by Josue Sanchez, co-Editor-in-Chief, and Andy Ortiz, Managing Editor

St. John Bosco High School held the 2024 Club Carnival last Wednesday, showcasing clubs focusing on everything from community service to fishing and providing opportunities of all kinds to Bosco students.

This event, held every year in the Bosco Quad, has been a staple of student life at Bosco. This year, several dozens of clubs set up tables to promote themselves to all types of Braves.

Per usual, there is a combination of existing clubs—well-known in the Bosco community—and brand-new clubs, presenting unique experiences or activities to students.

One of the recognizable returning clubs is the St. John Bosco chapter of the Key Club, a well-known service organization sponsored by the Kiwanis International nonprofit organization. The nonprofit focuses on developing community service programs across the nation. The club provides an opportunity for students to fulfill their duties as Salesian students.

“It’s a service opportunity for students,” said Bosco senior Andrew Rios, the leader of the club. He helps plan beach cleanups, food drives and other special events. He also looks for people who want to make an impact by helping others.

Many of the returning clubs are focused on cultural diffusion of different types. This includes the Kababayan Club, led by senior Joshua Samonte. The club focuses on the spreading of Filipino culture and food, and it hosts a variety of special events throughout the school year.

“We teach people about my Filipino culture,” said Joshua. “We sell traditional food, and we do events at [St. Joseph High School].”

There are also a variety of clubs focused on specific interests/hobbies—a good example of which is the Braves’ Creative Guild, formerly known as the Illustration Club. It is moderated by current animation teacher Mr. Isaac Sánchez.

“We just want to cultivate creativity. You don’t have to be a visual artist,” said Sánchez. “[The Braves’ Creative Guild] blends those things together with an end goal, and that is to create art for everyone to enjoy.”

The guild welcomes students with varying types of interests and enhances those interests even further to create a unique space for those passionate about the arts.

Another example of these types of clubs is the Compas Club, a club which focuses on helping the people of Mexico via donations and many kinds of events.

“We want people who want to help out the community,” said junior Mario Nakajima, a member of the club. “We want nice people that are willing to take their time to help the community.”

They plan to continue this goal by selling food during lunch—a plan shared by many other clubs and groups at the Carnival.

The Club Carnival was not just made up of existing clubs, however. A variety of new organizations hit the scene, bringing new, fun opportunities to all Braves.

This can best be seen with the introduction of the Ultimate Frisbee Club, led by senior Connor Gallagher.

The club has the goal of becoming an official winter sport and competing against other schools in Southern California. Aside from this, Connor also wishes to bring a positive environment to all who join.

“You can have zero experience throwing a frisbee,” said Gallagher. “We’re here to teach you. We’re here for you to learn how to do it and just to have fun.”

Another new club at the Club Carnival is the Speech and Debate Club, founded by junior Adrian Irannejad and sophomore Matthew Mawad. They aim to form a competitive debate team, which can prove itself against other schools from the area.

They also want to expand this opportunity to all students who are passionate about debating.

“We want any and everyone who is willing to join,” said Adrian.

All these clubs present new, powerful opportunities for Bosco students who wish to get more involved with their school, their community and beyond.

by Andy Ortiz, Managing Editor

St. John Bosco High School welcomes two new academic counselors and one new international counselor, who all plan to help students be their best in their education and get on the road to college.

The purpose of the Counseling Department is to help students excel in their academics, help ace their classes, get them into college and help manage their mental health. Bosco’s Lead Counselor, Mr. Basil Totah, explains that the counselors’ main goal overall is to give the Braves the greatest high school experience.

“Our job is really to make sure that students have a great high school experience and to help students any way we can,” said Mr. Totah.

Bosco’s new International Student Counselor is Ms. Zhangli “Maggie” Zheng. Her job revolves around helping international students and communicating with those student’s families while interpreting students’ international transcripts.

“I used to be an international student. I know their situation, their language barrier and maybe some emotional problems like homesickness,” said Ms. Zheng.

She herself was born and raised in China, and came to the U.S after high school to study at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Ms. Zheng started as a teacher with a math degree, but she soon got into counseling from there. 

Ms. Zheng used to work part-time in the dorms housing Bosco’s international students. Once she noticed that there was a new position open for a new International Student Counselor, she jumped at the opportunity. 

“I worked as a part-time in the dorms last semester, and this semester there was one position open for International Student Counselor, then I said, ‘Oh it’s my turn,’” said Ms. Zheng.

She recounts how she had a bad experience with an international counselor when she was younger, and how she wants to make sure no other international student at Bosco faces the same problems.

“I did not have a good experience with my counseling agent, because I don’t think they helped a lot or gave me a perfect plan,” said Ms. Zheng. “That’s why I was determined to become a counselor and work for international students, because I want to help them prepare for their education.”

Ms. Zheng is hoping that she will help international students as much as possible and give them the best Bosco experience one could ask for.

This year Bosco has also brought in Ms. Sharon Wilke Otrembiak as a new counselor. She grew up on a farm in Illinois and was the first one in her family to graduate from high school and college.

“I see education as a way for a person to move forward in life,” said Ms. Otrembiak.

She has been in education for 25 years as an elementary school teacher. She got into counseling because she was interested in hearing the stories of her students. Having been in counseling for a number of years, Ms. Otrembiak wants to be able to talk with students and guide them through their problems.

“When I taught second grade, the kids would come to my desk and tell me stories, like little ones do,” she said. “I was really more interested in hearing the problems they were having that they needed help with.”

She puts a heavy emphasis on helping students whenever they are feeling rough. Ms. Otrembiak works with students on checking their grades, working on time management and planning for college life and their careers. 

School and colleges can be tough, so Ms. Otrembiak wants the Braves to know that she is there for them to provide them support in their academics, emotions and college.

Ms. Bridget Nagarajan also joined the Counseling Department this school year. She has been teaching for 20 years, and she had only been counseling for one year prior to coming to Bosco.

“I’ve always kind of wanted to do counseling, but I was teaching and raising a family and didn’t really have the time to go back to school,” said Ms. Nagarajan. “But once [COVID-19] hit I had the opportunity to go back to school, so I just decided to go for it.”

Way before Ms. Nagarajan was a counselor or a teacher, she served in the U.S. military. She joined boot camp in 2000. Six months after she got out of boot camp, the 9/11 attacks happened, and she was deployed from the reserve troops to Afghanistan and served one year as a military police officer.

“It was very eye-opening,” she said. “I was quite young at the time so it really expanded my world view, and just really made me appreciate the luxuries we have in America.”

During her time deployed in Afghanistan, she learned important values that she wishes to take into her new role here at Bosco.

“Don’t waste your time in life,” she said. “I think every person takes advantage of the fact that we’re living and breathing, but you’ll realize how precious every moment is [from military service].”

As a counselor now, Ms. Nagarajan wants to be able to connect with her students and push them to pursue their dreams. She will make sure that she regularly checks in on her students and encourages them to complete the goals that they have. She wants the Braves to know that she accepts walk-ins to her office if anyone ever needs to vent or talk.

All of the new counselors can be found in the counseling office on the first floor of the 200 building across from the student store.