All posts by Katie Scott

Holiday

December Holiday Events

Kailani Aguigui Staff Writer

The campus December event calendar has many upcoming performances. The long rehearsed Winter Dance Recital, Orchestra, Choir, and Band Holiday Concerts are coming up soon. Our panthers have worked long and hard to put on a superior show for us. Students from each organization will share information about the preparations for each event, going to give a sneak peek for the shows. Let’s start with dance.

  Senior Sophia Luna is on the dance team rehearsing for the Winter Dance Recital. Sophia has been dancing since she was 9 and she has proven herself by making the dance team. The dance team has been working on the winter recital since September. She expresses that they have worked very hard since and that the people in that class make the dance even better. She says, “We work really hard and try to get all the little details perfected”. Sophia is most excited about showing the dance to everybody and to see the final result after all the hard work they’ve put in. The Winter Dance Recital is Tues, December 5 at 6:00 in the auditorium.

 Senior Abby Jones is the officer for orchestra. Abby plays the violin and has been playing for about 7 and a half years. She enjoys her time being an officer and is very committed to what she does as an officer and how things are going to work. Abby conveys that even though being an officer can be difficult sometimes, she has a lot of fun. The orchestra group has been working on this performance for a couple of weeks now and is getting ready to perform. Go watch and support our panthers on Wed, December 6, 7:00pm in the auditorium.

 Freshmens Emily Pap, Edwin Lewis, Madeline Harmony Acosta are in choir preparing for their performance. They all have been doing choir for at least 4-6 years and they are still engaged in continuing it. They have been working for about 2 – 3 weeks on this performance. All of them said they are having fun with the songs and are most excited to see how it turns out. When I asked Harmony, did she like the songs they were doing, she added “I think they all sound really well put together cause everyone’s been working really hard.” The Choir Holiday Concert will be on Thu. December 7, 7 pm in the auditorium.

  Freshman Juliet Aguilar is in the band getting ready for their performance. Juliet plays the clarinet and has been playing for 3 – 4 years. She is most excited to see how it’s going to turn out because she expresses that with every practice, they get better with their songs. So far, they’ve been practicing for about 2 weeks and Juliet thinks they’re almost ready. The Band Holiday Concert will be on Wed. December 13, 6:30pm in the AMP.

  Come out and support our Panthers on their amazing performances. 

Sports, Uncategorized

Varsity Soccer Scores a Spot in Playoffs

Brooke Amosson Sports Editor

Boys celebrate after a goal, heading on to another round.

   Boys and girls varsity soccer has kicked their way to the top, putting them both in the playoffs. They both had outstanding seasons ranking in the top three in district. 

     The Varsity Lady Panthers finished their season with a 12-3-1 record, putting them in third place overall. The girls had their first playoff game where they played Del Rio in the Valley, they took home a five to nothing win, setting them up for their second round game which was played in corpus the following tuesday. The girls dominated that game coming home with a nine to one win. The Lady Panthers moved forward to round three of the playoffs and played Harlingen, winning five to four. The Lady Panthers season came to an end in round four of playoffs where they fought hard but unfortunately lost one to zero against round rock. 

     The Varsity boys finished their season with a 12-1-3 record, putting them second in district. The boys had their first playoff game right at home, where they played Laredo United and moved forward with a five to one win. They ended their playoff run in Corpus Christi, one to zero. The boys had a great season and we look forward to seeing how the season will shape up next year.

Senior girls huddle up in celebration of a goal, they faced the Stevens Falcons and prepared for Playoffs.
Feature

Spirit experiences successful competition season

Brooke Amosson Sports Editor

     The Goldusters, Dazzlers, and Stardusters swept almost every competition they attended this competition season. The Golduster Dance Team won numerous awards like first place in contemporary, jazz, lyrical, and pom style routines. The Dazzler Drill team won first place in lyrical, first runner up in team jazz, second runner up in team pom and team grand champion. The Starduster Pep Squad continued the victorious tradition by winning first place in novelty and pom, getting third place over all.

   The Golduster competition season went wonderfully, the spirit of competing has affected all of the team.

    “I think it’s important to compete not so that you can prove you’re better than everyone but i think its to prove to yourself your abilities and where you stand and it gives you something to be proud of with a shared group of people,” junior Ellie Price said.

     Price is one of the four officers for the Goldusters, she got third place overall in the 11th through 12th division at the first competition and first place at their second competition for 11th grade soloists. Price has always used dance as her escape from reality.

     “It’s a way to keep me physically in shape but also mentally, I always feel better after dancing,” Price said.

         The experience of growth as a team and individually is what Sophomore Drill Team lieutenant Madeline Popp has gotten out of competition so far.

     “I feel like we’ve improved as a team at our comp performances so far, and I personally have improved with my solo and as a dancer,” said Popp.

Popp got first place for 10th grade soloists at the Dazzlers’ second competition. When talking about influences 

     “My director [Ms. Pawelek] is someone I really look up to, she pushes us really hard and she’s always been one of my biggest supporters,” Popp said.

     Our Starduster Pep Squad has seen an immense amount of talent this season, senior Kennedy Wilmarth, captain of the Starduster Pep Squad, has a bittersweet feeling about competition.

     “Watching all the solos is one of my favorite parts of competition, especially the freshman and seeing how talented they are, it’s just really fun to watch,” Wilmarth said. 

     Competition season truly brings all of our OC spirit groups together, waiting to perform and watching each other perform is a shared experience for all of them. 

     Ariela Muñiz, sophomore officer for the Stardusters said, “The experience that we have and the time that we spend together is the best part of competing.” 

     The Goldusters and Dazzlers are National Champions. They swept the stage in Florida and came home with the title of national champs. Overall every group in the Goldenstar spirit organization has worked hard to succeed during their competition season and the returning spirit girls look forward to next season.

Feature, Uncategorized

Exchange student experience American schools

Staff Writer: Noemi Vantini

Junior Ilenia Berto leaves class during passing period.

Ten foreign exchange students are studying on campus this school year from several countries including: Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Columbia and Japan.

Seventeen year old junior Italian exchange student Ilenia Berto shared about her experiences.

“Since I can remember, I have desired to complete an exchange year, though I was unsure of the appropriate time. At first, I had planned to do it when I would have been in college, but then, I figured out I could do it during my junior year of high school so I took the opportunity,” Berto said.

She wanted to become an exchange student to learn the language, make memories and most importantly to challenge herself and become more independent.

Berto was very excited about her stay here in the United States because she wanted to get to know how life and school is here. 

“The main difference between Italy and America is that the school here is more active and involved in the students’ life,” Berto said. 

Being an introvert, she found it difficult to establish friendships because it required her to talk in another language. Although Berto has an older brother who has his own house in Italy, she grew up as an only child; nevertheless, she now lives with a nine year old and a thirteen year old, which is a significant shift for her. She expressed gratitude for having made a genuine connection and that she feels truly included in her host family because they regularly involve her in significant decisions.

Berto advises other exchange students to have realistic expectations and to live every moment without overthinking because you won’t get a second chance at this experience.

Even if her expectations weren’t met, she is still having a great time. Before coming here, she would have loved to know that the “special year” she was going to live in was a typical routine for everyone else.

Feature

Winterguard finishes competition season

Saige Griffin Feature Page Editor   

The Winterguard team started off their competition season strong, bringing in a first place, and two second places. The team is a combination of dancing and props like rifles and flags, competing around once a week. Captain Amy Guerra describes the process of preparing for a competition. 

   “We spend the whole week practicing and on comp day there’s a warm up we go to. There’s a body warm up where we practice dancing only and from there we move on to equipment warm up where we practice with all our equipment like rifles and after that we move onto the performance,” Guerra said.

   As the team moves forward in their season, member Eden ( ) says her favorite thing about being in winterguard is the family they have created, “we have our own little group,” Guerra said.

   Captain Amy Guerra says that her favorite thing about her position is seeing the progress everyone makes between the incomers and freshman. Her path to become captain was encouraged by their current tech, who was previously captain. 

If you are interesting in joining Winterguard for the 2023- 2024 school year, here are some important dates:

The Winterguard team including: Amy Guerra, Emmerson Schellin, Pricais Vasquez, Madison Alaquinez, Jerry, Paolo, Talia, Giovanna Arias, Hailey Doriott, Eden Garcia, and more Panthers
Feature

Principal Martinez makes his mark

 By Diego Hernandez Editor in Chief

The new school year brings about a new era on campus along with a new Principal Mr. Robert Martinez.  Mr. Martinez hopes to improve and lead our campus through this year of transition and shared that he started things off right thanks to our students and staff.  

 “From day one, the students have been very welcoming, and pretty open about their concerns for the school. The faculty is also amazing. In particular our Associate Principal Mr. Christian and Academic Dean Mrs. Bishop.  They have made this transition pretty smooth,” Martinez said.  

  Before being named principal, Martinez researched our school and was familiar with some of the challenges here for students and staff.  Martinez is working with students and faculty to make a few adjustments in the near future. These ideas involve possible changes to the campus layout and some dress code changes that have already taken effect like shorts.  For some of the bigger long-term changes, Martinez is hopeful that we get help from the district and community.   

“I know every four or five years we do a bond proposal in hopes of getting much-needed improvements to our schools from bond money,” Martinez said. 

  Martinez’s main proposals include an expansion project for the cafeteria and library.  He says an additional academic building would also be nice.  Martinez shared there is an area where a building could fit for another two-story building.  One major change happening very soon is the expansion of the Nurse’s office.  

“Our Nurse’s Office just isn’t big enough to support the needs of a campus as big as O’Connor,” Martinez said. 

Martinez decided to move the Nurse’s office to where the Career Center is; more than doubling the size.  

  “I feel like this is a move that we couldn’t wait on,” Martinez said. 

The new Nurse’s Office is scheduled to open in early November.  As part of the move, the Career Center will move into room B103 in the library which will likely increase traffic as students seek out more scholarships and college information while in the library.   

  Prior to his time with us, Martinez worked at multiple schools acting both as a teacher and an administrator.  These all include sister Northside ISD high schools starting off at John Jay.  

“I taught for six years at John Jay as a social studies teacher and then I got promoted to Assistant Principal at Clark, was at Clark for four and a half years and then got promoted to Vice Principal at Brennan,” Martinez said.

  Martinez enjoyed his time at all three schools and shared he’s thrilled to be here at O’Connor.  He reflected that this campus has successful students, with many institutions such as agriculture. Martinez shared he is excited to work with Ag Principal, Mr. Bohlken for the Agriculture Academy’s first year.  

“I love visiting the barnes and seeing all the animals. These things don’t normally take place at school and that’s pretty phenomenal. Overall, I’m very excited about the possibilities,” Martinez said.

  Martinez has always strived for his chances to become a leader in the development of young people. His path to  O’Connor became available with Mrs. Horras’s departure. 

 “I knew the position would become available when Mrs. Horras was promoted last spring. There were actually four principal openings this past summer, and I lucked out and got the best one,” Martinez said.

Mr. Martinez has been preparing for this time with us consistently and through his performance under other advisers

who sat where he is now. 

 “What has really prepared me is that I have had mentors to work under. Being able to establish my beliefs and values for the students was great for me, seeing different levels of students and their successes and challenges has given me the perspective to help students at all levels for the better,” Martinez said. 

  “In teaching, you affect a lot of lives, you can work with students, coach them, and motivate them to become the best that they can be,” Martinez said.

  As the school year continues, still amidst Covid regulations, Principal Martinez shared he aims to improve this campus for both teachers and students, “Go  Panthers!”

Uncategorized

Panthers celebrate Homecoming 2021

It’s Friday of homecoming week and the hallways are alive with the sweet sound of homecoming bells on mums as students sashay down the halls, heavy laden with several decorative mums sometimes from friends or family. This week the dress up days were: Monday Meme Day, Tuesday Twin Day, Wednesday Movie Character day, Thursday Tacky Tourist day, and Friday Love Navy, Live Gold spirit day.

Students and especially seniors were creative in their dress this week.

Photo by Hannah Veiser

Uncategorized

Covid Grammy fashion, winners

By Micaella Rodriguez Staff writer

On Sunday, March 14, the 63rd annual Grammy awards took place. Artists dressed in designers from Harry Lambert and Oscar de La Renta to Versace and Nike ensembles. Now a 28-time Grammy winning singer, Beyonce has made history by setting the record for most Grammys by any female artist. Many celebrities experimented with pandemic-friendly, mask matching looks. Including Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, and Chika. With a limited audience, masks and social distancing, here’s the rundown of the event.  

  Dua Lipa presented a glittery disco look through the night. Wearing Atelier Versace for both the red carpet, and her performance. Taylor Swift brought warm, garden vibes with her on-brand floral dress. Adding on light pink Louboutin heels. Then, at her performance, wore a floor-length blue floral gown.

  Then there’s Harry Styles, donning his usual Gucci. In particular, sporting a Grammys-themed manicure with gold, brown, gray and black polish. He wore a 70s inspired set as well. With a yellow houndstooth blazer, brown velvet pants, and pink shirt with a v-shaped neckline. And of course, his purple colored, feather boa. Styles opened the show with a performance of his hit song, Watermelon Sugar. He wore a custom leather suit, without a shirt underneath, black shoes, rings, and accessorizing with the same boa, in green.  

  However, many artists and fans were upset about the Grammys this year. Artists including Zayn, The Weeknd and Halsey spoke out about the award show. While Zayn wasn’t angry about not getting nominated, he expressed this with a grim tweet that he felt the Grammys do not showcase all artists. Saying the Grammys is in need of “inclusion” and had a “lack of transparency”. He mentioned the Grammys allows “favoritism, racism, and networking politics to influence the voting process”  Overall, the Grammys had positive feedback. Fans and artists are just hoping for better inclusivity, diversity and less favoritism in the coming years.

News

UIL Academics wins first place at District

By Micaella Rodriguez Staff Writer

The UIL Academic Panthers swept the District competition on March 26 and 27, 2021 at Holmes High School to capture first place. Several teams placed first including Speech and Debate, Computer Science, and Current Events. A few teams placed second overall and the Panthers went home with a total of 324 points. Second place school was Jay with 278 points and third place sweepstakes was newcomer Harlan with 227 points. Students placing in the top three and members of first place teams advance to compete on April 16 and 17, 2021.

In Speech and Debate events, for Cross-Examination debate the team of Shasha Ogork and Beverly Quintana earned first place and advanced to State. In Lincoln Douglas debate, Charis Key earned second place. In Informative Speaking Ogork earned first place. In Poetry, Adison Garza won third place. In Prose, Jasmine Evenstad earned second place and Yash Patel earned third place. In Persuasive Speaking, William Walker earned first place.

“I prepared for the different categories all year, I conducted research, practiced, and debated this topic for many months prior to the UIL Competitions,” Walker said.

To those who wish to participate in UIL Walker said, “You will learn a huge amount of fascinating things that will make you a more informed, rounded, and thoughtful person. All of this while being surrounded by fun and energetic people that creates an amazing atmosphere of learning that you can’t get anywhere else.”

In Math events, sophomore Jayvin Pena placed first in Calculator Applications, Francesco Payan placed sixth, Isabella Ireland placed eleventh. In Mathematics Jayvin Pena placed third, Adriana Delagarza placed fifth, Payan placed sixth. In Number Sense, Pena placed third and Payan placed seventh. The team won second place overall.

“The reason I am driven to keep competing in UIL is that I get to compete in subjects I love. Instead of keeping Math or Computer Science confined to busy work and stressing over grades, I can just go out there and have fun with my team and learn quite a lot while doing it,” Pena said.

In Computer Science, junior Keayen Jeppson earned first place and the team with Jayvin Pena and Cyrus Bushong won first place overall. Pena placed fourth and Bushong placed fifth.

“I completed practice exams which were copies of previous UIL exams so that I could prepare for that section of the Computer Science event. For the hands-on coding portion of the UIL contest, I also coded some programs from previous UIL contests and timed myself to the two hour time limit and tried to code as many of them as possible As the exam portion of the Computer Science UIL was timed to 45 minutes (with 40 questions), I had to make sure I did the easy questions first, and skip the ones I was unsure of, as you lose points for every wrong answer. Doing so was crucial to keep my score as high as possible, which definitely contributed to helping me get first place,” Jeppson said.

For English events, in Literary Criticism, Brooke Burriola earned first place. In Spelling Isabella Ireland earned second place. In Ready Writing, Belen Cocke earned third place, Adriana Delagarza placed eighth and Alysandra Avila placed ninth.

In Current Issues, Ireland earned third place. Jasen Drileck earned sixth place and Mya Sachey earned seventh place. Together Drileck, Sachey, and Ireland advance to Region as first place team.

“I have been competing in UIL Academics since my sophomore year, and since then I have competed in a total of 5 areas. I absolutely love being able to test my knowledge and work with a team to achieve greatness! I also plan to continue to compete through my senior year,” Ireland said.

The students will continue to study and prepare for the Region UIL Academic competition.

In UIL Theatre events, Theatrical Design State Qualifiers are senior Conner Ballenger for Set Design, senior Elisa Pedraza Sanchez for Hair & Makeup Design and junior Lillian Land for Costume Design. They will compete at State on May 7 and 8, 2021.