A Message from the Editors

I (Yael) joined the Winton Oracle in my Freshman year after speaking with Noah Wilson (our former Editor in Chief) at the De La Salle Club Fair. Club Fair, especially as a freshman, is a time to branch out and try new clubs without having to officially commit to any one of them. After attending the first club meeting, I immediately knew that this was a community I wanted to be a part of. It was also special as it was my only co - ed club which gave me the opportunity to make connections with De La Salle students. I continued attending meetings and got to know the board members like Noah, who was our Editor in Chief, Camille Conrad, our Vice President, Dominic Smalley, our Managing Editor, and Matthew Ortega, our Head of Marketing. Eventually, a spot on the treasury opened, and after going through an interview process, I was selected, which gave me the opportunity to get to know more upperclassmen. All of a sudden, I was surrounded by people who thought writing was cool and who were passionate about their articles and the opportunity to share information they found important with the greater community. Winton Oracle soon became my favorite club and my most anticipated meeting of the week.

By sophomore year, I was asked to join the board, and I could not have been happier. I was so excited to get to work even more closely with the leaders whom I had spent all freshman year looking up to. I continued writing articles and getting to know the inner workings of the club from a standpoint that I had not seen in my freshman year. Through my participation as a board member, I was able to learn a lot about how Noah, Camille, Dom, and Matt made the wheels of the club turn. This responsibility was later passed on to me by the board. It is a bittersweet thing to continue a legacy. On one hand, my contributions and commitment to the club were being recognized.  On the other hand, it meant the people I had spent years learning from and looking up to were leaving and starting a new chapter of their lives, and thus were entrusting me with the future of all the hard work they had put into the club.  The Winton Oracle is rooted in community, and that community is what has made this club my favorite and most valuable experience so far in my high school career.  I owe a lot of thanks to all the people I met and learned from during my freshman and sophomore years, and I hope to stay in touch with the future generations who will continue this awesome history, just like Mr. Montgomery and our prior board members.

For me (Rayne), leadership of the Winton Oracle came very much out of the blue. During my freshman year, I tried to participate in the club as much as I could. I loved to write (I still do), and the Winton Oracle was one of the only extracurriculars that allowed students to express themselves in prose. In the club, I had the opportunity to meet other students who also had an affinity for journalism, which only fueled my passion to continue on with the Oracle. However, as the year went on, classes became harder, and extracurriculars began guzzling more and more time; thus, I decided to take an extended leave of absence from the club during the second semester. That is, until one day in the Hoffman, when I bumped into Noah Wilson, the former Editor in Chief. We were both waiting in line for some chow (pasta, I think) when he turned to me and said, “Hey, Rayne! Would you be interested in leading the Winton Oracle next year?” Of course, this was the last thing I expected- I hadn’t substantially contributed to the club for months at this point- yet Noah, about to graduate, placed his trust in me anyway. I learned later on that he chose me because, even then, I was the most consistent DLS student in the club, which is rather funny to think about. In any case, Yael ended up as the club president, I as the VP, and here we are now. It’s worth mentioning that, while the Winton Oracle is absolutely a community in itself, it is also a club whose purpose is, at its core, to bring the larger Winton Drive community closer together. Our articles give readers insight into aspects and achievements within the school community that might have otherwise remained unknown to them, from a rundown of the most recent DLS football win to the formation of a new club, to an upcoming theater production, to a robotics competition. Put plainly, the Oracle offers readers an opportunity to appreciate each other and to understand each other more deeply. It’s our hope that we can perpetuate this club, and in doing so, keep the Winton Drive community strong in its unity.

Though we both had unique experiences within the club, a common theme is the importance of connection. With this first issue of the new school year, which also happens to be the first issue under our guidance, we would like to emphasize the need for harmony during times of strife. With that, our writers have chosen to cover a variety of topics, ranging from celebrating the life of Jane Goodall to school sports to political issues to Halloween itself, to remind us that, regardless of how we may think politically or what kinds of lives we may lead, something we can all do is take a moment and enjoy reading the school newspaper. We hope you enjoy the first Oracle issue of the Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary) of Winton Drive.