Final 2018-2019 Student of the Month

Congratulations to Zoe Chandler who was named PHHS’s Student of the Month for May at the Kiwanis breakfast meeting. Zoe came with her mom and dad, Stacy and Gabe Chandler, and her brother Grant to the breakfast where she was given a certificate and a gift card in recognition of her achievements at Henry. Principal Listy Gillingham presented Zoe as one of her personal favorite graduates given Zoe’s longstanding commitment to the school.

Zoe has been an active supporter of the PHHS’s wrestling team as both of her parents are coaches. She was seen at every match where she managed the team by providing extra assistance to the athletes, taking pictures, and helping in any way possible. She took the leadership skills she learned through this commitment and bumped it up a notch by becoming a peer mediator for two years assisting students in crisis while helping them solve conflicts before they got out of hand.

Zoe is also the PHHS yearbook editor. She earned this role after enrolling in yearbook as a sophomore and then continued to help create three yearbooks for the students at Henry. Yearbook advisor Rachel Samuelsz reported that we would not have a yearbook if it weren’t for the commitment, dedication and hard work provided by Zoe Chandler.

PHHS cuts ribbon on new building

May 6 was the official opening of the new two-story building at PHHS! In coordination with the SDUSD’s communication department and the contractor Chuck Gossage, president of PVW Construction, an official ceremony was held to celebrate the grand opening and use of the new facilities in phase two of modernizing PHHS.

The event started off with the PHHS NJROTC color guard team presenting the colors while senior Iris Rogel sang the national anthem. Principal Listy Gillingham welcomed everyone and gave a quick overview of the importance of the new facility for the students and staff at Henry.

SDUSD’s Board President Sharon Whitehurst-Payne spoke next and shared how having bond measures supported by the voters has had a direct impact on the campus transforming it into a college-like setting. She thanked the hard work of the team which included Chief of Facilities Lee Dulgeroff, project manager Julio Ramos, construction manager Carl Schneider, assistant construction project manager Lisa Sikorski, inspector Greg Schwartz, and James Bucknam, Chuck Gossage and Steve Yetta of PVW.

Dulgeroff spoke and highlighted the different components of the project which include:

24 new classrooms and two ROP (regional occupation program classes), providing a community pre-school for Henry students to learn how to be teachers.

Two filtered hydration stations.

Three newly-remodeled engineering classrooms, which includes a civil engineering and design lab, a fabrication lab and graphic arts instructional space.

Remodel of the main office with a state-of-the-art glass entrance, PHHS logo, and a new staff lounge area.

Solar energy panels will be coming next.

ASB President Christopher Stagner provided a few comments in terms of the student’s perspective of the campus and what it means to attend school in the new facility with the many upgrades. PHHS hopes to offer a 50th celebration of the first graduating class next spring with an open house and other student performances. Stay tuned for more updates!

Track and swim news

Patrick Henry had a successful Western League finals on May 31. The Patriots will go in strong to CIF on June 8 with Western League champion in the 100-meter, George Oke, coming in ranked No. 1 for Division 1 along with teammate Steven Guillory-Smith ranked sixth.

Donovan Jennings comes in ranked third in the long jump in Division I and fourth in San Diego. Jennings was able to do this feat without having a facility to train on during the season!

Amazing freshman Daniella Smith comes in ranked eighth in Division I in the 100-meter and freshman Shayla Harris is ranked 11th in the 400.

Henry also had an exciting finish to our swim and dive season. Our athletes did great at CIF finals. Our para swimmer Grace Lockwood advanced to state finals for her 50 and 100 freestyle. Here are all of our results from our CIF swim team finals:

Ingrid Maclean placed 13th for her 100 backstroke.

Reyna Winter placed 16th for her 500 freestyle.

Boys medley relay with Sean Quirk, Kevin Harry, Ethan Ackland and Ian Balcazar placed 15th.

Our para swimmers all earned medals. Grace Lockwood placed first in her 50 and 100 freestyles with her personal best times; Antonio Boleware placed third for his 50 freestyle; Alberto Castaneda placed fourth for his 50 freestyle; and Jayden Orta placed fifth for this 50 freestyle.

Music students travel the country

Several alumni and current students of the Instrumental Music Program will be traveling the country this summer as part of Drum Corps International’s (DCI) Tour.

After an extensive audition process with their chosen drum corps, accepted students will be practicing and performing with the world’s best of the marching arts at various venues coast to coast from June through August, culminating at the DCI World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana in front of a crowd of over 25,000.

“I’m extremely excited for the hardworking and dedicated musicians and color guard members that are participating from our program which represent the top 1% of all young adults in the activity,” said PHHS Director Matt Kalal. “It’s unique to have so many students participating at the highest level from one school in our district.”

Participating in World Class Corps are Armando Cano (alumni) and Nathan Anthony with Pacific Crest, Jennifer Voogd with the Mandarins, and Matthew Voogd (alumni) with the Blue Knights. Participating with Gold, an Open Class Corps, are Ian Lovewell, John Lagunas, and Sydney Eun. Previous participating students have included Ashlynn Willis, Nico Coto, and alumni Cris Cerna, Jacob Goucher, and Ryan Morrison.

The 2019 DCI Tour will feature more than 70 drum corps and SoundSport teams participating in more than 100 different competitive events in 35 states. You can see our students perform with their respective drum corps at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 28, at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, CA.

For more information on the Instrumental Music Program at Henry, go to spiritof76boosters.com and DCI at dci.org.

PHHS students win Law Day contest

Three PHHS freshman — Alexis Kovacevic, Cassie Pataky and Naomi Susuki — won the City Heights Law Day essay contest last month. The theme was the First Amendment and they wrote about the history of banned books in schools. San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez awarded the students with a certificate and a $200 check for each of the students.

Union-Tribune Community Journalism Scholar

PHHS junior Kellen Foster is one of six students countywide selected to participate in the San Diego Union-Tribune’s 2019 Community Journalism Scholars program.

The students were selected based on their academic achievement, writing ability, recommendations and interviews. They will be paired with mentors from the Union-Tribune’s newsroom for five weeks this summer to learn about journalism and leadership, and their works will be published online by the newspaper. The students will be paid, and one of the six students will win a $5,000 scholarship.

Kellen reported that during the summer he will attend classes on becoming a journalist which will include shadowing one who will likely end up being his mentor. He will have to write five different stories and create some video stories as well. He demonstrated a strong commitment to program and will give a full report about it once he completes it. Congratulations to Kellen for furthering his education this summer with such a great program!

— Elizabeth Gillingham is principal of Patrick Henry High School.