Club Rush

by Muaz Reza 

  Science Academy’s first annual Club Rush occurred from Wednesday, September 14th – Friday, September 16th. Students could browse and sign-up from over 40 different clubs featured in the three days the event took place. Joining a club is a good way for middle and high schoolers to expand upon their extracurricular pursuits or even simply explore a craft or topic that piques their interest. With an assortment of diverse clubs, from those building upon students’ creative pursuits to STEM clubs supplementing and expanding upon material learned from Science Academy’s curriculum, students have a wide selection they can choose from to join. 

     If you have an idea for a club or want to join a club featuring a topic that does not exist yet, consider starting a club. Introducing your passion to the Science Academy community enables other students to explore new interests or simply to find a group of like-minded individuals who share in your craft. It is also a great addition to anyone’s resume and allows one to meet new people and build new connections. 

    ASB will be hosting Club Festival next semester to reintroduce clubs to the Science Academy community and to showcase new clubs for the semester. It will showcase the milestones and achievements of clubs from the past semester and reestablishes interest in clubs. ASB will take the critique and feedback from Club Rush and apply them to Club Festival to create a festive and accessible atmosphere to celebrate our clubs.

Aviation Club

by Ryan Park

     The Aviation Club is a new club formed this year that helps to educate members around aspects of the field of aviation and to teach its members the mechanics and engineering behind aviation. It was founded by Aviation Club president, Solomon Sharp, who answered a few questions recently in order to encourage students to join. The club meets every Wednesday after school in Mr. Bradfield’s room, located in W30.

     When simulating a version of flight, the Aviation Club uses multiple tools in order to have members experience the closest thing to real flight. They have multiple tools that have been programmed to act like the real tools you would find in an aircraft such as the yoke, also known as the control stick. The yoke is used in order to control the movement of the aircraft inside the simulators.

What is the purpose of your club?

     The Aviation Club is based on educating our members about all aspects of aviation as a whole and teaching them how to use flight simulation technology. As the world is in high demand for pilots and engineers, having knowledge and experience in the field is an important foundation when choosing a career related to aviation. Being involved with aircraft requires many different skills, many of which are applicable to everyday life, and none are exclusive to a specific field. When I started my training as a pilot several years ago, I realized how much I wanted to share this world with other people wanting to take that first step, and how beneficial it could be to their lives.

What is some background info about your club?

     A technical and mechanical understanding of aircraft, such as understanding the science of how a vehicle flies and what comes with it, is important not only for engineers but for pilots as well. Flying requires a fundamental understanding of the machine you are commanding and by having that understanding, you can be that much more effective. Aerodynamics, engine mechanics, electronics, and more all go beyond aviation and can be applied in many different fields. One of the most important skills in the world of aviation, though, is of teamwork. Every pilot, engineer, and mechanic all work in conjunction with one another, and none can work with a missing link.

What are some major projects you plan on releasing?

     This year, one of our goals is to get everyone hands-on experience with real aircraft, both for maintaining them and flying them. We have already formed strong connections with professional aviators, and the date is currently being coordinated for these goals to be achieved. We are also shooting for designing a remote control model for a plane/drone and constructing it to demonstrate the effectiveness of our design.

What would you say to people interested in your club?

     To anyone who is interested in the club, feel free to come and check it out! If you want to see what we’re up to, come to Mr. Bradfield’s room on Wednesdays after school and you might catch us on the simulators. We would love to have new members, and if anyone is interested in joining, come and let me know!

Club pictures

Science Bowl Success

by Daniel Svediani     

     This February, our very own Middle School Science Bowl Team successfully qualified for the National Science Bowl competition in Washington, D.C. by winning the Southern California regional Science Bowl competition! We are overjoyed by our students’ performance and would like to congratulate each and every team member. Our star five-person team consists of Naira Badalyan (7th grade), Saket Pamidipathri (8th grade), Ryan Lee (8th grade), Sean Yeh (8th grade), and Eric Chung (6th grade), and we would like to individually congratulate each and every one of them for their incredible performance as well as their amazing co-coaches, Ms. Musial and Jaden Penhaskashi. This has been a dream come true and the Science Bowl Club has been building up to this moment since we moved to our new North Hollywood location. In 2019, our middle school team placed in the top five; in 2020, our middle school team placed third; in 2021, our middle school team placed second; and this year we finally placed first!

     So, in honor of all of our past and current Science Bowl team members, we wanted to enlighten everyone with the history of the Science Academy Science Bowl team by interviewing the team’s founder, Jaden Penhasakshi:

     “In 2016, I was lucky enough to be able to create our middle school’s first Science Bowl team thanks to the help of previous coach and current Science Academy teacher, Mr. Knauss. At the time, Science Bowl was uncharted territory, but we were ready to accept any challenges in an effort to increase our knowledge and understanding of scientific studies. We formed a team of five people, four of whom attend Science Academy to this day, and we began our journey.

     “We spent our first few years learning from our mistakes and gaining experience, but we only truly began to flourish during our third year of competition, where we placed second place in the Southern California regionals with the help of one of our school’s science teachers, Ms. DiMonaco. The next year we placed third and the following year, second again. It was a grueling process, but coming so close to advancing and qualifying for Nationals constantly pushed us to work harder and harder year after year.

     “During the same time, our oldest middle school competitors advanced to the high school tournament, a difficult transition, because the majority of teams at the competition were composed of seniors, while our school only had freshmen. Similar to our middle school experience, we never gave up working harder and harder each year, seeing the fruits of our labor ripen as we slowly climbed in ranking.

     “And that leads us to where we are today. Our current coach Ms. Musial has hosted our club for the past year and her help as well as all of our previous coaches has undoubtedly brought us the victory that we are proud to have today. We currently have four teams, two middle school teams and two high school teams, and hope they achieve similar success within the coming years. So let’s cross our fingers for all of our Science Bowl teams and wish them luck!”

     Feel free to talk to Ms. Musial or any of the Science Academy Science Bowl members if you are interested in joining the team and check out our website to find out more about Science Bowl: https://stemsciencebowl.weebly.com/

Our first Science Bowl team.

Our current Science Bowl team.

From left to right: Jaden (student coach), Naira Badalyan,
Saket Pamidipathri, Ryan Lee, Sean Yeh, Eric Chung

Día de Los Muertos/Day of The Dead

The LatinX Student Union

Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead is celebrated yearly on November 1st and 2nd. The purpose of the holiday is to remember loved ones who have passed away. On Día de Los Muertos, families visit graves, make food that their departed loved ones once enjoyed, and create altars called ofrendas. Traditional components of the ofrenda are photographs, food offerings, mementos, candles, and orange flowers called cempasuchil (marigold) to decorate the altar and the gravesite.

To celebrate this holiday, the LatinX Student Union put up a traditional ofrenda in the main hallway on the 3rd floor. The ofrenda featured important Hispanic figures, such as Frida Kahlo, Selena Quintanilla, Evangelina Villegas, and Antonio Aguilar. Frida Kahlo was a surrealist Mexican painter who is known for her self-portraits. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican-American musical artist and is known as the “Queen of Tejano Music.” Evangelina Villegas was a biochemist and was critical to the development of high-quality protein maize. Lastly, Antonio Aguilar is a widely recognized Mexican singer. 

The LatinX Student Union also held a fundraiser by selling traditional Mexican candy and pastries. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!