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

Ethan Woelbern

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor

Ethan Woelbern (11) is in his first year as a part of The Nexus. His favorite movie is The Lego Movie and he enjoys consuming goat cheese, Blue Diamond almond milk, and sticky rice. In his past time he enjoys reading on his Kindle.

All content by Ethan Woelbern

Senior Assassins ends in a Truce

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor June 2, 2023

Senior year is marked with several distinct events used to bring the graduating class together in their final year as students: senior sunrise, harbor cruise, senior picnic, all culminating in graduation.  But...

Letter to Freshman Self: Ethan

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor June 2, 2023

Dear Freshman Ethan, There are so many things I want to tell you—specific things I would want you to change, interactions, classes you took, etc. I could tell you the outcomes of your high school...

A Kiss Farewell

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor June 2, 2023

With the power of three Red Bulls coursing through his veins and a CamelBack strapped to his back, Jonathan McPherson (12) was practically ready for anything baring the apocalypse. Though not a cataclysmic...

Villalva develops playwriting skills, writes one act

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor May 5, 2023

Agosto Villalva (12) had just gotten into a car crash, his family was in a time where they were financially struggling, and he had just turned 17 leaving him only one year left in childhood. It was a lot...

Mock Trial wins Counties

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor March 17, 2023

  This year, the Westview Mock Trial Team was by no means the underdogs. A string of finals wins, runner-ups and top-fives for San Diego County within the past couple of years had netted them...

Edward Hopkins (12) plays the didgeridoo, Feb 4. Due to his injury, he focuses the energy he used to spend surfing and skating on music.

After knee injury, Hopkins finds relief in didgeridoo

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor February 10, 2023

Edward Hopkins (12) felt a sharp pop in his knee. Shivers rolled down his spine in a gentle wave but even without a doctor having to tell him,  he knew something was broken. He had been cruising on...

Dean fights Antisemetism

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor February 10, 2023

Natalie Dean (11) took two succinct breaths and fiddled with the slides clicker. Twenty-six or so pair of eyes lazered in on her intently, anticipating what she was going to say. She was here to open for...

Jack Hubschmitt (11) and Vanessa Smith (12) duel on stage during a dress rehearsal before the theater production, Nov. 2. Weeks before, actors had trained dueling sequences to prepare for their performances. Photo by Ethan Woelbern.

The Three Musketeers

Ethan Woelbern and Cora Reyes-Castelloe November 18, 2022

On opposing sides of the theater, David Azcona (12) and Kyle Dillon (12) squared off with swords in hand.  Dressed in a black and gold cassock, adorned with a white Fleur-de-lis, Dillon exuded the...

Yes to Measure A

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor November 2, 2022

Out of all the issues on the ballot, Measure A stands out as a no-brainer to vote yes on.  Measure A will tax cannabis businesses in the unincorporated counties of San Diego, which includes areas...

Justin Wu (12) performs his cello setlist for the Interntional Tchaikovsky competition. Over the summer he practiced upwards of five hours daily.

Wu prepares for Cello competition

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor August 26, 2022

  Justin Wu (12) held his breath. His cello rested in the canal between his peck and left shoulder, firmly held in place by his left thumb and index finger clasped around the back of the instrument's...

Review: Nope

Review: Nope

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor August 26, 2022

  Comedian-turned-film-auteur Jordan Peele returns with his third film outing, Nope, a medley of tense action and relevant allegory steeped in themes of exploitation and grief. Nope solidifies...

Luke Forster (12) spikes the ball at the senior night game against Del Norte, April 19. He has played volleyball since freshman year. Photo courtesy of the Forsters.

Forsters reminisce on family volleyball legacy

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor May 6, 2022

Bill​​ and Tricia Forester posed with their son Luke Forester (12), a member of the boys varsity volleyball team, in front of his poster on the gym wall. For senior night, Tricia held a bouquet...

Daniels confronts emotional instability

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor April 8, 2022

By her own admission, Kat Daniels (11) was the angry girl in elementary school. Her routine started with waking up on the wrong side of the bed. She would step through the gates of Canyon View Elementary...

Tom Brady lives on in infamy

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor April 8, 2022

Attention all readers: an attack of the living dead has occurred. On the night of March 13 in the year of our lord, a janitorial woman reported the rising of an undead in the marshy grasses of the Tampa...

Das solves Rubiks cube in 6 seconds

Das solves Rubik’s cube in 6 seconds

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor March 18, 2022

As a fifth-grader, Nipun Das (12) was indifferent to puzzles. Their simple solutions made them an easy and somewhat boring after-school activity with little merit besides the final pretty picture. Eventually,...

Movie Review: The Batman

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor March 18, 2022

 4/5 The Batman feels like a breath of fresh air in a genre steeped in formula. Patient cinematography that lingers on each beautifully composed shot replaces the typical quick cuts...

Villaruz, Reyes mix music, make memories

Villaruz, Reyes mix music, make memories

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor February 18, 2022

The quad echoed with the slap bassline that begins Justin Bieber’s hit single “Beauty and a Beat.” Jacob Villaruz (11) and Nate Reyes (11), president and vice president, respectively, of the...

Show: Smiling Friends

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor February 18, 2022

 5/5 Smiling Friends is really good. Like really, really good. It’s been a while since a show has made me really laugh, the kind of laugh that leaves you trying to catch your breath....

DECA builds club membership, takes home Grand Award

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor January 28, 2022

Gary He’s (12) mind raced as a beeping timer signaled him to stop talking. That didn’t go as planned. The role play section of the competition, where participants undertake an impromptu, shark-tank-esque...

Group projects hinder genius

Group projects hinder genius

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor January 28, 2022

I really hate working in groups. No, hate isn’t the right word. Hate does not begin to describe the rage I feel when someone changes the font on a slide I wrote to match the rest of the presentation,...

Dickerson drives passion into a career

Dickerson drives passion into a career

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor December 17, 2021

Dickerson waits patiently at the start line of the Daytona Speedway in a NASA NP01. He has been racing in prototype hypercars such as this one since last year. Dakota Dickerson has been racing since...

Cormier writes her own narrative

Cormier writes her own narrative

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor December 17, 2021

Cormier speaks to a crowd during a clue event. Working for a Women's health app allows Cormier to take her journalism skills into a field she felt passionately about. It’s 2006 in Denver, Colorado,...

Misrepresentation in media harms LGBTQ students’ self-image

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor November 19, 2021

I don’t think anyone tries to model themselves after the characters they see onscreen. Let's be honest neither Walter White nor Daenerys Targarian would be very good templates for functioning members...

Lin develops love for birdwatching, builds family bond

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor November 19, 2021

Binoculars in hand, Ethan Lin (12) stood patiently on the banks of the San Elijo Lagoon. In the grey of early morning, the only sounds that filled the air were the calls of the local fowl. Five feet before...

Horror cinema provides students with outlet to cope with anger, anxiety

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor October 29, 2021

Mina Tajbakhsh (11) sat with her eyes glued to the computer screen before her. Her one hand sat curled onto her knee and the other covered her mouth. Goosebumps spread up her arms and persperation collected...

Movie Review: Halloween Kills

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor October 29, 2021

  As an avid horror fan, I was quite excited for the new addition to the “Halloween” franchise, “Halloween Kills.” Despite having a horrible title and the series previous entry “Halloween”...

Improv Empowers Student Performers

Improv Empowers Student Performers

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor October 8, 2021

When Cassandra Nguyen (12) entered the theater that one fateful night four years ago, she didn’t realize that it would shape the rest of her high school experience. It was improv senior night, the...

Seeing in Color: Acknowledging our Past

Seeing in Color: Acknowledging our Past

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor October 8, 2021

A group of Poway Unified parents gathered at the June 3 school board meeting protesting what parent Sterling Moffet called “a new curriculum whose implementation will serve to divide students on...

Grace He (11) listens to music while journaling her thoughts to de-stress. As a competitive figure skater, He grapples with the ex-ternal pressures of her sport

Head in the game: Coping with competition anxiety

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor September 17, 2021

Ekene Okolo’s (12) stomach used to churn at the sight of the track and her body would begin to tense up. On the worst days she would tear up as the meet coordinators called her to the starting blocks....

Review: Donda

Review: Donda

Ethan Woelbern, Features Editor September 17, 2021

 4/5 With an album rollout like no other, listening parties spanning the last month and constant delays on the work’s release, Kanye fans have been fiending for the drop of Donda. Although...

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