February 2015

Beyond the Cave

Feature

Mike Smith: Speak for the silent

By Melissa Hart

Photo Courtesy of Heather Conant

Reporter/Artist

Continued from page one

"Every decision I make doesn't affect me, it affects hundreds of thousands of kids, people, and lives,"
Mike included, as he elaborated on his motivation. "I want to go as big as I can, as hard as I can, and
as fast as I can."
After he visited, Mrs. Soto, ASB Adviser, noticed the difference he made at Summerville and how
he continues to be involved. She described the connection he had with the students as, "Informal,
which is nice, and I think students respond to that more."
Mrs. Soto also mentioned that she still continues to stay in touch with Mike as the ASB students
continue to influence the rest of the student body, sharing what he spoke about on the day that he
visited.
While the students of Summerville are still trying to apply his words to their own lives, a couple of
students described the way that Mike has already made an impact on the school and student body.
Summerville senior, Elias Hidalgo, said that Mike influenced students to go out of their way to help
others, don't change based on your environment, and help others when they are down."
While the buzz around the school was the inspiring words that Mike gave, it was up to the students
whether or not they wanted to take his advice.
Senior Billy Butler thought that Mike compelled students to "treat others how they would want to
be treated and to not judge someone by his or her appearance.

Voices of Summerville High School: Students and Staff Speak Out

Makayla Whyhlidko, Junior
He impacted me by inspring
me to go and make a change
in the way I treat people and
inviting more people into my
group.

Xavier Rodriguez, Senior

What stuck with me was that
Mike realized that there was
an issue for him. He changed
it and it impacted his life,
along with other people in his
life.

Jack Wivell, Sophomore

Mrs. Soto, ASB Adviser

He helped me realize that

with band, I am able to grow
more musically and relate to
people with the same
interests.

I think Mike Smith is a good

reminder of why not to judge
people by their outside.

I knew just by looking at him that he was different. He

was dressed down in casual clothes, unlike previous
speaker, Laymon Hicks. His hair was long; he wore a
beanie and had a quirky vibe. He called himself a
professional teenager. No one argued with him on that.
Walking with my friend on Tuesday to the gym, all I
could think about was getting home, doing homework,
and going to sleep. My friend then asked me what the
point of the assembly was. I answered her with a simple
reply, "It's to motivate students, I guess."
She shook her head, "That's the problem you see,
everyone is fired up when they speak, but everything
goes back to the way it was after."
I silently agreed with her. We always have the tendency
to do that. We, as humans.
We sat down in the gym and waited patiently for the
speaker to arrive.
As he began his introduction, I was expecting the same
old, "You are an awesome person," or "Go out and do
something great with your life," speech.
I was happy that my first impression was terribly
misleading.
Instead of the normal "finding yourself motivational
talk", Smith gave a speech about character, values, and
putting others needs first instead of your own.
He told us about how he was not proud of himself in
high school, how he put others down.
Until one very peculiar day.
His mother told him that she was not proud of the man
he had become. Then he looked in the mirror and hated
himself. So he changed. He apologized to those he had
wronged, befriended a lonely boy, and became a man.
As I sat in the gym listening to his story, a little voice
inside of me whispered, "Are you happy with the person
you have become?"
No.
I knew in my heart it was time to change. I have been
thinking about me all my life. But now, I want to think
about others.
Mike Smith's words were genuine and truly full of
encouragement.
Although we may still stumble, we are not alone. Many
falter and make mistakes, but we can change that. It starts
when we own up to the mistakes we have made and
apologize for the wrongs we have done.
As I walked back to my class, my spirit transformed, my
attitude was more positive. I was no longer thinking
about the various tasks that I needed to complete;
boredom no longer lingered. Instead, my thoughts trailed
to my younger sister. Earlier that day, we got into a silly
argument over something quite absurd. I knew then that
it was more than essential to admit my faults.
After I returned home and apologized to my sister, I felt
changed. My heart--more sincere. For as Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi once said, "The best way to find
yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Photos by Meaghan Hodge and Kelley Figley

Las Profesoras de Espaol

Catelin Moody
Assistant Editor-in-Chief
Mrs. Dieste! one student called.
She looked up, smiling brightly.
Yes? Her eyes searched for the student
whose request that belonged to.
Did you get a hair cut?
No, I didn't. She paused. The entirety of
the class was confused, because Mrs.
Dieste, Summerville Union High Schools
Spanish I teacher, was clearly sporting a
new, fall haircut. I got them all cut! The
class erupted in laughter at her clever joke.
Across the campus, sitting at her desk
putting in grades and assignments, is Mrs.
Banks, Spanish II-IV teacher. The bell rings
its long, drawn out tone, signaling the
beginning of class. As it finished, Mrs.
Banks said, in a friendly tone, to her 3A
Spanish II class, You know what you
should be doing.
The class, indeed, does know what they
should be doing: working on the warm-up
on the board. At the beginning of every
class, they practice what they are learning
to get in the Spanish mindset.
The warm-up consists of anything that the
students have learned in the class so far. It
can be anything as simple as translating
words or as challenging as writing entire
sentences with the proper verb usage.
Today, the warm up was to practice
conjugating verbs from past tense into
present tense.
After three minutes, and after Mrs. Banks
takes role, she goes through the warm-up,
step by step with the class, writing it down,
asking them questions, and slowly
speaking the correct answers to them.
Though these two women have an entirely
different approach to their classes, they
share one thing in common: they both have
the difficult, yet rewarding job of teaching
their students a foreign language, a skill
that will prove vital for all citizens in this
ever-changing society.
Today in America, only 18 percent of the
citizens speak a foreign language, while in
Europe, 53 percent of their citizens speak
at least one other different language. Many
citizens speak three to four separate
languages.
Freshman Caleb Britt, a student in Mrs.
Diestes Spanish I class, believes that it is
very important to learn a foreign language.
He said, Being able to pick up a foreign
language is not only pleasurable, but also
a skill that can be used to help people in
situations where they cannot understand
or speak to a foreign individual.
Caleb went on to share that he looks
forward to continuing his study of Spanish
for many reasons.
One of his favorite reasons is, "You can
yell at people without them knowing what
you are saying.
Another one of Mrs. Diestes freshman
students, Haley Brower, spoke about what
she loved about learning Spanish.

I just like knowing another language

because it makes me feel like I could be a part
of their culture! she said. I think its
disrespectful to go to a different country and
not know the language.
Learning a different language is helpful even
if individuals plan on staying in California.
Especially being in California, I think its
important, it can help you later in life in the
job world as well and if you want to travel,"
said Mrs. Dieste.
Being bilingual is a skill that needs to be
nurtured and constantly practiced, like math.
One might not be very good at it in the first
few weeks, or even in the first year of the
course, however, after practicing on a regular
bases, and wanting to get better at it, then
eventually, the skill will come. These two
teachers are here to help.
In Mrs. Diestes Spanish I class, she does a
variety of activities to make learning fun for
her students.
One strategy she uses is she picking a few
students to act out a play that she narrates.
Because it was near the holiday season, the
story was about an elf and Santa Claus. She
has a magical shelf in her classroom that
holds a variety of stuffed animals, props, and
costumes she dresses up in to add to her
stories. Many foreign language teachers
utilize music and songs as a way of teaching
new vocabulary.
I really like singing all the silly songs!
Haley laughed. Thats my favorite part!
Mrs. Dieste has also started to utilize all of
the technology that Summerville has recently
implemented. She started to use her iPad to
project to the TV instead of using the
document camera. In an app called
Whiteboard, she can put the text of a Spanish
story into a document, and with a stylus,
translate words, make highlights, and
underline information so everyone can see
them and do the same on their copy.
Haliana Orman-Schindler, a freshman,
revealed that she enjoys how Mrs. Dieste is
utilizing more technology in her lesson plan.
She uses the TV a lot, which helps because
most people are visual, and she writes it
down with us and make us read together,
she stated.
Mrs. Dieste has the demanding task of
teaching all freshman classes all the time.
When asked what that was like, she paused
to think: Humorous.
Its fun and enjoyable because they come
in almost not knowing any Spanish, she
said. Its almost like teaching kindergarten
but at a more adult level, so its really fun and
because they have so much energy it does
make for very interesting classes.
Walking into Mrs. Banks classroom on a cold
day is warm and comforting, as all of her
walls are covered with posters, past projects,
flags, charts, and paintings.
Even her door is painted--a beautiful
walkway painting that makes the room seem
bigger than it is.

Over the entrance, flags from all of the

Spanish speaking countries border the wall,
brightening up the room. Full size paintings
from Mrs. Banks' AP Spanish classes hang
on the back wall. The paintings are always
those of a famous Hispanic artist. One of the
paintings that seems to catch the eye is The
Persistence of Memory painted by Salvador
Dali.
Her environment is warm, friendly and
helpful, junior Arissa Jones stated.
Jasmine Kelly, a senior in Spanish IV,
shared, Her learning environment is very
open. If you forget a word, she gives it to
you and always makes sure you are
prepared for tests.
In Mrs. Banks class, after their warm up,
its singing time. She teaches them a new
song with new vocabulary words in it.
To help them learn the words, the students
watch the lyrics on the screen and listen to
it sung to them by Mrs. Banks and a
recording. For the next half hour, Mrs. Banks
takes student requests of which songs to
sing. In one semester alone, her students
have learned more than five songs, working
on them every two weeks.
It is obvious that singing is one of the
classes favorite things to do. They not only
laugh and joke with each other but with Mrs.
Banks as well. Her students keep her on her
toes, but she is quick-witted and always
ready with a comedic response.
[Spanish II 3A] loves to sing, so I sing with
them more, Mrs. Banks shared.
My favorite thing to do would have to be
the debates we have in all Spanish; it's very
educational and fun, Jasmine added.
Denny OShea, who takes Mrs. Banks'
Spanish III class, said that Mrs. Banks really
makes sure her students understand what
shes saying by asking her students
questions about what shes just said, giving
pop quizzes, practicing words or phrases on
her white boards, or watching films in
Spanish.
Senior Monica Magdaleno shared one of
the many aspects of Mrs. Banks class she
enjoys.
We are always doing something in her
class period," she said. "Whether it is reading
or creating class stories, talking only in
Spanish, and expanding our knowledge on
grammar.
Aside from teaching Spanish, Mrs. Banks
is also the adviser for World Club, a club
that has started to give the students who are
not enrolled in a Spanish class a chance to
be exposed to other languages and cultures.
It is great for students to get involved in
World Club because it is a very fun
environment in which you are surrounded
by people with positive attitudes, senior
and World Club President Sarah Graham
said.
Sarah continued to speak about World Club
and she elaborated that as students, "it is a
nice break from all of the academic classes
we take throughout the day.

Art by Ayla Buck

Mrs. Banks

Mrs. Dieste

Mrs. Banks articulated that one of the most

fun things that world club gets to do is eat.
Ask anybody in world club, and thats the
answer youll get," she laughed.
Though both teachers have different styles
and different levels of Spanish they have to
teach, they both have the tedious yet
rewarding job of teaching their students
another language.
I just really enjoy this age, and every year
I like to improve myself too, and its a lot of
fun." Mrs. Dieste said smiling. "It gives me
a lot of joy to teach the kids and see them
learning. I like to have fun, we have a lot of
fun in here.
Mrs. Banks also expressed she loves to
teach Because I know the value that
Spanish can be in somebody's future, and I
want everyone to succeed who is in my
class; thats why I want to teach it, she said.
Photos by Catelin Moody