The Sunset Crusader

VOLUME 41 ISSUE 4 THE MIAMI SUNSET SENIOR HIGH FEB-MARCH 2018

Miami Sunset’s ESOL Class Takes a Trip To Tallahassee

By: Victoria De Campos
Staff-Writer
Miami Sunset ESOL students took
a trip to Tallahassee on January 20th
sponsored by a program called “Close
Up.”
Students were provided with a
great opportunity to learn about how the
state government works, creating and
passing legislation, and giving new arri-
vals to see what college live is in the Unit-
ed States.
The trip consisted of four days,
they did multiple activities and visited
important buildings like The Capitol, the Cen-
tral University of Florida, FSU and much more.
The requirement for students to go on the trip
were to be in level 3 or 4 as an ESOL student,
maintain good grades, and a teacher’s recom-
mendation.
On the first day, the group went to the
University of Central Florida in Orlando to do a
College Mission Seminar and a campus tour.
The next day the students arrived at Tallahas-
see and worked on legislative committees to
learn more about the process and how they
can promote it in the state of Florida.
On the third day, the students finished
their legislative proposals for their different
committees. Later, that day, each group had
the opportunity to present their proposal and
have a chance to get them passed. On the last
day, the proposals that passed were present-
ed to members of the Florida Legislation.
They were able to meet representatives from
the house and senate.
The group went on visiting dif-
ferent colleges like, Florida State Uni-
versity and University of Florida. Nata-
lia Sanchez had a chance to talk to us
about one of her favorite things that
she experienced during the trip.
“Visiting the colleges and universities
was one of my favorite things on the
trip because it helped me think about
where I am going to study later when I
graduate,” said Natalia, “and if I ever
change my mind on the colleges I was
thinking to go to before I went to this field trip,
I might apply to some of the ones we visited
recently.”
Overall, Miami Sunset very proud to
have our ESOL students represent us at the
state level and be granted a wonderful oppor-
tunity to work hands on with
Florida politicians.

Miami Sunset FBLA Takes Home Trophies from their Outstanding Performance at States
By: Angelina Buenaventura
Assistant Editor
Every year, over 14,000 stu-
dents from all over Florida come
together to meet at one conference
to compete against one another to
win the title of the Future Business
Leaders of America. This past March
our Miami Sunset FBLA chapter
headed up to Orlando, Florida for an
action-packed weekend at the Flori-
da State Leadership Conference to
compete in several different catego-
ries, against schools from all corners
in Florida.
On the first day of the con-
ference, FBLA members suited up
and prepared to compete in the first
stage of the competition, preliminar-
ies, this determined whether they
will move on and compete in the fi-
nals. Some members performed
sales presentations, impromptu
speeches, and intricate tests.
Later on in the day, all of the
14,000 students came together in
one massive conference room with
strobe lights, a huge stage, loud mu-
sic, and blood pumping energy for
the first opening session of the con-
ference. Members got to hear from
the Florida FBLA State Officers and
were properly welcomed to the ex-
citing weekend ahead of them.
First-year Miami Sunset
FBLA member, Hurma Aziz said this
Sunset’s chapter at the FBLA State Leadership Conference Awards with their trophies.
about her experience, “Sitting
there around thousands of other
students, waiting for the count-
down was the most exciting mo-
ment I have ever experienced. I felt
the adrenaline rushing through
and it felt like everything was in
slow motion, like I was in a
dream.”
Towards the end of the
opening session, it was time for the
Florida FBLA State President can-
didates to give their speeches. Mi-
ami Sunset’s own, Amanda Gomez,
gave her exciting speech inspired
by “The Greatest Showman” and it
was a definite crowd pleaser.
The next day is when all
the state officers and their teams
had to prepare for campaigning.
They started setting up their cam-
paign booths, some having extrav-
feel the pressure as it got down to
the wire.
Miami Sunset FBLA officer,
Veronica Alvarez said, “Before per-
forming in finals my partner and I
were extremely nervous, but trying
not to show it because we knew we
were more than prepared. After per-
forming our social media campaign
for the judges we felt relief but now
we had to wait and see whether we
placed or not.”
All the winners were an-
nounced Saturday night. These are
the winners from Miami Sunset, 1st
place – Amanda Gomez, Public
agant decorations like lights, pho-
Speaking, 2nd place – Annette Rodri-
tobooths, prize wheels, candy, and
guez and Veronica Alvarez, Commu-
music.
nity Service Project, 4th place – Ange-
Campaigning lasted for
lina Buenaventura and Veronica Al-
about six hours. FBLA members
verez, Social Media Campaign, 4th
and candidates had the opportuni-
place – Paul Salebe, Introduction to
ty to speak to hundreds of different
Parliamentary Procedures, 5th place
people explaining what makes their
– Alejandro Gonzalez and Justin Gon-
candidate worthy of the position
zalez, Business Ethics, 5th place –
they are running for. This was a
Emily Miranda, Broadcast Journal-
great way for students to experi-
ism. Sunset FBLA was also one of just
ence talking to new people in a pro-
nine schools in Florida to be named a
fessional setting, and building their
Gold Seal Chapter.
confidence.
Sunset FBLA is very proud of
Members were also moving
the hard work and dedication they
onto the next stages of the competi-
put in to winning big at the Florida
tion, the finals. Students were com-
State Conference. They are now in
peting in a variety of different busi-
the process of fundraising to be able
ness competitions from giving
to make it to Nationals in Baltimore,
speeches, social media campaigns,
Maryland during the summer.
impromptu speaking, to even intri-
cate tests. Some students started to
THE SUNSET CRUSADER SPORTS AND CLUBS FEB-MARCH PAGE 2

Miami Sunset Wrestling Team: Season Wrap Up

By: Mohammad Aziz
Staff-Writer

Miami Sunset’s wrestling allow me to go to states and that real-

team brings victory to the school
once again. Considered one of the
most challenging sports, wrestling
is all about pushing your body be-
yond limits in order to thrive.
Our wrestling team have
been pushing the pace since the
month of October, drilling and
practicing daily after school for
long hours be the best. Each wres-
tler on the time has had many suc-
cessful wins leading up to states.
Miami-Dade is one of the
most competitive counties in the
state of Florida, and on top of that,
Sunset is classified as 2A in wres-
tling, making it even more chal-
lenging to move up in competition.
Three of our wrestlers qualified for
states after placing in regionals.
Alejandro Gonzalez, captain
of the team, weighing at 132 lbs
made it to states. Gonzalez has
been in the sport for five years and
has had many accomplishments on
his record. A two-time state quali-
Miami Sunset’s Wrestling team returns with a big win from District competition. 140lb senior. I also wanted to thank
fier, Gonzalez has great passion
and pride for this sport.
Sebastian Calmet, re-
cently transferred and quickly
proved his excellence on the
team by also qualifying. He
started wrestling seven years
ago at WMB. Calmet has been a
three-time District, G.M.A.C and
regional champ at 113 lbs.
ly opened my eyes and motivated me
to push harder this year. Many people
didn’t believe that I couldn't make it
to states, and it felt great to prove
them that I could do it. It felt like I
lived my dream and I’m very proud of
my team as well,” Esquivel comments.
As captain of the team, Gonza-
lez spoke of how proud he was of his
team and was grateful for the experi-
ence. “I just wanted to thank my
coaches for all the hard work that
they’ve put me through, they took me
from 112lb scrawny freshman to a
my team for being there and support-
Jonathan Esquivel, a ing me through my weight cuts. Most
well-known veteran of the team of all, I want to thank the sport for
made his mark this year as a showing me that putting time and ef-
heavy weight wrestler, winning fort into something, is the key to being
districts and qualifying for successful.”
states as well.
“This whole experience
was intense and both motivat-
ing for me. Last year, I got my-
self into an incident that didn’t

Miami Sunset’s Project Citizen Wins 1st Place at Districts

By: Amanda Gomez
class had when it came to the creation of the
Editor-In-Chief
proposal was the interference of citizen’s
constitutional rights. Any proposal that in-
After weeks of extensive research
volves regulations on guns is seen as a con-
and collaboration, Miami Sunset’s Ms. Car-
troversial issue because the 2nd amendment
olyn Cros’ law studies class placed first place
of our constitution grants us our rights to
at districts for the well-known competition
own a gun. “Our class debated frequently
amongst the civic division, “Project Citizen.”
about whether or not our proposal was con-
Project Citizen is a curricular pro-
stitutional. We made negotiations and it re-
gram for middle level through high school
sulted in the proposal we sent in,” Alvarez
level that gives students the opportunity to
comments.
understand the importance of responsible
After all their hard work, the class
citizenry. It encourages them to engage in
was able to turn in the project for judgment
the learnings of how to monitor and influ- Ms. Cros alongside with three of her student representatives at the Pro-
ject Citizen competition at St. Thomas University. and the judges were very pleased. Alvarez
ence public policy. Students are given a
said, “The judges were very intrigued with
voice and a chance to pass a policy from the
purpose of their project was to amend Florida the project and commented that the project was
local all the way to the national level.
gun control laws by adding a HIPPA waiver, very clear and easy for them to understand.
On March 22nd, three students went to
which is a legal document that allows an indi- They thought that our proposal was a great idea,
Saint Thomas University to represent their
vidual’s health information to be used to a especially because our proposal corelated with
class’s project. Their project wanted to high-
third party. The goal is to include the back- current issues our country faces today.”
light the issue of mental health and how it is
ground check to search for individuals who Although the class’s win on Project Citi-
connected to gun violence in our country.
have been previously diagnosed with those zen brought great achievement to our school,
With the recent events of mass shootings, the
three specific mental health disorders. Project Citizen also opened the students to new
class knew that this project needed to be
After the research was complete, the beliefs and ideas that they didn’t have before.
heard, so they made this project a high priori-
class was split up into groups to complete dif- Alvarez explains, “Before this project, I was a
ty in their class.
ferent tasks. Students were assigned to con- strong supporter of guns and believed that any
Veronica Alvarez, one of the represent-
tact representatives, type up emails, create form of gun regulations was an invasion of our
atives in the class, explains the process of how
resolutions to the issues, and find alternatives. 2nd amendment rights. But looking at this pro-
the project got started. “The first thing we did
Although this took time, the results were ap- posal, I believe that it is very fair and can be a
was research, we were looking for the colora-
preciated at the end. good common ground for both sides to under-
tion of mental illness and gun violence. We
The class received visits from high offi- stand. Gun violence is an important issue and so
ended up discovering that there were com-
cials from the local police department and the is mental health, our country needs to realize
mon mental disease that lead to violence.
FBI. They were able to discuss the issue hands the correlation and help prevent it from hap-
Schizophrenia, Anit-Social disorder and Bor-
on with law officials to get a different perspec- pening.”
der-Line personality disorder.”
tive on the issue.
Alvarez went on to explaining that the
One of the biggest challenges that the
THE SUNSET CRUSADER SUNSET & LIFE FEB-MARCH PAGE 3

The Impact of Mass School Shootings

By: Angelina Buenaventura
Staff Writer
On February 14th, a former
student from Douglas High School in
Parkland, Florida, open fired and
killed 17 innocent people, also 14
others were injured. This made it
the deadliest high school shooting in
U.S. history.
In the time that follows a
shooting, there is an unsettling feel-
ing in students, parents, teachers,
and everyone else in the communi-
ty.
It also sets off a state of
panic or a desire for change, and
measures for precaution. We saw
this after the Columbine shooting in
1999 when some schools installed
metal detectors and banned back-
packs.
Experiencing something so
traumatizing happen in a place
where you are supposed to feel se-
cure can really mess with someone's
psyche. It pulls everyone back into
reality and reminds us that we are
not always completely safe. It in-
vokes the thought of, “What if that
was my school?”
The Broward shooting
seems to affect us here at Sunset
even deeper because it happened so
close to home. What if the shooter
decided to go on a killing spree all
around Florida and ended up at our
school? We were not that far away.
Sunset student Emily Britto-
Barbosa says, “It made me feel that
my safety was compromised and
honestly terrified that something
that horrifying could happen to our
school.”
The day after the shooting
happened, Sunset already started to
see the precautions being put into
place for our safety, in case of a
school shooting. Teachers are now
required to have their doors locked,
some teachers are now being stricter
about the bathroom, security guards
are being more adamant about pass-
es when walking the halls, and ID
checks when we come into school are
now part of procedure.
The safety measures being
taken by Sunset are understandable,
because they want to make us feel
safe. However, there always seems
to be a sudden boost of security
within the schools every time a trag-
edy like this happens. We shouldn’t
have to wait for something horrible
to happen in order to make our
school more secure.
Although, there seems to be
a glimmer of hope with the recent
actions taken by students all over the
country, specifically in Florida. A
group of survivors from Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School are
turning their grief into power by giv-
ing speeches in Tallahassee, calling
out the NRA and demanding stricter
gun laws.
On February 21st, students all
around Florida organized walkouts,
sit-in’s, and rallies to protest gun vio-
lence and promote stricter regula-
tions. Many schools around Miami-
Dade had students walking out with
signs saying, “Enough is Enough.” Stu-
dents at their schools’ rallies were
chanting “Protect kids, not guns.” This
demonstrated that students are will-
ing to band together to hopefully cre-
ate change.
Sunset did things a little dif-
ferently by gathering students in the
gym and having a moment of silence
to honor the 17 lives lost. Banners
were also signed by the students with
words of support, love, and strength.
These banners will be sent to Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School to be
hung up to show Sunset’s support for
the survivors and families of the vic-
tims, and our desire for change.
This generation has a lot of
power because of their huge presence
on social media. For this reason, and
the passion that has been shown in
the protests, this never-ending cycle
of urgency, passing time, and igno-
rance might come to a halt. So far,
these students are expressing that
they are not willing to forget and will
not back down until change is made.

Modern-Day Feminism Debunked

By: Amanda Gomez
Editor-In-Chief
The Feminist movement has been
around for decades. From defending wom-
en’s right to vote, to protesting for represen-
tation of women in the workforce, women
have come a long way in the fight for equali-
ty. There is currently a new wave of femi-
nism, which is facing a huge controversy be-
tween people all over the world, but it is
mostly reflected in the United States. I used
to consider myself a feminist not so long ago, how-
ever through time I’ve done some research of my
own and realized that the Modern-Day Feminist
movement many flaws. Therefore, I took the time
to debunk some of the most popular topics
amongst the Modern-Day Feminist movement.
-Modern day feminism is the fight for gen-
der equality within a cultural patriarchal society
I believe that the feminist movement has
been hijacked by radical supporters. Reading their
platform on paper is much different than what they
express when they go out protesting and give
speeches. They preach equality, yet they seem to
be sexist towards men. News sites such as Huffing-
ton Post or Buzzfeed frequently post about femi-
nism and a lot of their articles are targeted against
men. They say that they are for all women, unless
you don’t agree with what the majority believes.
Recently during a women’s march, pro-life women
attended the march even though they weren’t invit-
ed. As they held up their pro-life signs, the femi-
nists tore down their signs and treated them with
disrespect. One of the leaders and organizers of the
Women’s March, Linda Sarsour, is a Muslim who is
for Sharia law, which is something that goes com-
pletely against the feminist movement. A lot of
them are misinformed and truly believe that wom-
en in first world countries are oppressed, and that
just isn’t the case. The 19th amendment and the
14th amendment declares our rights as women,
and that’s everything I need to prove that I’m just
as equal as a man, especially in today’s society. In
fact, I’d say the opposite, I think women are domi-
nating in today’s society much more than men
are. To me that isn’t a bad thing, I’m glad to see
that women are having better representation in the
workforce, but to say that we aren’t is just incor-
rect. Times have changed for women by a landslide.
-Women earn 77 cents per dollar a man earns
The gender wage gap is a myth that is very
misleading. It doesn’t take account for the differ-
ences in, occupations, positions, education, job ten-
ure, hour worked per-week etc. If you take a closer
look, you’ll see that women tend to lean towards
jobs with lower paying specialties, take more
absences, and work part time in comparison
to men who are more willing to take on more
hours, take less absences, and aim for higher
paying specialties.
One of the reasons why women do
this is because women are the ones who have
babies. They are more likely the ones who
want to look for stable jobs and avoid work-
ing later hours to take care of their fami-
ly. This isn’t a bad thing, I don’t think that
this makes women weak. I think that it is
okay that a woman or a man would want a stable job
in order to take care of their family. However, the
fact that more women tend to make these choices,
doesn’t mean that they are being oppressed.
If a man were to major in a lower paying job,
work less hours, work part time, they would be paid
less than a woman who does the complete opposite.
According to a study conducted by Georgetown Uni-
versity, men tend to major in higher paying jobs such
as, petroleum engineering, pharmaceutical science,
mathematics and computer science etc. While wom-
en dominate in some of the worst paying college ma-
jors such as, counseling and psychology, early child-
hood education, human services community organi-
zation and social work. A study done by the Ameri-
can Association of University Women did a study
that showed that the actual wage gap reduces to 6.6
cents per dollar when you factor in the different
choices men and women make.”
The key word here is choice. It all revolves
around the different career choices that women and
men make.
THE SUNSET CRUSADER
Student of the Month
Celeste Cotorreal
GPA: 3.3 weighted, 3.0 unweighted
What are you looking forward to after gradu-
ating?
Celeste: "Seeing where my life takes me and
how far everything I've learned in the past
years will get me."
What extracurricular activities are you in-
volved in?
Celeste: " I am in student government associa-
tion and I have the position of publicist. I am
also in cheerleading, JROTC, and the Medical
Magnet.
What is the best part about Sunset?
Celeste: "Definitely the people that go to this
school. I'm going to miss the friends I've
gained along the way and the people I grew
up with the most when I graduate."
How do you manage to do all your extra cur-
riculars?
Celeste: I am very organized, I balance my
time and I don’t focus on one thing for too
long.
What is your favorite part about the cheer
squad?
Celeste: My favorite part is we all get along
and the way we function. I'm very proud to be
a part of it.
How does it feel to be in Student government?
Celeste: It feels like a big responsibility, you
always must be on top of things. It can get
stressful at times, but the board makes it easi-
er to do my job.
Advice for incoming freshman?
Celeste: Be as involved as possible. You al-
ways want to make the most out of your high
school experience.
QUOTE OF THE
SPECIAL FEATURES
Teacher of the Month
Grafton Ambrose
Mr. Ambrose, Sunset’s Anatomy & Physiology,
and Zoology teacher is one of the most entertain-
ing and effective teachers that Sunset has. He has
a great reputation amongst the students, that’s
because he relates to them on a personal level. If
you swing by the science wing, you’ll hear his
laughter as well as his students because he con-
stantly keeps his student engaged in his lessons.
Why did you choose to teach anatomy and physi-
ology?
Out of all the science classes offered at high
school, I get the most conversation out of Anato-
my and Physiology. I had a science major and I
had a lot of knowledge of science due to how
many classes I took.
Who inspired your philosophy of teaching?
My music teacher. She was the most influential
figure while I was learning to play the piano.
Did you originally want to do something else in
your career?
When I was in High school I originally inspired to
be a dentist. During my college years the exams
were killing me. I switched majors and I discov-
ered that that I was pretty good at this field.
What’s your favorite thing about teaching?
My favorite thing about teaching is having stu-
dents engaged. Anatomy and Physiology doesn’t
bore my students. They ask a lot of questions and
they pay attention.
What are some of your favorite things to do out-
side of school?
Playing the piano. I’ve been playing since I was 8
years old. I’m considered a classical pianist and I
entered a piano contest very recently.
What was the event in your life that lead you to
wanting to become a teacher?
Pan Am, the job I originally had went out of busi-
ness. I had to go back to what I knew best and
that was science.
What did you like about working for Pan Am?
The best thing about it was the experience of
traveling everywhere. I can safely say that my
feet have touched all 7 continents of the world.
FEB-MARCH PAGE 4
Staff of The Month
Lourdes Gomez: Treasurer
How long have you worked at Sunset?
Lourdes: Since 1997, so about 21 years.
What tasks do you do as treasurer?
Lourdes: I do deposits for students and teach-
ers, process payments for our school purchas-
es, I do many phone calls, and deal with many
parents when they come in.
Is there anyone else you work closely with to
perform your job?
Lourdes: Not really, a lot of tasks just require
me.
What are some of the difficulties of your job?
Lourdes: Time management, there’s always
lots to do and little time to accomplish the
tasks.
Why did you choose this as your career?
Lourdes: I was always good at math, so that
got me interested in accounting and other
math related fields.
What advice would you give to students?
Lourdes: I would advise students to get into
finance and accounting, not even as a job, but
the subjects themselves can offer a lot of back-
ground help for any other kind of field one
might be interested in.
What did you find most surprising about your
job?
Lourdes: The amount of work you get and
have to complete for such a small pay.
Why should students know who you are?
Lourdes: I am basically the person to know
when it comes to any financial obligations or
fees they will have to pay. If you need to pay
off a book, or something for a club, I am the
gal you have to speak and deal with.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Lincoln cent or Lincoln penny is a cent
coin (or penny) (1/100 of a dollar) that has
been struck by the United States Mint since
1909. The obverse or heads
side was designed by Vic-
tor David Brenner, as was
the original reverse.