Former decathlete now coaching SOH academic teams!

SOH academic teams prepare for victory


By Elma Gonzalez



The new 2009-2010 school year has brought many changes, one of them being the establishment of new coaches and advisers for the many extracurricular activities offered here at SOH. Among the many teams that received a new coach this year were the Academic Decathlon and League teams. As many are aware, SOH Academic teams have proudly represented our school in the county and state for several years. SOH Academic League has been recipient of Metro-Championship titles for more than 10 years; and the Academic Decathlon team has received more than 5 titles throughout this decade. This year Mr. Adam Orin, SOH physics teacher, has taken the challenge of coaching the team.

Raiders Digest was able to sit down with mr. Orrin and conduct the following interview.

Raiders Digest: How many years have you been teaching here at SOH?

Mr. Orin: Two years.

RD: So, why did you decide to coach Academic League and Decathlon this year?

MO: I think this program is important to the school. It is a powerful example of what students are capable of, and it also sends a message to the county that this school has amazing students!

RD: How has coaching the team been so far? Do you find it challenging?

MO: Well, yes, it is challenging. Doing something new is always challenging...

RD: Many students who wished to take AP Physics this year think you chose Decathlon and League over Physics? Is this true? If so, why did you make this choice?

MO: Well, at the time decisions were being made for the master schedule not enough students had signed up to take the class. Then, I was offered this coaching position and I decided to take it. It was too late when students suddenly began attempting to bring the class back...

RD: Did 'budget cuts' have anything to do with it?

MO: That was also a factor. There can only be certain number of classes offered.

RD: I know it has only been two weeks since you began coaching, but which do you enjoy more: Academic League or Academic Decathlon?

MO: They are very different from each other. Incomparable! They are just at very different dimensions!

RD: And is it true you were a decathlete during your high school years?

MO: Yes, I actually won second place in the speech part of the competition.

RD: Did being part of the program help you in any way later in your life?

MO: It definitely helped me develop more confidence. It also helped me in college. The knowledge and study skills I acquired while in the team were very helpful. It felt like I was going to college with an advantage...

RD: Ok, my last question. Why would you recommend students join Academic League and Decathlon?

MO: #1- It is a great experience and it prepares you for college.
#2- It is a good place to meet like-minded people.
#3- It is a good/ fun way to contribute to the school.

Twitter Sweeping the Nation!

Do you tweet?

Everyone can tweet, but have you noticed the many tweets that have been happening everywhere? I know I have, recently many celebrities and people tweet almost any possible place they can, even if it's via cell phone, or internet cafe. People can even tweet from their iPod Touch. Twitter is a new website just like Myspace which swept the nation off its feet and now Twitter is doing the same. Just recently everyone gives there news on twitter. Paula Abdul tweeted "I will not be returning to American Idol." We get updated about celebrities faster than the news. People spend more time on Twitter now than they do Myspace. Even video bloggers use it such as iJustine, Sxepgil, Shaycarl, and KassemG. The parodies of Twitter videos are also raising for example.

Example:



Twitter: Will it be the next big thing like Myspace? Answer us at sohnews@yahoo.com!


By 'Tech Guy' Robert Garcia.

Horoscopes!

Aries: You’ll accidentally stumble upon the secret of the Dim Mak Death Touch this Thursday- which, as luck would have it. Is your first day as a massage therapist.

Leo: From Thursday forward, your name wil be mentioned every time flaming corn dogs rain down from the sky.

Sagittarius: This week’s smorgasbord of nudity and bullfighting will erase all the remaining doubts about your ability to be a network TV programmer.

Taurus: The residents of Tulsa will make you pay for every dollar of damage you’ve caused, but they’re not heartless, so they’ll let you keep the bison.

Virgo: There are, in fact, good and evil twins, but a greater range of moral Choices is available to you as a sextuplet.

Capricorn: The prosecuting attorney will be ruthless, relentless and efficient in exposing your crimes. But at one point you’ll be able to see right down her blouse.

Gemini: The little black dress is an instant sophisticator--slimming, elegant, and timeless, but you’d be better off going with something flame-resistant this weekend.

Libra: Demented surgeons will drive a half-inch steel rod through your cheeks and attack it to a water skiing towrope, but unfortunately, they’ll lose the bet that made them do it in the first place.

Aquarius: Today is a positive day today for you, Later you should find your self filled with wealth, but a random car will appear while your in class and hit you. Don’t worry you won’t die but you have a math test the day after.

Cancer: Running for mayor might not seem too realistic, but just wait until they get a load of your new suit.

Scorpio:Things will be back to normal in a couple of weeks, but your current tick infestation is just the beginning.

Pisces: The stars foretell your life continuing in much the way it always has for the next few months.

San Diego needs to conserve water.

If you like it then you should put a lid on it

By Martin Zazueta

The title of very article will most likely make you reminisce on Beyonce's hit song, "Single Ladies", but it helps illustrate a good point. We as San Diegans must do our part to deal with the water shortage that's facing California, by setting examples ourselves and promoting water friendly behavior.

We must not fret over the large-scale problems or become pessimistic about the issue, feeling that we will never be able to make the huge difference we wanted. In times of peril we must look confidently towards the future, finding that any improvement no matter how small is a major improvement as opposed to no improvement.

There's an idea I would like the readers to remember, it was aired on a 'Going Green' episode of My name is Earl, and it was that one should not “think locally, act globally” but should instead “think globall, act locally”. This simply means that we dont have to change the whole world to make a difference: just by merely changing ourselves and our surroundings we can make a difference. And water is one of those little things we can change about ourselves that can have an impact. We may not realize it but there many and very simple actions we can do to save water, for example:

• Shorter Showers: we all enjoy long showers and need them but do we really need 20 minute showers? Just by cutting back on showers by couple minutes will help us save a large quantities of water, because the average shower head uses 5 gallons per minute (http://www.deq.state.ok.us/mainlinks/uls/newsletters/ULSnews1.pdf.). So by cutting back lets say 5 minutes in the shower we can up to 25 gallons of water per day, 175 per week, 750 per month and 9,125 per year and it would be 18,250 if you cut down to a 10 minute shower.

• Another thing we can do (though it will probably wont be as easy) is not to wait for the hot water, for again every minute the shower is on we lose 5 gallons, so if you have the will power to encourage yourself to get used to cold water (I mean we live in America's finest city and it is summer , do we really need a hot shower in the morning or at night when our the weather will be nice and warm?)

That is all for now, but there will be more to come on water tips and actions we can all take to help out with the water crisis, and always remember if you like it then you really should put a lid on it.

SOH band recruits new members

EXTRA EXTRA BAND LOOKING FOR MEMBERS!


Writer: Jasmine Straw

Marching band and concert band: don't think it's for you? Well, why not? It's for anyone with a passion for music. You might ask why you would want to join such a group, and I'll give you the answers.

Band class is that place where you make friendships and bonds that'll last a life time, not to mention the good memories. All of the marching competions and concerts serve as bonding time, along with practices, fundraising, and trips to various places. And when I say trips, I mean TRIPS! With our new motivated director, we will have even more opportunities than you could ever imagine.

Don't know anything about music or marching? No problem! With out marching coaches, woodwind coach, brass coach, drum coach, and the encouagement of other students you'll learn in no time!

Have sports? Ms. Clark is willing to work around your sports so that you're still able to do your athletics and still be able to enjoy being in band.

Still think you're not cut out for it? Just stop by the band room and talk to one of the students, the teacher, or one of the coaches, and I'm sure you will be convinced that you can do it.

BAND IS AWESOME.

Crossing Over:What would you do for a Green Card?

New film explores immigration problems

By Elma Gonzalez


"Every day thousands of people illegally cross our borders... only one thing stands in their way. America."

With this tagline, Crossing Over joins the great number of films that deal with the issue of immigration to the United States. Written and directed by Wayne Kramer (also known for making Running Scared), the movie is a series of vignettes connected by one ambition: to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The movie's structure is very similar to that of Crash, Babel, and Traffic and shows a great deal of promise in its trailer. Unfortunately, just like many other Holywood films, Crossing Over fails to live up to its expectations. Unlike its three predecessors, this film is predictable and at times characterless.
Although it includes influential actors such as Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, and 'Across the Universe' star Jim Sturgess, the film surprisingly lacks the action and excitement big blockbusters usually comprise. Instead this film is a drama that consists of an intricate plot that deals with the horrors and obstacles faced by immigrants -specifically Koreans, Africans, Iranians, Australians, Mexicans, and Jewish/atheist Britons- to the United States.
Regardless of the unwieldy final product, Crossing Over does leave the audience with a message that deals with the present, dysfunctional system management of immigration in the United States.
So, before you go ahead and watch this film, keep in mind that this is a slow drama; it has no action or comedy. However, if you enjoy watching films that leave you something to think about, take 113min of your day to check it out!
Personally, I enjoyed watching the film even though it was short of action and comedy, two very important factors in that characterize my ideal films.

Extra Info:

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language, some strong violence and sexuality/nudity.

Parents Guide:

View content advisory for parents

Runtime:

USA:113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Latest transformers movie a dud...

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction action film which was released on June 24, 2009 in North America. It is the sequel to 2007's TransformersTransformers series. and the second film in the live action series. Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg return respectively as director and executive producer, while Shia LaBeouf reprises the role of Sam Witwicky, the human caught in the war between Autobots and Decepticons. The film introduces many more robots and the area has been expanded to numerous countries, most notably France, Jordan and Egypt. The plot revolves around Sam, who has been having visions of Cybertronian symbols, getting hunted by the evil Decepticons under the orders of their long-trapped leader, The Fallen. The Fallen seeks to get revenge on Earth by finding and activating a machine that would provide the Decepticons with an energon source, destroying all life on the planet in the process.

Despite poor critical reception, Revenge of the Fallen achieved the highest Wednesday opening gross in history, bringing in $62 million in North America alone and close to $100 million worldwide; this is also the second-highest opening day gross of all time, behind only The Dark Knight's $67.8 million. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is currently the highest grossing film of 2009.

Despite its success at the box-office, the only reason this movie was somewhat enjoyable to me was that I watched it with my friends and we kept making fun of everything that was happening. We laughed at everything, including the little kids’ -who shouldn't have been watching it- snicker at every little swear word or distasteful hint. If the movie had not been blasting my eardrums with blaring noises in the endless action sequences, I would have surely fallen asleep during the 3 hour long movie.