School Spirit

Writer-director Mario Van Peebles' hectic version of a coming-of-age romp, the L.A.-set "We the Party" depicts a multi-ethnic group of friends and acquaintances at a fictional Baldwin Hills high school, who have sex, grades and an uncertain future on their minds. Van Peebles' son Mandela stars as Hendrix, a smart charmer with an eye for studious babe Cheyenne (Simone Battle) but a disdain for education that worries his hectoring dad (director Van Peebles), a teacher at his school.

It was supposed to be the grand finale of the Red and Gold show, a decades-long tradition for the students of Rosary High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Fullerton. Instead, the raucous and creative performance showcasing school spirit ended in a blur when the stage collapsed Saturday night, sending two dozen students to the hospital with minor and moderate injuries. Investigators are now reviewing building permits to determine what restrictions applied to the stage. The performance took place at Servite High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Anaheim.

Date: Sept. 4, 2009 To: Students, faculty and staff From: Principal's office, Belmont Learning Complex Welcome, bienvenidos, to Belmont--the newest, highest-tech and most expensive school in the nation! Today is the first day of school, the first day of new adventures in learning, and we want to acquaint you with some of the features here at Belmont--the many things we have to be proud of.

Editor's note: Elijah Zabludoff is a senior football player from St. John Bosco High and an aspiring journalist. Each week during the high school football season, he will be blogging about his personal experiences and also his thoughts about prep sports in general. Zabludoff is a returning starter at center for the Braves, who are ranked No. 1 in the Southland by the Los Angeles Times. I had never been so nervous in my life. My St. John Bosco Braves were playing Santa Ana Mater Dei, and as I walked onto the field of the Santa Ana Bowl, I looked up and viewed the largest crowd I had ever seen.

There's nothing left for me to cheer. As much as I despised the hypocrisy of NCAA football and detested the poll-based awarding of championships, I always got a little charge out of watching my school, Northwestern, win a game. The games don't matter as much anymore. Not after a summer filled with football players keeling over, with Northwestern right in the middle. I'm still going to Northwestern's game at Nevada Las Vegas tonight, but only because the flight was non-refundable.

Alabama football fans can buy pens, ties, video games, phones and socks that play the Crimson Tide's fight song, and a New York company is humming the tune all the way to the bank. In an unusual mix of athletics and consumer electronics, college sports fans are helping boost the bottom line for a Manhattan-based music publisher that's selling rights to fight songs for use in an array of new products.

School spirit is exploding at four Orange County high schools this week as students get ready to cheer for their basketball teams at tonight's semifinals of the Southern California regional basketball playoffs. For each of the schools, tonight's game is the game before the game-the Southern California regional championship on Saturday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The winners play against the northern regional champion March 15-16 for state titles.

Although their team lost, about 600 fans who packed the Cal State Northridge student union Friday night to watch the NCAA game on a big-screen television were happy just to have been part of March Madness. "Just making it into the tournament is good enough," said freshman Cynthia Kwok. "It's all that matters." She said she never expected the men's basketball team to still be playing this late in the season. "I have confidence in the team's future now," junior Reisha Bailey said.

The performance Sunday night will begin with old-fashioned school spirit and end with the heavyweight hilarity of Drew Carey and Bruce Baum. But in between, two groups of scruffy teenagers will break ground at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Andromeda, whose sound tilts toward 311 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Urban Outrage, punk rockers known primarily for heating up raucous Isla Vista street parties, will be the first hard rock bands to play in the 1,800-seat Charles E.

Principal Steve Elwood enters the narrow passageway where nobody else at Lee Williams High School dares to go. He leans low to open a half-sized hallway door, leading the way into a musty windowless chamber the size of a small tomb. Light pours into the cramped space, illuminating the dust that rises from the gravel floor like at an exotic archaeological dig. Even though it's mid-May, there's an odd chill to the air. The room isn't used for anything, yet it was somehow included in the building plans for the new school.

 I don't know what's more entertaining _ watching the Servite student section have fun or watching the football team. Servite's fans, known as the Asylum during the basketball season, are certainly vocal and dress loudly during football games. With all their Hawaiian shirt attire, the students ought to be able to get an endorsement deal from someone. School spirit is certainly alive and well (see video above). Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

Principal Steve Elwood enters the narrow passageway where nobody else at Lee Williams High School dares to go. He leans low to open a half-sized hallway door, leading the way into a musty windowless chamber the size of a small tomb. Light pours into the cramped space, illuminating the dust that rises from the gravel floor like at an exotic archaeological dig. Even though it's mid-May, there's an odd chill to the air. The room isn't used for anything, yet it was somehow included in the building plans for the new school.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies SERIES Inside Men: This four-part series tells the story of employees of a cash security depot who execute a multimillion-pound cash heist. Steven Mackintosh, Ashley Walters and Warren Brown star as the amateur crooks (7 and 10 p.m. BBC America)

Writer-director Mario Van Peebles' hectic version of a coming-of-age romp, the L.A.-set "We the Party" depicts a multi-ethnic group of friends and acquaintances at a fictional Baldwin Hills high school, who have sex, grades and an uncertain future on their minds. Van Peebles' son Mandela stars as Hendrix, a smart charmer with an eye for studious babe Cheyenne (Simone Battle) but a disdain for education that worries his hectoring dad (director Van Peebles), a teacher at his school.

The Texas A&M Corps of Cadets has a vocabulary all its own, some of which is spelled out in a primer distributed to all freshmen, or "fish. " cackle — eggs dead rabbit — cabbage dope — coffee non-regs — students not in the Corps 2 percenters — A&M students lacking school spirit whip out — to salute and introduce oneself to passing upperclassmen. Required of "fish. " wiggle — Jell-O wildcat — to yell, hands extended overhead.

Doug Donnell has traveled with UCLA's alumni tours for more than 15 years. His trips have taken him around Europe "enough times that I don't want to go back," to South Africa, South America, Egypt, Jordan, Fiji, New Zealand, China and Tibet. "When I was 25, I went around the world by myself," says Donnell, a retired Long Beach physician. "It was a life-changing experience but one characterized by a Spartan lifestyle. At age 75, I'm not there anymore. Now I want five-star hotels, my travel arrangements made for me, my baggage handled and the luxury of having a boarding pass put in my hand when I arrive at an airport.

With each click of his mouse, Sam Picture wondered if John Muir High School was a good career move. Stories of high dropout rates, low test scores and violence popped on his screen when he researched the 55-acre campus in northwest Pasadena in January 2008. He didn't see it as a deterrent, but rather, a challenge. Picture, now the school's athletic director, is one of the many teachers, administrators and counselors hired to turn around the troubled high school, which since 2001 has cycled through five principals.

I think Jim Murray must be a little jealous of the loyalty, pride, and school spirit that gives the Iowa Hawkeyes such a huge following. Could you see 40,000 Bruin fans travel halfway across the country to cheer their team on to victory? They can't even attract that many fans for a home game. DOUG CLITHERO Los Angeles

With each click of his mouse, Sam Picture wondered if John Muir High School was a good career move. Stories of high dropout rates, low test scores and violence popped on his screen when he researched the 55-acre campus in northwest Pasadena in January 2008. He didn't see it as a deterrent, but rather, a challenge. Picture, now the school's athletic director, is one of the many teachers, administrators and counselors hired to turn around the troubled high school, which since 2001 has cycled through five principals.

Over the years, we've noticed that fashion weeks are a lot like high school -- with cliques and hierarchies, where seemingly insignificant things (like where you sit) take on exaggerated importance. Because L.A.'s latest efforts to pull together a cohesive, organized week have turned into a fashion "month," rather than survey the mosaic of events, we're focusing on the star students instead: the assorted designers (established as well as the up-and-comers), retailers, muses and shutterbugs who reflect the true DNA of the City of Angels.