Volume 102, Issue 4 of Santa Barbara High School's The Forge.
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Vol. 102 No. 4 SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 Est. 1914 THE FORGE Pep Rally Final Fall Pep Rally highlights fall sports teams p. 6 The Facilities Master Plan What will the SBHS of the 21st century look like? The financial reality of school improvement meets the dreams for the perfect school. | p. 2 A Look back at Homecoming Tears and joy as Queen crowned | p. 5 SB Trumps Royals in 56th “Big Game” San Marcos no match for Don’s firepower | p. 12 WASC and You Shall Receive School preps for upcoming accredidation | p. 3 Final Soda Machine Removed p. 2 | The Forge Seeks Writers! p. 2 | Editorial: Bring back the SM Cheerleaders? p. 6 Photo courtesy of Isaac Hernandez Santa Barbara High School Theatre Dazzles with “Pippin” in Debut Week | p. 4
Transcript
Vol. 102 No. 4 SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 Est. 1914
THE FORGE
Pep RallyFinal Fall Pep Rally highlights fall sports teams p. 6
The Facilities Master PlanWhat will the SBHS of the 21st century look like? The financial reality of school improvement meets the dreams for the perfect school. | p. 2
A Look back at HomecomingTears and joy as Queen crowned | p. 5
SB Trumps Royals
in 56th “Big Game”
San Marcos no match for Don’s firepower | p. 12
WASC and You Shall Receive School preps for upcoming accredidation | p. 3
Final Soda Machine Removed p. 2 | The Forge Seeks Writers! p. 2 | Editorial: Bring back the SM Cheerleaders? p. 6
Photo courtesy of Isaac Hernandez
Santa Barbara High School Theatre Dazzles with “Pippin” in Debut Week | p. 4
2 | NEWS THE FORGE NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Last Soda Machine Removed From CampusBY LILY CISEK
Since the beginning of the school year many students have noticed the absence of all the vending machines around campus. Originally SBHS had a plethora of vending machines which sold snacks, soda, and water. However, in recent years SBHS has cracked down on these unhealthy machines, replacing them with only water and PowerAde machines in order to keep students healthier around school. Earlier this year, the water and PowerAde machines were removed in en effort to be eco friendly. Despite the elimination of unhealthy snack and beverage op-
tions on campus, one soda machine was left on campus: hidden away from students in the staff work-room. But of course, all good things must come to an end. That last re-maining soda machine was emptied a few weeks ago due to the same reasons of the others: expenses and health reasons.
Many students were disappoint-ed when the vending machines were taken away earlier this year, and now many teachers and staff mem-bers have experienced the same feeling as the soda machine disap-pears from campus forever. But we must remember that it is all for the greater good. SBHS will always miss
that reasonably priced soda during passing period.
Big Dreams and Slim Chances: The Facilities Master Plan
BY HUGH COOK
At a campus that just celebrated its ninetieth birthday, many students and staff have watched our historic campus crumble over time. However, to the relief of these concerned stu-dents and staff improvements may be on the way. A Facilities Master Plan Committee comprised of district leadership and community repre-sentatives met monthly with LPA to develop the Master Plan. This new plan is a proposed renovation of the Santa Barbara High campus, with everything from updated computer
labs, to more “twenty-first centu-ry” classrooms. These “twenty-first century” classrooms focus more on group learning — concepts that echo the new common core curriculum. The Facilities Master Plan prioritizes certain renovations, calling window restoration, new classroom furniture, athletics area renovations the highest level of priority.
The facilities master plan lays out the scope of the work, hoping one day to reconstruct the existing kin-dergarten and reconfigure the class-rooms and learning areas. The oth-er areas of work include Science &
Elective Programs, Performing Arts Improvement, Multi-use & Food Service Improvements, Physical Ed-ucation Improvements, Site Access & Lighting, Outdoor Learning & Quad, Exterior Play Spaces, 21st Century Learning Classroom Flexibility, and Technology Infrastructure. The plan includes a complete reconfiguration of the school’s use of space, along with construction of new buildings to house SBHS’s various programs. For example, the plan calls for a re-configuration of the VADA facilities, providing more work spaces, as well as a gallery dedicated to featuring
the work of VADA students. VADA would not be the only arts program to receive a new space — over ten million dollars is slated for the per-forming arts department. This would cover renovations of the theatre (last remodeled in 1970), as well as a new performing arts center at the Ana-pamu entrance to the campus, where the library currently stands. Within the performing arts center would be the band and choir departments as well as a small, multipurpose “Black Box” theatre for smaller theatre pro-ductions. The Dance department would also relocate to a new space from their long time location in the Little Gym behind the theatre. The Library will find a new home much closer to the heart of the campus — near the quad adjacent to the cur-rent band room. Computer science will also have a dedicated space, and the long awaited culinary academy would become reality.
The budget to carry out the reno-vation is extensive, coming in at just over 111.2 million dollars for SBHS alone. While this new plan looks very exciting SBHS is not the only school with renovations in sight. Every school in the Santa Barbara Unified School District has a master plan. Given the enormous cost of the project and lengthy process of these upgrades, few students or staff will live to enjoy the benefits of the ren-ovations during their time at SBHS. The massive scope of the entire plan means it may not be a reality any time soon, and it is hard to see how this fantasy will benefit the student body more than much needed ungraded textbooks and technology. For ex-ample, many classrooms lack a class set of textbooks, forcing students to carry a often heavy personal copy to class. Purchasing class sets of books or investing in portable, versatile iPads would benefit students educa-tion immediately. While the Facilities Master Plan Committee dreams big, current students would prefer small renovations, such as better bath-room facilities and more comfortable desks.
While these incredible improve-ments sound promising, “The master facilities plan is currently more of a dream than a reality,” states assistant principal Mr. David Meister. This means that if this plan is put into mo-tion, the process would take a very long time. Although the plan was approved by the board of education in November 2012, there is no real timeline and no concrete evidence of a clear executive plan. Currently, the school has started small renovations such as painting the lockers. For the time being, the best thing that stu-dents can do would be to keep the bathrooms clean, and tidy up after your nutrition break.
THE FORGESTAFF
2015 - 2016700 East Anapamu StreetSanta Barbara, CA 93103(805) 966-9101 ex. 5031
The master plan: a complete reconfiguration of SBHS -- all at the cost of a very pretty penny.
Forge Writers Wanted: Do you Have the Write Stuff?BY LIZZIE SAUNDERS
Do you like the Forge? Do you have something to say about San-ta Barbara High School? Just like to write and want to have your work featured in a local publi-cation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should join us and become a free-lance writer for the second oldest continuously published student run newspaper in California: the Forge! We are looking for en-thusiastic and passionate writers to be published in future issues. Everyone is welcome to submit a piece.
Whether you have an idea for an interesting article or simply want to write for the Forge but can’t fit it into your class sched-ule, becoming a freelance writer is for you.
Our newspaper is structured around current school and lo-cal news, entertainment, sports and student opinion. If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] or stop by room 31 during fourth period for a visit. Happy writing!
NOVEMBER 13, 2015 THE FORGE NEWS | 3
WASC and You Shall ReceiveSchool Accreditation Due in 2016BY HUGH COOK
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), one of six academic bodies responsible for accrediting schools, is coming to Santa Barbara High School in March for its six-year review of our accred-itation. This group describes their job this way in their mission state-ment: “Through ACS WASC evalu-ation of institutions, ACS WASC ac-creditation assures the educational community, the general public, and other organizations and agencies that an institution has clearly de-fined objectives appropriate to ed-ucation; has established conditions under which their achievement can reasonably be expected; appears in fact to be accomplishing them sub-stantially; is so organized, staffed, and supported that it can be expect-ed to continue to do so; and demon-strates that it meets ACS WASC cri-teria and accreditation standards.”
There was a recent meeting on SBHS grounds to prepare for the upcoming evaluation.
Ms. Carson, head of the SBHS WASC evaluations, said, “Yes, for our past reviews we have a different chairperson, a person that would be overseeing our visit from the entire committee in March. He is new to us and his name is Alex Fuentes. He is a principal down in Torrance in LA, and he visited SBHS recently to meet with Mr. Becchio, myself, and the WASC leadership teachers and team, to get a feel for what’s going on around campus.”
The process of a WASC evalua-tion is complicated as Ms. Carson detailed: “When schools are accred-ited through the WASC process, there are two parts to that, we have to complete a report that is very scripted, on very specific things; we have to do a self evaluation. What are our goals as a school, what data do we have to prove we are making progress on those goals, are we ac-tually doing well. Then we have a committee that actually comes out
and reviews our school. It is their job to validate what we’ve said in the report. To make sure that we doing what we say we are doing, and that we are student centered and that we are making progress in all of our goals.” WASC evaluators look for “good curriculum and instruc-tion, they make sure the needs of all students being met, that teacher and administrators and other staff members are all on the same page, and ensures the community knows what’s going on at the school”
The review of the school six years ago was not entirely positive. Ms. Carson explained, “The evaluation six years ago was our big review, and that was the one that did not go very well and I think that was because as a staff we weren’t all on the same page. When the committee came and did the review three years ago, that visit was actually very positive, there had been a lot of changes. I’m really confident in the way our staff is developing, we’ve had a lot to do with Common Core, that’s going really well, we’ve had this bell sched-ule change, so I am anticipating they will have lots of good things to say.”
Ms. Carson is confident about the outcome of the review: “I feel very positive and optimistic about the review. There are different options, there’s what’s called a six-year clear review. and that means that we have done so exceedingly well with our report and review that nobody from WASC would have to come out and visit the school for another six years. A six-clear is very rare, we would have to do an exceptional job. So what will most likely happen is we will get what is called a 6-R where we will have another substantial vis-it in six years, but in either 1 year, a 2 year, or a 3 year interval there would be a small team that would come and do a follow up visit. My expectation is that we will have a 6R. We will be accredited for 6 years but there will be some visits along the way.”
You Can Save a Life: SBHS Called to Step Up
BY NELE KROSS
Blood donations are decreasing at a rate of 1% per year, a statistic that concerns the government to a large extent. The United Blood Services Central Coast (UBS) organized a blood drive at Santa Barbara High school earlier this week to help the blood shortage. Senior Julia McCar-ter from ASB was in charge of run-ning the event and worked (along with other ASB members) to recruit brave students and staff to donate to the cause. It was her first year as head of organizing this event and she was quite pleased to serve in that capacity.
Sign ups for the blood drive took place from October 26th to Novem-ber 6th in the main hall. 76 gener-ous students and staff signed up to help keep the national blood supply healthy.
To donate, students had to be over sixteen years old and all minors had to have a signed a permission slip.
The drive at took place on No-
vember 10th from 8:00-12:00pm in the gym. Julia thinks that it is really important to donate blood because it is an easy way to save lives and make a difference. After all, it doesn’t take much time. In fact, she donated blood herself.
At the drive staff members had priority, which means that they were able to show up any time throughout
the day and go directly to the front of the line.
After the students and staff took part in the drive, complimentary snacks and water were provided by UBS to keep the donors energy up to compensate for the loss of blood.
This blood drive won’t be last one this year— there is another one com-ing up in 2016.
President Dr. Gina LaMonica has over 20 years of combined experience as a high school counselor, college professor, and university administrator.
Free 20 Minute Phone Consultation!
SBHS on the Road: Education Through TravelBY SABLE LAYMAN
Many of the stories that our par-ents, or at least my parents, tell me from their high school career fo-cus on trips they went on with their school. We, as students, are extremely lucky that we have a high school that gives us the opportunity to adventure across the nation, and even across the world! This year, in particular, we have numerous trips available to us, and the ones that are not avail-able to the entire student body are equally fascinating. The first school trip that is available to seniors is the trip to Ashland, Oregon to watch the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in early March. This trip is extremely import-ant in helping students learn more about high-quality drama and adds to the AP English Literature curric-ulum. This trip has been one of the longest standing trips throughout Santa Barbara High School history; this will be the thirty-fourth year that AP English Literature students have attended the festival. During the first weekend of March, students take an all-night chartered bus to Ashland and begin watching shows the next day. Students will see a play on Fri-day night, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Along with seeing four
well-known plays (one being “Great Expectations” and the other being “Twelfth Night”), students will also be able to go on a backstage tour, participate in a discussion with ac-tors, and create a talent show that is showcased to the other seniors on the trip. If any seniors want to attend, they will have to write an essay ex-plaining why they want to go on the trip; only fifty-two students are able to attend, so seniors should write ex-tremely persuasive essays! This year, two trips out of the United States are offered to the entire student body through the Science Department. One of them ventures to the Domin-ican Republic from June 14-21 and will focus on sustainable agriculture practices in local communities and promoting environmentally respon-sible tourism. Not only do you get community service hours, but you are also able to snorkel beside coral reefs and explore the rainforest. The second trip that is offered is the Ice-land trip from June 25-30; it focuses on exploring the various surround-ings of Iceland (volcanoes, geother-mal vents, hot springs, etc.) If either of these sound interesting, the signup deadline is coming up next month so make sure to contact Ms. Kahn in room 103 or email her. Although we
wish that all trips were available to us, some select groups are able to adven-ture around the world and come back with amazing diversity and unique experiences. The elite choir, the Mad-rigals, often travels to Europe to sing in churches and around european streets. Many times, this is what lures students into the group. Fundraising for the trip is a tremendous task but is often met. Along with the Europe trip, the Madrigals and other choirs also go on a trip to San Francisco ever so often to compete in Heritage
Festival. I was able to travel with the Madrigals to San Francisco two years ago and it was an amazing event; not only do you get to compete against high schools across the nation and better yourself as a singer, but you get to walk through Ghirardelli Square and walk up and down the hillsides of San Francisco with your best friends. M.A.D. also plans a few trips throughout the year. Every year, MAD students go to Mexico to assist in building houses. Along with the Mexico trip, MAD also plans a soph-
omore and junior trip which aims to bond the class as a whole. All in all, Santa Barbara High School gives great opportunities for the entire stu-dent body to become more culturally diverse and helps students develop a broader curriculum through dif-ferent trips. If any of you have the chance to go on one of these trips, I highly recommend you act fast and contact your teacher about these ad-ventures.
4 | NEWS THE FORGE NOVEMBER 13, 2015
“Glory, Glory:” Pippin Dazzles in Debut WeekSBHS Theatre produces reinvented version of Broadway classic
BY LILY CISEK
‘Did I purchase tickets to a magical circus act? Or return from a long, well spent time at a library full of bewitched books? Or did I simply see the talented young actors of our high school com-munity put on a breathtaking show?’ This is what I was left thinking as I left the opening night of Santa Barba-ra High School Theatre’s Production of Pippin, last Friday night. Many enchanting characters and fabulous actors took me, and the rest of the crowd, through a whirlwind of sto-rytelling with singing, dancing, and circus acts.
The title character, Pippin, played by Bradley DeVine, is faced with an issue when he returns from universi-ty: what will he do with the rest of his life? Fight wars, or end them? Be with women, or steer clear of their hands? No matter Pippin’s fate, the audience is promised, “A climax you will re-member for the rest of your lives,” as quoted by The Leading Player, por-trayed amazingly by Camille Umoff.
Pippin is a Tony Award-winning musical (originally directed by Bob Fosse) that has been produced all over the world — starting out on Broadway in 1972, and since has toured around the country. Just three years ago Pippin made a return to
Broadway with a revival with an ap-proach as innovative as Pippin’s de-but: a circus theme.
What I saw was director Otto Lay-man’s adaptation of the magical pro-duction. I promise, this production of Pippin is like no other. Featuring enormous books that opened into sets, wacky props in almost every song and aerial silks hanging from the ceiling for acrobats to perform on, the show was unique from any-thing I’ve seen before. Most high school plays don’t include talking heads or circus acts right on stage, so seeing the incredible variety in the performance makes the show beau-tifully entertaining for people of all ages. While the leads sang, the rest of The Players danced around them and used mesmerizing props like never-ending purple ropes in On the Right Track and larger than life tow-er-like fans in Morning Glow. Each number brought its own disctinctly differnt element. Christina McCa-rthy, Pippin’s choreographer is to credit for the show’s unique spin on the show’s iconic musical numbers.
That brings us to the music and the costumes. Every song brought a new energy to the show and seemed to open up a new chapter, even when the audience didn’t expect it. From quirky numbers like, No Time at
All (featuring Sarina Wasserman as Berthe) and Extraordinary to more emotional ones such as, I Guess I’ll Miss the Man, sung by Sable Layman as Catherine, I watched as every note was hit and every dance move was executed wonderfully. The orchestra which was comprised of professional musicians was directed my Dr. Jon Nathan of UCSB and was top notch.
Since the play was set in a height-ened Medieval times setting, the costumes were grand: King Charles (played by Quique Hernandez) wear-ing a jeweled crown and The Leading Player dressed in the style of Har-lequin with a patch work suit. Oth-er characters, such as Pippin, wore more simple costumes, but definite-ly not The Players. All Players were dressed head to toe in stripes, tutus and bright colors, their faces featured white and blue clown-like makeup, continuing the circus theme — all de-signed by resident Costume Designer Bonnie Thor. The mixing of themes and colors was very interesting to see, and surely not expected if you’ve nev-er seen the play before.
Of course, the whole show ended with an unexpected climax, surely one all of us will remember for the rest of our lives. It left the audience questioning many things: what does it mean to be fulfilled? Do we have to know where we are going? And do you ever wish what you chose was reversible?
If you’d like more than just this taste of Pippin and to see the show’s unforgettable ending, it’s not too late. It is still being shown on Tonight, November 13th at 7pm, Saturday, November 14th at 1pm and 7pm, as well as on Sunday, November 15 at 2pm in the Theatre. Tickets are only $10 for students, and $15 for adults. If you have a gold card, admission is free! Open up the book and fall into the land of Pippin.
Bradley DeVine plays the title role of Pippin, an extraordinary young man looking for fulfillment in his life – Will he find what he is looking for? | Photo Courtesy of Isaac Hernandez
Pippin’s Father, King Charles (played by the hilarious Quique Hernandez) leads his soldiers into battle against the Visigoths
Love Song: Catherine (Sable Layman) and Pippin share a tender moment
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF ISAAC HERNANDEZ
WAR -- Battle Scene choreographed by Christina McCarthy
Morning Glow Aerialist KiSea Katikka
NOVEMBER 13, 2015 THE FORGE NEWS | 5
Homecoming: a Look Back at “A Night on the Town”
BY CHLOE SHAAR
Just a few weeks ago the students and staff of Santa Barbara High School once again celebrated SBHS’s annual welcome back celebration, Homecoming. On Friday October 23, the day of the big game, at the end of fourth period music filled the halls of Santa Barbara High School, as cheerleaders danced through the halls kicking off Homecoming week-end. The members of the SBHS music department played their instruments while the princesses were paraded though the halls for all to see. Before the start of the fesitivities, on Thursday the annual Homecom-ing assembly was held for the senior class. At the assembly the princesses
were introduced, performed their talents and took part in a variety of games. At the end of the assembly the senior class voted for the Homecom-ing Queen.
That night was the Homecoming game against Buena. At half time each of the Homecoming princesses was driven in on their own vintage car. Eventually the night reached peak excitement when the Home-coming queen, Priscilla Nolasco, was crowned. Even though the game was tough loss for us, school spirit was not lost, especially as the students and staff witnessed the final Football game ever to be played in Peabody Stadium as we know it.
Finally, The Homecoming Dance arrived the next day on Saturday Oc-
tober 24. Students arrived in their finest attire, while staff volunteers chaperoned the event. New York A Night on the Town was the theme of the dance. The dance was filled with excited students taking pictures, dancing, eating candy, and convers-ing under the stars.
As students walked into the main hall they had the opportunity to have their photos taken by a group of pro-fessional photographers. After this was where the real excitement began.
As students entered the meadow, there was a series of beautiful decora-tions and colored lights. There were twinkling lights hung up on the walls and ceiling reminiscent of the light of New York City; there were bold, bright letters that read NYC, and a
huge backdrop that displayed the the skyline of the city with the Brook-lyn Bridge in the foreground. At the heart of the dance was an amorphous clump of dancing students on a dance floor. The DJ played upbeat popular songs that everyone could dance and sing along to. The music was so loud
many students lost their voices from yelling and singing. The dance also included a photo booth where people could take photos with wigs, masks, and funny hats. Overall the whole night was a blast and everyone had a great time.
Three of the six homecoming princesses, (from left to right) Talia Sanchez, Kylie Transki, and Amber Melgoza and their fathers wait in anticipation for the 2015 Homecoming Queen to be announced. | Photo Couretsy of Mitch Klopp
Comic by Kieran Meaney
Day of the Dead ends Bowl SeasonBY CHLOE BALLESTEROS-PEREZ
As October came to an end, the Santa Barbara County Bowl held its third annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration on the eve-ning of Friday, October 30th. This event included Mexican cultural rev-elries that payed homage to the dead. Local artists created beautiful altars to honor deceased friends, family, and musicians. The Bowl included performances from Latin bands such as Kinky, Bomba Estèreo, La Santa Cecilia and Chicano Batman.
Shrines were covered with vibrant Marigold flowers and were set up throughout the venue. A distinctive art piece that was represented by San-ta Barbara High School included two black Lowrider bicycles, a decorated
coffin, and an artwork stand. One bi-cycle was on the ground, surround-ed by Rosemary and Marigolds, fake bones, as well as small square mirrors with painted skeletons on them. The other Lowrider bicycle was support-ed by its kickstand with roses placed on various areas and even had a skel-eton sitting on the seat, positioned to look like it was riding the bicycle.
Aztec dancers, Mariachis, and large crowds with skull painted faces roamed around the venue and creat-ed an energetic and pleasant atmo-sphere. For one night, the Santa Bar-bara County Bowl was transformed into a fun and enjoyable tribute the whole community was able to partic-ipate in.
Veterans Honored with Hallway DisplayBY WILLIAM BLONDELL
Every year, around this time, The SBHS halls are plastered with por-traits of our brave alumni killed in battle. These men and women served in World War 1, World War 2, Vietnam, Korea, and Afghani-stan. To protect our freedom, these courageous veterans gave up their lives so that we could live ours the way that we do. We appreciate your service, and are grateful for the lives that you layed down to protect us. Mr. Bill Dodson, history and gov-ernment teacher, years ago began the annual tradition when he payed out of his own pocket to get these pictures (found in SBHS yearbooks) laminated. Since then he has upheld
the tradition to ensure that these local heros are remembered forever. If you haven’t already, make sure to
take a look when the exhibit returns next November.
Alana Ochoa | Photo Couretsy of Mitch Klopp
The crowing of the Queen, Priscilla Nolasco | Photo Couretsy of Mitch Klopp
For many years, during the school pep rally leading up to the Big Game between SBHS and long-time rival San Marcos, Santa Bar-bara football game varsity football players would dress in cheerleader drag for a skit mocking San Mar-cos cheerleaders. Over the years a growing constituency of students representing varied interests in-cluding but not limited to femi-nists, the LGBQT community and supporters fought to eliminate this tradition due to its perceived inappropriate, degrading, and de-meaning innuendo and character-izations. With the advent of Home-coming and all the traditional events surrounding Homecoming, we decided to re-visit the debate.
Originally, when I began this ar-ticle, I intended to argue that the SBHS tradition of varsity football boys should be brought back. Af-ter all, it was all in good fun, it was tradition, no one was harmed, it was funny: all reasons given for the retention of the practice. But three lines into trying to argue why it wasn’t offensive it became very ap-parent to me that this tradition was put to rest for good reason.
In trying to keep an open mind, we held an in-class debate. Objec-tions to the tradition were aired, and there was equal passion on
both sides of the debate. First, a refresher in the nature of the skit: at the schoolwide pep rally, a var-sity football boy is sent out in a stylized costume reflecting what had become the stereotypical view of what constituted a “SM cheer-leader”: a big blonde wig, overly large breasts and a dramatically over-sized rear end, all stuffed in a cropped cheerleader uniform. As they reach the audience they begin tripping and giggling, playing like a senseless child, touching their bod-ies inappropriately as the crowd cheers and laughs mocking the car-icature of the “typical” cheerleader. Re-inforcing the stereotype was egregious enough to stop the prac-tice, many felt, but it went beyond mocking San Marcos: it sexualized cheerleaders, denigrated them as persons, and completely disregard-ed the athletic nature of cheerlead-ing as a legitimate sport.
Another group of students on school joined in the chorus of an-gry protest: transgender commu-nity and their supporters too felt threatened . I can only guess what great amount of confidence and courage it must take to transition and be open to the world at such a young age, with the concomi-tant fear of people watching and judging you, so imagine what it must feel like to see the mocking of women made acceptable and pub-
lic. Many students expressed their feelings a lack of a safe place at a school which not only allows such public mockery and stereotypes, but actively encourages it.
On the other side were the peo-ple who felt that we had created a culture where overly sensitive peo-ple with no sense of humor had be-come the new norm, and that peo-ple just needed to calm down and learn to “take a joke.” They argued that we have become so PC that nothing is allowed to be treated hu-morously, and that we had become a kind of grim police state dictating what we could and could not say.
People can argue that a tradition is a tradition and there is no actual level of disrespect or degradation; the skit was not designed nor in-tended to offensive to women but was a way of mocking our rival school through a humorous por-trayal of a part of the Big Game. Since the topic was re-visited we have found that passionate debate still exists on both sides of the question, and we decided to ex-plore the sentiments school-wide: we are taking a poll to see where people today align themselves on the issue. If you would like to par-ticipate in this debate, there is a space in the back of this issue for your response. Tradition is tradi-tion, but when is it taken too far?
Our Campus Needs Some TLCBY SARINA WASSERMAN
It is a well known fact among most students Santa Barbara High School that our campus has been ranked as one of the top ten most beautiful schools in the nation. As proud as I am to hold that title with me as a student here, I can’t help but wonder if it is actually true. Walking through the halls I am
greeted daily by food on the floor, cobwebs and dust, water stains on the ceiling, and peeling paint jobs. Not to mention the un-usable state of many of the bathroom stalls throughout the school. While it seems easiest to simply blame gov-ernment funding and the custodial staff for the terrible condition of our school, in reality it is us, the students, who cause most of this
damage. The custodial staff works endlessly and tirelessly to keep this school pristine but when students don’t respect our campus it is im-possible for our school to ever look good on a consistent basis. It is up to the student body, to treat our campus with care. If we can accom-plish this, our school will not just be top ten most beautiful schools, we will be number one!
EDITORIALSEditorial Policy: While we will do everything possible to grant the greatest range of free expression to our contributors, The Editorial Staff and Faculty reserve the right to edit for objectionable language and space constraints. The opinions expressed here are not those of the Forge or its staff as a whole.
Mirror, Mirror on the WallBY ANNINA GONZALEZ
It may be the senioritis or I may just be straight up lazy but recent-ly I have made less of an effort to put makeup on before school and it was no surprise that people had things to say about it, things like, “Are you okay? you look kinda sick” or “Wow you’re not wear-ing any makeup are you?” Why is it that makeup has such an im-pact on our daily lives and why do people feel it’s necessary to tell me what they think? I’m tired of being in a place where I’m in constant fear of judgement about how I look. It’s time to take a stand and say something. I realize that it probably seems like I’m attacking people who wear makeup but be-lieve me, I understand your strug-gles. I bet it feels the same when someone says, “You should take it down a little” or “you would be really pretty if you wore less make-up.” What I’m trying to tell all of you is this: You do you. If you feel comfortable, then good, but don’t let other people make you feel bad about yourself or influence the way you look.
What is the social standpoint on beauty? I find myself asking this question more and more of-ten with a new answer every time. I have come to the final conclu-sion, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” meaning beauty cannot be judged by one single person and there is no exact definition as to what beauty is. Humans are art. We take a clean canvas everyday and paint what we feel reflects our
personalities best. Throughout our school you can find a person of ev-ery kind. You can find opposites or you can find mirror images reflect-ing off of each other, but that’s how it is and no matter what, we re-serve no right to tell someone how they should or shouldn’t look. You are your own canvas the students and people around you are their own. Who are we to say what the social norm is? We haven’t even began our lives, much less earned the right to have a say in another person’s existence. It may sound hypocritical but we are all beauti-ful. We must always remember to embrace our inner beauty above all, the one that makes us who we are. We should all strive to remain individuals, staying true to our hearts, however we choose to look be on the outside, big hair and thick liner or minimal makeup with bare feet, hemp clothing or designer jeans all black coverups or pink sundresses. Who’s to say we can’t be all these things at once? We need to all strive to spread positivity and love. Take your rude comments somewhere else far away from the people slaying their contours and steer clear of the natural goddesses because we don’t need your nasty words were already fighting against ourselves and how we feel we don’t need an-other voice in our heads.
Goodbye, Peabody: Final Rally Before Renovation
BY ALYSSA CARDENAS
Peabody Stadium has been the heart and soul of social and athletic events since 1924. Hundreds of foot-ball games, soccer games, as well as countless graduations and pep rallies have taken place in the historic stadi-um. But all things must an end. Last Friday Peabody Stadium held its final pep rally in Peabody Stadium. Due to the occasion, ASB had no intention of this final pep rally being anything less than outstanding.
With the help of pep and rally, the student body became more hyped
as it progressed, definitely showing more enthusiasm and pep than Sep-tember’s pep rally. Starting off, the fall sport captains introducing them-selves the rally was quickly led to two amazing performances from our cheerleaders and dance team. After,
a game was held with four students from each class, to compete against each other in a relay completing tasks that were not only challenging but lubricated. To the surprise of the student body, while the student body was getting pumped, bombs of color-ful powder and confetti were blown from every section filling Peabody Stadium with a variety of colors and a sparkles. To conclude this bittersweet end, our Don came onto the field riding a horse to fight the Royal lion only to have him dragged across the field with his lasso.
Boom! Peabody Stadium was covered in olive and gold powder during Friday’s Pep Rally -- the final fall Pep Rally in the Original Peabody Stadium | Photo Courtesy of Lauren Duggan
NOVEMBER 13, 2015 THE FORGE SPORTS | 7
Water Polo Triumverate Pace Dons in Playoffs
‘But How Do They Get the Horse in the Water?’
BY ANGEL CORONA
The Santa Barbara Water Polo team is not your average high school team. As we go to press, the Dons currently hold a 14-game winning streak and a record of 17-4. While the whole team deserves credit for such extensive success, Adam Gross, Jack Rottman, and Sawyer Rhodes in particular merit great attention. Adam Gross, one of our star water polo players, explained in a recent interview that water polo demands a lot of practice and determination, like finding a pool outside and swimming a couple 1,000 yards on his own time. Water Polo practice includes weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays early in the morning. Good nutrition and a lot of rest is important for max-imum recovery and staying in shape. Typical practice starts with a warm up and swimming conditioning for 30 minutes followed by ball-handling and reaction drills for the goalie. Af-ter that, they do a 6 on 5 scrimmage which excludes a person from either
team during practice to make things more challenging. Water polo is like Soccer in the water, but requires only Seven players on each side including the goalie. The point of the game is to shoot the ball into the opponent’s net while keeping that same ball out of your own net. It requires both of-fensive and defensive strategy. In wa-ter polo you can do anything under water, as long as the referee doesn’t see, which makes water polo a high contact sport. One must stay close to the player they’re guarding and put a lot of pressure on them to pre-vent them from scoring. Like every great athlete there is a point in time in which something or someone at-tracted our star water polo players to this sport. “I was inspired by a life-guard who noticed how well I swam at the age of nine,” Adam said=, the lifeguard then spoke to his Dad. They knew nothing of the sport un-til the lifeguard had invited them to an open house for water polo. From that moment Adam loved it, and has been competing ever since. Saw-
yer Rhodes, another star water polo player, says his story is different. “I was pressured into playing the sport because I carpooled with other water polo players.” Jack Rottman, anoth-er impressive player, pushed Sawyer and Adam to play as well. Together they have all encouraged each other to train with consistency and intensi-ty. They reveal that they like the com-petitive aspect of the sport and that the most challenging aspect is the swimming and the high demand for cardiovascular fitness. These three players hope to get into a good col-lege with the sport and intend to stay with it as long as they can. Adam is even going to try out for the Macca-bi Games in Israel. All three players hope to maintain the winning streak they are currently keeping up. Their team goal is to at reach the CIF semi finals and have a good season overall.
Dons fall short of Marlborough in CIF Opener
Santa Barbara 4, Marlborough 14
BY TYLER GREENWALD
Despite a perfect performance from the dependable Cade Sorensen at the No. 1 singles berth, the Santa Barbara High tennis team was un-
able to overcome Marlborough in the opening round of CIF Division 1.
The Mustangs --who finished sec-ond behind Harvard Westlake in Mission League -- ousted the Dons by the score of 14-4 in a challenging
road matchup last Wednesday. Sorensen swept all three of her sin-
gles sets, allowing only four games past her in the process. She swept 6-0, 6-2, 6-2. Santa Barbara’s addi-tional point that got the Dons to four came from the duo of Eva Kershner and Alexia Berton in the early round.
“We are looking forward to next season now that we have gained a lot of experiences and grit, deter-mination and lasting friendships,” said coach Sally Becker in regard to the season as a whole. Although the Dons’ season came to a close with the loss, Sorensen advanced to the Chan-nel League Individual tournament, forging her way all the way to the finals where she was beaten by San Marcos’ Yuka Perera.
Santa Barbara finished second in Channel League behind rival San Marcos and will look to reclaim the title next season.
Cade Sorensen swept all three of her singles sets, but the Santa Barbara High tennis team suffered a 14-4 road loss to Marlborough in opening round of CIF Division 1 playoffs. | Photo Courtesy of Presidio Sports.
From Left to Right: Jack Rottman, Adam Gross, and Sawyer Rhodes | Photo Courtesy of Sarina Wasserman
Do you think it is socially acceptable
for our male football players to dress up as female cheerleaders?
YES
NO
Cut out and return to box outside The Forge, Room 31
8 | SPORTS THE FORGE NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Dons go out with a bang in the annual “Big Game” versus San Marcos
BY TYLER GREENWALD
Last year, the Santa Barbara foot-ball team faltered in heartbreaking defeat to its rival San Marcos in the annual “Big Game.”
This year, the Dons were deter-mined to get their revenge, and they went far beyond a simple victory to do so. Quarterback Brent Peus and his excellent receiving core posted five touchdowns while the defense was busy recording its first shutout of the year, all of which made for an easy 37-0 demolition over San Marcos in the 56th meeting between the two teams last Friday.
The victory also marked the final game of the season; it was announced Sunday that Santa Barbara did not qualify for the at-large berth in the CIF Western Division playoffs.
The Dons scored on their first five possessions, the first of which was an 81-yard drive that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown pass to running back Sean Babcock. The opening score gave Santa Barbara a 7-0 lead with 8:50 remaining in the first quar-ter.
Angel Velasquez picked off the first of three interceptions to set up the second touchdown of the game, which came off a 13-yard strike from Peus to Bigelow with 3:30 left in the quarter.
The Dons’ subsequent drive began at the opposition’s 24-yard line after the Royals coughed up a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Santa Barbara had to resort to Alea Hyatt after they were unable to convert a first down, and she knocked one in from 34 yards out to increase the deficit to 16.
Jeremiah Nicholson then intercept-ed a San Marcos pass on third down to set up Peus’ third touchdown of the game, finding Bigelow again on a 20-yard route. The speedy wide out finished with nine catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
The Dons’ last touchdown of the half came after runningback Sean Babcock broke open for a huge 25-yard gain to put Santa Barbara in striking distance once again. It was Donavon Zavaleta who reeled in this one off the hands of Peus on first down.
Peus finished with 294 yards passing, 53 rushing yards, and 5 touchdowns, his last of which was a 17-yarder to 6’5’’ wide receiver Blake Kelley. Peus additionally received the player of the game award.
Running back Sean Babcock breaks away from a defender in the second half | Photo Courtesy of Mitch Klopp
Multiple Dons players hoist the “Big Game” trophy after the game in celebrationPhoto Courtesy of Mitch Klopp
Boys Water Polo & Girls Volleyball clinch CIF Playoff spot Elite Sports Teams Gear up for Championship Run
BY TYLER GREENWALD
The Santa Barbara boys water polo team has had an exceptional season thus far, posting a going 24-5 overall, and a 7-1 in Channel League and has thus earned itself a top spot in the CIF Division 2 playoffs.
Specifically, the Dons are seeded fourth in the tournament and merit the advantage of being at their own facility in the playoff opener, where they are set to face Riverside’s ML King, (14-11), the No. 2 team from the Big VIII League.
The 2015-2016 year marks the first time the Santa Barbara boys water polo team has secured a playoff spot since 2012, when they lost in the championship.
The Dons finished the regular season co-winners of the Channel League title, splitting with crosstown rival San Marcos after the Royals pre-vailed in the second meeting between the two teams just last week.
In the first matchup, the Dons came out on top 12-8, and recently
were unable to come back all the way back from a 4-0 deficit and falling just short with a score of 7-6.
However, Santa Barbara will look to establish itself as the better team on Thursday when the Dons kick off the CIF playoffs.
As for the girls volleyball team, it too has been solid this season, as the Dons have battled their way to a 14-12 record and a third place posi-tion in Channel League. That record earned them a place in the CIF Divi-sion 1A playoffs.
Because of with a slightly low-er seeding, Santa Barbara will have to travel to Norco for the opening round. Norco has an especially high state ranking and currently holds an impressive 17-8 record.
With football and girls tennis sea-
son having both come to end, the Dons must now rally behind what’s left of our CIF bound fall sports: the boys water polo team and the girls volleyball team.
Lourda Weger goes up for a kill against three Dos Pueblos blockers earlier in the season. The Dons will face Norco in the first round of CIF playoffs. Photo Courtesy of Presidio Sports.
Santa Barbara recently fell to San Marcos in the second meeting between the two teams, resulting in a split of the Channel League title. Photo Courtesy of Presidio Sports.
