Imagine if you will, driving down the PCH with your family. The sun is up, clouds have shied away, and there is a cool breeze. You're looking forward to a good day at the beach. Maybe today's that awesome your 'bod' will catch someone's attention. Then you hear it. The loud, raucous noise that makes anyone's skin crawl. The sound of a motorcycle causes a sudden feeling of fear. Bikers, more often than not, are murderers in bike gangs who have nothing better to do than rev their engines to make you cower at their feet. And then you take a peek just to find that it is not the hardened criminal you've imagined, but instead, it is Mr. Pete Van Rossum. Despite his attire, replete with leather jacket and boots that would relate him to a Hell's Angel, it is still the History teacher that you know and admire. He smiles at you before he rides off into the sunset.

      Mr. V's recent purchase of a BMW R-1100S Motorcycle shouldn't surprise anyone. He has been interested in cars since a very young age, and he has loved motorcycles ever since he was in college. After going for his first ride at age 20, he was instantly hooked. "Nothing had ever been so fun," he recalls. What makes a motorcycle stand out for Mr. V is the feel that he gets from the bike. Cars keep the driver cooped up and absorb much of the feel of the road. "Bikes are just more immediate," he says. "To get such feel from a car would cost you at least $100,000."

      This is the third bike that Mr. V has had in his lifetime. His old Yamaha and Honda are now gone, just another memory of his crazier past. He remembers zipping through Westwood as a student at UCLA. One of the cooler students back then, he could pop a wheelie as he zoomed down the street and rode at speeds up to 135 mph. His younger half is still alive these days as he has added modifications such as a new pipe and computer chips which make his new bike faster, but he is also more responsible. Always with a helmet, he goes riding with his friends. He no longer does tricks because he would "prefer to live." Mr. V enjoys his life with his wife Mrs. McDonald, also a teacher at Beverly Hills High School. She has been very supportive of his purchase because her father is a motorcycle man himself and, fortunately, she understands his love of bikes. Because of this, Mr. V can also enjoy spending time with his wife's family, and even went on a biking trip with his father-in-law to Eureka, California this past summer. All in all, the trip totaled over 2000 miles. More often you can see Mr. V cruising around Southern California or chilling out at biker hangouts such as the Rock Store, or Neptune's Net on the PCH. So the next time you hear the thundering sound of bikers, don't be afraid, it's probably just Mr. V.

      Perhaps you were walking around the PE department one afternoon and had the privilege to talk to one of the great people who work for this school. Although he might not seem very interesting to some, and be the target of ridicule for a few rude students, one custodian stands out among all the rest. Barry is a Beverly veteran. Having attended Beverly himself in the early 60s, Barry started working for the school part time in November of 1966. Since 1969 he has worked full time for the school as a custodian. To many, Barry is just like every other custodian at the school, but to those who have spoken to Barry, they know a very different side of him. Ex-football player Justin Goebels, who has spent many long hours in the PE department and has had a few conversations with Barry said, “I think Barry is a very intelligent man and that people should get to know to understand him. Only then will people appreciate him and see how caring he really is.”

      Barry’s intelligence truly is remarkable. Although he might not remember a word of advice given to him just the day before, Barry is able to recall even the most obscure of facts and dates about history. Barry’s “god given memory” as he calls it brings up an image of Dustin Hoffman portraying an autistic savant in The Rain Man. He loves to read and has a keen interest in ancient history, sports, and science. Barry has a stunning ability to remember numbers with ease and perfect accuracy. He can recall the teams that played and the precise score of every Rose Bowel match in history, and he can recall various other football trivia as well. Barry is very well read regarding history and he can recall dates of battles with ease. Since 1969 Barry has counted how many towels he has washed during his time at Beverly and he has already passed the 1.1 million towels. When asked whether he enjoys mathematics he said that he wasn’t always one for math and he proceeded to pull an article from the LA times about the Big Bang Theory out of his pocket. “5.9 trillion miles in a light year,” he said in awe, noting how unbelievable the size of the universe is. “That number is so big.” Barry tries to balance his scientific wonders with his deep-set religious convictions. He attends church on a regular basis and believes in creationism over evolution.

      Barry has a wandering imagination and he said his interest in history first started because he “wanted to know what made the ancient people tick”. He was interested in understanding the mentality of peoples throughout history. Barry knows quite a bit about his family history and is quick to tell a story about how his family fought for the women’s suffrage or how his uncle was a contractor that actually built Beverly Hills High School. Barry has also taken up a recent interest in art and he has been to the Getty museum 22 times.

      Perhaps Barry’s most memorable trait is his caring personality. He looks out for students and tries to be as nice and courteous as possible. He said that if he could change just one thing about history, he would have prevented John Wilkes Booth from assassinating President Lincoln. “Imagine,” Barry said, “if we could have had racial equality.” Barry continued to cite the positive efforts Lincoln gave to help the blacks in America and the terrible segregation and Jim Crow laws that developed after the civil war. He desperately wishes he could change that, and that if Lincoln had lived longer perhaps blacks would have been integrated into society more rapidly.

      It is his determination and utter dedication to his job that makes Barry stand above the rest. Never settling for anything less than perfect, he will for years to come be a great asset to our school community. Take a minute out of your day and have a talk with him. I assure you, if you have the patience and the willingness to talk to him, you will be very pleased to get to know him and maybe you will learn a little something too.

"Sometimes when students are giving a speech they get nervous and they get the podium death grip and I see pieces of wood falling off the corners of the podium to the ground."

- Mr. Hiatt

"My car goes very fast... when you are going downhill and with the wind"

- Mr. Morris

"The Amish have the biggest parties in Arkansas... it's called Amish Craze."

"Does it scare me that president bush waved to Stevie Wonder? No."

- Yoon Chang

"I'm not mad, I'm just gonna strangle you"

- Senor Peixoto