inventory_2 Archive: Fall 2010 - Spring 2014
Starved for victory, Samo wrestlers feed off middle school programs
"There is no clear leadership, no one wants to stand up for the captain's position" junior Gianni Forster said, "[Without] the senior leadership, it has been harder to practice, harder to focus, and harder to compete."
The beating heart of Samo's marching band
At Samo, Drumline plays the tricky role of being a group within a larger group. As a smaller section of marching band, they also perform as a smaller ensemble at games and have extra practices.
Samo defeats Hawthorne, seniors’ season ends without playoff berth
The night before facing Beverly, the stress of playing their last possible game affected some seniors more than others. Timmy Lozano reflected on the possibility of a loss.“I’m never going to relive these memories,” he said.On the other hand, senior Terrance Saheim saw it as just another game.
Athlete of the Issue: Tess Walther
Walther began playing volleyball in fourth grade at John Muir, and debuted as an outside hitter for her club team freshman year. At Samo, Walther continued to play as an outside hitter, and was promoted to the school’s varsity team as a sophomore — unusually early. However, when senior year came around and the team needed a setter, Walther took on the challenge.
Volleyball’s promising season ends
The girls went into the match confident. But, as the match progressed, Samo made errors and began to break down.Although the team had a successful season, their second round match against Lancaster ended in an unfortunate loss 25-22, 18-25, 10-25, 21-25.
Cody Williams: captain off the field
Cody Williams returns to the football field to cheer on his teammates after a long season without him. This year he will star in a documentary highlighting football players who have suffered similar injuries.
Butterbeer to Heineken: Harry Potter growing up
Though it’s not celebrated every week, Harry Potter related events are welcomed by hoards of parties, thrown by people who have convinced themselves that their owl just got lost and any day now their acceptance letter to Hogwarts will be arriving, possibly bursting out through their chimney to defy the rule of their cruel, manipulating uncles with handlebar mustaches.
Daniel Katz: up in the air
Daniel Katz was infatuated with aviation from an early age. He always looked forward to watching the planes take off from the observation deck at Santa Monica Airport and visiting the Museum of Flying with his parents. While these experiences planted the seed in his mind of becoming a pilot later in life, Katz’s love didn’t really reach the skies until the summer of 2006.
Tennis battles Beverly, qualifies for CIF
The match was close — seemingly every one of Samo’s wins was followed by a loss. But in the end, the pain of losing two weeks prior drove the Vikings to victory.
Football earns first league victory
After a poor defensive game by Samo, a victory was shortly out of reach on the last play of the game. The final score was 12-19.Aside from excessive penalties the main reason for this loss was Samo’s defense.
A new soda parlor with an old-time feel
Tucked away in a corner of the 1916 Landmark Carousel building, a vintage soda fountain harkens from the past like the carousel itself. “Soda Jerks” is a new concession that opened on the Santa Monica Pier in July. For the record, a soda jerk isn’t an obnoxious person who spits up Coke. The soda fountain gets its name from the 1930s slang used to describe the youths who worked behind the counter jerking silver levers to hand-pump syrup and soda water.
The men and the music: Man Choir
Jain said. “It is one of my favorite days of the week. I spend lunch singing with my friends and we do fun songs that you wouldn’t usually see in a classical choir.”
Steven Gordon: all that’s jazz
“In recent months, I’ve really started diving into writing my own music. Over the summer I worked on the music for a short film, and since then I’ve been writing music focused around a story or a character,” Gordon said.
Juniors in the driver's seat: the quest for league supremacy
As pressure and intensity increase, the boys’ water polo team continues to power its way past competitors as they find themselves well in reach of the League Champion title. Though for their hopes to become reality, each player realizes that better defensive playing becomes more crucial each match.
Amy Clark: from rap beats to art tweets
“What I really wanted to do was to make art out of something that wouldn’t usually be considered art.”– Amy Clark
The man behind the mustache: Nick Salazar
“Our captain doesn’t have to be the fastest. It’s about creating harmony and creating leadership,” coach Tania Fisher said.“It’s a hard thing trying to balance being captain with being a top member of varsity. It definitely makes it harder to focus,” Salazar said.
Cross-country on the trail to victory
The squad pulled off a substantial victory, placing first as a team. Salazar was the first to trounce the hill running, an impressive 17:07. Right behind him came junior Andrew Capron, finishing with an equally admirable 17:15.
Volleyball defeats league rival Beverly
With the crowd going crazy and Samo on fire, Beverly was silenced. Continuing their roll they went on to sweep Beverly in the third. Despite many bad calls, the girls overcame them and drilled kills and focused on passing with senior libero Lindsey Nakatani making great pancakes to lead her team closer to the victory.
Girls’ tennis fights through the rain, loses to Beverly Hills
“I think we went in very confident because of our previous wins, maybe a little overconfident,” senior and co-captain Lucy Walsh said. “I think it was that we weren’t thinking about tennis, we were thinking about winning. We need to think more about the fundamentals of the game in order to succeed.”
Football drops league opener after overwhelming victory
Even though Samo was crushed in its Ocean League opener to Inglewood, 28-7, it can take solace in the previous week’s victory over Compton Centennial.
Girls’ volleyball on a roll, loses to Windward
Going into the second game they made an uncharacteristic eight serving errors and gave up momentum to the Culver City team. It looked as if Samo was heading towards their first loss. The Samo bench looked unusually nervous, but steeled themselves for the second game.
School spirit back in blue
When a Samo student thinks of school spirit, they probably visualize a raucous group of juniors and seniors fervently screaming their graduation years until their lungs burst. Blue Crew aims to push that image aside, and take school spirit to an entirely new level.
From campus to cabin, Ramos is no chicken
To get away from city chaos, each month Irene Ramos heads home to Mount Pinos, her cabin and chickens — a welcomed respite.
Tayllor Johnson: rhythm and soul
Every word Tayllor Johnson utters is poetry. One of her passions, poetry enriches her life so that she speaks in verses, walks in dances. Her life is dictated by her passions to the point that being Tayllor Johnson is an art.
David vs. Goliath: Vidiots triumphs over Blockbuster
While Netflix offers convenience, Vidiots and Cinefile have begun offering more than just movies. In July, Vidiots began Vidiots Annex, which offers film study classes in everything from censorship in cinema to anime mythology to cult films as well as free screenings every Saturday night at 8. The movies they show on Saturdays are brilliantly selected, from Run Lola, Run to The Apartment. Their website includes ‘playlists’ of movies with common themes ( “Beyond Harry Potter” and “Manhattan Fabulous” to name a few).
Greenies find early success
“Last year we had better cohesiveness, but this year we’re having more fun. I think we’re positioning ourselves well for our league drive, which starts in October,” coach Matthew Flanders said. “We could have won those games, but we were having problems with over-aggressive players.”
Girls' Cross Country has room to grow
After their first two races where the team was unfortunately divided between grade levels, the varsity team was finally able to pull off a cooperative win at their first league meet at Kenneth Hahn park. They placed first, beating the Beverly Hills girls’ team, which has been a long-standing rival of the Lady Vikings.
Girls' Volleyball rebounds after initial loss
After losing to El Segundo Wednesday, Samo was hungry for a win. In the end they defeated Morningside in a 25-2, 25-8, 25-3 demolition. Most of Morningside’s points came from Samo’s serving errors.
Athlete of the Issue: Kris Comas
Even though he is small, he still works hard. In this respect, his inspiration is DeSean Jackson. “He reminds me that I still have to push hard [and] don’t get down because you’re small.”Comas’ size makes him faster, and makes it easier for him succeed on the field.
Vikings’ efforts not enough for Valencia
The excessive turnovers in the game played a big role in Samo’s loss, according to Clark.“The cons obviously were the turnovers. That’s just difficult to overcome,” Clark said.Ramos agreed with Clark, saying “We had about seven turnovers, and you can’t win a game with seven turnovers.”
Girls' Tennis inches past Mira Costa and El Segundo, falls to Harvard Westlake
“In the Harvard Westlake game, my girls were not focused. But against Mira Costa, they moved better because of their commitment and practice."
In the face of loss, Escalera remains positive
Difficult though it may have been for him to step into the position, Escalera still gleans an obvious pride and pleasure from his participation in Samo athletics. A longtime football coach and former high school athlete, he harbors a deep-rooted belief in the power of sports to improve individuals and unite communities.