Senior Spotlight: Young-Mi Ashworth

By Andrew Gen

Emily Warlich

By Emma Smith

Cafeteria Crunching

By Cora Chong

Senior Pranks

By Chase Bougeon

Everyone living in the United States is aware of the national financial crisis and the quickly declining economy. What many people may not realize is that the economic crisis is indeed a worldwide problem. No longer is it a looming problem that only happens to the "other people on TV." This problem permeates every society from little villages in Africa and South America to the government in Washington, and down into the structure of every community, affecting almost all citizens. Even El Segundo schools have begun to exhibit symptoms of the economic problem. Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislators have passed spending cuts which will mangle the curriculum of all students in California. Numerous teachers and other school employees could be let go as a result. Most of our own cherished extracurricular programs are now deemed "unnecessary" and are in danger of being cut. On February 23, the Board of Education passed budget cuts will turn the once-rich curriculum into a bare skeleton, and a prime example of this is the El Segundo band program.
 Band has always been an important class at ESHS. Throughout the years, the program has educated many high school students in the aspects of music. Unlike many other programs taught in school, music is something that high school students may carry with them for the rest of their lives. This coming year, the vital program is struggling to stay afloat. Money has been steadily draining out of our school’s funds and even more is bound to disappear. This year alone, the school district needs to save $1,000,000. Next year's cuts are still undetermined, but they will undoubtedly be much higher. This will affect the band program in many disastrous ways.
At a recent band meeting, band director Steven Fox said, "Band is in danger of being cut." Band students need to raise $20,000 to ensure that the band keeps going. All those who looked forward to the band cruise trip to Ensenada were sorely disappointed; the expedition has been canceled. The trip would have paid for itself and come at no cost to the school, yet it had to be removed. Junior Josh Footlik commented on the apparent band crisis: "I am appalled that such an important program as band is in danger of being removed from our school." Many students feel the same way.
 This is just one example of how the budget cuts are affecting our school. The same thing is happening to many other extra curricular classes such as drama, dance, and journalism. As in the case of band, students need to act for their school and help raise money to weather the coming crisis, or such extracurricular classes may not exist next year.

ESHS has talent!

By Varun Roperia

TALENT SHOW COLLAGE

By Cora Chong