Games
Fall Crossword 2025
Annika Petras
Across:
8. Fall-y
4. As in pie, spice, patch
6. Fall drink that has stolen the PSL's thunder
9. It's a-maize-ing
10. Rapscallions increasingly active in the fall
12. An gooey treat with three main components
13. An eerie abode or a ____ house
15. Drink made from fermented apples
Down:
1. Many revisit these ‘girls’ in the fall
2. You can find it in Oz or a pumpkin patch
3. Your butt might hurt after going on this silly ride
5. Something you should give on November 28th
7. A mutilated pumpkin
13. What really "falls" in fall
Valentine’s Playlist 2025
Let’s hear it OCSA!
What is OCSA Thankful for?
Sloane Adams
OCSA Shears: Shaved Head Showcase
Jackie Blom, Amelie Muro
Interviewing OCSA high school students on why they shaved their heads and the things that came that came out of it.
OCSA Snack Time
Tabitha Finamore, Michael McDonald, and Rajsi Rana
What Are OCSA Students Listening To?
Tabitha Finamore
Join evolution on a quick trip around question to find out what students are listening to from class to class.
Cinfully Delicious Citrus Rolls Recipe
Selah Sanchez
Hi OCSA! Here is a video tutorial for the March's featured recipe! Check it out on the website or in the newspaper. Hope they turn out tasty and sweet! - Selah :)
The Best of Halloween
Michael McDonald and Brian Lin
Some of the best moments from OCSA’s 2021 Halloween celebration. We at OCSA pride ourselves in our enthusiastic crew of students who show their love for the popular costume-driven holiday in the most elaborate ways. Watch for a highlight reel of our time at lunch on 10th Street!
Baking Through the Evolution Recipe Archives
episode two - Winter liner cookies 🌠🍪
Tabitha Finamore and Selah Sanchez
Hi there OCSA! We hope you had a happy holidays. Go ahead and give this recipe a try during winter break.
episode one - hot girl strawberry shortcake 🍓
Tabitha Finamore
Miss our Evolution recipes? Watch this light - hearted baking tutorial on one of our sweetest recipes. Feel free to follow along or just sit back and relax!
OCSA Snack Time!
Tabitha Finamore, Michael McDonald, Rajsi Rana
episode four - finale
episode three - holiday snacks
episode two - halloween candy
episode one - pumpkin spice
The Evolution Dispatch
Mia Soumbasakis
Fall was upon T305, with crisp air, crisp pants and the crisp click clacking of fingers against keys. Up against the painted waves on the wall, Isabel sat in a tall chair, wearing a hunter green sweater and long grey socks. Elena was at her side, the tinsel in her hair gleaming under the projector light. She was typing in new story ideas for the December Evolution issue while Emma stood in a beige collared sweater with a computer in her hands. The class was buzzing with incessant chatter about being rushed across the street while trying to avoid stepping on glass after the Main Street car accident, whether or not people were going to tree lighting, Taylor Swift’s re-recorded songs, and the blooming fame of Andy’s TikTok account after a junior asked him for an autograph. Mr. Peterson reminded the class that whatever we wrote for this issue would have a quick turnaround, especially with Thanksgiving break in the middle of the writing period, and that the newspaper would likely be out during finals week. What would people want to read during finals week?
I tried to think of an article idea, but really my mind was on the movie I’d seen a few days prior: the French Dispatch. How were the stories woven so seamlessly together with all the different timelines and perspectives? Was the writer a part of each of the stories by nature, and is that true for pretty much any story a writer writes, true or fiction? Who did that lady in the orange dress story remind me of? Effie from the Hunger Games? A limited edition Barbie?
At once the autumn leaves parted and so did the clouds and an iridescent bolt of lighting struck down through the tower and into me. I raised my hand and said I’d write the Evolution Dispatch.
Minus the obituary, of course. Although Mr. Peterson said he wouldn’t mind fake dying for the story.
ART
Helen sat at the end of the bus near the window on their way to the Hilbert Museum at Chapman University on an Ekphrastic Poetry field trip, looking out at the Main Street sidewalks they had walked many times before. All around him was commotion—people loudly playing hangman as Kaon, Dylan and I talked about being hungry and laughed about the Brokeback Mountain-esque Deep Springs College, the cowboy school that until recently only accepted men. We would later sneak away from the museum to get Ruby’s fries and chicken tenders. Windows clicked up and down, the bus engine hummed, the world spun, but Helen paid no mind and thought of the art they were about to witness. She hoped there wouldn’t be too many landscapes. After the bus stopped, Helen thanked the bus driver and a blonde lady came out of the museum and told Ms. Campoy that we were supposed to have been there 30 minutes ago. As she emphasized the importance of the wealthy Hilbert family, Dylan thought about how she probably had thin lips beneath her mask.
To Helen’s dismay, there were many uninteresting California landscape paintings, but certain ones sparked their interest, such as a painting with colorful rabbits and a warm-toned beach scene. The bright red representing the sand reminded her of the wings of the quetzal she painted for a mural she had painted while in quarantine. A jubilant rush overcame him as he remembered the community—college students, adults and children painting and people rolling down their windows to thank them. Sometimes, people would admire the mural without knowing Helen helped create it, which Helen liked. It made them think of the countless unsung Santa Ana artists who left their art around the city.
POLITICS
The day after Halloween, Chamina was sure they had eaten poisoned candy. They went home sick, pet their two Dachshunds, one pretty but mean and the other speckled with grey fur, and worked on the Filipino Myths & Folklore zine for the Philippine Student Coalition (PSC). They drew and researched the Aswang, an umbrella term for Philippine monsters, and the Manananggal, a creature with bat wings who sucks out unborn fetuses from their mothers by night and disguises as a beautiful woman during the day. A few days later, Dylan was up at 3am with over 50 sheets of glossy, expensive paper after rushing to print out the zine pages at Staples earlier that day and going through the roundabout process of emailing the file to Staples, receiving a QR code, and then waiting for a sample to be printed. The zine was now 8 pages long after Dylan and I had added to it and Dylan was realizing that although creating the zine started off as a simple and engaging project to avoid giving presentations during club meetings, it was soon becoming something more stressful. They individually stapled and cut each zine without thinking of doing them all at once, like gathering spilled marbles one by one. It was taking forever, but 15 minutes before falling asleep, they found an easier way to cut them. They felt like they wanted to bite someone as they quickly cut and stapled all the other zines.
After a PSC club meeting where everyone perused the zine and longer printed myths, Jackie wanted to go home and see what their family would think about the creatures. Their aunt told them about a ghost sighting she’d had of a white lady beneath a bridge and their Lolo (grandfather) told them a story about a persimmon tree in his backyard which had a Dwende (traditionally a dwarf-like mischievous creature) when he first moved in. I was elated when I learned that the zine had been approved by Filipino elders. In the car with Dylan and Chamina, I told Joselle, our Filipino friend who we do community organizing work with, about the zine. Joselle wasn’t surprised that we’d made a zine about mythology, because the storytelling and creatures are cool, but they felt a sense of worry building up as they told us that a lot of Filipino mythological creatures were weaponized by colonizing forces in order to mask the violence of Spanish colonization and US imperialism.
The creation of many Filipino mythological creatures, such as the Aswang, were born as a tool to colonize the Philippines. The Spanish spread the myth of the Aswang, which built upon pre-existing religion in the Philippines in order to create a reason that indigenous Filipinos were dying in massive numbers and to spark fear so that Filipinos would turn to Catholicism. Filipinos at the time believed in a variety of deities who symbolized love and protection, but the Spanish forcefully and violently washed over newer generations with monotheism after killing the adults and elderly. When the US took over the Philippines after the Philippine-American War shortly after the country had won its independence from Spain, it used mythology as a tactic to prevent uprisings against the government. Corpses of those who protested or rebelled against the government were sometimes punctured with bite marks to make it seem like they had been killed by the Aswang. Again, this was to incite fear in the people. A secondary purpose was to villainize indigenous beliefs, as the Aswang was crafted from both indigenous and Spanish influences.
Upon learning how mythology had historically been used, Chamina reflected that it would make sense that Spain and the US would manipulate the Philippine population to cover up murder, especially since mythology relies on the political and social positions of any given area at that time. Chamina was reminded of Trese, a Netflix show with Filipino creatures that has a main character who acts as a bridge between the normal world and the supernatural world, portrayed as a warped, exotic and unnatural version of the working class. On a whole, Chamina recognized that our mythological creatures reflect the attitudes of those in power.
FOOD
Ben had been to South Coast Plaza many a time around the holiday season to see Scrooge do a somersault in the annual showing of A Christmas Carol at the Segerstrom Center, but never before had been to tree lighting. They had agreed to meet with friends beforehand, so after Frida confidently directed them and Agnes to Marugame Udon, they waited in a line with over 10 friends (the group had expanded as people joined their plans). Ami heard one of the workers grumble over the amount of customers as everyone went through the buffet line and took a seat. Ironically, I didn’t order anything because I had already had noodles at a pho place on First Street that afternoon to do last minute Inkblot revisions.
Everything happened in fast succession. Ben loved the udon so much that they ate Agnes and Frida’s leftovers. I talked with Kavin, Arhana, Josh and Adan about how Kavin and Arhana had just won “the bestest of friends” for senior superlatives. We put spice in Josh’s food when he went to the bathroom, but he didn’t notice when he came back. Kavin thought the curry udon was better than the kake udon. We awaited a night where we’d see a tree set on fire. After eating, Josh posed as a mannequin at Old Navy.
Finding the tree was not an easy task. After gawking at South Coast Plaza fashion, including furry Louis Vuitton slippers and a gruff elderly man wearing knee length shorts with a suit jacket, we arrived at a large indoor already-lit tree and figured we were lost. After finding the real tree, which was outside across a walkway, Ben, Agnes and I went back to my car to get blankets to sit on. They had restocked the Santa hats on our way out, so we hid the hats beneath the blankets to try to get more for others when we came back in, but then the hats were out again. At the end of the night, we sang Last Christmas while walking through the parking lot.
OBITUARY
I lied. There is an obituary, for the December 2021 issue of Evolution, which will now be the January 2022 issue of Evolution. The newspaper was supposed to arrive on December 16, but it was not to be as of 9:34 a.m. in Journalism. The paper was well-loved and had a long lifetime of bumping up and down in the back of a truck in the rain.
People Mentioned in the Evolution Dispatch: Isabel Hahn (CW ‘22), Emma Han (VA ‘22), Elena Levin (IA ‘22), Helen Estrada (CW ‘23), Kaon Suh (CW ‘22), Dylan de Guzman (CW ‘22), Chamina Dormitorio (DM ‘22), Jacqueline Blom (BCD ‘22), Joselle de los Reyes (non-OCSA), Ben Dirghalli (IA ‘22), Frida Jauregi (CW ‘22), Agnes Volland (CW ‘22), Amelie Muro (FTV ‘22), Kavin Mohan (CW ‘22), Arhana Singhania (FTV ‘22), Joshua Normandin-Parker (CW ‘22), Adan O’Toole (VA ‘22)
Rating Korean Childhood Shows Pt.2
Isabelle Ng & Irene Son
Podcast February 2025
November 2025
Scooter Beaudoin
DIY Holiday Gifts
Julia Motakef
Valentine’s Day Deserts
Karli Larsen
Strawberry Shortcake Fudge
INGREDIENTS:
Nonstick cooking spray
3 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. strawberry Jell-O powder
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch kosher salt
1 1/2 c. marshmallow crème
10 -14 drops pink food coloring
2 c. Nilla wafers
3/4 c. crushed Nilla wafers, for garnish
Pink sanding sugar, for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
-Line a square baking pan with parchment paper then spray with cooking spray.
-In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, strawberry Jell-O powder, butter, vanilla, and salt.
-Reduce heat to medium-low and add marshmallow fluff and food coloring.
-Remove from heat and immediately pour half into the prepared pan. Arrange a single layer of Nilla wafers on top of the fudge and pour remaining fudge over top. Sprinkle with crushed wafers and pink sprinkles.
-Refrigerate until firm, 2 to 3 hours, then slice into squares.
Rosewater Lemonade Spritzer
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons rosewater
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
A few drops of pomegranate juice for color
¾ cup sparkling water
DIRECTIONS:
** Combine all ingredients, stir, fill with ice and enjoy!
October Lunar Events
Isabel Hahn
Visuals courtesy of Ernie Wright, NASA
Social distancing guidelines are not the only thing making this year’s spooky season unique. As if 2020 is not bizarre enough already, it’s a year with thirteen full moons instead of the usual twelve, two of which are occuring during October. The second full moon of the month, otherwise known as a blue moon, is scheduled for Halloween night.
The first full moon this month was a harvest moon, appearing on October 1. Harvest moons are moons closest to the autumnal equinox, typically occurring towards the end of September. However, the full moon for September this year came on September 2, which was too early to be designated as the harvest moon. If the harvest moon occurs in October, the September full moon is actually called the corn moon, due to the fact that it appears at the peak time of corn harvesting. Harvest Moons are special because they rise closer to the time of sunset. Instead of rising fifty minutes later each day, they appear at around the same time each night. Farmers are able to use the light of the harvest moon to continue gathering their crops late into the night. Harvest moons appear larger and more orange by illusion, making them perfect for the fall season.
The second full moon of the month is the upcoming blue moon, and it will provide a spectacular Halloween scene that is unrelated to scary costumes or trick-or-treating. Contrary to what the name entails, a blue moon is not actually blue in color. Rather, it is a name used to describe the second full moon in one month. They usually appear once every two and a half to three years. Blue moons are already rare, but this one is particularly special, as a full moon has not occurred on Halloween across all time zones since 1944, in the World War II era. However, a full moon on Halloween in certain time zones tend to occur every nineteen years. One can be expected to appear in some parts of the world in the year 2039. Although this year’s blue moon will likely not look any different from a typical moon, its timing will certainly be very memorable.
The full moon following a harvest moon is typically called a hunter’s moon. The fall season is traditionally a time for hunting and storing up supplies for the winter ahead. Because farmers had already harvested their crops under the harvest moon, it is said that it became easier for them to spot potential game roaming around the fields. Technically, this upcoming full moon would be called a blue hunter’s moon. It is certainly a mouthful, and quite fitting for this chilling holiday.
This year’s Halloween celebrations will look much different from the norm, but don’t be discouraged! More time may be spent indoors, but the distinct blue moon is guaranteed to become a festive backdrop this Halloween night. Get those costumes and decorations ready and gather some friends to go skygazing with. After all, a Halloween like this one really only comes once in a blue moon.
Stay at Homecoming
Jennifer Woo
2020 Homecoming Court: Cat Johnston (CV ‘21), Mia Kaplan (MT ‘21), Hunter Laws (MT ‘21), and Yasmeen Baghdadi (CMD ‘21)
French Park performing on the steps of Symphony Hall
Charlotte La Rue (PM ‘21), Wyatt Beckley (PM ‘22), Lance Evensen (PM ‘22), and Thomas Muri (PM ‘22)
Along with every other OCSA event,homecoming has gone virtual. While students couldn’t spend their Saturday dancing the night away at the House of Blues, the leadership team streamed a 36 minute pre-filmed homecoming video to still recognize the annual homecoming event. The video resembled the format of OCSA’s 2020 Virtual Graduation and Virtual Season Premiere.
High school dance coordinator, Arielle Schmid (MT ‘21) said,“I really hope that people are reminded of OCSA culture and that the people are what make it important, and that we’re all here for each other in this weird time.”
The montage of Snapchat memories, people and videos from the OCSA campus certainly brought back many memories of OCSA spirit and daily energy. Students also got to see their favorite teachers dancing at home to Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol.
Schmid also noted that she was most excited for the Kevin Chamberlin cameo. Yes. Bertram from Disney Channel’s Jessie.
“Find the joy in this experience, because that’s what’s most important in life [...] I would come and tell you this in person but… it’s too far. For those of you who grew up on Jessie, that was my catch phrase” said Chamberlin.
Another Disney Channel star, David Henrie, also sent a message to OCSA students. He wished us all a happy homecoming and even made a little magic spell gesture to pay homage to his role as Justin Russo on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place.
The virtual homecoming featured three OCSA bands, The Ashleys, French Street, and Cabaret Combo. These live performances, two of which were performed in front of Symphony Hall, were reminiscent of OCSA’s beloved Fridays on 10th Street.
The 2020 Homecoming court also made an appearance! Yasmeen Baghdadi (CMD ‘21) was crowned Homecoming queen, and Hunter Laws (MT ‘21) was crowned Homecoming king.
“Thank you for electing me as your Stay-at-Homecoming King. I will use my power to better and brighten this world. I will feed the homeless, I will clothe the poor. Everything I do is for a better world and this is where that starts. Homecoming court 2020.” said Laws in his satirical (or maybe serious?) acceptance speech.
This was definitely OCSA’s most unique dance to date. While it wasn’t the expected way to spend Homecoming night, it brought special moments that wouldn’t have been possible at an in-person homecoming, like cameos from Disney Channel stars and performances from OCSA alumni.
Sidra Villacorta (PM ‘21), Thomas Wyman (IM ‘21), Andrew Gordnier (IM ‘21), Cole Daniel (IM ‘21)
The Ashleys: Hanna Eyre (PM ‘19), Nick Estes (PM ‘19), Dorjé Pradhan (‘19), Elijah Vann (‘20), Sawyer Kooyman (‘20)