Angeles excels in unique artistic style

By Manuel Villaverde

Photos by Manuel Villaverde

Jose Angeles is a senior at Saddleback who is talented in art and has his own unique art style.

Senior Jose Angeles shows off his work

Angeles has been drawing since his sophomore year and says he “definitely has a passion for it.”  His designs are different from common practices. He was studying nature when it began to inspire him, and he then added monsters to his creation. Angeles says his inspiration is “random objects, yet mostly nature and human struggles.”

Angeles talks about the “details provided by nature” and “textures” that help him create his artwork. He says that the monsters represent people, “who struggle to reason and in such manner many become killing beasts and crime providers.” By “killing beasts and crime providers,” he says that he means to show how humans become criminals and murderers in today’s society.  The beasts in his paintings are people.

Angeles’ future goals in his career include his artwork. His plans include printing his designs onto shirts and creating a trademark for his company.  Angeles is already planning to get his business going as soon as possible by having a part-time job and doing his research on required materials and assets.  He has sold nine paintings but says it, “Isn’t much yet. I definitely plan to expand my art horizons.”

Seniors attend OCC Senior Day

By Carlos Pacheco

Photos by Carlos Pacheco

On March 11 seniors from different schools and district visited Orange Coast College for its annual Senior Day.

The event consisted of tours around the campus to explore different clubs to join. Clubs were offered for all students interested in games, drama, cooking, sports, or reading. Students that attended an assembly later on got a free t-shirt. The assembly was about activities and clubs they have to offer in school.

Members from the OCC dance program performed pieces of their upcoming concert. Senior Evelyn Garcia said, “I love the performance the dancers gave in the theater.”

After that the occ staff encouraged the students explore the campus either on their own or with a tour guide. The Photography Club offered a photo booth where anyone could go and take pictures to make memories, either as a group or alone.

Most students went to explore different clubs or  to take pictures around the campus. the college provided lunch to all those who attended the trip. Senior Rosa Lopez said “I enjoyed the whole campus and the activities and clubs I saw.”

 

 

Wren surveys students for lunch changes

By Raul Carrillo

Science teacher Mr. Christopher Wren along with a panel of students, is pushing for new lunch options that will benefit both the students and the school.

Photo Credit: Manuel Villaverde

Wren took surveys from students and staff, in order to get a variety of opinions about current lunch offerings.  Mr. Wren surveyed students during both lunches, asking students at the tables to write down a comment about the menu. The surveys were anonymous.  Students only wrote their first name and grade level, as this way students could be more honest with their answers.

Photo Credit: Manuel Villaverde

On the surveys, seniors Lupita and Janet expressed how they have seen the food quality go down over the years saying, “During freshman year the food was good.  By junior year the food started getting worse.”

Photo Credit: Manuel Villaverde

A junior named Heidi said, “I end up getting a chicken sandwich every day,” because it is the only option that she likes.

 

Wren met with the School Site Council and the the food services manager, Mark Chavez, to discuss all of the concerns that both students and staff have about the cafeteria food.  In this meeting the School Site Council pointed out several results from the surveys as well as several photographs showing some of the students’ complaints about the food. After this meeting and the surveys, the food service workers were re-trained.

Photo Credit: Clarissa Cisneros

Wren has already made progress toward change. He said, “From the side of the district, the Nutritional Food Service workers in the cafeteria have already been re-trained as to the rules of what the student is required to take, including minimums and maximums, fulfilling three of the five categories of nutrition.”

 

Mr. Wren said, “My overall goals are to increase the variety of selections and reduce the excessive waste during lunch by educating the student population about the nutritional categories and what they are required to take and not take from the selections.”

 

Now Mr. Wren plans to educate the students as to how they can meet the nutritional requirements by putting up posters that will make clear to students the different lunch options and the different things that people need to complete the nutritional requirements.

Mr. Wren hopes that the food changes will be available sometime next year saying, “We, as a campus, should expect no sooner than next year, but if the changes occur sooner, then we should be that much more grateful.”

Color Guard takes first place

By Kaitlin Fergerstrom

On March 9 Saddleback’s color guard team participated in a competition at Savanna High School. Our talented dancers showed off their moves and won first place out of the seven schools in the tournament.

 

Senior Jesse Escalante, team captain, said, “Being the first to perform was very shaky, because the crowd was very quiet.”  He added, “What was really nice was there were actually people who we’ve met before from other schools in the audience yelling out our names and cheering us on.” Escalante said he believes Sunday was a very productive day.

Photo Credit: Hector Brambila
The Color Guard co-captains from left to right: Sophomore America Rendon and seniors Jesse Escalante and Dulce Rivera (captains and co-captains).

Escalante also said, “Sunday was our most successful competition, not just of the season but probably of what this team has had in years.” Escalante continued, “It was a very big step in Saddleback history being able to move up in the next rank.”

 

Senior Dulce Rivera, co-captain, described there victorious morning, “Sunday’s competition was really intense, because it was the tournament that was going to tell us whether we qualify for the next ranking.”  Rivera ended with, “We’ve been through bruises, tears, and sweat. So I feel we earned first place.”

 

Sophomore America Rendon, co-captain, added her thoughts. “I felt like that morning we were giving Saddleback a good reputation,” she said. “A lot of people saw us as the underdogs. Now we’re on top and it’s starting to feel great that we’re being recognized.” As future head captain she was looking forward to future competitions.

Photo Credit: Hector Brambila
The Saddleback High School Color Guard

After many years of hard work, Escalante was very proud of his team and their success.

FAFSA Late Nights help students pay for college

By Leslie Alanis

Photos by Leslie Alanis

Saddleback held  Financial Aid Late Nights at the Higher Education Center to help seniors to turn in their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or Dream Act applications.

The FAFSA gives students access to federal financial aid for college. The Dream Act is for students that are undocumented. It gives undocumented students in California a chance to receive financial aid through the state.

The Higher Education Center holds Financial Aid Late Nights every Thursday of this month from 3:00 p.m to 6:30 p.m. Students brought their family’s income information, social security number or alien registration number, and their parents’ 2012 or 2013 income tax information in order to fill out the paperwork.

Higher Education Coordinator Mrs. Olga Henderson said, “There’s a misnomer of people that think you have to be really really poor in order to get financial aid, or some students think that you have to have good grades to get financial aid. But really they’re looking at your parents ability to pay for college and thats the determination factor so thats why the fafsa and the dream act are application that students must fill out weather to determine if their eligible”.

Senior Vanessa Aguilar attended a FAFSA night and said, “Filling out the FAFSA application is really easy as long as you have brought all your requirements.”  She added that it was really helpful having people there to help you. The FAFSA and Dream Act deadline was March 2, 2014. If you have any questions, you may contact Mrs. Henderson in the Higher Education Center.