EL SEGUNDO HERALD December 17, 2020 Page 3
A word to the wise man
Diamonds!
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Ode to the Herald
Coloring Contest
Trust me Herald, when I say it is I, who should be thanking You
For Twas a dim Covid evening in this winter house.
No one was stirring.
Not even a Covid mouse.
For the children had their noses
Stuck in a virtual world,
Of devices, and games,
Keeping them from this world.
Moms and dads turned faces away,
For needing some me time comes seldom these days.
Then all a sudden, jumped straight off the table,
A coloring contest,
But would it be able,
To compete with the Ipod, the TV, the games,
Would there be any hope for crayons and strings-
Of popcorn on yarn do you remember those days?
Would it even be worth mentioning?
Could I get the children away?
Then with a big bold breath, I announced it anyway,
For Christmas can bring that magical air,
Like Frosty the Snowman
And Rudolph the deer.
My littlest one was the first to pipe up.
Her nose left the phone.
There Was Hope.
My oldest spouted,
Coloring contest, I’m too old,
And the middle sat watching
To see what would unfold.
For there was only one paper, and
In a short time,
They were All Three coloring,
Devices left behind.
Soon they were calling-
This parts mine.
Then a scavenger outside,
Finding newspapers left behind.
All coloring, coloring,
Calling THIS ONE’S MINE!!!
Thank you so much Herald for all you do
for this community and our precious children.
– By Lynn Carr
Student Spotlight: Ryan Seifi
By Kiersten Vannest
On any given day, El Segundo High
School senior Ryan Seifi wakes up at six in
the morning. He gets ready, eats breakfast,
and heads to his first class at six forty-five.
His classes occupy him until one o’clock, at
which time he eats lunch. After homework
and projects, he hangs out and plays games
with five of his best friends and spends some
quality time with his family. This all sounds
typical of a high schooler, except that like
thousands of students across America, Ryan
is doing all of this from inside his home.
Ryan attends El Segundo High School,
where he says he is on a biomedical science
track. The school provides four “pathways”,
engineering, biomedical science, business,
and visual & performing arts, which are
essentially career-exploration and education
opportunities. As a child, Ryan was always a
studious learner and grew up with a fascination
Ryan and his Besties: From Left to Right: Chase Waite, Yusuf Rahman, Austin Gage, Ryan Seifi, Abel Lula and Thanh Vo
for science.
“I always really liked science, and I also
really wanted to help people, so I want to
combine those two things in the future as a
job I love to do, which is probably something
in the medical field,” says Seifi. Due to the
pandemic, all of his courses are now online,
something he says he doesn’t mind, except
when it comes to what would normally be
in-person labs. The students on the biomedical
science track cannot participate in most
labs, as they require physical attendance.
However, Seifi describes an overall sense
of gratitude and satisfaction with the current
educational circumstances, and he commends
how teachers and students have handled the
sudden transition: “I think all the teachers
have done an amazing job,” he says, “It’s
been very smooth.”
Despite the ongoing health crisis leaving
high schoolers trapped at home, Ryan has
spent his spare time working on hobbies that
relax him and bring him joy, like acrylic
landscape painting and photographing nature.
A jack of all trades, he also plays viola in
his school orchestra and competes in music
competitions, and he grew up playing soccer
and volleyball.
Pre-Covid, Ryan says he would walk to La
Paz with his friends or hang out at Library
Park across from the school. These days, his
friend group has set up a daily Facetime,
where they virtually hang out and sometimes
play sports-based video games together, like
Madden or Fifa. Thankfully, Ryan says he
doesn’t feel he’s lost touch with his social
crowd even though they can only see each
other through a screen.
“Even though we’re not physically near
each other, I feel a sense of connection,”
he says. Community is an important part of
self-care, especially when we aren’t able to
connect with our circle as often as we’re used
to. This is something Ryan stresses when he
talks about mental health.
“I would say AP Psychology [was my
favorite class], and that’s because it was
driven through conversations and stories from
students,” says Ryan. This class inspired him
to work in the mental health field, particularly
serving communities with underprivileged
kids. He describes mental health as a societal
issue that’s only become greater with
the onset of everything that’s happened this
year, and he would like to use his own life
to help fix some of these issues.
With the dissemination of vaccines and
the end of the pandemic in distant sight,
Ryan says that he can see a future in which
online classes are made optional, noting that
it might be easier to have early morning or
night classes at home. He prefers socially
interacting with his teachers and peers and
would opt to be in person at school full time.
Though it’s been a year of changes, Seifi
takes comfort in the fact that he’s not alone.
“You can see what others go through and
how other people are going through the same
thing as you,” says Seifi. With his parents
partially working from home, he takes some
comfort in knowing that adults are adapting
too, and being in school while they work in
the same space is a reminder that everyone
is dealing with this new normal in their
own way.
This year, he cites Kam Chancellor, a former
Seahawks player who retired from football
after a severe injury, as his inspiration.
“I think of it in the way that you shouldn’t
let other people decide what you want to do
in your life,” he says, “He took the step not
to play football because that was his decision,
and I think that you should make your own
decisions in life.”
Though Ryan’s time is largely spent at
home these days, his schedule is certainly
still full. Between classes and homework
and a strong self-care regimen, Ryan has this
advice for fellow students working under the
pressure of a pandemic:
“Appreciate what you have, and be grateful
for your family, home, shelter, safety, and health
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