TCA Students on the Road
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Eloisa Garcia in News, Uncategorized
Eloisa Garcia
Chronicle Reporter
TCA students have a great advantage ahead of them this year. All freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors will be able to have a great learning experience through field trips throughout the course of the year.
This year’s field trips are full of hands- on activities and two career field trips for students who are interested in becoming teachers. The Lull Special Education Center (a center that handles severely disabled handicapped students), is one of the places that would be provided for students who are interesting in a teaching career. Before going to the the center, students would first have to create a lesson to later on teach at the center.
TCA also provides students interested in science and enjoy hands- on experiments to have the opportunity to visit the Sepulveda Wildlife Basin, where they will be taught an experiment which will later be taught by them.
“TCA is is a completely inclusive small learning committee,” agreed Kelly Bender, lead teacher of TCA. “The purpose of these field trips and experiences is to help our students see that they can make a difference in their own lives and in the world around them, which goes along the TCA motto: ‘creating a more humane society through lifelong teaching and advocacy.’”
Transportation and field trips are available to TCA students thanks to the support of Linked Learning and Hollywood High School, who have been supporting TCA since past years.
As students keep advancing into the next grade level, they are a step closer to college. For this purpose, Hollywood High provides TCA students with a learning experience at colleges.
Sophomores this year will be visiting Cal State Northridge and Pierce college to inform themselves more about college and start preparing for it. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors get one field trip per year, which only applies to field trips to colleges.
For this reason, each grade level will visit two colleges in one day- one community college and one four- year college. These field trips will help students understand how to transfer from a community college to a four year university.
Hoping Homecoming’s game Belmont ends their loss streak
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Valeria G Herrera in Sports
By Leslie Flores, Nemesis Gutierrez, and Valeria Herrera
Crimson Chronicle Reporters
Both Varsity and Junior Varsity lost against the mighty Cobras last Friday night with an ending score 31-21 for varsity and 21-0 for JV, marking this loss against Miguel Contreras High as the team’s fourth loss in a row.
Varsity began their season this year with a rough start having a three game losing streak and only two wins. The varsity football team ended the first game of the year on Aug. 29, with a win against Panorama High School 27-13. They defeated Augustus Hawkins High School 14 -8 on Sept. 6. It was not until Sept. 13, when the Sheiks were defeated by Rancho Dominguez High School with a dismal 26-16. With the next two games the team begins to add on to their losing streak having lost to Chavez High School with a score of 7-6 and Westchester with a devastating score of 25 to 6 and now another lost against Contreras.
The most heartbreaking loss was the game against Chavez High School. During the second half of the game the team scored a touchdown having a score of 6-0. Chavez’s football team was able to tie Hollywood. As the game approached the end, Chavez scored another touchdown as Hollywood followed with its own touchdown.
The touchdown, however, was not counted due to the player having fumbled the ball as he reached the touchdown area. This was another devastating loss for the football team since earlier junior varsity had lost to Chavez with a score of 14-0.
After having a four-game losing streak the varsity Sheiks hope to improve by winning at the upcoming game against Belmont High School. Some of the obstacles that have prevented the team from being successful in previous games have been the communication between players, organization and injuries of the players.
Varsity coach Frank Galvan wishes to improve these problems as well as others such as little but noticeable mistakes and having the team become more dedicated. He expects the team to be as competitive as they can be against other high school teams. Football players also believe that they need to help each other and play as a team in order to improve as a whole and win against other teams.
Now, as they continue to improve their skills as a team, their ambition is to become a better team and win against the difficult upcoming games. The coach believes Bernstein would be the most challenging game although he considers all games to be difficult. The football players Aron Kaplan, Austin Quintanilla and Roney Simon also consider both of those games to be formidable.
2013-2014 Staff Changes
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Jenny Jeong in News
Jenny Jeong
Crimson Chronicle Reporter
The school year started with fewer staff members than last year including PE teacher Mary Langer, history teacher Mike Ulmer, math teacher Sofya Groyslayt, science teacher Pavel Darmanyan, english teacher Dean Levengood, and SAS counselor Cynthia Ross.
Not all the teachers got laid off; some retired, some left to other schools.
Although the school lost many faculty members, new teachers and administrators joined the staff such as assistant principals Craig Alessi and Dr. Travis Brandy.
New psychologist, Cindy Crouse and new pupil service attendant and PSA counselor Abel Villasenor will help students improve tardies, help deal with emotional problems, whether its at school or at home. ”I love it so far all the students I have worked with have been great and I really enjoy coming here everyday and meeting new people.” said Crouse.
Attendance and PSA counselor Villasenor deals with all of the attendance issues and counsels issues that may affect a student’s attendance such as family problems, drug problems, gangs, etc.
“I want to change the culture of tardiness and change the culture of how students see absences and tardies,” said Villasenor. “When you go into real life you can’t take 30 or 20 days off your job. Tardies are are a big issue of all teenagers and adolescents because to them it isn’t a big deal walking in with Starbucks and its 8:10 or 8:15.”
Administration is working one on one with every student to help achieve a 96% attendance and rewarding those who come to school every day with gift cards from local restaurants.
Miley Cyrus Gone Wild
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Joanna Martinez in Entertainment
Joanna Martinez
Andrea Perez
Many images come to mind when we think of Miley Cyrus. Once a Disney child star, the 20-year-old singer has changed a whole lot through the years. From posing half nude to her modified version of “twerking,” the former Hannah Montana actress has been getting a lot of attention since her shocking performance at the 2013 VMAs.
Her rocky engagement with Liam Hemsworth may be a reason for her current rise and fall. They called it quits because of the shenanigans she has been recently pulling. To show they aren’t together anymore, they unfollowed each other on Twitter. Hemsworth was found making out with Eiza Gonzalez, a Mexican actress and singer, in Beverly Hills, on Sept. 17.
Miley Cyrus has since been receiving a mix of love and hate. This is good for her because she is now more famous than she has ever been. However, she is no longer somebody to be considered a role model. Who knows if she’s following the steps of others Disney stars like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. What do you think of the new Miley Cyrus?
Lunch Applications benefits students with $300,000
Posted on October 14, 2013 by Adriana Benitez in News
Adriana Benitez
Chronicle Reporter
After losing about $300,000 last year because not enough students turned in meal applications, administrators took no chances this year.
The start of the 2014 school year was persistent on students to turn in their meal applications on time in attempt to increase the school’s revenue. For this reason locker combinations were dependent on applications. No lunch application meant no locker. As a result, most students found it imperative to turn in a lunch application.
New Assistant Principal Dr. Travis Brandy announced at the first senior assembly that he would track down every senior that had not turned in their lunch application.
“I went on ahead and ran a report that gave me a list of all seniors who had not turned in their lunch applications,” Brandy said. “And I called everybody in one by one into the office…gave them a deadline to turn it in.”
Between Sept. 3-19, he collected 100 applications from the senior class. To date, 84% of seniors turned their meal applications.
Meal applications status reads: 85.5% (1,334) of all students submitted applications, in which 73.77% (1,182) qualified, as of Sept. 20. The school’s Title 1 allocation for this year is $325,000.
This money is used for teacher professional development, substitutes’ pay, activities for parents, teachers’ aid, school supplies, etc. “Everybody benefits from Title 1 funding, ” said
For the first time this year, students were able to submit applications online. This new alternative made it convenient for parents and students to get it done faster rather than wait for the mailing process.
The Los Angeles Unified School District reviews the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch and determines the amount of money the school will get for the Reading Coach Laura Cavalli, compared to other schools who only focus on their Title 1 students.
Students are encouraged to submit their meal applications as soon as possible. For it is not only for the school’s interest but the students as well. Not only will students receive a free or reduced lunch, but they benefit from SAT/ACT and AP Test fee waivers. Moreover, they are able to receive their locker combinations, an issue that many struggled with.
“First and foremost the purpose of meal applications is to provide food for students,” Cavalli said. She claims that students who eat lunch are more alert and successful academically.This is will increase overall school performance.
The constant reminder for students to turn in lunch applications was not meant to be a nuisance or a burden but rather a benefit for the whole school.
JROTC’s Annual Fun Day
Posted on October 14, 2013 by J Lauren Kim in Uncategorized
All of LAUSD’s JROTC programs are taking part in JROTC’s traditional Fun Day on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The admission price is $30,including the bus and ticket fee.
The main reason why JROTC holds this special day is to not only to have fun enjoying the park’s attraction, but to give the cadets, the people who are in the JROTC program, an opportunity to communicate with other schools’ cadets. The Fun Day activity helps engage cadets involve in cooperation and participation to instill a sense of unity.
“Fun Day is a tradition that JROTC has been doing for over 15 years. It is not mandatory to attend, but it is mandatory to have fun,” said Senior Army Instructor MSG Herbert Harris.
