Career Speakers' Day by Eduardo Soria

On July 21, 2013 many people from many different careers got to visit the Hillbrook Breakthrough campus to talk to Breakthrough students about their different careers. The visitors explained what their careers were all about and how they got to where they are. As students, we also could ask them any questions we had about their careers or their lives. Some of the people whom we met worked in the corporation SAP or at Silicon Valley Bank.  

Also, for Breakthrough students it was a day in which they could help Breakthrough with their goal of getting every Breakthrough student to a 4-year university by showing the people  their determination for going to the university of their dreams. Many of the people that came to visit the Breakthrough campus gave us really good advice for us to succeed in life. 

An anonymous speaker advised our group that "if you have something new to do and you don’t understand it don’t give up and if you get really good at it try something new." This really relates to many of the students in the program because we all study really hard and when we know something really well we change our subject. 

We were able to interview one of the career speakers. His name is Jason Mok and he works in Silicon Valley Bank as a banker. The first question we had for him was what he thought he wanted to be when he was a little boy. He responded by saying, “When I was small I wanted to become a professional soccer player or I wanted to become a video game designer”. 

The second and last question that we could ask before he left was what he thought was the part of finding job. He responded by saying, “The hardest part of finding a job is a job that you like and that balances your life”.

2013 Hillbrook vs. Evergreen Basketball Game, by Eduardo Soria

        “There goes Evergreen, then Hillbrook intercepts the ball. There’s the shot and. . . IT’S IN!!”

That was one of the first moments of the spectacular and entertaining basketball between Breakthrough Silicon Valleys two groups: Hillbrook vs. Evergreen. This incredible basketball game happened in July 19th, 2013 in Evergreen High school’s basketball gym, during the annual Breakthrough Olympics.

The Breakthrough Olympics are a competition between every crew that the program sets up. Each branch goes against the crews in their branch. They go through both mental and physical challenges. The first part of the Olympics is the mental challenges. In the end both branches complete a physical obstacle course to see who wins this year’s Olympics. Some of the events for the obstacle course included Leap Frog, Wheelbarrow, and Word Search, all while protecting the crew’s egg. After the Olympics the basketball game began.

First, all of the players were warming up for the big game. Both teams had practiced very hard in the days before the game. The coaches for the Hillbrook basketball team were Ramon Gomez, Rahul Singireddy, and Michael Augustine. The Evergreen basketball coaches are unknown to our reporters. The referee was our very own Hillbrook teacher Jordan who teaches 7th grade biology. In the beginning of the first half Evergreen managed to get the ball and they tried to make a point, but they missed. They tried again, but they missed again, but this time Hillbrook caught the rebound and shot, but they missed. They caught the rebound though and then they made it!! When Evergreen started the game again they tried to make a shot they did not make it. Hillbrook caught the ball and they made the shot! That was their 2nd shot! Throughout the first half Hillbrook made 2 more shots to equal ten total points in just the first half.  

In the half-time show Hillbrook’s dance squad, yoga, and volleyball class danced for the entire Breakthrough program to “Beggin’” by Madcon. Hillbrook dance teacher Joseline Gonzalez choreographed the routine. In the 2nd half, Evergreen started with the ball. Evergreen tried to make a point, but they threw the ball outside the boundaries. When Hillbrook got the ball they managed to pass the ball to an open player who was left alone and he could make his shot. Then finally Evergreen made their first shot. Then Hillbrook made 2 more shot and Evergreen made 1 more shot. In the end Hillbrook won with the stunning score of 14 to 4.

On the Hillbrook side there were two MVP’s. They were Daniel Gonzalez and Sergio. We were also available to interview MVP Daniel Gonzalez.

When asked if he thought that this was a hard game he said, “ No. This was an easy peasy game for me.”

Also when asked if he practiced enough he responded, “ I practiced every day for 4 hours for the game.” This was an interesting game and we can’t wait for the next one.     

REVIEW: FIFA 2012 by Eduardo Soria

Fifa 2012 is one of the newer versions of the franchise soccer game. It is the nineteenth game of the whole series. On the cover, it represents the UK(United Kingdom) and Ireland by putting Wayne Rooney for the UK and putting Jack Wilshere for Ireland. This game was developed EA Canada and was published by Electronic Arts. 

 In this game there are 3 types of ways to play Fifa 2012. The first one is the regular gameplay in which you just play a quick match with the teams you choose with all the new added stadiums^[b]. The second way of playing the game is by playing the career mode in the game in which you choose a league and you also choose what team you want to be in control of and the whole purpose is to win the cup of the league. The last way to play the game is to play the online mode. To play the online version you need to be part of the Playstation Network or have an Xbox Live account to play it because you play with friends or other people around the world to see how good your skills are at playing the game. 

We also interviewed a veteran at playing the game, Mr. Ramon Gomez.

When asked what he thought of Fifa 12 he responded,”I think Fifa is is a great game; it’s really fun. It makes me think that I am great player^[c]. And in the game you have skills that you wouldn’t have in real life and it makes me feel good.”

When asked his final question about what he likes specifically about Fifa 2012 he answered by saying,” I like scoring goals and winning.”