Nighthawk NewsMaywood Academy High SchoolDecember ‘09 Issue

What’s Inside

Talent Show..............pg. 2

Abi’s Hit List............pg. 3

In the Spotlight.........pg. 4

Top Movies of 09.....pg. 5

Maywood Baseball...pg. 6

Comics......................pg.7

Hororscopes..........pg. 8-9

A time to... Dance by Iliana Cortez

A happy dance; thanks to everyone’s efforts, apparently charter school will no longer be in our vocabularies. Yes folks, teachers and supporters of keeping Maywood Academy High School (MAHS) public won. According to Ms. Arce, the primary coordina-tor of the effort, as of Wednesday January 13, 2010 MAHS “is 99.9% ours.” Nothing is official as yet, but the Maywood Academy staff was the only one to submit a plan. No charter school submit-ted a plan by the deadline, Monday, January 11, at midnight. Since no charter school submitted a plan, the teachers, par-ents, students, and com-munity groups who have been working constantly, were the only ones competing for Maywood Academy. Even though there is no competition for the school, those who drew up the plan are only cautiously optimistic because according to Ms. Arce, “the district always does weird things,” so until then, she is keeping her fingers crossed. Monday January 11th was obviously D-day for Maywood Academy.

More than 30 teach-ers and staff including Ms. Arce, Ms. Balala, Mr.Viveros, and Mr. Terry, put our school’s future as their priorities. They all busted worked through the night and at 11:58 p.m., with only two minutes to spare, they submitted the plan, all

400 plus pages. The extensive plan consists of reforming Maywood Academy, with changes such as three small learning communi-ties instead of four, and changing the bell sched-ule. Despite the appar-ent victory, everything is still in the hands of

LAUSD superintendent, Ray Cortines, and the school board. Teachers are urging parents and students to call them and and voice your support to keep MAHS as is, and not charter. Once the school board makes it official, we can all bust a move.

What Happened?

Toy DriveBy Jennifer Arroyo andLiliana Arce The annual Toys for Tots charity drive ended December 11. Thanks to all who donated, but there were problems. Though Toys for Tots has been done every year at Maywood Acad-emy High, it seems that advertising is never done correctly. Students are never fully aware of the charity drive due to lack of posters and announcements. Eliza-beth Calzada, a senior at MAHS, was bothered

by the fact that students were not informed of the charity going on at school. “Even though the economy is hard, children should not have to suffer from it” Elizabeth Calzada lamented. She hopes this won’t be the last charity drive at May-wood Academy, for she believes that when a person needs some-thing, there should al-ways be someone there for them. Let’s hope Elizabeth’s words are heeded.

Maywood’s Got TalentBy Alfredo Meza

December 10th the Maywood Academy High School auditorium was packed with hun-dreds of students, par-ents, and faculty who came to witness one of the most anticipated events of the year, the 3rd Annual Winter Tal-ent Show. The crowd came for a show, and they were not disap-pointed. The perfor-mance was kicked off with an amazing act by

the Maywood Academy Cheerleaders, followed by equally amaz-ing acts such as Broken Record, the Divas, and many more. “We are look-ing forward to hearing the crowd’s laughter,” said Maritza Gonzalez before the show, member of the

Miss Maywood Competition. That was exactly what the audience got that night, as the crowd loved their performance. One particular person in attendance that night, who really enjoyed the show, was MAHS Class of 2009’s, David Musick. “I thought the Miss May-wood Competition and Mr. Harriman playing a song for Mr. Hooker were hilarious,” he com-mented. Many students such as Daisy Mi-ramontes had really good reviews for Chil-Ai, “My favor-

The winnersof the Winter Talent Show, Playas Gotta Play.ite part of the talent show was Chil-Ai’s perfor-mance,” she said. Unfor-tunately for Chil-Ai, the showstopper of the night was Playas Gotta Play’s performance to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. In the end they would take home 1st place. All in all, it was a great night for everyone in attendance including Mr. Hooker who com-plimented students, “I was really happy to see students cheer, and show respect towards fellow classmates.” Everyone definitely had a great time making the talent show a complete success and a great way to end 2009.

See page 3 for more pictures of the winter talent

show

Welcome back to Nighthawk News to see what the top 10 music hits are. According to Billboard.com, now in the number one spot, is Jay-Z and Alicia Keys with the song “Empire State of Mind”. In Sec-ond place is the amazing Lady Gaga with her song “Bad Romance”. For the 3rd and 4th spots are “Tik Tok” by Kesha, and “Replay” by Iyaz. Once in the number one spot and now in 5th place, is “Fireflies” by Owl City.

“Watcha Say” by Jason DeRulo holds the 6th spot. The 7th and 8th songs on the charts are “Sexy Chick” by David Guetta featuring Akon, and “Meet Me Half Way” by The Black Eyed Peas. “3” by Brittney Spears and “Down” by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne have not left the top charts and are in the 9th and 10th spots. During the holidays records will sell in huge amounts and we’ll update you in January.

Abi’s Top 10 Hit List

In The SpotlightSherlock Holmes Its finally here! The books are popular and now the movie is coming out. Of course I’m talking about Sherlock Holmes , the mystery series that has entertained readers for years. This film stars Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson. The film starts with them capturing serial killer, Lord Blackwood, but Blackwood mysteriously returns from the grave and resumes his killing quest, its time for Homes to do his job and track him down. So this duo must unravel the clues in order to solve the mystery. Surely this journey will have deceit, murder, and black magic.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel They’re back! The 3 cute and very talented chipmunks are at it again in this fam-ily comedy that has funny written all over it. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore end up in the care of Dave Seville’s nephew Toby (played by Zachary Levi) after he has an accident that lands him in the hospital. It seems that their music has to be put aside because it’s time for them to go back to school. Their school’s music program needs money, so they decide to enter a battle of the bands competition to win $25,000. A surprise comes when they meet their competition, The Chipettes. The Chipettes are Brittany, Eleanor, and Jeanette who get much attention from Alvin and the Chip-munks. This battle is a see to believe.

Avatar It might sound crazy, but blue people are hoping for much success at the movie theatre. It does sound weird but its true. Avatar is a film that stars blue creatures, Na’vi, who live on a planet named Pandora. Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is taken to the planet that has its own language and culture. Earth inhabitants will be at odds with these creatures. This film promises to be an amazing because of the cost to make it, and because the visual effects are surreal.

Did You Hear About The Morgans? Hey, did you hear about the Morgans? If you haven’t then I’ve got some explain-ing to do. This movie stars Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker and actor Hugh Grant, playing a married couple in crisis (Paul and Meryl Morgan). The twist is that they witness a murder and they must leave their home in Manhattan to a small town in Wyoming to hide from the killers. There is also a marriage to be saved in Wyoming. In order to find out how all is resolved, there is only one way to find out. . . YOU HAVE TO GO SEE IT!

By Alan Toro

How many movies have you seen this year? These are some of the top rated movies you might like checking out during your break.

The top rated movies of 2009 were Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, 2012 and Up. These movies were top rated based on the money they brought to the box office worldwide.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince brought in $929,350,143. This movie was said to have it all, such as comedy, action, drama, romance, and somewhat scary scenes. It captures the real dialogue from the book, and interprets it into a successful scene. Within the first 5 minutes of the movie, it is filled with action, starting off with London’s Millennium Bridge coming down and crashing into a river. After the movie’s open-ing scene with disaster, it continues with Harry Potter’s sixth year in Hogwarts.

Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs came in at number two at the box of-fice; this movie is a great comedy. It is a 3-D film that is suitable for children. It has a fascinating way of interpreting prehistoric animals. The movie starts off with two cute, loving squirrels quarreling over an acorn then moves onto two mammoths adjusting to parenthood. The art of the movie is imaginative, and it has interesting dialogue.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen was number three at the box office. Although this movie was panned by many movie critics, the audience gave it two thumbs up. It has a lot of explosions for you would-be pyro-maniacs.

The movie 2012 was the fourth highest grossing film of 2009. This movie terrifies you with the thought of the world coming to an end. It contains enormous amounts of natural disasters such as erupting volca-noes and tsunamis. It is filled with chaos; the world literately falls apart and cities crumble into the ocean; leaving no chance of the human race surviving. Its mind blowing scenes will keep you engaged.

At number five comes Up which brought in $506,892,782 worldwide. It received positive reviews from both the critics and the audiences. It is a wonderful film that portrays the human image through animation. Just so you know, the movie starts off with in black and white. Most of the film takes place in the skies just above the forest of Venezuela. The content of the movie is touching and humorous.

Top Box Office Movies of 09By Sheyla Juarez

SportsMaywood Baseball TeamBy Guillermo Osuna andRuben Castelo

The baseball team is starting once again after losing in the champion-ship game last year to Sherman oaks. They have been practicing for about two months now and they have started their win-ter league as well. Soon they will begin practicing everyday to get ready for the regular season and possibly another champi-onship. But the question is are they ready?

We spoke to coach Benavidez and asked what he thought of the baseball team and his respond was, “the JV team looks better than last year and last year they did good so they should do better this year”. He

also mention varsity and recalled “Varsity defi-nitely looks better than last year too so they are capable of going all the way again “. As for the morale of the team he said it was good because everyone was more

confident “On paper we should take the champi-onship,” said coach Bena-videz after being asked how he expected the team to do this year. He also talked about freshman Chris Naredo. He said he is one of the freshman’s who are in varsity who show great talent. He and Miguel Lara are the two freshman who show potential on the field. Coach Benavidez also said he strongly encour-ages students to support the baseball team because he knows the can get fun.

Nighthawk News Editorial staff

Vanessa Meraz (Editor)

Alfredo Meza (Assistant Editor)

Violet Guardado (News Editor)

Iliana Cortez (Editorials Editor)

Ruben Castelo (Sports Editor)

Martha Contreras (Profiles Editor)

Alan Toro (Entertainment Editor)

Mr. Villanueva (Faculty Advisor)

Anouncementby Violet

Many of you might have already heard that Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed an estimated several thousand people in a matter of minutes and left millions home-less. Many hospitals and supply centers were destroyed in the quake

therefore help is greatly needed. Teens Helping Everyone is taking the example of international aid groups, so we will

be hosting a donation fundraiser to collect supplies such as canned foods, clothes, and cash donations to send to the victims of the earthquake. We will be holding this charity drive during lunch in the quad area stating Tuesday the 19th to Mon-day the 25th. Please help with any donations and supplies. In times of ca-tastrophes the world can seem rather dark, help us brighten that world.

AM COMICSBy Alfredo Meza

Horoscopes for December 2009:

Aquarius: Cool and calming water bearer no more! December starts off at a rapid pace as you feel impulsive and are drawn toward new and exciting experiences. Don’t be surprised if you are driven to bust a move or to experiment ;). But be cautious because your hopes and expectations for the future may be too unrealistic so don’t go chasing after far-off dreams just yet; turning fantasies into reality takes time. If you want to be the next A-Rod, Kobe, or Ronaldinho get a reality check! Just kidding, you should work hard at it, but don’t live in your daydreams.

Aries: Hey there you kooky ram! This month you must keep in mind to pay attention to what you can learn from delays or setbacks. Don’t try to rush things; have patience (boys: there’s a reason why she says no ;p). December brings a burst of activity, and to remain happy you must live in the moment. This is the time to take charge, and put you life in order so you can enjoy all the exciting changes coming next year. 2010 here I come!

Cancer: Crabby cancer? So NOT you! (Or at least not this month) Change will occur this month, stirring up your emotions, but you’ll manage. A plus is that your intuition gets a boost, helping you seek new means of personal and educational inspiration. Maybe you’ll be inspired to actually do your homework :p.

Capricorn: A spiritual sea goat! This month you are reminded of the true meaning of the holiday season as your spiritual values are awakened. Even better, your self- es-teem receives a boost, but this time to reach toward your goals, not destinations.

by Iliana Cortez

Gemini: Double personality? Maybe. This month you will get rare glimpses of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, whatever that may be for you, i.e. that car you’ve been waiting for, or life after high school. FYI you may take a metaphysical journey as you try to figure out your place in the world and the path ahead; don’t get lost!

Leo: Hey there you fiesty lion! This will be a magical month for you, filled with new experiences that will blow your mind. But important decisions take time and unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment, so keep yourself grounded (not as in punishment lol :p).

Libra: Busting a balancing act? You too will be looking for that pot of gold now that possiblilities present themselves. Your heart and mind are open to your owm creativity, so don’t miss the opportunity to make your dreams come true! Maybe if you imagine your dream car it’ll appear before you :p. It’s also time to accept change; the new year is coming up!

Pisces: Mellow fellow! Pisces are known to go with the flow :p. Your long process of spiritual growth and intuitive awakening that began earlier in the year comes into play this month. So use what you’ve learned and work within youself. Desires for sudden change can stir restless feelings, yet it’s best to act with caution no mat-ter how quickly your mind is moving. Take things slowly, and catch youself before you do something you regret.

Sagittarious: Beware of hunter ;) This month starts out with a bang but ends on a serious note. You receive a boost of style and charm early on, so you’ll be looking and feeling good :p , and you become aware of the magic that surrounds you every day. So put that magic to work.

Scorpio: Intense insect! December is packed with activity as relationships are enhanced and the road toward intimate conversations is cleared (teehee). You are nearing the end of a process of enlightenment that began earlier in the year, and are now able to approach old matters in new ways.

Taurus: Nice Taurus! December is a very busy month, putting a strong emphasis on finding new and adventurous ways to approach teamwork which will help you sportswise or aca-demicwise, as well as in financial matters and emotional situations. Counting your money for this x-mas?

Virgo: Virgin Virgo? Maybe :p This month you must regroup, adjust your plans, and reorganize your life in prepa-ration for a new and transformative year. December is a transitional period that lightens your load and offers enough imagination and idealism to point the way toward a more fulfilling future. The new year seems promising for you!