Three Highlights from our First Week Back

Three Highlights from our First Week Back

 1.  The PGC leaders returned from their first retreat and after a fun and exhausting weekend. They are excited about the September retreat with the freshmen, and the year in general.  Elena Jaramillo said, “It was so sick. One of the best experiences yet. Cuts and bruises were definitely worth it.” Mie Mizutani commented that it was “three days full of food, hugs and smiles.” According to Alissa Mears, one of the PGC teachers, the retreat can be described with this sweet equation, "Three co-facilitators + sixteen senior leaders + an absurd amount of food + a lot of skill-development and bonding + some mud = an excellent start to what we believe will be an amazing and productive year. "

 (Photo by Thomas Stephenson)

2. School has finally begun and throughout the halls there are students excited for the year to come. Amidst a pool of students thrilled to see their friends again, one group stands out: Seniors. Many seniors arrived at school at 6:00 a.m. on August 2 to start off the year with the Senior Sunrise and collect their senior hoodies. Yas Della Nina said, “Senior Sunrise was a way to start the year fresh in the company of great friends who were all partly thrilled, but also terrified with the knowledge that the time has come: we're Seniors. This was our last first day of school, a warm way to catch up with every one, and also to simply relax just a little bit longer before it was time to get back to work. Despite leaving many quite moody for having to wake up so early, Senior Sunrise was definitely worth it, especially in the warmth of our awesome new hoodies.”

(Photo by Rigel Cruz)

3. This year the High School decided to organize student leadership a little bit differently, and instead of Stuco we now have the Student Advisory Board (SAB) who had their retreat on Saturday, 4 August. The SAB team said, "This Saturday, the Student Advisory Board (SAB) had its first meeting to kick start one of Graded's newest groups. Its mission is to establish a link between the students, teachers, and administrators to come up with creative solutions to improve and better our community. With this purpose in mind, SAB will be able to give a voice to the student body as well as other groups, and to make a significant change at Graded. This meeting served as a launch point for the group, establishing what should be changed and how to work as a team to get there."