By: Cesar Herrera & Brennan Robinson
New year, new sets and new faces. This 2018-2019 season for the men’s volleyball team is off to a rough 0-6 start, but there’s still enough time in the season to turn things around. The team is filled with talented, hardworking volleyball players that are some of the best Eldorado has to offer. They shouldn’t be counted out just yet. So far this season the boys had to face Bishop Gorman, who as everyone knows excels in just about every sport. Something new this year is the upcoming volleyball tournament held at Silverado high school. This will get the team the exposure and confidence they need to finish the season stronger.Confidence that they can use and take in to next year to continue to improve. They can use this tournament to show off how good the school can be at volleyball and allow the players to showcase their talent to everyone at the tournament. This can also potentially be a start for Eldorado to establish itself as a powerhouse in volleyball out of all the high schools in the city. One benefit of Eldorado having a slow start coming into the tournament is that they’re seen as a underdog and can shock every one by doing well in the tournament. Eldorado didn’t get off to the start they were expecting to, but they still have the rest of the season to turn things around also in the tournament coming up they can shock everyone.
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By: Alexandra Martinez and Elizabeth Farias
For four years, Eldorado has held an annual Talent No Talent Show. Unlike a traditional talent show, this inclusive show allows students that feel as if they have no conventional talents to perform. Both students and teachers are welcomed to perform on stage. Each performer has their own act, varying from karaoke, dancing, poetry, and playing instruments. On March 8, this year’s show was held in the New Theater at 6:30pm. For those who were unable to go in person can watch the livestream at anytime. The broadcast is available on the Eldorado’s sports streaming website. It is accessible through the school’s main website. At the end of the show the top three best performances were chosen. Antonio Atkielski, 11, won first place, and a cash prize of $60 for his talent, he recited a poem. This was his second year performing; last year he had won second place. Star Greenwood, 9, and Lavonn Beal, 12, took second and third place respectively. Both took home a $40 prize. Antonio said as he performs he starts off “nervous, but then you get use to it so it's not that big of a deal.” Unlike Antonio, this was the first year Lavonn performed in the show, he said “I was nervous and I didn’t think I would win anything, but I was really proud.” For Star Greenwood, the experience was nerve racking, but amazing. She says, “I’ll definitely be performing next year.” For those who are still unconvinced on watching the Talent No Talent Show, Mr. Rendon and Ms. Carranza perform their annual duet. This year, they performed the song “Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. Though this year’s show has passed, the broadcast is still available online. Students are more than welcomed to come to next year’s show. Whether it is to be an audience member or as a performer at any skill level, the Talent No Talent Show welcomes everyone. By: Amore Scranton, Damaso Rosales and Brennan Robinson
The grind doesn't stop for the Sun Devil wrestling team, they are pinning down all their matches! This years wrestling coach is the one and only, Coach Carlson. He has pushed the wrestlers to meet their goals and surpass them everyday. Coach Carlson was born in Canada and moved to California in the 7th grade. He attended San Jacinto High School in San Jacinto, CA, and continued his education at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Now he works at Eldorado High School as the wrestling coach of the 2018-2019 school year. Coach Carlson motivates his athletes to do better by having the establish goals for themselves. However, his athletes are not the only ones who are being motivated, he said “When I see a wrestler succeed, especially a new wrestler, that's all the motivation I need.” Before a game, Coach Carlson uses different activities for each wrestler to get them hyped up. Since wrestling is such an individual activity, each wrestler has their own way of getting ready some even including discipline and direct instructions. Before every wrestling match, Coach Carlson says, “I tell them what I think they need to hear for them to do better.” Without a doubt, the 2018-2019 wrestling team had an amazing season and Coach Carlson did a great job in helping his athletes accomplish the goals they set. Next year can only get better for the team with Coach Carlson motivating them along the way. By: Elizabeth Farias
Everyday is a great day to be a Sundevil, especially in student council, for they were named the winners of the Southern Star Award. This is awarded to student councils in southern Nevada who have met all the necessary requirements. For Guadalupe Mercado, 11, a student council representative, the award represents a reassurance that they were doing their job. Since the beginning of the year, student council has been documenting it's events in a scrapbook. These scrapbooks are what they have to turn in to the NASC. Student Body President Daniel Petersen, 12, said, “Homecoming has been the most memorable [event] so far transforming our gym into something amazing.” They were presented with their award on December 8th during the Southern Region zone conference in front of other schools. However, the Southern Star Award is only the beginning for student council. Their goal is to win the Silver Star Award—which is awarded to schools statewide—it is the highest award given by the NASC. To win this award, student councils have to show that they have worked hard throughout the school year to improve their school. The reason behind them wanting to take part in the award is to prove that students in this area are more than capable to win. Mrs. Stott, one of the student council teachers, explained, “Because we are in the east side we are typically looked down on, we are proving that we can win the awards such as these.” Not only is it proving to others that schools in the east side are capable, it also has improved the work ethic of the council as they now have goals in mind to keep them pushing themselves more, and challenging themselves. Students have the ability to help student council by taking part in all their events, such as the book drive and fall carnival as these events are part of the criteria in order for them to win the Silver Star Award. This year, student council has been doing a lot of hard at work, now it's time for the school to show student council their support in their goal for the Silver Star Award. By: Amore Scranton, Damaso Rosales and Sports Editor Brennan Robison
Shooting right into the new year with girls’ Basketball, Coach Shaw is making a mark on Eldorado. He attended Sam Houston State University were he played football; a sport he had played since the age of 6. While playing college football his team won two national championships in 2011 and 2012. Before moving to Las Vegas, Shaw was Networking and coaching basketball in San Antonio, Texas. A good friend of his reached out to him and he applied for a Lifetime Sports teacher. After coming to Eldorado he became the girls basketball coach. “ I love being the girls head coach, I coach with my heart and passion,” he says. He brings a lot of guidance to the kids and the basketball girls at Eldorado.“I'm big on self elevation, Nobody’s perfect but you have to push yourself to do better. I'm doing good but I can do better.”He pushes his girls to do better just as he does. His guidance doesn’t just stay on the court he expects the best from his girls in the classroom. “I don’t allow D’s as passing. For me, Bad grades=Conditioning. The punishment is running for positivity.” Coach Shaw is what he is now because he was self motivated. He moved to Las Vegas because he saw a big opportunity for himself. He took a chance and believed in himself and then he passed this on to his basketball girls and his Lifetime Sports classes. Through all the moving around, Shaw has finally found his place in Eldorado. Building his self elevation, he's taking a strong role in our school. Him being the girls basketball coach shows that he wants to be apart of our school and show some school spirit! By: Alexandra Martinez and Elizabeth Farias
While some students are quick to write off the new policy, it has been put into place to protect them. Regardless of the school having over 30 doors, there have been incidents of students allowing people who don't attend Eldo into the school. Vice Principal Butler had this to say about the issue, “Generally speaking, when they’re here [on campus] and they don’t belong here, they’re not here for good reasons.” He went on to explain that having students wear their ID’s will help administration find those who should not be on campus leave to keep students safe. Complimentary lanyards will be distributed to students at a later date. Each grade level will have to wear a lanyard with their assigned color: 9th grade will wear gold, 10th will wear gray, 11th will wear maroon, and 12th graders will wear black. Though students must wear the assigned color of their grade level, they will be able to customize their lanyards as long as administration is still able to see the original color of the lanyard. However, if a student decides not to wear their lanyard, Vice Principal Mr. Butler advises, “It will be handled [with] basic, simple disciplinary at first… but if they absolutely refuse to wear it, it will be progressive discipline just like everything else.” Students who have lost their ID card will now be able to get a replacement for five dollars from Eldorado’s new and personal ID card printer. “It seems a bit odd, but honestly, it is for our safety.” While many might see this as an unnecessary policy, it's meant to protect. By ensuring only registered students of Eldorado are on campus, staff and administration can give their full attention to things that demand it. By Alexandra Martinez
Life Is Beautiful has arrived with the cooler temperatures of fall. Life Is Beautiful is an annual music and art festival that takes place in Downtown Las Vegas, it is a large scale event that takes place over three days. This year, the dates that it’s being held are September 21-23. Even though the festival was first launched back in 2013, the event is now seen as a time of unity. This year’s musical lineup is diverse in the style and genres of music. For 2018, it will include well known artists like: Tyler the Creator, The Weeknd, T-Pain and The Neighbourhood. Hannibal Buress, Michelle Wolf, Trixie Mattel, and many more comedians are all included on this years comedy line-up. Also making an appearance are some popular restaurants including Dutch Bros. Coffee, Chipotle, Afters Ice Cream, and so many more will be there. A graduate from Eldorado, Cristal Martinez, is planning to go to Life Is Beautiful this year. This would be her second time going to this event. She says, “The vibes that I get while being there are really something else. Everyone is just so happy to be there and to experience such a wonderful thing together.” Of all the artists going, she is most excited to see Travis Scott. “I’m very excited to hear his newests songs from the new album, [Astroworld], that he recently released.” Her favorite memory of LIB is when she saw her favorite artist, J Cole. Cristal is hopeful that 2018’s LIB will also give her such cherished memories. Samantha Contreras, 11, is also going to LIB, but for her very first time. “I’ve been wanting to go ever since I first heard about it back in 2016.” As a fan of music, Samantha is eager to see Galantis preform. She is even more thrilled to be able to share this experience with her boyfriend. She says, “My boyfriend and I are always looking for new things to do, and this seems like the perfect adventure for us.” Samantha hopes this festival will be everything, and maybe even more, than she imagines. More information (such as: a full lineup, ticket information, what to bring, extra information, etc.) can be found on the official website of Life Is Beautiful. https://lifeisbeautiful.com/ By Alexandra Martinez
School is back in session! On August 13th, the 2018-2019 school year began, although this year is different because the bell schedule has been altered. The old schedule used to be 6 periods, but the correlative new schedule now has 7 periods. Another contemporary change is: there is now a block schedule. On Wednesdays, students only go to their 1st-4th periods. On Thursdays, students go to their 5th-7th classes. Thursdays are the most unusual because it strays from the typical school day. Students have the choice to stay for lunch, or skip it and go home. Samantha Contreras, 11, has been enrolled in Eldorado for two years. She has experienced the change first-hand. She said, “It was overwhelming, but I made friends.” She continued to say that the new bell schedule, “It’s hard [to keep up with] because I have to wake up at four just to get ready on time.” Although, she still manages to get to school on time everyday. This year she is embracing the schedule change by looking to make changes of her own. She hopes, “To not procrastinate with work, and to get the more involved with school.” Samantha, like many other students, hopes this year will be a great one. School can be stressful, complicated, interesting or exciting. Whichever way you look at it, school is necessary. Therefore, you should try your best in all of your classes. Working on getting to class on time, doing your work, and attending school will definitely help. Receiving your high school diploma will help you in advancing your life. No matter what job field you would like to go into, it is beneficial to have one. If you are trying to get a job without one, chances are you are going to lose your chances to someone that has a diploma. Hopefully, every student has the great 2018-2019 school year they want. Work hard, be on time, do your best, and remember, “Everyday is a great day to be a Sundevil!” By Tabatha Rickard
On July 9th, 2018, the Eldorado journalism program was invited to go and interview the NBA recruits at NBA Summer League. We were accompanied by High School Nation, they gave us the opportunity and pieces of advice to interview these possibly famous recruits. The advice truly did help make the whole process a lot less nerve-racking. We were advised to stay calm, cool, and collected, the players are regular people like us just a lot taller. As a journalist that is more accustomed to writing and submitting articles, being an on-camera interviewer was a new and terrifying experience. When on camera you have to be incredibly self aware. Your posture, tone of voice, the space between you and the person you’re interviewing, and much more. During interviews you have to be extremely assertive. There’s no taking turns, you have to push your way through to be able to converse with the players. There are dozens of other reporters and they’re all fighting to get an interview for their stories. The idea of being on camera and interviewing possibly famous basketball players was extremely nerve wracking, especially the fact that I’d have to fight my way through. My first interview was with the 26 year old Aussie recruit for the Dallas Mavericks, Mitchell Creek. Mitchell was a very chill and well spoken person to interview. Interviewing him truly helped erase any anxiety I could have had because it was a really comfortable conversation; however, we were so comfortable our conversation went on for too long. Interviews should be brief, because there are other interviewers waiting to get a story for their paying job. All in all, the experience was truly eye opening and definitely helped me grow as a journalist and interviewer, and it even helped my confidence grow a bit. By Elizabeth Farias
In 1975, the student council decided they wanted something to represent the annual game between Eldorado and it's rival Chaparral. While it could not be confirmed, the 1976 yearbook claimed that the cleat had been the Student Body President Pete Shields’ “brain child”. 45 years later, Pete’s “brain child” has been bronzed and continues to be the symbol of the game now recognized as one of the “most competitive rivalries in Vegas”, according to the Las Vegas Sun. After an inspirational speech by Steve Jackson, a Sun Devil graduate who went on to play professional football, the football team and the students were excited for the annual Cleat Game. With the whole school chanting at them to “bring back the cleat”, Eldorado went out to Chaparral fields with a new determination. While they came home empty handed, many students reported that it had been an entertaining game and it was clear both teams were trying their best. Sun Devils were not the only ones who notice this new confidence, even Chaparral’s own football coach, Coach Don Willis, commented on their new livelyhood. He told reporters at the Las Vegas Sun that he saw how hard Eldorado was playing and, “How much [Eldorado] wanted [to win].” At the end of the night, the score was 21-13, and while it may not appear as an achievement, it's the closet the team has gotten to winning in the last three years. The football team didn’t win the cleat, instead they brought a new sense of hope that the cleat will call Eldo it’s home next year. |
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Editor-in-Chief: Alexandra Martinez Archives
May 2020
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