What’s going on around Samo?
Santa Monica Fire Department welcomes new chief
Dalia Puchalt / The Samohi
Annette Nadeau (‘27) shares her campaign speech for Advisory Communications Officer on Sept. 19.
Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD) welcomed their new chief Matthew Hallock on Jan. 25, 2024. Hallock has been in the fire service career for 28 years, beginning with his career as a reserve firefighter in 1994. In 2002, he became a full fledged firefighter and has served as fire chief in his former city, Monterey Park, since 2020.
In addition to the new chief, SMFD will be fully staffed for the first time in over 20 years. This should allow the department to serve, protect and rescue the residents of Santa Monica easier, enabling emergencies to be dealt with faster and more efficiently. In a meeting with the Santa Monica Daily Press, Hallock expressed his optimism for the next chapter in his career.
“I made a promise to these firefighters when I first got here. In my first few days, I met with every shift to introduce myself and I made a promise to them... that I’ll be the last outside fire chief in Santa Monica,” Hallock said. “I truly believe that the talent is out there to lead this department in the future.”
2024 Club Row introduces new clubs to Samo
Manny Lopez / The Samohi
Danna Garcia Hernanadez (’28), Milly Garcia Hernanadez (’26), Daniel Estaban Garcia (’27), Eden Santiago (’26) and Evelin Lima (’25) present Mariachi Juvenil Club.
Club Row, held on Sept. 18, is a key yearly event which introduces a wide variety of Samo clubs to students. The experience offered students the opportunity to gain knowledge, a community and a possible means by which they might find their passions through joining different clubs. In addition, if there is not a club a student is interested in, students are able to create their own
through the ASB Clubs Committee application. Samo’s ASB President Ethan Fitzgerald (’25) shared how clubs are inclusive and open for everyone.
“There’s a club for everyone, ranging from Outreach, Politics and Model UN, Acting and Film, Ping Pong, Harry Potter and many more,” Fitzgerald said.
Samo Brothers make scientific strides
Yanai Halperinortiz
Yanai Halperinortiz (‘25) and Helio Halperinortiz (‘26) display their research project.
Samo students Helio Halperinortiz (’26) and Yanai Halperinortiz (‘25) are working ahead at a college level. Alongside a UCLA professor and PhD students, the brothers each created complex research papers within the field of computer science.
Helio Halperinortiz is predicting an antibiotic for a patient using electronic health data and by using large language models. Helio Halperinortiz (’26) shared what influenced him to create the paper.
“I had an interest in AI as well as computer science and [had been] wanting to find an internship to work on it,” Halperinortiz said.
On the other hand, Yanai Halperinortiz is working on a project that tries to predict the outcomes of traumatic brain injuries. In the project, they are training AI to analyze MRI scans and a linear regression model to examine if the scans have any significant information about the patient’s prognosis. Halperinortiz shared his inspiration for the project.
“I’m interested in STEM related subjects, like math or computer science,” Halperinortiz said. “So applying computer science to medicine is very interesting.”
Both brothers’ developments could become instrumental in the field of AI medical research. Yanai Halperinortiz’s project was accepted by the Society for Neuroscience and will be presented in a conference next month in Chicago. Helio Halperinortiz is still awaiting to be accepted and will find out on Sept. 23.
PBL holds their student government elections
Samo’s Project Based Learning (PBL) program held their annual Student Advisory Board elections on Friday, Sept. 20.
Antonio Shelton / Contributor
Annette Nadeau (‘27) shares her campaign speech for Advisory Communications Officer on Sept. 19.
On Thursday, all PBL students headed down to the district building on 4th Street to hear their peers’ campaign speeches. Candidates spoke about their new policies, with many candidates promising to fix the faulty bathroom doors. The positions up for election were Advisory President, Advisory Vice President, Advisory Communication Officer and Advisory Secretary.
One candidate running for Advisory Secretary is Hudson Blankner (’25). Blankner felt that it was important to personally connect with voters while on the campaign trail.
“Aside from the speeches on Thursday, I wanted to take my campaign a little further,” Blankner said. “I took it upon myself to go to all the classes on Friday and do speeches and hand out fliers.”
On Friday, election ballots were distributed to every classroom. New to the program is Eitan Puchalt (’28), who was excited to be able to cast votes for the first time.
“I decided to vote based on their policies and confidence, and who I thought could lead the community the best,” Puchalt said.
The Student Advisory Board is instrumental in fostering community at PBL by organizing events for all grades. This year, the program has already gone on a three-day camping trip to Big Bear Lake. Blankner reflected on the trip fondly.
“I think it went really well as a team building experience for the school...and [helped us] build memories,” Blankner said. “We need to trust one another.”
Waymo: Is the future in safer “hands?”
Dalia Puchalt / The Samohi
Waymo’s cars can be spotted on any Santa Monica street, but are not yet available to unaccompanied minors.
In Aug. of this year, Waymo, a self-driving car company, had a major expansion within Santa Monica and Los Angeles Area County. Sebastian Thrun, the former director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) launched the company named Waymo at Google in an attempt to improve road safety. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.4 million lives are lost to car accidents around the world each year. Waymo’s mission is to create a ride that is convenient, safe and consistent, acting as an alternative to driver-based transportation service companies Uber and Lyft.
Waymo is able to achieve this by using detailed custom maps, information gathered in real time, sensors and light detection to plan out the best action or route to take.
Although many people may have their doubts about artificial intelligence, Waymo states that they have “over 40 million miles of real-world driving experience,” over a decade of industry knowledge and that their cars are safer than human-driven vehicles because they can ensure their “driver” is not drunk, tired or distracted. With this new expansion in Santa Monica, it is possible for the city to become safer for all pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
The expansion of Waymo in Santa Monica could help improve the city to be safer but it may also decrease job opportunities. As artificial intelligence improves, many people begin losing their jobs. Waymo is economically sustainable by being electric and convenient by being available 24/7 and trustworthy.