Do I Kill MyselF
TAKE A STAND
By: RIPSIME CHAVCHYAN
Staff Writer
By: OSCAR KASMANIAN
Staff Writer
Eight out of ten teens
will contemplate suicide at
least once during adolescence, and out of these eight,
four will try to commit suicide, and one will actually
succeed. That ‘one’ could
be a best-friend, mother, or
even sibling. It is not always
easy to identify or discover
who may be intending to kill
oneself because a lot of factors play a part in ultimately
leading someone to their
own death. Perhaps there is
an overwhelming amount of
struggles all piling up at once
or an inner conflict with one’s
worth. There are a number
of complex and upsetting
reasons each person feels
OCTOBER 2012
VOLUME XXXXI
www.soces.lausd.k12.ca.us/
they should no longer live. I
spoke to a student who actually attempted suicide and was
generous enough to share her
story. In order to protect her
identity, I am going to refer
to her as Amber in this article.
The whole month had
been filled with complete
and utter darkness, even for
the gloomy days of October.
My work was piling up by
the minute, I was losing my
social life, and it was getting
harder and harder to hold
onto my grades. Not to mention that I had, what felt like,
millions of people judging me
and labeling me as ‘not one
of their own. I walked down
hallways being pushed around
and receiving dirty looks from
In the last 2008 presidential election, only 56.8
percent of the voting age
population actually voted.
This means the future was
decided by only less than
half of the millions of people
living in this country. Unfortunately, Generation X, or
better known as the Internet
Generation, has become less
and less involved in American politics. The remaining
43.2 percent of the voting
population have been greatly influenced by social networking sites such as You-
Tube, Flickr and Facebook.
Now this type of cyber-campaigning may or may
not be beneficial in exposing
students to public affairs
and politics. According to
the Pew Survey conducted
in 2008, youth who have
taken political action rely
heavily on the information
given through these social
networking sites. However,
the ‘statuses’ people post up
on their Facebook should
not be the way young people
decide on a proposition or a
president. Even if a person is
not old enough to register to
vote, take some time to open
up the Official Voter Information Guide sent in the mail,
and watch the televised debates. Whether one is Liberal,
Conservative, or anywhere in
between, it is an irrefutable
responsibility as a citizen to
become well informed and
take part in these elections.
In a little less than two
weeks, Election Day will take
place on November 6, 2012.
Mitt Romney (Republican)
and Barack Obama (Democrat) will have had several,
hot debates all throughout
this fall. One of the first dis(continue on page 2)
CollegE STRESS
(continue on page 3)
By: JASON NADERI
Staff Writer
College application
deadlines are quickly approaching, and many seniors are scrambling to finish up their personal statements and ask for letters of
recommendation. It seems
almost impossible to write
about oneself in the limited
amount of space given and it
requires a true understanding
of one’s experiences and how
it has shaped who one is today
. Here are a few seniors that
are currently undergoing the
application process and their
take on this stressful month.
“I’m not stressed
about college applications.
I honestly don’t even know
what I want to do with my
future yet in terms of a career. It may be a cliché to say
this, but as long as you try
your best and fail, then there
is no room for disappoint(continue on page 2)
MAGALY JIMENEZ
EDITOR IN
CHIEF
ALEXANDRA
RODRIGUEZ-CORREALES
EDITOR 'S
ASSISTANT
(continued from page 1)
Staff Writers
Ripsime Chavchyan
Joan Tracy Cruz
Magaly Jimenez
Oscar Kasmanian
Keemia Khamnei
Jason Naderi
Lucy Petrosyan
Alexis Smith
Gina Vo
Michael Zuzo
of the day, my excitement
for college trumps all worries and stress.” – Dale Tager
Faculty Advisors
Mr. Bruce Nomachi
Mr. Bradley Jackson
KNIGHTS TIMES
M I S S I O N S T AT E M E N T
As a voice for the SOCES learning community, the Knight Times
seeks to share news and commentary that reflects our many diverse
interests and backgrounds.
O ur M ission :
SOCES offers an uninterrupted comprehensive experience for students in grades
4-12. In a culturally diverse
and safe environment, we
prepare our students to be
active, productive and contributing members of society.
Are you interested in
writing for the SOCES
Newspaper? Do you have
any new ideas or improvments that you would like
for us to change?
Please submit any questions, articles, or ideas to :
[email protected]
SPORTS UPDATE
By: EVAN FELDMAN+
Contributing Writer
ment because you know
you tried your hardest. For
my personal statement, all
I am going to write about is
what I know about myself.
I am not going to turn my
privileged and fortunate
life into a sob story when
I have nothing to complain
about.” – Joshua Aguas
“It’s that scary time of
the year, and I’m not talking
about Halloween!! Worse
then all the zombies and
trolls chasing me in Horror
Nights is the lingering stress
of college applications and
the rigor of my senior year.
So much is at stake at this
critical time of the year because the essays I produce
in this short span are a major
determinant of my future.
Life stops as I deeply think
about the essay topics. What
intellectually excites me?
How has the world shaped
me? How have I overcame
adversity? Sometimes with
all the strict word counts
it is difficult to choose the
right words; the words that
encompass my true self. It’s
a tough battle but one that
has to be done. At the end
Last week, Knights
Football took on Douglas High School at Jackie
Robinson Stadium. After
originally being down 12-0
the Knights came back and
tied the game up 20-20 in the
third quarter. However, the
fourth quarter was scoreless,
but senior Michael Zuzo
had a rushing touchdown in
overtime to give the Knights
a 20-26 win, which was their
first win of the season. Robert Franco, a member of the
football team remarked on
their victory and said, “We
never gave up, we persisted,
fought, bled, and broke;
but we gave it our all.”
Sebastian De Guzman and Eric Sanchez each
had one rushing touchdown.
Also, Eric Sanchez and Alec
Escamilla both came away
with interceptions. However, the Most Valuable
Player of the Game was
Michael Zuzo, who after
“College applications
are daunting to say the least.
It is incredibly difficult to
condense your life experiences and personality in
a given word- count. The
quality of the work is going
to dictate the course of my
future. With that in mind,
the pressure to do a good
job creates an overwhelming amount of stress. This
stress is unparalleled relative
to the other stresses of high
school; every other problem
seems trivial in relation. Getting letters of recommendation was rather simple for
me. Having been attending
SOCES since fourth grade,
I have formed close relationships with many of my
teachers. I simply chose the
teachers that know me and
my quality of work best.
Having a close relationship
with the teachers makes for
the best and most effective
letter.” – Maxine Arnush.
It can be seen from
these seniors that the application process can bring
about a great deal of stress
and work. From getting
letters of recommendation
to writing a personal statement, there are an endless
amount of things for a senior
to do before sending in their
application to the college
of their choice. The hard
work and effort may seem
never ending, but the future
(continued from page 1)
all depends on your past. putes took place on Thursday, October 3, 2012 from
9pm to 10:30pm eastern
time. It was broadcast from
University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. The debate
consisted of a wide range
of major topics including
how they would create jobs,
tackle economic problems,
and support the SimpsonBowles commission. They
also discussed their position
on taxes, social security,
federal regulations, Obama
Care, proper role of government, and overcoming leg-
missing a game earlier in
the year with an injury, led
the Knights with two rushing
touchdowns. These Knights
are now preparing for Homecoming on October 26,2012
as they take on Sun Valley
High School at Reseda High.
This will be the Knights last
home game of the season,
and the last home game ever
for the twenty-one seniors on
the Knights roster. The team
looks forward to winning
homecoming for the second
straight year, and for the second time in SOCES history.
Girls Tennis has had
a great season so far, al-
islative gridlock. Eight days
after the first debate, the first
vice-presidential Debates between Joe Biden (Democrat)
and Paul Ryan (Republican)
commenced. The two went
back and forth on various
issues that the presidential
candidates did not address
or needed to elaborate on.
Two propositions
that will affect all students
are proposition 30 and 38.
Essentially, if Americans
pass proposition 30, Californians will have temporary,
increased taxes so they can
afford educational programs
though, they did lose their
first game of the season to
Taft High School which was
7-1. Bridget Pak, who is captain of the Girl’s tennis team,
took on Polytechnic High
School and reached a score
of 3-1.Girls Volleyball beat
Ivy Acadamia by 3-1 with the
leadership of Mary Haddad
and Cory Benedict. They are
now 5-3 in the year and are
in fourth place for the Valley Standings. As for Cross
Country, they look to do well
in their 2nd event coming up
on the 18th as they compete
against the league at Pierce
College. Let’s Go Knights!
and have a certain amount
of the money go to the state
budget. If this is not passed,
then there will be a budget cut of approximately
six billion dollars for all
public universities, community colleges and kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Proposition 38 states
that there would be a personal tax increase until 2024 for
everyone except those on the
lowest income tax bracket.
For those uninformed, most
of California’s public school
funding comes from personal
income taxes. Obviously,
these two propositions could
not both go into effect so
if voters pass both proposals, than the one with most
YES votes will be enacted.
Each single debate
is available online. Watch
them, learn about the issues at hand, and become
involved in the American
nation. Ask questions and
form opinions. Read about
all the propositions these
politicians are trying to pass
and urge parents to get off
the couch and walk over to
the nearest polling place.
(continued from page 1)
anyone that would pass by. They
glowered at me as if I was an alien
who had done them wrong, but the
truth was that I hadn’t done anything
to them. It felt like everyone hated
me-, except one person. When all of
this turmoil inside me was going on,
he seemed to be the only one there.
I was desperate for someone to understand and support me, so the next
night we made plans for Halloween.
I waited for him for at the
location we had planned to meet,
but when it became ten-o’clock I
decided to text him to see where
he was. His reply was one of the
many that added up to my ultimate
decision for suicide. He texted back,
‘Me?! Hang out with you?! Come
on, Amber, I was just making a joke.
You know I wasn’t serious, right?’ I
did not answer his text and grabbed
two bags of the saltiest sunflower
seeds and a huge load of candy.
I came home and watched Halloween specials mindlessly while
consuming my sweets. By eleven
o’clock, I had finished the bags of
sunflower seeds, and in only two
hours I had consumed three bags
and bowls worth of candy. While sitting on my bed, I realized that I didn’t
feel so great– I guess all that salt and
sugar had had a bad reaction in my
stomach. My head was spinning
and all of a sudden I found myself
swallowed whole with emotion.
I felt infuriated at everyone who
had ridiculed me. I felt depressed
that I was an outcast. I felt humiliated and angered towards my “friend”
who had ditched me. I was enraged,
dejected, empty and exhausted all at
once. And then, I felt happy. I could
take all of this emotion and unnecessary sorrow by ending my life.
I opened a pack of Tylenol and
spread the pills onto my bed. I stared
at them and wondered if what I would
do next would be the right choice. I
took one pill, and then another, and
then consumed five at time, and
doubled the amount until all of the
pills in the container were sliding
down my throat. But I didn’t think
that would do the trick so I drank a
half bottle of Nyquil and topped it off
with a couple of Aspirins. I became
light-headed and dizzy, and slowly
sank to the floor to lie down. It was
only at that exact moment when I
realized the severity of what I had
done. I still had my family who loved
me and would be affected by my actions. As the room slowly closed in
on me, I cried and did not care if I
would wake up the next morning.
Fortunately, Amber did wake
up and is happy to report that she
is thankful for being given another
chance to live. After months of selfreflection, she understands that the
whole ordeal could have been prevented had there been someone there
to help her through it. That’s why it
is so important to be proactive and
considerate of even the smallest actions. Acknowledge that kid in the
back of the class that not many people speak to and be there for someone
who looks like they are struggling.
If you feel like you might need
help or support, see Ms. Rauch in
room 408 for the impact program.
THE POLITICAL
BRAINWASHER
By: ALEXANDRA
RODRIGUEZ- CORREALES
Staff Writer
Between constant cable
news streaming and instant Internet responses, the news media
plays a tremendous role in the
political process. The mass communication delivered through television, memes and other such forms,
should not be guiding American
voters on who should be the next
president, or what proposition
should pass. It is one’s civic duty
to form opinions from facts rather
than the media’s influence.
Studies conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research
(NBER) between October 1996 and
November 2000 determined that as a
result of the conservative Fox News
Media, twenty percent of American
towns had gained in Republicans by
0.4 to 0.7. According to the NBER,
they found in a data set of 9,256
towns that Republicans gained vote
share where Fox News was active.
Therefore if any individual consistently derives their political information from Fox News, they will be
more likely to find only good qualities
in the Republican campaign and the
flaws in the Democratic campaign.
As a result of other recently
developed media outlets, news via
television is no longer the only method
of obtaining information about current
politics. In 2008, Dr. Paul Haridakis,
associate Professor of Communication Studies at Kent University, found
that Myspace, Youtube and Facebook
highly influence the electorate. “Many
people,” Haridakis remarks, “will
watch videos and use traditional media like television to acquire political
information about the candidates, but
they also are going to the Internet and
using social networking sites to see
who people they know support. The
information gleaned from their social
networks may be the information they
find most credible and persuasive.”
It is from the people and atmosphere
that one’s political views are formed.
In a recent interview with
Breibart TV, Mitt Romney was asked
whether he felt capable of receiving
constant negativity from media influenced by liberal nonprofit groups. In
response, Romney insisted he could
“take them on”, but that the “vast
left wing conspiracy” repeatedly
diverted his campaign from key issues thereby creating in the public
a one-sided and negative opinion on
the Republican candidate. Romney
is not the only political figure who
has felt the media’s effect on his
career; in 1998 Hillary Clinton said
“her husband was the victim of a
vast right-wing conspiracy during
the early days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.” Bill Clinton was
impeached before being acquitted by
the Senate as a result of this scandal
and many believe it was the media
who impacted the impeachment.
Despite the importance of the media in the political process, ultimately
it should be the voter’s duty to become
well-informed on the solid facts and
make decisions in an unbiased view.
Deep Fried Oreos Question of the MONTH
What's your most embarrassing Halloween story?
By:COURTESY OF
By:Alexis Smith
the Food Network
Staff Writer
Ingredients
1 (20 ounce) package Oreo cookies
2 cups
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 teaspoons oil
2 vegetable oil (enough for deep frying)
“I went to a Pumpkinfest
with a petting zoo…there
was this big llama and it kept
following me around. I got
really nervous and ended up
falling into a puddle of dirt.”Meri Babayan, 5 th Grade
“My school used to present
a Halloween play, and one
year I didn’t have a costume,
so they made me dress up as
a dog. The costume was too
big and it just didn’t fit. The
embarrassing part was that
they made me play some kid’s
dog.” -Alie Grant, 5th Grade
Directions
1.Blend Bisquick, eggs, milk, and 3 tsp oil until smooth.
2.Preheat your deep fryer to about 375°F (use a thermometer
if you wish to deep fry in a pan).
3.Dip the cookies in the batter mixture until totally covered
and then place in the hot oil (cookies will float).
4.Keep checking and turn over the cookie when bottom side
of Oreo is brown.
5.Keep a close watch because it only takes a short time to
brown.
6.Remove cookies and eat warm.
HORROR-SCOPES
ARIES March 21- April 19
Have you ever wished for anything?
It’s all going to be fulfilled on the
first of the month! But be careful of how you look at someone
because then your future might
take a turn for the scandalous.
You’re going to face some hardships throughout this month, but
in the end you will be rewarded
.
TAURUS April 20- May 20
shouldn’t have to be rushed so friends, or become future husband
take your time in organizing your and wife, but at least you’ll never
thoughts and prioritizing what is wander, “what could have been.”
significant to you. Also, beware
there are a lot of surprises ahead!
SCORPIO O c t 2 3 - N o v 2 1
Don’t
make a big deal out of
LEO J u l y 2 3 - A u g u s t 2 2
Strive to be successful, but petty problems. Be thankful that
don’t let your head get too you are alive and reside in one of
large. Be humble, and steer the most privileged and wealthiclear of anger and jealousy. This est countries in the world. Your
month will bring a lot of posi- life has an expiration date that
tivity, so embrace it, but don’t does not take into account your
rub it on other people’s faces. successes or happiness. When
you’re gone, you’re gone. AcVIRGO August 23- September 22 cept that no one is perfect and
This month will be enveloped that even your best friends might
in hardships, but you can’t just rub off on you the wrong way.
This month you’re going to be very
short-tempered. So try to be a little
patient and forgive the people who
make mistakes. This month try to
treat you and your family to a trip to a
local theme park or some ice cream. give up and walk away from
This will help your relationship and your own personal dilemmas.
will mellow down your attitude. You need to be able to overcome trivial nuisances and
GEMINI May 21- June 20 stop those who continuously
You’re smarter than you think you try to take advantage of you.
are. Your intelligence will be shine
through this next month so be care- LIBRA September 23- October 22
ful to who you show it to. Some Have you ever wanted to be
people may become captivated with someone romantically,?
by your thoughts, while others Or finally have the guts to start
may just think of you are arrogant. a friendship with someone you
think is intimidating or too ‘cool’
CANCER June 21- July 22 for you? Well, now is the time
Think wisely through every ob- to make those suave moves and
stacle you may face… or else it will just take a risk. Perhaps, you
bite you back in the butt! Decisions won’t turn out to be the best of
“One year while Trick-orTreating, I went with my
friend and her mom. When
we arrived at the next house
a man popped out, my friend’s
mom jumped back in fear and
slapped me across the face.”Teresa Cardenas, 5th Grade
By:MICHAEL ZUZO
.
Staff Writer
CAPRICORN Dec22- Jan 19
It all paid off! All that waiting and
hard work has left you in a financial boom. There’s actually more
than two digits next to the number
one. Reward yourself, even if it’s
a scoop of ice cream or a “me”
day, and live a little. But don’t
forget to continue to save wisely
and that your patience is worth it.
AQUARIUS Jan 20- Feb 18
Just like the recent, irregular California weather, your life is about
to change abruptly. It could be a
fire, earthquake or even hurricane.
There’s also a fifty percent chance
that this change could be completely internal so be considerate of othSAGITTARIUS Nov 22- Dec21 ers feelings if you start to explode.
Even in a crowded room you’re
alone. I know this year might P I S C E S F e b 1 9 - M a r 2 0
seem tough right now, but you Stop trying to save the world,
have to release your anger, stress, and pick up groceries when you
and disappointment. Stop iso- have extra time. Relax and let
lating yourself emotionally and your mind have peace before you
physically from other people. In end up sleeping in class and havtoday’s day and age, communica- ing a pounding headache. You
tion is a cinch. Get on the phone, need to learn time -management
start texting, log-in to your Face- and get your priorities in order.
book or Skype, and just reconnect Don’t push yourself to the point
with civilization. Not only will where you reach your breaking
it raise your spirits, but friends point. There’s a fine line between
are great buttresses to lean on being ambitious and motivated,
to being plain self-destructive.