fountain valley high school

17816 bushard st. fountain valley, ca 92708

volume XXIX, issue I

wednesday, sept 21, 2011

www.baronbanner.com

>indexnews/student

life (2)

sports/ops (3)

media (4)bannerbaron

The New Man On BoardHBUHSD starts off new school year

with new superintendent Greg Plutko- -Andrea Liu- -editor-in-chief

Our Idiot Brother

Family Ties Hold Strong- -Tracy Nguyen- -

staff writer

At a glance, this movie seems to be just like any another crude

comedy with clichéd sexual humor running amok. It turns out that there’s not as much sexual humor as one would expect. In fact, it’s not as funny as one would ex-pect. Sure it’s a comedy, but its messages of supporting one’s family and staying true to oneself overshadow actu-ally laughs. Regardless, ac-tors Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel conjure up a few laughs and tears with their unique and comic portrayals.

>> Media (4): Our Idiot Brother

>> Student Life (2): Dr. Plutko

- -Angelica Yaghoubi- -sports editor

>> Sports (3) : Football

A Well-Earned Comeback

Student Spotlight:

Jessica Trinh

- -Julia Hong- -staff writer

>> Student Life (2) : Jessica Trinh+Gallery

>>Mama D’s ReviewMedia (4)

>>Girls Golf GallerySports (3)

>>Boys WaterpoloSports (3)

Last May, the Hun-tington Beach High School district named

Dr. Greg Plutko as its new superintendent. Dr. Plutko, Starbucks-addict and pro-fessor of organizational

leadership at the University of Laverne’s doctoral pro-gram, is confident about what he will bring to the dis-trict and FVHS.

Barons may be surprised to discover that Dr. Plutko has quite an academic his-tory – he was an English

teacher and coach before he became a superintendent. He often looks back on and misses those early years. He uses this passion for educa-tion to motivate him as he continues teaching at the university level. Not only that, Plutko was also deputy superintendent of the Co-rona-Norco school district. School is nothing new to him.

“That’s probably where I find some of the greatest joy in the work,” says Plutko, “just by watching teachers with their craft, how they perform their craft, and watching those students. They’re all around having those ‘Aha!’ moments and connecting to a new idea and going forward with it. It’s very exciting.”

Since last May, Dr. Plut-ko’s main focus has been to familiarize himself with “the school, the community, and the people who have made the district what it is today.” On the first day of school the superintendent was walkin through the halls of FVHS, staying true to his promise.

As he made visits around the district, Plutko took the time to talk with the teachers and staff to discuss the his-tory of the schools and the district. He believes that that is the first thing to know in order to understand where HBUHSD stands in com-parison to other “top-shelf” school districts. He searches for fixable weaknesses, but also exploitable strengths.

For many people, art can be expressed through drawing, de-

signing, or painting. For FVHS junior Jessica Trinh, it’s photography. Jessica has been a photographer since she was thirteen years old,

and although it’s only been three years, her skills have reached to a professional level. The amount of talent she possesses is undeni-able. Looking at numerous photos, I was astounded by the clarity and breath-taking moments they each contained. In fact, the pho-

tos are so realistic and filled with detail, you can imagine yourself in the scene, stand-ing right next to the subject! I was given a great opportu-nity to interview Jessica and learn more about this pas-sion of hers.Q: What do you enjoy most about photography?A: I love the unlimited cre-ativity, how you can express your emotions, and showing the audience a whole new perspective behind a cam-era.Q: Are there people who inspire you?A: Not exactly people, but animals. My two dogs, Chuppy and Daisy, are my inspiration!Q: Have you had any achievements/accomplish-ments so far?

This game got us back on track.”

That's Captain Philip Choi describing the effect of their 28-10 victory over Co-rona High School. The win came after the Barons 1-1 start and their loss against fifth-ranked San Clemente two weeks ago. Two touch-down catches were made by Senior Sean Meyers' two touchdown catches  in the

second half and Christian Calvillo's two touchdown runs solidified the win.

Refering to the game against San Clemente, Choi said, “we already played one of the toughest teams in the county and unfortunately lost; however, this only adds fuel to the fire, and we're preparing to play top tier teams like Trabuco Hills, Los Alamitos, and Edison.” 

2Hola y buenos dias, Barons!

This year, you can find a brand new teacher roam-

ing the world languages hallways. Introducing: Mr. Aaron Stone. Born smack dab in the middle of four sisters, Mr. Stone has spent portions of his youth in Costa Mesa, Tustin, and Utah, having received his high school diploma from Weber High School.

After spending a year experi-encing life in South America, Mr. Stone went on to receive his bach-elor’s degree from Cal State Long Beach. A surfer and sometimes snowboarder and skater in his free time, Mr. Stone is also a de-voted foodie. The quiet, yet easy-going, first-year teacher shares his home with his Broadway-per-former wife and two dogs.

A former Edison Charger, Mr. Stone has been enlightened and is now a proud Baron. We sat down one afternoon for a short Q&A session.What made you decide to be-come a teacher?

Teacher SpotlightMr. Stone

- -Adrien Ha- -staff writer

The most important is my pas-sion for the area I teach, Spanish, I wanted to share it with everyone else because it’s helped me out quite a bit in life and I know that having a second language helps others to see different parts of the world. Every day [teaching] is dif-ferent, it’s not the same routine - of course things are routine in the classroom, but every day there’s a different excitement that you can bring to the classroom, different situations, different students, ev-ery class is different, each has its own chemistry makeup.Who inspires you the most?I think my biggest inspiration is probably the generation under - you guys. You guys inspire me to come in every day and to do my best, to give you the tools you need to succeed in life, and espe-cially at this school, I see a lot of awesome students that strive hard and want to work hard and be the best that they can be, and that’s a big inspiration to me: I want to do my best because you guys are do-ing your best.How does it feel like to be a Bar-on?

Almost noble-like. I mean, like what I know I need to study more on the Barons and their his-tory, but just the symbol alone, it looks very distinguished and very proper. The word “Charger” alone sounds almost physical. Both schools are awesome in their own way, but Chargers are more physi-cal while Barons are more intel-lectual.What is something quirky about yourself?Everyone seems to call me Clark Kent. I am a fan [of Superman], but the glasses are more for help-ing me see, and the style just hap-pens to be that of Clark Kent. You know, I’ve never really gotten Bruce Wayne; until I started here a couple students call me a mix between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, but I think I’d lean more toward Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne had a lot of money, and that’s something I don’t really have.A whale and a unicorn mated to make a narwhal. True or false?A narwhal? True or false? I’m go-ing to go... true.Any words of wisdom to live by?Use the Force. Always.

>> Jessica Trinh Front (1)

>> Dr. PlutkoFront (1)

(PHOTO CREDIT): Jessica Trinh (‘13)

Student Life

Plutko understands that retaining Hunting-ton Beach’s reputation as one of these “top-shelf” districts will not be an easy task. This is why Plutko has concluded that the best way to help is to listen. Only in this way, he claims, can the district’s board improve the academic curriculum for students.

Plutko believes Cali-fornia is ahead of most other states in what it’s doing with the Common Core – English, science, history, math, and for-eign language classes. As a result, specific and im-mediate changes to aca-demia are not necessary says Plutko, though he believes progress should always be expected.

“One recent journal article I read talks about how today’s high school and junior high students will fare in their futures,” says Plutko. “Over 60% of the jobs they will have have not been invented yet.” Considering such a forecast, he hopes to help keep Barons well ahead

of the game, putting their best foot forward.

Unfortunately, Plutko has already found him-self confronted with the elephant in the room many times: the bud-get. However, the public must keep in mind that it is a very volatile pro-cess at the state level, and one that school districts have little control over. This does not mean noth-ing will be done. In fact, Plutko says the key to thriving in such a slug-gish economy is “quality conversations and plan-ning.”

Dr. Plutko’s main en-deavor is to guarantee a high quality educational program that will pre-pare students for 21st century work and a rap-idly globalizing econo-my. He hopes to promote foundational skills and the critical thinking that will drive them towards success once they move beyond FVHS’ walls. Under a new superin-tendent, FVHS Barons are looking forward to a great year along with a few some changes.

A: My accomplishments include winning various contests, as well as being published in magazines. My photos have also been purchased by Struck Ax-iom to be used in an Or-ganix Dog Food ad. Re-cently, some of my photos have also been invited to be used as stock photos to be purchased from Getty

Images.Q: Do you have any other hobbies or activities?A: I like to play golf.Q: Is there any advice you have for people who de-sire to go into the photog-raphy field?A: Learn that it’s the per-son behind the camera who is creating the art-work, not the camera itself. And of course, always have fun and be inspired.Getting to know Jessica

Trinh and her special tal-ent is something I don’t regret. Her success contin-ues to go far, recently win-ning Martha Stewart’s Pet Adoptabuddies contest! If you are interested and would like to see more of Jessica’s work, you can visit her Flickr website at www.flickr.com/photos/jessi-cachuppy, where you can browse through her pho-tostream and get a taste of her unique talent.

3

Though starting quarter-back Kekai Fernandez (’12) is still out due to a collar bone injury from the San Clemente game, Chris d’Entremont (’13) filled the starting quar-terback position with positive results. D’Entremont made 10 out of 15 passes for 173 yards and   two touchdown passes on his first varsity start.

“The season has been going great so far. We’re 2-1 and our last game really showcased our talents that surround the ball on both defense and of-fense. More than half of last year’s starters are returning and we are glad to have trans-fers, like Brian Brown, that are already contributing,” stated Choi.

The mighty Barons held the lead against Corona the entire game with 115 yards rush-ing and total offense yards of

>> FootballFront (1)

S till in preseason and preparing for upcoming Sunset

league, the boys water polo team took their game to Tesoro High School this last Thursday. Unfor-tunately the Barons suf-fered a tough loss of 6-13 against their strong oppo-nent.

In the first quarter, the Barons let Tesoro grab the lead and dig a hole that they struggled to get out of. The rest of the game, the Barons fought hard to claw back. Seniors Greg Pace and Shawn Carroll scored two goals each. However, Tesoro kept a

majority of the possession and fired shot after shot against Joe Romo (‘12) whose saves unfortunately were not enough.

“We are going to come out harder and leave the first quarter with a solid lead,” said Alex Kryger (‘12) about their goals for the next game.

The boys are still miss-ing the full services of the sophomore set player, Kyle Breznau, who fortu-nately is starting to play again and regain his fit-ness, but he has yet to heal completely. With a record thus far of 2-7-0 the Bar-ons will be looking for a much needed win next week.

A Tough Season for the Boys In Speedos

- -Wade Sias- -staff writer

(PHOTO CREDIT): Julie King (‘12)(WATERPOLO): Joe Romo prepares to defend against an oncoming shot.

Nichole Pletkovic walked on the court with an at-titude of “we’re gonna

win” burning in her eyes. The rest of the team shared her confidence as girls volleyball dealt a devastating blow to Brethren Christian last Thurs-day.

The girls won three out of five games. Senior Morgan Bil-bruck won the last game with a breathtaking dump of the

ball to the other side, ensur-ing a 25-22 victory. Nathalie Berardino (‘13) shined on the court with her multiple kills on the outside. Laney Ehlers (’13) also displayed a talent for kills demolishing almost every ball that came her way.

Our Lady Barons did a par-ticularly great job this game by setting the bar high the first game with a score of 25 to 18. By the second game, they de-molished the other team with a gaping eleven point gap with

Girls Volleyball Dominate the Court

- -Johnny Nguyen- -staff writer

a score of 25 to 14. After the last game, the

players walked off the court with valiant looks on their fac-es with their winning start to the season.

Coach Beau Peters stated, “We set high standards ev-ery year and strive to achieve them. We aim to win league and CIF and do the best we can.”

Our Lady Barons started very well and they hope to bring pride to the Baron name.

238. Corona came late into the game with a couple inter-ceptions and 10 points, but it wasn’t enough to make a dent against the Barons.

“We still have a long sea-son ahead of us, but Edison is in our headlights. The Bell Game is always in the backs of our minds and we’ve been tired of that bitter taste for many years. This year is the year to beat them, and we’re running at them full speed,” explained Captain Choi, “As we prepare for Sunset League, we know that we’ve made sig-nificant strides in our style, tempo, and energy of play and that we need to continue those positives heading into League.”

The Barons look to take on Downey High School at an-other away game on Friday, then they go up against Tra-buco Hills a week later for the Homecoming game at Shue Stadium.

Just about three weeks ago, I began my four year journey at Fountain Val-

ley High School. As I entered FVHS, I saw a campus wallpa-pered with posters welcoming students to the new school year and promoting the Aloha Dance.

It was exciting to see ASB in their cardigans, cheerlead-ers in their uniforms, and Link Crew leaders in their purple tees, greeting freshmen and answering questions. High school is a life-altering experi-ence and as I entered it, I felt scared and nervous, knowing little about my classmates and even less about the courses and

teachers.I didn’t know where my

classes were, and to add on the stress, I wondered if I would even pass my courses. I knew that you were given eight min-utes for passing periods, and I concluded it would take that entire time wading through thousands of people, including supervision zooming around in golf-carts that never seemed to slow down or even stop, for anyone or anything.

There was still the matter of the classes themselves. Would the teachers be mean, strict, or

FVHS Through the Eyes of a Freshman

- -Jessie Le- -staff writer

boring? Or worse, would they assign killer amounts of home-work? I found out the teach-ers were nice enough and the workload depended on each teacher’s preference.

By lunch I had made it through four of my classes with minimal amount of home-work assigned. During lunch it seemed the whole campus was busy and crowded. It was im-possible to buy anything with the never-ending lines in the awful heat (thank goodness I packed a sandwich).

I ate in the bowl with my

friends for the first few days. There were many lunch time activities that kept us en-tertained such as the Aloha Dance flash mob.

Overall, it was a great first week for my freshmen year of high school. FVHS made the switch from middle to high school a pleasant experience, and I learned that Fountain Valley was a great, friendly school. As ASB member Melis-sa Casiano (’12) told me dur-ing registration, “We’re classy. Fountain Valley is a classy school.

OPINIONS

Photo Gallery: Girls Golf Victory against HB and EstanciaThe mighty girls' golf team start league undefeated with a successful win against Huntington Beach, 219-239, on Thursday, 15th. They also won 200-272 on Tuesday, 13th, against Estancia. Keep it up, girls!

- -Tyler Rose Ratzlaff- -photography editor

Sports

4

Watch the Throne, a hip-hop/rap album released on August

8th, presents the collective ge-nius of Kanye West and Jay-Z. The album is comprised of 16 tracks written and performed in a creative, albeit arrogant style, displaying the talents of two renowned rappers. The album’s overall theme revolves around the ideas of wealth, power, success, and how those ideas alter the lives of people on different social levels. The simplistic, gold album art emits a grandiose aura, boast-ing the high status of the rap-pers.

The CD opens with “No Church in the Wild”, a song

discussing the role of reli-gion in modern society. The ominous bass line builds up the track as Frank Ocean’s high-pitched voice enters. The line “What’s a God to a non-believer who don’t believe in anything?” suggests that even divine beings can be overpow-ered by mere individuals. The combination of the bass line and the lyrics makes a bold statement involving the escala-tion of power.

“Friends in Paris”, an ag-gressive, pump-up song, epit-omizes the prowess of West and Jay-Z. Each line is thrown at the listener to pack a great punch. The first 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the song feature excessive orchestration along with conceited lyrics to flaunt

Cozy On Up To Mama D’s- -Annie Pham- -

staff writer

- -Jeffrey Wang- -staff writer

Watch The ThroneAlbum Review

the rappers’ rise to success. The down tempo outro presents an intimidating image as West sings “You are now watching the throne…” implying a dra-matic rise to authority.

“New Day” is a regretful piece where the rappers’ ac-knowledge their arrogance through their perspectives on parenting. The piano chords played throughout the back-ground set a gloomy mood. In the first verse, West discusses, in an apologetic manner, his plans to raise his son with cau-tion of his own mistakes. (“And I’ll never let my son have an ego…”) In the latter half of the song, Jay-Z outlines the nega-tive effects of his fame on his future child.

“Made in America” details West and Jay-Z’s overcom-ing of struggles that typical African-Americans face in their integration into society. The hook references various civil rights leaders, most no-tably Martin Luther King, to place racial trials in a histori-cal perspective. The main mes-sage that West and Jay-Z have “made it in America” despite their origins is made known to listeners.

Listeners may interpret Kanye West and Jay-Z’s egotis-tical display throughout Watch the Throne as flashy and ar-rogant at first. However, after closer analysis, the songs use the themes of status and power as tools to reveal deeper ideas on a larger scale.

>> Our Idiot BrotherFront (1)

(ABOVE): Paul Rudd and Adam Scott

While I was hang-

ing out with my

uncle and cous-

in, we had a sudden craving

for delicious Italian food.

Our trusty Yelp app led us

to a cozy, hoe-in-the-wall

restaurant called Mama D’s

in Newport Beach. Was the

drive worth it? Time and a

couple of meals would tell,

but our trip started strong

as we were greeted with a

warm smile and seated im-

mediately.

Our server, Ann Marie,

promptly served the most

delicious bread – accompa-

nied by Mama D’s original

garlic-olive oil mixture. She

took the time to get to learn

our names and used them

throughout our meal. And

who gave us complimen-

tary cheese ravioli? Mama

D’s.

The menu was flexible

and easily accommodated

each of our wants. My fam-

ily was able to choose any

pasta to go with any sauce

and any topping. We or-

dered spaghetti bolognese

with a large meatball, fet-

tuccine with Mama D’s

pink sauce, chicken parmi-

giana, and meat ravioli.

After our fabulous feast,

Ann Marie surprised us

with a free plate of freshly

baked chocolate chip cook-

ies. They had crispy edges

and gooey centers. Why

does Mama D’s give out

delicious free dishes? I will

never know, but you won’t

ever find me complaining.

Mama D’s is Italian heav-

en, complete with a great

atmosphere, friendly serv-

ers, and out-of-this-world

food. I would definitely

recommend this restaurant.

I give it 4.5 out of five stars.

Pleasant eating!

Entertainment

(ABOVE): Music artists Jay-Z and Kanye West

After being sent to jail for selling marijuana to a cop and getting kicked out of his farm home by his hippie ex-girlfriend, the protagonist, Ned (played by Paul Rudd), is a kind-hearted and optimistic biodynamic farmer who be-gins a process of serial-living with each of his three sisters.

The oldest sister, Liz (Emily Mortimer), is a typical anx-ious mom whose main job is to take care of her family as she struggles with a dete-riorating marriage. Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) is a career-obsessed journalist for Vanity Fair who struggles in trying to get an article published. Lastly, the youngest sister, Nat (Zooey Deschanel), is a bisex-ual hipster who lives with five other roommates, including her girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones) in a communal-style apartment.

Living alongside with them, Ned becomes unintention-ally involved in a variety of

situations, stuck in a web of miscommunication. It is dif-ficult to pinpoint whether or not he is truly an “idiot”, or if he’s just doing the right thing. However, in every situation, he is the sole scapegoat when-ever someone needs to point a finger.

This movie is far from idiotic (no pun intended). In fact, I found the movie to be inspirational in the sense that it reminds us to be good people and to always have our siblings' backs, no matter how much they seem to mess up.

Banks' character sums up her how everyone feels about the main character, “No one loves anything as uncondi-tional as Ned.”

Many will be disappointed in the lack of laughs while watching this movie, but Ned’s character will surely make up for it. The movie consists of a variety of unique characters in odd situations. I highly rec-ommend Our Idiot Brother if you’re looking for something to watch with your siblings or close friends.