I think it was tough on them and they were in a program that had not been winning.”

Though his last football season is over, Moreen sees a bright future for the program and will come back next year to watch the game.

“They’re definitely heading in the right direction and are going to be great next year,” Moreen said. “Jacob Furnari, Conner Manning and Gabe Cerda will be fun to watch next year. They have a lot of potential next year if they just work hard enough in the off-season.”

For the rest of the team, there is still next year to take the championships.“This whole year has given me more experience and more motivation to be

back at Angel Stadium next year,” Manning said.Though the outcome did not turn out as they wanted, they are still proud of

their journey and glad their fans pushed them throughout the season.“I personally want to thank all our fans who supported us along the way,”

Frith said. “Without them this would not be possible. This was a tremendous journey and I am so proud of the players, especially the senior class. Their legacy is one to be respected and remembered for years to come.”

Football tackles CIF championship

As the boys walked off the field with their heads held high, the mas-sive crowd of ET fans raised their arms, forming the Charger Bull, and the crowd erupted in cheers of “Chargers, Chargers.”

Censoring piracy on the Internet

A new report called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in-stalled on Oct. 26 by the House of Representatives was designed to get rid of websites containing pirated movies, songs and other copy-righted materials, according to News.cnet.com

Although SOPA is made to protect victims of piracy, there are already many other actual laws or voluntary protocols in existence.

“I don’t know if the piracy act is necessary,” Physio Anatomy teacher Cathorine Kimbrough said. “Youtube takes something off if you ask them to.”

At a House Judiciary committee hearing, SOPA Representative Mel Watt said many popular websites may be blocked or completely wiped. Examples of these sites would be YouTube, Google and Wiki-pedia.

The new bill would permit the U.S Department of Justice and copyright publishers to hold court orders against websites guilty of making illegal copyrighting possible or easier. This would be enforced by making services like PayPal unable to perform business with web-sites participating in piracy.

Many Internet services are against this new form of censorship. Mozilla Firefox protested by shutting down their home page screen at midnight Nov. 17 to show how censorship would affect online users.

Tumblr also protested by censoring their posts.The website serv-ers let users know that every time they streamed links associated with infringement, they would be committing a felony.

Others agree that the act will only cause others difficulty.“There will be a lot of people that will be mad about it, espe-

cially the websites,” junior Paula Nestico said. “It’s become part of our culture. It will limit the sources I go to for homework help or assignments.”

By Valeria AngelManaging Editor

By Frankie SakamotoEditor-in-Chief

Teachers’ salaries soon to be updatedRecently an LA Times poll found that voters

in California want teacher evaluations available to the public. Voters also want student test scores fac-tored into the evaluations. Those two factors mixed with the soon-to-be updated salary information available to the public, has some educators ques-tioning where their right to privacy is.

“While teachers are public employees, they should be able to maintain at least some privacy,” Janet Henry, English teacher, said. “And one’s sal-ary is a private matter.”

The poll revealed that 23 percent of people said it would be no help or could actually make things worse. However, 53 percent thought that public schools may improve if access to teacher evalua-tions were available.

The poll also questioned what the biggest fac-tor in teachers’ pay should be. Among registered California voters, 53 percent said multiple mea-sures, which include standardized tests, classroom observations and parent feedback, 13 percent said teacher training, 11 percent voted teacher experi-ence, 10 percent said standardized testing and 12 percent voted all, none or don’t know.

It appears that the public is leaning toward ac-countability as a motivating factor for improving our school system. Yet, no exact formula has proven to be the answer to the problem. Is the knowledge of an individuals salary and evaluations going to improve their teaching ability? Or is it going to

force more educators to teach the exact informa-tion on the test?

“I do think that teachers will begin to specifi-cally teach to the test, which cuts down on room for our creativity and our interests to be brought into our lessons,” Mike Bartezko, English teacher, said.

As the economy has continued to dwell in the

cellar, people who receive their salaries through state and federal taxes have a constant spotlight on them. In the last few years, police, fire and govern-ment officials have all had their salaries and retire-ment pensions called into question, as evidenced by the numerous articles about the misuse of funds.

Over the last two years, the OC Watchdog sec-tion of the OC Register has run numerous articles about public spending and pensions. Any career that derives its budget from public taxes is open for

debate and public education falls under the same guidelines. It’s legally the public’s right to have the knowledge of every penny spent from their taxes.

“Students are the reason why teachers make the money they are making and there is no reason not to see it,” senior Rachael Wenzel said.

However, they should also know that, accord-ing to The OC Register, Orange County public school employee pay fell 4.4 percent in 2009 and is expected to continue. Last year the OC Register also released the salary of each teacher in Orange County.

“Personally, I don’t have a problem with it,” Karen Amos, history teacher, said.

It is said that the current information that is open to the public will be updated. Their database at the moment includes the 36,808 employees mak-ing $25,000 and over.

“It would be nicer if they posted a range of salaries,” Monalee Vail, math teacher, said.

Vail also believes that it is an invasion of pri-vacy to have the salaries posted.

“Not everyone’s own personal pay is there for everyone to see,” she said.

The question of privacy still remains. Is it an invasion for students to be able to find out how much money their teachers make? Or is it simply their right to know?

“If I was a teacher and my salary was posted to the general public and the entire world could see it, I would feel really violated,” junior Shannon Jones said. “It’s not at all fair to the teachers.”

By Makayla PetersFacebook & Twitter Editor

“If I was a teacher and my salary was posted to the general public and the entire world could see it, I would feel really vio-lated.”

-Shannon Jones, junior

for first time in 16 years

Extra credit can act like a Red Bull for students’ grades. It

can give them one final boost to reach that higher C, B, or A. As

Chris Carter, Biology teacher, puts it, “there’s nothing more pain-

ful than having that 89 percent,” and not being able to raise it.

So, teachers invented extra credit to relieve that pain

and allow students one more chance to improve their grade.

“In the past, I have had students make shirts at the end of a semes-

ter for extra credit if they have been working really hard,” Carter said.

“Kids love extra credit, too. Because it allows them to be creative.”

For the most part, students seem to be on the same page.

“I enjoy extra credit because it gives me an opportunity to raise my

grade or make it up if I missed something,” sophomore Daphne Cox said.

Carter insists that extra cred-

it should still be relatively educational and “within the subject.”

“It has its place,” she said. “Seeing the play ‘Wick-

ed’, for example, for Bio would be inappropriate.”

However, some teachers think that the buzz of ex-

tra credit is too artificial for the students’ own good.

“You’ve got to earn your grade in my class,” Bret Kimbrough, Bi-

ology teacher, said. “I do not believe in artificial inflation of a stu-

dent’s grade. That’s not how college does it, so that’s not how I do it.”

Although teachers may have differing opinions on wheth-

er or not extra credit benefits students, an interesting point rose

during the discussion. Which students complete extra credit?

It is an optional assignment, so naturally, not everyone is go-

ing to participate. From what has been said, the common misconcep-

tion seems to be that the kids who have the lower grades are the ones

who do the extra credit to try to raise their grade. This may be the case

for a few, but in a study conducted by Marjorie S. Hardy, associate pro-

fessor of Psychology at Eckard College, the data reveals that the majority

of students who take advantage of extra credit are those who need it less.

The study was based off of 54 subjects, all taking an Intro to Psychol-

ogy class in the course of a semester. Extra credit was offered to students

throughout that semester for a total of five extra credit optional assignments.

In the results, it was calculated that only 26 students took some part

in the extra credit assignments and about six letter grades rose from ei-

ther C to B or B to A. But here is the catch. All 26 students who com-

pleted the extra credit still had higher grade averages without the ex-

tra points compared to those who did not attempt the extra credit at all.

So what does this mean? Hardy believes extra credit is simply “a gift

for the gifted.” In other words, extra credit is only used by those who are

already successful and naturally motivated to get the highest grade possible.

This proposition alludes to the effects of an individu-

al’s work ethic. The study seems to imply that students with low-

er grades do not have the same natural incentive to put forth more

work for a better grade than the students with higher grades do.

Margie Farmer, English teacher, who recently gave her students the opportu-

nity to receive extra points by watching the new Shakespeare movie, “Anonymous”,

and completing a write-up for it, teaches honors and non-honors English classes.

“A significant amount more of honors students complete the ex-

tra credit assignments when I offer it than the non-honors,” she said.

So is extra credit really an energy drink for anyone that needs

a sip, or is it just more sugar for those already on a sugar-high?

Feature the BulletinDecember 14, 20112

Nika Mammadova | The BullETin

TEAM SANTA: Team Thomas officers Rachelle Chin, Ashley Posavec, Dominick Kenayias and Tory Edwards work on wrapping gifts for the families they’re sponsoring this year. This is the 2nd year Team Thomas has sponsored a family for the holidays.

Team Thomas members inspired by familyWith the holidays drawing near, the club

Team Thomas is helping deserving families

with several fundraisers for the holidays.

Through the Beckstrand Cancer Society, the

club learned about a family where a single

dad named Henry with one daughter, was di-

agnosed with cancer.

Each Team

Thomas member

is buying the fam-

ily a gift card f rom

various stores to

help the family.

“We have done

bake sales, and got a lot of money through

selling Team Thomas t-shirts,” Gabri-

elle Gregory Team Thomas leader said .

Gregory was inspired by this family, es-

pecially Henry’s daughter who reminded

her of Thomas. It made her recollect on

how much he inspired her, to help others.

Gregory started the club in mem-

ory of Thomas who was her neigh-

bor and also fighting cancer.

“She inspired me just like Thomas,” Greg-

ory said “he was so optimistic and every time

he wasn’t sick he was enjoying the time he had,

he taught me to live for others,” Gregory said.

The club’s main goal is to provide a spe-

cial Christmas for the family, because they

believe the fam-

ily needs a diver-

sion f rom their wor-

ries to have a good

time these holidays.

“They truly

deserve a special

Christmas, and

they deserve all

the love they get because they

have inspired us so greatly,” Gregory said.

Team Thomas is going to give all the

gifts to Beckstrand and they will surprise

the family sometime before Christmas.

“The family teaches us about how

life is precious and how every mo-

ment should be cherished,” Gregory said.

By Adam RaberStaff Writer

Extra credit attracts certain studentsBy Marisa McNallyWeb Editor

Socialability is most impacted in teen yearsBy Valeria AngelManaging Editor

Who an individual becomes depends on how their brain is formed during their teen years, as suggested by a study on social behavior linking to brain cells generated through adolescence.

The research, initially done on mice by the Yale Department of Psychiatry, points out that what people consume during their teen-age years can retard their sociability and damage them permanently.

“Teenagers should know that their brains and not only their bodies undergo dramatic changes that affect how they think, feel and behave,” Dr. Arie Kaffman, senior author of the study, said.

He thinks this discovery explains why teens experience a roller coaster of emotions.

“It’s important that teens have awareness that their brain is still under development and that harmful drugs or alcohol can af-fect that development,” David Houten, school psychologist, said.

The neurological study not only shows how suscep-tible a teen’s brain can be, it can also help detect men-tal illnesses before they fully develop, according to Kaffman.

Kaffman claims that it is vital for young adults to be aware of the link between social behavior and neurogenesis, the process by which neurons or electronically charged cells give off informa-tion to different parts of the developing brain. This explains why social problems are more likely to develop during the teen years.

Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, for example, of-ten appear during adolescence. Doctors can use this new knowl-edge of neurogenesis to help determine when such diseases are produced and follow through with treatment at an earlier stage.

With this study, Kaffman’s goal is to encourage teen-agers to never consume drugs that interfere with neu-rogenesis. Examples of these drugs are marijuana, alco-hol, psychomotor stimulants and psychedelic compounds.

Scientists have only proven the study on lab mice so far, but hope to soon assess this issue on humans. They hope this will bring even more clinical interest in this specific find-ing and help people understand how they become who they are.

“This study definitely opens the door to examine the im-pacts of what we do to our bodies and who we become,” Houten said. “It will open the door to the impacts of our personalities.”

ISSUE 2: The Google car story on page 1 was writ-ten by Adam Raber and Nicolle Escobar Ruiz.

ISSUE 2: For concert choir story on page 5, the photo was taken by Lili Do.

RecordFoR ThE

“They truly deserve a spe-cial Christmas, and they de-serve all the love they get be-cause they have inspired us so greatly.”- Gabby Gregory, junior

Coldplay has brought their sound of music to a whole

new level with their new album, Mylo Xyloto. From the

very first song, “Mylo Xyloto” to their last song, “Up with

the Birds”, listeners will be surprised with the pop and

electronic sounds that the band adds.

Right from the start of this album, it will already have

listeners dancing to the beat. This particular album has

proven to be much more livelier than their past albums;

let’s just say, Viva la Vida was much more subdued than

this.

Soon to be everyone’s personal favorite is “Hurts Like

Heaven” because it shows Coldplay’s artistic range and is

very upbeat. This album has a more pop influence but the

band makes it work by maintaining some of their main

sounds, like lead singer Chris Martin’s piano playing,

while adding in echoing guitars.

Mylo Xyloto is definitely different compared to their

other albums, such as X&Y and Parachutes, but fans and

listeners can respect the band for trying something dif-

ferent and incorporating new sounds. They even include

Rihanna in their song, “Princess of China” which makes

an interesting blend.

The album goes for a more electronic sound but still

manages to keep it “Coldplay”. Although, one must admit

that some of the lyrics to the songs are a bit confusing

and critics such as Pitchfork Media, debate whether Mar-

tins’ lyrics are either meaningful or meaningless, the songs

make up for it with its experimental sounds and ridicu-

lously addicting chorus’.

Not to mention, the album’s cover is a work of art, lit-

erally. It’s background, covered in graffiti and vibrant col-

ors, captures the mood that the album represents. The al-

bum tells a story about love and takes its listeners through

different stages of life. It gives the album a fresh quality

to it; listeners who have ever felt rebellious or ever been in

love, can definitely relate to this album.

As a whole the album is a great listen and it takes

the listener through a musical journey. From songs like

“Paradise” to “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”, the band

shows that they are not just an alternative genre band. A

word to the wise, listen to this album. Listeners can decide

whether this album is hot or not.

Twi-hards sprint to theaters for Breaking Dawn Part 1

The holidays are quickly approaching and stu-

dents are planning for activities to do during this fes-

tive break. As students look for ways to kick off the

holidays, there is one thing they can add to their to-do

list. Get ready for a holiday treat with Concert Choir

as they prepare for their holiday concert on Dec. 13-

15.

Concert Choir has been preparing for the show

all last week and are practicing daily. Students, like

seniors Brittany Le, Nikki Hernandez and Scott Oh,

are excited for their upcoming show.

“I’m looking forward to the overall performance

and the number of people that will show up,” Le said.

Songs that Concert Choir will be performing in-

clude traditional holiday songs, like “Carol the Bells”

and “Mr. Grinch,” but also a lot of new songs that

people won’t know, according to David Roberts, Con-

cert Choir teacher.

“Audiences should expect

a lot of fun holiday music with

a few surprises,” Roberts said.

As for personal favorites,

Hernandez is excited to sing

all the different songs. One of

the numbers that she is thrilled to perform is “Winter

Fantasy.”

“It’s a really cheesy, upbeat song, but it’s a lot of

fun to sing and it’s really catchy,” Hernandez said.

This year, Concert Choir is full of students from

all grades and about 85 percent have never sung in a

choir before. The preparation for the show has been

tough due to the students’

lack of experience, Roberts

admits, but he believes the

kids will pull through.

“They’re a young new

group,” Roberts said. “They

have their good days and

their not so good days, but they have a lot of poten-

tial.”

Concert Choir consists of several different ranges

in voices from sopranos to altos and tenors to basses.

The students are very spirited in their singing and de-

spite the separation in voices, the group is very close.

“We’re almost like a second family,” Le said. “We

get along really well.”

The holiday concert is a tradition at the school

and it is a chance for the students in Concert Choir to

spread their holiday cheer.

“Students should come to the show because it’s

going to be a lot of fun and everyone is going to be

happy and will have a good time,” Oh said.

So stay tuned for Concert Choir’s Holiday Con-

cert this week on Tuesday through Thursday nights

and get ready to have some holiday fun.

EntErtainmEntthE BullEtinDecember 14, 2011 3Keep in tune with Concert Choir for the holidaysBy Lili DoA&E Editor

Coldplay’s new album is anything but coldBy Lili DoA&E Editor

Comedy Sportz keeps up the humor with a touch of holiday cheerBy Makayla PetersFacebook/Twitter Editor

W ith Charger Hal l decked out in ho l iday decor, l aughs nev-er ceased on Dec . 2 a t Comedy Spor tz . Both teams kept the audi-ence amused wi th the i r c raz y games and sk i t s wi th h ints o f the ho l iday cheer mixed in and of course , ET was the v ic tor o f the n ight over Laguna Hi l l s High School , wi th a score o f 47-37.

The f i r s t ha l f o f the match was k icked of f wi th comica l and wi t t y games . D ur ing which sen ior Jor-dan “Adrena” Lin was a t Hot Topic search ing for a be l l ybut ton p ie rc ing that was h i l a r ious and kept the au-dience g igg l ing nonstop.

Junior Cla i re “Likes to Eat ” Curr ie was amus ing as we l l , when she pre tended to be a l i t t l e k id wonder ing why her c a t F luf f e r s was on vacat ion .

Then the second ha l f got the ba l l ro l l ing wi th the game Emot iona l Symphony. D ur ing th i s game each p layer rece ives an emot ion f rom the c rowd and the i r f ee l ing becomes a symphony composed by the re fe r-ee . Sophomore Mitche l l “Big Mac ” McMahon was espec ia l l y amus ing wi th h i s emot ion of paranoia and so was jun ior Jordan “ Jordanster ”- Lin who por t rayed sadness , whi le she kept rec i t ing “ W hy? W hy? W hy?”

The h ighl ight o f the ent i re show, however, was the game Hu-man Prop. The game inc luded ju-nior Kay la Green-”bean” who spent the ent i re three minutes running a l l over the s tage. Each t ime she was a d i f f e rent prop. A re f r igera tor, a sur f board and a roas ted p ig were jus t some of the h i l a r ious ob jec t s she had to become.

The match ended wi th the be-loved game O bjec t Freeze, where the c rowd vo lunteered outrageous ob jec t s which the p layers used as props wi th the i r jokes .

As the n ight c ame to an end, each p layer l e f t the s tage in s low mot ion and no one in the audience was ab le to l eave wi thout a smi le on the i r f ace .

By Courtney BerryFeature Editor

The complicated love story between a vampire, Edward Cullen, and a “two left-

footed” Bella Swan, is tested throughout the course of the movie, and was portrayed ex-

cellently by actor Robert Pattinson and actress Kristen Stewart. Not only does Director

Bill Condon capture the essence of true love between the vampire human relationship

despite their constant struggle to be together, but also adds the right amount of horror

in the grueling blood-drinking scenes.

For those who have been fans since the start of the series, the movie may have some

disappointment, because naturally, movies can’t compare to the detail of a book. For the

most part, the movie does a great job of making sure the dialogue is word for word, how-

ever when the dialogue isn’t the same, still conveys the same aspect as the book, which is

always a plus for those who have read it.

A roller coaster of emotions are already thrown within the first ten minutes of the

movie. In the wedding scene, Stewart does a wonderful job of demonstrating Bella’s

nervousness, simply by the look on her face as she walks down the aisle, followed by

Edward’s adoring eyes.

Immediately following the beautiful wedding scene, Pattinson did a great job of

displaying Edward worrying for the fate his new bride when Bella learns she is pregnant

with a demon baby.

The following scenes show Bella’s transformation from a once beautiful 18-year-old,

to a now gaunt mess, making her almost unbearable to even look at, which is exactly

what was to be conveyed. For those who can’t handle the sight of even a little blood, you

may have some difficulty watching the scenes where Bella drink blood in order to gain

strength throughout her pregnancy.

For those who are “Team Jacob,” Taylor Lautner looks better than ever. Some of the

werewolf scenes were extremely cheesy, the werewolves have mind telepathy, you can’t

get more corny than that. However Lautner makes the scenes a little more bearable by

a great job showing emotion in every scene he’s in. His personality is extremely sarcastic,

which adds a little humor to the movie to lighten up the mood which was enjoyable.

The end of the movie will leave viewers full of suspense anticipating Bella’s fate, it’s

definitely going to keep fans on the edge of their seat. Part two of the sequel comes out

November 16 of next year. It’s not something to miss seeing, especially since Part Two

will be the last sequel to the Twilight Saga.

Air Guitar is coming in March...

Auditions are fast ap-proaching, so form a group now so we can determine the next Air Guitar champions!

Audiences should expect a lot of fun holiday music with a few surprises.

- David Roberts, Concert Choir teacher

OpiniOn4 The BulleTinDecember 14, 2011

Editor-in-Chief Frankie SakamotoWeb Editor Marisa McNallyDesign Editor Kaylee JohstonNews Editor Melanie TherrienFeature Editor Courtney BerryEntertainment Editor Lili DoSports Editor Erica WinterFacebook/Twitter Editor Makayla PetersCopy Editor Diana KangGeneral Photo Editor Julie MurraySports Photo Editor Lauren MarchPhotographers Valeria Herrera Rachel Bennett Zoe Grisenti Nicolle Escobar Ruiz Nika MammadovaStaff Writers Koby Agor Adam Raber Katelyn Trevizo Lamisse FazzahDesigners Vania Arriola Bethany Rodriguez Grace DerderianBuisness Manager Victor PerezAsst.Buisness Manager Mary LyonManaging Editor Valeria AngelAdviser Maria Nadal

El Toro High School • 25255 Toledo WayLake Forest, CA 92630

Telephone: (949) 586-6333E-Mail: etbulletin@svusd.orgWeb Site: www.etbulletin.org

The BullETin Mission StatementThe BullETin is a public forum for student expression com-mitted to excellence in reporting, writing, storytelling, pho-tography and design. We seek to inform, educate and en-tertain our readers, chiefly the students and staff of El Toro High School, so that they may formulate their own opinions and views on local and national issues. The BullETin strives, therefore, to remain fair and balanced in its reporting, fol-lowing the standards of ethics and professionalism set forth by the Society of Professional Journalists. The thoughts and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of El Toro High School or the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

Advertising, Letters and Guest ColumnsTo advertise in The BullETin, call, e-mail or visit the Web site for rates and information. Advertisements must be approved by the Editorial Board before publication. We welcome only signed letters to the editor and guest columns and reserve the right to edit for content and length. All content must be sub-mitted via e-mail to etbulletin@svusd.org. Submitting a letter to the editor or a guest column does not guarantee publica-tion. Deadlines for all content will be enforced, and failure to meet those deadlines may mean a delay in publication.

Football sets an example

Football has rejuvenated the meaning of the word ‘team’. This is not just referring to their highly acclaimed victory over La Habra and the endless list of other victories they have ac-quired this season, but to the geniality, humbleness and stead-fastness of their collective character.

They do not look on the past to define their success, but on the present moment and how they tackle it. The field is their instrument, and as a unit, they set an example as how to play it as one.

Yet ‘team’ is no longer limited to just those playing on the field. It stretches beyond the green turf to the stands, where the loyal student body taps into the rhythm of the game and raises their voices, willing the players to excel as well.

The boys play for the crowd. That seems to be what the football boys and even the coaches have been trying to say all along.

You hear them at the pep rallies announcing to the

whole school that the cheer section at the games is what mo-tivates the boys, in fact, you almost expect them to say that. But does showing up to a game really have that much of an impact?

It does. At the La Habra game for instance, ET was down by 13

points within the first quarter. As it commenced, however, the crowd grew louder, even more so than La Habra’s, as the stands became fuller despite the rather long travel distance. By half time, the boys on the field took the lead.

If the crowd had not showed up, would the boys have pulled out a win? Maybe. But the win would just be a win for the football program and not necessarily for ET.

But because the football team dedicates so much of their hard work to its supporters, its wins and even its losses are always accompanied by its uniquely large crowd of loyal fans, unwavering cheer leaders, excited parents, beloved staff and determined coaches.

This was apparent even at the CIF championship game on Saturday. Though the football game was a loss, no one on the turf or in the stands left before the boys in white jerseys and blue helmets jogged off the field with the crowd’s cheers sup-porting their raised chins.

The football boys have set an example not just for the fu-ture football boys, but for the current and future student body, organizations and other sports teams. They showed our small, ET community how to be part of something bigger than just ourselves and how to be proud of it, even in the face of de-feat.

Dictionary.com defines ‘team’ as simply “a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest.” ET football has formed a side so grand and so impactful that it got them to CIF. How could your group or team benefit from dedication and inclusion this fruitful? Put your group’s name in football’s place and see what kind of a difference you can make.

“Public” job salaries shouldn’t be made public

The term “public school” doesn’t mean that privacy should be stripped from its workers by posting personal work informa-tion online. Floating around ocregister.com is a list of teach-ers’ salaries, names and job titles, a complete invasion of privacy.

By doing this, anyone within reach of a computer is able to access teachers’ salaries without forewarning the teacher.

Displaying teachers’ salaries is only giving people the chance to criticize and judge. The OC Register, having the rights to post such information, isn’t going against any written law, however, the law in question is an ethical one.

Publishing this information, justified or not, is an invasion of privacy that pushes the limits of ethical journalism. It may be argued that they only post larger salaries to keep those that are lower private, however, a teacher’s salary not being posted is just another way of singling out that teacher as one who makes a smaller salary.

Just because a newspaper is able to print information doesn’t mean

it should be printed. In a sense, this is a form a defamation for teachers. Some teachers don’t feel comfortable with their information being plas-tered on the Internet, and it may give a negative view of said teacher.

With students being able to view this information, their view of the teachers may change in a nega-

tive way. Students may start to dis-respect those teachers they view as less valuable because they happen to make less money than others. Just the same, teachers who make a great deal more may take on the image of one who is strictly working for the money as opposed to working for the joy of being a teacher.

N o t only will tension arise between the students and teachers, but also among all the teachers who may dis-agree with certain others receiving a larger paycheck than others.

In order to decrease tension and maintain teachers’ privacy, the names should be taken off of the website.

Letter to the editor

Rachel Bennett | The BullETin

They do not look on the past to define their success, but on the present moment and how they tackle it.

Many kids out there go through strug-

gles everyday and the majority of us don’t

even care to see what’s happening until

someone calls out for a cry of help. This

past week, if you have been on Facebook,

you have probably have seen a link from a

special kid named Jonah Mowry. There have

been many situations like his when we don’t

know where to go or who to go to and we

reach a boiling point.

Jonah explained that even though what

people are saying may be just words, they

truly do affect your self-confidence and it

makes you feel alone and unwanted. This

year alone there have been too many sui-

cides to count and I guarantee a high per-

cent could just be bullying alone. What I

truly don’t understand is how destroying

someone like they tried to destroy Jonah

with the words “gay, homo and fatty” make

a person feel good about themselves. Jonah

truly expressed himself by going o good

morning America this past Friday. him and

his family, where questioned by one of their

announcers how hard it must have been to

publish the two videos he recently put up.

the second one was with his friend Kyra

Coffey, where they explained the reasons

for the video and Jonah basically stated that

even after it all if your still strong you will

come out happy.

Bullying has been around for a long time

and in the past few years Internet websites

like Facebook, MySpace and Formspring are

just making it easier for people to hurt oth-

ers because it ’s not face to face. The same

goes with texting.

To people who did watch Jonah’s video

and have bullied him before, I hope you

realize how much your words truly mean.

They do stick with people for the rest of

their lives. I remember every single person

and every cruel word they said about me.

Some are even my friends. If you’re reading

this and you haven’t met Jonah yet, look him

up or talk to him and I guarantee he’ll in-

spire you. And don’t ever forget you always

will have someone there for you and you are

special.

-Christina Reese, freshman

Vania Arriola | The BullETin

We need unity to keep us balanced

By Kaylee JohnstonDesign Editor

Does the online piracy act go too far?Students worked hard in high school

to get accepted into a top-of-the-line IVY League University and they eventually got a Doctorate degree. One day after all those years of hard work and education, they are surfing the web when they run into their own thesis with someone else’s name on it. This is when the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) comes in handy.

No one wants to see his hard work, for which he shed his blood and sweat, copied and pasted or claimed by someone other than himself.

If SOPA were to follow through, the p r o b a b i l i t y of plagiarism h a p p e n i n g would de-crease dramatically. To plagiarize is a crime and if new reform is necessary to prevent it, then so be it.

This new reform does not only benefit people who have contributed to the overall knowledge of humanity, it would also benefit both industries and commoners and their pocket books. When illegitimate websites allow residents to download copyrighted publications for free in exchange for per-sonal information, users are in high risk of identity theft, which already earns the ID theft industry about $53 billion, according to IDprotect.com.

SOPA will protect people purchasing or surfing online so they will not get their identities or private information scammed or stolen.

Internet servers may think they are sav-ing money by downloading free materials but what they don’t know is that in reality they are increasing the chances of getting vi-ruses that, in return, will cost them money to repair their computers or buy a new one altogether.

When users go against the law and download movies, games or other contents off the Internet illegally, they are not only affecting themselves, they are affecting other industries as well. Piracy costs movie indus-tries an estimate of $3 billion, as reported on Quora.com.

As a result, copyrighted productions are loosing more and more money every time, and the only thing that can stop this is if strict censorship is add-

ed. It is ev-ident t h a t t h e l a w s a l -

ready established are no longer effective.Although users would hate to see their

favorite websites go only because the pro-vided searches were not filtered well enough, privacy and safety would be better off than it is now. SOPA may seem too dramatic by deleting entire websites instantly, but it is the solution to a huge problem.

Even major websites such as Google or Bing that find any kind of materials and sources for users may not always protect them as they seem to often do. Even Google was unknowingly providing information and locations of where to get illegal substances, according to news.cnet.com.

This proves that the authority already imposed in the country is not enough. A more strict reform like SOPA is necessary to prevent any illegal content from being avail-able to Internet users.

If we allow it to be too easy to commit crimes virtually and do not do anything to diminish it now that it is a current issue, it will be much more difficult to do so later on.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an attempt at gaining more control over copyrighted mate-rial online, isn’t helping to secure information, but rather creates more problems by shutting down entire websites when only one aspect of it is at fault.

Pressure is unfairly being placed on the In-ternet Service Providers

(ISP) to look over all information in order to avoid people gaining access to “infringing websites.” By restricting information for a longer period of time, the use of social networking will plummet dras-tically, causing increase in communi-cation through the Internet to return to minimal communication. Common websites, such as Facebook and Twit-ter, will no longer be able to post mu-sic, photos and videos that contain copyrighted material, losing users.

Social networking, however, won’t be the only casualty. Possibly the most commonly used website, Google, would no longer be able to recommend all the websites containing information about the item searched. People may become limited to fewer useful websites, re-turning them to primitive times and losing all the progress that has been made in technology.

Online users shouldn’t post pi-rated music, videos or photos online, but forcing the sites to be shut down

due to this minor infraction is abusing power that shouldn’t be in the hands of other online users to begin with.

SOPA is giving any opinionated user with an argumentative nature the ability to cut off all financial support to a website that contains copyrighted material. The user would simply have to notify the ISPs and financial ser-vices of the indiscretion. The user no-tifying the ISPs and financial services must blame the material being posted on the inability to successfully filter all pirated material out of the site.

With control being thrown around like candy at a parade, the government

is setting a path for com-plete control of the First Amendment t h r o u g h o u t c y b e r s p a c e . Pirated infor-mation isn’t

the only thing being removed, as web-sites are completely being shut down for just one error.

In countries such as China, the First Amendment doesn’t apply, which is one of the many problems afflict-ing Chinese Internet capabilities. Al-though social networking exists among Chinese citizens, the government’s wish to be positively viewed shows in the censorship of the Internet. As America starts to follow in China’s footsteps by censoring more than just copyrighted material, America is giv-ing the government more power than should be allowed.

SOPA, whether or not the main goal is to remove piracy problems, shouldn’t be able to impact the Internet in such a way that the First Amend-ment no longer applies. Therefore, this law should be shot down instead of al-lowed to take a damaging shot at the Constitution.

By Valeria Angel Managing Editor

By Kaylee JohnstonDesign Editor

* Issue: Congress is considering approving an act that will prevent illegal downloads, plagiarism, and copyrights.

* Pro: It keeps the Inter-net safe for kids.

* Con: Censorship goes against our First Amend-ment right to freedom of speech.

The Issue

Should websites containing illegal info. be censored?

“Yeah, it should be because artist should be able to make their money. They have worked to

be where they are. ”

- Britney Collins, senior

Student Voices:

“No, p e o p l e should be able to l i s t e n to music without the c o n s e -

quence of paying. ”

- Bryon Rivers, sophomore

“Yeah, b e c a u s e that’s how a r t i s t g e t paid. I t ’ s like t a k i n g t e a c h e r s out of

s c h o o l. ”

- Joseph Hana, freshman

“ Yes, i t ’ s g o i n g a g a i n s t the law. I b e l i e v e i n the law. ”

-Taylor Medley, junior

“ No, b e c a u s e s o n g s are o v e r -p r i c e d . ”

- Adam Milligan, sophomore

“Yes, b e c a u s e iTunese t c. w i l l go broke eventually. ”

- Nathan Schafer, junior

OpiniOn 5The BulleTinDecember 14, 2011

Do you have an opinion? Voice it.

NOTE: The BullETin staff reserves the right to edit for content and length. Submitting a letter does not guarantee publication. All letters must be signed.

Submit a Letter to the Editor or Guest Column to etbulletin@svusd.org.

The constant j ingles . The e lec-tr ic bi l l-ra is ing l ights . The squeal-ing over presents .

Sounds l ike Santa, the jo l l y Chr istmas t y rant , has once again taken over by brainwashing the whole wor ld with the promise of yummy gingerbread men and pres-ents as far as the eye can see.

It seems that our good ol ’ f r iend

Scrooge i s the only one to not fa l l under Santa’s spel l , however, who’s to say that being overcome with the hol iday spir i t i s a bad thing?

The only downfal l would have to be Santa’s taking over of Thanks-giv ing. The precious Thanksgiv-ing turkeys were no match for e lves as Thanksgiv ing received hard ly a g lance with Chr istmas decorat ions taking the stage.

W ith ever y person s inging “ J in-gle Bel l s , ” Santa has successful l y

managed to manipulate the wor ld into forgett ing other hol idays whi le br inging trees ins ide and l ights out-s ide.

Even ABC Family has been tak-en over by Santa with their annual “25 Days of Chr istmas” f i l l ing TV screens with Rudolph and his many companions, however, ABC Fam-i ly a lso features a countdown to the countdown. Isn’t that s l ight ly point-less? They might as wel l do a “365 Days of Chr istmas” program so they

don’t have to make another count-down to the countdown.

Walking through the store, Chr istmas cheer i s imposs ible to escape. Commercia ls run rampant with hol l y jo l l y j ingles and “unbeat-able” deals .

Of course commercia ls based around Black Fr iday are impor tant for ear ly Chr istmas shoppers , how-ever, hear ing about Chr istmas 24/7 before December has even star ted makes i t seem as though Chr istmas

i s a whole month as opposed to a day.

Chr istmas i s more impatient than chi ldren are on Chr istmas morning as i t screams for at tent ion, sooner than i t should be. In order to t ruly br ing for th the season in-stead of just overdoing i t , Chr istmas should wait to burst into the spot-l ight at least unt i l December. That wouldn’t lessen i ts impor tance, but rather make December a more exci t-ing month.

Taken over by our jolly Christmas tyrantSergeant SarcasmBy Kaylee JohnstonDesign Editor

PRO A more strict reform like

SOPA is necessary to prevent any illegal content from being availiable to Internet users.

CON

SOPA shouldn’t be able to impact the Internet in such a way that the First Amendment no longer applies.

Nicolle Escobar Ruiz | The BullETin

Internet Explo

rer

Firefox

SportS6 the BulletinDecember 14, 2011

By Lili DoA&E Editor

Nika Mammadova | The BullETinON GUARD: Junior Whitney Williams jumps to shoot at the varsity basketball game against La Harbor on Nov. 30. El Toro won the game.

By Erica WinterSports Editor

Girls’ basketball kicks off with great winsJunior Whitney Williams has

been on girls’ varsity basket ball since freshmen year, she hopes this season the girls’ team will take it all, and win league.

“This summer we had a re-ally good record and hope to continue throughout the year,” Williams said. “We are really developing and we are all so ex-cited for league to start.”

The team won first place in the Fountain Valley Tourna-ment, and throughout the tour-nament the girls’ beat most op-ponents with a lead of 20 points. The team has just started the season with a huge 5-0 winning streak.

“It’s awesome we worked so hard and it finally payed off,” Williams said, “It was one of our goals and we

can now check it off.”“This season is our biggest year,”

Williams said. Williams has been working hard

to get the job done for her team with

an average of 15 points a game, which adds up to 30 or more points a week.

Senior Alyson Doherty, team capitain, thinks very highly of Wil-liams and knows that she is a great aspect to the team.

“Whitney brings to the court her speed. she can blow past and weave through any defender,” Doherty said. “At times multiple defenders, and can get to the basket and score.”

This season the girls are in the South Coast League against some very tough competitors such as Mis-sion Viejo, San Clemente and Dana Hills, which calls for some good ball skill and high preasure.

“She also can handle the ball very well, so she makes a huge difference,” Doherty said. “It is crucial to have her

when teams press us or have heavy ball pressure.”

This season should be a great one with the “team scoring an average of 60 points a game,” according to Wil-liams.

Junior dives into new season on varsityIt’s time to dive into the water with

girls’ water polo alongside junior Allison Skaggs, one of the starters on varsity.

Skaggs has been playing the sport for six years and has been on varsity since her freshman year. As center, she is a two-meter offensive player while the rest of offense co-ordinates around her.

“Allison is most likely our leading scor-er,” Racc Julson, girls’ water polo coach, said. “She is very dominant and is one of our best players.”

According to Julson, Skaggs is invalu-able to the team. In fact, she is good enough to force other teams to change their de-fense.

Although the girls lost their first game against Laguna Beach High School, 14-10, on Nov. 30, they came back with a victory over Santa Margarita High School, 11-5, on Dec. 2.

“The game is really exciting and I like

being a part of the team,” Skaggs said. “We played pretty good against Santa Margarita. It was close at first but then we scored a lot at the end.”

The girls’ water polo team is currently ranked No.4 in CIF Division II and tied with Mater Dei, Agoura and Santa Marga-rita High Schools. This season, the girls will be playing against tough competitors.

“Our schedule is more difficult since we will be playing mostly Division I teams,” Skaggs said. “It is more of a challenge, but hopefully we can win league.”

Although they are playing against a few Division I teams such as Laguna Beach, the games are merely for experience and it won’t affect ET’s record in league Division II, according to Julson.

Their rivals this season are schools such as San Clemente, Santiago, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita High Schools, which have given ET lots of trouble in the past.

The El Toro girls’ water polo team is a Division II contender for this upcom-

ing season, according to ocvarsity.com. It is predicted they have a good chance at win-ning their division with the help of Skaggs, alongside junior Emily Browning, goalie, and senior Karen Henry. All three are on the OC’s girls water polo players to watch list.

“The team chemistry is great,” Skaggs said. “We’re all basically the same person. We’re super close friends and we work well together in the water.”

Julson agrees that the team bonds very well and that Skaggs works very well with the team.

“She works great with everybody and the team loves her,” Julson said.

Although there are new players this year, Skaggs does not think there is any need for improvement and is confident in the team.

“We have three freshmen this year, but they’re great,” Skaggs said. “I think if we just play to our full potential, we should be very successful.”

Varsity wrestlers work together to meet their season’s goals

The boys’ varsity wrestling team, although an individual sport, finds a strong sense of teamwork within each other as they take on the season.

Patrick Nieblas, wrestling coach, believes that having a good team concept is important. This is when team members listen carefully to each other, seek and take each other’s opinions seriously and make

use of each other’s competencies and expertise.

“Each wrestler is doing their best to push one another to become better. They believe that wrestling is a team sport,” Nieblas said.

According to Nieblas, he evalu-ates a wrestler by knowing their dif-ferent styles of wrestling and per-sonalities.

“Jimmy Sanderson, who is new to the the sport, is considered a bruiser and Dwight Mittermeier uses finesse to beat his opponents,”

Nieblas said. ”George Magallon just keeps trying new moves to trick his opponent.“

A bruiser is a strong, tough per-son and finesse means skill in han-dling a difficult or highly sensitive situation.

One of the 10 wrestlers on the varsity team, junior Tanner Kam-phefner, was there at the tourna-ment and had a record of 6-1 with 4 pins.

“The team is lots of fun and really inspiring,” Kamphefner said.

“The team really fights for the league and has a specific purpose. We be-lieve in each other that we can do well, and encourage ourselves with a good cheer.”

Kamphefner and the other players have the same goal this year. They want to win league and go to CIF. The last time they won league was in 1998 and have not yet to earn their first CIF.

“We have a pretty good team this year so my expectation is that we’re going to do well this year.”

Kamphefner said. “Because we have a lot of team unity and a lot of good wrestlers that are having the oppor-tunity to show.”

According to Nieblas, having a practice that lasts about two hours a day, doing warm-ups for about 15 minutes, drills and a lot of live wres-tling make the good team.

“We are at a point that we brought more team unity into the program than the other schools and an attitude of nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Nieblas said.

According to Nieblas, he be-lieves the wrestlers can improve ev-eryday, and they believe that if each wrestler challenges one another, they will be better as team and the individual goals will come.

“I feel we will be competing for the league championship,” Nieblas said.

From now on, the boys will have to have at least 14 tournaments before CIF. Their next match will be on this Thursday at home against Aliso Niguel High School.

Senior prepares to dominate final soccer season

Senior Mitch Polenske started his final high school season off with a bang when he scored the winning goal, taking his team into finals at the Harold S. Young Tournament in Fresno on Dec. 3.

“My favorite memory of soccer is definitely my most recent memory during this year’s trip to Fres-no,” Polenske said. “The score was tied, 2-2, and with three minutes left I scored the game-winning goal to send our team into the finals.”

Polenske is ready for his last season after play-ing soccer since he was 5 years old, and now has this great memory to start the season off with.

“I am definitely going to miss playing soccer in high school with all my friends but it doesn’t mean I will stop playing,” Polenske said. “I’ ll con-tinue to play on recreational teams for fun.”

Polenske plays center defender and center defensive middle. Doug Franco, boys’ soccer team coach, thinks Polenske is an admirable player.

“A good soccer player is someone with pas-sion, determination, and works hard,” Franco said. “Mitch has all these qualities, and he also looks to improve his playing and helping those around him.”

Franco also thinks that Polenske has created an effect on the team through his leadership skills.

“He leads by example,” Franco said. Polenske believes he has developed a strong

soccer IQ.“I have progressed a lot over the years as a

player and I really got a head start on playing soc-cer,” Polenske said.

The last time the team went to CIF in 2010, they reached the quarter finals. However,with such a prominent player as Polenske, they are confident for this season.

“I think we have very good chances to win...it ’s gonna be completely different than last year,” Polenske said. “We have a much better team this year.”

By Adam Raber and NikaMammadovaStaff Writer and Photographer

Nika Mammadova | The BullETin

Senior Sydnie Telson has had a great passion for soccer ever since she was a little girl, and is beginning her third and final year on the team.

“I’m so excited for this season be-cause I know we will do great things,” Telson said.

Telson has been playing soccer since the age of 5, and has been playing for var-sity since her sophomore year. Through-out it all, Telson said her dad was her biggest push of encouragement.

“I’ve loved the game from the begin-ning and my dad would always cheer me on, making me want to play harder,” Tel-son said.

Telson’s dad has been to all of her games, and is always prepared to help her do the best she can.

“He has always been there for me, and always says the right things to get me motivated and make me want to be the best I can be in everything I do,” Tel-son said.

Varsity went up against Beckman High School on Tuesday, Nov. 29, losing, 5-0, but re-turned with a suc-cessful 1-0 win against Newport Harbor High School on Dec. 1.

“The Tuesday game was a bad loss for us, but it was our first game, “ Telson said. “We just have to work on meshing on the field.”

For goals of the season, Telson be-lieves that the team only has one thing to

work on, which is harmony.“Our main goal for the season is to

have the chemistry on the field like we do off the field,” she said. “We need to score as much as possible and become a hardworking team, not just individuals.

In the end, it’s all about becoming a strong team in every way and finishing my senior year with wins.”

T e l s o n believes that soccer is much more than just

a sport.“My favorite part of soccer is tack-

ling or beating someone, and then scor-ing on them makes me feel great,” Telson

said. “Having the crowd cheer you on al-ways pushes me, too. Scoring makes me feel amazing, and I get a huge boost of energy! ”

As far as looking to the end of the season goes, Telson is optimistic.

“As we continue playing, we have been getting much better and I can see us being very successful,” she said.

As of July 2011, Telson has commit-ted to the University of San Francisco (USF), and is excited to continue to play in college. According to Telson, USF had been watching her for a while, and have recently given her a scholarship. Senior Kelly Latimer, teammate, has commit-ted to University of Cincinnati as of the summer as well.

“It feels so amazing to get commit-ted my junior year, and I can’t wait to continue on with soccer in college,” Tel-son said.

By Lamisse FazzahStaff Writer

Senior starts her last season of varsity soccer

OPEN ARMS?: Junior Ryan Roberts looks for a teammate to pass to at the varsity game against Palm Springs on Dec. 9. El Toro won the game, 39-37.

Boys’ varsity basketball team has high hopes for upcoming seasonWith over 317 wins over the last 15 years and

a total of eight league championships, juniors Ryan Roberts and Liam Skelly hope to bring the team to a ninth league championship this season.

“I really want to win league, win CIF and do whatever it takes to help my team win,” Roberts said.

Roberts has been playing basketball since he was 5 years old, and has been on varsity since his sopho-more year. He claims to have fallen in love with the sport because of the fast pace environment on the court and the developed chemistry he has with the team.

According to Skelly, the chemistry he has with Roberts adds an advantage when playing against op-ponents by knowing exactly how to motivate one another.

Me and Ryan get along on the court beautiful-ly,” Skelly said. “We’ve been playing together for four years straight, so we feed off each other’s energy and know each other’s tendencies. We’ve developed great

chemistry on the court. We’re straight up “brothas.””Skelly claims the two played against each other

in seventh grade, but as soon as they joined the same team, they became best friends not only on the court but outside as well.

“We not only play basketball together at school, but at the gym and in pick up games outside of school,” Skelly said.

Both Skelly and Roberts are looking forward to playing with each other once again this season.

“Ryan always finds me in my sweet spot and I’ve always promised I’d get him an in-game alley oop. We’ll see what happens,” Skelly said.

The team is currently 5-1 so far, and according to Todd Dixon, boys’ varsity basketball coach, it is a good start for the upcoming season.

“I have high hopes for the team during our next tournament,” Dixon said. “The team works very hard, and with Roberts doing an excellent job attacking the rim, we should do well in upcoming games.”

By Courtney BerryFeature Editor

By Diana KangCopy Editor

Zoe Grisenti| The BullETinSHOOT AND SCORE: Junior Allison Skaggs shoots a goal against Laguna Beach. El Toro won the game14-10 on Nov. 30.

“Whitney brings to the court her speed. She can blow past and weave through any defender...at times mul-tiple defenders, and can get to the basket and score.”- Alyson Doherty, senior

“I really want to win league, win CIF, and do whatever it takes to help my team win. I’ll do what-ever it takes.”-Ryan Robert, junior

“Our main goal for the season is to have chemistry on the field like we do off the field.”

-Sydnie Telson, senior