By PHHS Staff
Winterguard wins silver at regional
The arts are alive at Patrick Henry High School in a display not well known to most, unless you happen to come across the Winterguard team tossing colorful, 6-foot flags, white wooden rifles or shiny metal sabers in rhythm to music. Winter guard is called “The Sport of the Arts” as it combines physical skill with artistic pageantry. It is an indoor color guard activity for the winter months and is performed in a gymnasium. Teams are judged on talent, precision, creativity, skill with equipment and dance moves. Students get physical training, which builds self-confidence, while perfecting their skills. They also are part of a team where all are committed and focused on a positive common goal; to perfect and perform their show to the best of their ability.
The PHHS Winterguard team consist of 21 dedicated students who have practiced hundreds of hours preparing for this season’s show, titled “My Work is Done.” Their hard work paid off as they were awarded a silver medal at the Winter Guard Association of Southern California Championships held in Huntington Beach on April 25. They also won three first place trophies and a second place trophy during seasonal competitions that began February.
“We are thrilled to be awarded a silver medal and three first place trophies for our school,” said Haley VanBaale, one of this year’s co-captains. “Our love of the drill and choreography in this show are evident when we perform and the judges must see that.”
Winterguard is part of the instrumental music program at Patrick Henry, led by director Matthew Kalal and coaches David Milow and Austin Katona. This year’s co-captains are Haley VanBaale, Lehxy Pich, and Katherine Gi. Team members are Allison Ogul, Amanda Byra, Ary Hernandez, Arryanne Do, Isabella Webb, Bree Cota, Brianna Pinto, Britt Butterbaugh, Claire Christy, Dawn Busbin, Helyana Do, Jacky Hulley, James Montee, Jennifer Voogd, Kellie Inlay, Marie Barthel, Oliver Booriakin and Samantha Gipson.
Congratulations to this year’s Winterguard team for representing Patrick Henry so well.
Varsity softball team was on fire this year!
The PHHS softball team took first place in the gold division at the annual Cougar Classic in March. The team went 6-1, beating some really tough teams, including Cathedral and Eastlake, the team that beat PHHS twice last year to eliminate them from CIF. The only team that beat PHHS was Rancho Buena Vista, who went undefeated and were the platinum champions.
It’s a great start for the girls. Expectations are high this year. There are five players on the team who have committed to Division I colleges, including sophomore pitcher Madison James, who has committed verbally to Ohio State, and sophomore catcher Cristina Caccamise, who has committed verbally to Louisiana State University. The Lady Pats went into the season ranked No. 5 in the county by U-T San Diego. Fun facts at this time include:
- Current team record: 16-4
- Won the Falcon Fiesta tournament
- U-T San Diego and CIF now ranks them first in their division
- Max Preps has them ranked first in San Diego, 12th in California and 24th in the U.S.
- Cal-Hi Sports has them ranked seventh in California
PHHS gym gets an AED
The Eric Paredes Save A Life Foundation recently granted an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Patrick Henry High School. It will be placed in the PHHS gymnasium.
Eric was a healthy Steele Canyon High School sophomore athlete who died unexpectedly from sudden cardiac arrest in 2009. His parents, Hector and Rhina Paredes, established EP Save A Life Foundation to honor him through their commitment to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families. The EP Save A Life Foundation is committed to preventing sudden cardiac arrest in young people through awareness, education and action. Saving lives is paramount to our mission and prevention is our goal.
Eric’s foundation provides free screenings to teens to help identify cardiac anomalies that may lead to sudden cardiac arrest, with the ultimate goal of standardizing cardiac screenings among our youth. The foundation also equips schools with readily accessible AEDs and provides CPR/AED training for students and staff.
Upcoming free screening dates are: June 14 at Rancho Bernardo High School, Sept. 27 at Hoover High School and Nov. 8 at Francis Parker School.
PHHS student wins essay contest prize
Andria Montgomery won the third annual A Bridge for Kids Essay Contest and the $2,000 first prize. Andria’s essay bested over 250 entries from students at 20 high schools throughout San Diego County and was judged the winner by a panel of 10 local judges. In this year’s event, the top three essays were separated by a mere two points making it the closest finish in the short history of the contest.
PHHS athlete sets new track record
Tristan Zawadzki is literally jumping his way to the top. In a dual meet against Point Loma High School, Tristan shattered the previous record of 15 feet, set by Sean Rapp in 1987. Tristan improved the school record to 15 feet 7 inches, which is the leading mark in San Diego and among the top seven in the state. Go Tristan!
Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham Visits PHHS
Rear Adm. Bruce L. Gillingham visited Patrick Henry High School and spoke to over 100 NJROTC students about his Navy career as an orthopedic surgeon and becoming a rear admiral for the U.S. Navy. Gillingham is a native of San Diego and holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology (with high honors) from UC San Diego and a doctor of medicine degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
(Courtesy PHHS staff)
He currently serves as the commander of Navy Medicine West. In this capacity, he directs Navy Medicine’s health care system in the Western Pacific, providing medical care to more than 675,000 beneficiaries. Gillingham’s personal awards include the Legion of Merit (five awards); Meritorious Service Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards); Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal with the Eagle Globe and Anchor device with bronze star; and the Fleet Marine Force ribbon.
Adm. Gillingham is related to Principal Gillingham through marriage (her brother-in-law) and agreed to come share his wisdom and expertise with the cadets and leadership team at Henry. During his presentation, he included general comments and advice about the importance of persevering, keeping an open mind, teamwork, post-high school options, and working with an appreciative lens.
A cadet in the audience wrote: “Thanks so much for coming to our school and speaking to us. It was a particularly beneficial talk to the cadets in our program as it got them thinking about their futures and some interesting options available to them in the Navy. The words of wisdom passed down to us by you will hopefully remain in our hearts and minds forever as it was tremendously valuable. Thank you for personally answering my questions, and for further encouraging me to pursue a career in Navy Medicine. I hope to one day become a physician in one of your great facilities.”
Soccer team excelled, led in player selection for winter teams
Kudos to our winter teams who participated in CIF playoffs for soccer, water polo, basketball and wrestling.
Each season, the coaches in each league vote to select top players to join the league’s First and Second teams. Three soccer players — Emmanuel Huff, Payton Hatch, and Connor Keller —made the All-Eastern First Team, and two soccer players —Sayers Labor and Juan Mayo — made the All-Eastern Second Team. PHHS’s defense was highly represented on the all-league team, with Emmanuel playing keeper while Payton and Connor played defense.
The PHHS soccer team led the league with fewest goals allowed this year (four). In fact, the only goals that were given up in league games this year were to the eventual league champion. That means they gave up zero goals to all the other teams combined. PHHS lost in PKs (penalty kicks at the end of a game to break a tie score) to the league’s eventual CIF champion school, Oceanside.
PHHS is also proud of Grant Chandler, who made First Team for wrestling; Courtney Branch who made First Team for girls’ basketball; and Nicole Easley who made Second Team for girls’ soccer.
PHHS Bel Canto Team Sweeps the Awards at Spring Festival
Congratulations to PHHS Bel Canto Singers, who won first place both within their choir level and first place overall at this year’s choir festival. Every spring since 1982, Festivals of Music sponsors Music in the Parks, bringing together the nation’s top judges to the finest performing facilities to provide an inspiring end-of-the-year experience for high school choirs. Each group performs for a panel of three master teachers. During their performance, the judges record a running commentary and write comments, which are given to every group to use later as a classroom tool toward improving their future performances. At the end of the competition, the students spend the day at Disneyland and meet up to hear the results based on all of the schools who competed that day. There were five high schools represented on April 24, and PHHS students did an amazing job. All three choirs competed and each group brought back either a first or second place trophy. The Bel Canto Singers received a superior rating, which earned them two first place trophies. Congratulations and kudos to Kristin Love, our choir teacher, for her hard work in preparing our students for this event.
Model United Nation News
On April 25 and 26, five Patrick Henry students, representing the Republic of Chad, participated in the 11th annual Triton Model United Nations (MUN) Spring Conference at UC San Diego. This is an annual conference sponsored by MUN members at UCSD. Schools from as far away as Texas send delegations to this conference, so we were pleased that we did so well. Delegates in committee sessions were treated to speakers throughout the weekend who are both professors at the university and experts in the areas of debate and world affairs they discussed.
Sophomore Attie Davis served as a delegate in the Security Council focusing on resolutions regarding the ISIS Crisis. Senior Jack Kurz worked with the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. Senior Orion Brody was in Second Committee on Economics and Finance and was awarded the committee’s Distinguished Delegate Award. Senior Katie O’Nell was in the Fourth Committee, called Special Political and Decolonization, and was awarded the Outstanding Delegate Award. Senior Natalie Gates was involved in heated debate as she role-played Ray S. Cline, Head of the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, in the Cuban Missile Crisis Committee. Natalie was awarded the highest honor of Best Delegate for her portrayal.
