Month: November 2018

Written by: Nicole Trinidad
Photographed by: Ariel Davila

New on campus this year is the softball head coach and physical education teacher, Krissy Hoggatt.  While it was her first year on campus, it is her third year as a head softball coach and has previously taught for two years at Trabuco Hills High school in Mission Viejo.  So far, the school has welcomed Mrs. Hoggatt into the loving atmosphere of the Valencia community showing our pride, tradition, and excellence. She noticed how involved the staff is and that they are always working on something and trying to include as many people as possible.  

When asking her why she chose Valencia, she expressed more about her past.  Mrs. Hoggatt grew up in Yorba Linda and went to Esperanza High School. She felt that by immersing herself within the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified District, she is “giving back to a place that gave her so much”.  As for her interest in softball, she was coached by her dad and has played softball since the age of 5 all the way through college at Chapman University. Mrs. Hoggatt even got her Bachelor’s of Science in Athletic Training.  

She has taught sports medicine, health, and physical education before because she felt that they go hand-in-hand together.  As a teacher, Mrs, Hoggatt voiced that it is difficult to express her reasons for teaching because she feels they are like many other teachers.  She wants to “better the kids and have them in an enjoyable, safe environment and make them feel comfortable”. However, as specifically a physical education teacher, she stated, “PE is a hard class for a lot of students. They don’t like it because they are made to actually do stuff, get up and move around, but I think it’s so important that they learn why they need to do that. I try my best to explain to them that fitness is life long, they need to start now and not wait until they are 35 to get off the couch, and learn the importance of physical activity, health and taking care of yourself.”

When asked about softball season, she talked about how tryouts were October 6 and there are now 33 girls across both the Junior Varsity and Varsity teams.  As of now, the girls are conditioning which involves getting on the field, understanding the fundamentals, and just trying to “dust off the rust” from not playing for so long.  Mrs. Hoggatt is excited to see the girls play, create a community, be successful, and have fun. However, more than that, she wants to see her teams become better people, better citizens, overcome any adversity, and properly represent Valencia to its fullest potential.  We hope Mrs. Hoggatt will have a great first year here and feels fully apart of the Tiger family.

Written by: Jared McNair

Red Ribbon Week, a week long awareness program dedicated towards keeping students off of harmful substances. Whether it be alcohol, tobacco, or any other drug, the Associate Student Body (ASB) made sure tigers would steer clear of the life destroying substances. Almost everyone has heard the catchphrase “Drug Use is Life Abuse”. The whole school wears it on our wrist for a week as a reminder. It’s an important week, and though it may feel repetitive, it is a pledge and vow that all should take.

It may seem pretty obvious to a lot of people that drugs are bad, but the world can be quite deceptive sometimes. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), illicit drug use for teenagers has seen a steady decline, hitting a record low in 2017. But this excludes Marijuana, which has shown a steady rise for the past few years.  And it may seem as simple as it gets to say drugs are bad, but the impact of drug use or abuse is far more consequential than one may expect. As a student, the effects of drug use for an individual could be catastrophic. A student can gain emotional problems, such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. One could also gain behavioral problems that can lead to social problems, fights and possibly criminal activity. And learning problems could occur that could damage long and short-term memory and lead to memory loss and learning incapability, even brain damage. These are some of the risks one takes when using drugs. It helps to know the facts, even when common sense may seem like a better choice. But it’s simple, drugs ruin lives.

Valencia has helped in a sense to make awareness stick more with the student body. These include lots of red and ‘dress-up days’. These dress-up days included a PJ day, Hawaiian Day, and the obvious Blue and Gold Friday. But this was only a sizable bit to the larger picture. Alongside that was a sea of red across campus, a unique optional presentation, and facts during morning announcements. All of these help students understand and make sure they never use drugs.
These ‘dress-up days’ throughout the week went as following. Monday was PJ Day – “Put Drugs to Sleep”. Tuesday was Jersey Day – “Team Up against Drugs”. Wednesday was Hawaiian Day – “Lei off Drugs”. Thursday was College/Sunglasses Day – “We’re too Bright for Drugs” and there was the common Blue and Gold Friday. Overall this was considered the highlight of the week. The overall message is that as a student body everyone should take a stand against drugs. There are many studies and many anti-drug movements, advertisements, and groups. For many it’s common sense. For others, it’s new information that could lead them on a path to a better life. With dress-up days and red everywhere, we are sure to see that vow taken seriously.