Aquila

August 30, 2019 • No Comments

Editor’s note: The following article is a continuation of What’s in a Meal? published in Vol. VIII Issue III of Aquila’s newsmagazine. Free snacks are not a new concept to UPA’s student body. Otter Pops or free popcorn are regularly distributed during ASB-sponsored events like Fun Fridays; a shelf in the counseling office is often stocked with snacks like granola bars and fruit cups;...

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One full month of consideration from the Santa Clara County Board of Education passed, and the night of Nov. 6th, after the meeting was delayed a full two hours after the initial start time, ended with UPA’s reauthorization for another five years. At approximately 8:30 p.m., the members of the Santa Clara County Board of Education met with Executive Director David Porter, other UPA Administrators and even teachers who attended the meeting and watched with anticipation if the school would be cleared to operate for another half-decade. With concerns raised about conflict of interest on the Board of Trustees, performance gaps, special education and vaping, UPA responded to each concern well enough to maintain the faith of Santa Clara County, further supported by the students and staff members that spoke on behalf of the school’s performance. Although UPA overcame the hurdle of another authorization, the Santa Clara Board offered key advice such as the increase of special education and further inclusion in the school’s demographic that UPA will hope to follow into 2025. The final vote for the reauthorization was 6-1 in favor of UPA, with board member Cladia Rossi (Area 7) voting against UPA on the notion that the school did not do enough to represent those that do not speak English as a first language. “When the board is asking questions, they will make concerns known,” Director of Student Services Andrew Yau said, “and that will drive us for the next five years [...] to make sure we address those.” ⁣
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First Photo: Executive Director David Porter and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Matt Daughterey answer questions from the board.⁣
Second Photo: Board Members Peter Ortiz (Area 6), Kathleen M. King (Area 2) and County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Ann Dewan read over the third issue of 2018-2019’s Aquila newsmagazine.⁣
Third Photo: Board member Joseph Di Salvo (Area 4) addresses his reasons for voting ‘Yes’ in renewing UPA’s charter, flanked by board members Grace Mah (Area 1) (Right) and Anna Song (Area 5) (Left). ⁣
Fourth Photo: UPA parents and staff members watch the meeting.⁣
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Reporting and photos by Kristian Crowther, Co-Editor-in-Chief.

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Come read our Adobe Spark about the UPA girls’ varsity volleyball team’s last home game played against Nueva, which occurred in October 22nd. Link in bio!

Photos and reporting by Chelsea Nguyen, Photo Editor

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With cobwebs, neon strobe lights and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” blasting throughout the Horton Auditorium, the annual Spooky Fall Ball hosted a “Thriller” Night for its thirty-five attendees. Despite it being Nov. 1, the dance embraced true Halloween fashion by providing a plethora of candy in front of Horton and free face painting in the Pratt art room. Although there was a shortage of the UPA student body at the Spooky Fall Ball, there was no shortage of fun tunes for the attendees to bop along to with their friends on the dance floor, whether old friends or new. As for the Spooky Fall Ball as a whole, junior and Secretary of Public Relations Adam Lawson explained, “I think that the amount of dances we currently have makes it so that the dances aren’t really special and it doesn’t really matter if you show up to one or the other. But if you have a few dances a year, there’s something bigger to look forward to.”⁣⁣⁣
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First photo: Jasiah Richardson (9) sways to the music.⁣⁣⁣
Second photo: Kathy Ngo (12) paints Secretary of Public Relations Adam Lawson’s (11) face. ⁣⁣⁣
Third photo: DJ Noah adjusts some tunes.⁣⁣⁣
Fourth photo: Various snacks are laid out for attendees.⁣⁣⁣
Fifth photo: Kyle Pantoja (7) sits in a trash can while other attendees dance.⁣⁣⁣
Sixth photo: Nicole Eike (8) dances to the music.⁣⁣⁣
Seventh photo: A group of seventh and eighth graders circle and dance to the Macarena.⁣
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Reporting and photos by Betty Nguyen, Reporter.

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The Family Life Center Gym was filled with laughter, cheers and shouting on Nov. 1 for the annual Halloween rally. After multiple activities, the seniors won with a score of 350; eighth graders tailed in 2nd place with 150 points; and freshmen and sophomores tied for 3rd with 125 points. A wide variety of activities, planned by ASB, included Mario Kart, Limbo, a Pie Eating Contest and Tug-o-War. Excitement was shared by UPA’s cheerleading team and Glen the Eagle. “I was really inspired! I wanted to do something instead of just interacting with people during the games,” Glen the Eagle said. “I wanted to have a more prominent role in small groups. I wanted something that embodies the spirit of UPA.”⁣
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First Photo: Eighth grader Nicole Eike surprises senior Faith Villarin and the whole gym with her limbo skills which ultimately ended in a tie between the seniors and the eighth graders as winners of limbo.⁣
Second Photo: Sophomore Sheyla Escalante digs into her pie trying to beat all of her competitors. ⁣
Third Photo: Glen the Eagle motivates a seventh grader during Mario Kart to catch up with their eighth grade competitor.⁣
Fourth Photo: Seniors chant out of joy for senior Roy Orozco’s win against their junior competitor Evan Vieyra in Mario Kart.⁣
Fifth Photo: Juniors Emily Bautista, Kaitlin White, Raul Batres-Alcala, Aaron Carpenter, Alexander Aladjoff and Julio Balleza all struggle to pull against their senior competitors in Tug-O-War.⁣
Sixth Photo: In response to a swarm of teachers who took part in Tug-O-War a myriad of seniors rushed to the middle of the gym. ⁣
Seventh photo: Glen the Eagle and the cheer team pose to be photographed by yearbook’s Emily Magallon (12) and Dana Feng (12) ASB’s PR team.⁣
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Reporting and photos by Greg Haessner, Reporter.

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Motivational music resonated throughout the parking lot next to the amphitheater on Friday, Oct. 25, hyping students up as they ran quarter-mile laps for UPA’s annual Jog-a-thon. The event, hosted by the UPA Sports Booster Club, ran from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. for middle schoolers and 3:50 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. for high schoolers. Student helpers and parent Sports Boosters Club members such as co-presidents Cerissa Phillips and Sharlisa Byrd offered wristbands, water bottles, Famous Amos cookies and other snacks to runners while the Cross Country team sold soda and ice cream sandwiches. Seventh grader Jace Young, who ran 21 laps, volunteered to pass out wristbands during the high school Jog-a-thon after running for the hour allotted to the middle school Jog-a-thon. “Just knowing that it helps UPA in sports and doing it with all my friends is pretty fun,” Young said. “I’m going to do this next year and the years after.” ⁣
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First photo: Sophomore Kedaar Chakankar reaches out to grab a wristband from student volunteers.⁣
Second photo: Junior and Cross Country team member Charles Rendler runs past student helpers passing out wristbands.⁣
Third photo: From left to right, juniors Emani Byrd and Jordyn Roberson, Sports Boosters co-presidents Cerissa Phillips and Sharlisa Byrd and freshman Alisa Byrd clean up after the Jog-a-thon.⁣
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Photos and reporting by Janessa Ulug, Managing Editor.

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⁣At the last minute, the graduating class of 2020 had to switch their senior retreat venue from John D. Morgan Park to Wallenberg Park. According to Jan Rogers, Assistant to the Director of Operations, this was the first time where there was a mix-up with the bus company. However, this did not keep the seniors from having fun as they originally planned. The graduating class of 2020 split into various groups with different activities, such as freeze tag, capture the flag and volleyball. These games, along with group skit performances and cultural desserts, intended to help the seniors bond with those outside of their usual friend group. “I really enjoyed getting to hang out with my classmates as a whole because I don’t really talk to some of them. Honestly, I really liked that I got to know more people much better [through] their desserts,” said senior Marty Serrano Marinda as he waited for the bus that the UPA admin team was able to procure for the seniors at the end of the day. ⁣
First photo: From left to right, seniors Natalia Alvarez, Kathy Ngo, Xian Thao, Eric Nguyen and Madeline Coquilla laugh as they pile up desserts onto their plates.⁣
Second photo (illustration): From left to right, seniors Simrat Jolly, Reporter Kevin Benjume, Rajdeep Sandhu and Kevin Tong watch the game of Sharks and Minnows enthusiastically.⁣
Third photo: Charles Edwards and Director of Student Services Andrew Yau laugh with each other as they grill meat and veggie patties.⁣
Fourth photo: Seniors Eryn Duong, Monica Rodriguez, Yerus Solomon and Rasleen Saran crack up during their skit performance.⁣
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Reporting and photos by Betty Nguyen, Reporter.

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In a night of laughs, gasps, murder and food, the UPA Theater and Dance Department held their third annual murder mystery dinner. Beginning at 6 p.m. in the Horton on Oct. 18, this year’s “Murder at the Pie Auction” was centered around the drama of the competitive pie-baking world. The dinner is the department’s main source of fundraising for the year; raffle tickets were sold, and various desserts were auctioned off. A red velvet cake made to look like a pie was the most expensive item bought at $400 by Preet Paul. Her daughter, freshman Dahlia Paul, played pie baker Eve Simone. Her original budget was $300, but an intense bidding war brought the price up. “[I raised my bid because of] excitement and fun,” Paul said. “I knew it was for a good cause. This is my way of giving back and enjoying a cake.”⁣
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First photo: Paul and her son, senior Dev Paul, admire their $400 cake.⁣
Second photo: During the Q&A section of the show, where audience members asked characters questions regarding the murder, characters react to what Minaret Towers, played by freshman Kaitlynn Ngo, had just revealed.⁣
Third photo: Four-time champion Julia Lyle, played by sophomore Zoie Charbonnet, confronts Simone for planting a bomb in her pie.⁣
Fourth photo: The $400 cake, baked by eighth grader Timothy Austin who plays Guy Templeton, is half eaten. ⁣
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Reporting and photos by Alexandra Rozmarin, Co-Editor-in-Chief.

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From momentous changes on the UPA campus such as the Grab-n-Go to new teachers, UPA also gained two new mental health counselors, Johnny Duran and Allison Kendrick. Inspired by a person in his life who helped him face challenges as a child, Duran wants to pay that forward. “There’s so many different types of people and everyday I feel like it opens my mind even more,'' Duran said. As for Kendrick, she was inspired to become a counselor through her natural empathy towards those who sought her guidance. “I love seeing the growth [of my clients]. Even in sessions when I see those little moments where it’s like a lightbulb comes on, or like a change takes place, it’s exciting to me,” Kendrick said. While both new to UPA, Duran and Kendrick share the common goal of wanting to help UPA students in the best way they possibly can. Duran and Kendrick are aware of the students’ hesitancy towards mental health counseling because it offers a degree of vulnerability that students may not be comfortable with. In giving advice to students who may be hesitant to try out mental health counseling, Duran and Kendrick agree that there is no such thing as a big or small problem -- all problems matter. On alternating days, Duran and Kendrick can be seen in the counselor’s office tucked away on the second floor of the Family Life Center. On Wednesdays, Duran holds his sessions in Ms. Trotch’s counseling office while Kendrick occupies the main mental health counseling office. ⁣
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First photo: Allison Kendrick, UPA mental health counselor⁣
Second photo: Johnny Duran, UPA mental health counselor⁣
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Reporting and photos by Betty Nguyen, Reporter.

Correction: The original post included an error about the location of mental health counseling, which takes place in the Family Life Center. Aquila regrets the error.

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