The Student News Site of Mark Keppel High School

The Aztec

The Aztec

The Student News Site of Mark Keppel High School

The Aztec

2023-2024 Staff

Janice Luckey
Adviser

Janice Luckey

Mrs. Luckey has been The Aztec adviser since the 2019-2020 school year. She has been a member of the MKHS English Department faculty since 2013 and has been teaching since 2004. She began her teaching career in her home-state...

Maryam Barro Tall
President/Editor-In-Chief / Opinion Editor

Maryam Barro Tall

Maryam is a 17 year old senior in her second and last year on the newspaper as the President, Opinion Editor & Editor in Chief. Maryam is the youngest of 3 girls, the oldest entering her senior year of college, and the second...

Brayton Andrade
Co-Editor in Chief / Sports Editor

Brayton Andrade

Brayton is a junior at Mark Keppel High School. He plays for the MKHS tennis team and this is his second year writing for The Aztec. Brayton spends the majority of his time playing tennis, listening to music (always needs recommen...

Audrey Segura
Arts & Entertainment Co-Editor

Audrey Segura

Audrey Segura is a junior at Mark Keppel, who edits the Arts & Entertainment section of the paper (and also runs the Instagram!) She loves listening to music and watching Instagram reels in her free time, just as much as she...

Emily Wang
Arts & Entertainment Co-Editor

Emily Wang

Emily is a junior who's obsessed with anything matcha-flavored. In her free time, she enjoys watching romantic dramas and horror movies (even though she gets scared really easily). If you do talk to her, here is a warning: she...

Aric Xan
News Editor

Aric Xan

Aric Xan, is a senior at Mark Keppel High School. He is also chief editor in News for journalism. He enjoys lots of music and is currently getting into a band. He is also interested in double majoring in business and film, because...

Taylara Pretorius
Features Editor

Taylara Pretorius

Taylara is a senior who loves creative writing and reading. She spends her free time either writing or hanging with her bird. Her obsessions are the Persona series, data collection, and forensic science. She also loves listening to ...

Garrett Hasegawa
Tech Editor

Garrett Hasegawa

Garrett Hasegawa is a senior at Mark Keppel High School. He is currently in his second year of Journalism. He likes taking care of his plants, dog, and also enjoys reading. He also enjoys watching movies and arguing with people...

Jenny Tang
Editor

Jenny Tang

Jenny is a senior attending MKHS. She enjoys listening to music, collecting things, reading, and going to concerts. In her free time, you would probably catch her watching live performances on YouTube, reading a fantasy/romance b...

Bella Palma
Staff Writer

Bella Palma

Bella Palma is a junior student at Mark Keppel High School, club founder/president of Vivalafem, and an actress who often performs in Keppel's school plays or musicals. Palma joined journalism to spread knowledge, and her love...

Theresa Van
Staff Writer

Theresa Van

Theresa is a senior attending MKHS. She enjoys cooking, being with her friends and family, and roller coasters. In her free time, she would most likely sleep. She loves crazy and wild adventures, her grandma's cooking, and loves...

Brian Blackwater
Staff Writer

Brian Blackwater

Brian Blackwater is a mixed junior student at Mark Keppel. His unique last name comes from Native American descent. Brian joined journalism to expand his writing skills, and learn more about the world, as well as spread his ow...

Kai Moran
Staff Writer

Kai Moran

Kai Moran is a senior at Mark Keppel High School currently in his first year of journalism. He participates in many hobbies such as skateboarding, snowboarding, golfing, and playing guitar, and also has a passion for writing....

Charlize Choi
Staff Writer

Charlize Choi

Charlize Choi is a sophomore at Mark Keppel High School and she's an introvert. She enjoys art related activities and loves sweet foods. This is her first time working for the Aztec News and is very interested in working for paper. S...

Ellen Mori
Staff Writer

Ellen Mori

Ellen Mori is a junior at Mark Keppel High School. She enjoys the subjects math and science. In her free time, she plays video games and reads graphic novels. Her favorite thing to do when left alone is creating story ideas. ...

Nicole Chan
Staff Writer

Nicole Chan

Nicole, a current senior attending Mark Keppel High School, is a member of the MKHS Dance Company. Aside from dance, she enjoys spending her time traveling or just outdoors. She has many hobbies, but not enough patience to comm...

Diego Miguel
Staff Writer

Diego Miguel

Diego Miguel is a senior at Mark Keppel High School. He’s a current dance member as well as a leader in the company. He’s an open guy that likes to meet new people and things.

Catalina Kennedy
Staff Writer

Catalina Kennedy

Catalina Kennedy, also known by her nickname, Cat, is a junior at Mark Keppel high school who is excited to join the Aztec News in light of her own journalistic pursuits. Interested in becoming a foreign correspondent, she oc...

Karina Lim
Staff Writer

Karina Lim

Karina is a junior who is part of the MKHS band. In her free time, she enjoys watching tv shows (usually Gilmore Girls) and taking naps with her cat (named after Rory Gilmore). If not, she’s listening to music and drinking boba from...

Jesus Velasco
Staff Writer

Jesus Velasco

Jesus Velasco is a junior at Mark Keppel High School. In his free time, he likes to listen to music, read and play video games. His favorite musicians are David Bowie and Avenged Sevenfold.  His favourite books are Brave New Wo...

Alan Huang
Staff Writer

Alan Huang

Alan Huang is a freshman experiencing his 1st year at Mark Keppel High School. He is someone who loves to talk about topics that he’s interested in such as history, pop culture (mainly superheroes, sci fi, anime, & horror), &...

Bryant Wu
Staff Writer

Bryant Wu

Bryant Wu is a 17 year old senior taking his first year of journalism in Mark Keppel High School. As a usually taciturn person, he is a part of our journalism team to expand his skill sets and learn about the field of journal...

Chloe Ching
Staff Writer

Chloe Ching

Chloe is a Junior at MKHS, who loves to draw and tell stories through their art! They are often open-minded about different types of media and they love having an ear for music, including indie bands and popular band names li...

Isaiah Mohri
Staff Writer

Isaiah Mohri

Isaiah Mohri is a senior who currently attends Mark Keppel High School. He’s an exotic mix of Japanese, Mexican, and Filipino and enjoys food from each cuisine. In his free time, he loves to watch movies, listen to music, read m...

Samantha Rios
Staff Writer

Samantha Rios

Samantha Rios is a senior at MKHS. In her free time, she enjoys writing poetry, listening to music, reading, styling clothes, and binge watching shows she had seen a million times (she’s incredibly obsessed with “New Girl”)...

Kailia Garfield
Staff Writer

Kailia Garfield

Kailia Garfield (she/her) is a junior at Mark Keppel High School, where she is a member of the Speech & Debate Team, National Honor Society, and California Scholarship Federation. Outside of school, she is a Peer Advocate for...

Jesua Flores
Staff Writer

Jesua Flores

Jesua is a junior at Mark Keppel High School and likes to watercolor, sketch faces, and other things. She also likes to listen to songs over and over. She’s part of the MKHS Dance Team and doesn’t plan on quitting. She takes pic...

Pierce Del Rio
Staff Writer

Pierce Del Rio

Pierce Del Rio is a junior currently attending Mark Keppel High School.  In his free time, Pierce likes listening to music, looking at clothes, and riding his bike. His favorite shows are Samurai Champloo and Regular Show. Pier...

Jingting Ni
Staff Writer

Jingting Ni

Jingting is a junior who is a part of the MKHS color guard team. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, making hand crafts, and reading novels. She is obsessed with Chinese novels to the point where she could spend the...

Staff Writer

Jaysee Barreto

Jaysee is a junior at Mark Keppel High School. He roams around the halls, blasting his AirPods with music. He likes to draw in his free time. He also likes to skate at the park and hang out with his friends. He owns a dog named...

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