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Compiled By: Lauren Mittleman/Editor-in-Chief, Clare Beezhold/Editor-in-Chief, Kimi Danaei/Exec Theme Editor, Raven Ramsey/Theme Editor
Clare comes to terms with being old news
To be completely honest,
I’ve been sitting in front
of this computer for a week try-
ing to come up with the perfect
“catchy, yet heartfelt” opening
for my goodbye but I seem to be
coming up short, realizing that
there are just so many things I
want to say, as cliche as that may
sound. So why don’t I just start
off by saying that this is going
to be one of the most relief-filled
yet most difficult goodbyes I
have ever had to give.
My ‘journalism career’ started
in Ms. Thomas’ class back in
eighth grade when I decided to
join MBMS’s newspaper, The
Riptide Reader. Little did I know
then that being the paper’s news
editor along with La Vista’s cur-
rent Theme Editor, Kimi, would
land me where I am today. I am
eternally grateful to my middle
school self for being willing to
take on a zero period. While
the passage onto La Vista was
not as smooth as I had hoped,
looking back, I wouldn’t change
my trajectory. In my freshman
Intro to Jounalism class I met
a group of girls who I can say
with confidence I will know and
charish for a very long time (I
also learned that Old Spice de-
odorant is unbeatable, so thanks
for that one Penelope). The next
year, my first year on La Vista,
was spent at one very special
back table with three amazing
girls working on News brief af-
ter News brief with one or two
Buzzfeed quiz breaks along the
way for good measure. These
girls and that fourth period were
like a safe haven for me and I
will never forget all the memo-
ries we made at that back table.
Now, I cannot write this good-
bye without mentioning one
special person who I spent more
time with in the La Vista back
room, as well as aimlessly walk-
ing around on campus when a
break was necessary, and that
would be Greta Nerad. Greta,
you taught me so much not only
by being an amazing news edi-
tor and writer but also showing
me how to stand up for myself,
allowing me to effectively carry
out my position today and help
me with any opportunities that
come my way in the future. And
to Josie and Madeleine, I will
forever be grateful to the two of
you as well. Each of you showed
me what it means to not only be
amazing leaders but also genu-
inely amazing people, and so
I thank you for giving me the
chance to hopefully have a posi-
tive impact on my fellow staff
members similar to your posi-
tive influence on me.
Now it would be dishonest if
I didn’t remark on how disap-
pointed I was initially that the
other seniors and I were not
able to spend our final year of
La Vista in the hallowed “back
room.” I had always dreamed
of being able to sit in the EIC
office and shut the door on ev-
eryone else just because I could.
And although this year didn’t
go exactly as I had always envi-
sioned it in my head, I still cher-
ish the memories I’ve made, the
things we’ve accomplished and
the people I’ve met and become
closer with than I could have
imagined. Despite this not being
your typical last hurrah, I will
still look back on my time this
year as part of the La Vista team
fondly knowing that we worked
tirelessly in spite of the many
uncertainties and obstacles we
all faced.
To the next generation of
La Vista, although you are a
smaller cohort compared to
past years, this year I bore wit-
ness to your intense dedica-
tion, spending countless hours
huddled over your computers in
your bedrooms under the veil of
COVID-19. I am so grateful to
have been able to get to know
all of you underclassmen, even
if it wasn’t in the most tradition-
al of settings. And while it may
sound cheesy, I have confidence
that you all will do great things
and will serve our school’s com-
munity well.
So with that said, goodbye La
Vista and thank you from the
bottom of my heart for the good,
the bad and the ugly.
From principal’s office to Editor-in-Chief closet: Lauren’s La Vista journey
A s Editor-in-Chief, it is
my job to read and edit
everything that La Vista pub-
lishes. As I’m looking over the
senior goodbyes of my class-
mates that I’ve come to know,
love and sometimes hate over
the years, I see one main con-
sistency: they all start off their
senior goodbyes with how they
walked into the famous room
101 on the first day of fresh-
man year with nervous, yet op-
timistic smiles on their faces.
My story, on the other hand, is
very different.
I didn’t always plan on pur-
suing print journalism, and to
be completely honest, I never
even read the newspaper until
last year. I decided to switch
into the Advanced Journal-
ism class halfway through my
sophomore year while cry-
ing in the principal’s office. I
knew absolutely nothing about
La Vista because I didn’t take
the intro class, but after talk-
ing with my two friends in the
class who later dropped out and
abandoned me, La Vista seemed
like a better, and easier, choice
than stacking on yet another
AP class to my already hectic
class schedule. Turns out, it is
WAY more work, but also 1000
times more fun.
I was only able to spend one
year in the La Vista classroom
before we switched to online,
but I truly believe I spent my
time there doing what I was
best at: taking Buzzfeed quiz-
zes to determine what type of
food I am. While I struggle to
make literally any decision in
my own life, whether it be re-
garding what to eat for dinner
or where to go to college next
year, I had no issue flawlessly
dictating Bobbett’s every move
in the legendary game that is
Episode, with the help of my
La Vista besties, of course.
I can say without a doubt that
La Vista is my home away from
home. It is the reason for my 13
hour school days, and in turn,
the cause of the money that I
owe the MBPD and the root of
my McFlurry addiction. I was
never able to sit in my spinny
chair in the EIC closet (I mean
office), but La Vista is nonethe-
less the highlight of my senior
year and high school career.
The people I’ve met as a re-
sult of my very rash decision,
both inside and outside of the
class (special shoutout to Cos-
ta’s TikTok stars), have forever
changed my life for the better.
While I now know more about
astrology and Lil Huddy than
I ever could have imagined,
I would have it no other way.
The bonds formed in a class-
room late at night after multiple
sports practices and InDesign
malfunctions are bonds that
will last longer than Costa’s
asbestos, mold and whooping
cough outbreaks…but maybe
not by much. I will never for-
get the memories made in the
back room of Room 101, nor
the fact that I was denied the
use of the Oxford comma that
I so love.
To my staff – thank you for
your tireless hard work, dedi-
cation and time. No matter how
long you’ve been in La Vista,
you will forever be a part of the LV
family and I wish you the absolute
best. I’ve so enjoyed every mov-
ie night, impromptu brunch and
yes, even getting new piercings at
Claire’s with my favorite La Vista
girls. I am so proud of all of you,
especially for coming along for the
wild ride that is printing papers
while never seeing each
other in-person and rein-
stating the video depart-
ment. This year was only
successful because of each
and every one of you, and
I am so looking forward to
seeing what you will ac-
complish in the future.
Taylor bids fare-well to La Vista
I honestly can’t believe that it is my
turn to write my senior goodbye. I
remember as a sophomore thinking that
I had so much time before I became a
senior, but time flew by in a blink of an
eye and as I am looking back on these
last three years, I can say that joining
La Vista was one of the best decisions I
have ever made.
Just like my besties Kelly and Ando-
nia, my journalism journey started in the
sixth grade, when all three of us took a
journalism class at Hermosa Valley to-
gether. Due to the fact that I played Cool
Math Games, watched Youtube most of
the time and only wrote about three sto-
ries total, I really had no idea what La
Vista was going to entail when I joined
my sophomore year.
Walking into room 101 as a sopho-
more, I was tasked with covering the
Manhattan Beach City Council meet-
ings, along with writing a full story for
each issue. I almost had a panic attack
each time I got a horrible grade on my
news briefs, but I quickly learned that
this was part of the experience on La
Vista and learned to deal with the fact
that my briefs were considered to be
trash. When I was not going through
a rollercoaster of emotions,
Andonia, Clare, Lauren and I
would play Episode and take
Buzzfeed quizzes in our usual
spot, the center-back table of
the room.
My junior year, I became
one of the sports page editors
and assumed the stress and
pressure of creating pages, ed-
iting stories and making sure
the pages in my section looked
good while trying to keep up
with every sport that was
happening on campus. Those
seven months in that back edi-
tors’ room caused some anxi-
ety, from frantically taking
pictures of top performers and
putting in a game story the day
before the paper came out to
trying to figure out Indesign,
but I poured my blood, sweat
and tears into those pages, and
learned so much about the
process of creating a newspa-
per and about myself.
Even though my senior
year was not what most of us
expected, I am proud of what
our program was able to ac-
complish. We were able to
overcome obstacles and fully
create and print a newspaper
online that looked amazing
every issue. La Vista has been
the highlight of my high school
career, and as I mentioned be-
fore, La Vista has been the one
of the best decisions I have
ever made.
I am so glad that I was able
to have my favs Andonia,
Kelly, Lauren, Clare, Penel-
ope, Kimi and Mia with me
throughout this journey on La
Vista. I would not have been
able to get through this class
without them. I am extremely
thankful for my time on La
Vista, as I have made lifelong
friends and memories that will
last a lifetime.
Thank you, La Vista for the
past three years!! It’s been a
fun ride!
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