issue 4TABLE OF CONTENTS2

NEWS3&4

ED/OP5–7

ENTERTAINMENT8&9

CENTER10&11

FEATURES12–15

SPORTS16–19

EDITORSEDITORS-IN-CHIEFJoyce TanKelly Wisneski

NEWSEdwin ChikukwaShay Suban

ED/OPCasey Sigelakis

ENTERTAINMENTSara Wilson

CENTERJessica AshcraftKendell Snow

FEATURESAli KoplanAmber Sutherland

SPORTSScott Price Dane Swanson

WEBSITEEthan LyonsBen Mueller-Leclerc

STAFFADVERTISING MANAGERJoyce Tan

PHOTOGRAPHERSEthan LyonsBen Mueller-LeclercNikita Sarmiento

WRITERSJonathan BroughAndrew ChauKalie ClearJoyce HuchinSamantha KallenClarissa KanoBrian LeeAllison MedleyKD MirelesJessi SoporitoSierra Waters

ADVISERTasha Beaudoin

The Lancer is the o� cial school publication of Thousand Oaks High School, created and produced by students in Advanced Journalism.

The Lancer reserves the right to refuse advertising deemed inappropriate for high school publication.

Guest editorials and “Letters to the Editor” are welcome, but must be signed and are subject to editing for length, libel, obscenity and grammar.

The Lancer is a member of the Journalism Education Association (JEA), National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and NSPA All-American Hall of Fame and a Pacemaker winner.

STAFF2013-2014

16GIRLS SOCCER REBOUNDSWith a new coach and a new attitude, girls soccer � ies high at the start of the season.

19READY TO LEADSenior Nick Riemen, coming o� a solid junior season, is now dominating his opponents on the wrestling mat.

14ICE PRINCESSES

Two students reveal their lifelong passions

for ice skating and are in the process

of training for their upcoming � gure skating

showcases.

13URBAN TO SUBURBANFresh from Los Angeles, sophomore Kenya Hennington � nds comfort in the calm lifestyle of Thousand Oaks.

8THE LADYFINGERSFour Lancers form The Lady� ngers, a group with original rock and roll, sound completely unique from any other “boy band.”

10&11MODERNIZING HEROISMMandela’s death has led us to question the true de� nition of what it means to be a hero.

5ATTACK OF THE

DRONES“The idea of a � ying, unmanned

machine with eight spinning blades coming to your house is kind of

terrifying.”

4FLIPPING THROUGH THE YEARDance takes its audience on a journey through the seasons over the course of three days.

9OLD PLOT: NEW TWIST

Author Rainbow Rowell takes the typical idea of young � rst love and

molds it into a tale of innocence, cautious a� ection and � nding

yourself.

10MODERNIZING HEROISMMandela’s death has led us to question the true de� nition of what it means to be a hero.

FRONT COVER GRAPHIC » KELLY WISNESKI

EDWIN CHIKUKWA

The Common Core standards have not failed to be controversial since their introduction. The squabbles have ranged from the heated Common Core Forum debates held locally in TOHS’ Performing Arts Center to the Secretary of Education’s recent comment that “white suburban moms” blame the Common Core for their children’s lower scores in testing.

Yet, recently released PISA (Program for Interna-tional Student Assessment) results leave many people wondering if the Common Core is the solution.

The PISA, which tests a random sample of 15-year-olds in English, science and math, claims that the U.S. out of 65 countries, scored above average, average and below average in these areas respectively.

“Of course it’s alarming,” math department chair James Park said. “We want our children to do well.”

The PISA happens every three years and since 2000, the U.S.’ performance in the three areas tested has re-mained consistent. However, some department chair-persons feel as though the nation’s average results can-not be attributed only to the education standards.

“I think looking at global scores and comparing us to other countries is in some, not in all, ways an inac-curate measurement on how we are teaching,” history

department head Robert Haar said. “If you are looking at countries like Iceland or Finland there is not much diversity in these countries. There is not much in a sense of needs that we have in our country with differ-ent languages and different economic bases.”

Even though the Common Core assessment, known as Smarter Balanced, is coming to California, Haar and the department heads do not believe that fi xing these international scores is the Common Core’s main goal.

“It’s important to look at these scores and ask our-selves if we are doing a great job,” Haar said. “I don’t think the U.S. likes to be considered middle of the pack in anything, but that [doing well on these tests] is not what we guide the Common Core on.”

So, what is the Common Core?“The Common Core Standards defi ne the rigorous

skills and knowledge students need to become global thinkers,” Park said. “Presently, 45 states have imple-mented or are preparing to implement it.”

The Common Core replaces the STAR. A survey of three senior classes, ranging from standard level to Advanced Placement, revealed that 92 percent of the students believed that the STAR Tests did not prepare them for college or the real world.

“Our chemistry scores were phenomenal, hands down better than all other schools in the district,” sci-

ence department head Rhonda Frohn said. “We were being effective as teachers, but we were going so fast cramming so much information into the students. This year, knowing that we don’t have the STAR test has allowed all [science teachers] to relax. We are doing more fun things that require students to think, so we are very happy with the fact that it’s gone.”

This idea that Common Core gets students to think is the main reason each department head welcomes the change. They feel as though STAR Tests did not offer the critical thinking element necessary to education.

The information on which grade level which will pilot the test has been changed several times this year, but the fi nal decision will be made in January. This spring, students will take the Smarter Balanced test in English-Language Arts and math.

As for the Common Core’s implementation at TOHS, all of the department heads believe that the new standards will achieve their purpose.

“I’ve been teaching for 15 years, and I have also taught in college,” Frohn said. “Students can’t think; they are so used to looking for the right answer and not trying to connect all the dots. The kids I’m teaching now are not the kids I taught 15 years ago. The Com-mon Core has to happen so we can get away from high stakes testing.”

3december 18, 2013 NEWS

News Editor

Recent international testing results put the U.S. at average or below average in education—so with Common Core fast approaching, how are teachers changing things here at home?Measuring Up

“Basically Common Core’s goal is to improve literacy across subject areas. These standards push students to CRITICALLY READ TEXTS that they will most likely COME INTO CONTACT WITH IN COLLEGE AND CAREER. Also

the standards ask for writing across the curriculum in three broad structures: the narrative, the argument,

and the informative/explanatory essay. “—English Department Head Melissa Wood-Glusac

Students will be more involved with MULTI-STEP PROBLEM SOLVING which will provide more opportuni-ties to ENHANCE CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING. The

test will require students to complete tasks with multiple choice problems with multiple answers, open-ended

problems and projects. —Math Department Head James Park

“This past January, we � nalized our Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). They are very similar to Common Core be-

cause for the science department, that’s our Common Core. The standards make students think and INCORPORATE

TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING. Students are reading more; they are doing MORE INQUIRY LABS and things like that. Also all of the geoscience classes have been made more relevant to engineering.”—Science Department Head Rhonda Frohn

“There will be MORE HOLISTIC THINKING. Curriculum wise, we’re still going to be teaching the same history but just approaching it di� erently. We are going to get students to be more engaged by getting them to use

MORE PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS, reading information, looking at a picture or a graph and

MAKING ASSESSMENTS BASED ON WHAT THEY KNOW or are about to learn.”—History Department Head Robert Haar

RHONDA FROHN

ROBERT HAARJAMES PARK

MELISSA GLUSAC

BY THE NUMBERSSURVEYS DISTRIBUTED TO 75

STUDENTS IN 3 SENIOR CLASSES

92%believed the STAR Tests did not prepare them

for college

67%believed the STAR Tests

were irrelevant to their education

76%believed the STAR Tests were not academically

challenging

Q & A We sat down with

the department chairs and asked

them:

What changes will the

Common Core bring to your department?

GRAPHIC » KELLY WISNESKI » THE LANCER

CALENDAR

DECEMBER19CHOIR WINTER CONCERT7:00 p.m., PAC

20WINTER RALLY

SENIOR BALL TICKET SALES BEGIN» $75 with SACafter 3:00 p.m.,$80 with SAC

23–JAN. 03NO SCHOOLWinter Break

J A N U A R Y18–19SAT BOOTCAMP

20NO SCHOOLMartin Luther King, Jr. Day

21–24SEMESTER ONE FINALSEarly dismissal Jan. 22–24

27NO SCHOOL

28STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD NIGHT

29COMMON PLANNING SCHEDULE

F E B R UA R Y01SENIOR BALL

14–17NO SCHOOLPresidents’ Weekend

18–21BLANKET DRIVE

CALENDAR

issue 4NEWS4

friday

thursday

A leap through the times

saturday

Five bands duked it out for first place at the Battle of the Bands on Saturday, Dec. 7, but only one band emerged victorious.

Galvanized Souls, March 4th and Quarantine took first, second and third place, respectively.

Hosted at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, the event had bands Zen, Quarantine, Sapphire, Galva-nized Souls and March 4th compete for the votes of the event’s judges—Will Smith’s producer, Rob Chi-arelli, producer Ron Harris and actor Madisen Hill.

Each band played a mixture of covers and original songs, with a 10-minute break between sets. Audi-ence members supported their favorite band by send-ing texts, which would appear on live display screens.

—KD Mireles

Every month, three faculty members receive the title of Teacher of the Month, along with various prizes, which include gift cards, cupcakes and rec-ognition on the daily bulletin.

“[Teacher of the Month] gives us the ability to show our appreciation for the teachers,” PTSA member junior Kimberly Cook said.

Launched by the PTSA student group as a way to express gratitude toward the staff, the program allows students to cast their votes in the activities office. At the end of the month, the votes are tallied.

“We have such wonderful teachers on campus,” PTSA student group adviser Karen Cook said. “We want to thank them for being great teachers.”

—Brian Lee

Bands battle for first place PTSA acknowledges staff Lancers write to support

news

wire Macy’s Make-A-Wish Foundation Letter Cam-

paign is a traditional holiday kick off on campus. And this year, Key Club held the annual event from Dec. 3–5 in the quad at lunch.

Students participated in the three-day campaign by addressing the letters to Santa with their wishes. For each letter received, Macy’s donated one dollar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, one of the world’s lead-ing charities, to support children with life-threatening medical conditions.

“It is an easy event that does a lot of good,” senior Key Club vice president Shelby Shankel said.

Students wrote a total of 211 letters, which is a 50-letter improvement from the previous year.

—Joyce Huchin

JESSI SOPORITO

The audience gasped as junior Jocelyn Sanchez jumped off a black platform into the waiting arms of her dance members during their September 11 routine.

“[The dance] had such a powerful message,” fresh-man dancer Julia Weiss said. “The choreography was so intense.”

Performed four times over the course of three days, the Winter Dance Concert took place in the PAC from Dec. 5–7.

Senior Kenzy Peach, playing the role of Mother Na-ture, hosted the show at the Miss Calendar Girls Pag-eant, which served as the setting for the show. Peach interviewed each of the twelve Calendar Girls, who represented the months of the year, as they exempli-fied the theme “Dancin’ Through the Year.”

“The girls were hilarious,” dance coach JaLeen Murphy said, “as well as Mother Nature.”

Unlike in recent years, the training teams, which included TFT (Technique For Team) jazz and hip-hop, also participated. All dance groups rehearsed their performances for months leading up to the show.

“We have all been running these dances since a lit-tle after the start of school,” Weiss said, “so we felt confident in most of our pieces.”

In the October section of the concert, a zombie

dance included performers crawling around the stage and even hanging over the edge. In keeping with the monthly theme, a Halloween dance included ultravio-let lights to enhance the performance.

“During that piece the dance team had glowing costumes and danced to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’” Weiss said. “What can get better than that?”

Between their numbers, the dancers prepared for their next performance.

“[Backstage preparation] went from chaotic to smooth,” Murphy said. “There were lots of dancers but very little space.”

Whether it was a senior saying goodbye or a fresh-man’s first concert, the show held a blend of emotions.

“It was really a mix of feelings,” Murphy said. “I always feel happy when the show is over and sad at the same time. It’s like Christmas—you can’t wait until it comes, but then it is over so fast. The hard work is worth it, but it slips through your hands so quickly.”

In the process of preparing for the concert, the dancers have become more than just a dance team.

“The dancers show a lot of respect for one anoth-er and some of them are like my older brothers and sisters,” Weiss said. “There’s just a lot of love and we really are becoming a dance family.”

With the close of the winter concert, the dance team is already preparing for their spring performance.

Toys for Tots falls shortSHAY SUBAN

Every year, over 700 different communities in all 50 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, contribute to the Marine Toys for Tots Founda-tion, whose goal is to provide a message of hope to less fortunate children.

Students participate in the program each year through an ASB on-campus event. This year’s annual Toys for Tots event took place during the two weeks of Dec. 2–13.

To participate in the charity, students brought in new, unwrapped toys to their classes. After the toys were collected and sorted for age and gender, the Toys for Tots company distributes the gifts to children in the community.

“In the past, Toys for Tots has been one of our most successful fundraisers,” ASB adviser and English teacher David Sheridan said. “It’s our best charity drive of the year. We have many full boxes of toys by the end of it.”

A few classrooms in particular find that students need some extra encouragement, such as extra credit, in order to donate.

“Some teachers do a really good job of encourag-ing students to donate by doing extra credit,” Sheridan said, “but I would like to think that people would do-nate without needing 10 points to do it.”

Other classes have found alternative ways to con-tribute to the charity.

“Our woodshop teacher had us build toy trucks to donate,” freshman Vincenzo Spano said.

Despite the efforts made by these classes and the program’s success in the past, overall, it gathered a noticeably smaller amount of toys this year than in previous years.

“To tell the truth, the fundraiser looked a lit-tle sparse this year,” Sheridan said. “It looked a bit less-than-enthusiastic.”

Some believe that the reason behind the program being less successful than before is the lack of effec-tive advertising.

“We’ve done announcements and posted on the bul-letin boards,” ASB member freshman Emma Faciane said, “but nobody really listens to the announcements or looks at the posters, and with the posters, every-thing just gets ripped down.”

Others have come to the conclusion that it is not a flaw in the program itself that led to a weaker partici-pation, but rather that students just don’t have enough time between their academics and extracurriculars to acquire a donation.

Still others have speculated that it is simply a matter of having too many fundraisers around the same time of the year.

“People hear about this, that and the other thing, and too many of the same things mean that they don’t give to any of them,” Sheridan said. “Sometimes peo-ple get a little charity-driven out.”

Staff Writer

The Winter Dance Concert’s time-traveling acts fill the PAC as the performers glide through the theme of “Dancin’ Through the Year.”

JUMP AND CLICK—During the last performance of the Winter Dance Concert, on Saturday, Dec. 7, dancers (from left to right) senior Colin Akahoshi, sophomore Joshua Vicente, junior Dustin Foster, junior Francisco Zamora and senior Cristian Sarabia perform a heel click as part of their February Sweater Weather dance.

JEFF STOLZE » WITH PERMISSION

wednesday

monday

monday

tuesday

News Editor

december 18, 2013 ED/OP 5

Droning on and on

SAM KALLEN

Attention all humans—the robot apocalypse is im-minent and we are all doomed. Forget the zombies. The drones will kill us all.

And it looks like Santa is being replaced by a fl eet of metal death-machines.

Amazon recently announced the development of a new delivery service, which features fl ying drones that deliver shipments directly to homes in less than half an hour. You heard me.

Drones. Amazon is expecting “Prime Air” to start in fi ve to

ten years. The drones, called “octocopters,” are small devices with eight rotors, hence the name. There’s even talk about programming the drones to land in your very own backyard.

There are many things rather distressing about this. The idea of a fl ying, unmanned machines with eight spinning blades coming to your house is kind of terri-fying. There are a frightening number of ways that this system and technology could go wrong.

What if the drone drops the package on some by-stander’s head? What if it crashes? What if the family pet runs outside and gets hurt by it? What if, what if, what if?

Maybe there’s a reason behind all those robots-ver-sus-human-race movies.

Another major problem is the FAA. Technology is

progressing faster than laws can be made. And even though commercial use of drones is technically illegal, they’re already used for various domestic tasks, such as bird watching or taking pictures for real estate. There are virtually no laws regarding drone usage by private companies, and it requires a complete overhaul of cur-rent regulations.

Despite the major problems with protecting the pub-lic, Amazon isn’t the only company reinventing itsdelivery system.

Over the past six months, Google has acquired a to-tal of seven robotics companies.

It’s been developing humanoid robots that will drive to your house, get out of the car and drop the package off on your doorstep.

Now, at fi rst, this plan seems just as awful, but it actually makes more sense than the octocopters.

Amazon’s fl ying drones are fantastical, but Google is just making an automated UPS truck, and we’ve been working on self-driving cars for years. Granted, there are some issues with the robot running up to your house (and gaining awareness and taking over planet Earth), but robots on the ground where people can see them can be worked on much easier than uncontrolla-ble aircraft in the sky. It’s easier to control them when you can get to them.

The only plus side to all this is that those of you con-sidering a career in drone maintenance and repair will not be disappointed.

IDK my

BFF Jill?

CASEY SIGELAKIS

Swag. Chief. Based. It’s gibberish to older ears, but makes sense to our generation.

Words change over time, while some are invented out of thin air. You could ask Shakespeare if he weren’t so dead.

Language is literally evolving. Which brings up that pesky word: literally. It perfectly encapsulates lan-guage’s volatile nature.

Literally, literally means “in a literal manner or sense; exactly.” That’s Oxford’s defi nition. Then right below what seems to be perceived by many as the only true defi nition lies “used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.”

The death of language! How can you be literally starving when you’re only

kind of hungry? This is completely outrageous! Except

for the fact that the fi rst use of literally to mean an ex-aggeration dates back to 1769. And Mark Twain used it in that sense too.

It’s just one of many examples of language evolving. Communication isn’t static.

If that kind of “valley girl” talk is good enough for Mark Twain, it’s good enough for the rest of us.

Language has changed over time. “Thou” and “ye” weren’t so uncommon. People used “f” in place of “s” in the middle of words. Indiana Jones taught me that Jehovah used to be spelled with an “i.”

However untrue the older generations stereotype of us being lazy and unmotivated is, when it comes to lan-guage, we like things simple. And why shouldn’t we? Just because a word is long or obscure doesn’t mean it’s better. Just cuz ya talk like a fancy book-learnd city-folk don’t mean you’re any smarter than someone who uses “perf” and “totes” every other word.

Changing the way we communicate shows more of a mastery of language than it does a complete disregard for it. Those smugly self-satisfi ed “Grammar Nazi’s” can take a rest after their righteous crusade to protect us from ourselves.

Every generation has decried the one that came be-fore it as being lazy, stupid or immoral. And maybe we are, but so was everyone in generation X. And so was every baby boomer.

So listen up elderly curmudgeons; language isn’t be-ing systematically destroyed. It’s constantly recreated until it’s unintelligible to what came a couple centuries before it.

Have you ever seen Beowulf in its original text? Or read Hamlet?

So “IDK, my BFF Jill?” is not only the slogan from one of the greatest commercials of all time; it’s an ac-curate barometer of our changing times.

Sta� Writer

Amazon recently announced its plans to implement a drone service in order to more quickly deliver packages to people. It seems like a good idea in theory, but there are numerous setbacks that could keep the service from taking o� . Among them are legality and insurance issues.

Ed/Op Editor

GRAPHIC » CLARISSA KANO » THE LANCER

D WN D LLARWITH THEWN D

HOW BITCOINS REPRESENT A NEW KIND OF CONSUMERISM WITH A NEW KIND OF CURRENCY

WHAT IS BITCOIN?a peer-to-peer, digital currency, the value of which is controlled

not by the government, but by its users (”miners”)

WHAT IS A “MINER”?anyone with a computer system sophisticated enough

(usually costing $2500+)

to run the complicated algorithms that produceBITCOINS

SO WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?because = $705.60

up from $13 in January

=

BUT MORE RECENTLY...

=via an illegal underground Amazon-of-sorts

called “The Silk Road”

WHAT SHOULD WE TAKE FROM THIS?that Bitcoin mining, though lucrative, is practically impossible today

that a non-government based currency is possible, though only with more thorough regulation

SOURCE » BITCOIN.ORGGRAPHIC » KELLY WISNESKI » THE LANCER

issue 4ED/OP6

S T A F F E D I T O R I A L

We’re not a rich private school. Just look around. We’re not rolling in

dough and we won’t be any time soon.So while we look with longing eyes at

Oaks Christian’s phat stacks, we should look inwardly and fi gure out what we want to invest in.

iPads in schools are becoming more and more prevalent. But should TOHS think to the future and adopt iPads?

We already have iPads in some science classrooms. Physics classes use them to fi nd the slope of a graph and create data for labs. They aid in young scientist’s intellec-tual pursuits or whatever.

iPads have their use in this context. At some point they could even replace text-books. The Los Angeles Unifi ed School District is already trying; the National Education Association reported that the LAUSD spent $30 million on 35,000 iPads for its students.

The LAUSD has a multi-year contract with Apple in order to help pay for all of this technology.

That’s still a lot of money. And it’s mon-

ey we don’t have right now.While iPads can be used in classrooms,

there’s no reason for every kid to own one.Especially since kids aren’t very respon-

sible yet.If an iPad is lost, stolen or broken, either

the school or the student pays for it. The school district is already strapped

for cash without the added strain of re-placing iPads, and a lot of families simply don’t have the money.

There also becomes a problem when the software needs to be updated or the hard-ware is faulty. An entire textbook can’t just become a paperweight overnight after one small part of it fails, but that’s entirely pos-sible with an iPad.

Our school district shouldn’t spend willy-nilly to adopt a technology we’re not fully prepared for.

Instead of adopting new and untested technology, we should invest in already established things like updating our com-puters and textbooks.

While it’s a good idea in theory, right now, our priorities should be elsewhere.

Should we look into purchasing iPads for

students?

yes

no

abstain

EDITORIAL BOARD

02

0210

Technologically challenged H ts and M ssesWHAT’S UP AND DOWN WITH THE LANCER

Cards Against Humanity charging more during

Black Friday. Cool.

Family Guy killing off and then bringing

back Brian. Not all dogs go to heaven.

A federal judge ruled in favor of Edward

Snowden. But I guess the NSA already knew that.

The fake sign language interpreter

at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. This joke fell on deaf ears.

Dylan Sprouse’s nudes. We saw too much of his

London Tipton...and we liked it.

A homeless couple suing a Missouri town

for asking them to leave. No shirt, no shoes, no service.

H T

M SS

M SS

H T

M SS

H T

“Instead of adopting new and untested

technology, we should invest in

already estab-lished things.”

december 18, 2013 ED/OP 7

It seems like there’s another controversy over who puts what where.

I’m, of course, talking about the gays. The catty, fabulous, oft-maligned and over-stereotyped group of people that just

can’t seem to get full recognition that they are, in fact, 100 percent genuine people.

A state judge in Colorado ruled that Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, has an obligation to serve everyone willing to pay.

Including homosexuals. New Mexico’s Supreme Court also ruled against

discrimination when they decided professional photographers Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin must provide their services to gay folks.

Well what about the business’ right to refuse service to someone? This stomps all over the face of small business owners and freedom.

We’ve all seen those signs in restaurants. “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” That basically absolves them of any sin and frees them completely from the bonds of morality.

It might as well say, “We reserve the right to be as racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-semitic as possible. Deal with it.”

Not so fast there, buckaroo! Those signs aren’t a metaphoric license to kill. The Civil Rights Act states that discrimination is “outlawed… based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.”

Now I know gays aren’t specifi cally mentioned here, but this was clearly drafted at a time when gay people didn’t exist.

The question then becomes, what is a public venue? Does a bakery or photography studio count as a public venue? They count as a public accommo-dation engaged in interstate commerce.

If all of these venues count as public, or fall under the nebulous umbrella of interstate commerce, no one should have the right to refuse service to anyone unless they’re breaking the rules of the establish-ment or being rowdy.

And sure, there is the argument of freedom of religion, but there’s also a freedom from religion. No one should have the right to blow the religion whistle and have free reign to discriminate against whoever they please.

But let’s say hypothetically that those little plaques on restaurants actually gave people a license to discriminate. Why would we be OK with that?

I would hope as a society that we would want to move past that kind of behavior. No one deserves to be denied a service simply because of the way they were born. If this was the status quo, we should be outraged, not complacent. But since it’s not, we can only accept that the times are changing.

People are slowly becoming more accepting and businesses should be forced to adopt a policy that better refl ects a diverse population.

No one should have to feel unsafe or unwanted because of a matter that doesn’t affect those around them. Continuing with these practices only further marginalizes the people fi ghting for equal protection under the law. It might seem silly because of the fact that gay people are denied service from a bakery and photography studio, but imagine if it were a town hall or court room. Suddenly it becomes less laughable and more outrageous.

Who cares how someone looks, or what they wor-ship or what they do with their wangs and hoo-has.

Mewtwo said it best: “The circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”

—Casey Sigelakis

The gay agendaCASE POINTIN

Op

inio

ns

bri

ef For all the years of math and English we take, we don’t learn the skills we need to help us later in life. School would be a more productive place if we learned what would demand our attention later in life. If school is supposed to prepare us for what lies ahead, we should learn more practical skills.

If school gave us the basic skills we need, then we may not struggle as much with doing things such as getting a loan, or buying a condo or a house.

For example, 44 percent of people are behind on saving for retirement according to PBS. Too many students these days don’t know how to handle their personal fi nances.

Some schools have dedicated electives on person-al fi nance which help students learn how to handle themselves later in life, but it’s absent from our high school curriculum.

With all the non-required electives, such as game design or art history, it only makes sense to have one required course on personal fi nance.

—Kalie Clear

I got bills to pay Coding is coolEvery day, as technology progresses, so does its

use; people have become more and more reliant on their electronic devices. Checking emails, making conference calls, and doing homework relies on computers. They have become ever-present in ev-eryday life.

Currently, there are three computer programming classes on campus—two computer programming 1 classes, and one computer programming 2 class. Technology is advancing and the general population is falling behind. People need to learn how these things work and how to use them. People should not be forced to walk blindly into technology; it needs to be more emphasized in school.

When computer problems strike, most people call in a tech person or go to a specialist, but people should know how to fi x these problems and learn more about their computers.

It’s the school’s responsibility to help prepare us for the future.

—Brian Lee

SPACE DISGRACE—NASA has had its budget cut time and time again, and it seems with every round of budget cuts, more and more peo-ple forget all of the good that NASA has done. From exploring the furthest reaches of the solar system, to claiming the moon as our own, to developing new technologies to help here on Earth, NASA’s impact has been immense.

CARTOON » SHAY SUBAN » THE LANCER

CASEY SIGELAKIS

Woah, space dude.Recently, there was a double whammy in space ex-

ploration. It’s been a year since the Curiosity probe landed on Mars and Voyager 1 went into deep space and left the solar system.

Now we’re out and exploring the fi nal frontier. The cold depths of space.

But NASA still only gets half a penny on the dollar from the federal budget according to Penny4NASA. That’s one half of one percent.

NASA defi nitely doesn’t warrant that little from the government. There are many more agencies or depart-ments that get dramatically more but don’t deserve as

much. You can fi ll in which depending on your side of the political spectrum.

You can’t really put a price tag on what NASA has given back to us.

And not just in terms of satisfying our curiosity. There’s the added bonus of having something to rub in every other country’s face.

The moon is ours. There’s a fl ag up there to prove it.But NASA’s also given back real, tangible things.

They’ve developed light-emitting diodes to aid in the treatment of tumors, artifi cial limbs and ventricular as-sist devices to aid in blood fl ow to the heart.

They’ve pioneered technology in order to purify water and developed nutrients used in 90 percent of baby foods.

The list goes on. Slashing funding to NASA not only gives us fewer

opportunities to fi nd out about the origins of the uni-verse, but cuts advancements in real and important fi elds of study.

Throwing a couple extra tenths of a cent towards NASA won’t tank our economy, especially if less groundbreaking agencies are cut.

In the long run, it will bolster existing fi elds and pos-sibly create new ones.

Cash rules everything around NASA

Ed/Op Editor

NASA’s Spin-O� Technologies

» Anti-icing systems of aircrafts

» Lightweight breathing apparatuses for � re� ghters

»Memory foam used in Tempurpedic mattresses and pillows

» The NASA Structural Analy-sis Program, which has been used to develop roller-coast-er rides and Cadillacs

» The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, used to prevent food safety problems before they happen

SOURCE » NASA.GOV

issue 4ENTERTAINMENT8

Two (girly) thumbs up for

The LadyfingersSARA WILSON Entertainment Editor

A brief history lesson for those (sadly) not familiar with The Roxy: the West Hollywood nightclub and concert venue was founded in 1973, housing the fi rst American Run of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in 1974 before it was made into the cult-classic movie one year later. The original Genesis lineup (with Pe-ter Gabriel) played a slew of shows there—shows that many consider to have been their fi nest. It was a reg-ular hangout for John Lennon and Alice Cooper and even hosted the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s very fi rst per-formance with drummer Chad Smith in January 1989. Point is, the venue is an iconic edifi ce on the Sunset Strip, showcasing the area’s most prominent talent and providing a stage for promising acts early on in their (generally successful) careers.

So it’s a pretty freaking cool deal that TOHS’ very own The Ladyfi ngers played on The Roxy’s stage this past Sunday, the 15th. Along with Gabby Sōl (featured in Issue 3 of The Lancer), David Jicha, and Night Riots, the band played a 40 minute set with their origi-nal songs and a few covers. Though the crowd was just as expected for a Sunday night, the band managed to remain the center of attention with their high energy and surprisingly captivating stage presence.

“It felt amazing. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but that went away eventually by the third or fourth song,” bassist PJ Shahamat said of the performance.

The group formed last spring right before Morp, an alternative Prom held at the Thousand Oaks Teen

CHORD-IAL—CHORD-IAL—CHORD-IAL—CHORD-IAL—CHORD-IAL—PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has PJ Shahamat has been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band been playing bass for the band since this past spring.since this past spring.

Center. Comprised of senior Sam Mor-ton (vocals), junior Grant Bubar (gui-tar), senior Parker Trent (drums—he’s actually studied under Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine), and senior PJ Shahamat

(bass), The Ladyfi ngers are more of an eclectic bunch of pals jamming than a conventional “rock band.” They practice in Trent’s garage...practices that usual-ly are interrupted with Super Smash Bros marathons and general teenage boy shenanigans. Even our interview, meant to be brief and straightforward, turned into a rambling journey about much more than their music, covering such topics as Trent’s recent spout with mono and his subsequent “sick beard” and PJ’s beloved bass, whose name is Geoffery (the Geo- spelling apparently makes it more bourgeois.) Long story short, this band is talented, hilarious and completely their-own. They make sure of it.

And though their professionalism isn’t neces-sarily top notch, they still manage to work with a unique sort of synergy and fi nd success in that.

“We’ve gotten very good at having creative roles,” Morton said. Morton acts as an unspoken paternal fi gure of the group, usually the one to instigate the song-writing process and organize gigs. He emailed a few venues in L.A. for possible performances, but in no way was anticipating to score such a prominent and big-name place like The Roxy. “I was at Parker’s house when the guy emailed me back, and I totally was expecting him to just be like ‘Oh, sorry, no can do.’ But he was like ‘Yeah! Here’s some dates.’ I was not expecting that at all. It was pretty cool.”

The Ladyfi ngers are a diverse medley of musical styles, pulling infl uence from underground punk, new age jazz, classic rock and roll, and even ska. Their

STAF

F W

ISHL

IST JOYCE TAN

Mr. Darcy and hashbrowns

KELLY WISNESKITo understand physics

EDWIN CHIKUKWATo ride an elephant

SHAY SUBANTo be tall

CASEY SIGELAKISLil B’s new mixtape

SARA WILSONA Nordstrom in my closet

JESSICA ASHCRAFTFree shipping

KENDELL SNOWCat iPhone cases

ALI KOPLANAn “A” in Algebra 2

AMBER SUTHERLANDA sense of direction

SCOTT PRICEAn ugly Christmas sweater

DANE SWANSONBuckets

ETHAN LYONSEntry to Heaven

BEN MUELLER-LECLERCLeather pants

TASHA BEAUDOINA grading fairy

EP, Angry Neighbors, is slightly reminiscent of The Vaccines. Especially “Take It Back,” which sounds much more like a combination of Jake Bugg and The Shins (maybe with a splash of reggae?) than a low-bud-get garageband song recorded at CLU. “Alone” is still stuck in my head from Sunday night. Their bouncing beats and SoCal sound are apparent, but not obnoxious as they tend to be.

These four guys are very talented and all have long histories with their respective instruments, yet man-age to create music that intertwines and compliments each of their individual styles. You can hear Morton’s bluesy voice. Grant’s reggae. Parker’s jazz. PJ’s funk and rock. It all comes together with a sound so specifi c to them—one that intrigues and engages the listener.

According to Bubar, their sound is just “like move your bod-ay.” It’s a non-judgmental, non-discrimina-tory product of Thousand Oaks teen angst. In the best

sort of way. They write about issues relevant to them, but don’t expect to fi nd a ballad of undying affection in their

repertoire.“So many people just write love

songs, and I don’t think I’ve ever written a pure love song. I think there are cooler things to write about,” Morton said.

“We actually write hate songs. I’ve written mad hate songs,” Trent says dryly sarcastic.The most remarkable part of The Ladyfi ngers is

their friendship, because it’s obvious that this band has more than a desire to make music—they all have a desire to connect with and encourage one another. To explore their passion of music down an avenue unfa-miliar to the common high school student. While Mor-ton and Trent have been friends for a long time, the band brought Shahamat and Bubar into their unique bond. And now they are basically all best friends, creat-ing a musical experience incredible to watch on stage, as seen this past Sunday night.

Trent sums that notion of camaraderie up quite nicely. “The thing is, to have a successful band, it’s not whether you can play or not. You gotta be friends. Because if you hate the person you’re playing with, you’re not going to have fun. And if you’re not having fun, then what is the purpose?”Check out their EP at http://shadowpeople2.bandcamp.com/music

PHOTOS » SARA WILSON AND BEN MUELLER-LECLERC » THE LANCER

WITH THE BAND—(clockwise from left) PJ Shahamat, Grant Bubar and Sam Morton practicing in Trent’s ga-rage on Dec. 8; Bubar plays rhythm guitar and back-up vocals on Dec. 15; The Roxy is the largest venue the band has played to date.

FRESH BEATS—FRESH BEATS—Parker Trent has been a percussionist Parker Trent has been a percussionist for basically his whole life. In addition to The Lady� n-for basically his whole life. In addition to The Lady� n-gers, he’s the captain of TOHS’ drumline.gers, he’s the captain of TOHS’ drumline.

KENZY PEACH Sta� Writer

“Eleanor & Park,” written by Rainbow Rowell, gives the unfortunate fi rst-glance-impression of being an obnoxious pre-teen romance novel. The book’s back cover de-scribes it as being a “story of two star-crossed misfi ts,” and even the cover, replicated to the right, is cutesy and cartoonish.

However, “E&P,” while technically written for “young adults,” completely transcends any age range or target audience. Every per-son, even the least sentimental, can identify with and root for the two central characters.

Following the story of two dorky 16-year-olds in 1986, the novel transports the reader into both of their personal lives through two ac-counts of their fi rst-person narratives. Realistically heart-wrenching family situations give the reader a deeper understanding of each character and their relationship with each other.

9december 18, 2013 ENTERTAINMENT

Disappointment comes with the territory of being sixteen. It’s an unavoidable truth of the bumbling journey to maturity: this juxtaposition of our overzeal-ous, romanticized expectations and the actual reality of adolescence. Unfortunately, the harder we try to evade the letdown, the harder it slaps us in the face. Trust me, I’m the expert on it.

It will come eventually. No doubt about it, absolute spirit crushing events will occur in our high school years, and we will have to face seemingly impossible challenges. At some point or another, we will want to give up on this whole “teenager thing.” Maybe we already have.

The boy you thought would love you until forever (or at least until Prom, but those are technically the same thing) could leave you right as you assumed you were at the zenith of your relationship, the peak of your affection, or the height of your infatuation. He could decide his life was veering in a completely opposite direction than yours, and that misalignment was in no way curable. He could abandon what you thought was stable and let it crumble into debris of a summer past. Heartbreak. That is disappointment.

The math test you studied hours for, the one you nearly exhausted your cognitive mind out of func-tion for, could come back as a failing grade. All the confi dence you felt entering G-14 on test day could be returned with a shameless sucker punch right at the base of your throat. Because you did your best, and it still wasn’t good enough by a long shot. Failure. That is disappointment.

High school actually sucks sometimes. Any number of “disasters” could come around and make us want to retreat into a safe Netfl ix coma. Our Saturday night plans could bail, or “friends” could suddenly pretend we’re a stranger in their world. We could get cut from our sport (what’s a sport??) or our families could slowly fall apart. We could merely get served a Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks when we asked for Pumpkin Spice (Extremely personal anecdote of last Sunday morning).

One of the most crucial things to learn is that high school is not as cool as it’s portrayed in “That’s So Raven.” Problems don’t resolve themselves if we want it enough or if we’re a good enough person. There isn’t a boy waiting on our doorsteps with white daisies, and those Prince Charmings really don’t even exist, at least not at our age. Sorry for all you dream-ers out there.

And while this time in life is not easy, I don’t think it’s supposed to be. Maybe these aren’t supposed to be “the best four years of our lives,” but perhaps they are supposed to be the most diffi cult. What if I suggest-ed that these years should make us reevaluate and reconsider ourselves—to navigate from being carefree to careful? Moreso than our achievements and Kodak memories, it’s our disappointments that will ultimate-ly shape us.

Being able to cope with heartbreak and wavering confi dence tells more about the internal workings of us than constant success ever will. It shows we can—and do—survive. Learning that things do improve eventually is the suckiest process eeeeever, but it’s im-portant. Conquering and dealing with this awkward, sometimes awful period of life allows the construction of an adult who is strong. Resilient. Someone who un-derstands that it’s okay to feel afraid and to face risk.

I would be so much worse off if my life were perfect, if I never cried over a boy and if I had perfect grades. And while it’s awesome to collect those high school memories full of festivity and innocent de-bauchery, I like how brave of a woman I am becom-ing. I’ve realized you can’t be crestfallen every time Prince Charming doesn’t bring you fl owers. Some-times you have to buy those fl owers for yourself, all on your own. They smell just as nice.

—Sara Wilson

SASSMASTER: 3,000I’m a survivor

I’m not gon’ give upI’m not gon’ stopI’m gon work harder

WHATARE YOULISTENINGTO?

“I’ve been listening to Caravan Palace lately. They do kind of French-Vaudeville inspired

music—Vaudeville takes a lot of in� uence from the 1920’s. Generally they’re just a lot of fun to listen and dance to. They have a lot of variety in

their tone and style. I really love discovering unique music.”

“I’ve been listening to Portugal. The Man a lot lately. I don’t kow how to describe

them really. The singer has quite the feminine voice,

but it’s righteous. But I always stick to the basics—Led Zeppelin and Nirvana all day, brother. “

SHAY SEGUIN senior

PAIGE STERNBERGPAIGE STERNBERGjunior

Redefining the “young adult” genre

CLICKING FOR A CAUSEWhile you can use your MacBook Pro for Breaking Bad marathons, you can also use it to spread a little good. Staying true to this season of giving, these websites are charity-oriented and are taking active steps toward solving real-world problems. All you have to do is care and click a few times.

CROPLAND CAPTURE

FREE RICE

TABS FOR A CAUSE

» The Geo-Wiki Project is a global network of citizen-scientists who wish to help increase global knowledge of where cropland is located.

» Disagreement between existing landcover maps create hardships when it comes to determining where there is usable cropland in the world (i.e. viable agriculture land in Africa.)

» Volunteers review hotspot maps to determine if the current landcov-er maps are accurate, in an engaging video-game media.

» Freerice is a quiz program with basic to medium level questions in math, vocabu-lary, history, etc.

» For each answer a user gets right, Fre-erice (a� liated with the United Nations World Food Programme) donates 10 grains of rice to hungry people around the world.

» An average of 5 million grains of rice are donated daily, with over 99 billion grains donated since its launch in October 2007.

» They donate to most countries without restrictions. For example, enough rice was donated to Bangladesh to feed 27,000 refugees from Myanmar for two weeks.

» Tabs for Cause is a downloadable extension for your internet browser.

» Every time a user opens a new tab on the internet, their sponsers donate a frac-tion of a penny to certain charities.

» The prominent charity they support is Action Against Hunger, though they also support Water.org, Humans Rights Watch, Conservative International, International Peace Institute and Save the Children.

»They make it incredibly easy to donate to charity simply by browsing the web.

FREE

RICE

SAM

PLE

QUES

TION

trepidation means:wildebeest fearallygiant

answer: fear

+

0.10 ¢ per opened tab

= $20,000 donated to date

Weekly winners of IIASA’S Cropland Culture, over the course of 6 months, will be entered to win big prizes: an Amazon Kindle, smartphone or tablet.

Cropland Culture, over the course

SASSMASTER:I’m a survivorI’m not gon’ give upI’m not gon’ stopI’m gon work harder

What makes this book signifi cantly different (and far better) than any other teen romance is its ingenuity. Too many novels intro-duce a “nerdy” or “quirky” protagonist, yet they are physically

perfect and devoid of signifi cant emotional scars. On the oth-er hand, Rowell creates two people who are completely and

beautifully real. Both of them have insecurities and under-lying issues that many YA novels overlook. Their dialogue

is written with such honesty that you’ll not only see yourself in them, but see each of them in yourself.

This story is not about love at fi rst sight. It’s not about meeting a handsome stranger at an airport and knowing he’s the one. Elea-

nor and Park do not mindlessly fall in love. They both start off thinking the other is particularly weird. Their feelings de-

velop awkwardly and over time, making their romance more refl ective of teenage love than any other book does on the market.

“Eleanor & Park” is not always happy, and it is not always sad, but it is always genuine, real and quietly

beautiful. No matter who you are, this book will make you laugh and cry and above all, feel love in a more honest way than any YA book you’ve ever read.

~

http://www.geo-wiki.org/games/croplandcapture/

http://freerice.com/

http://www.tabforacause.org/

GRAPHIC » CLARISSA KANO

SCAN HERE TO PLAY AN EASY LEVEL OF ENGLISH VOCAB ON FREERICE.COM

10

tomorrow’s

10

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)Social equality activist 1964 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Harvey Milk (1930-1978)

Gay rights activist2009 Presidential Medal of

freedom recipient

Since Nelson Mandela’s passing, the world is left to re� ect on his legacy and question who will be the next to challenge the status quo and become...

Calling all the courageous

After 60 years of teaching the world forgiveness and fi ghting for racial equality, civil rights activist and former South African president,

Nelson Mandela, passed on Dec. 5. at the age of 95.Mandela’s years of combating racial prejudice have led

him to stand as a symbol of peaceful relations and for-giveness, exemplifi ed by the mannerism he maintained throughout his fi ght for an anti-apartheid South Africa. This nature was best portrayed upon Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 after almost 30 years of imprisonment.

Rather than punishing those who imprisoned him for his activism, he showed understanding and talk-ed with them to work out the issues that still stood. Soon after in 1994, Mandela was elected the fi rst black president of South Africa and offi cially broke the racial blockade in the South African government.

Because of his courageous efforts, Mandela is praised as a hero worldwide for working toward racial equality.

—Kendell Snow, Center Editor

Malala Yousafazi(1997-present)

Women’s education

activistPakistan’s 2013

National Youth Peace

Prize recipient

tomorrow’stomorrow’s

14th Dalai Lama(1950-present)

Peace activist1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Cesar Chavez(1927-1993)

Civil rights activistCo-founded the United

Farm Workers

JESSICA ASHCRAFT

Nelson Mandela. Harvey Milk. Rosa Parks. Heroes of the past were plentiful. But heroes of today are few. “I would defi ne a modern day hero as someone who inspires us to do something against some form of injustice,” junior Preston Fusci said.

In today’s society, acting as a hero is not a common practice, as some feel that much of the world is focused on the dark side of humanity, rather than the inspiring.

“A horrifi c news story will always be more compelling to read than ‘local man saves puppies from the cold,’” junior Michael Maga said. “But focusing on the bad puts emphasis on what good we can do to combat all the evil we encounter and read about in the news.”

Because of all of the disasters in the world, it is diffi cult to fi nd an inspirational story in the news.

“When you turn on the news or open a newspaper, you hear or read about mur-ders, kidnapping, etc,” freshman Lauren Wallace said. “Because this is all you see, most heroes just aren’t recognized.”

Perhaps the reason the fi ght from heroes has become stagnant is due to today’s society and teenagers’ current behavior.

“I don’t think that modern-day teenagers really think much about heroes,” Wal-lace said. “We are led to believe they only exist in books.”

History shows that those who stand up and fi ght against injustice never intend to fi nd fame or be written into history books. Sometimes a leader will stand up to change the future, acting in grand gestures, like Martin Luther King Jr. and his free-dom march. Other times, some stand up, not for others, but for themselves, like Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat on the bus. And fi nally, some fi ght instead for the future, like the Wright Brothers and their fl ying machine invention. These past examples have shown that if they fi ght for what they believe in, with passion and conviction, others around them will believe in their teachings.

Those in pursuit of fame are not heroes at all. For example, people in the enter-tainment industry.

Gloria Steinem(1934-present)

Women’s rights activistFounded the National Women’s

Political CaucusCenter Editor

CENTER 1110A

LL P

HO

TOS

» WIK

ICO

MM

ON

SG

RAPH

IC »

KEL

LY W

ISN

ESKI

» TH

E LA

NCE

R

Those in pursuit of fame are not heroes at all. For example, people in the entertainment industry.

“True heroes fi ght for what they believe is right and try their hardest to help people,” Wallace said. “Fake heroes are the ones who fi ght for fame or publicity.”

In the past, leaders were numerous, fi ghting for equal rights for all citizens, but it seems the numbers are quickly shrinking. This could be due to children of today learning that leaders only exist throughout history and their legacy cannot be revisited.

“I honestly don’t think any teens today wake up and say to themselves, ‘I’m going to make someone else’s day better today. I want to change someone’s life today.’” Wallace said. “Many students are self-centered and don’t really think about how they want to help anyone else.”

An activist’s purpose is to not only change the world as it is currently, but also encourage the upcoming generations to stand up as well.

“A hero could be inspiring a student right now to take a career path to fi ght for what they believe in,” Fusci said. “A hero can inspire a student to help out in the community; there are many different ways heroes can affect our ambitions but it’s up to us to care enough to do something about it.”

INSPIRATION

issue 4FEATURES12

BY THE NUMBERS 87%

know someone

who has been affected by

cancer

51% know some-one who has

died of cancer

22% know

someone who is currently

fi ghting cancer

ALI KOPLAN

Freshman Ethan Harbour lost his mother to a battle with breast cancer on Aug. 12, 2011.

“My mom always made sure that she was there for me,” Ethan said. “When she died I had to realize things weren’t how they used to be and man up.”

Gwen Harbour, Ethan’s mom, sur-vived breast cancer and was in remission when the cancer came back and eventu-ally took her life. During the three years that his mother had cancer Ethan and his family had the support of his friends and church members.

“When Gwen passed away, our church was there for Ethan,” sophomore Danny Chulack said. “We supported him be-cause of our love for him and his family.”

Many friends brought home-cooked meals for the family while his mom was undergoing treatment.

“I didn’t particularly like when people brought over meals,” Ethan said. “It re-minded me that something was wrong.”

When Gwen passed, the church where the funeral was held was fi lled with peo-ple who had been touched by Ethan’s mother’s kindness and strength.

“The funeral was hard to go to, but it was a good time to remember her and all the things that she contributed to me,

my family and the world,” Ethan said.

Once the mourning pe-riod was over, the family remembered the positive.

“We focused on the time that we had with her and that we were lucky enough to get to know her, not the fact that for the rest of our lives we wouldn’t have her around anymore,” he said. “We all enjoy what memo-ry of her we have.”

Today, Ethan’s mom still impacts his life.

“We used to read a lot—everything from fi ction to how to manage fi nances,” Ethan said. “I don’t read as much as I used to, so that would be one way she infl u-ences me today.”

Gwen also infl uenced her son’s music through working at Alfred Music; Ethan now plays percussion and guitar.

“It would be hard not to have her infl uence my music,” he said.

Now, Ethan honors his mother’s memory in many small ways.

“It’s the little things like wearing my pink socks during a basketball game.”

Features Editor

Hoping for reliefALI KOPLAN

After just a normal trip to Costco with his mom and sister freshman Jen-ny Kent, junior Donald Kent’s suspi-cions were confi rmed.

“She sat us down when we got home and told us that she had [breast] cancer,” Donald said. “At fi rst I was angry and sad. I wondered why it happened to her.”

The Kent’s mother, Jean Kent, was diagnosed this past August and underwent surgery and re-cently started chemotherapy

and now plans to start radia-tion therapy to ensure that

the cancer is gone. The cancer has affected her

home and professional life as she can only

do so much before feeling the treat-

ment’s effects.“Right now

I try to look at life normal-ly even though it isn’t,” Jenny said. “I know once she has more treatment, things are going to change.”

Their mother’s cancer, has not affected the siblings’ school-ing or after school activities.

“Our mom didn’t want us to come to the hospital with her because it would confl ict with school and sports,” Donald said. “She told us that there were other people that could support her.”

The Kents have learned to keep their spirits up through the process of their mother’s treat-ment.

“I knew that if I didn’t stay positive with her she couldn’t be positive,” Donald said.

In addition to staying optimistic the siblings have a new appreciation for their mom.

“I think that the little moments with her have be-come special,” Jenny said. “Getting a hug or sitting next to her on the couch have a whole new meaning.”

Features Editor

AMBER SUTHERLAND

Even though senior Julianne Rodriguez’s mother, Marta, is free of breast cancer, the struggle to overcome it has left Rodriguez with a completely different perspective on life. Last year, she was told of her mother’s diagnosis just before a soccer game.

“It kind of ruined the game, I was just speechless,” she said. “You don’t know what to say because it’s such big news.”

After her mother told her, Rodriguez had a hard time concentrating at

school or studying at home because she was

constant-

ly thinking about her mother.“I was sad at times, but I realized it happens to a lot

of people, so you just have to keep moving forward,” Rodriguez said. “I would like to inspire other people, if they ever go through it, to stay strong.”

Before hearing of the diagnosis, Rodriguez planned to attend college farther away from home. But now that her mother has recovered from cancer, she plans on staying close to home just in case anything ever hap-pens again.

“My mom’s cancer brought my family and me closer together,” she said, “so it just feels like the right thing to do to stay closer to home.”

After this experience, Rodriguez plans to go skydiv-ing and try different activities that she might not have before the news.

“I am preparing myself now so that if I did get [can-cer] when I am older, I would be able to say that I am

happy with the life that I have lived,” she said. “I want to live with no regrets.”

Features Editor

Finding a new perspective

of 2

00 s

tude

nts

polle

d:

Though every year there are 232,340 new cases of breast cancer in the United States, there are 2.8 billion breast

cancer survivors in the country.

Created by Charlotte Haley—whose daughter, sister and grandmother had breast cancer—the pink

ribbon originated in the early 1990’s.

For three students, life is not what it used to be. After breast cancer impacted their families, they have come to appreciate the small moments in life.

Looking on the bright sideGRAPHIC » ALI KO

PLAN & JO

YCE TAN

With breast cancer being the second leading cause of death in women across the U.S., for many students, it hits home.

Created by Charlotte Haley—whose daughter, sister and

Though every year there are cancer in the United States, there are

Rembering the little moments

13december 18, 2013 FEATURES

Teacher Feature

AMBER SUTHERLAND

As a history teacher, Nancy Coats immerses herself in a variety of cultures that inspires her teaching and brings her new opportunities to present to her sopho-more students.

While participating in an exchange program, she welcomed two exchange students into her home. One of the students was from Japan, while the other was from Hungary.

“I saw the exchange program as a way to get to know different people and cultures,” Coats said.

While hosting these students, she especially learned from Andrea, the Hungarian student, whom she is still in contact with today.

“Just having that experience of exchanging informa-tion about different cultures is important to me,” Coats said. “It’s also a great experience for the student.”

After her son, Brandon, left for college, Coats went through the process of adopting Destiny, a nine-year-old from Oxnard, whose family came from Mexico.

“When we got her she was already nine, so she al-ready had her own idea about homework and how to do chores and she never really had to use table manners before,” Coats said, “so we really had to start at ground zero, which was a challenge.”

At fi rst, Coats was Destiny’s foster parent but after three years, she offi cially became a part of the family. Throughout the lengthy process of adopting Destiny, Coats underwent the adoption agency’s thorough back-ground check.

“It’s kind of an intrusion of privacy, but I understand why they do it,” Coats said. “They want to make sure

these kids are placed in safe environments, but it’s just a long, tedious process.”

After all of the paperwork and background checks were fi nished, Destiny was a permanent member of the Coats family.

“Finally it was done,” Coats said. “I didn’t have to go to court anymore. There are no more social workers, there is no worry that her parents are going to come back into the picture and take her away, so it was really joyful and kind of a relief.”

In Coats’ childhood, none of her siblings were adopted; however, they were a big infl uence on her life. Her sister, spe-cifi cally, inspired her to become a teacher after she discovered her love of teaching through in-structing kids on horse-back riding.

“Although horseback riding is not teaching,” she said, “I love how my students’ faces light up when they understand what they are learning for the fi rst time and I enjoy giving back to the community through teaching.”

“Teacher feature” is a recurring feature.

Welcoming in diverse cultures

“I love how the students’ faces light up when they understand what they are learning for the � rst time.”—history teacherNancy Coats

Features Editor

ALI KOPLAN

For sophomore Kenya Hennington, growing up on the border of Westchester and Inglewood in Los Ange-les came with many different experiences.

“Out there it’s really sketchy, whereas Thousand Oaks is nicer and safer,” Hennington said. “It’s defi -nitely different.”

In Los Angeles, Hennington would take the bus to transport her to school. While walking to the bus stop one day, Hennington and her cousin felt they were be-ing followed. They confi rmed their suspicions by walk-ing in and out of IHOP.

“No one would go into IHOP like we did. We walked in and walked around and then walked out,” Henning-ton said. “I thought he was going to follow us home.”

Eventually, Hennington ran into an old couple and told them their situation.

“They were a really sweet couple and they gave me an umbrella to hide behind,” she said. “Then the creepy guy got on a different bus and I was just so relieved.”

While also living in Los Angeles, Hennington was making French fries when she accidentally fell asleep. The kitchen quickly caught on fi re.

“My younger cousin was over and she was crying,” she said. “I was trying to calm her down and put the fi re

out at the same time.”To put the fi re out, she tried to pour water on it, but

the fi re continued to grow.“I felt bad and scared,” Hennington said. “I wonder

if I would still be alive if I hadn’t woke up.”When she and her cousin realized they couldn’t put

the fi re out, they called 911 and waited for the fi remen to put it out. During this time, Hennington was asked questions by the emergency response team.

“It was really nerve-wracking,” she said. “They asked me where my parents were; at the time, my mom was with my grandpa at the hospital.”

As a result of the fi re, the kitchen was charred, the electricity didn’t work and the smoke had to be fanned out of the apartment.

“[The fi re was] a lesson learned,” Hennington said. “Now when I cook I always remember what happened the day of the fi re.”

About a year later, Hennington moved to Thousand Oaks, which she believes to be more quiet and peaceful compared to the active city of L.A.

“I joined track and the black interracial club,” she said, “so I can meet new people.”

“Every Lancer Has a Story” is a recurring feature on a randomly selected student.

EVERY LANCER HAS A STORY Kenya Hennington

Finding peace outside Los Angeles

Features Editor

After experiencing blasting sirens and being stalked, sophomore Kenya Hennington has � nally reached a tranquil residence after moving from L.A.

REJUVENATION—(Above) Posed for their Christmas card, Coats and her family even get the dogs into the holiday spirit. (Right) Coats is with her mus-tang, Diamond. Horses are common within her family as her husband and daughter both have quarters named Freedom and Cooper and her son has a paint horse named Lucky. “Riding horses rejuve-nates my soul,” she said.

MARCHE’ HENNINGTON » WITH PERMISSION

URBAN TO SUBURBAN— Sophomore Kenya Hennington (bottom) poses with her cousin Kamia Timan, sister Joelle Je� ries, and mom Marche’ Hennington in Santa Barbara in front of a Brother One Feather’s famous hippie van.

PHOTOS » NANCY COATS » WITH PERMISSION

issue 4FEATURES14

AMBER SUTHERLAND

The day begins early for freshman Tara Zamani as she heads to the Simi Valley Iceoplex to lace up her ice skates and practice on the rink. For the past nine years she has fi gure skated both competitively and for showcase performances.

“At the time I started, it was kind of scary and nerve-wracking,” Zamani said, “but I just went out on the ice and did what I had practiced. In the end, it all turned out okay.”

At the age of six, two other friends inspired Zamani to begin ice-skating.

“In the beginning, I was just a part of skating,” Zamani said, “but then, somewhere along the way, skating became a part of me.”

Since Zamani skates for a minimum of two hours per day, six times a week, she earns P.E. credits. Al-though she doesn’t take a physical class on campus, she fi nds her training just as challenging.

“Practicing skating can be very diffi cult at times and is quite tough, but you just have to keep practicing and know that all of your hard work will pay off,” she said. “Truthfully, it will never get easier; you will just be-come stronger.”

Of her many competitions, one stands out. This sum-mer she competed in the 2013 World Championship and won fi rst place against 11 other contenders.

“My feelings after a competition really depend on how I skated,” Zamani said. “Just recently I’ve been starting to realize that I care more about how I skated and if I did my best or not, over what place I got.”

While in competition, Zamani feels the pressure of the judges who analyze her maneuvers often through video playback, but the stress goes away when she looks into the stands and sees her family.

“My family comes to every competition, they can to cheer me on,” she said. “So they help me get through any problems I’m having.”

While competing, Zamani specif-ically enjoys the costumes that she gets to wear for her performances. Her fa-vorite costume that she has worn was a white dress embroidered with beads and sparkles for her long artistic program.

“I truly enjoy this costume because of all the small details in it,” she said.

As Zamani continues to skate, she hopes to reach Nationals, where she can rank within the top four.

“Figure skating is special to me because it teach-es me to not give up and work hard for what I want,” she said. “I go out onto the ice and enjoy doing what I love.”

Zamani performs in The Little Mermaid on Ice this Friday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21 at the Simi Valley Iceoplex.

AMBER SUTHERLAND

A simple love of fi gure skating led senior Kyra Josephson to join a competitive team that attended Nationals fi ve times all across

the nation. Her continuing growth in fi gure skating has resulted in her own success in her in-dividual competitions.

Josephson fi rst began fi gure skating 10 years ago with her best friend, who eventually resigned.

“90 percent of this sport is mental,” she said. “If you can’t do it mentally, then you can’t do it physi-cally, which is why so many people end up quitting

fi gure skating.”Since then, she has skated in both Simi Valley

and, most recently, Burbank where she now trains under the well-known Olympian coach

Wendy Olsen.“It’s really weird because I train with one of the Olympians sometimes and when I grew up I idolized her,” Joseph-son said. “Now I am friends with her

and she has the same coach as I do.”During her experience, Josephson has come

to realize the importance of a healthy coach-train-ee relationship.“If you don’t trust your coach, there is no way to

succeed, because you have to listen to everything they tell you and your success is in their hands,” she said. “I have a really good relationship with my coach now and I trust her.”

At the Simi Valley ice rink, Josephson also had a strong, but different, relationship with her coach.

“My previous coach was like a mom to me, and I

think that was the problem,” she said. “[But now] I see another side of skating with my new coach.”

In order to challenge Josephson as a fi gure skater, the coaches try to improve her skating by commenting on her fl exibility or comparing her to other fi gure skaters with whom she competes.

“They rarely ever do say something good to you, so it means so much when they congratulate you,” she said. “I think that is my favorite part.”

Even though the criticism may seem harsh, Joseph-son believes this has prepared her for her future and advanced her maturity.

“I have learned to take criticism very well, which is going to help me in life no matter what I do, because not everyone is going to tell me I am always perfect,” she said. “You have to deal with people telling you they don’t like something you do, or you need to do some-thing better.”

Through the years of fi gure skating, Josephson has struggled with balancing her school life and her life at the ice rink. Since sophomore year, she has left school at noon so that she can drive to Burbank and arrive on time for her session.

“I get tired, so my mom drives me to ice skating and I do my homework on the way there,” she said. “It’s diffi cult because I get home late; school is defi nitely a top priority for me, but skating is also up there.”

After her senior year, Josephson is hoping to attend Dartmouth, which has an on-campus rink and will cov-er all her skating costs.

“Figure skating is one of those things that you can’t describe,” she said. “It’s been such a big part of my life and it’s just one of those things that I can’t picture myself not doing.”

BREAKING THE ICEWhile dealing with the emotions tied to her training sessions, senior Kyra Josephson uses her stuggles to succeed on and o� the ice.

Gliding through the motions

MOVE: Layback SpinLEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: 6 in freestyleACTION: A spinning move where the head and shoulders are dropped back. The back is arched down while one leg is lifted.

MOVE: Death DropLEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: 10 in freestyleACTION: A type of � ying entry into a spin. The skater jumps into the air and typically lands on one foot, entering the desired spin.

MOVE: Double Loop JumpLEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: 8 in freestyleACTION: A rotational jump where the skater rotates upright twice in the air and lands on one foot.

GRAPHICS » CLARISSA KANO » THE LANCER

Features Editor

Features Editor

Due to training for her upcoming shows and � gure skating competitions, freshman Tara Zamani balances her busy life as a student with her preparations for a successful and prosperous skating career.

TARA ZAMANI » WITH PERMISSION

KYRA JOSEPHSON » WITH PERMISSION

15december 18, 2013 ADVERTISEMENT

MAKEUP

MY MISSION: to help you achieve confidence and self-esteem through the art of makeup by

enhancing your natural beauty.

$55 a person, will come to you Refer a friend to get 10% off

SeniorBall Special

BROOKE’SSS

MAC, Benefit, and Urban Decay Cosmetics

Contact: Brooke Stewart // (805) 279-3025 // www.brookesmakeup.com

Scott price

It may be the addition of some new coaches, or the arrival of two dominant freshman, but whatever it is, the girls water polo team is playing with a new level of energy that is leading to punishing victories for the Lancers.

“Our team [has] struggled with focus and dedication in the past,” junior Jessi Andrews said. “I don’t see that problem as much in the girls this year.”

Although the girls have seen a lot of success this sea-son, they have yet to start league play and believe they still can get better.

“We can improve with practice,” Andrews said. “We have speed and skill, but we need to get to know each other better as players and perfect the little things.”

Unlike most teams that make quick turnarounds after rough seasons, this year’s Lancer team is replacing 10 graduated players. They have received a much-needed boost with the additions of freshmen Dara Bleiberg and Alexa Rond, who are both starting on the team. The team has two new captains in juniors Jessi Andrews and Flores.

“They bring a camaraderie and a competence that we’re lucky to have,” Coach Thomas Smith said.

The Lancers look to carry their success into league competition as they play their first Marmonte League opponent in Calabasas on Dec. 20 at home.

“The team can improve on simple fundamentals like better passing and smart shot selection,” Andrews said. “If we keep our focus and composure, we’ll have a lot of success this year in league and hopefully CIF.”

16 issue 4SpOrTS

Starting fast:

AlliSon Medley

Even though the team has only played a few games, girls varsity soccer has already proven that its season is going to be a lot different this year.

So far, varsity has won the first three games and tied the fourth, first beating Hart in a pre-season game by a score of 2–0, then La Reina 3–0, Pacifica 2–1 and finally tying West Ranch 0–0. This has already given the team as many wins as it had all of last season, with the record of 3–10–1.

“We are getting better results and creating higher ex-pectations for each other this year,” sophomore striker Ana Cordoba said. “We have come together to be a strong and unbreakable team.”

The entire team feels confident for this season, es-pecially with the influence of new head coach Mike Braico, who has brought new training and fresh philos-ophies to the program.

Braico focuses a lot on speed exercises and expects the team to put in 100 percent effort every game and practice.

“Mike has not only changed varsity, but JV and fro-sh/soph as well,” senior forward Julianne Rodriguez said. “He has given this program hope and made us all believe in ourselves.”

The league season will start today at Moorpark, in which the Lancers hope to carry their success into Mar-monte League competition.

“I know that if we play as well as we have the past few games, we will come out this year with great re-sults,” Rodriguez said.

With hopes of making history by making the CIF playoffs for the first time since the CIF championship run of 2008, the attitude of the program has changed; from the parents, the players, and the coaching staff.

The Lancers’ roster, carrying 13 seniors this year, looks to make its final season count.

“We want to play for them,” sophomore defender Lily Courts said. “This year we are playing for each other as a team.”

Overall, if girls soccer can keep up its positive play, the team could be looking at its first CIF playoff berth since 2008.

riSing up TO The challenge—Junior utility Melanie Flores takes a shot during practice on Friday, Dec. 11. Flores and the lancers are off to a 6–1 start in non-conference play; their first league game is Friday at home vs. calabasas.

The rebound of girls soccer

Girls basketball starts strong

JuST keep iT away—Junior forward Kelsey Escobar escapes from her West Ranch defender en route to a 0–0 tie last thursday night at home.

DAnE SwanSOn

Girls basketball enters this season with many ques-tion marks, but they have come out of their first tourna-ment with a few answered. The Lancers participated in the Crescenta Valley tournament and came away with a third place finish in a sixteen-team tournament.

“The semifinal was basically the championship game (against host Crescenta Valley) but we just didn’t

execute well enough to win,” junior center Alexa Cou-bal said.

The team had dominated their competition early in the tournament behind their bruising center Coubal, who had two double-doubles, which are when a player has ten points and ten rebounds or assists, in the tour-nament. The team also got some valuable scoring from junior forward Taylor Halby, who also had a double- double in their second round game against La Cañada.

“So far we have been playing well together even with having a few freshmen and a sophomore on the team,” junior guard Coral Suarez said, “We just need to be more aggressive and get more experience.”

The Lancers are an inexperienced squad with just three seniors on the team and three juniors in the start-

ing lineup. There are some very promising freshmen on the team as well, especially guard/forward Jenny Kent and Lizzie Buzzelli. Kent also made the varsity girls volleyball team this fall.

“We are a young team and because we graduated nine seniors I think teams will underestimate us,” head coach Steve Devolites.

If there were an Achilles heel to this team, it would be turnovers.

“We have to learn how to deal with the pressure when we are getting pressed,” Suarez said.

As they enter their league campaign, the girls still have supreme confidence in their abilities and if they keep that confidence while gaining experience in league, this team will be ready to contend for a title.

“Because we graduated nine seniors, teams will underesti-mate us.”— Head coach

Steve Devolites

Girls water polo has exploded this season with a dominating start to their campaign as it enters league ready to contend.

Sports Editor

Staff Writer

Sports Editor

EthAn lyonS » thE lAncER

bEn MuEllER-lEclERc » thE lAncER

All-Comers meet attracts the best

17december 18, 2013 SPORTS

After two consecutive exciting CIF runs, boys basketball looks to continue their success despite a fresh roster to the varsity scene.

Maintaining a dynasty

DANE SWANSON

It is a new age and another quest for a championship for boys basketball. The team goes into this Marmonte League season starting a lineup of three juniors, one se-nior and one sophomore with only one of them holding varsity experience.

“Our lack of varsity experience may hurt us in big games early in the season,” junior shooting guard Matt Hauser said.

On the other hand, there is a reason that there are three juniors and one sophomore are starting—talent. The Lancers played fairly well in their opening tour-nament at Sierra Vista, in which they went 4–1, losing in the championship game to a strong Glendora team. Hauser was a leading performer and averaged 22.4 points per game over the tournament. The team then went on to win the Arroyo Grande tournament to bring their record to 8–1.

This season could be a historic one for the Lancers, as they are attempting to obtain their ninth-straight 20-win season and ninth-straight CIF playoff bid.

“Our loss, although harsh, was an important learning

experience for us because we realized that we have to stay focused throughout the entirety of the game,” se-nior forward Reed Loose said.

It will not an easy road for the Lancers; however, Calabasas is a very strong team as they added talented Westlake transfer Larry Bush.

The Lancers have the talent to counter this major competitor with two of the four juniors in the starting lin eup, Hauser and Derek Ludlow, who are ranked in the top 100 juniors in California by ESPN’s recruiting nation. In addition, junior guard Andrew Lachina and sophomore point guard Josh Hauser round out one of the best young backcourts in the area.

In addition, the team draws its inspiration from Loose, who is the captain and unquestioned leader.

“I would say that I am the leader of the team. I just look to encourage the guys while maintaining a strong image,” Loose said. “I guess that my main role on this is to motivate the guys on the team and set a positive example for everyone.”

Overall, this year’s team has a legitimate chance to make a run into the CIF playoffs and its journey starts tonight at Moorpark.

ANDREW CHAUBRIAN LEE

Even in preseason, the track and fi eld team is planning to make history.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, TOHS hosted the fi rst ever All-Comers Track meet. Sponsored by Sports Scholarships USA (SSUSA) and organized by track coach Tracy Spencer, the meet consisted of athletes from local middle and high schools and about 30 run-ners from Australia.

“We had runners from local teams, and the occasional runner from really far away,” senior Matt Dacanay said. “It wasn’t that huge of a meet, but we still had a good mix of people.”

Although the meet was smaller than normal ones, it allowed new track members to experience a more competitive environ-

ment without the accompanying pressure. As for the returning members, the meet was an opportunity to gauge their perfor-mance and race against other competitors.

“It was to see where we were at and to give the freshmen a feel for how the meets go,” freshman Colin Virgines said.

Every runner received a free spike bag, and the highest scor-ing competitor won a backpack. Most of the competition came from the group of Australians, who took fi rst place in many of the events.

“They were fast and did well,” junior Peyton Parrish said, “but they are much older [than we are] and have been training a lot longer than we have.”

With the exception of a lengthy registration period that took longer than expected and postponed the event by an hour, ev-erything ran smoothly, with only a few issues. The one major

complication that bothered many of the runners was something that could not have been controlled: the wind.

“It made it hard to keep tents down and caused athletes to run against the wind which caused slower times,” Virgines said.

In preparation for the event, the runners changed their work-outs in the weeks prior, and even practiced with the Australians a few times when they arrived.

“We deviated from the workouts we normally have done in the past the last couple weeks,” Dacanay said. “Normally we have more intervals, but for the last two weeks and last week especial-ly, we had a more high speed focus so no one would get hurt.”

The team is expecting to continue hosting the meet, and by 2015, is hoping to host the fi rst ever TOHS invitational meet.

Meanwhile, the team continues to improve its performance and train for the upcoming season which starts in March.

FLYING TO THE FINISH LINE—Junior sprinter Stephen Hernandez digs deep to beat his opponents in the � nal 100 meters of his 400 meter race and � n-ished second. Over 30 athletes from Australia were competing in the meet, which was held at TOHS last Saturday. The track team expects to continue hosting the event in future years.

Sta� Writers

ETHAN LYONS » THE LANCER

Sports Editor

GEARING UP—Junior Andrew Lachina takes a shot in a recent practice. The Lancers open their league season against Moorpark today.

ETHAN LYONS » THE LANCER

issue 4SPORTS18

PAIN IN THE NECK

WinTeR SPORTS League RecORd OveRaLL RecORd POinTS FOR POinTS againST League STaTuS

B Basketball 0–0 8–1 408 267 Starts league today

g Basketball 0–0 7–1 240 166 Starts league today

B Soccer 0–0 1–3 6 9 Starts league today

g Soccer 0–0 2–0–1 5 1 Starts league today

g Water Polo 0–0 6–1 216 199 Starts league today

Wrestling 2–0 2–0 129 31 1st place

DANE SWanSOn

It is every athlete’s worst nightmare: sitting on the bench, in a cast, unable to play and then watching as his or her replacement plays steps in. Next thing they know their spot on the bench is permanent or if their replacement struggles and they feel they have let the team down. The thing that is even harder to swallow for some of these athletes is that current research shows that their injuries were completely preventable.

A problem that is be-coming more and more prevalent throughout youth and high school sports is overuse injuries. Overuse injuries are usu-ally found in youth when a young athlete specializ-es in one sport at a young age. Junior baseball play-er Jack Rosenberg expe-rienced this as an eighth grader when he tore a tendon in his shoulder.

“My injury was 100 percent because I played baseball year round,” Rosenberg said. “Pitch-ing in cold weather was a

large contributor in the wear on my shoulder in par-ticular.”

Rosenberg then had to spend the first half of his eighth grade little league season playing first base and tossing the ball underhand when he needed to throw.

“At first I didn’t think I was ever going to play base-ball again,” Rosenberg said. “The first doctor I went to said I would be entirely out of baseball for at least a year.”

However, Jack Rosenberg ended up being an exam-ple of what hard work in rehab and in training can do for previously injured athletes.

“In eighth grade my body wasn’t really in shape to deal with the stress I was putting on it, but now my arm rarely hurts,” he said.

According to the Southwest Athletic Trainers As-sociation, three times as many catastrophic injuries or injuries that lead to the player losing their season occur in high school sporting events as they do in college. That means that when someone attends a Thousand Oaks-Westlake football game on a Friday night he or she is three times more likely to see a serious injury than if that same person were to attend a UCLA-USC football game.

Overall, the main question is how can the schools,

Now, more than ever, student-athletes are getting injured everywhere. From the tennis court to the football field, teams are losing players left and right.

athletes, and coaches prevent these overuse injuries from occurring.

There are a couple of ways that trainers and coaches are working to help limit these career-threatening in-juries. One way that they are combating injuries is by developing new and better ways of training, like work-ing on the body’s core muscles and creating balanced workout plans that work out the whole body over the course of a month or the three-month offseason, which is when most sports teams focus on getting faster and stronger by lifting weights and running.

Overall, this issue of overuse injuries starts with kids when they are little kids specializing in one sport and playing that sport year round.

Jack Rosenberg had been specializing in baseball year-round since the age of nine, and it finally caught up with him at age 13 when it almost took away his baseball life. The scariest thing is that Rosenberg’s sto-ry is it is one of thousands and not all of them end in a full recovery.

“My body wasn’t really in shape for the amount

of stress I was putting on it .”

— junior Jack Rosenberg

Sports Editor

ROLL TaPe, nOT anKLeS—Junior Dylan Lasley tapes the ankle of track team member freshman Brielle Allawos; Lasley and his fellow athletic training classmates tape up athletes everyday in the training room prior to their respective practices and games.

EthAN LyoNS » thE LANCER

HigH ScHOOL injuRy RaTe By SPORT

Football

Wrestling

Girls Soccer

Girls Basketball

Boys Soccer

Boys Basketball

12.53Injury rate (per 1,000 athlete-exposures)

3.54

5.54

3.13

3.28

2.44

2.08

1.88

.92

1.24

.78

1.04

competitionPractice

GRAPhIC » KELLy WISNESKI » thE LANCER

SCOTT PRICE

After coming up short seven consecutive years, the wrestling program now looks to senior Nick “Hercu-les” Riemen to lead the team to the Marmonte League Championship.

Given the nickname by weightlifting coach Jeff Mc-Cann, Riemen is living up to the hype this season.

On Dec. 1, he won the NPHS wrestling tournament, and then went on to win his second consecutive tour-nament at Camarillo. Although wrestling may seem like an easy sport for the 5-foot-11, 182-lbs athlete, Riemen’s road to becoming an accomplished wrestler was not an easy one.

Before high school, wrestling was a new sport for the three-year varsity athlete.

“I initially did martial arts,” he said. “I just thought I should get involved in wrestling.”

According to Riemen, being a top wrestler demands one requirement: desire.

“You can be the best technically or you could be the strongest,” Riemen said, “but if you don’t have desire you’re not going to win.”

Along with being a top performer on the wrestling team, Riemen has also succeeded in the classroom. Like many other wrestlers—such as valedictorian can-didates Austin and Ian Jones, and TOHS alumni and current Cornell freshman Tyler Fitzpatrick—Riemen has a 4.5 GPA and a fi ve-AP course load, and has ap-plied to USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, Universi-ty of Texas, NYU and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“They’re [Riemen and Jones] in that great Lancer tradition of being scholar-athletes,” varsity wrestling Coach Kerry Lyne said.

With a full schedule that revolves around wrestling and academics, Riemen’s learned to manage his time.

19december 18, 2013 SPORTS

Skyline is proud to support TOHS and The Lancer

Skyline Home Loans is a local full-service, direct lender committed to putting clients first. We o�er a full range of home loan programs for refinance and purchase loans – ideal for Lancer parents, friends or family.

• Great rates and options

• Ranked among the nation’s top 50 independent mortgage companies

• Established in 1985 with local headquarters in Calabasas

“The Lancer” SpecialApply (with this ad) for a purchase or refinance loan prior to March 31, 2014 and receive a $400 home appraisal credit.*

Copyright © 2013 Skyline Financial Corp. dba Skyline Home Loans Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS) Company ID # 12072, California - Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act File No: 413-0296*Upon deciding to proceed with the loan, applicant will be charged for the appraisal. Loan must close to receive $400 credit on the HUD-1 form. Not valid with other promotional offers.

Skyline also offers complimentary mortgage reviews. Call today! (818) 971-4226 | www.skylinehomeloans.com

The Difference is Clear

ETHAN LYONS» THE LANCER

Sports Editor

THE MAN ON THE MAT—Senior Nick Rie-men wrestles teammate senior Austin Jones during a practice on Monday. Riemen has already won two con-secutive tournaments in his � nal season and is coming o� a fourth place league � nish and a CIF appearance.

“Pretty much, it’s go home, shower, eat, do home-work and then go to sleep,” Riemen said. “There really isn’t time to mess around; you have to get your stuff done or else you get way behind.”

This year, Riemen has stepped into a leadership role for the team and has become a role model for the younger wrestlers.

“He really works hard getting stronger and more skilled,” Lyne said. “He is really an example on how hard work can pay off.”

Along with being a scholar-athlete, Riemen is also involved in the school, church and community. He ac-

tively participates in California Scholarship Federation and volunteers at the Los Robles Hospital.

Additionally, Riemen is an active parishioner at Christian Church of Thousand Oaks and member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and incorporates that into his pregame rituals.

“I pray before I wrestle, not that I win, but that I wrestle hard and try to wrestle smart,” Riemen said.

At the end of the day, Riemen’s favorite part of the sport is the memories he has with his teammates.

“I have built pretty good [friendships],” he said. “I have gotten to know the guys on the team better.”

Hercules saves the day: As he starts his senior season, Nick “Hercules” Riemen is dominating in the tournaments, and looks to lead the Lancers to a Marmonte League Championship.

TOYLAND—(Below) Toys pile high in the classroom entrance last Monday, Dec. 16, the last day of the toy drive. The teacher who runs the drive wishes to maintain anonymity, and for

a speci� c reason. “I had somebody when I was a child, after my father passed away, who left a big box of gifts one Chirstmas Eve at our house, and that person

has been anonymous my whole life,” he said. “That one act of compassion motivated me to get kids to donate.”

PHOTO ESSAY20 issue 4

ETHAN LYONS » THE LANCER

DECK THE HALLS—(Above) Senior Sadira Matin hangs her and Nick McCabe’s free-body ornament in E-2 last Friday. For more than 10 years, AP Physics teacher Doris MacDonald has had her students design and create physics-related ornaments. “I thought this year had some of the best ones I’ve ever seen,” MacDonald said.

ETHAN LYONS » THE LANCER» THE LANCER

CLASSROOM

TOY DRIVEPHYSICS ORNAMENTS

HOLIDAYHOLIDAYHOLIDAYHOLIDAYHOLIDAYTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONSTRADITIONS

HOLIDAYTRADITIONS

CANDY AND CHRISTMAS CAROLS—(Left) Senior Natalee Dueber serenades her ASB secret crush, sophomore Matt Miller, during period 5 last Wednesday, Dec. 11. Each member of ASB was responsible for giving their Secret Santa a dare to complete each day, and a present if it was completed. (Above) Junior Halie Swanson adjusts the M&Ms on her face. At the beginning of class, her Secret Santa instructed her to tape the candy to her face, and every time someone asked her about it, she responded by eating one.

ASB SECRET

SANTA

KEL

LY W

ISN

ESK

I » T

HE

LAN

CER

KELLY WISNESKI » THE LANCER

ETHAN LYONS » THE LANCER

NIKITA SARMIENTO » THE LANCER

Despite the rush of the holiday season and the looming threat of � nals, teachers and students still manage to continue their long-standing