INSIDE THETIMES:

JAGUAR TIMESThe Student Voice of South East High School

Volume 8 Issue 3 December, 2012 www.jaguartimes.net

INSIDE THE TIMES:

In News:

South gate brightens up for the Christmas Parade

In Opinion:

Beliefs on 2012

In Features:

In Arts and Entertainent:

Halo 4 gets in a firefight with Black

Ops 2

In Sports:

Soccer kicks off into a new season

Teacher Feature: Mr. Palomo

The Jaguar Regime marches into the South Gate Christmas Lane Parade

It’s that time of the year again, parents and children laugh-ing and smiling, Santa giving away hugs and presents to all the little kids waiting upon for his arrival

and the South East Jaguars Band, Color Guard and Dance team ready to give their performance at this special event. Several other high schools from around the area such as South Gate, Bell, Norwalk and

Centennial came together to share holiday tunes and cheers with the crowd. “I always have such an amazing time at the parade, I love being able to see different schools perform, families come together, and everyone just enjoy-ing the Christmas spirit in the air,” said a South Gate City resident. On the day of the pa-rade, December 9 South East en-tered second after South Gate. They marched all the way from California Avenue down Tweedy Boulevard until they hit South Gate Park. With non-stop en-thusiasm, people cheered on the Jaguar regime on as they per-formed Santa’s Parade and other pep tunes. Color Guard member Jennifer Ruiz, a junior in the Visual and Performing Arts small school said, “ I was excited to participate in the parade because it’s a nice ex-perience and you get to see people you know and family members.”

Though everything looked

all pretty and nice the day of the parade, practice was fundamen-tal to make sure everything came

out perfectly the day of the event. Band, Color Guard and Dance have been practicing their songs and routines for about two weeks

in anticipation to the event. Dance member Jocelynn Marin, a junior in the Technology and Media Magnet said, “ I have been practicing for three weeks during 7th period and

sometimes after school. I am a bit tired but I know the day of the pa-rade it will be worth it.” Marin isn’t the only member in the Dance team who prepared for the event. “The dance team already knew the rou-tine but I barely started practicing it for about two weeks ago,” said Jose

Nieto, a senior in the Visual and Per-forming Arts small school. Indeed everyone practiced and dedicated a great part of their time in mak-

ing this amazing parade possible. The South Gate Christ-mas Lane Parade is an annual event that not only gathers several high schools and different organizations, but it gathers families and friends so everyone is able to come see the different performances. “I don’t live near South Gate, but I wouldn’t miss the parade for anything. I love coming and seeing all the wonder-ful performances, they all catch my attention and makes me want to see

what else they are going to show,” said a Pasadena City resident. With

no doubt the Christmas Lane Parade attracts many people, close and far.

By Penelope MonteManaging Editor

The Jaguar Regime shine throughout the parade Photos by Penelope Monte

Winter concert brings holiday spirit

After the practices, The Or-chestra and Marching Band were ready to perform in the Winter

Concert. Ms. Lange, a teacher of Visual and Performing Arts said, “I’m ready and very excited about the winter concert. I hope every-body comes. Every performance goes well and we raise money for the Music Department.” As

the choir, orchestra, and mariachi performed, it seems that every-one was satisfied with the show.

The whole purpose of the winter concert was to celebrate this festive time of year, and also showcase talent of Jaguar Musi-cians. Monica Rubio, a junior from Justice and Law small school said, “I was sort of nervous to per-

form, but no matter what I know

I gave my best that day for the audience and myself.” Students were ready and confident to show

their talents in this concert. Some songs were difficult, but they tried

and practiced to make it happen.

By Norma Celeste Perez & Diana De JesusReporters

Continued on Page 7

Newswww.jaguartimes.net

Editor-in-ChiefRosemary Sanchez

Manager in DesignPenelope Monte

News EditorAnalilia Mercado

Opinio EditorDaniel Juarez

Features EditorSandra Ruiz

Arts &EntertainmentAngel Esqueda

Sports EditorBianca Donlucas

Online Editor Paola Diaz

AdvisorMr. Cottom

ReportersVanessa EspinozaPaola DiazBrian Camarillo Jonathan GutierrezJose LazaldeOscar GurtierrezDesiree GonzalezNorma Celeste PerezDiana De JesusBrianna Perez Keiri Ramirez

The Jaguar Times is gen-erally an eight-page publication produced by the South East High School Journalism department. The entire student body, the pri-mary audience, receives the paper free of charge to encourage lead-ership and to ensure the showcas-ing of student journalistic work. The secondary audience for the paper is the faulty, staff, and ad-ministration of the school district. Other audiences include members of the local commu-nity, other school journalism pro-grams throughout the country, and organizations that promote the develoopment of scholastic journalism. Without their support, the department cannot maintain a high-quality program. The newspaper attempts to inform and entertain it’s audi-ence board, fair, and accurate man-ner on all subjects that affect read-ers. The publication seeks also to provide a forum for the opinion students, the staff, of the paper, and the faculty, thus encouraging an exchange of ideas and opinions on issues of importance to the readers. Although the staff will al-low constructive criticism of any part of the paper before publication, final authority for content of the

paper rests solely in the hands of journalism students. In accordance with State of California Education Code 48907, despite the court rul-ing in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier; ad-ministrators rely on the adviser and staff to make all content decisions.

Page 2

Debate team climbs it’s way through Debate TournamentBy Sandra RuizEditor

2nd year JLaw donates for World VisionBy Johnathan GutierrezReporter The Justice and Law academy has started a fundraiser to collect money to World Vi-sion for the 2nd consecutive year. Mrs. Watanabe, a teacher in Justice and Law small school said, “We donate because we want to help out those in need.” World Vision is a non-profit organization that helps out

third world countries or those in need of help. World Vision has the ability to send livestock like cows, chickens, goats, cows, and the bunnies to those poor countries. Dennis De La Gala, a se-nior from Justice and Law Small School said,” I donated because I want to help someone out there and hopefully make their day bet-

ter”. The Justice and Law small school is teaching their students about their motto. Which is “Reach Up, Reach Out, and Give Back”. Mrs. Watanabe, one of the teachers in Justice and Law small school said, “Our academy has made World Vision a focus Orga-nization. We recognize that World Vision helps out our teachers with school supplies. So, we encour-age our students and teachers to benefit them. Since the Holidays

are coming up, we want to help them out so that kids from poor countries can have a better life”. Mr. Ellington, another teacher from Justice and Law small school also donated money to World Vision. He said, “I trust them as an organization because they give teachers free supplies and I notice they want to help out poor countries. I donated money to them because I like to give things.” Justice and Law is go-ing to support World Vision in helping those that need food and shelter. Many teachers and stu-dents are involved in this fund-raiser to help someone out there.

Kenneth Carmona, a sophomore in the Tech and Media Magnet, is ready for his first debate tournament. He feels

confident about himself and also

about his partner. He believes he makes a great team with Alejandro Arevalo also a sopho-more from the Tech and Media Magnet. Both of them trust each other and believe that they can argue their way to victory. “The difference between a successful man and the others is not a lack of strength or knowledge, but a lack of will,” said Carmona. Carmona and his partner Arevalo take advantage of time as much as they can. They also created a lot of analytical argu-ments to state during their rebut-tal speech. “Never give up, no matter how hard the obstacles are. Nothing is true everything

is permitted,” said Arevalo. Ms.Steddom, the debate coach, encourages her team to try their best arguments during the tournaments. This tourna-ment is the second tournament from this semester.The first tour-nament took place at University Of Southern California (USC). The team was successful at their first tournament because they

scored high in speaker points and as a result they got trophies. The debate team started almost four years ago. When Los Angeles Metro Debate League wanted to expand the program they included South East High School. Since then the school debate team has been debating with other schools and participating in such events. The team started with 10 team-mates and has expanded to 30

students. “Having debate as a class this year gives me the opportunity to help improve many students to argue and show them how to de-velop their debate talent,” Ms. Sted-dom said. This de-bate tournament is going to take place at Down-town Magnet High School from December 7, 2012 through De-cember 8, 2012. The tournament usually starts Friday from 2:30 p.m through 10:00 p.m and Saturday from 7:15 a.m through 10:00 p.m.

The debate team is ex-cited to try their new argument called “Topicality”, but mostly they are pump up to bring home trophies and glory.

Illustration by Jose Lizalde

Ms.Stedom carries winning trophy. Photo by Sandra Ruiz

OpinionPage 4

www.jaguartimes.net

Editorial It has been seven years, since South East High school opened. Students and teachers have both come and gone through these halls, yet some things still remain the same. Since the school doors were first opened, there have been bulky

and heavy computers in classrooms. Most students see these computers as relics, that need to be replaced. Al-though it seems most of the technol-ogy is outdated, the district’s stan-dards for technology is being met. Students have the programs and applications they need to com-plete their work. Mr. Johns, an archi-tectural design teacher at the school said, “Students have the proper pro-grams, which they can easily access.

The school’s technological status fits within the district’s technical

bounds. ” Mr. Jones also mentioned

that South East is comparable to his last school, in terms of technology. If students are required to com-plete a particular task, the school

has the proper program for them to accomplish it; they can type their essays on Word, create slideshows with PowerPoint, and produce movies on Windows moviemaker.

South East students have the necessary tools to get school-work done, but there is always

room for improvement. Brando Cedano, a senior in the Tech and Media Magnet said, “The comput-ers have Microsoft Office 2003,

and sometimes it causes problems

because students save their work in

a newer format, so they can’t open it at school.” Not having a compat-ible file creates complications for

some students because they can’t convert between versions at school. Another issue Cedano brought up arose when he said, “At school, I’m restricted to options offered in older versions and I almost always feel my projects could have been better with a more current version.” The school does have some more modern computers, but they are of limited quantity and this cre-ates some complications. Melissa Mayoral, a senior in the Tech and Media Magnet said, “We don’t have enough [computers] to dis-tribute to each class, and people

have to wait for days, so they can get the ‘good carts’ or the ‘better computer lab.” Students are more likely to use the more modern ma-terials, not only because they are updated with certain options that fa-cilitate work, but also because stu-dents are more familiar with them.The school may meet the district’s technological standards, but a simple software update could suf-fice for many students, as the new-er versions of certain programs ease the labor of projects. This would also help students make

the transition to working with

modern program versions found at the college and business level.

Christmas

Joy for All

As many may know Christ-mas is a time in which everyone looks forward to; it is a time of the

year. December has come and with it all joy of Christmas. But what is the real meaning of Christmas? It is the gifts under the tree, the lights in the windows, the cards in the mail, and most important they get to have dinner with all their family. It is the time when kids are able to ask for

something expensive. Valeria Con-treras a senior, from Visual and Per-forming Arts small school said, “one thing she enjoys about Christmas is she gets to spend time with her family, regardless if she receives a gift or not.” The point of celebrating Christmas is to celebrate the birth of the Christ, and appreciate the things given throughout the year.

By Vanessa EspinozaReporter

The year 2012 is acting

like a badly behaved celebrity with

frightful rumors and gossip already starting to spread. As many may know there have been commercials

in which they show what is pre-dicted to happen on December 21.

Will it be doomsday, one thing for certain, now is a time for change. Most people think the Ma-yans predicted the end of the world. For example Norma Raygoza a se-nior, from the Justice, Law, and Ser-vice small school said, “She does not believe the world is going to end, but maybe something will hap-pen, I don’t know no one knows.”

If people start thinking why is it

that there are movies showing in theaters about the theory of 2012,

this is supposed to tell what’s going to happen on December 21, 2012.

Another student Maria Ortega from the Justice, Law, and

The Beliefs of 2012By Paola Diaz &Vanessa EspinozaReporters

Service small school comments on how she thinks that the ground

will realign itself but the whole mankind species animals and in-sects will not come to extinction. This year is the year people should look upon to because people

never know

what could h a p p e n , regardless if it hap-pens or not eve ryone should be prepared. Ana Uraga a senior, from Busi-ness, and Finance small school said, “All these theories get crammed down our throats from the media and I think is not going to happen,

because no one knows what is actu-ally going to happen.” According to an article on the beliefs of 2012, it

states, that the ancient Mayan cal-

endar has predicted that the world is going to end on December 21.

Josie Castillo a senior, from

the Justice, Law and Service said “I

think that the world is not going to

end, but I do believe that there’s go-ing to be drastic changes, such as the

weather cli-mate, which it is already happening.” People be-lieve in 2012

because of the long calen-dar made by the Mayans. It is based on the theo-

ries about the planets alignment. According to research, there is going to be a day the world will be destroyed, but not on 2012. If there was something to

happen, it is suggested for people to be prepared, have canned food and water to prevent from starvation.

Illustration by Oscar Gutierrez

Safety Toys and Gifts Awareness MonthBy Keiri RamirezReporter December is the month most kids look forward to be-cause Christmas occurs in this month, and Christmas means family and sometimes even pres-ents. Children and teens receive gift and toys that are recently on sale or something that grabs their attention. Safety Toys and Gifts Awareness Month oc-curs in December when parents should be more careful about the type of toys and video games they given to their children. Children have been re-ceiving presents from their par-ents, without their parents know-

ing what the toys or video games contain. Some games are given to children without the parents knowing that some contain vio-lence and may change the way their kids might see life. “Par-ents should care because kids get

influenced by these games to be

aggressive or they play games all day and won’t have a social life. They change their attitudes be-cause of these games,” said Ev-elyn Brito, a sophomore in Tech and Media Magnet. Children start to think that what happens

in the game may be right to do, but it isn’t. Some gifts are video games that include violence and graphics that should be allowed

for only teens that are 18 or older

so that children won’t start to see lives out there as violent. Even though children find these toys

fun, others think they should be

playing something more educa-tional. According to Ms. Che, magnet coordinator, “I recom-mend anything, what about learning or educational games?” Many people find some

video games inappropriate, but according to some teens toys such as Barbies send a bad mes-sage to girls. “Barbies have ba-bies, making girls wanting to get

babies and even coming,” said Yoselin Ramos, a sophomore in Tech and Media Magnet. Simple

dolls can influence the way of

how girls see life. Even though Barbies may seem like a good

doll for little girls, it can influ-ence girls to try to do things just like them. For example, kids can

try to copy how Barbies’ dress and what type of guy to fall for. Since alcohol has an age requirement to be purchased there should be a similar require-ment for the age limit that certain toys can be bought. This would help the parents know what’s ap-propriate for their kids in the age

they are in. Gifts and toys are nice to receive, but before giv-ing a toy to a child or a teen they should be thought about twice.

Featureswww.jaguartimes.net

Page 6

“Be clear, be specific,” four words that when some students see or hear, one name most likely pops into their minds, Palomo. Mr. Palo-mo is An Advanced Placement U.S History, U.S History, Government, Economics, Psychology and So-ciology teacher in the Technology and Media Magnet. He has been at South East for about six years and he proudly states, “Students at South East are the best students I have en-countered throughout the district, before I became a permanent teach-er, I was a substitute throughout LAUSD and the students here are the most polite, humble, and hard-working that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.” Getting to school at 6:30 a.m. and leaving at about 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. and having a total of about 203 students can turn out to be quite challenging and difficult not only for him but for any teacher, but Palomo is still able to put that fact aside and help each of his student succeed in the very best way that he can. Students also have much to say about him, “Well in my opinion, Palomo is really cool with a hint of scary as hell,” said Yvonne Ortega,

a junior in the Health and Sci-ence Small School. He loves being able to teach s t u d e n t s something new ev-eryday but the best f e e l i n g out of ev-e r y t h i n g he does is, “be-ing able to build a relationship with my students and helping them achieve,” he states. Though being a very hard-working and determined teacher with all his students, there’s also something he dislikes about his job, “grading a pile of essays on the weekend!” grad-ing about 200 essays can be quite stressful and tiring after some time. But when not grading, or at school lecturing Palomo loves being able

to spend q u a l -ity time a n d do all sorts of fun ac-tivities with his family, e s p e -c i a l l y with his kids. “I s p e n d a lot of t i m e w i t h m y k i d s , coach-

ing my boys in Soccer, or T-Ball.” Palomo believes no stu-dents should take their education for granted. No only does he have advice for his students but for his future students as well, “Value to opportunity to get an education.” A note to future AP students as well, “AP students are typically very competitive between each other, and they will push each other to achieve

at high levels.” He might seem like e a very difficult teacher for some students at first, but no one said his AP class would be easy. Sure he leaves many sections of readings from the book a night but by the end of the year he grantees students will feel ready to take the AP Exam in May. His class isn’t always con-sent work, and unit exams; he shares quite a few laughs with his students with a joke here and there. Students such as Ashley Covarrubias, a ju-nior in the Technology and Media Magnet says, “ I think he’s is a great teacher and teaches really well.” But for Marcela Martinez, a junior in the Health and Science Small School, she says, “Honestly he’s one of the hardest teachers I’ve ever had! ‘Be clear, be specific’ is en-graved in my head because of him, but it honestly helps me a lot when writing essays.” Whatever the case my be, with Mr. Palomo as a teacher students are sure to “impress there friends at parties” from all the his-tory knowledge any student of his will acquire throughout the year in his class.

Photo by Penelope Monte

Mr. Palomo lecturing to his second period AP.

Students pick up “Unwanted Food”By Yuliana MarinReporter Food is wasted everyday by students that don’t like to eat food from the district. Oc-casionally, students wait in the lunch line to get food, sometimes they wait for a long time and once they get inside the cafete-ria there’s no food left over, or it isn’t what they enjoy, so they decide to throw away the food which is three dollars per tray.

Mr. Garibaldi, one of the admin-istrators, took some baskets and placed them outside the cafeteria saying “Unwanted Food”. Stu-dents were given the opportunity to get rid of the food they didn’t want, instead of tossing it to the trash. This also gave students the chance to not wait in line and just get the food they wanted by sim-ply picking it up from one of the

baskets. “As it looks most stu-dents don’t like the milk or the vegetables, they’re more inter-ested in the sandwiches,” said Mr. Garibaldi. It also showed how much food students throw away. But it leaves the cafeteria workers more job to do .Towards the end of lunch the lunch staff have to put back all the unwanted

food back inside the cafeteria. “Just by eating once, stu-dents cut back on a lot of waste,” said Ms. Anderson, one of the cafeteria employees. If students prefer just drinking the juice they can simply just purchase one for 75 cents.

Teacher Feature: Mr. PalomoBy Penelope Monte Managing Editor

Many teens often talk about being a good person, but little know what being a good person actu-ally is. Luckily, here at South East, Cristy Figueroa, a junior in the Tech & Media Magnet sets the example. Her friends like Oswaldo Gomez, a junior in the Tech & Media Mag-net describe her as “compassionate and understanding” and said that Figueroa is someone who he fully trusts with anything and everything. Figueroa not only spreads her captivating joy and happiness to faculty and students at South East but also to children off campus. In

the beginning of her sophomore year Figueroa spoke to Mr. Adams, an English teacher for Tech & Me-dia Magnet, about becoming a so-cial worker. Little did she know this conversation soon would lead to a club on campus called, Make a Child Smile which meets every Wednes-

day in Mr. Adams room in C111. M.A.C.S is dedicated to helping less fortunate children who are going through difficult times

and just need a smile. When asked why Figueroa decided to start the club she said, “When my dad was a kid he grew up without a father, was living in poverty, and his moth-er was left supporting him and his six siblings in Mexico, and I know other kids are in the same situation and they just need support when dealing with those things.” Albert Radillo, a junior in the Tech & Me-dia Magnet, is the Vice President

for the club and describes Figueroa as a “great person with a big heart” and how he has been “blessed” to have a friend like her who is dedi-cated to supporting children in need. Figueroa is the girl with the golden heart because of her dedica-tion to making her community a bet-ter place and always being there for her friends. When a friend is in need of a smile or a shoulder to cry on, Figueroa is always there with open arms to support and comfort them.

Cristy Figueroa: The Girl with a Heart of GoldBy Alondra GarciaJv Reporter

Illustration by Sandra Ruiz

Merry Christmaswww.jaguartimes.net

Page 5

Christmas Puzzle

Words CANDY CHOCOLATE CHRISTMASCOOKIES ELF JINGLESJOLLY MERRY NAUGHTYNICE NORTH POLESANTA SNOW SNOWMANTOYS

FIND THE MISSING ELF

For many people, being under the pressure of having to buy gifts and plan events on Christmas makes it an incredibly stressful time of the year. Humbug Day is a day for people to be able to let their inner Scrooge out. It occurs on the 21st of December just a few days before Christmas. “I want to give my family the things they want for Christmas but Christmas shop-ping is the worst,” said Anthony Galdamez, a junior in the Tech and Media Magnet. Humbug day is a very benefi cial day because

people have a chance to let out their stress before Christ-mas day. Esther Hernandez, a resident from South Gate said, “It’s so frustrat-ing shopping for people!” Many take advantage of this day because they are exhausted from spending hours of their day shopping for the per-fect gift for their family members and close friends or planning an

event. Scar-lett Gonza-les, another resident from South Gate said that Christmas is one of her favorite

times of the

year, except for all the stress that comes along with it. “Sometimes I feel like a Christmas ornament

ready to shatter,” said Gonzales. She felt like it was too much for her to handle. Marlene Torres, a resident from South Gate said, “We all deserve a day to just vent, Hum-bug Day is perfect.” Humbug Day is for all peo-ple going through the frustrations of having to prepare everything for the perfect Christmas. Students can take a break for one day and let everyone know how it feels before becoming the Ebenezer Scrooge of Christmas.

illustration by Desiree Goldamez

Bah Humbug!By Desiree GaldamezJV Reporter

Illustration by Sandra Ruiz Illustration by Sandra Ruiz

Illustration by Yuliana Marin

INGRDIENTS

1~pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® gingerbread cookie mix

½~cup butter or margarine, softened

1~tablespoon water

1~egg

½~container (1-lb size) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla or creamy white frosting

1~bottle (2 oz) Betty Crocker® red cinnamon decors

DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, water and egg until soft dough forms. 2.�On lightly fl oured surface, roll

dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart.3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 1 minute; remove

from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.4.Spoon frosting into decorating bag fi tted with

round tip. Pipe frosting on cookies. Decorate with cinnamon decors.

Classic Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe By Sandra Ruiz Feautures Editor

Christmas Puzzle

Words CANDY CHOCOLATE CHRISTMASCOOKIES ELF JINGLESJOLLY MERRY NAUGHTYNICE NORTH POLESANTA SNOW SNOWMANTOYS

FIND THE MISSING ELFday is a very benefi cial day because day is a very benefi cial day because

Illustration by Sandra Ruiz Illustration by Sandra Ruiz

Illustration by Yuliana MarinIllustration by Yuliana Marin

INGRDIENTS

1~pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® gingerbread cookie mix

½~cup butter or margarine, softened

1~tablespoon water

1~egg

½~container (1-lb size) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla or creamy white frosting

1~bottle (2 oz) Betty Crocker® red cinnamon decors

DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, water and egg until soft dough forms. 2.�On lightly fl oured surface, roll

dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart.3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 1 minute; remove

from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.4.Spoon frosting into decorating bag fi tted with

round tip. Pipe frosting on cookies. Decorate with cinnamon decors.

Classic Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe By Sandra Ruiz Classic Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe By Sandra Ruiz Classic Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe Feautures Editor

Arts & Entertainment Page 7

www.jaguartimes.net

HALO 4 gets in a firefight with B l a c k O p s IIStory by Angel EsquedaEditor This November, two of the biggest FPS franchise jug-gernauts hit the face of the Earth, as well as forums, gaming web-sites like G4 and IGN, and the Playstation Network and Xbox Live communities, respectively. This year, the two jugger-nauts promised to bring new breathes of life into their own respective se-ries, as well as the FPS genre, but truthfully, neither game could re-ally claim to be “revolutionary” and neither were true “game changers,” though they did bring “new” fea-tures into their respective games. With Treyarch hadnling the Call of Duty reigns this year, Black Ops 2 changed the standard Call of Duty multiplayer system dramati-cally and introduced a new “pick 10” create-a-class system in which play-ers can mix-and-match their equip-ment and weapons any way that they see fit. The developers at Treyarch

brought in a professional writer, co-

writer of The Dark Knight, David S. Goyer to write what was a “fantas-tic story. [And a] really, really damn good job,” as told by Adolfo Porti-llo, a junior from the Health and Sci-ence small school, where the player has to search for a rid the Earth of the complex villian, Raul Menen-dez. As for the special game mode, “zombies” has made all of the zom-bies fans at school rave with excite-ment over the introduction of the new, but familiar feeling “TranZit” mode, as well as the less desirable but still fun “Grief” zombie mode. Halo 4, developed by 343 Industries, held a completely dif-ferent feeling than previous Halo games, although it continued its tra-

dition of an excellent story with the player assuming the role of Master Chief to defeat the Forerunner Di-dact. Various players on Xbox Live complained that the game had too much of a “Call of Duty” feeling to it, and Da-vid Martinez, a junior, gave further insight by saying that “it’s good and balanced, but it doesn’t feel good. There’s really no one to play with, that’s why it’s not as fun.” As for special game modes, 343 intro-duced several new game modes like Spartan Ops that Jose Vasquez, a junior from the Health and Science small school claims are “great and a nice way to pass the time because [the player] can play them with friends and can even play them alone.” Overall, both games re-

main more or less the same, and it all comes down to which game is the lesser of two evils. Many found Halo 4’s campaign too short, though still beloved for continuing the story of Halo 3, though oth-ers found Black Ops 2’s narrative driven campaign too confusing. The battle won unani-mously was the battle of special game modes, in which Black Ops 2 prevailed with their award win-ning zombies game mode. The multiplayer aspect is deadlocked because many have complained that Black Ops 2’s multiplayer is “unbalanced” though the fast paced game play is still favored amongst the masses. Halo 4 is seen as “bal-anced,” but “boring” even with the wealth of game modes that it offers. Both of these games are very close and at the end of the race it’s come down to a photo finish with

Black Ops 2 just brushing the fin-ish line before and beating Halo 4.

Supporting the school’s Winter Concert was a way to show off all of their hard work. Kather-ine Ayala, a junior from Visual and Performance Arts small school said, “I felt excited to be able to play in the winter concert for South East.” It’s not easy to be in front of many people and sing, dance, or play. It’s still an honor to see their teamwork and understand the concept of the winter spirit. Ms. Lange was very motivated because performing is an essential part of learning music. Julizza Rocha, a senior in

Justice and Law small school said, “Performing with the band makes me feel nervous, yet excited to be part of something that has a bond like fam-ily.” The performers put their effort to this day and accomplished to make everybody proud with the show. This was a way to help the schools Music Depart-ment, and appreciate the talent of the Jaguars. As the audience clapped and cheered it showed they were happy and proud of how they made it this far.

Stephen Spielberg has yet again made another fantas-tic film, according to audienc-es around the country. Stephen Spielberg’s new movie Lincoln has audi-ences cheering all over the US. On its opening night, the movie Lincoln made an estimated $87,000,000, already beating its budget. “The movie was incredible, and I liked Abraham Lincoln’s act-ing”, said Jonathan Gu-tierez, a senior the Justice and Law small school. This student really enjoyed Daniel Day Lewis’ performance.

“Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lin-coln, is brawling and epic”, said Rolling Stones magazines. Even the tough-

est of critics give this movie a great review.Many audiences around the globe continue to say that Lincoln is fan-tastic film. Rotten To-matoes gave this film a

90% satisfactory rating. This is an inspira-tional film of how President

Abraham Lincoln led the civil war, freed the slaves, and met his tragic end.

LincolnStory by Jose LizaldeReporter

Ever seen a film and

thought,” Whoa! It takes creativity to make this kind of movie! “Well that’s exactly what Mar-cus Dunstan director of The Collection, accom-plished with this film.

A psychopathic killer is on the loose and hunt-ing everybody and isn’t discriminating about age, gender, or race. Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) goes out with her friends one night, disregarding the killer on the loose, look-ing for a good night out with her friends. But the night quickly shifts when the maniac turns the party into a human buffet shredding body’s ev-erywhere you look. While the ma-niac is having the time of his life, he also takes Elena while he’s at it. In the process Arkin (Josh Stew-art) is introduced as a thief who

was once The Collector’s victim, and took the chance to escape. As Elena’s wealthy father (Christo-

pher McDonald) finds

out about this tragedy, he hires a team of mer-cenaries along with his right hand man (Lee Tergesen) to save Ele-na from The Collec-tor before it’s too late. Arkin (Josh Stew-art) joins the merce-naries and now have to make their way through The Collec-tor’s territory which is an abandoned hotel

which he has rigged with booby traps and many ob-stacles. Arkin and his team have a limited amount of time before Elena dies, and before they do as well. If you like gore, and love to see people die then this is the movie for you!

cont. page 1 Winter Concert

The CollectionStory by Oscar Gutierez

Reporter

Mr. Patterson’s beginner choir dazzles . Photo by Norma Perez

SportsPage 8

www.jaguartimes.net

Soccer kicks off into a new

season

By Bianca Donlucas

Q: How long have you been

playing soccer?

A: Since freshman year.

Q:What do you like most about

soccer?

A: Playing because I for-

get about all my problems.

Q:How do you feel when you’re

in the game?

A: At first nervous, but then excit-

ed when I’m playing with the team.

Kenia

Jardon

#19

Senior from Justice, Law and Service

School

By Rosemary Sanchez

Editor-in-Chief

Softball catches the eye of new players

Athlete of

the Month

Photo by Bianca

Donlucas

By Analila Mercado &

Bianca Donlucas

Editors

Holiday Half Marathon By Yuliana Marin

Reporter The “Holiday Half Mara-

thon,” is an event that can be ac-

complished by everyone by simply

walking or running. This race will

start at 8 AM December 9 and will

take place at the Pomona Fairplex.

“It’s fun to run by all the lakes and

it has a nice view running by lakes

and ducks,” said Alexis Hernandez,

a junior in the Justice, Law and ser-

vice small school, who is also one

out of four SRLA team captains.

This trail is ran by South

East’s Students Run LA (SRLA)

program and it’s 13.1 miles long.

The race includes running down the

World’s Famous Auto Club down

to Frank G. Bobelli Regional Park

around Puddlingstone Lake, and

the last 3 miles will include running

by the Historic Trains close by the

Flower Garden Pauillion, the Wal-

ley Park Motorsports Museum and

finally finishing at the Central Plaza.

“I want to see how much I’ve

improved in my training as well as

my teammates, and to be a better

runner with a healthier life style,”

said Erik Miranda, a junior in the

Health Science and Environment

small school. SRLA prepared for

this event by eating right, having

strong mentality and by running

3 miles a day, three times a week.

“Every runner [on]

the team tries their hardest. I mo-

tivate them by pushing them [un-

til] every breath in their body is

spent by trying,” said Hernandez.

Evbvery runner on the team will

receive a medal and a t-shirt once

finishing the long run. Accord-

ing to Hernandez, every runner

on the team is very active and

dedicated to what they want to

accomplish. Students are very

devoted and have been training

very hard for his half marathon.

The Jaguar soccer team

has gotten off to a dismal pre-sea-

son start. They seem far different

from seasons past but seem to

still hold true to the united goal

of becoming CIF champions. “

Pre-season games do not affect

us in a bad way, but more in a

good way because it’s where we

can learn from our mistakes.”

Said Garett Bucheli #37, captain

of the varsity team, who plays

forward and mid-fielder, and a

student in the Business and Fi-

nance small school.

Bucheli, as well as his

fellow teammates, believe that as

long as the team sticks together

as a family and stay united, they

will be able to score their way

through to victory. Unfortunate-

ly, the head coach of the varsity

Jaguars, Felipe Bernal, sees other

wise. Bernal has coached for the

South East Jaguars for the past

seven years. Every year certain

players improved and strength-

ened, in skill and knowledge,

into future stars.

This year proves oth-

erwise in the coach’s eyes. The

knowledgeable leader believes

that this season is one for a drastic

change in the varsity squad. He

believes the squad is divided into

two several parts, those who just

wear the colors and those who

represent them. “Its still early in

the season, anything could hap-

pen. But it’s better to have expe-

rience as a coach and as a team

to identify problems early, than

to identify them late.”

Some of the Jaguars ad-

mit to have certain weaknesses

through out game plays. “Com-

munication and our skills need

to be worked on, and our tem-

per can get to us when put under

pressure” said Carlos Melchor

#1, a junior from Visual and Per-

forming Arts Small School, and

one of the goalies of the varsity

team. But one problem that may

concern many players is the bond

between their teammates.

Jose Nieto #34, a varsity

player who plays defense and

middle, and a student from the

VAPA small school, believes

that his teammates should be

able to bond more and play

together as a family, “It’s true

when they say ‘Whatever hap-

pens out of the field, stays out

of the field’; you [have to] leave

it out of the field because it does

influence what happens inside

the field when you’re playing

with your others.”

Despite the problems

the team has full motivation and

will to become CIF champions.

Soccer team sticks together during their Photos by Analilila Mercado

preseason games.

The softball winter league

was a league that prepared girls

for the official tryouts. The girls

were grouped into three teams

and simply played friendly games

against each other, while giving the

coaches an opportunity to observe

different qualities from each girl.

“The winter league is help-

ful to the actual season, because it

gives the coaches the chance to see

where the returners are, whether

they’re rusty or they’re good to go

for the season. At the same times, it

shows them which girls have poten-

tial,” said Sonia Vasquez, a senior in

the Technology Media and Magnet.

This league is not only detrimen-

tal for the players, but they also

have the opportunity to have fun.

The league lasted about

three weeks and now that tryouts

have ended, the softball team an-

ticipates their upcoming season.