Damien Holds Successful Service Fair
By Andrew Soriano, Staff Writer
Damien once again had another successful Service Fair last Wednesday, the second and final one of the year, for the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors (next year’s sophomores, juniors, and seniors, respectively). Held in the Activity Center and led by senior Ryan Perez, students were given the opportunity to sign up for various organizations and service projects for the coming summer months as well as the upcoming school year as well as receive a rousing speech inspiring Spartans to give back to their community from Service Coordinator Mr. Stephen Patten.
A few of the available booths included service opportunities in various hospitals such as one in Pomona, community gardening opportunities, and other various forms of service. Some of Damien’s own service clubs had booths as well, including Mr. Patten’s Service Learning Leadership group, KIWIN’S Club, and the Community Outreach club, among others.
“It’s a partnership.” “They [the organizations] have what we need, and we have what they need. We need service hours, and they need volunteers. The Service Fair has helped to create this relationship, and it has helped students know what’s going on in the community,” said Mr. Patten. “I think that it gives students direction.”
Swim Achieves Sixteenth Consecutive League Title
By Robert Meastas, Editor-In-Chief
The 2011-2012 Spartan Swim team has gone above and beyond expectations in continuing on its sixteenth consecutive year as first in league, and adding onto its 78 consecutive league wins in a row.
The Spartans’ faced off against Claremont March 21st at Claremont, with the Varsity squad winning 108-62 to a talented and challenging Claremont team.
Building up momentum and increasing the intensity of practice in the weeks following the Claremont meet, Damien swam against South Hills High School at the Damien Aquatics Center, crushing the Huskies 134-36.
A week later on April 4th, the Spartans hosted a meet against the Chino Hills where the Varsity Squad and JV squads achieved their highest scoring wins of the season with Varsity winning 141-28, and JV winning 143-24. The Varsity team did their part to swamp Chino Hills entirely by winning all 22 races by significant amounts of time.
Varsity Baseball Concludes Successful Season
By Robert Meastas, Editor-In-Chief
The 4-3-1 Spartan Varsity Baseball Team is leaving a big mark on the Sierra League with an impressive number of experienced powerhouse hitters and young, fresh Varsity batters running around the diamond of the local baseball fields.
The Spartans debuted League taking on Claremont High on March 16th, winning 4-2, with a few runs and hits by Juniors Chad Hockin and Kevin Macedo.
Despite losing their next game to the talented South Hills Varsity team, the Spartans ricocheted with an astounding 21-7 blow out against Chino Hills. With three runs from Michael Montalvo and Chad Hockin, and four from Eric Quezada, the Spartans dominated every aspect of the game. Jack Spohn hit a homerun to destroy South Hills morale and clinch a Spartan win.
Tennis Inspires Hope for Successful Future
By Anthony Gomez III, Senior Writer
Like any other sport at Damien, the tennis team held high hopes; hopes that included a winning season, and a trip to CIF that they could possibly win. But the season has not gone the way it was originally planned. A season full on injuries and illness just may be the main factor in the losses the team gathered this season.
At the start of the season there was reason to hope for success on the tennis court. The team was able to defeat both Charter Oak and Chino Hills, easily and without giving any sense of extra effort. However the team met their match when, despite the major improvements in seniors Eamon O’ Brien and Brandon Kho’s game, they were destroyed by the South Hills, Ayala, and Claremont tennis team. These games were crucial if the varsity Tennis team wanted to make CIF finals, but unfortunately, led to Damien being pushed out of the race for the finals.
Varsity Volleyball 9-1, Optimistic for Future
By Matthew Hughes, Staff Writer
Volleyball, while not as criminally unnoticed as in our April Fool’s article, still did fly under the radar for most of this year. It’s a shame really, since the Varsity team’s record is 9 wins and only 1 loss, a fantastic record by any standards. What’s really amazing is that when you remember that this team is only in its second year, and already has had a fantastic run. With a lot of success at tournaments, Varsity showed that Volleyball deserves to be apart of Damien’s premiere sports. The JV team, while not as successful as their teammates, has still maintained a positive W/L ratio, and playing against very talented teams. Varsity member Robby White had this to say about Varsity’s improvement this year: “Varsity’s record is much better this year than last year, and considering the talent we had last year, I’m very proud of that.” And he should be. Since so many of the Varsity team last year was made up of outgoing seniors, it was definitely going to be hard to replace everyone. But, the new seniors and juniors (as well as a couple sophomores) stepped up and took charge of the team.
Golf Leads Strong League Season, Readying for CIF
By Max Schrieffer, Staff Writer
This season for the golf team has been great. With the Varsity and JV team playing to their fullest, under the wisdom of Coach Mahon. So far, the varsity team has gone undefeated, having defeated each team handsomely. The season started out good, but through these past weeks, the team has gained much momentum and each player has been flourishing against each team. The opponents the team has faced who were supposed to be a good competitor were no match against both Varsity and JV teams, having defeated Chino Hills by a large amount. Being our main rivals in our league, many of our varsity players shooting one or two over par regularly, which in golf terms is very good.
Houses Help Those in Need, Make 1000 Lunches
By Andrew Epperson, Staff Writer
For the past few weeks, the Damien Community has been collecting food items for a new program to our school called the Second Lunch Program. Damien junior, Darren Church has led in the development of this program.
Last year, Church made lunches for the homeless in his religion class and was inspired to expand the program to the whole of Damien High School. Church hopes that by implementing this program schoolwide, the drive will be more successful and produce more lunches.
Church started this program because of his desire to help feed homeless and starving families which have recently increased in number in the Inland Empire. So far this year Church and his Christian Service team have donated over 200 lunches to Mary’s Mercy Center in San Bernardino to help the homeless families in Southern California.
“It is a wonderful feeling giving to these families and helping them out in this economic down turn,” said Darren Church.
Swim Triumphs in Pre-Season, Energetic for League
By Robert Meastas, Edit0r-In-Chief
The 2011-2012 Damien High School Swimming Season has returned with a wide variety of exceptionally talented, extremely dedicated, and especially hard working swimmers primed and fortified to win their sixteenth consecutive league title. The current squad possesses an ideal amount of gifted club swimmers to lead the varsity team, along with a significant amount of new and returning underclassmen swimmers who are skillful enough to keep up with the veterans.
“This year our team is a little on the smaller side, so we have to depend a lot more on the younger guys to step up and uphold our Damien tradition,” said captain Jason Haney.
The Spartans started the season off on the right foot, traveling to Upland High School to murk the Highlanders with a varsity squad score of 136-33. In doing so, the varsity team won all 22 of its races. Jason Haney and Austin Miller won two races each to lead the Spartans. The JV squad was also successful, recording a score of 140-22.
Mitchell’s “Make-A-Wish” Comes True
By Alec Cole, Executive Editor
Damien’s own Cameron Mitchell is a precocious freshman, typically sporting a beanie and transition lenses, who is no-doubt recognizable and well-known by his peers. Recently, he was given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. and personally meet none other than President Barack Obama. After returning, he was generous enough to share his experience with the Laconian.
After being contacted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Mitchell considered his options as to what he wanted to do most. His final decision to meet the President was one that he proudly stood by and has justified greatly.
“I chose to meet President Obama because I wanted to have a wish that money couldn’t buy,” stated Mitchell in a distinguished, old-fashioned spirit.
One Heart, One Spirit
By Alec Cole, Executive Editor
With the days and freedom of summer fast approaching, the season of college admissions decisions is at its peak. Seniors are mere steps away from the final moments of their high school experience. However, choosing where one wishes to spend the next four years of their life can be stressful.
I personally went through the experience of being accepted to New York University, only to discover that I would not be able financially to take up this offer. Through this experience, I have been enlightened with the realization that it is not so much a matter of where a person is educated as much as what the individual chooses to do with said education.
Recognizing that this is not solely a school of seniors, I now address the freshmen in simply saying “pause.” Stay young, and enjoy where you are now. Do not be so quick to grow up. Live for today and seize all that you may. But be smart about it.