November Update

November 9, 2022

Photo by Jonathan Piña-Villanueva

The marching show, titled Blueprints, is about building teamwork and features the use of a house prop being built throughout the show.

Marching Band

By Syd Rosas, Photo Editor

Sure, first place is awesome, but for FUHS band director Troy Trimble, the second place finish at the South Coast International CSBC Competition on Oct. 8 was a sign of success. 

Last year, Fullerton was placing pretty low compared to other schools, but this year the Marching Band has improved its scores and its dedication.

These achievements for the band are the product of months of rehearsals, drills and studying sheet music. Since

FUHS band director Troy Trimble conducts the national anthem at the Angel’s Band Night before a baseball game this year. (Photo by Syd Rosas )

summer, students have been perfecting their field show called “Blueprints.”

Several students are new to marching band this year. Some are even new to playing their instruments, which means the band director and drum major senior Mandi Austin have had to carve out time for teaching basics from notes to warm ups.

Despite these challenges, the group improved. They finished third in their first field competition on Oct. 8 and finished second on Oct. 22. 

These wins do not come without hard work behind the scenes. Students meet for weekly rehearsals, as well as practicing the show as many times as possible during first period. 

Along with competitions, additional events have made the band stronger performers.

The school hosted an event for the other marching bands in the FJUHSD district. The schools joined together to play the national anthem, and each school took the field to perform their field show. There were no judges, no scores, just the support of their neighboring schools.

The band also got to participate in Angel’s Band Night, an event where both junior high and high school students perform the national anthem from the field before a baseball game.

This wasn’t just a performance for the band, however. Trimble was invited to conduct the bands, recognizing both his and his students’ hard work.

Last year was the first return to marching band after COVID limitations and it was a complete reset from previous years. Though students did get a full season last year, it still has had its long-term effects on the program as a whole. But despite those challenges, the band has risen to the top this school year, taking home a trophy from both competitions so far.

JROTC

The Fullerton JROTC will participate in the City of Fullerton’s Veteran’s Day activities on Friday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at Hillcrest Park. Although there will be no parade this year, the group will honor all veterans by gathering at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, highlighting the end of WWI. (Above) The JROTC color guard is pictured at the Tackle Cancer Night football game. (Photo by Jonathan Piña-Villanueva)

Speech and Debate

By MacKenzie Mauldin, Feature Editor

Four freshmen and two sophomores participating in speech events will travel to Chicago Nov. 17-21 for the Glenbrook Invitational, the largest non-championship event the FUHS team attends. FUHS debaters will compete as well, but the debate competition will be hosted online, so the debate team will participate from home.

Junior Kasia Torres Herrera recites her oral interpretation (OI) called “A Latina Judge’s Voice” by Sonya Sotamayor during class. In the speech, Torres Herrera speaks from Sotamayor’s perspectives and the path that she took in order to become a supreme court Justice. (Photo by MacKenzie Mauldin)

The Speech and Debate team hosted 14 schools for the Orange County Speech League’s Fall Open on the FUHS campus Nov. 5-6. The event was a necessary tournament before students could advance to the Orange County Speech League’s State Championship Qualifier. In Extemporaneous, freshman Costa Gomez Bueno placed fifth place out of 12 entries. In Informative, junior Julia James placed first place out of six entries.

The team competed in two tournaments from Oct 14-15 synchronously: Gabrielino Invitational Speech Tournament and Cal State Fullerton Invitational. 

Only speech events were hosted at the Gabrielino. In Novice Duo Interpretation, freshmen Matthew Martinez and Apollo Salazar placed second of 10 entries. In Novice Oratorical Interpretation, freshman Sofia Tabbal placed fourth of 38 entries. In Varsity Impromptu, freshman Costa Gomez Bueno placed fifth of 16 entries

At the Cal State Fullerton Invitational, both speech contestants and debaters competed; however, only Public Forum debaters placed in their event. Sophomores Samantha Saldana and Gregory Patlan won two rounds for Novice Public Forum. Saldana received seventh place speaker and Patlan received first place speaker out of 22. Saldana said she found the tournament very thrilling. “I really wanted to know how it felt to be in an actual round so I was definitely very excited for something new,” Saldana said.

For Open Public Forum, all teams broke into octofinals. Out of 126 speakers, junior Isaiah Jung placed 19th. 

During sixth period speech class, Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debater Audrey Bae presents the cases she ran at the Jack Howe Memorial Invitational. The current LD resolution is “The United States ought to implement a single-payer universal healthcare system.” On the Affirmative, Bae argued that rather than universalizing all of healthcare, the United States should massively expand digital health care. On the Negative, she contested that a single-payer healthcare system would ruin medical innovation due to lack of financial incentives. (Photo by MacKenzie Mauldin)

The Farm

According to agriculture teacher Shannon Alcott, the FFA chicken project is limited to only seven students this year. “They’re going to raise chickens from chick to laying age where they start laying eggs and they should start laying eggs around January,” Alcott said. “We’re going to sell the eggs until May and then we’re selling off the hens as laying hens to people in the community that want to buy hens.” For other projects, baby goats were recently born. Pigs and steers have arrived, too. (Photo by Ella Kirby)

Halloween Costume Contest

Senior Quinn Dutton (left) dressed as Heisenberg and James Orr (right) as Jesse Pinkman from the Netflix series Breaking Bad walk the Halloween parade. (Photo by Jonathan Piña-Villanueva)
Photography teachers Gabby Kudron and Maggie Crail pose with senior Joseph Lopez who won the Halloween Parade held at break as Professor X from the Marvel series X-Men. (Photo by Jonathan Piña-Villanueva)