Jennifer Neri a senior at Estancia High school was awarded the Superintendent's 2019 Character Trait Award for citizenship. A total of six students from six different high schools were awarded the Superintendent's 2019 Character Trait Award, with each student representing a different trait. Jennifer Neri will be given a banner with her picture and her trait of citizenship which will hang in front of the attendance office at Estancia forever. It's also being hung in the NMUSD office for a year. Jennifer Neri is the fourth student from Estancia High School to be awarded the Superintendent’s 2019 Character Trait Award. A few other students from Estancia High School who have received the award are Emily Kubisty, James Brown, and Yvonne Padilla. Emily was awarded fairness, James was awarded Citizenship, and Yvonne was awarded responsibility in 2018, 2018 and 2017 respectively. Neri received the award while she was in class and said, “I got nervous because I don't like being the center of attention and having 30 students as well as staff staring, and being talked about is not really my suit. I’d rather do things than just be like recognized in front of so many people, but it did feel awkward to have the cameras. I didn't know if I should keep smiling or look to my feet or my peers.” Neri's club, Acts of random kindness (A.R.K.) contributed to her receiving the award. Her club does events around school like putting sticky notes on lockers with nice comments. Neri said, "sometimes we wake up on the bad side and seeing a nice comment can make someone's day and change their decision for the day or life in general." She's also the Senior Class President meaning she sets up events and speaks with the administration and the PTSA. Neri claims this could have contributed to her receiving the award as well. Reporter: Brian Luna
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The demand for plant based products is rapidly growing. According to Veganuary, a charity in the UK that encourages people to try a vegan diet in January as a form of a healthier lifestyle and new beginnings, reached ground breaking numbers this past January, with an astonishing 250,310 people in 190 countries pledging to go vegan this year. “Beyond Meat”, a plant-based meat alternative is poised to exceed Tyson Foods, the largest meat distributor in the U.S. With a lot of people becoming vegan on a whim, a lot of misconceptions are arising. Many people are shocked at hearing their friends are trying out a vegan diet calling it “restrictive” and “crazy” or even “extreme”. But the truth is, today there are alternative foods for anything a vegan heart desires. Sushi, cheese, butter, mochi, ice cream, deserts and burgers can all be made vegan. Another misconception about vegans is that they are malnourished due to a “lack of sufficient proteins and essential fatty acids for the developing brain”. But in fact, vegans’ protein comes from several places. There is protein in legumes (nuts and seeds, beans, lentils, etc..), fruits and vegetables, there is also protein in plant based milks such as oat, rice, hemp, almond, cashew, and more. All of which are essential in a vegan diet. Plenty of natural plant based protein powders are available on the market as well. As for fatty acids, they can be found in flaxseeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds which make for great additions to smoothies and overnight oats, walnuts, edamame, and soybeans. If those considering a vegan diet, educate themselves on the basic needs of your body and whether or not they think they need any supplements to get sufficient nutrients their body requires. Most vegans eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables but if they’re the type of person that doesn’t eat very much then it’s recommended they take a b12 supplement, omega 3, an iodine supplement especially if pregnant is crucial (seaweed is high in iodine), calcium (found in oranges), vitamin D (met by getting in the sun or found in mushrooms). As it is with most new things, thorough research and education is essential before erratically changing your dietary habits. Reporter: Claudia Arce
As the school year comes to an end, Estancia ASB presents, Prom 2019! On Saturday, June 1, 2019, students of Estancia High School will be attending their last dance of the year. This years prom theme is “The Great Gatsby,” inspired by the 2013 movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. Estancia ASB will be providing three different areas for pictures a photo booth, professional photography, and an area to take your own photos. They will also include snacks such as a chocolate fountain, fruit, & pretzels. Not only will there we a dance floor but, if you are bored of dancing there will be an area to play video games and an area outside to get fresh air. All attendees must arrive by 8:30 and have an ID to get into the dance. There will also be alcohol detection devices as students enter the dance. Prom will be held at The Mansion in Costa Mesa and doors will open at 7pm. The dance will end around 11pm. Friday, May 24, at Lunch will be the last time to buy tickets. Can’t wait to see you there for a roarin’ time! Reporter: Nessa Osso
Over the past year Estancia High School has made some major improvements to the campus facility. The school library was remodeled and had new furniture, Chromebooks, and televisions installed. Also, the Estancia Medical Academy has relocated the classroom to double the size as before. One side is set up for an academic setting and the other side mimics the setting of a hospital room. As of Friday, May 3rd, Estancia’s pool construction began. The pool is being moved horizontally from where it is now, facing the Jim Scott Stadium. The remaining dirt that is being dug out to create the new pool will be used to back fill the old pool. This will create a large open area for the students to spread out and socialize during school. It was mentioned that the area won’t only be another hangout spot for students, but it will also be used for events such as school dances or award nights. The pool isn’t the only thing that is getting fixed up, but new team rooms are being added for every individual sport. Including four locker rooms for girl sports on one side and four more on the other side for the boys. The locker rooms for students in physical education will be renovated as well. The only downside with the pool construction is that the aquatics team will have to use Costa Mesa High School’s pool for the upcoming seasons. All these changes have been funded by the school district and further changes will be made as well. The pool will be called Estancia Aquatics Center and should be completed by February of 2020. Reporter: Gisselle Suarez
If you are considering visiting Disneyland anytime this month and prefer for it not to be filled with a chaotic mass of people, do not go after May 31st. That is unless you are a Star Wars fan. Disneyland in Anaheim, California is counting down the days until the opening of Star Wars Land also known as Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. This new 14 acre attraction cost around 1 billion dollars and is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of die-hard Star Wars fans this summer. In fact, those who would like to visit the new addition must make reservations and as of right now, they are booked - for the entire summer. Many of the Disney cast members are blocked from visiting the park all summer to reduce the chaos. An employee for Disney's Mandara Salon, Dorothy Beth, is not too happy about the new addition stating, "Disney is just being greedy. They are going to make even more money and the people that work in the park will still make the same amount... doesn't seem fair," revealing the negative perspective of those within the park. The only way for people to gain access to the exclusive, new area now would be through booking a night with any one of the three Disney hotels located in the area: Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel, and The Grand Californian which can exceed 500 dollars a night. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is expected to include a Savi's Workshop where visitors can build their own light sabers, Droid Depot to construct a droid to your liking, and Don-Ondar's Den of Antiquities, holding rare items - all of which inspired and from the Star Wars movies. In a quote by Chris Beatty, a Walt Disney Imagineer and one of the brains behind the park states, "You will see spaceships and domes and canopies billowing in the wind. Just like in a film, we've framed that establishing the shot," revealing how it is meant to really resemble the movie. The architecture of the space is meant to really resemble the movie and was looked at with fine detail using ideas from locations as far as Morrocco. Overall, making promising statements that might actually make the chaos that is coming actually worth it - for die hard Star Wars fans that is. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is expected to create 10 hour lines and 200,000 guests in the park on its opening day. This is outrageous for Disney and could possibly even pose safety concerns. It is time to say goodbye to the previously hated 55 minute lines and say hello to the new up to 10 hour waits. Disney will never be the same - at least until all the Star Wars hype calms down. Reporter: Cosette Terriquez
Human and sex trafficking has never received the proper attention even though it can affect anyone at anytime. Those affected can wind up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which mentally and physically damages a person. According to Eleanor Goldberg, a writer for the Huffington Post, Trafficking can have different meanings to it such as, “when a person is recruited, harbored, provided or obtained for the purposes of exploitation and often sold as an object.” Most people don’t realize the severity of human trafficking, which is a worldwide phenomenon. It doesn’t matter who the person is because there is always a risk of being trafficked, regardless of gender. However, women and young girls are most likely to be sold into sex or human trafficking. In the past two years there was an estimation of 5,000 potential traffickers in the United States. Although the number may seem high, it really isn’t because there are still hundreds which have not been caught yet. The number of people being trafficked have been increasing over the years, and up to 4 million victims of trafficking have yet confirmed that they were sexually exploited while being trafficked. The victims aren’t always older people but they are young children and teenagers as well. In a year 300,000 Americans under the age of 18 were trafficked into the sex trade. According to Cathy Zimmerman, In a year about half of human and sex trafficking victims reported that they were sexually and physically abused and 22% of victims suffered from severe injuries. The traffickers are aggressive to the point where the victims may sustain cuts, bruises, and a massive amount of unbearable pain and trauma. Human and sex trafficking is so common that most don’t realize that it occurs anywhere even in ones backyard. The community may hear about cases of human/sex trafficking that occur in poor countries, but never think that it can be a local issue. The victims are trafficked in places such as night clubs, hotels, amusements parks and many more places, but for all we know it can be happening right in front of us. A victim who had been trafficked for sexual exploitation mentioned how the Super Bowl was one of the busiest nights for traffickers. The day of the Super Bowl, she had been forced to sleep with 25 different men in one night. If she were to have tried getting out of the situation she would be punished by her trafficker. On days like these the authorities make sure to be aware of any strange activity. Many people lack support from family and friends which is why they keep quiet when they are put in these situations. If that is the case there are places where one can get help or report suspected trafficking to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-788. Reporter: Gisselle Suarez
Estancia High School began renovating it’s pool on April 27, 2019 and is expected to be finished in February of 2020. The pool will be called the Estancia Aquatic Center located on blacktop posterior to its current location. Funded by the Newport-Mesa school district, Assistant principal Tim Tolzda stated that Estancia will have a brand new state of the art Olympic-sized pool. In addition to the Estancia Aquatic Center, phase 2 of the renovation will be the refurbishment of both the boys and girls locker rooms. Said locker rooms will also receive 4 new team rooms in each of the locker rooms for the various sports at Estancia High. In lieu of the current pool space, there will be a new area that can be used for activities like eating and school dances. The current equipment room will still be utilized in addition to the new equipment that’s in it. Currently, the only inconvenience to the renovation is having the Estancia swim team travel to a different facility for training (Costa Mesa High). To avoid downtime, the locker rooms will be done in time to allow PE classes to continue. Tolzda said, “students tend to take care of the new furniture and equipment that has been implemented in the school throughout the years. Students do better in an environment they want to learn in and feel good about.” Librarian Debbie FitzGerald, of the newly renovated library at Estancia stated, “I see new faces… a lot of people want to come to the library now, whether it’s to read or work… there has been an increase in kids coming in.” She also says that there has been significantly less trash around the area. Reporter: Makai Walker
The measles virus has rapidly spread around the U.S. in areas like L.A., New York,Orange County, and Washington state, with major cases being identified over the past two weeks. Measles is an infectious viral disease causing fever and a red rash on the skin, typically occurring in childhood. L.A. county declared a measles outbreak last week which caused more than 1000 people to stay home because they may have been exposed to the virus. L.A. County health officer Dr. Muntu Davis claims, “An L.A. County resident visited Vietnam earlier this year and contracted measles.” This was the first known case of the outbreak. Another case of measles was reported when an L.A. County resident took a trip to and returned from Thailand. Davis continued, “There's a high number of cases in many other countries and people are travelling more. We expect that we may see more cases of measles inside Los Angeles County.” It's said that anyone leaving the country has the two recommended doses of the measles vaccine, which together can be 97% effective. This year in California 14 out of 38 people became sick with measles after visiting countries like India, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Ukraine. Four of the people infected 22 others but they hadn't been vaccinated. If you have symptoms like pain in the muscles, fever, malaise, fatigue, or loss of appetite, skin rash, dry cough, pink eye, diarrhea and headaches. It is recommend you get checked out by a physician. Diseases once thought to be eradicated are coming back due to parents questioning and not having their children get required vaccines. Reporter: Brian Luna
May 1st, college commitment day, now called Reach Higher, became a national event started by Michelle Obama 2014 in the West Coast. The intention for this is for people like Obama, that were discouraged from even applying or attending certain colleges, are celebrated for their hard work. On May 1, 2019, Obama attended UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion to do this event. It was possible with the help of McDonald’s, the University of California, College Board, and a couple other organizations. While waiting for this event to start there were a couple of entertainment events going on such as some sororities were stepping – a dance from African American descent, there was an Indian dance with current hip music, and there was a Baile Folklorico – traditional Mexican dancing. This came to an end within 30 minutes before the show started. While they were just playing music, one of the members of the audience began dancing in his seat and the crowd cheered him on. He eventually moved on to the stage and danced for everybody. The UCLA band and cheerleaders started the show with a couple of their songs and dances. They eventually began the show with a variety of celebrities who talked and performed for the audience. Bebe Rexha, a pop singer, performed her song Meant To Beand got her audience to sing along with her. John Legend, another singer, came out and spoke about his story, how he went to Penn State even though he did not need to for his career choice (singing). He stated how he still went to college and does not regret it because he met people and developed a broader perspective of the music industry. An NBA player from the Lakers and Woman’s Basketball Association players came on stage as well and they picked a student-athlete from the audience. They did this to prove how you can be both an athlete and a student. More and more inspirational people came out and told their stories and raffled items. Of these people included characters from Austin and Ally, 13 Reasons Why, Vampire Diaries, and the Avengers. Once there were only 30 minutes left of the event, they brought out the former first lady, Michelle Obama. She was wearing a Compton College shirt to show support to community colleges. In her speech, she said community college is still a good college option and also said how in California has many great community colleges with high transfer rates. She elaborated in her story with explaining how she was told to aim lower and that she was dreaming too high. Yet, she went to Princeton and Harvard Law School. She spoke about how anything is possible and that the audience puts in the work and they should be proud of it. In the end, she went down towards the audience and interacted with them. I was lucky enough to attend this experience. It made me realize how I have accomplished so many things that I have chosen to ignore it. Reporter: Jennifer Neri
University of Southampton Scientist Observe Glaciers with New Innovative Technology in Iceland5/1/2019 University of Southampton scientist have been using innovative technology to keep track of glaciers in real life. These scientists started this project to understand more of the linkage between global warming, the retreat of glaciers, and rising sea levels. The Southampton researchers have invented advanced technology called sensor probes that measure temperature, pressure, stress, weather and subglacial movement. These unique sensor probes have been placed on top and underneath glaciers to track their activity in real time. Information acquired by these probes helps the team understand a glacier’s dynamics and climate change. In Skálafellsjökull, Iceland, the team found that increasing volumes of glacier melt water is expanding the rate in which glaciers in the area are minimizing. Additionally, the study published by Nature Communications discusses how a unique stick-slip motion is caused by meltwater from glaciers. According to Jane Hart, Professor in Geography at the University of Southampton these findings demonstrate how these minimal changes in melting have a powerful effect of the behavior of glaciers. Hart, who is also the lead on this project stated, "As part of this latest study we hope to determine what is controlling their velocity, the rate of lake growth and how this growth is affecting ice retreat as we continue to contribute fundamental research in glaciology and wireless sensor networks." Reporter: Jeraldy Gomez
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