WRITTEN BY: ZACHARY BUENAVENTURA
Did you know that there is a way that you can have a voice in most of the rules or policies at VAAS? VAAS is a school that provides its students with a safe space to express their intellectual skills and creative talents. It's a community that fosters personal growth and teaches students how to integrate everyday life into their studies. At VAAS, there are many ways to express your own voice and concerns about school issues and contribute to the community. One of those ways is through the monthly school ESBM meetings. VAAS is able to “operate under the school plan developed and approved by both the Board of Education and UTLA through the Public School Choice 2.0 program” (Valley Academy of arts and sciences, https://www.thevalleyacademy.net) “As part of this plan, it was established that VAAS would be governed according to an Expanded School-Based Management Model,'' (Valley Academy of arts and sciences, https://www.thevalleyacademy.net) meaning that VAAS is able to work in a community wherein we are all allowed to have a say in how this school is operated. ESBM allows all teachers, parents, staff and students to help contribute to make the school more engaging and overall a better space for education Every second Tuesday of the month (unless there are conflicts in schedules that cause a change in the second Tuesday Schedule) from 4:15 pm to 5:15 pm the ESBM meeting is held and is open for anyone to attend, even students. The great thing about this meeting is that if any member of the school community has an issue or concern. They can address it during the meeting and it will be discussed in search of a resolution. Firstly, you would send the agenda of your idea that you would like to present during the meeting to Ms Hanock. Then you would work your way from there leading to your presentation at the meeting. An example of this is when the school first opened, Mr. Harris says “students were not allowed to wear hats.” However this topic was brought up during the meeting and the issue was later resolved. Now students are able to freely wear hats on campus. The ESBM meeting is a wonderful opportunity for students to express their voice about the school on a more in depth level that can cause positive change. We are the only school within LAUSD that is part of this ESBM plan and “Ultimately, the school plan guides all decision-making and programs.” (Valley Academy of arts and sciences, https://www.thevalleyacademy.net) This meeting is open to all, whether to just attend and listen to or to bring up a topic that you are passionate about and to reach a level of consensus with the members of the ESBM group. WRITTEN BY: JILL LUNA In honor of Día de Los Muertos, the Spanish classes at VAAS created memory boxes to honor those who have passed away, along with an Ofrenda Contest for every advisory class. On November 2nd, all the memory boxes were displayed in the theater, with a main altar on stage.
The contest was hosted by the leadership classes and judged by the Spanish teachers, with the winning advisory for the Ofrenda Contest being Mr. Turcios’ class. When asked, Ms. Rennels, one of VAAS’s Spanish teachers, said she “admired the attention to detail from some of the ofrendas, making sure all elements of Día de Los Muertos were covered.” These elements include skeletons, sugar skulls, marigolds and various flowers, papel picado, candles, Pan de Muerto, and other foods or items the deceased person enjoyed. In addition to this, when asked if she hoped the contest would continue next year, she said, "Yes". So, hopefully, next year, the Ofrenda Contest will continue and we can continue to honor and remember those we have lost through this beautiful tradition at our school. WRITTEN BY: MELINA DE LA CRUZ AND VANESSA DUENAS Jumping into the fall spirit, leadership organized and hosted a spirit week leading up to the days before the Fall Festival and Halloween. The first day of spirit week was hosted on Wednesday, October 26 and included showing off your best witches and wizards costumes. The following day was Decades Day, where everyone was able to dress up from any decade of their liking. To top off the week on Friday, the day of the Fall Festival, each class wore different fall colors to show off their school spirit!
This year to celebrate the upcoming fall season, VAAS organized its very first Fall Festival. The Festival was open to the community, inviting families from the valley to join in on the entertainment and activities that the festival had to offer. Sports and clubs here at VAAS were able to host booths that had games and other activities to raise money for their respective clubs. The event included various activities, ranging from interactive games to the mystery maze. Things like the mystery maze had students lining up to join in on the fun and be spooked. The VAAS Spirit Squad performed in zombie costumes in the quad during the event. It included high paced choreography put together by our own talented dance and cheer captains and students. Every club and sports team was able to host a booth at the festival to help raise money. There were many wonderful and creative booths. Since every single one had something different to offer, it kept people going from booth to booth excited to see what was to come. It was also great to see the students working the booths, not only to raise money for something they are passionate, about but to also have fun while doing it. Our 2022 Fall Festival was a huge success! It was amazing to see how the community was brought together to help support VAAS clubs and sport teams. The night was an all-around great success for everybody. Thanks to leadership and everyone who made the night possible. This is definitely something that I would like to see in the future of VAAS. |
EditorZachary Buenaventura Author
Yuliana Altamirano CategoriesArchives
June 2023
|