Flag football; three years three league titles
With a flawless 7-0 league record, the Samo girls’ flag football team emerged victorious from their game against Inglewood High School, crowning them Ocean League champions for the third year in a row. The game was full of energy with fast-paced runs and throws, showing the team's chemistry on the field.
UCLA Bruins roar to success under new management
The University of California Los Angeles’ (UCLA) football program has been rife with struggles over the past couple seasons. Most recently, UCLA finished 3-6 within the Big Ten Conference after a transition from the Pac-12 Conference, which was first announced in 2022. A lackluster 0-3 start to the program’s second season in the Big Ten culminated in the firing of UCLA head coach Deshaun Foster on Sept. 14. Foster’s departure from UCLA marked an end to a struggle filled era in Bruins’ history, holding a record of 5-10 through his tenure. Tim Skipper, the special assistant to the head coach, was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
California tightens plastic bag ban
On Aug. 30, 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1053, a law that will ban all plastic bags at convenience and grocery stores starting Jan. 1, 2026. After years of failed attempts to mitigate plastic pollution, the new law closes the 2014 bag ban’s loophole to finally eliminate plastic bags in California.
Bewitching Beldams: The horrors of an aging woman
For as long as the horror genre has been around it has relied on the grotesquely supernatural, over the top and barely believable. Witches, vampires and axe wielding psychomaniacs have graced the silver screen for decades, producing gory scenes that commentate on societal issues like race, class and prejudice. However, in recent years the horror genre as a whole has shifted further away from supernatural sugarcoating to instead confronting real-world issues in a more realistic setting, which has made way for the ‘scary old wench’ character to make its return.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s complex commentary on modern america
Paul Thomas Anderson’s long-awaited directorial return, “One Battle After Another,” released on Sept. 26., was a film that starts off sprinting and somehow manages to keep up that pace for a lengthy two hours and 50 minutes.
Free your children: A longer lunch
Lunch is barely a fraction of the overall school day. Should Samo extend the time it allocates to students for lunch?
Starbucks closures open doors for local coffee shops
After years of rapid expansion, the popular coffee chain Starbucks is changing its business approach by closing more than 29 locations across California and approximately 430 nationwide. These closures could potentially shift the coffee scene and allow smaller local coffee shops to stand out.
The sweetest of serenades
The Samo Choir program held its annual Sweet Serenade event on Oct. 18 at John Adams Middle School (JAMS) in Santa Monica. Choir students performed a variety of pop, alternative, and country music from multiple eras. The event is the choir’s biggest fundraiser of the year and is an important source of income for the program.
Fried Chicken: From the south to los Angeles
Fried chicken has become a craze in Los Angeles (LA) over the past few years, with multiple restaurants opening rapidly and big chains expanding their locations throughout the city. However, there’s a rich history behind how fried chicken arrived in Los Angeles.
HOTLB: Whats your go-to study playlist?
With school approaching the halfway mark into the semester, we asked some Samo students what their go-to study music is to listen to when they need to focus on schoolwork. Do people prefer soft, low-beat, classical music to soothe them through their work, or do they need music to be more hype for them to focus? Here is what people around campus had to say about this…
Girls’ tennis brings momentum into CIF playoffs
Samo girls’ tennis continues another successful season. They started off the season with high expectations after winning Ocean League and advancing to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) last year. Now with a strong team and some promising new faces, the Samo girls’ tennis team is living up to their expectations.
Why buy when you can diy?
The art of the creative Halloween costume fuels the spirit of the holiday as a fun and essential tradition that can be enjoyed by all. The individuality that comes from developing an ensemble allows one to bring their vision to life while expressing their interests and ingenuity in a joyous way. The modern day rarity of these do-it-yourself, or DIY, costumes comes with the rise of a commercialized approach to the festivities, forgoing the inventive process of fabricating a costume with the quick fix of buying one online.
What’s going on around samo?
On Oct. 16, the annual Great ShakeOut drill was held at Samo at 10:16 a.m. The Great ShakeOut drill is a statewide drill done to prepare students and school staff for any potential earthquake. Earthquakes are common in California, with southern California experiencing about ten thousand earthquakes a year, according to the United States Geological Survey.
In an article published in the Seismological Research Letters by scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, professor of Earth Sciences Yeduha Ben-Zion proposes that preparing for supershear earthquakes has been neglected.
World cup controversy
The World Cup, the biggest and most prestigious international soccer tournament, is coming to Los Angeles (LA) in the summer of 2026. Every four years, 38 teams from across the world come together to compete in this month-long tournament, the most watched event in the world. Controversy has surrounded the tickets for the World Cup, due to their high prices and complex systems of release.
The death of perspective
One of the most remarkable aspects of media is that people have the ability to interpret it in any way they deem appropriate. This is media literacy, a term defined by the ability to critically analyze stories presented in media and determine their credibility and accuracy.
Beach within 100 feet of Santa Monica Pier hits unhealthy levels
In a study conducted by Heal The Bay on May 22, the beach within 100 feet of the Santa Monica Pier was ranked the second most polluted beach on the west coast and an F on their grading scale.
Girls’ flag football: building momentum for a big season
For the second year in a row, the girls’ Samo varsity flag football team ended the season strong after winning the Ocean League Championship and qualifying for the CIF playoffs. The team plans to carry on the momentum from last year and stay focused on the goal of winning the league again.
HOTLB: What Does Samo Think About AI?
Across the world, the subject of artificial intelligence(AI) has been a hot topic. With language learning models like ChatGPT or image generators like DALL-E becoming increasingly popular, it's hard for anyone not to form an opinion on them, and Samo’s campus is no exception. Considering all of the nuances that come with AI, there are a million different takes a person could have. This could range from thoughts on where and when AI should be used, whether the writing and imagery it produces are real art, how it impacts the environment, humanity, and more.
Even though the sport is prone to single team superiority, the races themselves can still end up highly entertaining and the 2025 season is a perfect example of this.
Inside Samos art classes
AP Art is one of Samo’s hidden gems. Students of all skill sets, backgrounds and ages are able to come together to create complex and extremely personal portfolios over the duration of the school year.
What’s going on around samo?
On Aug. 26, the 15-year-old Nordstrom location at Santa Monica Place closed down. Part of an ongoing trend of closures around the Downtown Santa Monica area in recent years, the promenade faces high vacancy rates- some reaching upwards of 22 percent in July 2025. The emptiness of the promenade has been caused by multiple components, including the high rent and lingering effects of COVID-19. Due to this, the promenade has lost many visitors. As a result, the promenade has been passing policies in an attempt to revitalize the area, part of the city’s larger goal to guide the promenade back to its past state.