2 Whittier Union Marching Bands Qualify for SCSBOA Championships
The Whittier and Santa Fe high school marching bands have qualified for the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Field Championships and will perform in their respective divisions on Saturday, Nov. 19. The Whittier Cardinal Brigade will perform in the 1A division at Warren High School, 8141 DePalma St., Downey; the Santa Fe Chieftain Tribe will perform in the 2A division at Ramona High School, 7675 Magnolia Ave., Riverside. The SCSBOA field show circuit is the most popular in Southern California.
Follow-up Story: A day before the nation paid tribute to America’s heroes, students at Pioneer High School gathered for a special ceremony honoring staff members who have served in the armed forces and remembering members of the Titan family who died while serving their country. Held Nov. 10, Pioneer High’s Veterans Day Ceremony featured remarks from school officials and students, patriotic performances and recognition of a group of revered veterans in attendance, who lit the school’s iconic Titan Torch before laying wreaths at the school’s two monuments.
The Whittier Union High School District will hold its annual Band Jamboree celebration at the District’s new Sandra Sanchez Thorstenson Stadium at California High School at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7. The festive event will feature performances from the District’s five comprehensive high school marching bands, cheer squads and drill teams. Following the band performances, the award-winning drill team from Pioneer High School will perform. The evening will conclude with a parade featuring students from all bands and a mass band rendition of “America the Beautiful.”
Follow-up Story: More than 300 Frontier High School students experienced first-hand the devastating impacts of drinking or texting behind the wheel during a Save A Life Tour presentation on Nov. 2. The program featured a high-impact video showing a re-creation of a distracted driving incident, police response, emergency room scenes, family responses and other footage. Following the assembly, students used a drinking-and-driving simulator and texting-and-driving simulator featuring an iPhone.
Follow-up Story: Hundreds of Santa Fe High School parents packed into campus classrooms on Oct. 22 to learn about issues relevant to teens today – from college and career options to dating and social media – during the school’s annual Parent Education Day. Launched in 2003, Parent Education Day is an informal and free way to engage Santa Fe High parents and provide them with information on ways to help their children succeed, with each having the opportunity to attend three, 45-minute workshops on a variety of topics.
The Whittier Union High School District Board of Trustees recently gave an Award of Merit to a California High School student who was born and raised in New Delhi, India, but found his home among the Condor family. Jashandeep “Jash” Anand arrived in the U.S. at 14 years old and landed at Cal High his junior year, gaining a reputation for being hard working, optimistic and joyful. He is on the varsity soccer team, a member of the National Honor Society, Interact Club and Spanish Club, and is an Academic Mentor and Link Crew leader. Carrying a 4.0 GPA, Anand is on his way to earning his Seal of Biliteracy in Hindi and complete a senior project on world hunger. He hopes to attend UCLA and study computer science. His grandmother is expected to fly from India to attend his graduation in 2017.
Students at Whittier Union’s Santa Fe High School will gather at lunch on Wednesday, Dec. 14 to make fleece blankets to donate to organizations serving children with cancer as part of the school’s Gratitude Project, launched by counselor Cheryl Redgate and the counseling team in 2013. The effort draws dozens of student volunteers each month and is funded through donations from a growing number of businesses and organizations. The school has donated more than 700 blankets. The community and students are invited to participate in the project.
Santa Fe High School will hold its annual Parent Education Day from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 22, allowing parents to participate in a variety of workshops to ensure their students' personal and academic success. Topics include social media, substance abuse, college 101, financial aid, community college options, career information, teen dating and safety, resources for foster youth and connecting home and school for success. The program, which began in 2003, attracts hundreds of parents who have the opportunity to visit three 45-minute topics over the course of the event. Workshops are offered in English and Spanish. Free childcare will be provided. Parents of seniors who attend at least two workshops will earn two free additional graduation tickets on top of the five each senior automatically receives.
Pioneer High School English teacher Michael Moore – who has taught thousands of students over his 27-year career at the school – has been named the Whittier Union High School District Teacher of the Year. Primarily teaching English honors classes, Moore is a 1970 Whittier High School graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal State Fullerton. He has been teaching since 1979 – a career he knew he wanted to pursue since he was in second grade, when he excitedly taught a 6-year-old neighbor punctuation marks on a curb. Moore was recognized for his accomplishments during the Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year Awards Banquet on Sept. 16.
Whittier Union’s La Serna High School this semester kicked off HAVEN, an academic support program that enlists community leaders to guide juniors as they plan their futures. Members of Friends of La Serna, Whittier Host Lions and Soroptimist International of Whittier will provide opportunities for students in planning their futures and introduce skills for academic and career success. The first panel on Sept. 21 included Whittier Union’s former superintendent and others who have faced challenges but persevered. Community partners will visit the students every Wednesday through Nov. 2. Partners will then conduct mock interviews with students and provide feedback to help them achieve professional success after high school.
