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D e c e m b e r • V o l u m e I V • I s s u e 3 • 8 9 9 N . K a n a n R d . , O a k P a r k C A 9 1 3 7 7

Oak Park HIgh School TALON

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School Life

By Min Kwon, Head of Photography

News

Solar Panels to be Installed

Divorce Counseling Sessions

By Adella Katz, Co-Editor-in-Chief,

Zainab Pixler,Managing Editor

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The graph illustrates how tuition rates have increased across the United States.

On November 22 in G-9, Oak Park High School counselor Julie Heeney and USC student Ryan led a group discussion introduc-ing their idea of hosting Di-vorce Counseling Sessions. Ryan, an Oak Park High School graduate and a child of divorce (C.O.D.), ap-proached Ms. Heeney with the idea of a small counsel-ing program for students who are living with divorced or separated parents. “Since it’s something I know and it’s something I see my own kids struggle with, and it affects at least half the kids at this school,” says Ms. Heeney, “it was just one of those things I couldn’t say no to.” In the pilot session, Ryan related his personal story to the intimate group present in G-9, describing

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14.6% in the last five years. Public universities and colleges, being primar-ily funded by their respec-tive state governments, have been hit the hardest. The same Federal Reserve Bank report stated that from 2000 to 2010, the nationwide per-pupil funding for pub-lic higher education has de-creased by 21%, and in 2010, California cut its funding per-pupil by 11.6%. These universities and colleges raise their tu-ition rates to compensate for decreased funding. Across the board, sky-high tuition rates force many aspiring students to go to a more af-fordable college instead of the one they dreamed of and force other students to not go to college at all. To learn more in-formation about these tu-ition rates and how students can tackle them, the Talon sat down with Mr. Randy McLelland, a counselor at Oak Park High School. Mr. McLelland confirmed that funding cuts are the primary source for increased tuition and said that it is a positive

Oak Park’s very own Idea to Impact team’s proj-ect, to install solar panels on the school library, has been approved by the school, sig-naling a new step towards both environmentalism and academic achievement. The Idea to Impact team, consisting of Laura Cruz-Albrecht, Kristen Bender, Alexis Cheney, Ra-chel Convey, Dorinda Fong, and Wendy Xiao, all of whom are now seniors, rose up to be one of the sixteen national finalists last year as a part of the Lexus Eco Challenge competition. This competition, held by Scho-lastic, is joined by thousands of competitors from schools around the country each year. Teams are entered into challenges, beginning with Land and Water, then

Air and Climate, and then a Final Challenge, which is for those who are selected from the previous two chal-lenges. Teams must create Action Plans and implement their ideas on these environ-mental issues in their local communities. Oak Park’s

Idea to Impact team, along with their $10,000 prize funding, is about to imple-ment their idea right on Oak Park High School’s campus. Their idea, to install solar panels on the school library, will go into construction as soon as funds are available within the next few months, Continued on page 2

and will certainly add to the environmental friendliness of the school. “We were absolutely elated,” comments Kristen Bender, “This is the perfect culmination of all of our ef-forts.” Not only has Bender contributed to the school

(From left) Convey, Bender, Cheney, Fong, Cruz-Albrecht, and Xiao have worked extensively in order to come up with their solar panel plans.

Getting accepted into a certain college is the primary concern for many high school students. Students take aca-demically rigorous courses, volunteer, play music or sports and participate in other extracurricular activi-ties in order to make their applications stand out. How-ever, when students finally get accepted into a school, a new challenge arises: how to pay for it.

College tuitions have long been on the rise. According to Bloomberg News, college tuitions have increased by 1,120% from 1978 to 2012. In recent years, the problem has been exac-erbated by the Great Reces-sion of 2008. Many state govern-ments, looking for ways to trim their budgets, have turned to cutting education funding - both K-12 and higher education. According to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, public funding for higher education has decreased by

By Varsha Sarveshwar, Staff Writer

Rising Tuition Rates

Girls’ bathroom in the gym foyer is now open during Nutrition and Lunch!

Start sending in your art and writing submissions now for the Art and Writ-ing Contest of Awareness Week happening Feb. 25-28. Submit to the Mrs. Svoboda or Ms. Fries at the school office.

Happy Holidays!

College Tuition Rates: How to Prepare

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Mr. McLelland. College used to be affordable to the middle class, but in Mr. McLelland’s experience, it is becoming less so. The fact that college is becoming expensive, even for relatively affluent fami-lies, is something that more grants, scholarships and lower interest rates can alle-viate. When asked what students can do to be best prepared for these tuition rates, Mr. McLelland empha-sized that students should keep their options open. He noted that to-day’s youth are going to have a higher percentage of bach-elor’s degree-holders than any other generation, so it is important to save money for more than four years of higher education.

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with the solar panels, but she has been an active part of the Green Club, promoting en-vironmental awareness and recycling along with many of the same seniors from the Idea to Impact team. These six seniors joined the Idea to Impact program in their freshman year, developing new ideas for each competition, win-ning not only the recent Lex-us Eco Challenge, but also other regional Idea to Im-pact competitions, to which the team will be submitting projects this year. The development of the project has not been the efforts of these students alone. “The school staff has been incredible,” adds Wen-dy Xiao, complimenting the

Solar Panels to be Installed on Library

The library is expected to have solar panels installed due to Oak Park’s Idea to Impact group.

school’s support for their project. “From Mr. Nelson, our advisor, to the school staff from all over the dis-trict, [people] have been as-tounding and motivational.”

“I think their dedi-cation to the topic [of envi-ronmentalism] is outstand-ing,” compliments Dave Nelson, former AP Chemis-try teacher at OPHS and the

team’s advisor. “I think [the solar panels] are a fantastic improvement to the school district as an alternative source of energy.” The Idea to Impact

program at Oak Park was made to challenge students to conduct extensive re-search about a variety of top-ics such as energy transfer, environmental sustainability and protection and alterna-tive transportation. Students, as a team, are able to create ideas, con-duct lessons, and develop in-tricate projects. The school’s solar panel project, which can be entered into various competitions, is an example of this process. Dorinda Fong, who strongly recommends this program for students inter-ested in environmentalism, relates, “I hope to encourage others to become involved in raising environmental awareness and action in the community.”

Ashwarya Srinivas, a sophomore at Oak Park High School, is the young-est person in California to be named a Microsoft Of-fice 2010 Master and Expert. She completed the test in early November when she was 14. She is believed to be the third youngest person in the world to be named a Mi-

Mr. McLelland rec-ommends that seniors apply to colleges that are affordable as well as expensive colleges, so that when they receive their financial award letters, they have a less expensive option. He also noted that there are many scholarships that are available to students. While many scholarships and grants are need-based, restricted scholarships are given to more affluent stu-dents as well. There are also loans with reduced interest rates and work-study pro-grams available to students. As America’s econ-omy improves over the next few years, families across the nation hope that college will be something that they can afford.

that California’s economy is slowly improving, but noted, “Now that the mon-ey is starting to flow more freely from Sacramento, do you think the UC’s or the Cal States are going to roll back their tuition rates? No. They’re not.” “These big public school systems are also busi-nesses,” Mr. McLelland stat-ed, “they employ people and those people want to be paid more.” The limited control elected officials have mostly extends to public colleges. “Where politicians have the most influence is in all these [grant, scholarship, and loan programs]… everyone has some kind of money coming from the government to sub-sidize the loans, the scholar-ships [and] the grants,” said

Ashwarya Srinivas is believed to be the 3rd youngest expert in the world.

Youngest Microsoft ExpertBy Brittany Jones, Co-Editor-in-Chief

crosoft Expert. She was honored by the Oak Park School Board on December 13th at 6 p.m. Currently, Srinivas is enrolled in the Advanced Placement Computer Sci-ence course. She previously completed a class in Office applications and program-ming. Benjamin Porat was previously ranked the youngest Microsoft Ex-pert.

NewsDecember 2013 3

By Julia Appelrouth and Lauren Perlmutter,

Staff Writers

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With the new Starbucks lo-cation open in the same shopping area as Beanscene, a local coffee shop, there has been much chatter amongst students as to whether the two coffee shops will both prosper. Starbucks opens earlier in the day than Beanscene and closes later, which causes many to believe that this will have a positive impact for Starbucks in the future. Also, there is the convenience of the drive-through. Sophomore Lauren Cohen explains, “Now that there is a Star-bucks drive-through, I have been going there so much more, and it is much easier when I am in a time crunch before zero period.” An anonymous Starbucks employee states, “Because of the drive-through, we have doubled our sales.” Not only has the new site been extremely successful, its em-ployees have seen more and more

cars coming through each day. Beanscene is aware of its competi-tion. The local shop has begun serving wine and beer. Also, Beanscene now has Wine Tasting Events. Sue, the man-ager of Beanscene, be-lieves the addition of wine tasting will bring “just maybe more of a sense of a community place where people can gather in a cozy atmo-sphere and have their local cheers.” In regards to any change of business since the drive-through Starbucks opened, she states, “If anything, we seem busier.” Junior Sean Cooper thinks that Beanscene will not be hurt be-cause of the new Starbucks location. He says, “Since there has always been a Starbucks around the area of Beanscene, the two places already have their set customers, so people who went to Beanscene and not Star-bucks would not suddenly switch.”

Many other students have positive reactions to the convenience of the drive-through. Freshman Claire Goldes explains, “I have been going more often now that there is a drive-through. It’s much faster and the location is much more conve-nient.” Despite these positive re-views, there are still mixed feelings within the student body. When asked if she liked the current Starbucks location more so

than the old, senior Jordyn Ex states, “Yes and no. Yes because it’s a great way to get your coffee while on your way to school and you don’t have to spend extra time getting out of your car and walking into Starbucks. The bad part is everyone goes to it, so it’s not that fast when you are running late to school.” Obviously, this new location is here to stay, so hopefully these two shops will be able to remain in their respective places and be successful.

Kanan Shuttle: Free Ride ExtendedBy Adella Katz, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Starbucks and Beanscene battle it out for the hearts of coffee-loving Oak Parkians

Corner Beverage Competition Heats Up

Changes with the Kanan Shuttle will come with the new year as the currently free bus rides will be charged beginning in the second se-mester of the school year. According to Oak Park High School’s Principal, Kevin Buchanan, “[The Kanan Shuttle] is a big success, so they’re going to start charging.” He continues, “When it was just Dial-a-Ride, they had about 1,500 riders a month. The Kanan Shuttle is getting about 7,000 riders a month.” Originally, the Ven-tura County Transporta-tion Depart-ment was go-ing to begin charging for the rides af-ter December 31st, but due to the incred-ible increase in riders, the free period has been extended to the end of the first semester of the school year. “It’s going to be a dollar a ride. And they’re going to be selling tickets; 18 [rides] for $20, and those will be for sale in the library and the District Office,” says Buchanan. He adds, “They’re also doing a student pass, and [it] is going to be

$100 per semester for unlimited use, which is a really good deal because there are 90 days in a semester. We’re going to be selling those passes in the Student Store.” However, these passes will only be applicable during school days, not during holiday or summer/winter breaks. Buchanan comments, “They should make a summer pass.” In regards to the initial idea of the student passes, Buchanan re-lates, “It was myself and Mr. Benioff, [as well as] officials from the Ventura County Transportation Department.” Interestingly enough, the

T r a n s -portation D e p a r t -ment will not make profit from c h a r g i n g s tudents . R a t h e r , the money made from the tickets and passes

will go towards maintaining the bus-ing service. Buchanan states, “In order to continue to run the service, [the Transportation Department has] to be able to cover 20% of the cost, but [even] the fare is not going to cover all the cost.”

Santa Comes to Agoura : Food Drive4 school life December 2013

The winter season is a time to give thanks and spend time with family and friends. However, it is also important to remember those who cannot afford to have a wonderful holiday season. This year, Oak Park High School hosted its an-nual Santa Comes to Agoura drive during the week of No-vember 18th with amazing results. In the past few years, Oak Park has participated in the Santa Comes to Agoura drive without very positive

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results. ASB director Heidi Cissell commented on this, saying that in the past, Oak Park was asked to “supply toiletry items, rather than canned foods, which we feel people are more accustomed to.” Cissell also believes that because other clubs and organizations request do-nations around this time, it “overloads the students de-sire to donate.” This year, Oak Park was commissioned to col-lect canned foods includ-ing soups, vegetables, and stocks, which Cissell be-lieves is a major reason why this year’s results were better than prior years.

The total count of canned foods this year was over 1,500 with Oak Park High School math teacher Ms. Lory’s class collecting over 400, making her class the winner of the fourth pe-riod competition. Students and teach-ers responded positively to the drive and its purpose. Michelle Velasquez, Junior Vice President, commented on the drive, saying “it’s re-ally important for families to donate food since others might not be able to afford this basic necessity.” Math teacher Robin Midiri agrees, saying that helping others is a “feeling you can’t put a price on.”

his high school experience without a strong support group. Beginning in Febru-ary of 2014, Ryan and Ms. Heeney will hold a second introductory session, which they hope will turn into a seven week span of group sessions that will span 14 weeks. According to them both, the primary goal of these sessions is to help stu-dents manage the tensions and stresses that result from dueling parents. Each session will involve discussion points ranging from custody battles to adjusting to parents’ new spouses. As Ms. Heeney explains it, “It’s like group therapy right here at school where it’s convenient and helpful and you can even make connections with oth-er students.” Ryan says without such a support group, stu-dents can struggle with deep, psychological effects that he claims are not relieved when the student leaves home. “I felt a click, it was literally a click. Just knowing that someone had taken the time to care about me changed everything.” Hopefully, many students will attend these sessions. Announcements about the exact session dates will be made in the near fu-ture.

By Ashley Siavoshi, Entertainment Editor

Dealing with Divorce

Food items collected in Mrs. Midiri’s classroom.

Workers stay in their busy lines, either assembling parts or testing products.

Currently, over three billion live under $2.50 a day, and almost half of those live on a mere $1.25, according to dosomething.org. During the holi-day season, Americans give presents to one another, without understanding how these relatively inexpensive gifts landed in stores. For ex-ample, some teens might re-ceive a new phone, a popular daily luxury. However, this $299 item only lands in the U.S. through the sometimes deplorable labor conditions of workers in developing countries such as China.

The reason that many of these luxury goods come to the U.S. for such a cheap price is directly re-lated to cuts in the bottom line of the manufacturing chain. According to Jeffry Odell Korgen, for the sake of lowering wages, some factories practice a mixture of activities such as: child labor, illegal long hours, ig-noring safety hazards, pay-ing women less than men, and dodging environmental protections. These practices are implemented in order to match competitive prices as well as meet the demands of many Americans. Such factories are called sweatshops. A recent edition of Maryknoll Maga-zine explained, the Dream International Factory in Shenzhen, China employs

workers for $1.39 an hour. That is $7.61 less than the minimum wage in Cali-fornia. Under Chinese law, one cannot work for more than six days a week and at a maximum of 8 hours a day. However, some companies in China employ workers for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, according to bls.gov. Additionally, some of these factories do not adhere to any safety regula-tions, jeopardizing the lives of their workers. The FLA, or Fair Labor Association, found that when interview-ing many workers in fac-tories throughout China, many feel the necessity to work overtime simply to earn enough money for sur-vival. Despite these vio-

lations, conditions are im-proving to an extent. The poverty rate in Bangladesh has dropped from 34% in 2000, to 17.6% living under $1 a day in 2010. Addition-ally, since Apple’s joining of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturer, is considering reducing work time in Chi-nese Apple factories to the legal maximum of 48 hours a week. It has also begun to raise salaries of workers, re-cently raising them by 25%, according to the New York Times. By adhering to ques-tionable standards, low-cost goods, especially clothes, toys, and certain foods, can be purchased by thousands of people, including OPHS students. However, dras-tic reforms cannot occur because if fair conditions were imposed throughout all manufacturing, prices would rise exponentially. According to New York Daily News, the $299 16-gigabyte iPhone would cost $999 if it was produced under American factory standards. When Marshall Shires, a 10th grader, was asked about his response to the labor injustice, he stated, “Although this is a negative thing, it won’t really change. If something was to happen, for example, an embargo or changing the conditions [for workers], then prices would go up and a lot of people

would not like that.” Senior Aaron Fried-man shares a similar belief: “From the humanitarian perspective it matters but from the business perspec-tive it makes sense. I see why they would build a factory in China rather than in Califor-nia so they don’t have to pay [the workers] $9 an hour.” Even though most citizens have loving inten-tions, some residents of Oak Park, and consumers in general, fall prey to the companies’ biggest weapon: ignorance. One way peo-ple support the movement against sweatshops is by joining the WRC, the Work-ers Rights Consortium, which ensures that all school apparel is manufactured un-der fair trade and adequate workers’ rights. Also, buying from manufacturers part of the FLA creates a lasting solu-tion against abusive labor practices. Furthermore, sup-porting fair trade products, which are indicated by the International Fairtrade Cer-tification Mark on the label, increases the process to fur-ther raise global labor stan-dards. This may be a consid-eration while browsing for holiday bargains this season. Senior Alexis Cheney frank-ly stated that “Some people continue to value cheap goods over the rights of oth-ers elsewhere.”

world NewsDecember 2013 5

OP-ED: The True Cost of Christmas

Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

By Jessica Ji and Irena Yang,Staff Writers

Typhoon Haiyan Oak Park Fundraiser

At 8:02 PM on No-vember 10th, a typhoon hit the northern Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan was un-like many of the tropical cy-clones that reach the coast of the Philippines each year. With winds of up to 186 miles per hour that tore apart homes and commu-nities, Typhoon Haiyan is the deadliest Philippine ty-phoon on record and so far has killed over 5,235 people with many new deaths be-ing discovered each day. The Philippines had still been struggling to recover from an earthquake last month that killed hundreds and left thousands living in tents, when the storm hit. A week before the storm hit, city and national

officials were warned of the coming typhoon. They rushed to gather adequate supplies and prepare their cities for the coming disas-ter; however, their efforts were not sufficient enough. Officials miscalculated the strength and ferocity of Ty-phoon Haiyan and stocked too few supplies for the refugees. They also failed to evacuate those directly in the storm’s path. Now, as the death toll surpasses the 5,000 mark, and with 1,613 others missing, hundreds of orga-nizations began mobilizing and arranging major disaster relief efforts. Groups such as Red Cross, UNICEF, World Food Programme and Sal-vation Army all quickly re-sponded to the devastation with donations, supplies and support for the victims. Students at Oak Park High School also hope

to assist in these relief ef-forts. One week after the typhoon hit, our school en-couraged each student to do-nate $1 to the front office to help people affected by the typhoon. After receiving nu-merous donations from stu-

dents, parents, and faculty, Oak Park High School raised over $3,000 for the cause. All the money will be donated to UNICEF to help repair the rebuilding country. These donations, along with the millions of

other contributions, from people around the world, will hopefully help alleviate the troubles of a great trag-edy. To learn more about how you can help, visit www.redcross.org.ph/donate.

ByCarlo Cruz-Albrecht and Christopher Lee,

Staff Writers

feature6 December 2013

Is success confined to white-collarjobs in the workforce?

How many people can say that they’ve dreamed of becoming a garbage man? Or maybe even a truck driver? It would be seemingly obvious that no one would pursue any of these occupations because they are what society considers low-level jobs. The reality is that soci-ety could not function without these jobs. Unfortunately, this is not common knowledge, and the accompanying ignorance is ruining the economy and, in ef-fect, the lives of millions who are unemployed. Today’s soci-ety, notably the youth, embrac-es a prevalent mind-set: white-collar jobs are necessary to be “successful.” All over the news, there are reports of sky-high un-employment in America. The numbers fluctuate here and there, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the

By Alex Appelrouth, News Editor

number of unemployed persons in 2013 at 11.5 million and the rate at 7.4 percent. These numbers are alarmingly high and yet soci-ety continues on the same path it has been following. Around three million skilled jobs are available because no one is trained or willing to do them. Students are still pushed to pursue a four-year college de-gree despite this unemploy-ment in America, which is at an all-time high for college gradu-ates. In addition, according to mikeroweworks.com, the majority of graduates with jobs are not working in their field of study. Altogether, they owe about one trillion dollars in student loans. This unnerving evidence reveals flaws in our society and our per-ception. Our idea of a blue-collar job has been misconstrued. Peo-ple associate a skilled job such as

a construction worker, with the lower class. As a result, people are deterred from pursuing and accepting jobs that are neces-sary for a functioning society. If skilled jobs are viewed the same as they are now, the American economy and society may con-tinue to suffer. Mike Rowe, host of the television show “Dirty Jobs,” began a campaign to counteract the misconception of a blue-col-lar job. As part of his campaign, he offers scholarships to those in need of financial assistance that are enrolled in a trade school or an apprenticeship program. Rowe has raised over one mil-lion dollars for this campaign against the blind avocation of a four-year college degree. His rationale is: “I don’t know that a four-year degree is the ticket anymore. I would never say anything against education, but why is there the four-year de-

gree and everything else is ‘al-ternative?’” Evident across the na-tion, students are still pushed to pursue a college degree and enter the white-collar business world. By the time they gradu-ate, students are programmed to believe acquiring a blue-col-lar job represents failure. They then inevitably land into a sink-ing job market and are often left jobless, or, in worse cases, homeless. In what way does this mark success? A degree from a university does not ensure food in a mouth or a roof over a head. The irrational view of a blue-collar job is preventing unemployed people from find-ing work and earning a living. Without the necessary change in perception, it will be difficult for America to be lifted out of its current economic and social turmoil.

$75,000 average income above which happiness does not increase

$51,071real median income of the average US household in 2012

average number of close friends required for happiness10

Define

success

featureDecember 2013 7

Challenge

success

7 average number of close friends Americans have

Can a university “de-stress” high school students?

Fierce competition and unrelenting ambition take the stage as high school students prepare for higher education. Being accepted to top-notch universities is an extremely dif-ficult task and many students will do whatever it takes to se-cure their admission, even sac-rifice their social lives or cause adverse health effects to them-selves. Because of this, Stan-ford University’s teachers and administrators came together with high schools across the nation, to establish a program called Challenge Success, which is dedicated to help students make wise decisions and cope with school related stress. According to a review by the USNews, colleges often look for students that take Advanced Placement or AP classes dur-ing their high school careers. AP classes are standardized at

college-level. High school AP classes entail more rigorous standards, a more challenging course load and an AP exam conducted in May. Eager stu-dents will attempt to take all the AP classes possible in order to please colleges, but every-one has his or her limit. The ef-fects of taking these classes can be seen in the students’ sleep-ing and eating habits as well as their overall stress levels. Stu-dents can be doing homework for four or more hours each day. It is difficult for them to juggle any other activities when their whole lives revolve around aca-demics. The question still re-mains: are AP classes worth it, and what can students and teachers do to mitigate stress? At Oak Park High School, many students take either Hon-ors or AP level classes. Students sometimes take more classes

than they can handle which can result in increased stress and pressure, and, in the worst sce-nario, even dropping the class. When asked how AP classes are affecting her lifestyle, Oak Park High School sophomore Tina Ahmadi says, “AP classes re-quire me to work much, much harder than I did before. I feel like I don’t have a minute to my-self anymore.” Irena Yang, a junior at OPHS replies, “The workload is much more challenging and of-ten much more stressful.” It is difficult for students to find a balancing point between their academic struggles and their personal lives. This is where Challenge Success comes in. According to Oak Park High School Biology teacher Winnie Litten, who is a member of this program, “Challenge Suc-cess wants to bring to light three different areas: workload as-

By Kavya Jatavallabhula, Staff Writer

signed by the teachers, students and their chosen extracurricu-lar activities, and parental pres-sures placed on the students.” This program focuses on help-ing students establish their own appropriate levels of academic stress necessary to help them achieve success. The Challenge Success website states that the program’s goal is to provide “in-formation and strategies they need to create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life” for students. High schools and colleges don’t want the students to spend their days only study-ing; they want their students to enjoy the college experience. This program also conducts re-search, helps students increase their motivation and self-es-teem and ultimately promotes a healthier lifestyle for all stu-dents.

Illustration by Wendy Xiao and Laura Cruz-Albrecht 85%percent of Americans feel happy every day

school life December 20138

Senior SpotlightBy Alex Appelrouth,

News Editor,Brittany Jones,

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Miles Morrow

Miles Morrow strikes a comedic pose.

Q: What responsibilities do you have as senior class president? A: My job for senior class president is: to make sure school spirit is high, to take care of senior funds and to make sure everyone’s having a good time.

Q: Do you have anything new that you want to bring to this class?A: I want to try something new at the rallies. Just do something different. Some-thing fun. Wait, that’s not my official answer. The new thing I want to do is an event at one of the rallies that will get the whole school to come together. That’s it. Oh, and to leave the class of 2014 a memorable one.

Q: What do you do in your free time?A: I like to spend time with my beautiful girlfriend, Becca Lonngren. [Becca: No! Don’t say that!] As well as hang out with my bud-dies: Shawn Green, Brandon Schmidt, Kevin Cohen, and James McFadden.

Q: Do you have a secret tal-ent?A: Do I have a secret talent? I guess if it’s a secret I wouldn’t know about it. Hmm, let’s see. I can do a handstand with one hand and while hu-la-hooping two hoops on my feet. [Alex: should I like add juggling fireballs or what-ever] Yeah! I like to juggle bowling balls on fire.

Q: What is your favorite memory in high school so far?A: It would have to be this years 2013 football season. Even though we did not make it to the final stages

of CIF, the brotherhood the team shared created an unforgettable camaraderie which gave an inexpress-ible pride for Oak Park. I will never forget our rise as underdogs, defeating teams like Nordhoff and Bishop Diego.

Q: What are you most ex-cited about for college?A: What I am most excited for about college is the ex-perience of meeting new people and going to a land unfamiliar. I am excited to experience life anew, with a dependency on myself rather than staying at house (although I love my family). I find that college will be a great period of maturation and will help me find out what I want to do with my life. I am eager to see how college will affect me as a person and how it will guide my future to come.

Q: If you could do anything imaginable, what would it

be? There are no limits.A: If I could do anything, my dream would be to in-vent some new technology which would be used around the world to help better mankind, be it like a flying car, or teleporting pad, or a ketchup bottle that doesn’t

get that crusty stuff around the nozzle. From its prof-its, I would get hella rich and use that money for the Miles Morrow Center for Children Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

turned to Mt. Sac on Novem-ber 23rd for the CIF southern section finals. Sophomore Na-thaniel Driggs c o m m e n t e d , “Everybody has been running well and work-ing hard. We want to break the Oak Park

record tomorrow.” Bazargan broke the previous record set by Mark Nevers. Bazargan ran the course in 15:02 at a 5:08 mile pace. The boys’ team however, was not able to move on. Jake Whealen said, “It’s disap-pointing that we didn’t make it through to state finals, but next year, we’re coming out determined to make it and take care of business once we’re there.” The girls’ team qualified to

sportsDecember 2013 9

By Ashkaan Khalilzadeh and Nikhil Bajpai,

Staff Writers

Cross Country: Reaching CIF

By Nicholas Markarian,Staff Writer

New Attitude in Varsity Soccer Program

Noah Christian, captain of the 2013 OP Varsity Soccer team, in mid sprint during the Thousand Oaks game.

The Oak Park High School Cross Country team won first place in every cat-egory in the Ventura County Championships on No-vember 1st at Lake Casitas. Senior Alex Lie comments that the team “is an amaz-ing composition of individu-als that makes everyone feel at home and [that attitude] helps the team succeed.” When the team re-turned to Lake Casitas on November 7th for Tri-Valley League Finals, it won first place in every category once

Fall Sports Tri-Valley All League Selections

move on, in addition to Ba-zargan. Bazargan and the girls’ Varsity team went to Woodward Park in Clovis for the California State Fi-nals on November 30th. Ba-zargan and Blackwell both placed 9th out of 196 Divi-sion IV runners. The girls’ team is tied for being the 10th place Division IV girls’ cross-country team in Cali-fornia. Blackwell says, “The cross country teams per-formed at very high levels in the final portion of their seasons and ended their sea-sons by competing with the top teams in California.”

Coming off a season many players and coaches would like to forget, this is the year to turn things around for the Oak Park High School boys’ Varsity soccer program. Entering the 2014 season, the team has adopted an attitude that no obstacle is too large to overcome. Last season, un-der first-year head coaches Brian Collins and Kai Wer-ring, the Varsity team did not perform up to expecta-tion. However, by the end of the season, the coaches had developed a strong relation-ship with the players and many were looking forward to the next season. When asked about the difference between this year’s team and last year’s, Coach Brian Col-lins responded, “We have many differently skilled players who can always give you a chance to win regard-less of what position they play. The players are more familiar with the coaches and have a better under-

standing of what we want to do and hopefully it will add up to a successful season.” The Varsity team consists of seven seniors, seven juniors, six sopho-mores and one freshman. The team members have played together before so each player understands what he is capable of doing, as well as what his role is on the field. The starting lineup has proven that it can com-pete against highly competi-

tive teams such as Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks. When asked what is he most excited for this season, Noah Christian feels that “this year’s team is capable of go-ing further than any team in recent memory.” He also reiterated several times that “[he] wants to make it to CIF because [he’s] only been there once, and this is [his] senior season.” The Eagles will play a number of preseason

games against teams such as, but not limited to, St. Bo-naventure, New Community Jewish and Rio Mesa. The Varsity team will compete in the Tri-Valley League along with Malibu, Carpinteria, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Oaks Christian. With the toughest competition being Santa Paula and Carpinteria, the Eagles believe that they are more than capable of a Tri-Valley League champi-onship this season.

The girls’ team is tied for being the 10th place Division IV team in California.

Whealen and Frey at the forefront of the race at Mt. Sac.

again. The teams qualified for the Division IV State Fi-nals. The Varsity teams advanced to the CIF south-ern section preliminaries. The boys’ Varsity runners finished in fourth place and advanced to the CIF south-ern section finals. Their top five runners ran a total team time of 80:33. Junior Ryan Harris says, “The feeling of adrenaline watching our team cross the finish line at CIF Prelims was euphoric.” The girls’ Varsity team fin-ished in second place. Their top five runners ran a total team time of 95:32. Both teams re-

FootballCoach of the Year Terry Shorten Most Valuable Player Chandler Whitbord Matt Byer Shawn Green Justin Green1st Team All County Brandon Coppel Brandon Schmidt Zach Fowler Brandon Myden Greg Kalbfeld2nd Team All County James McFadden John Balen Kyle Rozanski Eric Corsello Joey Bock Miles Morrow Sam HealdHonorable Mention Trent Dolabson Tyler Williamson

Girls Volleyball1st Team All County Lily Rudnick2nd Team All County Kristen Dunlay Alyssa WilsonHonorable Mention Jessica Wall Hillary Delin

Girls TennisMost Valuable Player Annette Goulak1st Team All County Alexandra Romano-va2nd Team All County Irena Yang Roopa Chandra Anastasia GreerHonorable Mention Ashwarya Srinivas Lindsay Stanton Victoria Torres

Girls Cross Country1st Team All County Brittany Blackwell Emily Beneduce2nd Team All County Emma Berns Kendall EngelhardtHonorable Mention Katie Hoerman Emily Ruble

Boys Cross CountryCoach of the Year Al CalceMost Valuable Runner Sahm Bazargan1st Team All County Jake Whealen Matt Jimenez Kyle Anderson2nd Team All County Adam Frey Abhishek Bhutada Trevor JamisonHonorable Mention Ryan Morrissey Roman Colao

eNtertaiNmeNt December 201310

By Kailee Canty and James Whiteley,

Staff Writers

The Nutcracker: A Christmas TraditionBy Jordan Berns,

Staff Writer

The Nutcracker is considered a quintessen-tial part of the holiday sea-son. Every December, Pam Rossi’s Dance Ten studio in Moorpark performs a pro-duction of this famed bal-let. Two of the 85 dancers in this production are Katie Jan, a senior at Oak Park High School and Alyssa Jan, a sophomore. Katie will dance “in the party scene as a toy doll, Dance of the Snowflakes, Spanish, Arabian and the Waltz of the Flowers.” Alyssa will be performing the roles of “a maid, an angel, and a candy cane.” Jan has been

Oak Park High School’s drama cast is proud to announce that its lat-est play production will be Midsummer Night’s Dream. It will open on January 16th and continue until the 18th. The play itself is a Shakespearian comedy about four adventurous Athenian lovers. The director of this

OPHS production is Mr. Enoch, an English teacher at the high school. Midsummer Night’s Dream will be Mr. Enoch’s first play directed at OPHS. Although this is his first time directing at OPHS, he has produced many other plays, as he is a part of the Society of State Directors and Cho-reographers in NYC. Recognizing this, Mr. Buchanan asked Mr. Enoch to direct Midsummer Night’s Dream. When asked about why he chose to direct

Midsummer Night’s Dream

dancing for nearly fourteen years; the last five have been spent under Pam Rossi’s tu-telage, giving Jan five pro-ductions of The Nutcracker to add to her belt. Alyssa will be celebrating her fifth year as well of being a pivotal part of this festive tradition. The Nutcracker was first performed on Decem-ber 18, 1892 to little popu-lar acclaim. This ballet grew more beloved over time, inspiring children’s sto-ries, movies and even video games. Despite all of this, Pam Rossi’s Dance Ten aims to create a different look for the 2013 production. Jan says the theme for this show is ‘“new,”’ uti-lizing a “new Clara, a new

The actors were preparing for opening day by rehearsing Act I.

By Alex Burger and Julian Lehrer,

Staff Writers

this Shakespearian play, Mr. Enoch replied, “I wanted to do a comedy that was fun and teachable as well.” Additionally, fresh-man English teacher Ms. Re-inking is “arranging pieces of music” for the play. She has been researching various versions of the play in order to create a “tailored” experi-ence. Matt Williams, a member of the cast, is play-ing the character Puck. This is going to be his first time participating in a play at OPHS and he expressed much enthusiasm about this production. When asked how he feels about the cast and the play itself, Matt responds, “The cast is so fun! We plan to make this play very en-ergetic and comedic for our audience. This is my first play at the school and the drama department is so fun to be around. Even though we don’t have all the extrava-gant props as other schools do, we’re using our minimal props for our play which is how Shakespeare was meant to be produced.”

By Christina Torigian and Hannah Kiernan,

Staff Writers

To most people, this chilly and festive time of the year is an excuse to drink warm, savory beverages at a ski lodge and to spend qual-ity time with family in front of a roaring fire.

What’s Up For Winter Break? Do you like the Pokemon video games, card game or anime? If your an-swer is yes, the Pokemon Club is for you. At each Pokemon Club meeting, the ten to twenty members participate in video game tournaments. The winners receive Poke-mon related prizes such as card trades and screenings of Pokemon episodes and movies. Club member Clay-ton O’Connor comments,

Members of Pokemon Club meet in Mr. Kinberg’s room.

“[It] is really organized and pretty fun!” President Hayla An-gha explains that “the club isn’t just for hard-core fans, but Pokemon enthusiasts in general.” All members have a say in each meeting. They are welcome to bring any of their Pokemon games, cards and DVDs to the meetings. The only requirement to be-come a member is to have an interest in the Pokemon fan-dom. If you wish to join the Pokemon club, drop by Mr. Kinberg’s room, G-2, during lunch on Mondays.

By Benjamin Porat,Staff Writer

Club Spotlight: Pokemon Club

#1 Seattle SeahawksThe Seahawks have earned this spot through an elite defense and a fast-paced of-fense.

#2 Denver BroncosAfter a historic offensive start to the year by Peyton Manning, the Broncos are averaging over 40 points per game.

#3 New Orleans SaintsDrew Brees has directed their dangerous offense, while the defense is much improved from last year.

#4 New England PatriotsThe Pats continue to perse-vere through injuries to their defense, including DT Vince Wilfork and LB Jerod Mayo.

#5 Carolina PanthersCam Newton has established himself as one of the elite gunslingers in the league. Their strong defense, head-ed by Luke Kuechly, has cat-apulted them from the bot-tom of the rankings to being among the NFL’s elite.

#6 Cincinnati BengalsRelying on the tandem of QB Andy Dalton and WR A.J. Green, the Bengals sit atop the strong AFC North.

#7 Kansas City ChiefsTheir “West Coast” style of offense has featured star run-ning back, Jamaal Charles, in many different ways, and has been their driving offen-sive force.

#8 San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers strong defense gain the 8th spot with a 10-4 record. With Michael Crabtree back, the 49ers are on the rise.

prince, new costumes, [and] new dancers” to breathe a different life into this classic. In addition, there will be more dancers moving up in the company, taking on roles requiring them to dance on pointe, a difficult technique which requires them to balance their body weight on the tips of their toes. A large part of ballet is the juxtaposition between the sheer physical strength and the effortless and grace-ful appearance of the danc-ers. The Nutcracker will be performed on December 21 at 1:30 and 6:30 at the Nancy and Ray Scherr Fo-rum at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks.

Sophomore Jake Whealen says, “On the up-coming winter break, I look forward to spending quality time with friends and fam-ily. During this time of the year, it’s nice to be grateful for what we have and for all those around us.” Paige Creason, a freshman, states, “I’m excited to spend more time with my

family and to make memo-ries that will last a lifetime.” Senior Amanda Greenbaum adds, “I’m spending time with my grandparents, cous-ins and immediate family in San Diego, then going up to Mammoth with my brothers and parents.” Every cultural and religious holiday is brought together by family.

Rankings

columNDecember 2013 11

BOARD CERTIFIED SPECIALIST CARING FOR YOUR SIMPLE TO COMPLEX DENTAL NEEDS

818-501-0663/16311 VENTURA BLVD., SUITE 530ENCINO, CA 91436

MARK EXLER D.D.S . , F.A .C.P.PRACTICE LIMITED TO PROSTHODONTICS

Proud Supporter of OPHS

Women’s Volleyball

“Go Eagles”

Nicholas’ Best Grady’s BestBy Grady Benson,

Staff WriterBy Nicholas Branigan,

Staff Writer

According to Nicholas Bra-nigan, the following are three diverse movies that excel in their respective genres.

A Hijacking, directed by Tobias Lindholm, is a psychologi-cally intense tale of the hijacking of a container ship by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Rather than arbi-trarily characterizing the pirates as terrible and immoral beasts, the film explores the motives behind piracy. It describes the pirates as human be-ings struggling to put food on their families’ tables under terrible cir-cumstances. A Hijacking relies mostly on the voices of characters to create deadly conflict rather than substitut-ing violent action.

Drug War follows Timmy Choi, a notorious methamphetamine manufacturer, in China as he at-tempts to escape the death penalty by cooperating with the police to bust his boss. The audience is exposed to the brutal drug manufacturing un-derworld in China. It explodes with gut-wrench-ing shoot-outs to deliver the message

that there are no winners in a drug war. This film is closer to the grisly drug casualties of The Counselor than to the “successes” of (meth) capital-ism in the TV series Breaking Bad.

Wong Kar-wai’s The Grand-master dramatizes the real life of the Kung Fu master Ip Man. It spends as much time depicting fights as it does exploring the mind of Ip Man and the code of ethics to which he dedi-cates his life. Furthermore, the Chinese version of the film is able to beautifully incorporate China’s history prior to and during World War II.

According to Grady Benson, the following three movies are some of the greatest he saw in 2013.

Pacific Rim Although it can be said that this movie’s plot is absurdly gener-ic, Pacific Rim featured some of the best CGI Robot/Monster fights in a movie to date. Guillermo Del Toro did a fantastic job with this return to the monster movie genre that sits

up there with other greats like Godzilla and Gamera. The visually stunning fight scenes made up for every problem the story line had.

The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is truly one of the few book adaptations that does the book justice. The acting, for the most part, was well executed and the director’s vision made for some very moving moments. The only qualm was the particularly anachronistic music that, at certain points, seemed to change the intended tone of the scene. Otherwise, The Great Gatsby was a superb movie.

Captain Phillips Although the Talon has al-ready printed an article on this mov-ie, it bears restating that the acting and writing were spectacular. It is one of my favorite movies this year, and quite possibly even one of my fa-vorite movies of all time. However, if you want to read more into my opin-ion, check out last edition.

VS

about the Talon December 201312

Letter from the Editor

The Talon StaffBrittany Jones is a senior who has been writing for the Talon for three years. She is on the Varsity basketball team.

Adella Katz is a senior at OPHS. She enjoys writing for the Talon and obses-sively watches her favorite TV shows New Girl and SVU.

Alex Appelrouth is a senior at Oak Park who loves music and fast food. He enjoys being active and plays Varsity baseball.

Tushar Jois is a junior at Oak Park who enjoys writing and layout. He is a typo-phile and hopes you like the new layout.

Leah Katz is a senior at Oak Park and she likes taking pictures and watching ri-diculous sitcoms. She also plays soccer in her free time.

Min Kwon is a senior at OPHS. He en-joys writing for the Talon and listening to K-Pop in his free time.

Ashley Siavoshi is a junior and has been writing for the Talon since her freshman year. Her hobbies include poetry, maths, and the Big Bang Theory.

Zainab Pixler is a senior at OPHS and this is her second year writing for the Talon. She loves The Huntington Library and National Geographic.

TALO

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Editorial Staff

Staff WritersNicholas Branigan is a sophomore at OPHS. Among his interests are writing, mountain biking, and lamenting his lack of free time.

Benjamin Porat is a sophomore writing for the Talon for a second year. He is a certified Microsoft Office Master in Of-fice 2013.

Varsha Sarveshwar is in her first year writing for the paper. She loves reading

The Talon, produced by OPHS Journalism Club students, strives to bring attention to and to discuss cur-rent events through a student forum.

The paper aims to inform the student body in a reliable and relevant manner.

If you would like to contact the Talon with comments or ques-tions regarding adver-tising, please e-mail the newspaper at:talon@oakparkusd.org.

about and discussing current events and politics.

Lauren Perlmutter is a sophomore and has had a passion for writing since she was young. Lauren enjoys being with friends and volunteering in her free time.

Nicholas Markarian is a sophomore at Oak Park High School. He runs cross-country and track, and enjoys playing soccer as well.

Julia Appelrouth is currently in her first year of Journalism Club. She loves to watch new episodes of CW’s The Vam-pire Diaries every Thursday night.

Carlo Cruz-Albrecht is a sophomore who loves to read, to write, and express his opinions on controversial topics. He’s into science, engineering, and history.

Taylor Bray, also known as “Klancy,” is a senior striving to become an illustrator. He enjoys playing with small rodents and eating various assortments of fruits.

Jordan Berns is in her third year on the paper. She is a senior. She likes the Or-egon Shakespeare Festival.

Grady Benson is a senior who loves watching television and Netflix. He also spends his time on the computer.

Alex Burger is a sophomore who likes to play baseball and golf. He loves to pitch and hang out with friends.

James Whiteley is a junior and he loves to run. He is on the cross country and track teams.

Kailee Canty is a junior and is a junior and she loves to write. Her other hobbies include running and playing the ukulele.

In this issue: Jessica Ji, Irena Yang, Christopher Lee, Ashkaan Khalil-zadeh, Nikhil Bajpai, Julian Lehrer, Christina Torigian, Hannah Kier-nan, and Kavya Jatavallabhula.

Dear Readers, How do you define success? Is it by your level of happiness? By the amount of wealth you posses? Or maybe even by the love that surrounds you? Whichever way you define success, just remember that you can all make a difference, whether you start out ‘successful’ or not. That’s what this issue’s center spread it all about. As you sit by the hearth with your family this break, eating hot-chocolate-soaked cookies, drinking eggnog and the like, think about the success you’ve already obtained. Go enjoy your-selves; ski down the steepest slopes, eat until you’re full to the brim, and just be happy. Finals are in late January, so studying can hold off a few weeks. Rest up and get rejuvenated because second semester is coming fast. Take a stress hiatus and remember to have a fantastic, safe and relaxing break and we’ll see you all in the new year! Happy Holidays from the Talon staff, and remember, in the words of Anchorman Ron Burgun-dy: stay classy, Oak Park.

- Adella Katz, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Interested in joining the Talon staff? Whether you are interested in journalism, photography or

layout, we have a place for you. ~

Locate Brittany Jones or Adella Katz or stop by a club meet-ing. Meetings take place every other Tuesday at lunch in

H-9.