Issue #7

8 PEOPLE Wed., April 28, 2021
From anxiety to
anger, The Brief Dive
covers it all
BY VIVIAN PHAN
People Editor
In the past few decades, the
discussion of mental health, especially
pertaining to teenagers, has expanded
and opened up greatly.
More resources are becoming
readily available for those who are in
need of assistance with their mental
health, whether it’s professional help
or resources that allow you to connect
and talk with others who may be going
through the same thing.
Annandale sophomore Filimon
Meaza, wanting to join in on this crucial
discussion, decided to start his own
podcast centered around the mental
health of teenagers called The Brief
Dive.
“I started this podcast because I
wanted to find a way to help high school
teens out there who need some sort of
idea of what they are going through
emotionally and mentally,” Meaza said.
For many teens like Meaza, the topic
of mental health is a very prominent and
prevalent issue that people are always
trying to further educate themselves
about.
“Mental health is something that
I am very passionate about,” Meaza
said. “I love expressing my psychology
knowledge and would like to share that
with others.”
Although there are many methods
to become a part of this discussion of
mental health, Meaza ultimately settled
upon creating a podcast.
“During these uncertain times I
found podcasting to be the best outlet
to share my knowledge with others and
help teens as a supplementary resource
while everyone is at home,” Meaza said.
With his podcast, Meaza hopes to
help listeners in regards to their mental
health and provide a space for them to
better understand the topic as a whole.
“I hope to motivate others and
enlighten them with my words and
knowledge,” Meaza said
“I don’t want anyone my age to go
through life in confusion of what they
are going through mentally and I hope
that my podcast helps everyone know
that they are not alone.”
With his pursuit of this podcast,
Meaza recognizes that he is not a
licensed therapist or professional on the
topic, but hopes that along with helping
people understand mental health, he
hopes to encourage listeners to pursue
professional help if needed.
“As a non-professional, my goal is to
achieve as many listeners as possible
who need help,” Meaza said. “So that
they can get some supplementary
The Brief Dive: a student’s podcast
insight to teenage perspective mental
health and influence them to reach out
for help.”
When it comes to creating the
episodes of his podcast, Meaza goes
through an extensive planning process
to make sure his episodes come out well
and are satisfactory for his listeners.
“I create an outline of all of my ideas
of episodes to develop and then from
there select the ones that I would like to
record for the month,” Meaza said
“For each idea I come up with, I plan
out a script and put some research notes
together.”
Meaza then records, edits and
publishes the episode.
As of right now, Meaza doesn’t plan
to have any guests on his podcast but
hopes to speak and share his insights as
a guest on other podcasts sometime in
the future.
As Meaza continues to create
episodes for his podcast, he has several
goals in mind that he wants to complete.
“My goal for this podcast is to help
people become the best version of
themselves and gain as many listeners
as possible with my knowledge and
personal experience.”
Along with those goals, comes
Meaza’s ultimate message that he hopes
listeners can take away from every
single episode of his podcast.
“Mental health is not an easy subject
to shed light on,” Meaza said. “I would
like to make it easier for teenages to
open up to others and seek help.”
If you are interested in learning and
listening more about mental health, The
Brief Dive is available on Spotify, the
iHeart Radio app and Apple Podcasts
with new episodes every Wednesday.
Q & A: Meet Niko, the new College and Career Specialist
Get to know Annandale’s newest staff member, Niko Centeno-Monroy!
Q: How long have you been working
in this field?
A:This is my 8th year in education.
Q:Where did you work previously?
A: I was a Career Coach at NoVA and
prior to that was the College Access
Program Manager for the Fulfillment
Fund Las Vegas.
Q:Why did you choose this
profession?
A: I reflected deeply on my own
educational experiences as a young
person in the public school system and
recognized that there was a lot of work to
do and many changes needed. Ultimately,
I wanted to be the adult I needed when I
was a child going through school.
Q: Favorite part about this field of
work?
A: Seeing my students achieve greatness!
Q: One tip you want students who are
applying to colleges and preparing
for the future to know.
A: A lot of people do not end up in a career
based on their major, or many times, we
change careers very easily, so go for what
truly makes you happy and you have a
passion for and make the best of it. Do
what’s best for you!
.
BY ANDREW NIELDS
Staff Writer
Just like any other year, many
students entered their projects into the
science fair with hopes to advance to the
regional fair. However, this year was
very different.
This year’s science fair was optional
and it was completely virtual. There
was also no class time dedicated to
working on science fair projects.
My group members and I had to plan
everything outside of class without any
strict deadlines to help guide us.
There were a few challenges that
came from having no time in class to
work on the science fair project in class
Q: What has your career path looked
like?
A: I didn’t fully commit to education until
my senior year of college. I weighed my
options and was able to find a teaching
position in Las Vegas and have worked
in education ever since. When I am not
working with students, I am working
with artists of all kinds in the community,
specifically in music and art.
Q: How did you end up at AHS?
A: I was recruited by our very own Principal
DeRose. And also, passing on the chance to
become an Atom? It was too good to pass up
the opportunity!
Q: What are you most looking forward
to experiencing here?
A: Connecting with students from my
hometown area. Most of my career has been
in Las Vegas so I’m really excited to get back
to my hometown roots and create change
here.
Q: How does technology make teaching
more simple or difficult?
A: I think it’s great in that it allows us to
do a lot of neat things in the classroom, as
well as inspire kids to think creatively about
future possibilities. Unfortunately, a lot of
our technology can be really distracting and
easy to fall into the rabbit hole if we aren’t
aware.
and us having to present the project
virtually.
“It was challenging to find a
date to get together and conduct our
experiment, but we pushed through
and persevered,” sophomore Armen
Boghosian said.
Our group had to decide when we
would get together since we couldn’t do
the experiment in school.
We ended up getting together
over winter break to complete the
experiment part of our project.
The title of our project was “The
Effect of the Ratio of Water and Resin
on the Quality and Time of Which the
Resin Cures.” Resin is a material that
is used in 3d printing. In our project,
Q: What is your proudest moment?
A: As an educator - I had a book banned in
my classroom once and one of my classes
refused to accept the ban so they stopped the
class and every single student wrote letters
of dissent. Personally - I’ve completed two
marathons and have recorded and released a
couple of mixtapes.
Q: What lasting impacts do you want to
leave on the school?
A: I just hope I’m remembered as the
person who helped everyone that sought my
guidance and support. I am here to serve and
hope to do the best job I can.
Q: What is your best piece of advice for
students?
A: I hope the students I serve can recognize
and tap into their limitless potential and
achieve all that they want to. High school can
seem so daunting and it can sometimes feel
like if we don’t get it together now our futures
will be a mess, but what is life if it doesn’t
get a little messy? What matters is how you
let the mess affect you and how you navigate
it. Your lives aren’t over if you don’t have it
together now, it’s only beginning, and you’ll
have plenty of time to sort through the mess.
Be patient, be kind to yourself, and always
have faith.
we mixed resin and water and shined a
laser on to the mixture to see how fast
the mixture would harden.
After completing our experiment
and collecting all of our data, we weren’t
given any other instructions about the
next step in the science fair process until
a month later when our teacher told us
that we had to submit a Youtube video
about our experiment to be entered into
the fair. Our group got to work on the
video a day later.
We all worked together and made
a slideshow presentation that included
our projects title, hypothesis, procedure,
materials, qualitative and quantitative
data and our conclusion.
We then recorded ourselves speaking
Q: What is one thing most people don’t know about
you?
A: I went on tour to SXSW once.
Q: Anything else you’d like the Annandale community
to know about you?
A: I’m really looking forward to my future at Annandale!
Come meet and find me in the Career Center!
Centeno-Monroy, a Virginia native has spent time in
Las Vegas as well as New York
Students reflect on this year’s virtual science fair
over our slideshow and then uploaded
the video to Youtube.
“Completing the project wasn’t too
hard because I had two good partners
and we divided the work evenly,”
sophomore Chelsi Lilli said. “The work
wasn’t tedious because it was fun.”
After submitting this video, our
group waited to see if we would advance
to the regional fair. Around three weeks
after we submitted the video, we got an
email saying that our project advanced
to the regional fair.
We were allowed to make minor
changes to our project before we would
partake in the regional science fair.
On March 20 from 8-10 a.m, All
group members were put in a virtual
room where judges would come in and
ask us questions about our project. We
all had to keep our cameras on and
dress in formal attire for the judging.
“The regional science fair was nerve
racking yet interesting,” Boghosian said.
After the regional judging, we all
waited to see where we placed. Around
two weeks later, all group members
got a letter in the mail and we found
out that we placed third in the regional
science fair under the chemistry section.
“The process of completing the
project was cool because we did a topic
that I’ve never worked with before and
I learned a lot through our project,” Lilli
said.
HUMANS OF
ANNANDALE
Where were you born?
Arlington, VA
WHO AM I?
For me, success is defined by being happy
and doing what I want in my life, and I want
to do so much. I really want to travel, get out
of Virginia and see the world. There’s just
so much I haven’t experienced and I think
it’s fascinating to see how people in other
cultures live. I want to know people.
Most people know that I am heavily
involved with the school’s theatre
department. I have been performing since
before I could talk and I always wanted to be
a singer until middle school. In sixth grade I
auditioned for the school play. I didn’t know
what it was about or even anyone in the
room, that didn’t matter to me. I just wanted
to be a part of something. I instantly fell in
love with it.
The sense of community, being on the
stage, memorizing lines; it was all exciting.
So I obviously auditioned for the spring
musical too, little did I know that theatre
would go on to change my life in so many
ways. Theatre brought me more than just
something that I’m passionate about, it
helped me find some of the most incredible
friends, people that I want in my life forever.
I never knew how much people could mean to
me until then.
Though there tends to be drama, we all
love each other in the end and we suffer
Amamnda Weaver
junior
through the long hours of rehearsals together.
I quickly realized theatre was more to me
than just a hobby. Over the last few years I’ve
thought about many things I could go to school
for and pursue as a career, I just couldn’t get
theatre out of my mind. I have this feeling it’s
what I need to do, so I am. I have continued
theatre throughout the pandemic and now I
am looking into colleges with musical theatre
programs to audition for.
The goal is to eventually be on Broadway
but as long as I am somewhat successful that’s
all that matters to me. I’ll just be happy to do
what I love.
What highschool did you go to?
Annandale High School
What colleges/universities have you
attended?
Christopher Newport University
What are some of your favorite movie/book/
TV shows?
The Big Bang Theory, Parks & Rec, 10 Things I
Hate About You, Jumanji (basically any form of
comedy)
What extracurriculars did you participate
in growing up?
Swimming and Marching Band
Any fun fact:
I recently started doing CrossFit
What is your favorite season?
Fall
What’s your biggest fear?
Not being successful
Why did you decide to teach?
The teachers I had in high school didn’t
necessarily make the classroom a comfortable
experience for me, so I wanted to change that.
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Who Am I?