January Stance Of The Staff

Expanded for the web

Madeleine Nicks, Frances Carlson, Dare Fitzpatrick, Jackson Baltes, Alexandra Siegel, Myles Hazen, Elli Westmacott, Sofia Ramirez, Dionne Peterson, Jinling Wang, Annika Firlik, Aden Meisel, Milla Hirsch, Abby Kim, and Ada Green
February 17, 2022

Introduction

Looking back on our past issues, we realized that many of our themes focus on looking to the future, persevering through difficult times, or trying to change our situation. For this issue, we wanted to completely shift our mentality toward enjoying the present, finding the pockets of joy throughout our daily lives, and making a meaningful effort to highlight members of our community who are giving back. To do this, we chose gratitude as our theme and central thread of our issue. 

When deciding on articles, our staff immediately thought of our dedicated peers who pioneer student-led clubs and participate in community advancement. We are grateful for the opportunity to publish the stories of leaders who are striving to help those experiencing homelessness, to clean up our beaches, to spread awareness and support of LGBTQ+ rights, to gather people together for meditation, and to educate our community about Asian culture. 

In addition to this, we focused our gratitude back in time to the history of feminism, outlining the timeline of women’s rights, from the Suffrage Movement up to the election of our first female Vice President. 

Throughout the process of building this issue, our staff kept arriving at the fact that we were happy to be on campus— to be learning in this environment, to be back with our teachers and classmates. 

Instead of simply telling you that we are grateful, we wanted to show you why. Here is a collection of our staff’s moments of gratitude, whether they are memories, teachers, fellow students, or certain classes.

“I am extremely grateful for Ms. Caldwell and the entire cast and crew of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. As we navigate the heavy, stressful questions about how to actually perform our show, rehearsal never ceases to be filled with laughter, joy, happy mistakes, stuffed animal cows, and chat/banter.”

“There are very specific times in my Latin 5 class when we just can’t keep it together. Whether it is the story we are translating, a certain vocab word that we can’t remember, or the fact that Ms. Steeber put windex in her hair this morning, these classes never fail to make my day better. I am so grateful for the playfulness :)”

“I am grateful for Ms. Roarty and the opportunity to take AP Psych with her; her warmth in the classroom environment makes me feel so comfortable in her class and her understanding nature makes me feel seen amidst the stress of Senior year.”

“I am very grateful for Ms. Pointer for staying after school to help me understand some of the class content in order to get ready for an upcoming test.”

“I am filled with gratitude for all of my coaches, teachers, and friends. Despite being a new student, everyone has made me feel so welcome and appreciated from the second I stepped foot on Laguna’s campus. From our soccer bus rides to Journalism work parties, I have felt so welcome in my new home.”

“I am thankful to Mr. Ary. Despite having an extremely busy schedule he is often available to help explain concepts to his students. Taking AP Calc BC, sometimes it can be difficult to understand a certain idea and Mr. Ary has helped me through these times.”

“I am grateful for the ability to be on campus and interact with my peers and teachers. The environment and support of campus is unmatched by the online experience and I’m truly happier when immersed in my courses on campus.”

“I am grateful for my incredible friends and teachers that have made the transition from middle school to high school easier. They have not only stuck with me, but did their best to help through the hard times, I will be forever grateful for them.”

“I am grateful for Dr.Tidey for all her quirks to make English 9 interesting. As hard as classical text is, she allows us to do fun things in between such as making ramen in class, exchanging gifts for Secret Santa, and lively abrupt discussions. Whether it is her genuine love towards teaching or her funny little names for her students, its hard to get bored in her class.”

“This year, I will be forever grateful for so many people, from my family, friends to teachers; however, I would like to spotlight a specific person: Ms.Pagels. Although her class is challenging it has helped expand my knowledge and passion for the world of science. Her love for teaching has made her classes so much more immersive and informative that it gives me a good insight into what I would like to pursue in the future.”

“I am grateful for my journalism class. It is such a great class where I am learning new things about how to write for a magazine. Everyone is very welcoming and eager to help each other out. I am thankful for Ms. McHale who is always available to help me out using indesign and making my pages.”

“I am indebted to Laguna’s college counseling department and their dedication to helping us find the right school. What I most appreciate is the availability and openness of the staff, and how they make the college search agenda not too rushed or hectic.”

“This year has flown by so quickly, and I feel grateful for the old and new friends I have made along the way. The countless inside jokes that have flourished through sports, lunchtime, and walking around campus. In every class, I have at least one person who I can comfortably share a smile with, laugh with during funny situations, yet still have heartfelt discussions when we need one another.”

“I am grateful for all my teachers who have been amazing during these past Covid years. When Covid first hit, I was at my old school where everything was very disorganized. However when I came to Laguna, the teachers and staff were very supportive and caring towards students on zoom and in person which helped me transition to a new school. Even this year as students began to go back on zoom and even teachers started to go on zoom, all of my teachers still worked hard to keep students on task.”

“I’m thankful for Mr. Chiment and his Algebra 2/Trig Honors A class. Many concepts can be extremely confusing but we all go through it together until it makes enough sense. Some of my favorite memories are singing “Riptide” and “Last Christmas” with the amazing Mr. Chiment and my hilarious classmates.”