73 Questions with Mr. Houts
February 11, 2024
About the Contributors
Genessie Cazarez, Videographer
First-year videographer, Genessie Cazarez, 12, begins to make her mark by joining the staff of the Downey Legend Newspaper. Entering her final year of high school, she hopes to contribute her creativity and desire to spread her fascinating ideas to play a part in this school's outlet for journalism. Given that she’s already an involved and affectionate individual, she’s finding opportunities to improve herself to surpass limits and become more ambitious. She enjoys the unique hobbies of hanging out with friends, offroading, and traveling globally, hoping to catch every memory on camera. Outside of academics, Cazarez is a proud member of the robotics team here at Downey. After high school, she plans to graduate from a four-year UC college. Further on in her after-school career, Cazarez aspires to become an architectural engineer and started accomplishing the intention by filling her schedule with engineering classes since freshman year.
Living through the pandemic inspired her to make every moment count with the time she has left. “I just love to capture everything. When I heard about the newspaper, I knew I’d love to make videos about the school,” Cazarez said. “I feel like people love when they see themselves, when they’re being included. Finding a way for everybody to be included in something would be really cool.”
Esteban Varela, Social Media Manager
In his first year as Social media manager and writer, Esteban Varela is hoping to get more involved with school by joining The Downey Legend. Varela has found that writing is one of the ways he likes to express himself the most. He plans to get his bachelor's degree in English, and is hoping to pursue a career in journalism or teaching. Aside from writing, he also likes to express himself through his jewelry, which he sells from his own small business.
“ My junior year I was enrolled in an English class that really pushed for self expression in multiple forms of writing, Varela stated.” “We came across our poetry unit and I started to find myself writing outside of school as an outlet and as a way to express myself like I hadn’t before.”