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The official student news site of Westview High School

The Nexus

The official student news site of Westview High School

The Nexus

The official student news site of Westview High School

The Nexus

Ella Jiang

Ella Jiang, Features Editor

Ella Jiang (12) is in her fourth year as a part of The Nexus. If she’s not busy drawing, you might catch her reading, playing Tetris, or trying to befriend small animals. She enjoys loud talkers, loud music and dislikes slow walkers.

All content by Ella Jiang
Grayson Skarsvaag (11) holds an arabesque in his contemporary solo at the NUVO Dance Convention, Nov. 2. He scored a perfect 300 points in the senior division, placing him first.

Skarsvaag wins NUVO dance competition, explores new styles

Ella Jiang, Features Editor November 22, 2024

Snow sparkled under Anchorage, Alaskan skies, sunlight refracting, but  Grayson Skarsvaag (11) outshone at the Egan Convention Center, Nov. 2, as he weaved through the blue-lit stage, his body expanding...

Music in Memory

Music in Memory

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 11, 2024

I’m standing in your corridor, I wonder what I’m waiting for, the leaves are drifting out to sea…  Every road trip started just like this: “I Want Everything” by Cracker thrumming through...

phoebe opinion cartoon

[Photo] Talking to strangers forms friendship

Phoebe Vo, Editor in Chief October 11, 2024

On the corner of Carmel Valley Road and Camino del Sur, over 300 goats and sheep graze on the open plot owned by PUSD, Sept. 3. The animals are owned by regenerative land management business Good Shepherds and eat dried vegetation to combat the risk of wildfire.

Fire abatement goats used to manage PUSD land

Ella Jiang and Juliana Hong September 20, 2024

If you happen to catch a glimpse of herds of more than 300 goats roaming the fields on Black Mountain Ranch, please do not be alarmed. Though they are not a wild herd, these hungry helpers were recruited...

final focus art

[Photo] Colloquial Connections

Rosemary Cabanban, Sports Editor September 20, 2024

Keith Jain reaches to return the ball during a game in a National Pickleball League tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, July-19-21. As a part of the Coachella Valley Scorpions, Jain has participated in a tournament with his team every month since May.

Jain goes pro, joins National Pickleball League

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 30, 2024

If you ask social studies teacher Keith Jain what he did over the weekend, there’s a good chance he’ll say he played in a pickleball tournament. You might even catch him during prep periods going down...

Julia Smith (12) walks towards her carpool after PUSD limited the number of buses and bus routes around Westview. The PUSD  Transportation Department had to reduce this service after the district experienced budget cuts and was not able to pay drivers. Many students have been left without rides due to these circumstances and have had to arrange alternative methods.

PUSD cuts bus services, students left stranded

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 30, 2024

As a result of $12.5 million in cuts for the 2024-25 school year and a bus driver shortage, Poway Unified School District (PUSD) has reduced non-mandated bus transportation services for students.  In...

Kalea Minabe (12) competes in the Heiva San Diego dance competition, Aug. 2-4, She performed in two categories: Aparima and Ote'a, winning first place and second place respectively. Minabe also won the award for the best costume at the competition with fresh flowers and greens

Minabe dances in Tahiti at Heiva festival

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 30, 2024

Warm lights softly illuminated the outdoor stage and music thrummed through the floor as Kalea Minabe (12) neared the end of her group performance. Summer nights in Tahiti were incomparable during the...

Review: I Saw the TV Glow

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 31, 2024

As the credits rolled to Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore horror-drama film I Saw the TV Glow, I was reminded why I still go to movie theaters. For an hour and 40 minutes, I was trapped in a liminal space...

Franklin Pham (11) collects scores at the Cubing Favorites competition, May 25. The competition ran for 10 hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Cubing Club hosts second annual cubing competition

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 31, 2024

  Entering the gym, May 25, the rattle of shuffling Rubik’s cubes reached every corner of the room. People of all ages, chaperoned and adult, waited for their turn to be called to the row of desks...

Liff runs jewelry business

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 31, 2024

All around her, Eliana Liff (12) looks for colorful materials to fuel her creations. From a discarded bottle tumbled into colorful shards or empty conches buried in sandy shores, whatever she finds has...

Elect Her workshop empowers women to engage in politics

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 3, 2024

Girls from all different PUSD high schools scribbled notes into their packets as one of the Elect Her workshop’s panelists, PUSD Board Trustee Dr. Darshana Patel, spoke of the importance of women in...

Jordyn Vales (9) passes the baton to Kaitlyn Arciaga (10) to finish the second leg of the 4x400 relay, March 23. The team ended the relay with a time of 3.58.

Girls 4×400 relay breezes past record

Ella Jiang, Features Editor April 5, 2024

When it comes down to the last 100 meters in the 4x400m relay race, muscle cramping and blurring vision have to be shoved away as an afterthought.   “If you’re hurting you have to push through,”...

USE THIS ONE

[Photo] The Death of Deep Thought

Phoebe Vo, Editor in Chief April 5, 2024

Jake Scarbel (11) jumps over a dirt hill on a trail in the Peñasquitos Canyon on his Surron bike, March 5. He started mountain biking nearly 10 years ago before transitioning to his current motorcycle-e-bike hybrid that he customizes and repairs himself.

Biking off the beaten path

Ella Jiang, Features Editor March 15, 2024

Whether it's cruising down the coast in Del Mar or deep in the Peñasquitos Canyons, on soaring jumps or roadside wheelies — Jake Scarbel (11) rides his Surron bike everywhere. His dad finds it cool,...

Ethan Madrideo (12) celebrates in front of the crowd after winning Mr. Bayanihan, Feb. 2. In the cultural competitions, Madrideo showcased his talents to the audience.

Madrideo crowned first Mr. Bayanihan in four years

Sophia Chen and Ella Jiang February 16, 2024

The theater was warm as a night of laughter and cheers neared an end, Feb. 2. Spotlights illuminated 10 boys lined up on stage as they awaited the grand reveal of the show in silent anticipation. Before...

Barnes & Noble heals my soul

Barnes & Noble heals my soul

Ella Jiang, Features Editor February 16, 2024

I promised myself that I was only here to pick up one thing: a graphic novel that was going to be a birthday gift for my friend. It was a simple task really — I had the title, it was easily recognizable,...

FFArt

[Photo] Painting Past the Shadow

Abby Siu, Final Focus Editor February 16, 2024

Students pocket their phones in English teacher Jeffrey Wenger’s class, Feb. 13. Many teachers have been implementing this system to get students off their phones during class.

[Photo] Teachers use phone pockets to help students focus

Juliana Hong and Zeina Nicolas February 16, 2024

Students pocket their phones in English teacher Jeffrey Wenger’s class, Feb. 13. Many teachers have been implementing this system to get students off their phones during class.

Graphic by Ella Jiang and Phoebe Vo
Artwork courtesy of Nikolas Pautov

Game Design club creates “Scalien Showdown”

Ella Jiang, Features Editor January 26, 2024

For all 30 days of November, Westview Game Design club focused its efforts on one task — designing, programming, and scoring music for a game. Among the other 631 participants in the 2023 Github Game...

Family trips bring me joy

Family trips bring me joy

Ella Jiang, Features Editor January 26, 2024

I have a recurring nightmare and it goes like this: I am in a foreign country with my family — we are lost, we are tired, and we are not agreeing on anything. The taxi we called for is 20-something minutes...

Xmas Express

Xmas Express

Ella Jiang, Features Editor December 22, 2023

Since 1999, Lisa and Dave Melahn have had a train-chugging wonderland laid out in their front yard—a beloved gem of Christmas Card Lane. Every night of December, the Ellingham home attracts a crowd,...

Arborist Kurt Peacock of Tree San Diego points out the different areas that trees could be planted around Westview, Dec. 5. Tree San Diego plans on bringing 10-12 new trees to the school's quad.

[Photo] Trees@WV to introduce more plant life to campus landscape

Abby Siu, Final Focus Editor December 22, 2023

Arborist Kurt Peacock of Tree San Diego points out the different areas that trees could be planted around Westview, Dec. 5. Tree San Diego plans on bringing 10-12 new trees to the school's quad.

Girls tennis competes in CIFs

Ella Jiang, Features Editor November 17, 2023

Before stepping onto the court for the first feed-in match of CIFs, Nov. 1-2, Noelle Dang (11) made sure her ponytail was secure with each hair tie—three to be exact. Her racket fashioned a brand new...

Educators from Korea visit Westview, learn about student culture

Ella Jiang, Features Editor November 17, 2023

Touring classroom to classroom, 20 Korean educators from Korean National University of Education visited Westview, Nov. 7, as a part of professional development at the Korean National University of Education...

Adrian Welton (12) pushes through one of the hills of the final leg of the Mt. SAC course, Oct. 21. He placed 11th with a time of 15:15.

Arciaga, Welton conquer Mt. SAC

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 27, 2023

At the Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) starting line, Oct. 21, Kaitlyn Arciaga (11) felt the nerves hit her all at once. Ahead of her was a known course, famous not for its length of 2.95 miles, but...

Review: The Haunted Corn Maze

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 26, 2023

It’s arrived: the season of pumpkins, of sweater weather (even in this 80-degree San Diegan heat), of pumpkin chais off the Starbucks seasonal fall menu, and possibly most excitably, of a perfectly spooky...

New California math framework sparks discourse

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 26, 2023

Statewide, math educators of all different levels, from elementary to collegiate, have spent the last four years developing and debating the revisions that should be done to the math framework for K-12...

Recent strikes benefit labor workers

Recent strikes benefit labor workers

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 6, 2023

Indefinite periods of little-to-no pay, risking permanent job loss, undergoing socio-economic stress, losing profit, disrupting the economy—as President Biden said in a statement on Sept. 16 supporting...

Review: Fionna and Cake

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 6, 2023

Often proclaimed as one of the best cartoon series of all time, Adventure Time is the timeless kind of kid’s show that embodies the epitome of child-like wonder, leaving its spin-off, Fionna and Cake,...

Thoughts and Thumbs: Heartstopper Season 2

Ella Jiang, Features Editor September 15, 2023

Wrapped into eight steadily-paced episodes, Heartstopper season two is a four-and-a-half hour long rollercoaster of laughs and tears, accompanied by a beautifully-curated soundtrack and, best of all, a...

Chen, Fang teach kids programming

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 25, 2023

  While the earliest days of last summer transitioned many busy school lives to a period of rest and relaxation, Allan Fang (11) and Trevor Chen (11) were restless. Project Binary Coding, the non-profit...

Youssef recognized on PBS NewsHour

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 25, 2023

As one of the 28 students accepted into the Student Reporting Labs (SRL) Academy nationwide, June 21-29, Sarah Youssef (11) hadn’t expected the story she worked on at the program to end up on national...

FF Issue 1 Art Snip

[Photo] Growing Post-Adversity

Robbie Gray, News Editor August 25, 2023

PUSD effort to combat chronic absenteeism brings improvement

Ella Jiang, Features Editor June 2, 2023

Since the return of in-person schooling in a post-COVID era, chronic absences have risen dramatically in Poway Unified School District (PUSD), more than doubling to a rate 15.69% for the student body in...

WVCG performs their Winter Guard show "Beginner's Guide To Time Travel" at the WGASC Championships preliminaries, April 22, held at Marina High School. They won first in their Scholastic AA division.

Winter Guard makes medaling history

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 5, 2023

Winter Guard took to the floor unshaken. Despite the unfamiliar setting, every step-turn and flag toss of their “Beginner’s Guide to Time Travel” show were locked in by muscle memory. Hours upon...

Dance Troupe members performs a contemporary piece in the Medium Group division at USA Dance Nationals, March 18. They danced to "Don't Let Me Go" by RAIGN, a song about missing a past lover, utilizing storytelling and emotion.

Dance Troupe performs at USA Dance Nationals

Ella Jiang, Features Editor April 7, 2023

The bright beam of the spotlights was unforgiving in the arena of the Anaheim Convention Center, marking the dancers’ shadows into the slick wood of the stage—a stage bigger than any they’d ever...

Streaming services are ruining serialized TV shows

Ella Jiang, Features Editor April 6, 2023

When I find myself deep into a Netflix doom-scroll after finishing a show (which I watched for hours without interruption), I am struck with lament; I am just as bored as I was before. Entertainment,...

Dance Troupe performs at USA Dance Nationals

Ella Jiang, Features Editor April 6, 2023

The bright beam of the spotlights was unforgiving in the arena of the Anaheim Convention Center, marking the dancers’ shadows into the slick wood of the stage—a stage bigger than any they’d ever...

Everly competes in equestrian sports

Everly competes in equestrian sports

Ella Jiang, Features Editor March 17, 2023

Heavy rain and canceling guests would have sullied anyone’s birthday — but Maile Everly (12) was anything but sad. As she sat in a stable, surrounded by the ponies her parents had rented, she found,...

Catalysts4Success visits Deer Canyon

Ella Jiang, Features Editor February 10, 2023

After Sean Boerhout (12) dropped a piece of Alka Seltzer into the mixture, Deer Canyon Elementary School’s fourth-grade students watched in awe as a make-shift lava lamp made of water dyed red and vegetable...

Ethnic Studies students make ecobricks, clean campus

Ethnic Studies students make ecobricks, clean campus

Ella Jiang, Features Editor January 27, 2023

As lunch came to an end and 20 minutes of SSH began, Aadya Nayak (12), Marissa Kanoya (11), and the rest of their project group went around campus amassing an abundance of plastic trash, discarded...

Jaden Nisperos (11), Autumn Kelly (11), and Mina Hurt (11) perform a comedic bit at GOLD's Winter show, Dec. 13. They entertain the audience while giving stage crew time to set up behind the curtain for the next performance.

Behind-the-scenes look at GOLD’s annual Winter show

Ella Jiang, Features Editor December 16, 2022

While the audience only saw the program’s performance onstage, what kept it running was the show backstage. Band Director Mitchell Way and Associate Band Director Martin Fierro said the success of...

Art by Phoebe Vo

Listen in the moment

Ella Jiang, Features Editor November 18, 2022

  On April 26, 2022, I was sure of one thing and one thing only; I was going to have the time of my life that night and nothing was going to get in my way. It was my first ever concert and...

Retention election for California’s District Four Court of Appeals Justices, voters left uninformed

Ella Jiang, Features Editor November 1, 2022

Of California’s District Four Court of Appeals Justices, almost a fourth of judges across all three divisions have expiring terms and are up for retention. However, once it’s time for voters to check...

Environmental Club's climate strike, future projects on campus

Environmental Club’s climate strike, future projects on campus

Ella Jiang, Features Editor October 14, 2022

Bella Santos (12) and Grace Mordhorst (12), presidents of Advocates for a Better Environment (ABE) club, called out to the students around them with posters in hand to promote petitions that aimed...

Boys beach volleyball adjusts to new team dynamics, prepares for coming season

Ella Jiang, Features Editor September 16, 2022

After many key players in the boys beach volleyball program graduated last year, returning players Xavier O’Boyle (11) and Donovan Weber (11) said they are excited to see how the new team performs this...

Costa Rica Crew

Costa Rica Crew

Ella Jiang, Features Editor August 26, 2022

Zoey Lestyk (10) slowed to catch her breath in the pitch darkness. Determined and on the search for sea turtle nests, she quickened her pace to return to the rest of the patrol, as they combed through...

Oversharing on social media

Ella Jiang, Features Editor May 6, 2022

We live in a time where the digital reality can feel more comfortable than our real one. Every day, I am overwhelmed with a conveyor belt of posts and videos on my Instagram feed or my TikTok for-you page,...

Art by Ella Jiang.

[Photo] Using Humor to Cope

May 6, 2022

Art by Ella Jiang.

Middle aged TV show writers attempt to relate to teens, fail miserably

Ella Jiang, Features Editor April 8, 2022

As an enjoyer of TV shows, I spend more time searching than watching. Often, during my fruitless, hour-long expeditions on Netflix, I find myself seeing a trend within the dialogue of shows categorized...

Students, staff adapt to mask mandate removal

Ella Jiang, Features Editor March 18, 2022

Nearly two years after the pandemic sent PUSD students home, the mask mandate was lifted in California, March 12. According to a Coronavirus map and case count graph from The New York Times, California...

Self-care glamorization is materialistic, prioritizes companies over consumers

Ella Jiang, Features Editor February 18, 2022

  There’s nothing more relaxing than taking a hot bath and doing some much needed skincare after a stressful day. Scents of lavender, the fizzing of a bath bomb, skin-burning mud masks—it truly...

[Photo] The Absurdity of Groundhog Day

Mason Williams, Staff Writer February 18, 2022

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