People

Earning his wings

Photo Credit: Maryam Soorma

By: Ashley McClure

Most of us can only dream to see the world from a bird’s eye view. For Adiss Benlian (’13), this is his reality. Every week, Benlian soars high in the sky in his Cessna 172, chasing his dream of becoming a licensed commercial pilot.

Benlian began working on his private pilot’s license nine months ago. He takes guided flying lessons for 5-7 hours a week at Vista Air Academy, based at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. The school offers licenses of all types, whether it’s private, commercial, transport, or instructor.

Benlian spends about 20 hours a week researching anything to do with planes and flying. He claims he even researches crashes and watches videos of accidents in order to learn what not to do.

Tony Benlian, Adiss’ father, has also been a major supporter of his goals. Adiss credits his father for sparking his interest when he gave him a flight simulator for his 16th birthday. He has also financially supported him throughout the process, paying close to $11,000 for him to go through flight school.
In order to work for a large commercial company, Adiss must complete several hundred hours of flying as well as receive a commercial license and type-rating license for the plane he wishes to fly in addition to his private pilot’s license.

Mohammed Elghobashy, Adiss’ flight instructor, suggests that those interested in becoming professional pilots should start early so they can compile hours and experience.

Adiss must also have at least a bachelor’s degree to apply. Adiss hopes to go on to work as a flight instructor in order to get hours for flying time while attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to get his bachelor’s in professional aeronautics. He wants to eventually become a commercial pilot working for major airlines such as Delta or United.

“There [are] a million pilots and it takes a lot to become the best,” Adiss said.

Adiss says his brother, Evan, who is also a pilot, is his biggest inspiration.

“He always supported me and pushed me to go far,” Adiss said.

Evan already has his private pilot’s license but is mostly using it for recreational purposes. He usually helps mentor his brother by teaching him what to do on the simulator and discussing flying techniques.

“I think it’s a career that needs a lot of passion and patience,” Evan said. “Adiss has those things.”

Although Adiss will be a young pilot, the process of becoming a pilot is not simple. First he had to take an hour long trial class in which he was shown how to work the main panel of a small plane, and then taken for a quick ride to experience what it is like to control the plane.

“[During] my first ride, my instructor took me to 8,000 feet and made a 60-degree turn,” Adiss said. “It was [unlike] anything I had ever experienced.”

Adiss said he wasn’t nervous at all. After his ride, he started taking regular classes with an instructor and working towards his private license.

Adiss eventually wants to fly to places like Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Israel. The promise of new cultures, foods, and friends is what inspires him to travel.

A beginning pilot’s pay is not considered very high and Adiss said he even considered going into the air force as a pilot, but when he found out this required an 8-year commitment as well as a bachelor’s degree before entry, he decided against it. Because of the time and schooling commitment, Adiss feels this would not be a good use of time as he hopes to be a Captain by the time he is 30.

“I find the time because [flying] is what matters most,” Adiss said.

Although it may take several years for Adiss to reach his dream of becoming a commercial pilot, he says all the hard work is worth it.

“If I want to do something, I do it well or not at all,” he said. “I want to become the best.”

Adiss will be receiving his private pilot’s license within the next 5 months as he nears the end of his training.

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For him, the sky is not the limit but only the beginning.

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Jackson goes from security to securing students’ futures

Photo Credit: Alejandra Rosas

By: Alejandra Rosas

We’ve all noticed a six-foot tall, tough, and well-built security guard patrolling the campus and monitoring student behavior as a typical security guard would. However, not everyone has noticed that the former security guard supervisor Delvon Jackson is now a teacher for the Public Safety Academy (PSA), a 3-year educational program where students learn about law enforcement.

For the last two years, Jackson was working as a security supervisor, but over the summer, he was promoted to Lead Police Instructor for PSA.

After Jackson sat down with Principal Jennifer Earl and Assistant Principal Hagop Eulmessekian giving them an overview of his experience in law enforcement, he was asked whether he was interested in becoming a teacher for PSA.

Jackson claims he was rather hesitant whether to pursue the position due to possibly lacking the requirements the district needed such as a teaching credential.

The entire process, which included a variety of paperwork, interviews and setting up a lesson plan for the class, took an entire two months. After coping with such a lengthy process, Jackson was left discouraged and fatigued at times, but it all paid off when Jackson was given his clearance three days before the school year started.

“I never really thought teaching was something I’d do in my life, but now that I am a teacher, I am very excited,” Jackson said.

Jackson claims that nerves and anxiety began to kick in once he attended his first teachers’ conference of the year.

“There I was in a classroom full of experienced wise teachers and [there I was,] a rooky old teacher that barely knows how to spell his name,” Jackson said.

As I took a walk around campus with Jackson, he introduced me to his life and the experiences that led up to his interest in law enforcement.

In 1997, he had a criminal case of assault and battery against him. Not long after, the case was dismissed and no charges were pressed against him. According to Jackson, after being on “the other side of the fence” he started to take life more seriously.

Jackson’s revelation led him to attend Texas State University for a short period of time, but he later transferred back to Cal State Dominguez where he had initially began majoring in political science, but this time, as a criminal justice major.

Not long after, Jackson joined the force at Inglewood Police Department in 2004 where he taught Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction until 2006.

Eulmessekian who interviewed Jackson personally says that Jackson fit the position as an educator for PSA because he had the field experience as an officer.

Since the class is being funded and run through the Regional Occupational Program of Los Angeles County, it does not necessarily require someone to have teaching experience.

“We also noticed that he was good with the students, giving them advice and helping them,” Eulmessekian said.
Now, as the new teacher of PSA, he is glad he has the opportunity to teach something he is passionate about.

“I teach them the ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ of becoming a successful officer,” Jackson said. He claims that he tries to not just teach a lesson, but to get the students to learn from real cases and crime scenes through videos.

Senior Sasoon Amerian, a student in the PSA class, says that Jackson is a teacher who really understands [the students] and takes the time to answer their questions. Amerian claims that Jackson gives them “real world and hands on teaching” which helps them learn on a more realistic level.

Not only does Jackson want to educate them on law enforcement, but he wants to be able to reach out to them on a deeper level for them to become mature and responsible human beings.

“My goal is to make sure [students] obtain confidence, wisdom, and knowledge to be productive and successful citizens and potentially become law enforcement officers,” Jackson said.

Photo Credit: Alejandra Rosas

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Garzona teaches Keppel students to dance

Photo Credit: An Uong

By: Alejandra Rosas

Many students join a sport they are passionate about. However, not all make good use of that interest—taking it to another level where one helps others achieve and express their love for that same sport. Meet Desiree Garzona (’13).

Garzona decided to join the dance team her freshman year because of her passion for dance. However, unlike others, she took her interest in dance to the next level by helping to coach Mark Keppel’s Drill Team.

In the summer of 2010, Mark Keppel and Toll Middle School drill team coach Cristine Neel contacted Garzona and asked if she would like to accept the job of coaching the Keppel Elite Prep, a non-competitive team. Without hesitation, Garzona agreed.

“My favorite word to describe Desiree is passionate,” Neel said. “When Desiree performs, she puts her soul into what she does.”

When Garzona first started in 2010, she was coaching the Elite Prep team every Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30; however, in 2011 she was asked to coach Keppel ELITE, a competitive team that perform at many different venues on Mondays and Fridays from 3:30 to 4:30 as well.

Keppel ELITE Prep consists of 12 novice girls who are taught the basic techniques of body placement, pointing of toes, and head looks in order to move up to the ELITE team.

“I want the girls to believe in themselves, and achieve everything they want from dance with the most important thing—practice,” Desiree said.

By the time Garzona gets out of school and arrives at Toll’s gym, the girls are already stretched, warmed up, and ready to go. She has them practice a routine they have been working on, and based on her observations, helps them with the things they need work on such as counts, ripples, etc.

Garzona’s interest in dance and her skills in leadership developed early on in her life when she became part of the Mark Keppel Drill Team in 3rd grade up until 6th grade. After promoting from Keppel, she continued dancing on Toll’s Drill Team throughout middle school.

A love for dance and the mentality of a leader gave Garzona the position of captain when she was on Keppel and Toll drill.

Neel is very aware of Garzona’s strong talent and knowledge of the art, finding her to be perfectly suitable to coach Keppel’s drill team.

According to Neel, she saw Garzona as perfectly adequate to take on the job because of her “creativity and flexibility” in taking directions and her saint-like patience.

“I am thrilled and honored to have her working with me,” Neel said. “She shares my vision of where the team should be and how to get the look that we want for each routine.”

Garzona spends every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon with the girls of ELITE prep and ELITE teaching them the proper skills and techniques of dance, routines, and preparing them for performances.

According to Garzona, she spends a lot of her own time preparing routines and creating formations and visuals for the team. Neel makes a copy of the music that Garzona can take home so she can then work on it there.

Her sister Valerie Garzona observes her spending time listening to the music on the computer and figuring out how many counts she has left to choreograph along with drawing and organizing formations for the girls on a sheet of paper.

According to Valerie, Desiree sometimes asks her to perform certain moves that she choreographed in order to get the visual image of it and decide whether to add anything.

“Although it’s a lot of work, [Desiree] likes being able to share that love of dancing with girls that want to learn,” Valerie said.

Simultaneously, Desiree finds time to manage school work, volunteering at the Glendale Memorial hospital, and attending her own dance practices.

Although it is sometimes a struggle to handle so many different activities at a time, Garzona claims she is more than happy to coach Keppel because she wants to help these girls become “stronger and more confident” dancers.

According to Desiree, her relationship with the girls is not only that of a coach and student, but also that of friends. Her closeness with the girls increases everyday and has made them more of a family.

“I tend to make jokes with the girls all the time that make us develop a friendship,” Desiree said.

The girls, who are crazy in love with Justin Bieber, always feel astonished when she jokingly says that she is married to the Biebs.

Desiree is firm with the girls yet amicable to the point where they are very comfortable around her and are never afraid to ask her for help.

When working with the ELITE team, she sets “the bar high” with her choreography and the girls work extremely hard. According to Neel, Desiree encourages the girls to come up with their own ideas and counts for the routines.

Knowing that they have a say in the routine makes it feel like their “own” and “encourages them to give 120% effort to make it look great.”

Desiree enjoys spending a lot of her time practicing with her own dance team, but she definitely is fulfilled knowing that helping coach Keppel’s drill team is impacting girls’ lives and their passion for the art of dance.

“I want to share my passion for dance with the girls and help them take their passion somewhere higher,” Garzona said.

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Trajano trains for the army

Photo Credit: Alejandra Rosas

By: Jeannie Mai

As we grow older, the question that tends to come up the most is what we want to be when we grow up. Most children dream of becoming a firefighter or an astronaut.

At age 13, junior Leo Trajano dreamt of joining the army.

When Trajano was in the eighth grade, his family went on a Fourth of July trip to the Americafest at the Rose Bowl. He recalls “admiring” the military forces and marines booth. Trajano watched everyone attempt to win a prize and when he tried, he won a dog tag that he still wears everyday.

Trajano has talked to Sergeant Hayden Roe (an army recruiter from the Burbank Army Recruiting Office) at the career center the few times he’s been on campus. Trajano visits Roe in order to have his questions regarding enlisting, benefits, and requirements answered.

He plans on becoming a Unit Supply Specialist (USS). Some of the duties of a USS include “inspecting, organizing and installing supplies and equipment, working with unit level computers, maintaining an automated supply system for equipment and scheduling maintenance on weapons,” according to goarmy.com.

Roe has been recruiting for six years and has been in the military for a total of 20 years. He also visits other campuses such as Glendale and Crescenta Valley to “answer students’ questions and help stop misconceptions about the army.” He wants students to know that the army life is “different from what’s seen on television.”

When thinking of his future, Trajano “always admired how these men would risk their lives for their families and friends to serve their country” and “wanted to pursue a career that [he’d] feel proud of doing and that could be helpful to others.”

His family, especially his sister, Marilyn (’12), supports him through his efforts to pursue a career in the army. She feels it is important for her to support her younger brother because he is “doing what he loves.”

A few of his friends don’t feel the same way.

Austin Millera (’13) is “afraid for him” and wants him to “experience his life first” before he makes such serious decisions of leaving his family and friends behind to join the army.

Trajano fears that his biggest challenge will be the basic training, but feels he can persevere because this is something he really wants to do.

According to baseops.net, the US Army Boot Camp is “where the civilian recruit is transformed into a US soldier.” On the first day people arrive, they are given uniforms and personal equipment. Soldiers live in an “open-bay barrack” for nine weeks during basic training. The everyday routine begins at 5:30 a.m., with physical training such as jogging. The lengthy day doesn’t end until 9:30 p.m., long after multiple training sessions and “Drill Sergeant Time.”

In order to enter the military services, Trajano must pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a series of tests use “to determine the individual skills and abilities of personnel intending,” according to asvabprepinfo.com. He has been preparing himself for the test, which focuses on four critical areas—arithmetic reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension and mathematics knowledge. According to military.com, a higher score on the test will better the chances of “getting the specialty/job and signing bonus” Trajano signed up for.

Even though Trajano is serious about joining the army as an adult, he still spends his free time enjoying his childhood. Trajano taught himself how to play the guitar in the eighth grade and has started to write his own lyrics and sheet music.

In 2008, Trajano and friend Patrick Kesachekian (’13) formed a band known as Thr33 Simple Words. They later brought in Jeremy Zadoorian (’13), Noah Zelezny (’12), and Patrick Tumbucon (’15), at which point Kesachekian left to focus on football. Currently, Trajano and Tumbucon are the guitarists, Zelezny is the drummer and Zadoorian is the lead singer.

Since then, the four members of the band have had little time to practice except when they participated in the 2011 talent show, performing a cover of Blink-182’s “All the Small Things.”

Aside from being an active Key Club member, Trajano enjoys paintballing with friends and cooking for his family. He also is interested in photography in which he likes to take photos at “low apertures” and developing film photos.

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Alumni remain loyal tornadoes

Here are some faculty members who attended Hoover as students.

By: Alejandra Rosas

After four years of stressful studies, extracurricular activities, and all the wonderful things high school has to offer, many students are ecstatic to graduate and never look back. However, some of the teachers on campus were once Hoover students themselves, and have come back to the place where their futures began. But what made them want to come back?

Angers

Advanced via Individual Determination, English, and French teacher Kathy Angers was once a student here and is now a teacher.
According to Angers, she was a very productive and hard-working student in high school, involved with many activities such as the Latin club, the drill team and Associated Student Body (ASB).
Even as a high school student, Angers already knew that she wanted to pursue a career in teaching. However, she did not necessarily see herself teaching at the very school from which she graduated.
According to Angers, at the time in which she was in need for a job, the school needed a French teacher leaving it all to be very “synchronous.”
“I just love learning. I love teaching. I love everything about it,” Angers said.
Angers claims that her favorite memory about being in high school is that of her and her friends always paying attention to the leaves of the trees in the lower quad changing color in the fall.
“The leaves changing color make me reminiscent of the old days,” Angers said.

Social science teacher Donald Ashman was Angers’ former Latin teacher when she was a student here. According to Ashman, Angers was “one of those students who made you feel like teaching was worthwhile.”

Surprisingly, Ashman claims that having her as a student and now a co-worker is not weird at all, but rather “rewarding” and wonderful.

Stepanyan

Social science teacher and ASB Director Edgar Melik-Stepanyan, who is one of the newest teachers at the school, always wanted to be a teacher. He especially had Hoover in mind as the “second home” he would be working at after he graduated in 2000.
While being a high school student, Stepanyan was very dedicated to his journalism class and basketball team.
Stepanyan’s favorite memory of high school was his senior BGD when everyone was going “crazy” ready to win the bell.
Soon after high school, Stepanyan decided to continue his passion for writing by working for the Glendale News Press along with continuing his social science major at USC.
Later on Stepanyan began to teach social science and was ASB director at Toll Middle School hoping that it would not be too long until the day he would be working on campus.
“Hoover is one of the places where I know I can make a difference in students’ lives the same way my teachers and mentors made a difference in mine,” Stepanyan said.

Although there are a lot of things that have not changed at Hoover, there are also many that are not like they once were when these teachers were students here.

For example, students today create a mesh of different racial groups “hanging out” together but when these teachers were here, there seemed to be more segregation between students and definitely a larger amount of cliques
During his time as a student, Stepanyan remembers the stabbing of Raul Aguirre in 2000 due to the strong conflicts and racial tensions between Armenians and Latinos.

He claims that he is glad to see that since then, racial tensions have seemed to decrease by a vast amount and students of almost every culture have become intermixed.

Van Patten

As a student, social science teacher, athletic director, and basketball coach, John Van Patten was very dedicated to his academics and the basketball team, which he began to coach after high school.
Van Patten’s favorite memories of high school are completely filled with basketball games into which he put so much time, effort and passion.
Like Angers, Van Patten had an interest in teaching while still in high school. Not long after graduating, he was certified as a social science teacher, and while looking for employment, the GUSD needed teachers at the school, so he took the opportunity as he felt “comfortable to work here.”
He claims that at the time in which he attended the school, the campus was much cleaner than it is now. Back then, students seemed to have taken the importance of keeping the campus clean much more seriously than students do now.

The methods teachers and administrators use to guide students into the right path also have changed. According to Van Patten, teachers and administrators today put more of an effort to make sure students “do their best” and succeed much higher.

The wonderful high school experience that they had as teenagers contributed to them wanting and enjoying working at Hoover, and they want to be a part of making students’ high school experiences wonderful.
Being a student on this campus was definitely memorable for them and coming back to work here is something they never regret.

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Kate and Kristine Paguinto Take on Hollywood

Photo Credit: An Uong

By: Jeannie Mai

They walk the same, they talk the same, they even look the same—they must be the same, right? Wrong.

It’s easy to see why strangers would mix up identical twins Katherine (Kate) and Kristine Paguinto (’13) so frequently, but, to be quite honest, they could not be any more different. Though they have the same aspirations, Kate and Kristine have extremely contrasting personalities.

Meet Kate: She describes herself as “outgoing” and “friendly.” She enjoys listening to Good Charlotte and reading The Perks of Being Wallflower. Kate spends her free time making art and writing short poems and creative stories.

Photo Credit: An Uong

Meet Kristine: She describes herself as “more calm” and “reserved” than her sister. She enjoys listening to The Smiths and teaching herself new songs on the guitar. She also has a keen interest in fashion and enjoys comedies like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

Photo Credit: An Uong

Though very different, however, both share a passion: theatre.

“We were never close before,” Kate said. “This was the first year we really opened up to each other.”

Their mutual interest in acting shaped their friendship and the two are now inseparable.

It all began in the summer of 2009, when there was only one seat left in David Scate’s Health class. Kate quickly snagged the spot, leaving Kristine with drama for the first semester of summer school.

Kristine instantly fell in love with acting and gives drama teacher, Dave Huber, all the credit. When second semester came around, the sisters switched classes, leaving Kristine to take a semester of health and Kate with the class that her sister had been talking about nonstop for weeks.

“When I joined drama, I immediately loved it,” Kate said. “Not just the art of acting, but the environment in our theatre was so carefree and open.”

So far, both have appeared in school productions such as “12 Angry Women,” “J.B.,” “Spoon River Anthology,” and “The Yellow Boat.”

However, it was not until this past November that Kate and Kristine finally experienced changes in terms of their acting careers. The twins were used to playing similar roles in school productions but for “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Kristine was cast as the lead role of Anne, while Kate did not receive a part in the production, but took the responsibility of being one of three stage managers for the production.

Huber said that he “likes the way they support each other” and that Kate did not show “jealousy” upon her sister receiving the lead role. Her “maturity and professionalism” really stood out to him.

Kristine found it “strange” to act in a play without her sister but thought it was “good that it happened” because realistically, both know they will not always be working together in theatre.

“Since they first arrived in my class, whenever they leave, they say ‘thank you for teaching me.’ In all my years of teaching, I’ve never had a student say that to me,” Huber said.

Kate says that she looks up to her father, Michael Paguinto, as her biggest role model and inspiration because of all the love and support he has for their interest in acting. He attends all the shows the girls appear in and drives them to auditions whenever necessary.

Michael says that he just wants to “make [his daughters’] dreams come true.” He knows that the acting industry can be a difficult one, but is willing to do whatever it takes to make his girls happy.

“At first, I was skeptical about their interest in acting, but after seeing how much of their own time they gave up for after school and even weekend rehearsals, I realized that this was something important to them,” friend Samantha Flores (’13) said.

In August of 2011, the girls got their first real taste of “Hollywood” when they created online profiles on LAcasting.com and were casted as extras in an independent film called “nightdreamblues,” directed by Nadine Truong. They played students sitting in a classroom.

Though a “small role” in Kristine’s eyes, she found the entire experience “motivating.” As it was their first time on a real set, the girls were amazed to see how the cast and crew worked together.

The plot of the movie involved three childhood friends reuniting and reminiscing about the hopes and dreams from their youth. The movie is currently in post-production and is set to release in 2012.

After high school, the twins hope to stay close to home and attend Chapman University to study filmmaking, producing and/or directing.

Kristine’s dreams include succeeding as a professional actress and living in a “cozy, modest home” with a husband and two sons. Like her sister, Kate hopes to marry and have two children, whilst achieving a career in acting, but also sees herself helping run the family business.

In 2003, Michael opened a small family jewelry business named “Kriskate & Co.,” which the sisters help run. They sell anything from sterling silver rings to engraved necklaces.

Kate likes that the jewelry company gives her a chance to work hard and that she learned “the value of a dollar” at a young age.

“I really like the way they support each other—they’re best friends. You don’t see that often with twins,” Huber said.

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