(January 26, 2010) — On Nov. 10, 2009, sophomore Ryan Mirkhanian submitted an essay to an L.A. Lakers writing contest sponsored by East West Bank, just to fulfill the writing requirements for his Humanities class. “I wrote about a new way for water conservation and it was also an environmental experiment,” said Mirkhanian. Weeks later, on Jan. 6, Mirkhanian received the phone call from Lakers’ representative saying that he had won the contest for the month of January. “I was speechless because it’s really hard to win a Lakers essay contest.” His prize was two free tickets to the Jan. 15 Lakers game vs. The Clippers, having his name posted on the Jumbo Tron, and being awarded a plaque from a representative of East West Bank. “I met Andrew Bynum and Michelle Kwon,” Mirkhanian said. He said he never thought he would win; he thought there was only one winner, but then it turned out there’s a winner every month. “I said ‘hi’ to Kobe while I was still on the court and he said ‘What’s up bro? Enjoy the game.’ This has definitely been the best experience of my life.”