Changes in High School

Changes affect raiders of all ages
By: Vianney Casas


We all go through changes in life, but definitely the biggest ones you’ll go through are during high school. It doesn’t matter whether you're a freshman barely starting high school, a senior ready to graduate, or a sophmore/junior in process, your life still gives this sudden, unexpected spin and your way of seeing things still changes. It’s like every step you take before becoming an adult, every grade you go through you become a different person - a better one maybe - and you will find yourself thinking in a way you never thought you’d ever think. All of this sudden difference, all of this change that for a second might seem like magic, happens just as you move onto the next level of high school.
We must all admit all the credit should be given to the freshmen. I’ve been there; I know what it’s like to feel like you’re lost in a mall full of frightening strangers. Bye bye middle school, hello high school. Welcome to a whole never-seen-before planet, to a whole new life. They’re no longer in this fantasy pretty little world where everything is so simple. They’re no longer there, now they’ve arrived at this world where life turns more difficult in every way possible. For the sophomores and juniors come the infamous AP classes, more responsibility and most importantly, independence. Congratulations students, you’ve passed freshman year, now on to more work.
For the juniors though, there is a little but not insignificant difference. They have to make sure they try their best and hardest academically, and help as much in their community as possible for community service hours, for they will be filling college applications in the beginning of next year.There’s no time to try to do everything in their senior year, which leads us to the final level of this difficult and unpredictable game: the seniors. It isn't the change they face as they become seniors, it’s more of what change they will encounter later on.
Seniors, get ready for the biggest, most frightening maybe - and hopefully one of the best -change of your life: College - the determination of your future. It all starts over again. It’s time to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new again. The “welcome to a whole new world” comes back after four years of facing the different changes a high school student goes through in the unforgettable journey we call high school. Changes come to us every day, and every day we see at least one thing different in our lives, but these changes believe me are nothing compared to the ones a student has to face while in high school.

Host Parents Needed

Bring Exchange Students to SOH

by Cynthia Fuentes

Hello,

I spoke at the last parent night about bringing at least two exchange students (Maggie from China and Matteo from Italy) to your school. In order to make this dream come true we need two host families in your community.

Host Family requirements:

-Student must have bed , place to study , all meals at home (can share room under special circumstances)

-Love and support

-Financial security

-English speaking household

Both students arrive with full insurance and spending money in July .

Please contact San Diego County Coordinator Cynda Fuentes-Lippman at 619-238-4337 orcyndaf@gmail.com

Pan Asian Organizes Event

Culture Night Returns !
by Jonathan Millan

Culture Night is organized every year by Pan Asian Association (P.A.A)
which is basically a big talent show where you can show of your skills to
an audience given the maximum of five minutes to perform.

This event took place April 23, 2010 from 7pm-10pm at our gym and was a total success... or was it?
Rumors have been running campus, some say it was an enjoyable night while some don't. Although there were some wonderful performances like a section of Parkour (Free Running) by Chris DeGuzman (Senior) which involved series of stunts using nothing but tables, Belly Dancing, a hilarious section of comedians that called themselves"Adrian Brown and Friends" and an incredible dance in the end that brighten up the night.

Several of the performances were similar to each other and some had been seen in our campus before. A wider variety of different performers would have attracted more people of different preferences and would of made it more of an interesting and unforgettable night for our raiders. P.A.A should open the doors to different class/types of talents not only the ones of their own preference. The product of this would be students eager to participate in events like this in and out of our campus. Let's hope next year different talents participate!

Senior Plan

Graduating Raiders Decide on Future

by Laura Celene

Recently the Raider Digest staff conducted a survey of Southwest High's 2010 Senior class to find out what were their plans for after high school, and here are the results :

San Diego City College: 97

Southwestern College: 60

Grossmont College: 10

San Diego State U: 20

UEI: 4

U.C., San Diego: 12

U.C. Santa Barbara: 1

CSU San Bernardino: 1

U.C., Los Angeles: 5

CSU Long Beach: 1

Laguna Beach College of Art & Design: 1

U.C. Riverside: 2

USC: 1

U.C. Merced: 1

Arizona State U: 1

University of Washington: 1

ITT Tech: 1

Cal Poly SLO: 2

Art Institute: 5

UTI: 2

Pima Medical Institute: 1

Mesa College: 1

Paul Mitchell School: 1

Ithaca College: 1

Northern Arizona U: 2

Cal Poly Pomona: 1

Taylor University: 1

Graceland University: 1

Tennessee State: 1

CSU Santa Barbara: 1

CSU Dominguez Hills: 1

University of Arizona: 1

Others although not going to college do have plans for the future:

Navy: 3

Marines: 4

Airforce: 2

Border Patrol Academy: 1

Job: 4

Adult School: 2

Mexico: 8

Overall 267 out of 381 students in the Senior class were recorded in this survey and so far we know that at least 244 students are going to go on to higher education thats a 64% of the total class and out of those 244, the ones that will be leaving San Diego to do so are 27 (or 11% of those 244), and out of the ones leaving San Diego 9 (or 33.3% of the 27) will be going out of state. And to all those who are not going to college or university its good to know that you are still trying to find ways to improve yourself and to start off your life. Good luck to the class of 2010!

(If you feel that you have not been counted in this survey or you don't remember answering, please contact us, so we can add your plans to the list.)

Men's Tennis

"Bend Your Knees and Follow Through"
by Joy Roxas

This year, the boys' tennis team managed to stay undefeated throughout their whole season. By showing up to practices every day, they got to improve more and have fun at the same time. One of their captains, Vinoe Tarray once said, "I'm not really for the banner, I just want for us to be undefeated on our league and non-league,", but co-captain Jay Santos who's also a star player for basketball said, "I just want a banner, I think it makes me really feel good now that I'm about to graduate high school."

Last Friday the team defeated the Montgomery Aztecs by 15-3. Starting off with their star players Vinoe Tarray and Jay Santos, they both finish it off with 6-0. While the other players finished it off with 6-1 which is also a big contribution for the whole team. Remembering to bend their knees, following through, playing consistent, and having fun are the most important points these players always remember to achieve their goal as a team. Also by supporting each other, each one gains motivation and a lot of concentration during their matches. Remaining undefeated in the league, the coaches, captains, and the whole team are blessed and proud of what they would get out of it: "First banner of tennis ever for our school and the teamwork." Coach Jeffries only has one message for the team and that is, "I hope the kids will remember me and tell me about their kids 30 years from now." While Coach Ramos said, "I just really want the banner! I know we'll get the banner."

On May 5, 2010, watch out for our varsity tennis' boys last game against the Sweetwater Red Devils at Southwest High and celebrate for another victory for a banner.

SOH Student Got Talent

Royal Regiment Raider Receives Recognition

by Elma Gonzalez

Musical talent is seldom recognized at SOH. However, today we must honor a distinguished trombone player, Mark Angelo Mendez. This fellow Raider will be performing in the National Honor Band at Carnegie Hall this summer.

Mark, a senior, attended Castle Park High for three years, but this year he decided to transfer to SOH. “This school has a better band program,” explains Mark, who has studied music since the 7^th grade.

The National Band accepts only the best musicians in the country, as a result there are many requirements Mark had to meet to be part of this prestigious program. First, he was nominated by the band teacher, Ms. Clark. Following his nomination Mark had to submit an application, pay a $200 fee, and record a solo of his choice. According to Mark, recording the solo was the most challenging part of the application process. For his solo, he chose a top piece for trombone players. “It was a hard piece, one that really pushed me,” describes Mark, “but Ms. Clark helped me through the process.”

Out of thousands of students across the country, our peer was selected as one of the 9 trombone players in the “Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall Honors Band”. In June, Mark will fly to New York to begin rehearsal with the rest of the band members. He will be attending classes at Julliard and will play in a famous concert at Carnegie Hall. Mark is very excited about traveling to New York this summer, and he is grateful to Ms. Clark and his Dad for their help and support to make it possible.

This year Ms. Clark nominated three more students for this program: Brian Hernandez, Juan Ruiz, and Liani Cruz, who will be a 9th grader next year.We wish them the best of luck, and congratulate them and Mark for having such great talent!

Southwest Academic Playoffs

Academic League

by Stephanie Luna

The last game for Academic League was held on April 13^th, with Varsity playing against Otay Ranch and Hilltop. Varsity prepared so much for these final games by practicing daily and having scrimages against the JV. The day of the games the whole team met up in front of the school after lunch and got on the bus to the San Diego Office of Education in Linda Vista. The team wasted no time and they kept on studying before the first game against Otay Ranch began. With a bit of an even start, SOH league soon sped up the pace and dominated the toss ups. The ending score of 71-32 looked good for Southwest led them to play the final game against Hilltop High School.

Going into the game, the Varsity players really wanted to beat Hilltop since last year they took the victory from the JV team. The game started off slow for Southwest, as by the halftime Hilltop led with a score of 40-23 but halfway into the second half, they began to gain momentum and were within shooting distant of evening out the score. Unfortunately, time was not on their side and Hilltop got the laast two tossups thus securing their lead . Although the end result was not what the team hoped for they were still glad to be once again be South Bay Academic League Champs. The season for Varsity was an exceptional one having no loses until the last game (13-1), and JV holding their ground too, even though the last two games went against them (10-2) but were still the division champion for JV for the 10th year in a row.

This year was a great one for Academic League, with a whole new batch of players, a new coach and even more motivation. Congradulations on your continous success and Southwest hopes for even more in the following years.