15325 E. Los Robles Ave. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745Volume XLVI, Issue I April 13, 2012 Circulation 2200

Every time adults or even newfreshmen make references to their highschool days, it seems the topic of promalways comes into the conversation. Itmakes current high school students havemany questions about it such as “Howam I going to prepare for such a largeevent?” or “What if that day goes wrongfor me?” The subject of prom is so pecu-liar that it may spark emotional thoughtsamong high school students with strainsof stress or everlasting memories for themto keep.

Most high school students onlygo to prom once in their high school ca-reer since only juniors and seniors areadmitted and many juniors are bombardedwith difficult class work and are unwill-ing to pay the large-scale price in timeand money to attend prom. Therefore,there are very few “experienced” prom-goers. Instead, everyone is in the darkabout what to expect. However, they havebright ideas about what prom will be like.Samantha Esparza, junior, explains, “Well,I have never been to prom, but it seemslike quite the event where everyone getsto have their special moment and an oc-casion where a person actually gets that

By Connor LeeConqueror Staff Writer

PromPromPromPromPromBon Voyage

On Saturday, March 24, the LosAltos Academy of Engineering set forthon their journey to the John Deere cor-porate building to compete in the IONMini-Urban Challenge. The Mini-UrbanChallenge is a competition where teamsbuild a robot that moves by itself to spe-cific places on a city-like map. The mapconsists of various stop signs, left turns,right turns, and parking spaces. The ro-bot must move to 6 different designatedplaces during the time period that it is

g i v e n .While thecompeti-tion is on-going, theteam mustproblem-solve in a45 minute

time period any problems that occur.Another part of the competition is a pre-sentation period where the teams presenttheir robot in front of judges on theirapproach to the competition.

The LAAE had two teamswhich competed in the challenge. Thefirst team, LAAE 1, consists of sevenpeople: Marcos Avila, sophomore;Samuel Chia, senior; Kimberly Hsu,sophomore; Kevin Morales, sophomore;Nicholas Pung, junior; Ivan Wang, jun-ior; and JerryWang, sopho-more. The sec-ond team,LAAE 2, con-sists of twopeople: MichaelChang, freshman; and Kenny Hirsch,freshman.

In the competition, the teamshad assigned areas where they would beable to make any last minute changes.Practice for the presentation period wasalso included for the teams. In the com-petition, both LAAE 1 and LAAE 2 com-peted and were successful. LAAE 1 ini-tially brought in the best presentationaward, but later they won second placeand were given a stipend to fund theirtrip to Washington D.C. to compete inthe nationals held at the National Mu-seum of American History on May 26.

EngineeringEngineeringEngineeringEngineeringEngineering

By Nicholas PungSports Editor

high school experience.” Another jun-ior, Darren Liu, stated, “Prom seems likea great time for boys and girls to havethe time of their life and create life-last-ing memories.” Similarly, Leanne Luong,junior, said, “Prom is the last dance forseniors to attend together and spend onelast night with one another, for friendsto bond and for memories to be made.”Some students do not know what willcome their way that night but are ec-static about finding out. Jessica Islas,senior, said, “Although I’ve never beento prom, I’m super excited for this year’s.”

Amongst the hype and excite-ment over the coming and experience ofprom, there are certain students who seesome apparent negatives. Luong added,“It’s not necessary and very expensive.”Most people who attend prom buy ex-travagant dresses if they are girls or rentfull tuxedoes with matching ties for theirdate if they are guys. In addition to that,they may plan to take professional pho-tos, ride in a limo, and also prepare cor-sages. Islas explained, “I just think it iscrazy how so many girls stress out overit as if it was a test or something! It’s anight to have fun and enjoy senior year,

not a competition to see whose dresscosts more or who got the biggest limo.”Another senior, Lemuel Chun, has somesigns of nervousness for what is to comethat night. “I think prom will be an amaz-ing event to attend, but I have high ex-pectations now.”

In the end, prom is one of thefinal events to attend before graduationand therefore it has the main purpose ofproviding for an amazing and simply funnight. Kielthone Lim, senior, excitedlysaid, “Prom is a time to get to have funwith friends. It’s time to dress up andbring out all the swag you got! Don’thold back! Swag it out! Swag to the left!Swag to the right!” Another senior whohas gone to prom before, Vanessa Castro,explains, “You can tell those who are se-niors. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. It’sour prom, our last dance, so let’s makethe best of this night. Even after prom Ithink we want the night to continue, be-cause in a way we don’t want to say byeto high school. It’s a bittersweet thing.You can tell that it’s just one of thosenights you will remember for the rest ofyour life.” All juniors and seniors areencouraged to attend.

On March 16, Los Altos Renais-sance held their annual “Mr. Conqueror”in the gym. Throughout the night, eachcontestant tried to woo the judges bydoing a variety of things. In the formalwear portion, all the guys tried to showtheir style wearing custom dress shirtswith slacks and unique shoes while be-ing accompanied by a girl of his choice.In the swimsuit portion, contestants triedto woo the judges wearing swimsuits thatthey created.

Those events led to the finalround where contestants would partici-pate in a talent show. In the end, therewere five students who were picked tobe in the semifinals for Mr. Conqueror:

Good luck to all who plan totake summer school this summer! Usu-ally classes taken during the summercram a year of work into six weeks. Thisyear, however, teachers only have fiveweeks to do the cramming. To achievethis, there will be 2 three-hour periodswith a lunch break in between. Add thatto some AP summer assignments and asport summer camp or two and you getone fun summer.

The shortened time is becausewe will be starting school earlier for the2013 school year. At first glance, thisappears to be horrible, but it may actu-ally be for the benefit of students forseveral reasons. One reason is that thefirst semester will end at winter vaca-tion. There will be no need to worryabout forgetting information over thebreak. Worrying about and studying forfinals over the vacation will not be anissue. Teachers may even decide againstgiving students an assignment becausethey will not be learning any new mate-rial.

Another reason is standardizedtesting. Most tests like the CAHSEE andthe CST must be given to all of Califor-nia at a specific time in the year. Becauseschool starts earlier, teachers are allowedmore time to prepare their students forthese important tests, which in turnmeans better results. Many students donot know that better scores means morefunding from the state. This money goesto the students by making improvementsto the school. This is especially trueabout AP tests. Students on the EastCoast are allowed almost a month moreof time to study for their tests becauseschools start earlier. This in turn canmake the difference between a two anda three, getting credits for a collegecourse or having to retake the courseagain.

SummerSplash EditorBy John Andraos School

March 24 marked a special dayfor Los Altos and the cheer squad. Cheersquad attended a competition at KnottsBerry Farm. There was a total of 64 teamscompeting overall, but in their division,they competed against 8 other teams andplaced second. This is a very specialhonor as this was their first competitionin several years.

Coach Alison Wills expressedher emotions as, “I am very proud of thegirls as they worked so hard and put alot of time into this. It’s very exciting andemotional to have the girls place this wellafter so many years. I am very contentand excited to see what the future bringsfor cheer and participate in more compe-titions throughout the coming years.”

Assistant Principal of Instruc-tional Services Steve Cazares, who is aLos Altos alumnus, stated, “Mrs. Wills

Levi Gomez, Lemuel Chung, HectorDuarte, Chico Ortiz, and FernandoRodriquez came through. Gomezsoothed the judges by singing a songwhich was loved by all. Chung caughtthe attention of everyone in the crowdas well as the judges by playing the uku-lele, the guitar, and the piano, along withbreakdancing in front of the crowd.Duarte made the crowd laugh as he worea flamingo ring around his waist anddanced while providing a comic feel tothe gym. Ortiz also created a dancewhich he executed skillfully. Rodriguezalso created a dance which made thecrowd laugh throughout his perfor-mance.

is absolutely fantastic with taking overcheer and getting them involved in com-petitions. It has been years since cheerhas competed and its great seeing theprogram being turned around. Mrs. Willsis great in supporting them and the girlsare very dedicated, which makes the pro-gram great. They strive for an opportu-nity to compete and Mrs. Wills has donea great job.”

Wills plans to enter the girlsinto more competitions but expenses area problem. Cheerleader Leann Valdiviastates, “We were all very shocked anddelighted at the same time. I felt veryhappy and proud to be a part of theteam.” Cheer as well as dance team’snext competition will be at nationals onMay 5. Cheer will also be a part of thedance concert on the April 18-20, socome out and watch!

In the semifinals, the contes-tants were to go into the crowd andgather money for a Los Altos student inneed of assistance. As Chris Reeder, Re-naissance advisor, told the story of whatwas happening, everyone else pulledout their wallets. This portion was a twominute run where whoever gained themost money would add a number to theirscore. When Reeder sent them off, eachcontestant ran swiftly through thecrowd, pulling in a lot of money. Whenthe money was counted, they had raisedover $1000 in 2 minutes which would goto help a student in need. The winnerwas announced and it was Levi Gomez.Congratulations Levi!

LLLLLA CheerA CheerA CheerA CheerA CheerBy Lauren OosamranPage Editor

Mr. ConquerorMr. ConquerorMr. ConquerorMr. ConquerorMr. ConquerorBy: Nicholas PungSports Editor

NewsThe Conqueror April 13, 2012

Dance theNight

From April 18-20, the Los AltosJV and varsity dance teams, along withthe Polynesian Club, co-ed dance, allmale dance, cheer and special guestsfrom community dance organizations, willdance the night away. The concert will begin at 7:00 PMin the Hacienda and will run about 2hours long with the exception of Friday,which will be a special 3 hour performancesince Friday willbe designated assenior night dedi-cated to the 22seniors graduat-ing on the team.Tickets for theconcert will be $5pre-sale and $10at the door. “The danceconcert will bevery fun and ex-citing as well asemotional, especially on Friday, as thenight is dedicated to the seniors,” says

Along with our academics andsports academy, the performing arts acad-emy is known to distinguish themselvesfrom the majority. Every year the studentswork diligently in order to show up theirrivals. The award winning Los Altos Win-ter Guard is no different this year. On March 24,the team went toRamona HighSchool to competein the IntermediateA division againstnine of the mostc o m p e t i t i v eschools in their di-vision. The guardended up takinghome the second place trophy with highhopes for their next competition. “Thisyear we changed gears and went with amore ambitious show,” says RobertHahn, color guard coach. “We’re defi-nitely excited for the rest of the seasonand ready to defend our gold medal.”The guard will be competing on April 1

Alma Mijares, senior, who is part of theJV dance team. “It’s going to be a very fun nightof dance and it’s going to be really memo-rable for the seniors,” states Natalie Co-rona, senior. Members of the dance teamare feeling bittersweet as senior MideriPaniagua states, “I’m very happy thatit’s coming up, but sad that it is my lastyear being on the team and performing.”

If you wantto see many vari-ous dances andtalents, attendingthe dance concertwill be the place tobe! “I’m really ex-cited and lookingforward to thedance concertsince there will bea lot of great tal-ent performingand it will be a fun

night. Everyone should come!” saysAlison Wills, dance director.

at Royal Oak Middle School. “We’re hun-gry for victory. All the practice and hardwork will pay off once we achieve excel-lence and take home that first place tro-phy,” says Katie Clark, junior.

This year, the Los Altos WinterGuard presents a show about a girl get-

ting heartbroken. Theshow features danc-ers, weapons andflags. The show is en-titled “And I WasThinking About You.”The show has yet tobe finalized, but thoseinvolved are antici-pating success for therest of the season.“The best part of color

guard is that we start out as completestrangers and slowly become friends.But by the end, we all come together asfamily,” says Leslie Valle, assistant colorguard coach. The team is definitely ex-cited to see how their season will playout.

By Lauren OosamranPage Editor

By Melissa ChenEditor-in-Chief

By Yvette FrancoNewspaper Editor

WinterguardAway...

LAHS Prepares For WASCThis year Los Altos High

School conducted an online survey inorder to prepare for the upcoming schoolinspection by the Western Associationof Schools and Colleges (WASC). Formost students, the survey meant takingtime out of their English class. However,the survey was very important for theschool. It allows administration to seewhat students, parents, and faculty haveto say about the school. In essence, thereport provides a general profile of LosAltos High School.

The Western Association ofSchools and Colleges purpose is to helpcreate the highest quality education inschools for all students. This associa-

tion is one of six such organizations inthe nation. This association accreditsschools in the western states includingHawaii, East Asia, and others. The full accreditation process hasthree stages: the self-study, the visit, andthe follow-up. In the self-study, membersof the student body and faculty need tounderstand the school’s improvement,analyze criteria, develop, classify andassess school-wide goals, compare thecriteria to the goal, and finally create aschool-wide plan to increase effective-ness of school programs for students.The survey is an example of the self-study. “The survey creates a report thatshows the school’s everyday plans to

help students,” said Geb Fisher, Englishand WASC special-ist. Once com-pleted, the next stepis a visit by aWASC committee.This committee ismade up of three toeight people. Thecommittee staysthree to four days atthe appointedschool. “They arechecking to see ifthe report matches reality,” continuedFisher. The visiting committee writes a

report on what they see as they take intoconsideration whatthey read in theschool’s report. Later,the committee reportsto the association.They discuss how theschool did and they de-cide when the next ac-creditation will be. Theyears between each in-spection depends onhow they feel about theschool. What startedas a mere survey holds

the key for the school’s accreditation suc-cess.

2

FeaturesThe Conqueror April 13, 2012

By Ronnie WongConqueror Staff Writer

Danielle GomezConqueror Staff Writer

By Daisy GomezPage Editor

3

As tradition dictates, it is ex-pected that the guy should ask the girlto high school prom. As such, it is alsoexpected for the guy to look extremelysharp, as if he just came out of a Men’sWarehouse advertisement. Thankfully,the cost of renting a tuxedo for the glori-ous occasion is only a two digit number:$69. That is $10 less than tickets to go toprom itself.

Not as strongly enforced butstill apparent in our culture is the tradi-

t ion ofge tt in ga cor-sage forthe girl,which isa flowerdecora-tion thatgoes on

the wrist or dress. As many of us haveseen in “Napoleon Dynamite,” getting acorsage is a good idea and makes thedate look complete. Also, the guy maypurchase a boutonniere, a flower deco-ration that goes in the guy’s breastpocket, for him-self. The cost forthese ornamentsof foliage is $20.

More im-portant, prom alsotakes courage andsincerity. Creativeand romanticways to ask thegirl include leav-ing her hintsthroughout herclasses, drawing a portrait of her, andhacking into the school’s intercom sys-tem to sing “Can’t Take My Eyes OffYou.” Whichever way you choose to askher, make sure to be a sharp dresser onprom night.

With prom coming up, peopleare preparing for a perfect night. How-

ever, that doesnot mean itwill turn out asplanned. Hereare a few tipsto help you asyou preparefor the nightto remember.

1. Do not wait until the lastminute to buy your dress. You know thatdresses willbe sold outby prom. Buythe dresswell beforeprom, just tobe safe. 2. Donot assume adress is per-fect . Whenchoosing aprom dress,make sure it’sthe right size. Choosing a dress that istoo small is too dangerous. First of all, itwill not be comfortable. Second, it mayeasily rip. It’s not only about lookinggreat. It’s also about being able tobreathe.

3. Make sure you can walk inyour shoes. If you have never worn heels

a n dplan onwearingt h e m ,practicewalkingin themu n t i ly o uk n o wyou can

manage. You don’t want to fall on yourface on your special night.

4. Avoid price tag problems. Ifyou suddenly realize that everyone isstaring at you, it doesn’t necessarilymean thatthey arecharmedby yourg o o dl o o k s .M a y b ethey arejust star-ing aty o u rdress’ tag. Make sure that you removethe price tag before putting on the dress.Otherwise, it is possible that you will for-get to remove it.

5. Plan ahead. Make sure thatyou knowhow youare goingto arriveat prom. Ifyou planon takinga l imou-sine orparty bus,plan it out

and reserve it ahead of time. Make anyreservations before that day. Otherwise,restaurants and salons could be entirelybooked.

Prom night could be one of thebest nights of your life, so it’s vital thatall eyes are on you. Of course every girl’sfear is arriving at the dance and spottingsomeone with the exact same dress thatthey’re wearing. So where do you findthat one of a kind dress that is just foryou? Well, let me give you some point-ers.

To find the dress of yourdreams, you can absolutely not just goto one store. Sure, you might find theone you think is “it” at the first store thatyou walkinto, butwhat if thenext oneyou werep l an n i n gon goinginto hasone in aneven morefl at t eringstyle orcolor? Thisis why youmust notsettle!

Iu n d e r -stand thatordering ad r e s so n l i n ecould beaggravat -ing andexasperating,but here are some greatwebsites where you may find the dressyou’ve been looking for.Promgirl.com is an easy access websitewhere they have a variety of dresses thatare less than $100. That’s not the bestpart…they have same day shipping! No

The term “prom” is an abbrevi-ated form of the French word “prom-enade”, which means “dance or ball.”Prom originated in the late 1800s and wasintended mainly for elite universities inthe northeastern United States. Promeventually evolved from a college eventinto a high school event. Proms at thistime were primarily restricted to membersof the senior class.

Proms have most definitelyevolved throughout the decades. As theUnited States began to move out of theDepression years and the economystarted to thrive, students began to havemore access to automobiles to attendthese lavish parties. Prom began to beincreasingly recognized as one of themost major social events of a student'ssenior year. During the 1940’s and 50’s,attending prom was a way to increaseone’s social status, especially those

named prom king and queen. It was thisera where finding the right date and theright dress be-came crucial.

The lo-cation of promssoon began tochange also.School gyms andcafeterias weresoon retired. In-stead, extrava-gant venues suchas hotel rooms orcountry clubswere used. Unfor-tunately, promsbecame ever moreexpensive, whichhelped new companies thrive in creatingmore expensive prom packages. Costsrise every single year as the price of for-

GirlProm

mal clothing, flowers, tickets, and trans-portation continue to go up.

Other traditions sincethe 1900’s have changed aswell. It was usually custom-ary for males to ask femalesto prom, but in the new gen-eration, girls have becomemore assertive and some mayask a boy to prom. Promsused to be reserved to take asignificant other or crush toan honorary event, but timehas transformed prom to bemore inviting to non-tradi-tional couples, such as justfriends. Some things, how-ever, remain the same aboutprom. Students still view it

as one of the most memorable seniorevents of the year and a night for themto remember.

By Brenda PhamConqueror Staff Writer

more stressing about it for weeks andworrying about your dress not fitting ex-actly the way you want.

Another great website for promshopping is peachesboutique.com wherethey have over 15,000 different dressesin stock. They have free ground ship-ping and, although the prices are a littleover $100, I guarantee that they are themost beautiful gowns you’ll ever layyour eyes on.

For those not looking to buytheir dress over the internet, some nice

stores youmight wantto try wouldbe Windsor,C a r r a zG o w n s ,M a c y ’ s ,D a v i d ’ sB r i d a l ,Nordstrom,Forever 21,and evend ownt ownLos Angeleswhere theyhave hun-dreds andhundreds ofp r o mdresses tochoose from. Onceyou find thep e r f e c tdress, al l

that’s left is some gorgeous high heels,a sparkly clutch, flattering jewelry, andlast but definitely not least, a corsage tomatch. Follow these steps and you’ll bethe girl everyone stares at when you walkinto the beautifully decorated countryclub in Huntington Beach.

The Historyof Prom

Dressing a Dressinga Boy forPromGirl for Prom

Tips

FeaturesThe Conqueror April 13, 20126

Whether you’re a hopeless ro-mantic or an action junkie, the movie the-ater has a variety of movies to see. Fromcomedies like “The Lorax” to intense ac-tion films like “Let the Bul-lets Fly,” there is alwayssomething for everyone.

A must see moviethat came out on February10 is “The Vow” starringChanning Tatum from“Dear John” and RachelMcAdams from “The Note-book”. The two collaboratetogether from previous ro-mantic films to produce a captivatingmovie about a young couple in love.They face a challenging obstacle as oneloses her memory after a tragic accident.

If you’re not the romantic type,there’s also the option of watching the

action packed movie based on the #1bookselling novel, “The Hunger Games.”The movie premiered on March 23 andfeatures actor Josh Hutcherson and ac-

tress Jennifer Lawrence.It’s a movie where onefights to the death in orderto win a game.

On February 11, famous R&B,pop and dance artist Whitney Houstonpassed away in Los Angeles. Her deathcame just before the well-known awardshow honoring Hollywood’s talentedartists, the Grammy Awards. Houstonwas famous for songs such as “I WannaDance with Somebody (Who LovesMe)”, “I Will Always Love You”, “I’mYour Baby Tonight”, “My Love Is YourLove”, and “Saving All My Love forYou.” Houston was 48 years old at thetime of her death and was found in thebathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Not only was Houston a musi-cian, but also an actress. She starred inmany popular movies such as “TheBodyguard”, “Waiting to Exhale”, “ThePreacher’s Wife” and Rodgers andHammerstein’s “Cinderella.” She alsostarred in an upcoming movie named“Sparkle” alongside Jordin Sparks thatis set to release . It is set to be releasedsoon. She also produced other moviesincluding “The Princess Diaries”, “TheCheetah Girls”, “The Princess Diaries 2:Royal Engagement” and “The CheetahGirls 2: When in Spain”.

By Brenda PhamConqueror Staff Writer

By Alex VelasquezMagazine Editor in Chief

By Lauren OosamranConqueror Staff Writer

Who could possibly hateprom? Who could avoid attending sucha memorable moment? You’d be sur-prised. There are so many people thatdespise prom that there was a dance cre-ated that is the complete opposite ofprom. It’s called M-O-R-P, or promspelled backwards.

Morp was originally created tohave an event that students that, forwhatever reason, don’t attend prom.However, throughout the years, themeaning has changed. Morp has becomea very controversial event. MarkHughes, science, says, “It’s not worth itto hold this event. We’ve had bad expe-riences in the past with Morp. Whyshould we as adults go through the head-ache?”

Many students are also op-posed to Morp, while some don’t evenknow it exists. Andrew Duran, junior,says, “It’s stupid, because Morp is thesame thing as prom. It’s contradicting

Houston leaves behind adaughter, Bobbie Kristina Brown, as wellas many distraught family members,friends, and fans. She leaves a legacy asone of the greatest voices of all time.Houston was an inspiration to manypeople and her death came as a shockaround the world as it was very unex-pected. The official cause of death waslisted as drowning, but Houston had acombination of several diffferent drugsin her body uncluding cocaine.

If you’re into classicmovies, “Titanic” is themovie for you. The movieis a remake of the 1997 sen-sation. It stars actorLeonardo DiCaprio andand actress Kate Winslet.

There’s also an option of watching thefilm in Digital 3D or Imax. Prepare your-self for a lot of tears and be sure to bringa box of tissues!

Go out to your local theater andcheck out these upcoming movies!

itself. If people were opposed to prom,why would they go to a different dance?If you’re going to attend a school event,it might as well be prom.”

Not many students like theconcept of Morp. “What’s the point ofhaving Morp when there’s prom? It’s arip off,” says Kimmy Kou, junior.

However, there is that group ofstudents who completely understand it’spurpose. Amanda Tovar, junior, says, “Ithink it’s just another dance for peoplewho can’t afford prom or didn’t getasked. They still have the opportunityto have a memorable end of the yeardance.”

Last year Morp was cancelleddue low attendance. Lauren Roberts,junior, says, “There’s going to be nomorp this year.” So it really comes downto our students. Dances are based uponourselves, and like no other, so is morp.It’s up to the students to decide whatwill be a success.

Health Occupations Students ofAmerica, also known as HOSA, is a na-tion-wide, student run organization spon-sored by the RegionalOccupational Pro-gram.

HOSA pre-pares students for ca-reers within thehealth field. Studentsare exposed to a widevariety of differentoccupations in healthcare and are providedwith materials and re-sources that can helpthem find out moreand pursue a career inthe medical field. HOSA is all about get-ting students involved and raising moneyfor non-profit organizations. They hostfundraisers and sponsor events, along

with acting as volunteers at events forother organizations.

HOSA wentto a competition onMarch 29 at theState LeadershipConference in Ana-heim. Nineteen stu-dents attended thisevent ranging fromfreshmen to se-niors. They compet-ed in events includ-ing medical math,medical spelling,medical terminol-ogy, medical pho-tography, and

healthy lifestyles. “I’m proud to say thatwe had 4 students place in the top tenin the state,” says Ignacio Hernandez,advisor of HOSA. Samantha Rocha, jun-

ior, placed in the top ten in the state formedical spelling. There were 5 roundsand Rocha made it to the fourth round.Jessica Fox and Nancy Rodriguez, se-niors, placed in the top ten for healthylifestyles. Fox received a 5th place nomi-nation. Emily Manasian, senior, receiveda 4th place nomination in medical pho-tography. Fox and Manasian have theopportunity to compete in the nationalleadership conference that takes placein Orlando, Florida.

“HOSA is something veryunique that many public schools don’thave. Having these connections and sup-port in preparing for our future is a greatfeeling. Meeting so many professionalsand getting to experience so many differ-ent health careers has done nothing butenhance my excitement for eventuallyattending medical school,” saidManasian, president of HOSA.

By Jessie HuangConqueror Staff Writer

CCCCClub Spotlightlub Spotlightlub Spotlightlub Spotlightlub Spotlight

TTTTTunununununeeeeesssssEntertainmentThe Conqueror April 13, 2012 7

By Douglas WongConqueror Staff Writer

By Ayana UsuiPage Editor

PPPPPrrrrrooooommmmm FFFFFlililililiccccckkkkksssss

As the red “x’s” on our calen-dars grow closer to April 22, it finallydawns on us that prom is almost uponus. The dresses are bought and the tuxesare rented, so what else could possiblybe missing? The music, of course! Musicthrough the decades has changed dra-matically, which gives this year’s prom awide variety to choose from. Rangingfrom artists such as The Beatles to P!nk,this year’s playlist can contain anythingfrom slow steps to fist-pumping beats.Check out these tunesto see if any of themcatch your eye:

Plain White T’s“Rhythm of Love” is aprom must. While itdoesn’t call for bump-ing and grinding, thesoft beat of this tunewill prove to be a wisechoice for a slow dancewith your date. With thelyrics, “we may onlyhave tonight, but until the morning sunyou’re mine,” how could this not be aperfect song to dance to?

Allstar Weekend’s “Not Your Birthday”is perfect for those who wish for some-thing with a picked-up tempo. This song,

featured in the Disney film Prom, hasgrown widely popular and has provenitself to be a fun song to dance to at anydance.

The Beatles’ “All My Loving” is ablast from the past that will makemany Beatles’ fans happy to see onthis year’s prom playlist. Eventhough it may not be a classic songto dance to, you can have fun withthis tune as they bust out their moves

on the dance floor withtheir dates.

P!nk’s “Raise YourGlass” is meant fordancing. Prom is the nightto dance likethere’s no tomor-row. For seniors,this is the lastdance that theywill ever enjoy asa Conqueror, sowhy not go crazy

on the dance floor? With P!nk tell-ing you to “never be anything butloud,” you should enjoy the nightuntil it ends.

Kelly Clarkson’s cover of “A MomentLike This” would also be a nice touch

FFFFFooooorrrrr PPPPPrrrrrooooommmmm

Drew Barrymore’s character, she pretendsto be 17 again in order to give her boss a

hard-hittingarticle fortheir newspa-per. Along theway, her char-acter falls inlove with herteacher, whohas no ideaBarrymore’scharacter isolder thanshe really isclaiming tobe. The promscene in thefilm is one

that many enjoy watching just for thedrama and revelation that Barrymore’scharacter is not 17 years old.

“Prom” (2011) – This recent Disney filmfollows the story of several teenagers anx-iously awaiting prom. One can’t find theright date not matter how hard they try,another has issues with her feelings, andmost of them are tossed into an awkwardsituation or two. This film can relate tomany students attending prom this yearas it deals with the realistic issues of promdresses, tuxes, and dates. While it mayalso help some students with their promissues, it can also give them a few laughswhile watching it.

As the date of prom creeps upon students, their excitement continuesto grow and grow with each passing day.The countdown has begun as the daycomes closer and students are lookingfor ways to keep up their excitement. Oneof the many waysto do this is towatch movies.Over the years,many movieshave been madeinvolving or re-volving aroundthe issue ofprom. Many goover the usual di-lemmas—the per-fect date, dress,and limo—with acomedic twist,which is whatmakes studentsenjoy watchingthem. If you’reone of those itch-ing to keep upyour prom enthu-siasm, try watching one of these promflicks to keep your energy up:

“Footloose” (1984) – This classic musi-cal starring Kevin Bacon doesn’t havemuch to do with prom, but the most memo-rable moment from the entire film revolvesaround the prom. Bacon’s character at-

tempts to break his town’s ban on danc-ing and eventually succeeds with theblessing of the town’s rever-end. The last scene is the mo-ment everyone remembers.Perhaps watching this film will

encourage a stu-dent at the dance toburst out, “Let’sdance,” and bustout dancing.

“Pretty in Pink”( 1 9 8 6 ) -Unarguably one ofthe most cheesyCinderella-basedmovies, MollyRingwald broughtus one of the most girlishclassics brought to the bigscreen. This film follows se-nior Andie Walsh, who hasthe world’s biggest crush onpreppy boy BlaneMcDonough. However, theycannot be together due to thesocial hierarchy of their high

school. The film follows their struggleto be together while different obstacleslitter the path leading them to each other.

“Never Been Kissed” (1999) – Whileprom is not the main focus of this film, itis a great movie to watch to amp up astudent’s prom enthusiasm. Following

By Stephanie BishopPage Editor

to add to the prom playlist. It’s a sweet,slow song that only creates sweet mo-ments for you and your date. Besides, itis prom. You’ll never get another “mo-ment like this” to enjoy.

Michael Bublé’s “Save the Last Dance”is that onesong thatrounds outthis playlist.This song isthe perfectway to endthe nightwith its me-dium tempoand endear-

ing lyrics. Instead of ending with a fastpaced song, leaving the dance on a softnote will create a nice memory for you atthe end of prom.

Every year from March to April,A m e r i c a n sare swept upin collegebasketball fe-ver. In one ofthe most an-ticipated tour-naments ofthe year, 68college teams scramble for the NCAA titleon national television. This nationalevent is know as March Madness. In thespirit of this particular event, here aresome random facts for you to read.

Every year, businesses lose anestimated $1.8 billion in worker produc-tivity during March Madness.

Teams that travel less than 100miles to compete win 77% of games, whileteams traveling about 100-250 miles win68% of the time. Teams that travel over500 miles to compete win even less oftheir games, with a rating of 46.5%

The Federal Bureau of Investi-gation estimates that $2.5 billion is spenton illegal March Madness wagers

The odds of picking a perfectbracket at random are 9 quintillion to 1.

President Obama’s chosenbracket was filled with misspellings. Forexample, he put “Sycasuse” instead of“Syracuse.”

March

One picture canbring back lots of memories. Such is thecase with prom pictures. Prom pictureshave always been a key component ofthe dance. Many gives copies to friendsand family. However, some people justtake pictures just for the fun of it.

Where do people go to takeprom pictures? Many people choose SayCheese. A lot of students would ratherdrive further to the Cerritos Mall to takepictures. The quality and service must beworth the money. Ever since Magic LabPhoto opened in the Puente Hills Mall,many people choose to go there instead.All three offer good prices and a greatvariety of backgrounds and designs.

Ifyou don’twant to goto a profes-sional stu-dio, there isalways theoption to take them at the dance. Takingpictures in front of the house with familyis a way to capture the valuable memory.

High school prom is a specialmemory that cannot be replaced. Thereare many ways to preserve this great ex-perience. It will be interesting to look backat prom pictures 20 years from now.

SayCheese!

Madness

By Stephanie BishopPage Editor

SportsThe Conqueror April 13, 20128

Nearly halfway into the boys’tennis season, the most challengingschools are proving to be overpower-ing. The first match of the season startedwith a score of 0-18 against the bestschool in league, Diamond Bar. Two dayslater the boys faced off against Walnutwith a stronger determination. However,they still lost by a score of 1-17, making aslight improvement. Following the Wal-nut match was a 0-18 loss againstRowland. However, on March 20, the teamfaced off against Diamond Ranch andalthough they still lost by a score of 3-15, it was their best effort to date. Thelatest match resulted in a 2-16 loss toBonita. “The biggest problem the teamis facing would have to be immaturity,”said head coach Jay Lin. “I don’t careabout the wins and losses as long asthey give their heart and all into thegames.”

With half the season remaining,the team is still remaining optimistic

The girls’ softball team recentlyplayed in a preseason tournament hostedby Charter Oak High School at Field ofDreams, a place where major league base-ball fields are replicated into smaller ver-sions and are accessible for to public.

The Conqueror ladies kicked offthe tournament by beating NorthviewHigh School 3-2. It was a close game, butthe dedication and close bond of theselovely ladies pushed through.

They then battled in a close fiveinning game against Charter Oak. It wentdown to the last inning to determine whowas to win. The Conquerors battled un-til the last out, but lost by two runs in thelast inning.

They then concluded the tour-nament in a game against La Habra. Theylost this game 5-2 as they played theirhardest to the end. These ladies nevergive up.

The Conquerors then kicked offthe season with their first league gameagainst Walnut. They won 4-1 as theyjumped on Walnut in the first inning.

Softball

BoysTennis

By Ariel ChangCo-Editor-in-Chief

By Corissa BurdettePage Editor

about the future. They faced WestCovina, score 8-10, and Diamond Barwith same score 0-18. With tennis, theyplay each school twice. “We should befine if we just continue to work hard andstrive to become better,” said juniorAbraham Wu.

The advantage to playing eachschool twice is the opportunity to havea better idea of the opponent. By thesecond time around, playing the otherschools should become easier due to theprior gained knowledge of theopponent’s strengths and weaknesses.“As the season continues, the playerswill get better and better, especially sincemany of them are still extremely young,”said Lin. “Our doubles pairs will growmore in sync and have a better chemis-try. We’ll see how well they do when thetime comes.”

A scrimmage is a practice gamethat does not go on record but still helpsplayers to experience the heat and pres-sure of a normal game. This is exactlywhat the boys’ volleyball team has beenup to the past summer. They scrimmagedagainst El Rancho High School in orderto get ready for the real thing.

For many years, Dave Cota hasbeen head volleyball coach, and he re-turns again this year to guide the youngConquerors. In fact, most of the boys’volleyball team this year is very young,with many freshmen and sophomores onthe team. Cota says, “I am looking for-ward to a great season and working with

VolleyballBy Ronnie WongCartoonist

Spring is in the air and so istrack season. With a new year, newcoaches, and new attitudes, the seasonis looking up. The runners have had fourmatches so far. In the meantime, theyhave been practicing hard to get readyfor the rest of the season. Mondays theyrun ten miles. Tuesdays and Wednes-day they continue to work hard by run-ning an average of 5-7 miles. All theirtraining pays off on Thursday, which iswhen they have their meets. Friday theyrest so that they can be ready to do it allover again the next week.

“Our season is going pretty wellso far. We won our last track meet againstDiamond Bar, and today we will be fac-ing Bonita,” says Julian Sanchez, senior.He continues, “We start the week offhard so that we can finish strong withour race. Our team is doing pretty well

TrackBy Allie GomezConqueror Staff Writer

also,” he smiles, “but we still have a longway to go to finals. Our season onlystarted about a month ago.”

Krystal Martinez, senior,agrees with her peer. “I think we havebeen doing great so far. We have newcoaches, Ian Yates and AshleySutherland, this year. It is definitely dif-ferent, but it’s going well.” BiancaHernandez, senior, adds, “Yeah, it’s a lotdifferent this season because we havenew coaches. But I feel like it has beena positive change for the team. We havedone a lot better training and I feel weare ready.”

The girls both share a commongoal: improvement. “I’m happy with myperformance, but there is always roomfor improvement,” says Hernandez. “Iagree,” adds Martinez. “My goal is todo better as the season goes on.”

the young ones because there is lesspressure on them to win, so they canfocus on learning the game.” Accord-ing to Cota, he expects great things fromyoungsters Aiden Barcelo, JC Castro,Alejandro Cardenas, and John Andraos.He also made note of Chris Li, who isrumored to be capable of “jumping highenough to dunk a basketball.” Cota isreally impressed with the team this yearand goes so far as to say it may be the“most talented group he’s coached in thelast 15 years.”

They lost to Siera Vista, lost toGarvey, won againstWest Covina, lostto Gamesha, and lost to Pomona.

With the start of the spring sea-son, the Los Altos varsity boys’ swimteam is working hard once again to getin top shape to compete with the otherteams in league. Freezing morning prac-tices and sweltering afternoon practicesare the just beginning of the intenseworkout schedule our swimmers en-dure. The varsity swimmers even prac-tice on Saturdays as well. This extremeschedule may seem tiresome, but in theend, we will see lots of improvementand most likely some personal recordsfrom our swimmers.

Varsity coach Chris Colemanexpects the team to improve and do verywell this season. With no graduatingseniors, the Conquerors are a veryyoung team compared to other schools

SwimBy William LiuInternet Editor

The 2012 boys golf seasonstarted with 2 new players, DallasDagampat, senior, andJackson Osborn, fresh-man. There are also 5returning players in-cluding Brian Kao, se-nior; Andrew Valdez,sophomore; BrentSpivey, senior; PeteLopez, sophomore andKevin Yeh, senior.

The boyshave played 9 matchesso far and have won 5matches, 2 against Wil-son, 1 against WestCovina and 2 againstDiamond Ranch. Thebest scoring player onthe team, also the cap-tain, Kao shot his av-erage score of 43. Theco-captain of the team,Spivey, says, “I playgolf to win and there’sno way winning would be possible if weall didn’t come together as a team. I lovemy team, and as long as we have that

BoysBy Jessie HuangConqueror Staff Writer

Golf

in league. This means we have time…time to improve and gain a spot at thetop. “I’m excited to start the new year,”said Coleman. The optimism of the coachhas also spread to the swimmers. “Mycoach is so ripped. He makes me wantto swim fast and become buff like him,”said Simon Wong, freshman, as he gotready for two tough hours of practice.

The hard work of the swimmershas already started to pay off. The LosAltos varsity boys’ swim team is cur-rently undefeated and they are hopingto keep this streak going. They are onlya few weeks into the season and previ-ous records are already falling. SimonWong, Shawn Wong and Patrick Younghave all set school records and are hop-ing to set even more in upcoming meets.

drive, we are one step closer to CIF.”The boys had their closest

match againstRowland on Tues-day, March 27, losingby just one stroke.This misery did notcause the boys togive up. They thenplayed against WestCovina and won bymore than 8 strokes.The boys just needto win three morematches before CIF.

With the ad-dition of the newplayers, Hal Evans,head coach, says, “Iam expecting theboys to qualify forCIF. We need to beatBonita and WestCovina, and I do be-lieve we can make itto CIF because we

have the ability to qualify, but we needeveryone to play to their potential on aconsistently.”

Varsity baseball has had an upand down season thus far. They lost toBonita 8-2, beat Garden Grove 3-0, lostto Diamond Ranch 4-2, lost to WestCovina 7-1, and beat Rowland 6-1. Theyare currently in the middle of their sea-son. “Well, our players have just startedand are pretty solid. This has definitelybeen one of the best classes of team-mates we’ve had so far,” said coach SeanKane proudly. The team has been to-gether for 4 years, which may ultimatelylead to their success. “I feel the reasonwe’re doing better this season is becausewe’ve been dedicated and committed toour practices,” said sophomore DavidHernandez.

“This season really showedwhere everyone was at this point. Theyhave showed a lot of dedication this yearwhich will help us in the future,” com-mented Kane.

By Delyana SyarovaConqueror Staff Writer

Baseball