Volume I Issue 32 ~ May 5th, 2019
1. Academics Spotlight
PV is consistently providing opportunities for our students to connect the content being learned in all of their classes to the real world. This week Vietnam Veterans came to speak to history classes to share their real world experiences. Thank you to all of our visitors for talking to our students and their service to our country.
2. Athletics Spotlight
Baseball lost to Long Beach Poly in the first round of CIF 5-4. Congratulations to Coach Morales and all of the team on a successful season!

Softball lost to Maranatha in the CIF competition. The girls finish the season with a record of 16-8 overall and 7-1 in league.

Boys Volleyball lost to the Newport Harbor in the first round of the D1 CIF Championship. Great job boys on all of your hard work this season!

Boys Lacrosse beat San Marcos 16-5 and Oak Park 15-4 during the first to rounds of CIF play. They also beat Harvard Westlake 9-3 to move on to the final game this Wednesday versus Loyola. Good luck!

Girls Lacrosse beat Culver City 19-5 and Chaminade 17-7 to move on to the final four teams in the CIF competition. In the semi finals the girls defeated Harvard Westlake 13-8 in a close battle. The girls are now officially into the finals. Great job and good luck!

Boys Varsity Tennis won CIF prelim 9-9, (87-73 on games) against Northwood. 
On Wednesday the team plays Harvard Westlake at home at 3:00. The boys qualified for the state tournament with the win and only 4 teams from southern section and 8 teams in total play. Way to go Sea Kings, we are proud of you!


Congrats to our PVHS surf team who had 3 finalists compete for longboarding best in the South Bay surf competition:

2nd Trevor Khan 
5th Savannah Scriven 
6th Gabby Wapner 


Congrats to the following track athletes who competed at CIF yesterday!

Savannah Scriven
Nathan Lantz
William Teets
Nicholas Michaels
Maya Whitcomb
Ryan Echeverria
Eric Kim
Anna Terrell
Claire Hardesty
Wade Nygren
Samatha Steman
McKenna Paulson
Matin Razepoor

Matthew Kang took 2nd place in the Bay League Golf Championship and advanced to CIF Individual play.

CIF D2 Swim Prelim Results:

Boys 200 yard Freestyle: 29th Place - Williams Criley 1:47.84; 32nd Place - Aidan Wattson 1:48.69

Boys 50 yard Freestyle: 22nd Place - Williams Criley 22.07

Girls 200 yard Freestyle Relay: 27th Place - Abbie Maemoto, Bliss Vetterlein, Mackie Whitehead, Kelsie Grant

Boys 200 yard Freestyle Relay: ALTERNATE: 19th Place - Williams Criley, Jake Leonard, Henry Boyle, Aidan Wattson

Girls 100 yard Backstroke: 27th Place - Emma Chang 1:01.71

Girls 100 yard Breaststroke: FINALIST - Emma Chang 1:08.38

Girls 400 yard Freestyle Relay: 25th Place: Abbie Maemoto, Mackie Whitehead, Emma Chang, Kelsie Grant 3:45.92

Boys 400 yard Freestyle Relay: 23th Place: Williams Criley, Anthony D'Ambra, Blake Carpenter, Aidan Wattson 3:20.12

Diver: FINALIST - Austin Mone - 5th Place   

Congrats to all of our student athletes!
3. Scholar Quiz
Scholar Quiz finals was an epic showdown that culminated in a head to head all school assembly show down. Both teams were tested on their knowledge in math, science, literature, and even had to answer visual trivia questions. For the second year in a row, team Hawkeye won the final round. Congratulations to Maxwell Yee, Ian Rock, Eric Kim, and Sean Keenan.
4. Comedy Sportz Spotlight
The final Comedy Sportz match of the year had PV battling cross town rivals Peninsula for the championship. Our Sea Kings were victorious and beat the Panthers 42-39. Thank you to everyone for supporting Comedy Sportz all year long!
5. Drama Spotlight
Congratulations to PV Drama students Kate Kresser and Cassidy Amberg for receiving Musical Theatre West Footlighters Scholarships this past weekend.
6. Lip Dub
Our PVHS Lip Dub is an annual tradition that brings together every student and staff member on this campus to celebrate our Sea King Pride. Friday morning over 1,500 students came out to the track to film and participate in this special video. The final version will debut at the last Class Competition of the year at the end of May. Thank you to Mrs. Maxfield and Max Stafford for all of their hard work in coordinating this day!
7. Math Honor Society Spotlight
Math Honor Society traveled to South Pasadena High School to compete in the final meet of 2018-19 Bay Math League, a competition among a dozen South Bay schools. Congratulations to Curtis Liu for winning the top 10th grade score for the entire year (and some money). Bay Math League is just one of many competitions that these dedicated students compete in to challenge themselves with difficult mathematical problems. 
8. Science Research Spotlight
Six science research students qualified and represented PVHS at the CA State Science Fair last week at the CA Science center: Andrew Wang, William Wang, Andy Kim, Abbie Maemoto, Chen Filler, and Gavin Peters.  

Category awards: Congratulations to Chen Filler For placing 3rd in Microbiology.

Special awards: Abbie Maemoto received the Herbalife award with a cash prize of $1500.
9. Student Spotlight
Emma Chang was awarded an all expenses paid Earthwatch Fellowship through a program called Ignite LA. This is a two week program where she will be traveling with seven other students from the LA area. On her trip, she will be studying the effects of climate change and sea level rise in the salt marshes along the Rhode Island Coastline. She will assist scientists in using fossil records and sediment cores to compare sea levels from the last ice age to today. Congratulations!!
10. Next week at a glance
Monday:
  • AP Testing begins today with US Government and Politics, Chinese, and Environmental Science! Make sure to check your emails for your AP testing schedule with room locations and more. All students should bring a number #2 pencil, a pen, and their ID to check in at the MPR before each test. Good luck Sea Kings!
  • Golf @ CIF Individual Finals
  • Seniors! Make sure to turn in all of your paperwork for end of the year senior activities at the student store if you haven't already! Click here for more info.

Tuesday:
  • AP Seminar, Spanish, and Physics 1

Wednesday:

  • AP English Literature, European History, and French
  • Boys Lacrosse Finals vs. Loyola @ Harvard Westlake
  • Girls Lacrosse Finals vs. Redondo @ Harvard Westlake

Thursday :

  • AP Chemistry and Psychology

Friday :
  • AP US History, Computer Science Principles, and Physics 2


Don't forget, Prom is only 2 weeks away! Stop by the student store to purchase your tickets for $115 with ASB and $125 without. Click here for a p arking map or see below for the flyer with more information.
Health and Wellness

Each week, one of our community partners, Dr. Moe Gelbart generously volunteers his time to provide information for our community related to wellness. Dr. Gelbart is the Executive Director of Thelma McMillen Center in Torrance.

ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND TEENS PART II: SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

In last week’s column, we looked at anxiety, and what the different anxiety disorders are. Today, I will cover the causes of anxiety, and how to recognize it in your children.

What causes anxiety? Anxiety can be caused by biological sensitivities, genetics, stressful life events, or learned behaviors. In the film Angst (an independent film addressing teenage anxiety – strongly recommend seeing it if available), one of the experts always asks a child “who in your family has anxiety?” Whether passed on genetically, or through modeling and instilling feelings of anxiety, the problem tends to run in families. When a family member, particularly a parent, experiences anxiety, they often transmit those fears indirectly to their children. The children become conditioned to have similar anxious feelings to events in their lives. This can be done through avoidance of activities and actions, and possessing an extreme sense of worry and danger. Children also develop anxiety from frightening or traumatic events.

I have found that dysfunctional inconsistent parenting, and poor limits and boundaries can lead to anxiety, as children do not feel secure and are constantly worried about what will occur, and try and develop ways to control everything around them. Since this is not possible, the result is a feeling of fear and anxiety. When anxiety begins, it often generalizes to other areas as well. For example, someone may initially be fearful of crowds, then develop fear of going outside where crowds are, and then generalize to being fearful of open spaces (agoraphobia). As has been stated earlier, some anxiety in unfamiliar situations is a normal, healthy response. It is when it becomes exaggerated, and interferes with day to day functioning, or causes one to avoid situations that they should be able to engage in, that it becomes an anxiety disorder.

The signs and symptoms of anxiety can be physical, emotional, or behavioral.

Physical Signs: Anxiety is often experienced in the body, in the form of headaches, stomach aches, or pain with no apparent medical cause for the discomfort. Children may change their eating patterns, feel nauseous, or refuse to eat in public spaces, like the school cafeteria. They may show signs of nervousness, like tics, fidgeting, sweating, extreme blushing, shaking. They may avoid public places, like restrooms. They may complain of chest pain, or muscle pain, and may be constantly trying to relax themselves. Sleep disturbance is common, both in terms of falling asleep, staying asleep, nightmares, and feelings of fatigue despite having slept.

Emotional Signs: Children with anxiety feel on edge frequently, and are easily irritated, frustrated, and act out verbally. They may appear timid, and fearful of making any mistakes. Criticism of any kind is experienced as very painful, even when gentle and constructive. They can be labile, and cry frequently. Their minds are always active, particularly in worrying about the future. We call that catastrophizing, which is a fundamental characteristic of anxiety.

When someone catastrophizes, they project into the future, often thinking about the worst that can happen to them. For example, your child may do poorly on a test, then think they will fail the class, then fear they will not get into college, then project they will never get a job, and that no one will ever want to marry them, and so on. You get the picture. Fear of being judged is a component of anxiety, and fear of failure goes with it. Test anxiety, and avoidance of school to relieve that anxiety are common.
Behavioral Signs: As stated above, much of anxiety is experienced in the school setting, and children with anxiety disorders are likely to avoid school. They may feign illness, or just state they cannot go. They will likely avoid activities, and avoid being around others. They withdraw, isolate, and keep to themselves.

Those with OCD type of anxiety may engage in excessive hand washing, arranging of items, hand tapping, mentally counting, behavioral rituals, and other compulsive behaviors. They may experience separation anxiety when away from parents or home. Their anxiety may result in explosive outbursts or expressions of anger.

It is important to recognize the signs of anxiety, and not to minimize your child’s feelings. Telling them not to worry, or that it will go away on it’s own, may seem like it helps, but can actually make them feel worse. In the next column, I will review some of the coping skills, and some of the things parents can do. In the meantime, remember that anxiety is extremely common, and more important, very treatable.

Remember, if you have issues you would like to see addressed, please email me at askdrgelbart@gmail.com.

Moe Gelbart, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Thelma McMillen Center
General Info
600 Cloyden Road, Palos Verdes Estates, 90274 ~ 310-378-8471 ~ pvhs.pvpusd.net