This past November, students had the opportunity to go on two unique field trips.

LA Zoo
Engineering, Expository Composition, and AP Literature classes from the STEMM Magnet went to the Los Angeles Zoo November 13.

After reading Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park about the de-extinction of prehistoric animals, students in the different classes made connections between the animal enclosures at the zoo and the dinosaur containments in the novel.

If you’ve ever read or watched Jurassic Park, you’ll know they definitely do not do a good job of containing the dinosaurs. Each class had unique objectives for the visit.

According to English teacher Marcos Sandoval, the leader of the field trip for the Expository Composition class, the field trip was inspired by “interdisciplinary collaboration with linked learning.”

Brent Rojo is the STEMM Magnet lead teacher who accompanied the field trip for the Engineering classes. According to Rojo, Engineering students were tasked with designing their own Jurassic Park with dinosaur enclosures, visitor centers, and preferably more protection than the novel offered.

“The students went to the zoo with their designs already completed so that when they saw the animal enclosures, they could see how their designs compared to reality,” he said.

Senior Victoria Eisenstein, who is a student in Sandoval’s class, appreciated the visit.

“As a kid, I went to the zoo many times, but I think on this visit we had a new perspective on how the zoo worked based on the book we were reading in our English class, Jurassic Park,” she said.

The students who went on this trip also thought critically about the branding of institutions like zoos, as well as logistics that go into containing animals.

Staff writers Jayden Derifield and Sophia Parrish contributed to this piece

LA Opera
Angela Fajardo, Arabella Gonzalez, and Maria Lopez-Zamudio’s AP Spanish Language Spanish Literature and Spanish 4 classes attended El último sueño de Frida y Diego at the LA Opera November 15.

The title of the opera translates to The Last Dream of Frida and Diego in English.

Performances were hosted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles. It featured live music, colorful costumes, and beautiful set designs.

The opera is a romantic love story about artist Diego Rivera reuniting with his deceased wife, artist Frida Kahlo, on the Day of the Dead. He asks her to return to the land of the living; however, she denies his request until she is persuaded by another soul.

Gonzalez enjoyed taking her AP Spanish Literature class to see the opera.

“Of course, I loved it—first because the whole thing was in Spanish, and they were singing in Spanish,” she said. “The main point of the opera was really great, too.”

Sophomore Jeannie Fischer said that she was entertained by the opera.

“There were a bunch of different people dressed as Frida, wearing really big gowns, which were based off of her painting,” she said. “I thought that part was really nice.”

Sophomore Nuria Javelosa also really enjoyed the experience of going to the opera.

“I really enjoyed being in the top balcony part of it—I got a really good view of it,” she said.\ “I feel like the stage and the setting of it was really nice, and the music and the singers were very talented.”

Javelosa mentioned how interesting it was to see an opera in English she could understand since most operas are in Italian.

“It was a really fun experience, and I’d go again,” she said.