Millikan Surfs to Success
Competitive surfer.
February 28, 2023
Surf’s up Rams! Millikan’s Surf team, led by captains Lily Dickson, Julia Walton, and Jordan Von Leffern, and head coach, John Fast, a United States History and Intro to Psychology teacher at Millikan, just finished their 2022-23 season on Jan 12.
The team made high achievements this season. Julia Walton and Jordan Von Leffern made it to their finals in shortboard, while Ty Jameison made it to the semi-finals.
“I think the season went really well,” said Fast. “We had a win against Mater Dei, which was our big win.”
Though surfing is labeled as a year-round sport on the Millikan website, their official season starts in the fall with finals in January.
However, there is an upcoming spring girls’ season. So, if any capable girl surfers are interested in joining, now is your chance!
“I would recommend surf to everyone,” says Von Leffren, an MBA sophomore. “It’s just an amazing experience and the team and everyone on it are super welcoming and will always help you out.”
On top of the competitive team, there is also a surf class, with surfers separate from those on the competitive team. The surf class counts towards PE credit and allows the students to surf up to four times a week.
The team is finishing off a pretty great season, and their future shows they’re only getting better. Every surfer who won this year
was either a junior or a sophomore. So the team is looking to have even more great seasons in the coming years!
Sydney Fast • Mar 2, 2023 at 10:54 am
February 28, 2023
Dear Corydon Editor,
On February 28th, Alma Perez wrote an article titled “Millikan Surfs to Success.” Throughout this article, she expanded on the success the team has had this year with some big wins such as the private school Mater Dei, which sounds very impressive. This article piqued my interest because of the background knowledge I have on the surf team here at Millikan. With my dad being the coach and having many friends on the surf team, I am able to understand how much this team means to everyone, and how the successes of the team are only beginning. Just as Perez states, many of this year’s successful surfers are young, so the success that this team will continue to have is very exciting. I also really liked reading about Jordan Von Leffren’s point of view of the team because she is a very talented and successful surfer and I’ve heard a lot about her success.
With all of this being said, I think that the success of our school’s surf team is very exciting. After reading about the coach’s perspectives as well as the players that Alma Perez described so well, it makes me glad to hear about another thing the school can be proud of.
Sincerely,
Sydney Fast, Grade 11
Sofia Gonzalez • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:59 pm
On February 28, 2023, Alma Perez wrote an article titled “Millikan Surfs to Success.” It gives a quick overview of Millikan’s surf team, from the head coach and captains to when their official season starts and ends. I like how Perez showed that the surf team can be for all ages. Julia Walton and Jordan Von Leffern both made it to the finals, and neither of them are seniors. Any age can participate in a competition, just some people have more experience than others. I also enjoyed how Perez included information about the class itself, so that any readers interested in joining can see that any skill level can join, and nobody necessarily has to compete. I was on the surf team myself for my freshman and sophomore years, and I love to see it get more attention around the school. I know several people that were on the surf team, and one of my friends is still on it. It’s been getting more notice in these past couple of years, and these new successes are a great way to showcase the team, as well as to hopefully convince new surfers to join.
Jackson Harney • Mar 1, 2023 at 11:55 am
First of all, I want to say congratulations to all of the surfers that won against Mater Dei, that is a great accomplishment, as the school is nearly D1 in every sport. Anyways, I do have a few questions about the surf program as a whole. I hear that there are other boards allowed in the “surf” category such as bodyboards. I wonder, are there any specialty boards such as skimboards or foil boards allowed in the class? I think these would be really fun, and could bring really good publicity to the Millikan surf program. There would be much more material to write about, and could possibly go as far as a news article on the 562. Back to bodyboarding, I would love to see an article on the niche sport; Bodyboarding. I know one kid who does it, and I hear that it is just as fun if not more fun than surfing. You can ride significantly more waves, and there is a new array of tricks you can do on a bodyboard. This is a great article, and I look forward to what the team has to bring next season.
Sofia • Mar 1, 2023 at 11:52 am
On February 28, Alma Perez published an article titled “Millikan Surfs to Success”. This article talks about our Millikan surf team and their recent success. After reading this article, I would definitely want to know more about what their practices look like and know more about the life of a student surfing in the morning before school. While reading this I was especially intrigued by the surfing lessons and class, I’ve always wanted to learn and if I would have known about that early in high school, it would have been a tempting class to take. I also love to hear how supportive everyone is. Some things I question now after reading your article are, how early do they practice? What happens at practice if there are waves? And how does scoring work at competitions? I just love how this article introduces the surfing leaders and how amazing this sport is. Overall I think your article was a great straightforward read, and it will definitely help introduce people to the surfing team here at Millikan. Awesome job, keep up the good work.
Evan Murray • Mar 1, 2023 at 11:39 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On Feb 28, 2023, Alma Perez wrote the Article “Millikan Surfs to Success”. In it, she interviews different people on the surf team about their 2022-2023 season. The overall conclusion from all the people who were interviewed was that the season had gone well and we managed to pull forward to get the win. Before reading the article I was aware that our school had a surf team however I was unaware of the surf class, how their season is set up, and who is on our team. I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf and this article has shown me that there are sources and opportunities to take those steps. My questions are, how big is the varsity team as a whole? What do you need to do to win these competitions? Is there a surf CIF? And lastly, who are the Moore League schools that we compete against? Overall I thought this article was very informative and gave me a new outlook on the sports offered here at Millikan
Sincerely,
Evan Murray, Grade 11
Christopher Ramirez • Feb 28, 2023 at 1:26 pm
The article mentions how Millikan’s Surf Team is making high achievements getting to finals and semifinals in their competitions. As well as beating Mater Dei High School, which was one of their big wins. They also recommend surf to everyone, which I do agree with. Everyone should give it at least one try and maybe you’ll find yourself a new sport or even a hobby. Personally I learned to surf in Hawaii where the waves aren’t as big and fast in most areas around the island of Maui and O’aho. So I doubt I would be as good here rather than in Hawaii. Although I would love to go more often soccer is my favorite sport and is hard to find time to go with such a busy schedule that soccer brings upon me. I also love to snowboard and can say that I am way better at that than my surfing skills. The article also mentions how there is a surf class you can take in school, maybe i’ll check it out if I have free periods next year. If that goes well, then maybe I’ll even decide to tryout for the school’s team. Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic.
carter kopelakis • Feb 28, 2023 at 1:22 pm
On February 28, Alma perez wrote an article titled “Millikan Surfs to Success”. The article talks about how millikan surf has had success this year and how they are led. Before reading this article I didn’t really know what surf did for their sport if it was competitions or not because I don’t surf myself. This article showed me what surf does and that they had a lot of success this year. I have a lot of friends in surf, but I myself have never surfed only body boarded. Competing in surf sounds really fun, but getting in the water at 5 am or however early makes surfing way less appealing to me. In competitions is it individual or scores as a team? And when competitions are happening how many people are in the water at once? Learning that the surf team had success in their season is good to hear as a fellow athlete because it means Millikan sports are doing well and the spring sports can continue that trend. Is surfing in the cif sport category and apart of that? Thank you for enlightening me more about surfing at Millikan.
Sincerely,
Carter Kopelakis, Grade 11
Elias Hershfield • Feb 28, 2023 at 1:19 pm
On February 28th of 2023, Alma Perez posted an article called “Millikan Surfs to Success” , an article which describes the Millikan Surf Team and all of its wonders. The surf team is a class which will count towards physical education credit enabling students to not only be active in the water but actually have fun in doing something they enjoy. The teams season starts early in the school year during the fall and ends with finals during January. The author of this article interviewed some of the students on the team, asking them how they like it and if they would recommend it to others in which Jordan Von Leffern replied with “ I would recommend surfing to everyone” due to everyone being very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately the boys competitive season has already ended, but the girls competitive season has just started and is giving other students the opportunity to join surf now to show off their skills. Being a member of the team also gives me the opportunity to say that it is just overall an amazing way to start your day before school and I highly recommend it over any other P.E. options. I do have a question though, how does the change in seasons affect the oceans water temperature and does that affect how long individuals can stay in the water ?
Luke • Feb 28, 2023 at 1:04 pm
On February 28, Alma Perez wrote an article titled “Millikan Surfs to Success”. The article is about the surf team at Millikan High School. The editor goes on to describe how well the team has done this season. She explains how 2 members were in their own respective finals and another made it to semi-finals. I had no idea our team was as good as it was nor that its season began in the fall. I liked the picture included so that it helps show what it is like a bit to be a competitive surfer. The author also proceeds to say that another girls season is beginning in the spring and turns the article into a small advert to recruit students to the team. The article explains the benefit of surfing as well as taking a surf class to count towards PE credit and get experience actually surfing. I also liked how she ended the article by explaining how they have high hopes for next season as the team is young and will gain more experience. With a team already as good as it is as well as being so young they should only improve as time passes.