EEP Club

By Nadia Syed

Packing: The key to packing for Big Bear is to limit what you bring. It is essential to realize that you do not need a lot of things that you would like to bring, and those will only result in taking up space in your cabin, or getting lost. For example, you probably could do without your favorite pair of shorts, but you should definitely bring your phone charger – unless you happen to lose your phone in the snow on the very last day of the trip.

Bus Ride: Here’s a tip: If you can’t sing, don’t sing. The bus ride consists of much talking and laughing with friends, singing annoying pop songs, sleeping, and having random photo shoots capturing embarrassing moments of your peers.

Cabins: Rush to find your cabin, often named after an animal of some sort. If you happen to be in the largest of cabins, Squirrel’s Nest, then prepare to be invaded by older EEPsters, who take up the pool table and lounging area. Be sure to admire the lovely wall décor – including a large stuffed moose head you see every morning.

Exploring Other Cabins: When exploring other cabins, it is imperative that you respect the rules of that cabin. Please don’t steal others’ food without asking. In addition, be ready to be pelted with water bottles, and have humiliating videos of you attempting Dance Dance Revolution, even though you know you cannot dance. Be prepared for lots of laughs all throughout the day!

Freshmen Girls: If you are a Freshman girl – then this is your lucky year in Big Bear! You are provided the great opportunity of doing all the chores in your cabin, which include washing dishes at least five times a day, sweeping, and maintaining the kitchen. Don’t worry; you can also cook for everyone else! Food ranges from making French toast for breakfast, to eating shrimp soup and vegetarian hot dogs for dinner! Yummy!

Tubing: There is a day when all the cabins get together to walk down to go tubing! Try not to wear jeans, or your butt will get soaked. This is a great time to hang out with friends, and experiment lots of ways to link arms and legs in enormous chains and go down the slope. Take part is races and see which lane in the fastest, but be careful not to fall off your tube in the middle of going down. Don’t forget to let the super sweet Yearbook DVD Chair hold your stuff while you are tubing! Note that snowball fights are not allowed in the fake snow. In addition, don’t forget to bring a couple extra dollars, because if tubing does get tiring, you can take a break and grab a snack in the nearby arcade. Drink lots of water to stay hydrated, but enjoy some fries as well. After that, if somehow you do get convinced to go down the Great Slide, make sure you know how to speed up and slow down, as well as other basic controls. Also, you shouldn’t attempt to videotape the ride down, because you will fall off your slide, and experience great pain for the rest of the day.

Town: Some EEPsters decide to take a day to explore town. Here’s a tip: do not attempt to go a couple hours before dark the night before it’s supposed to snow, because you will be freezing. If you do, however, make that mistake – take shelter in a nearby fast-food place, and enjoy fries! In spite of this, it is crucial that you do not use the bathroom in the fast-food restaurant, because the floors will be covered with unidentified liquids. When in town, enjoy picking up delicious chocolate for yourself and your brothers, as well as eating ice-cream (even though its less than thirty degrees outside). Be sure to visit the $3 or Less Store, and buy matching hats and fuzzy earmuffs with your best friends! In addition, be on the lookout for birthday presents. Options include: a swirly rainbow lollipop for girls, and bacon-and-cheese-flavored crickets for boys! (Note that boys are far less excited about their presents than girls.) At the end of your day’s adventures, make sure you have the number of a nice chaperone handy to come and pick you up!

TV: Spend time relaxing indoors, because at the end of the day: you are an EEPster, and what do EEPsters do best? Watch Law and Order: SVU for hours on end, of course! Hoard a drawer full of sodas in your room, and snuggle up with your favorite Snuggies and Pillow Pets on a couch and watch TV. Bring a curling iron and hair accessories to jazz up a friend’s hair while your watching your favorite show in the world! If a friend happens to fall asleep, it is essential that you take embarrassing videos of them. At the end of a long day of doing nothing, you can attempt to organize a pool of money to buy enough pizza for a large group, and watch X-Factor.

Snow: If it doesn’t snow until the very last day: make sure you pull an all-nighter with friends to watch the snowfall! However, no matter how hard you try – you will fall asleep at some point in the night underneath the pool table. While you are actually awake, though, put on your warmest clothes and have midnight snowball fights. Try your hardest not to slip on the icy concrete! Attempt to make a small snowman around midnight, and name him Slender Snowman. Around 2am, you can build a larger one. Finally, at around 4am, you can finish a whole snowman family and have a photo shoot with them! Be prepared to see them dismantled by daybreak, though. Don’t forget gloves and boots – besides those few brave daredevils who decided to spend the entire night barefoot in the snow! Overall, enjoy the beautiful wildlife.

Games: Be ready for the constant Mafia games, all throughout the night – some of which are more intense than others. Even Alumni participate in this activity! Besides that, you can attempt to be a part of the silent but stressful Mao game. If you have an elder compliment you, you know you are on the right track. Only the bravest of Freshman decide to go to the unspoken of Dare or Dare Game held in one cabin each year. However, we often hear rumors spread of the worst dares that come out of that night…

*All in all, be prepared to have much fun and a nice bonding experience with friends! Be sure to thank everyone who made the event possible! (:

It’s the perfect way to end finals week!

It will be held at Paseo Colorado from 5-10 PM.

There will be a White Elephant gift exchange; minimum $10 and maximum $20 gifts, please!

Fees and slips are due Monday, December 3!

Holiday Party Permission Slip 12 page numbered

It’s that time of year again!

Our Big Bear trip is fast approaching! It will be from December 10 to 13, $115.

Fill out these forms, and take note of the packing list. Money and slips are due November 30, or you can’t go!

Big Bear Permission Slip 2012

Big Bear Behavioral Agreement 2012

Big Bear Packing List (1)

Fright Night 2012… what can I say about it?

To put it shortly, it was definitely one of the most memorable I’ve been to.

Imagine this. You and your haunted house group are lined up on a dark street. The imminent entrance to the basement is upon you. You’re scared, and your group seems happy and excited. You’re terrified. For all you know, they are too.
Suddenly, a guy approaches you. No, he’s not in costume. You turn to your group with a questioning look, but no response in return. It’s as if he wants to talk to you, but as far as you recall, you don’t know him.
“Hey beautiful.” Whoa, who is this guy and why is he addressing me as beautiful? Everyone in your group has a face of shock and astonishment, similar to O_O plastered on. “How old are you?” Nervously, you stammer out your age. All of a sudden, the dark act of the stranger is lifted. He laughs, and as he walks away, says “Oh, hahaha, too young then.” You’re left completely flabbergasted. What was going on? After he walks away, a clamor erupts amongst your group. Pretty soon, the other groups hear word, and you’re mortified.

Well, yeah. It happened. Pretty funny, I must say. But anyways, Fright Night is so much more than that. It’s a night to dress up, a night to get scared out of your wits, and above all, a night to spend with friends.
The masses of us arrived at the EEP Student center at 3:30pm on Friday October 26th. After chillin’ like villains (haha, get it? ’cause Halloween.), eating a delicious meal of hot pizza, our annual Costume Contest began. It featured a very purple grape, a Mormon, a Catholic, Psy, a dalek, Lock/Shock/Barrel, both Marvel and DC superheroes, and many others! After the EEPsters paraded down our makeshift runway and answered the judges’ questions, we waited in suspense for the announcement of the winners.

The judges crowned The Grape named Carina and the Knight in Shining Armor named Tatiana as our two honorable mentions. Both costumes were extraordinary and ingenious. Carina was made of balloons, and Tatiana made her armor from soda pop tabs. Coming in second place, we had Psy, also known as Samuel Han, who danced for us to the popular hit, “Gangnam Style.” It was entertaining, to say the least. Now, coming in first place was…. drum roll please…..
Elder Berliner! None other than our trusty Mormon friend, who so graced us with a performance of a song or two from the ever-so-popular-in-EEP play, “Book of Mormon.”

Soon after came the time of our depart from the campus, and collectively, we made our way to the train station. EEPsters don’t really get the concept of a “line” it appears, as we took the basement hallways of King Hall by storm, filling the hallways wall to wall. Public transport is always tricky, tricky to catch a bus, and to cram all us EEPsters in one bus. Nonetheless, we all made it onto the 487 (or the Silver Line, I’m not actually sure…wait, it turns out to be the 485), with many of us standing, since the combination of a small bus on a Friday night with 40 EEPsters leaves little room. Quite funny actually: with the harsh stops, I ended up losing my footing, pirouetting with no balance, and awkwardly falling onto another EEPster’s lap, in desperation trying to avoid squashing a stranger. Regardless, awkwardness ensued. As the large group of EEPsters made our way into Union Station and onto the train, cameras were everywhere, snapping pictures of each other in costume and making funny faces. We met an interesting fellow as we exited the train, en route to the Haunted House. It’s pretty cool how curious strangers are about a large group of teenagers who act silly and are all dressed up for Halloween.

Upon arrival at the Old Town Haunt, we lined up in a dark alleyway (ooh hoo hoo, scary, right?), and divided ourselves into groups, 8 per group, yo. Jokes were told, pictures were taken, and screams were elicited, for in this dark alleyway lurked many a scary monster. These included a vampire in a coffin, a teenage zombie, and an incredibly creepy kid/woman dead thing. Some of us that went last year were disappointed to find that Skeptic (a tiny little monster) was not there, kicking up sparks, making everyone scream.
Oh, I forgot to mention the clown. There was a clown. With a dead baby in his arms. It was terrifying. It would stay as still as a statue until a passerby did so. Then, it would let out a blood-curdling scream, and laugh as the passerby exponentiated his noise.
Our wait was minimal, and soon our VIP-ticket-holding-selves were lined up, ready to enter the Old Town Haunt.
OOOOOOoooOOooOOO. Our knees were shaking, and we were scared. And we hadn’t even entered the basement yet! Those of us who had been here before knew the tricks they pulled, we arranged ourselves to maximize (or minimize) the scares.
There was always the brave leader in the front of the pack. He or she would make jokes to laugh off the scary moments, but there were times that the leader failed. This was when the true heroes came out; I know of one person who bravely faced the scary bloody monster clown with ugly teeth. He went, “YOU ALL LOOK SO DELICIOUSSS….” My hero said, “You look delicious too ;D” The monster started laughing, and let us pass, showing he had a sense of humor too.

Not everyone went in the haunted house; some were too scared and decided to wait it out. As per tradition, after every group exited the house, we headed to the Jamba Juice on the corner, desperate for some thirst quenching smoothies.
After everyone was satisfied, we all departed back to the station to train to Union, and as we were waiting for the train, many of us sang loud and obnoxious pop songs, much to the dissatisfaction of EEPsters who prefer more hipster, unknown tunes.

Upon our arrival at Union, we discovered that the bus we thought would take us to campus was not running any longer, and we waited. And waited. The Kids Who Waited. Eventually, a bus came, and told us she’d take us to the next stop where a bus to campus would arrive. We had some difficulty, but we all managed to fit on one bus, and about an hour later than scheduled, arrived to campus. Granted, we had a walk, but we’re ever so grateful we made it.
Once we arrived to the lounge and made sure everyone was accounted for, it was time for the pie eating contest to begin. First, we had Andre and Ben S. step up to compete. We were in need of two more. I decided, hey, free pie, let’s do it! One more. No one seemed to step in. So we elected Manasvi, by chanting, and eventually she gave in and decided to join. Attacking the pie with a vigor, Andre devoured the pie within minutes, while the females took their time, and Ben S ate at a moderate pace. Noticing Manasvi was seemingly grossed out by eating with her face alone, Niki sneakily decided to slam Manasvi’s head into her pie. This provided so much entertainment for the room. Manasvi seemed upset, almost on the verge of tears, but once she wiped the cream from her face, you can see the fire of venegance in her eyes, as she picked up her pie and slammed it against Niki’s head. Great lulz ensued, as well as great clean-ups. Oh, I guess I should mention that the pie flinging somewhat overshadowed Andre’s glorious and passionate win, and Adrian’s donation of his costume prize money to him. I think the night ended on a cheery note, as the mini-pie-contest-fight ended funnily.

As everyone headed back home around midnight, I looked around and I was so glad to see so many smiling faces.
I would like to thank the parent chaperones who accompanied and put up with us, and kept their heads, even when things went wrong. Thanks so much!
I really look forward to Fright Night 2013, as 2012 left me with fantastic memories and fantastic pictures. I hope everyone else had the same experience, and will in the years to come.

~Dominique Dunning

Catalina is approaching which also means it’s time for Rent-A-Person! 

You buy another EEPster’s time (or sell your own) and have them do whatever you wish, within the law of. If you are for sale, you will have a sign denoting so. You MUST wear this until you are bought.

You may ask, “How do I buy another EEPster?”   We’re going to have an auction mc’ed by our awesome volunteer Neil. The auction will occur before we depart for Catalina at the dock. Please be on time. If you’re not on time not only do you miss the auction, you might miss the boat too!

The rented person must be released by 10 pm, September 13.  The only limitation is that the minimum bidding is 5 dollars. The person who is rented will get half of the amount paid for by their buyer. Please see Neil after Catalina to collect your money! 

Now for a very important note! If you are renting yourself out you will need a permission slip ( Rent-A-Person Permission Slip 2012 RSM revised FINAL ) signed by a parent. Please turn these in to the EEP office as soon as possible.   Please email Neil Hoggat (nhoggatt@gmail.com) if you are interested in being rented or buying! 

Again, email nhoggatt@gmail.com and fill out: Rent-A-Person Permission Slip 2012 RSM revised FINAL
to sign up.

Thank you!

After an exhausting day at the LA Zoo, the Provie Class of 2012 and many other EEPsters met up at AMF Beverly Lanes for a night of fun! Pizza, rental shoes, black lights, and enough soda to go around. What better way to end the day?

Dear Provies of 2013,

Right now, you are probably feeling a tidal wave of emotions. Anxiety, stress, anticipation, excitement, and fear, to list a few. It’s hard not to in the situation you’re in right now. Overcoming all these feelings is a difficult process. Just remember, everyone in EEP has once been where you are now. They all know exactly how you are feeling.

An EEP provie’s journey is long and hard. Your end goal is being dangled in front of you, just out of your reach. It’s nerve-racking, to say the least. That’s why I suggest asking a mentor for help. They personally volunteered to assist you. Take use of your resources; do not let your pride get in the way of asking for help. The worst they can do is say no, after all. Don’t be afraid to ask them to go over an essay or listen to a speech you’ve rehearsed. They won’t be required to help you out in fall, so use their expertise wisely.

Dr. Maddox can be a very intimidating person. He’s blunt; he tells things the way he sees them and won’t be afraid to tell you if he thinks you’re being stupid. Don’t just blow off his ideas as him picking on you. Everything he says and does has a reason, so don’t take it for granted! If he tells you that the TV show you are watching isn’t adequate for EEP students, don’t just roll your eyes—turn it off. He’s crucial to your acceptance into EEP and eventually will write recommendation letters for graduate school. His opinion matters, so don’t let it go to waste.

The alumni and the current EEPsters all also have very valuable advice. From studying to financial aid, these experts come in and share their knowledge. Learn from their success. If they say something works, it probably does. Typically, the ‘optional meetings’ makes you think about skipping meetings. I’d highly advise you not to skip any EEPster/Alumni presentations, for more reasons than one. First, the lessons that you can learn at these orientations are usually very helpful for having a fighting chance at getting into the program. They’ll teach you how to be diligent in class, how to talk to EEPsters, how to send emails, and what rules you should always follow. Second, going to the meetings shows motivation, one of the key standards for getting into EEP. Missing these speeches would be like cutting off a finger—it would only hurt you.

Lastly, make lots of friends! EEP isn’t strictly about academic fulfillment, but it’s about your social life as well! Make sure to talk to other provies and EEPsters as often as possible. Although being a bit shy isn’t horrible, cutting yourself off from everyone else is like getting a C in one of the classes. If Dr. Maddox and the EEPsters don’t know you, how can they judge if you’re a good fit for the program? Make sure to show that you belong. While this doesn’t mean that you must or should entirely change yourself completely to get into EEP, realize that EEPsters are still teenagers that probably have a lot in common with you. You’re here because you might belong and because you could at the same level as the rest of the students in EEP. Those that attend the Early Entrance Program want you to succeed just as much as you want yourself to succeed, so don’t try to isolate yourself because they’re intimidating or scary!
I wish all of you good luck!

From,
Rebecca Ying.
Provie of 2012.