by Luis Hernandez, Managing Editor

St. John Bosco High School introduced a brand new way to watch the Braves compete in their athletics called Bosco+, which is a platform to watch sports and other extracurricular events on campus.

St. John Bosco is working alongside the National Federation of State High Schools (NFHS) Network in order to stream Bosco events, which will be produced and broadcast by Bosco students. This new opportunity would have not been achievable without school President Dr. Brian Wickstrom, who is in his fourth year here at Bosco.

“If we didn’t have Bosco+, [most events] wouldn’t be broadcast,” said Dr. Wickstrom.

Prior to this streaming service, there was no way that many of the sports could be broadcast. This was unfortunate, as all the athletes deserve the opportunity to showcase their talents.

“If we didn’t have our students filming, we would have to hope that a major network picked [events] up,” Dr. Wickstrom said.

Currently Bosco+ films the games for football, basketball, baseball, swim and lacrosse. However, the school plans on adding more events as time goes on.

This opportunity is not only important for athletes here at Bosco but also members of the Film & Media Pathway. They are in charge of the production of these broadcasts and are able to gain real experience in what could potentially be a future career.

Nathan Vargas, a senior here at Bosco who has been involved with the pathway since his freshman year, believes this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

“Not only do you get practical experience, but you get professionals in the industry who help assist and guide you,” said Nathan.

The chance to be able to film their school’s sports teams is an amazing opportunity for these students as they get to put the skills they have learned to use in the classroom to the real world, which very few high school students get the chance to do.

“It gives students production experience to prepare them for a career and also builds up their resumes, which is important when applying to colleges,” Dr. Wickstrom said.

Members of the pathway are not restricted to strictly filming. Some have the opportunity to actually provide play-by-play and color commentary. This allows students to try out different roles within the field of media production to see what they enjoy best.

One of the commentators, senior Adam Rosales, could not be happier about this new experience.

“It’s amazing being able to film these games, especially because we have great sport programs across the board,” said Adam. “It’s fun to do with my friends, especially when I get to commentate games.”

The students are not only in charge of the filming and commentating, but they have to set up the wiring, communication and control other devices throughout the event.

“It builds a skill set for those that want to get involved in cinematography,” Nathan said. “So we can help the school but also look into a potential career path.”

Bosco+ is not done yet. They are planning to continue adding different sports and more events. Getting more students involved and more exposure for Bosco’s excellent extracurricular programs is their top goal. The great things that the Braves are accomplishing at school and in their communities deserves to be shown to the world.

“The chance to broadcast and stream the great things our students do on the Bosco+ app is so important for the school,” Dr. Wickstrom said.

Every Brave has the opportunity to watch any of these productions for free when they download the Bosco+ app on their smart devices and make accounts with their Bosco Gmail addresses.

by Nicholas Cortez

Last Tuesday, St. John Bosco High School’s freshmen class held elections for their representatives in Associated Student Body’s (ASB) Freshman Board for the 2023-2024 school year.

Mrs. Mayra Fernandez, the Director of Activities, set up voting polls for the Freshmen ASB and Board elections via Google Forms to determine who would become the Class of 2027’s first ever class President, Vice President and Commissioners. 

Although elections are very nerve wracking for all, the freshmen were eager and happy for the chance to lead their fellow Braves to a great school year. These elections offer students the opportunity to participate in the creation of class events and gain experience in leadership.

Being a part of ASB requires sacrifice and commitment. The other students look up to them for guidance, which means they must be a well-rounded individual.

“All my ASB members should be leading by example. That means that they should be doing what they are asking their peers to do,” said Mrs. Fernandez. “They should be well behaved, hold high academic standards and demonstrate good leadership, collaboration, speaking and listening skills.”

While it is important to be excellent inside Bosco, it is vital that they also behave the same way once school ends.

“They need to have or develop the capability to create and build relationships, not only with their peers and teachers, but also with their community,” said Mrs. Fernandez

On September 4th, 2023 around 2:30pm, winners of the Freshman Board elections were announced. 

Elected Winners for the 2023-2024 School Year:

President, Dorian Franklin 

Dorian, a member of the freshman football team, was excited to hear the news that he was elected as President of the Freshman Board.

“When Mrs. Schnorr announced me as the class President, I was instantly filled with joy, excitement and a sense of pride and leadership,” said Dorian.

Dorian believes that he will be able to prosper in this position due to his ability to work through hard situations and his close relationships with fellow students.

“One key component that set me apart from the other students running was my effort to connect with a vast variety of students. I connected and met students from the esports team all the way to the football team.”

Vice President, Jeremiah Lopez

Jeremiah’s role is very important to the success of this year’s school year for the freshmen, as he supports and enhances the efforts of the President.

“I plan to make SJB more fun and enjoyable for all of the freshmen and incoming students,” said Jeremiah.

Events and Fundraising, Jason Medina, and Commissioners, Cyril Botros, Noah Garcia, and Peter Santos

In addition to Jason Medina being in charge of Events and Fundraising, there are three commissioners on the Freshmen Board this year. They each plan to combine their expertise to ensure all runs smoothly. 

Noah is proud of his new position as Commissioner and ensures to work his hardest everyday.

“I will make sure to provide fun events for our freshmen and keep everyone updated on things coming up,” said Noah 

Peter, who is also one of the Commissioners, credits his hard working mentality to his father and brother.

“Some of my role models include my dad and my brother since they are older than me and they really teach me many important life lessons, such as working hard. Another really big lesson they taught me is to keep my word,” said Peter. 

For Cyril, he is stepping into new waters and seems rather joyful for this year’s school year. 

“I am quite excited for this year. I am a freshman, so this is a brand new experience for me. I also plan to bring a lot of fun activities with my ASB team this year,” said Cyril.

ASB is a great way for all students to start to get involved in their school.

“I believe they will gain experience in developing, planning and executing events, and above all, I hope they learn how to become great service leaders and amazing human beings. It will set them up for success in college and in their future endeavors,” said Mrs. Fernandez. 

Getting involved in ASB opens doors to meeting new people, building an individual’s confidence and professionalism. 

Freshman elections are proof of the school’s commitment to developing their students’ potential as leaders and preparing them to have a positive impact on their communities.

by Andy Ortiz

From the Environmental Club to the Body Building Club, the 2023 Club Carnival offered the Braves more chances to get involved on campus.

Last Wednesday, the 2023 Club Carnival took place during lunch in the Mary Help of Christians Quad. Many tables were set up along the edge of the quad featuring many returning clubs from prior years and also many new clubs. With such a variety of options, Bosco Braves have more chances than ever to get involved in their school community.

“The best part of having clubs here is having more opportunities to make new friends and expand upon your own abilities, while gaining new ones,” said science teacher Mr. Brian Miller.

A popular group in the Club Carnival was the International Club. There is no current president, but it is being temporarily directed by juniors Josue Sanchez and Joseph Muhl under the moderation of Ms. Carleen Carney. This club focuses on the many different types of cultures and the people from those cultures. 

“This club is unique because of the diverse cultures and people [at St. John Bosco],” Josue said. “Everyone from every kind of culture is welcome here in the International Club.” 

The club holds Kahoots about different cultures, potlucks and even field trips to other countries.

The Robotics Club also received tons of interest as a result of their engaging display, which featured Bosco’s very own robot. Led by junior Diego Salcedo and moderated by Mr. Walt Wippler, this club works on building and controlling robots in preparation for their later competition.

Robotics can be very time consuming and requires a big commitment, but promises to be worth it if you have the interest as well as the time.

“Even if you don’t know anything about robotics, this group is very welcoming,” said junior Andrew Rios. Mr. Wippler is very patient and makes sure everyone is on task.”

At the event, the academic honor societies also garnered interest. The Spanish Honors Society is led by President Diego Salcedo and Vice President junior Emmanuel Garcia and moderated by Ms. Cindy Rayas. An honors society mainly focuses on helping with charity and community service, and the Spanish Honors Society, in particular, focuses on helping the Spanish speaking community. 

On top of volunteer work, the Spanish Honors Society also appears during culture fairs, selling cultural food. They also pride themselves in being all inclusive. The Spanish Honors Society’s main goal is to educate people about Spanish culture.

The Black Student Union (BSU) was another club that gained many new members during the Club Carnival. Led by junior John McCovey and moderated by Mrs. Michele Dolphin, the BSU provides support for minorities of all kinds while celebrating African culture. They hold cookouts, dances, movie nights and game nights. 

The BSU is for people who feel that they have no representation. They are welcoming to all, as their motto goes: “No one is rejected. Everyone is accepted.”

The Illustration Club is a new addition to the list of clubs here at Bosco. Moderated by new teacher Mr. Issac Sanchez, this club goes hand in hand with The Inklings – Creative Writing, as they both hone a student’s artistic skills. Illustration focuses on telling stories through drawing, and they plan to eventually paint a mural, start an artist alley and share art portfolios. 

“We want to build a respectful space, where people can freely share their art and ideas,” Mr. Sanchez said.

The Card Club also garnered attention among the student body, led by junior Nicholas Venezuela and moderated by Mr. Ruben Solorza. As the name implies, the general gist of this group is to play card games and hang out. It isn’t a super serious thing, but anyone looking for an escape can join this club to learn cards and have fun.

“Anyone who likes games and having a good time is welcome here,” said Nicholas.

But undoubtedly the most interesting club at the Carnival was the Brave St. Baldrick’s Club. Led by freshman Charlie Dotts, this club brings the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to the Bosco campus. St. Baldricks is committed to funding and researching cancer in children. As for the club, it plans to spearhead initiatives that raise money for this foundation. In March and April, the members plan to shave their heads bald to raise awareness about children with cancer.

by Rafael Escobedo

St. John Bosco High School’s new lunch service has been the talk around campus among the student body.

Bosco has featured many lunch services throughout the years. However, this new service has been met with many positive reviews. Boca Cafe, the Bellflower-based catering company tasked with providing lunch to the Braves this year, emphasizes the importance of variety on the menu. Their Bosco menu offers different items, such as pepperoni pizza, burgers, orange chicken bowls, boba and much more. 

School President Dr. Brian Wickstrom took the initiative and hired the new company to ensure that the Brave community is supplied with quality food.

He chose this new lunch staff due to the great experience that they have with not only the food business but customer service as well. The new company plans to do a better job at providing improved lunch for the students and improved service overall for the students here at Bosco.

If sales continue to grow, the company may possibly become more involved and invested at Bosco in the future.

The quality of the food is of extreme importance here at St. John Bosco, as it affects students mentally and physically throughout the school year. Students need food that is not only of high quality, but is also something that helps them to get the nutrients needed for them to excel.

“If it’s not good quality food, it drains them,” said Dr. Wickstrom

Although they are trying different items, their main goal is to keep the price low without sacrificing their quality.

“I think the food is exquisite and prices are very reasonable and affordable for the portion sizes you get,” said senior Patrick Canosa.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the hard-working staff. One of the workers, Jack Weng, wants to make sure that the community here at Bosco are fed and happy with high quality food. Growing up Weng disliked the quality of school food, which led to him becoming involved in the food and customer service business. 

Although there is a limited menu currently, the lunch service is planning to expand their menu throughout the year as they are experimenting with new items. 

“We are trying out new Mexican food,” Weng said.

This new lunch service is a major step up from the previous years and is a major success so far. It shows, as the lines at lunch to get food are always long.

“The new lunch service is great. The variety of food on the menu is great. So many options and all of them taste really good. My favorite item here is the double beef burger,” said senior Anthony Martinez. 

Even faculty expressed satisfaction with the new lunch menu. 

“It’s better than when I was a student here,” said Mr. Juan Pedro Garcia-Esparza, Class of 2016.

The plan for new lunch service is to continue to serve here at Bosco for many years to come and to make sure students are happy with the lunch that is being served in both quality and quantity.

by William Reynolds

Last week, the Brave community came together during Cinco de Mayo to celebrate the life of our Blessed Mother Mary during Marian Day and the many gifts that she has given our school.

Originally, Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, is a day of Mexican pride and heritage. Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, which is mistakenly considered to be Mexico’s equivalent to their Independence Day. 

This year Cinco de Mayo at St. John Bosco started with attending mass as a school community to celebrate a Marian Day Mass and the life of our Blessed Mary, Help of Christians. 

During the Mass Fr. Ted talked about how “Mary, Help of Christians guides us throughout our lives and that we should be grateful to her teachings and trust her to give the wisdom that we desperately need in our lives.”

Another celebration that the Bosco community was a part of during Mass was during the homily when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles congratulated two seniors, Christian Angel (far left) and Ricardo Rodriguez (second from the right) as well as two faculty members, Mrs. Elizabeth Hunt (far right) and Ms. Edna Ramirez (second from the left) for their service and dedication to our school and the community with one of their most prestigious awards, The Christian Service Award. 

The mission and message of Mary, Help of Christians has influenced people all over the world, but it has dramatically affected our fellow students and faculty, like Ricardo, who has been part of the campus ministry team for all four years of his high school career.

“Taking the time out of my day to celebrate Mary and her impact at this moment serves as an opportunity to gather together and remember. Remember who we are, remember that we are not alone and remember the mission we are made for,” Ricardo said.

To end the 2022-2023 school year, the Brave community came together following Mass with our Faith Families and participated in Olympiad Day, where the Braves played many games including basketball, tug-o-war, ultimate frisbee, soccer, volleyball, football, Super Smash Brothers, Pool and Ping Pong as well as board games.

by Robert Visty III, Photo Editor

Some of our readers may know that Saturday, April 22nd was Earth Day, a national holiday created in 1970 to spread awareness for the environment and endangered species. The success of this 53 year old environmental movement has educated millions, and here at Bosco, the Environmental Club continued that tradition by hosting an inaugural farmers market with produce from Bosco’s Agricultural Science Community Garden, which was established in January 2021.

The goal of the day was community building and sustainability education. Even Bosco’s neighbors around campus, some of whom had never been to Bosco before, introduced themselves and shared in harvesting the garden.

“The best part for me was that the neighborhood came. A lot of non-Bosco people got to be a part of the community and for the first time step on campus and see the garden from the inside,” said Mr. Corkhill, Bosco’s Agricultural Science teacher and of of the orchestrators of the event, along with Environmental Club President Vince Mahar.

There were many events for guests to enjoy, including a peach tree planting ceremony, home gardening and sustainability demonstrations as well as the blessing of the garden by the school’s Spiritual Director, Fr. Ted Montemayor.

Children from the neighborhood enjoyed pulling up carrots, eating watermelon and, for the first time, making the connection between soil and store, accomplishing one of Earth Day’s goals of connecting consumers with the source of their food.

The most visible impact of Earth Day and the Environmental Club around campus will be the conspicuous four color trash receptacles that will encourage Bosco students and faculty to properly recycle waste and contribute to cleaning our campus.

“We’re gonna have new recycle bins, new ways to separate your trash in order to really educate students on where our trash is going and reduce our waste stream to landfills,” said Mr. Corkhill, who has been instrumental in pioneering the new trash cans.

“We want to change a lot about our waste consumption here,” he said. “So I think it was a good way to kickstart that campaign. As students, you can see after break and lunch there’s trash on the ground, so we need to not only stop littering, but start sorting our trash. It’s a big cultural shift that has to happen in our school to maintain a green campus and to live responsibly.”

All in all, the first Bosco Earth Day Farmers Market was a huge success. Over 100 community members stopped by to enjoy the produce and learn a little about our environment. But Mr. Corkhill believes the education must turn into individual and collective action.

“On a personal level, most people can change their diet. Not eating as much meat is the quickest way for an individual to make an impact on their carbon emissions. Culturally, we need to be more open minded to change as a whole because change is necessary for us to be more sustainable as a community and a country.”

by Carter Daley

On Friday, March 24th, St. John Bosco High School hosted a variety of events under the Friday night lights with an action packed Powder Puff Game and a Spring Fest Dance.

Parents and students were offered the opportunity to come together to watch their very own daughters and classmates compete in one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, the Powder Puff Game, an eleven-on-eleven girls flag football game.

The matchup was seen as a high rivalry game between the Donald’s, who consist of Senior St. Joseph Students, versus the Mickey’s, who consist of Junior St. Joseph Students. The Donald’s had something to prove, after losing last year in a close competition to the Class of 2022 Kermit’s. They wanted to make sure they solidified themselves as a team not to mess with. 

“Losing last year was tough. We felt as if we left a lot on the field, but it came up short. We wanted to make sure that did not happen this year so we came ready to play,” said current St. Joseph’s senior Brianna Wright.

The game certainly delivered the excitement. Early in the first half the Mickeys opened up the game with a short rushing touchdown by Mariah Becerra. 

That lead would not last long though, as later in that same half the Donald’s would take back an interception for a touchdown. The play was made by Presley Contreras and got the stands so excited that even the Bosco boy cheerleaders began rushing the field.

“The whole atmosphere was vibrant. All of the Bosco guys had a really fun time cheering and moshing in the end zone was awesome,” said Bosco senior Ahrian McNeil.

The game remained a stalemate, as both defenses played incredibly well with a total of three turnovers in a span of just five minutes. 

The Donald’s had one last chance to take the lead in the game when a deep “Hail, Mary” pass was completed to senior Brooklyn Soto with two seconds left. The next pass unfortunately fell incomplete, finishing the game in an 8-8 tie. 

Although fans were cheering for overtime, the officials were unable to continue the game due to a time shortage. But the fun did not end there, as just around the corner St. John Bosco was hosting a Spring Fest Dance for students. 

Held in the quad, St. John Bosco and St. Joseph students gathered to celebrate the last couple months of the school year. The even featured great music provided by DJ Drip that had students in a free-spirited mood after an exciting game of flag football. The dance was organized by math teacher Ms. Edna Ramirez, Mr. Danny Benitez and Band Director Mr. Ramon Villanueva to raise money for students for the upcoming band trip to Seattle this month. 

“It was a movie. By far the best music out of any social this year. Having it outside also made it better so everyone wasn’t sweating like crazy,” said senior Robert Gonzalez.

As students head into their last two months of the school year, many seniors look ahead forward to Senior Prom, which is just around the corner on April 29th.