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baronnews.com volume XXXII >> ISSUE 2 >> December 2012

FV Hires New Football CoachRay Fenton takes over as head coach for Barons football.

- -Catt Phan- -- -Rachel Phillips- -

staff writers

High school football coach Ray Fenton officially agreed to coach the var-

sity team. Fenton plans to bring passion, tradition and his own unique approach to the team after this year’s devastating season.

“FVHS is at the highest level academically and athletically,” said Fenton. “The administration is outstanding, and the teachers I’ve met are ‘in it’ for the right reasons. I want to be here for FVHS as a whole, not just for the football program.”

In one of his first visits to

FVHS, Fenton recalls an interac-tion with a young student. She told him that the best part of her school was the “family feel,” and Fenton has definitely taken this comment to heart, hoping to integrate his team into the com-munity.

Fenton’s personal motto to “be good people, make good choices, and take the initiative” demonstrates his attitude both on and off the field and what he hopes his players remember years from now. A jokester at heart, he suggests that besides his inspiring personality and athletic skill, he plans to bring humor to the team and to the students via practical jokes.

Fenton has been coaching for

almost 20 years and in 2007 led Cypress High School to victory in the CIF Southern Section South-ern Division.

He was awarded the presti-gious title of NFL High School Coach of the Year when he coached in Nevada, and was both the California State Coach of the Year and the Orange County Reg-ister’s Coach of the Year in 2007.

An Orange County native, Fenton’s personal struggles and professional accomplishments have led him to coach in three different states and to eventually return to his alma mater, Cypress High School.

In fact, Fenton attributes his passion for athletics to his own high school football coach, Mike

Henigan, who inspired him to become the man and coach he is today.

In the end, students can look forward to a strong season in the fall.

“I don’t want to say we’ll play recklessly, but we’ll definitely play aggressively. I think it’s time the Green falls and the Bell gets back to where it belongs,” said Fenton.

Fenton joins the coaching staff following Coach Shipp’s resig-nation earlier this year as head coach.

“Being part of Fountain Valley is the opportunity for me to stop and be a part of something really special, and I’m proud to be a Baron,” said Fenton.

Junior Commission fundraising hoodie design revoked

Hoodie design deemed inappropriate by Activites. --Catt Phan--staff writer

Junior Commission is in the works of creating a new design for its hoodies after

its first design failed to maintain approval by Activities.

Approval was revoked by Mr. Fraser because it evoked a “gang-ster” atmosphere.

Junior Commission raised over $1,200 last year by selling crewnecks last year. This year, the club decided to sell custom-ized hoodies to raise funds for the Class of 2014’s senior year activities.

Designer Beverly Pham (’14) was inspired to make a design based on the famous “FV” hand sign that students use to show their school spirit. Pham went to the Activities Office, where Fraser approved the design but sug-gested that the jacket be changed from maroon to red.

“Other than that, he said he liked it,” stated Pham.

Once Junior Commission’s

fundraiser was approved, Pham went back to the Activities Office to get promotional flyers. There, she discovered that Activities had revoked their approval.

“I don’t understand how the jackets would get disapproved, because ASB has an ASB shirt with a hand doing the ‘FV’ sign and in fact, last year, two other members and I drew a whole mural with the hands doing ‘FV’ for Edison week,” said Yvonne Le (‘14), who is both a member of ASB and Junior Commission.

Although Fraser had initially approved the design, Fraser no-ticed upon closer inspection that the hands “that were used to sign the FV did not look too much like an FV, specifically the ‘F.’”

He deemed the design unsuit-able for school because the ‘F’ looked too similar to the signs that the infamous Los Angeles-based Crips Gang uses.

Known for their murders, rob-beries, drug dealing, and other criminal activities, the Crips

is one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States.

“I don’t understand how the design can be interpreted as ‘gangster,’” she said, referring to the Mickey Mouse hands fea-tured in the design.

Pham is not alone in her disappointment. Many juniors from FVHS and even other schools were excited to purchase a hoodie. Tiffanie Ta (‘14) was expecting to make her purchase and is not only unhappy with its disapproval, but also with

PHOTO BY: Ashley Le

the lack of consideration for the club’s publicity efforts.

“I honestly thought that all of [Junior Commission]’s hard work went to a waste. A lot of students wanted to purchase a hoodie because... it was something dif-ferent,” said Ta.

To others, it is more under-standable why the design was scrapped.

“While there was no intention of selling hoodies with alleged gang signs on them, administra-tion [does] have to take pre-cautions to… maintain a safe, comfortable environment,” said ASB President Jessica Le (’13).

“One interpretation can be all it takes to become offended,” said Le.

Regardless of disapproval for her design, Pham is ready to move on and help Junior Commission raise funds for their senior year.

Junior Commission President Sandy Hoang (‘14) confirmed that the club did not collect any money once the design was withdrawn. As of now, the club is accepting new designs. Hoang stated that “[hoodies] will be sold when everything is settled and the activities office approves it.”

The student body is buzzing with excitement over the pos-sibility that Fountain Valley

may see the return of the Winter Formal. This palpable elation is well-justified; the time for the revival of Fountain Valley’s winter formal is long overdue.

As it is, dances at Fountain Val-ley are few and far in between, and formal dances are even harder to come by for students on a budget. However, winter formal provides a solution to those issues and more.

Homecoming and Prom are expensive, with tickets costing up to $60.

“If we were to have a Winter Formal, it would cost the student body between 35 and 40 dollars a ticket,” said ASB president Jessica Le (‘13). “We are really aiming to keep the prices low and to give the student body what it wants.”

“The relatively low prices for this formal dance would allow more students to enjoy the joys of formal dances,” said Le.

Winter Formal would also be open to more grades, which is not the case with Prom and Homecom-ing.

Finally, there is no debate over whether or not we should have win-ter formal. Le went on to note that on the ASB survey last year, there was an overwhelming demand to have a Winter Formal.

It is time to let the students have what they want. High school is about forging memories with the people they love.

Winter Formal gives students another opportunity to gallivant with their friends, relishing the good times of youth. Let them re-usher in the Age of the Winter Formal - I’ll help you pick out your shoes.

Opinion: We want our Winter Formal

One Baron thinks that Win-ter Formal is a must.

--Karen Trinh--staff writer

The holiday season is not only a time for friends, family and celebration, but

also for giving back to the com-munity. Many clubs at FVHS decide to take advantage of this time to volunteer and help those who are less fortunate have the celebration they really deserve.

Over the break, National Hon-ors Society members will visit a local senior home to carol to resi-dents.

“As a club we’re always busy during the holiday season,” said president Tyler McHenry (‘13). “Opportunities to give back to the community are abundant, and we even go caroling at the nearby Senior Center to kick off Winter Break.”

And each year, dedicated Make-a-Wish members spend several chilly nights in one par-ticularly festive neighborhood in Fountain Valley, selling hot chocolate and baked goods to passersby.

“The hot chocolate fundraiser is our biggest fundraiser of the

--Rachel Phillips--staff writer

FV gives back to community during holiday season

Clubs dedicate break to performing community service.

Jazz Choir to perform at Holiday ConcertThe elite choir group readies itself for maiden year.

--Sarina Dayal--staff writer

After an unexpected live audition process in front of more than one hundred

other students, nine talented vo-calists were selected for Fountain Valley’s first Jazz Choir which will perform in Choir’s upcoming Holiday Concert.

The group was hand-selected by Director Kevin Tison after live auditions were performed in front of the members of Concert Choir.

“I thought it was incredibly nerve-wracking, especially since it was in front of over a hundred students. But I mean the situa-tion was good, since it also tested our ability to perform well under pressure,” said Jackie Le (‘13).

The auditions, which had been originally planned to be individ-ual auditions, consisted of first singing scales, and then a second round of singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

Tison’s decision to create a choir of only nine female students has resulted in the most selective choir at Fountain Valley to date.

Jazz Choir, lead by student director Christina Choate (‘14), spends several additional hours a week to prepare for upcom-ing concerts, such as the Holiday Concert and Broadway show, and competitions, such as the annual Heritage Festival, which will take place in San Diego next spring.

At their last concert, A little Night Music, their song “Mr. Sandman” was praised as one of the most in-sync songs sung that evening.

“We love performing in front of an audience and are looking

year and the donations from the event account for a large portion of the money required to grant a wish,” explains the club’s Co-President, Karen Phan (‘14).

What club members appreciate most is the impact they make on the community.

“I love seeing little children’s faces light up when they see the festivities,” said KIWIN’S vice president Lotus Thai (‘13).

KIWIN’S volunteers decorate the floats that will go into the an-nual Tournament of Roses Parade. The parade is seen by 700,000 spectators in Pasadena and over 70 million viewers worldwide.

“I love how there are hundreds of people volunteering together to put on a fantastic show,” said Thai.

In the end, although each club does something different to com-memorate the holidays, it truly is the spirit that counts.

“The holiday season is a great opportunity for a person to give back to the community,” said CSF secretary Elise Dang (‘14). “You don’t have to give away tangible items as presents. Helping some-one out is even better!”

forward to the Holiday Concert, which is coming up soon. We are singing two songs: ‘My Grownup Christmas’ and ‘Santa Baby’,” said Choate.

The Holiday Concert will be held on December 20th, 2012, at 7 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Cali-

fornia.The Jazz Choir vocalists are

Breeanna Wilson (13’), Christina Choate (14’), Jackie Le (13’), Jade Capristo (13’), Jessica Matthews (14’), Mackenzie Sheppard (14’), Miranda Lennert (14’), Rachel Reynolds (13’) and Tina Do (14’).

PHOTO BY: Tue DuongStudents reflect on ‘magic’ moments

FV students prove insight and creativity, win contest.

--Karen Trinh--staff writer

Campbell Grihalva, Ka-trya Ly, Julienne Chiang, and Valerie Chang have

earned recognition for their en-tries in the annual PTSA Reflec-tions contest.

The theme this year was “Magic in the Moment.”

Campbell Grihalva (’15) re-ceived an Award of Excellence. His entry was a silent film enti-tled “Magic is the Key,” in which a man finds a set of car keys in a magician’s box.

“We [Grihalva and his friend, Michael Peters (‘15)] filmed a little video and we didn’t really like expect it to win… then I ed-ited the video and we submitted it and I won! It was all uphill from there, I suppose,” said Grihalva.

Katrya Ly (’16) won the Award of Excellence for her story called “The Magic of a Story,” about a young boy who discovers his abilities as a writer and realizes that he can inspire others to write too.

Ly expressed her support, not-ing that “it can inspire people to

share their ideas and stories and whatever they have to tell.”

The Award of Merit went to Julienne Chiang (’16) for her work of art entitled “She Can Be Anywhere,” which depicted a little girl in a cardboard box and a towel cape, discovering a magi-cal universe with the help of her imagination.

Chiang was surprised but de-lighted when she learned that her work had won an award, es-pecially because it was very per-sonal to her.

“I didn’t think it would mean too much to anybody else, but see-ing that it did affect other people is kind of flattering. That’s kind of what being an artist is about, for a lot of people,” said Chiang.

Valerie Chang (’14) earned an Honorable Mention for her art piece entitled “A Mother’s Ten-derness,” which was a picture of a mother giraffe and a baby giraffe sharing a loving moment.

“It was really inspirational and worthwhile. I had a lot of fun making it [her artwork] and learn-ing that I won a prize for it is nice too,” said Chang.

PHOTO BY: Tyler Rose Ratzlaff

--Tiffany Tran--staff writer

FVHS ASB is trying to get approval for a Winter For-mal dance after many Barons

requested it during a school survey last year.

ASB members will know whether

Winter Formal is a possibilityStudents divided on its return.

or not it will be approved by Princi-pal Herzfeld before winter break.

“We’re excited to serve the stu-dent body even more and give them what they asked for. We’re hoping for the best, and it looks like it’s coming along,” said ASB President Jessica Le (’13).

Winter Formal would only be

$35, and ASB plans to make it open to both under and upperclassmen.

“Of course I’d go!” Nicolette Stebbins (’14) said. “Prom is really ex-pensive and you can go only if you’re a junior or senior, but winter formal [is] for everyone.”

However, some are completely against bringing this dance back due to lack of time and planning, and they believe that the expenses aren’t worth it.

ASB member Tracey Tran (’13) expressed her disapproval, “It’ll be hastily thrown together and it won’t bring the same hype like Homecom-ing and Prom. Plus, three formal dances is really overkill.”

According to the ASB Binder, the closest dance we had to a Winter Formal was a Winter Semi-Formal in the gym in 2004.

It was taken away due to low attendance, causing the school to lose money. The new gym dances introduced last year, such as Pack the Gym, were created to compensate for this loss.

PHOTO BY- Adrien Ha

Staff CreditsJackie Liu

NewsTyler Ratzlaff

SportsPhotography

DesignersConnie Wong

Chief DesignerAdrien HaAriel VuRosemary Nguyen

Dorothy NguyenFeature

Alex-Quan PhamEntertainment

Noushin AdhootOpinions

EditorsAdrien Ha

Editor-in-ChiefAndrea Liu

Editor-in-Chief

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sports

Hinnant returns to schoolStar football player is on the road to recovery after

horrific accident.

--Selena Yaghoubi--staff writer

Varsity football player J.D. Hinnant (‘13) returned to school December 3 after

being severely injured in a car ac-cident.

On the November 2, Hinnant finished his classes and decided to visit his girlfriend’s house. As he was driving out of the neigh-borhood, another car crashed into him.

Hinnant’s Pontiac Sunfire was hit on the driver’s side. Luckily, his girlfriend’s mom heard the crash and called 9-1-1.

“I honestly can’t remember the crash at all, so I have no idea what was going through my head,” Hinnant said.

Hinnant suffered multiple fractures in his hip and pelvis, broke his tailbone and had two brain contusions as a result of the accident. He had one surgery

done on his hips to have a metal plate inserted.

His sister, Whitney Hinnant (‘14) said, “My first thought when I heard that J.D. was in a car ac-cident was that I had lost my brother.”

After undergoing several sur-geries and recovering in the hos-

PHOTO BY: Tyler Rose Ratzlaff

Rising junior to captain girls waterpoloMeredith Lightbody takes the helm as captain.

--Rachel Phillips--staff writer

The body of a water polo player in motion is a unique and fine-tuned

machine. Below the waterline, strong

legs churn the water. The play-er’s hands swish on the surface pushing out and in to stay afloat, and her head turns frantically, paying constant attention to the fast-paced game and waiting for her turn to rush.

Meredith Lightbody (‘14) has been playing water polo since freshman year. She plays as a “driver,” which means that she swims near the goal. When her team is on the offensive, she serves as the primary goalmaker or works to distract the defense from the “center,” who starts with the ball.

Lightbody believes that she stands out as a player because she doesn’t “always do things as [she’s] taught.”

“But I come up with my own ways of executing those same tasks,” she says. “I am also talented at ‘reading the field,’ which helps me predict our op-ponents’ plays.”

Every weekday morning, she arrives at school before 6 a.m., always one of the first to claim a parking spot in the Valley Vista parking lot. She walks through

the grass and turns left, heading toward the girls’ locker room. She and the rest of the water polo team begin an intense workout and practice before most other students even wake up. The team also practices every day after school and on Saturdays.

Despite the immense time commitment, Lightbody says, “I love to play water polo. It chal-

A four-year commitmentSenior athletes sign letters of intent.

--Cecilia Chung--staff writer

Three seniors at FVHS have signed letters of intent, of-ficially committing them-

selves to the colleges of their choice for sports.

Emily Brucelas, Jaime Dang, and André Vu have committed to softball, swim, and golf, respec-tively. Both Brucelas and Dang have chosen to go to UC Santa Barbara and Vu has decided to go to UC Riverside.

Brucelas had been verbally committed to UCSB since the end of her sophomore year but signed her letter of intent on November 14th. She has had her eyes set on the school since her visit to the campus years ago, even though other colleges have tried to gain her favor.

“When I was signing, I was a little nervous but I was more ex-cited than anything,” she said. Al-though Brucelas is not yet sure of

her major, she is leaning toward pharmacology.

Dang has also selected UCSB as her college and signed on No-vember 15th, the day after the official signing day, so she could commit with her other team-mates. Unlike other sports, swim coaches had to wait until July 1st of 2012 in order to talk to poten-tial recruits. Because of this, Dang did not get in touch with UCSB until September, which is when she took her recruitment trip. This was also when she decided it was the right college for her.

“I really loved the location and the environment of it,” Dang said. “It was super laid back and it felt like home to me, and I re-ally bonded with the coach and the team.”

Vu signed his letter of intent on November 20th. Other col-leges were interested in him, but he chose UC Riverside because of the coach, team, campus, and the surrounding city.

pital for three weeks, J.D. was fi-nally released on November 19th and returned home to his family.

J.D. said, “Not one college has withdrawn their offers and all the coaches have been super sup-portive, which has just been awe-some!”

“He still has every scholar-ship and his future looks bright,” Whitney Hinnant said. “I know J.D. is going to get through this with hard work and the support of his friends, family, and FVHS.”

lenges me and it’s a unique sport, meaning that very few people can say they’ve played.”

Hoping to follow in her sister’s footsteps — older sister Jennifer Lightbody (‘12) currently plays for Cal State Monterey Bay — she says, “I hope I can play water polo in college. It would be a very fun experience for me and I know I would enjoy it.”

The Riverside coach contacted Vu early August of 2011 and of-fered him a full ride scholarship. He plans to major in either busi-

ness or pharmacology.“I was not nervous while sign-

ing,” said Vu. “I knew I would not regret it.”

PHOTO BY: Tyler Rose Ratzlaff

PHOTO BY- Ashley Le

PHOTO BY- Ashley Le

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