Pigskin Loosing Streak is Over!
by Omar Arce
Two years, two long years passed since the SOH Football team had won a game. With Halloween on the horizon, the Raiders hoped to have the ghosts of the past winning teams on their side and defeat the San Ysidro Cougars. Two things were at stake: the first victory of the season and the golden shovel. Yes the golden shovel, a new rivalry has begun. "The battle of the 905."
The Raiders got the lead in the first quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run by Henry Miranda and a 48-yard touchdown run by David Leon. This gave the Raiders a 14-0 advantage over the Cougars. During the second quarter David Leon received a 14-yard pass from Lamar Weston, to increase the lead to 21-0. The Raiders went to halftime, and the fans were stoked. It looked liked there was a chance a real chance to win.
The Raiders came back to the second half to magnify their lead over the Cougars. Pierre Davis increased the lead with 7-yard touchdown run. With a score of 28-0 the Cougars finally reacted with a 57-yard reception by Asante Yarbrough who would take the 2-point conversion to change the score to 28-8. In the last quarter David Leon scored in a 82-yard punt return in the most spectacular play of the game. It was the just the icing on the cake. The final score was 35-8, allowing the Raiders to have the Golden Shovel for the first time ever.
So after two years and 17 games, the winning-less drought ended for the Raiders.
Here is a video of the highlights of the game.
http://www.kusi.com/ppr/hzweek9/67055897.html
Monday, November 2, 2009
Celebrating Coming Out Day
Raiders are "Letting it Show"
By Dwayne Codding
A typical Tuesday in Southwest High, students minded their own business, heading out for lunch as usual. To their surprise though, things seemed rather odd as they passed by the gym where an event seemed to be taking place.“There was music,” remembers fellow Raider Sergio Vargas, “a door asking to be opened...Once opened, a Limbo obstacle appeared and I just had to pass it and know whether I was able to... or not”
Out in the open, standing on a frame alone, was a door, labeled as “The Closet”. A sound system was set up behind it playing an assortment of tunes. In front of the door, people held a pole midair prepared for Limbo for anyone interested in participating. A crowd gathered to observe, discovering GSA was hosting a national event called “Coming Out Day”.
Basically students were being encouraged by the club to simply walk through the door, and limbo past the pole in order to win free rainbow ribbons.
Out in front Marie Johnson held the microphone, inviting everyone to join in the action and motivating the crowd to participate. “We're just asking you to go through a door.” Marie would say, “Nothing hard there, you do it everyday when you leave home, and here we're giving you free ribbons to walk through a door. Now tell me if that isn't awesome!”
The event had a slow start, being started off by members of the club before others felt comfortable enough to participate. Soon Raiders joined in the action, going through the door alone or in groups, soon it seemed like everyone was going through the door and having a good time. A Limbo competition took place, and the winners that got lower than Carpizo won free bracelets.
“It was an ingenious event!” said Sergio, “it was far more interactive than any of the other events at school thus far”
Many seem to agree the event was a great success for the most part. But some criticisms still arise, even from club members.
“Our DJ's were terrible,” admitted Anaiz Alegria, Vice President of the GSA, “partly because we had a new one at least every couple of minutes and partly because there was a new song every 30 seconds. The microphone was being hogged by someone that might possibly have been scaring the potential volunteers away. The limbo part was not the way I was hoping it would be. It turned out to be a go-through-the-door-and underneath-the-stick thing. The contest was not even a contest. At least not in my definition. So to me, it was a let down. But luckily I noticed how some people were in fact enjoying the event. It looked like half of the people there enjoyed it. The students volunteering looked like they were having a good time. So yay!”
“I think it turned out nice.” said Arely Sanchez, another GSA member, “When I really think about it, students are nice in our school; at least they let us do what we had to do. We didn't have to worry about any bad attitudes or discrimination. Like I'm sure other schools can be more religious or conservative and might have students whom wouldn't just sit down and let us have it. They would complain or bully students. Overall though i think the event was something simple and nice.”
In short, the day was a pleasant break from the routine day to day lives of raiders here on campus. After being asked what he thought about the event, Sergio responded, “I would just say that I feel sorry for anyone who didn't participate in the event and did not live the thrill of going through a door and Limbo-ing in front of other students”
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE EVENT? Speak out and make your opinion heard.
By Dwayne Codding
A typical Tuesday in Southwest High, students minded their own business, heading out for lunch as usual. To their surprise though, things seemed rather odd as they passed by the gym where an event seemed to be taking place.“There was music,” remembers fellow Raider Sergio Vargas, “a door asking to be opened...Once opened, a Limbo obstacle appeared and I just had to pass it and know whether I was able to... or not”
Out in the open, standing on a frame alone, was a door, labeled as “The Closet”. A sound system was set up behind it playing an assortment of tunes. In front of the door, people held a pole midair prepared for Limbo for anyone interested in participating. A crowd gathered to observe, discovering GSA was hosting a national event called “Coming Out Day”.
Basically students were being encouraged by the club to simply walk through the door, and limbo past the pole in order to win free rainbow ribbons.
Out in front Marie Johnson held the microphone, inviting everyone to join in the action and motivating the crowd to participate. “We're just asking you to go through a door.” Marie would say, “Nothing hard there, you do it everyday when you leave home, and here we're giving you free ribbons to walk through a door. Now tell me if that isn't awesome!”
The event had a slow start, being started off by members of the club before others felt comfortable enough to participate. Soon Raiders joined in the action, going through the door alone or in groups, soon it seemed like everyone was going through the door and having a good time. A Limbo competition took place, and the winners that got lower than Carpizo won free bracelets.
“It was an ingenious event!” said Sergio, “it was far more interactive than any of the other events at school thus far”
Many seem to agree the event was a great success for the most part. But some criticisms still arise, even from club members.
“Our DJ's were terrible,” admitted Anaiz Alegria, Vice President of the GSA, “partly because we had a new one at least every couple of minutes and partly because there was a new song every 30 seconds. The microphone was being hogged by someone that might possibly have been scaring the potential volunteers away. The limbo part was not the way I was hoping it would be. It turned out to be a go-through-the-door-and underneath-the-stick thing. The contest was not even a contest. At least not in my definition. So to me, it was a let down. But luckily I noticed how some people were in fact enjoying the event. It looked like half of the people there enjoyed it. The students volunteering looked like they were having a good time. So yay!”
“I think it turned out nice.” said Arely Sanchez, another GSA member, “When I really think about it, students are nice in our school; at least they let us do what we had to do. We didn't have to worry about any bad attitudes or discrimination. Like I'm sure other schools can be more religious or conservative and might have students whom wouldn't just sit down and let us have it. They would complain or bully students. Overall though i think the event was something simple and nice.”
In short, the day was a pleasant break from the routine day to day lives of raiders here on campus. After being asked what he thought about the event, Sergio responded, “I would just say that I feel sorry for anyone who didn't participate in the event and did not live the thrill of going through a door and Limbo-ing in front of other students”
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE EVENT? Speak out and make your opinion heard.
Halloween Origins
Behind the holiday
by Bob Chan
Well, it’s that time of year again where we go out and get free candy. Halloween is an annual festival celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Most people do various activities, which include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. There are many things in San Diego such as going to the Haunted Trails in Balboa Park or going to the movies and watching Paranormal Activity or Saw 6.
Even U.S. President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Saturday doled out presidential M&Ms and dried fruit mixes to more than 2,000 trick-or-treaters, marking their Halloween at a White House event. Mrs. Obama wore furry cat ears and a leopard-patterned top. Mr. Obama said the kids looked adorable, as well as his wife, “a very nice looking Catwoman.”
I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween
by Bob Chan
Well, it’s that time of year again where we go out and get free candy. Halloween is an annual festival celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Most people do various activities, which include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. There are many things in San Diego such as going to the Haunted Trails in Balboa Park or going to the movies and watching Paranormal Activity or Saw 6.
Even U.S. President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Saturday doled out presidential M&Ms and dried fruit mixes to more than 2,000 trick-or-treaters, marking their Halloween at a White House event. Mrs. Obama wore furry cat ears and a leopard-patterned top. Mr. Obama said the kids looked adorable, as well as his wife, “a very nice looking Catwoman.”
I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween
Got Spooked?
Mysterious Creatures, Ghost, and Other Paranormal Experiences!
By: Robert Garcia
Ever walk home one day and notice a big bird in the sky that you have never seen before and not the pigeons that you see sometimes around school campus. I’m talking about a huge bird that can carry you away. Or maybe at the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of some weird figure but the second you turn your head it disappears. Well, there are a lot of skeptics out there that don’t believe in paranormal activity or creatures yet to be discovered. But popular T.V shows such as Ghost Hunters And Destination Truth Believe that somewhere there lives big foot or a ghost. My question other there for you readers of Raiders Digest Blog is: Have you ever experienced weird encounters with a ghost, or some strange mystical creature and if so where and when? And what do you think it was or what was it?
Now, some of you may be saying, “No Way! I don’t want to be made fun of or be called weird!” But here is the catch: if you send us an email of your story it will be confidential and we will just post your story and not your name! Hey, you don’t even have to send us your name. Just make the story school appropriate!
Just send it to us at sohnews@yahoo.com!
Story 1
It's a Plane! No! What is it?!
"Well, one day when I was walking home from school. I noticed something at the corner of my eye it was a shadow of something big! It was a bird. Except for this bird didn't look like something you see usually in California. This one really huge It made one loud sound and it was like a screeching noise. I remember being really scared and began to shake because what ever it was had big claws on it's feet and I knew it could most likely kill me. I started to run home and I noticed that the bird kept on my tail from the shadow. Luckily for me I got to my house before it got me, but after that day I never saw it again. And just my luck no camera"
Story 2
That is no Casper!
"When I was home alone on a typical Saturday night, while watching TV, I began to hear some moaning sound. It sounded like something was in pain. Not knowing what it was really scared me. But being the man that I am I had to investigate to protect the house. As I got up and turned on the lights to the hallway the power to the house turned off and I was left in complete dark. I started to feel very cold all of a sudden, and then I heard a whisper really close to my ear like someone trying to whisper something in it and it said "Get out." And I turned around and saw nothing and the lights went back on and that was the last time I heard it or felt that cold."
By: Robert Garcia
Ever walk home one day and notice a big bird in the sky that you have never seen before and not the pigeons that you see sometimes around school campus. I’m talking about a huge bird that can carry you away. Or maybe at the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of some weird figure but the second you turn your head it disappears. Well, there are a lot of skeptics out there that don’t believe in paranormal activity or creatures yet to be discovered. But popular T.V shows such as Ghost Hunters And Destination Truth Believe that somewhere there lives big foot or a ghost. My question other there for you readers of Raiders Digest Blog is: Have you ever experienced weird encounters with a ghost, or some strange mystical creature and if so where and when? And what do you think it was or what was it?
Now, some of you may be saying, “No Way! I don’t want to be made fun of or be called weird!” But here is the catch: if you send us an email of your story it will be confidential and we will just post your story and not your name! Hey, you don’t even have to send us your name. Just make the story school appropriate!
Just send it to us at sohnews@yahoo.com!
Story 1
It's a Plane! No! What is it?!
"Well, one day when I was walking home from school. I noticed something at the corner of my eye it was a shadow of something big! It was a bird. Except for this bird didn't look like something you see usually in California. This one really huge It made one loud sound and it was like a screeching noise. I remember being really scared and began to shake because what ever it was had big claws on it's feet and I knew it could most likely kill me. I started to run home and I noticed that the bird kept on my tail from the shadow. Luckily for me I got to my house before it got me, but after that day I never saw it again. And just my luck no camera"
Story 2
That is no Casper!
"When I was home alone on a typical Saturday night, while watching TV, I began to hear some moaning sound. It sounded like something was in pain. Not knowing what it was really scared me. But being the man that I am I had to investigate to protect the house. As I got up and turned on the lights to the hallway the power to the house turned off and I was left in complete dark. I started to feel very cold all of a sudden, and then I heard a whisper really close to my ear like someone trying to whisper something in it and it said "Get out." And I turned around and saw nothing and the lights went back on and that was the last time I heard it or felt that cold."
Halloween Dance
SAC students celebrate Halloween
By Dwayne Codding
Last Friday night was a very important night for some raiders here on campus. Our school hosted a Halloween dance for the Special Abilities Cluster(SAC) students, this now being the 8th SAC dance held in our school.
The Special Abilities Cluster is a comprehensive, integrated program meeting the needs of students with developmental disabilities. SAC's mission statement is to add a meaningful dimension to the lives of students who are developmentally disabled by providing opportunities for socialization and recreation experiences within the community.* So this program provides the educational, recreational, and social opportunities for this group of students.
This dance was held in the girls' adaptive room from 9:30 to 11:30 on Friday, and it involved students from various schools in our southern neighborhood. This included Mar Vista Middle and High, Montgomery Middle and for the first time ever, Montgomery High. Also, beyond high school and middle school students, transition(graduates at ages 19-22) students are invited as well.
These events are eagerly looked forward to, since SAC students meet together mostly through parties like this one, as well as picnics and other events. Otherwise they only really see each other during summer school, and that can be a long wait!
*source from website http://specialabilitiescluster.com/default.aspx
By Dwayne Codding
Last Friday night was a very important night for some raiders here on campus. Our school hosted a Halloween dance for the Special Abilities Cluster(SAC) students, this now being the 8th SAC dance held in our school.
The Special Abilities Cluster is a comprehensive, integrated program meeting the needs of students with developmental disabilities. SAC's mission statement is to add a meaningful dimension to the lives of students who are developmentally disabled by providing opportunities for socialization and recreation experiences within the community.* So this program provides the educational, recreational, and social opportunities for this group of students.
This dance was held in the girls' adaptive room from 9:30 to 11:30 on Friday, and it involved students from various schools in our southern neighborhood. This included Mar Vista Middle and High, Montgomery Middle and for the first time ever, Montgomery High. Also, beyond high school and middle school students, transition(graduates at ages 19-22) students are invited as well.
These events are eagerly looked forward to, since SAC students meet together mostly through parties like this one, as well as picnics and other events. Otherwise they only really see each other during summer school, and that can be a long wait!
*source from website http://specialabilitiescluster.com/default.aspx
Monday, October 26, 2009
Latino Summit
"Gather up and learn, about Latinos, and education!"
by Elma Gonzalez
For more than a century the Latino population has been important part of California's community. The number of Latin immigrants to the United States has increased; as a result the number of Latin students enrolled in California schools -specially in southern California- has increased considerably. Despite this growth, the number of them who graduate and go to college has not seen a significant increase. But why? With Latino students making up almost half of the student population in CA, the San Diego County Chicano Federation (SDCCF) formed a committee to answer this question. They began by monitoring the educational progress of the Latino youth in the SD Unified school district. In 1982, SDCCF held an educational summit at SDSU to identify "points of concern regarding the low academic achievements" of Latino students. In 1997, they held another summit to revise these points. The result was the establishment of the SD County Latino Coalition on Education.
Since then, the coalition has directed 14 Latino Summits in San Diego with the goal of improving Latino Academic Achievement. Alberto Ochoa, a member of the committee that organizes the event, explains that the primary goals are "...to create awareness through statistics, to close the achievement gap between Latino students and white students, and to increase the academic rigor in classes offered to Latino students."
Although SOH students attend the summit as spectators every year, it was not until last October 17 that more than twenty SOH MEChA students led by Ms. Flores took part in this year's summit by presenting information and expressing their opinions to over 200 students, parents, teachers, and administrators. At the summit, important figures in our community spoke about the barriers Latino students face; they explained possible reasons and solutions for these obstacles; and they called the community to action by encouraging them to support the Latino in acquiring a college education. The event proceeded to workshops in which students were able directly to express their opinion on conflicts faced by Latino students today. Some students narrated personal experiences about obstacles they had faced or were facing.
By this description you might imagine several presenters speaking in front of an audience for
five hours -not a very exciting experience-, but being a Latino student myself, I found
most of the information presented there to be rather shocking and unbelievably inspiring. Every slide in the presentation showed a disappointing low number of academic achievement in Latino students; but trust me, there is nothing more motivating than someone telling you you can't do something-and I believe that was the point of the whole event; to annoy us, open our eyes, and force us to do something about it.
It is for this reason that I highly encourage students to attend future Latino Summits. More importantly though, I encourage students to set higher goals for themselves, to go to college, and to turn those statistics around and set high standards for future Latino generations.
–––
*For more information on the Latino Summit and similar events contact Ms. Flores or Mr. Rodriguez, MEChA advisers.
Wildcoast/Costasalvaje
Community gathers to clean the environment
by Martin Zazueta
Every year the the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park gets packed with all sorts of trash that flows down from Tijuana during the rainy season, causing devastating damage to the valley's plant and animal life. The worst part is that the trash and raw sewage comes every year due to the geographic settings of Tijuana, which is located at a higher elevation than southern San Diego causing a water runoff: all the sewage of Tijuana comes in causing the river valley to fill up with tires, bottles, styrofoam, and countless other junk that flows in from Tijuana. To combat the problem Wildcoast, an environmental non-profit organization based in Imperial Beach, has been working to get community support to help clean-up the Tijuana River Valley, and that's just what they've accomplished.
Dr. Arias, Southwest High's engineering teacher, coordinated with Wildcoast to have the cleanup project director, Paloma Aguirre, to give a Powerpoint presentation to SOH students in which they were made aware or reminded of the severe crisis that has plagued the river valley. Many students were shocked at the large extend of the problem. One student stated: “I knew it was dirty there, but not that dirty”. At the end of the presentation Ms. Aguirre had the teachers assign the students a letter to write to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to urge for more federal support of the issue. She also had a call to action inviting the students to come on Saturday October 24, 2009 from 9a.m.-12 p.m. to the last clean up of the year before the rain comes back.
With this call to action Ms. Aguirre stated “Because Southwest is so close, and is in fact the closest school to the River Valley, I think it's important that the Southwest High community leads the way in our efforts”
So, last Saturday that's exactly what happened: at least 20 SOH community members went out to clean-up the trash. Seniors such as Football player Carlos Troche and Academic Decathlete Joseph Dancel came to put in their part, while at the same time were earning community service hours for graduation and for college applications. Even Freshmen showed up to do their part. Dr Arias showed up as well and speeded up the trash collections by going on the trails with his truck to collect filled bags, tires and any other big pieces of collected trash.
Apart from SOH, several other high schools from throughout the county such as High Tech High, and members from several universities came to help out the community. At the event there were well over 100 people cleaning up the River Valley. But even with these people helping, a greater effort across the board is needed from the Sweetwater District board.
Pearl Quiñones, board member of the Sweetwater Union High School District was also present on Saturday and was also shocked at the sight of all the trash saying that “this is just something one has to see for themselves to understand the magnitude”. Ms. Quiñones says that she plans to have Ms. Aguirre give a presentation to the rest of the Board and hopes to champion an effort to have the Sweetwater District involve all the schools and organize a monthly cleanup project for this “affects all of us directly”.
Well even though the problem is far from solved, the wheels are in motion to generate a bright clean future, the question is whether you'll “make it happen, watch it happen, or wonder how it happened”, and is this case, only the those making it happen are needed. If your interested in making things happen, you can do your part by volunteering at Wildcoast events, or with any other non-profit organization, you can also write a letter to any of your area's elected officials urging them to take action. For more information visit the Wildcoast website at http://www.wildcoast.net/
by Martin Zazueta
Every year the the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park gets packed with all sorts of trash that flows down from Tijuana during the rainy season, causing devastating damage to the valley's plant and animal life. The worst part is that the trash and raw sewage comes every year due to the geographic settings of Tijuana, which is located at a higher elevation than southern San Diego causing a water runoff: all the sewage of Tijuana comes in causing the river valley to fill up with tires, bottles, styrofoam, and countless other junk that flows in from Tijuana. To combat the problem Wildcoast, an environmental non-profit organization based in Imperial Beach, has been working to get community support to help clean-up the Tijuana River Valley, and that's just what they've accomplished.
Dr. Arias, Southwest High's engineering teacher, coordinated with Wildcoast to have the cleanup project director, Paloma Aguirre, to give a Powerpoint presentation to SOH students in which they were made aware or reminded of the severe crisis that has plagued the river valley. Many students were shocked at the large extend of the problem. One student stated: “I knew it was dirty there, but not that dirty”. At the end of the presentation Ms. Aguirre had the teachers assign the students a letter to write to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to urge for more federal support of the issue. She also had a call to action inviting the students to come on Saturday October 24, 2009 from 9a.m.-12 p.m. to the last clean up of the year before the rain comes back.
With this call to action Ms. Aguirre stated “Because Southwest is so close, and is in fact the closest school to the River Valley, I think it's important that the Southwest High community leads the way in our efforts”
So, last Saturday that's exactly what happened: at least 20 SOH community members went out to clean-up the trash. Seniors such as Football player Carlos Troche and Academic Decathlete Joseph Dancel came to put in their part, while at the same time were earning community service hours for graduation and for college applications. Even Freshmen showed up to do their part. Dr Arias showed up as well and speeded up the trash collections by going on the trails with his truck to collect filled bags, tires and any other big pieces of collected trash.
Apart from SOH, several other high schools from throughout the county such as High Tech High, and members from several universities came to help out the community. At the event there were well over 100 people cleaning up the River Valley. But even with these people helping, a greater effort across the board is needed from the Sweetwater District board.
Pearl Quiñones, board member of the Sweetwater Union High School District was also present on Saturday and was also shocked at the sight of all the trash saying that “this is just something one has to see for themselves to understand the magnitude”. Ms. Quiñones says that she plans to have Ms. Aguirre give a presentation to the rest of the Board and hopes to champion an effort to have the Sweetwater District involve all the schools and organize a monthly cleanup project for this “affects all of us directly”.
Well even though the problem is far from solved, the wheels are in motion to generate a bright clean future, the question is whether you'll “make it happen, watch it happen, or wonder how it happened”, and is this case, only the those making it happen are needed. If your interested in making things happen, you can do your part by volunteering at Wildcoast events, or with any other non-profit organization, you can also write a letter to any of your area's elected officials urging them to take action. For more information visit the Wildcoast website at http://www.wildcoast.net/
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