News Briefs (12/17)

No winter guard team
Auxiliaries will not have a winter guard team this school year because one of the coaches, Kelly Morrison, is on maternity leave.
“I’m bummed because winter guard is a really fun group and makes me feel like I’m part of this family,” senior Amber Liang said. “We spend so much time together, we bond and get closer while being able to perform and do what we love and that’s what I’ll miss.”
Every school year, Auxiliaries selects 10 to 13 members to assemble an indoor winter guard team to perform a 3-minute theme show using flags, rifles and sabers, competing in at least five competitions from January to April across Southern California.
“I feel bad for some of my seniors,” team adviser Sandee Kidd said. “Some of them have been on the team for three years, and they won’t be able to continue this year.”
As Morrison is unavailable, coach Melaine Young, assistant coaches and advisers plan to resume winter guard next year.

Gonzalez named new librarian
Sophia Gonzalez began her job as the new Instructional Resource Specialist in the media center on Nov. 14 to fill in Joanne Wang’s position after her departure from the district.
Gonzalez’s responsibilities include helping students and staff gain access to school resources, maintaining the library catalog and working with staff for any required resource materials.
“Arriving in the middle of the semester is challenging, but I’m excited to envision how we can improve the media center,” Gonzalez said. “I look forward to getting to know the school and will do my best to provide resources and programs for the students.”
Before this job, Gonzalez was a media clerk at Emperor Elementary School.
“She is very energetic,” Assistant Principal Elena Li said. “It’s good to have a fully staffed library because at the beginning of the year lots of work fell onto the media center staff.”

36th Annual Holiday Boutique
The annual Holiday Boutique allows student businesses and vendors to fundraise by selling products on Dec. 11-13 in the media center.
On Dec. 13, students visited Santa Claus and watched holiday movies with their family.
43 vendors, including 15 outside vendors and 28 student-run businesses and clubs, participated this year.
“This is my fifth year organizing the Holiday Boutique,” Small Business teacher Kim Allen said. “It’s a way for my students to get a real hands-on model business where they can actually make real cash.”
Items included food and beverages, stickers, accessories, decorative pins, AirPod cases, K-pop merchandise and other products. Prices ranged from 50 cents to $40.