Student Life
Senior Sunset
By : Alana Campos
Seniors gather around to share a last memory of the last year
Four years spent at Pinnacle High School soon comes to an end for the class of 2019. As the days lead up to May 23, excitement rushes through the class along with nostalgia of the past years spent as a class. As the class of 2019 look ahead to college and adulthood, Senior Sunset allowed seniors to create more memories before saying goodbye to their peers and their school.
On Friday, May 3, 2019, senior sunset took place in the cafeteria, where Pinnacle provided food trucks, a space to sign yearbooks, a DJ, and the last slideshow for seniors. The event allowed friends to hangout with each other and for old friends to reconnect, but furthermore, seniors thought of Senior Sunset as one of the last school activities before high school becomes just a memory.
Senior, Holly Hayes, said, “ I loved how we had a DJ and being around everyone; it was a bittersweet moment.”
Seniors, now accustomed to the everyday routine of going to school, fear for the future and fear saying goodbye- saying goodbye to those who they shared lifelong memories with over the last four years. The sadness grows as the realization of growing apart from lifelong friends sinks in.
“The thing I liked most about Senior Sunset was spending time with the people that I’ve known since kindergarten and seeing how far we have all come since then. The thing I’m going to miss about high school will be seeing my friends everyday” said senior, Brian Dickman.
Thank you to the staff and peers that helped set up Senior Sunset. And whether one plans on attending college or working, thank you class of 2019 for making this senior year memorable and creating memories to carry on throughout life. Good luck on your finals and continue doing great things in life.
Graphic and Web Design: Road to State
By: Alana Campos and Jordin Watson
Students compete in State and ranked high
Pinnacle High School’s graphic and web design students competed in the 57th annual Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) April 24th - 26th in Tucson. Twelve students represented PHS for the second year in the competition. Overall, these students received four state championships. All twelve students move forward to compete in nations in San Antonio, Texas, June 22nd - July 3rd.
In the Graphic Design event, juniors Jadyn Ngo and Sonya Fraser placed first out of 46 teams. Together, the two collaborated over a period of 8 months to create “John McCain High School”,
“When they called my name, my mouth opened on stage in front of, like, 300 people,” described Ngo about her victory.
In the public Service Announcement event, sophomores Allison MacDonell, Haidyn Mallare and Meghan Patnode placed first out of 30 team. The following link contains their 2D animation that won them state title: https://youtu.be/2A0Xm5fBXa4
In the Mobile Application Development event, seniors Ninad Kulkarni and Bader Alrifai ranked first. Both also competed individually in Coding and Programming, with Kulkarni placing second and Alrifai placing third.
Competing in the Computer Game Development, junior Jackson Raines and seniors Donald Wecklein and Hayden Paoletti placed second out of the 12 teams that competed.
Paoletti’s team made an adventure game to make the competition more interactive and unique which Paoletti states, “ We ended up placing second place [in state], which is good because it validated the work that we did; the year we put into it.”
The Graphic and Web Design students also placed first in the Chapter T-shirt Design event.
Congratulations to all of our outstanding students who represented Pinnacle well in this competition and keep grinding for nationals!
Culinary Achievements
By : Jenna Midgett
Two girls and their amazing achievements in culinary through Pinnacle.
Pinnacle High School seniors, Reagan Harvey and Sophia Seiferth, took part in two culinary competitions this year, Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAPS). This year marks their third year competing in the FCCLA competition and their fourth year in the Culinary program at Pinnacle. Harvey and Seiferth, along with Asia Maestas won first place as a team at FCCLA in the culinary arts competition.
Both also competed at the C-CAPS competition, an organization that provides funding to students who want to partake in culinary education. As seniors Harvey and Seiferth got the opportunity to make it to the C-CAPS finals where they competed for different educational scholarships.
Harvey won 20,000 in scholarships to a school of her choice for any educational purpose. She chose to put that money towards Northern Arizona University (NAU) where she already received the lumberjack scholarship. NAU offers a major in Hotel and Restaurant Management, which Harvey chose as her major.
Seiferth also won a scholarship through C-CAPS, consisting of a full ride to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Seiferth won one of the four scholarships given out by C-CAPS for the first time this year. The scholarship is valued at 121,645 dollars.
Some of the biggest support in Seiferth and Harvey’s life come from the Culinary advisors, Raquel Pogue and Preston Thomas, who the girls describe as “second parents.”
Seiferth and Harvey both proved their talent and dedication to their craft by competing in such prestigious competitions. They made their family, teachers, and school very proud.
A New DECA Influence
By: Alana Campos and Jordin Watson
Recent transfer freshman places high in DECA competition
A newly transferred freshman, Quinton Bryant, proved himself an impressive new addition to Pinnacle High School (PHS) after successfully competing at the Arizona State DECA competition on February 28 through March 2, 2019. When Bryant transferred to PHS from Kansas, he jumped straight into the district competition held on January 14, 2019 at ASU after just two weeks at PHS.
“My first day, Shea walked up to me and she asked me if I knew what it was, and I said yeah,” Bryant said. “Someone had fallen out of the spot at District, and she needed someone to fill it.” With previous experience in DECA at his last school, Bryant accepted the spot and competed in Principles of Marketing at the district competition.
“[PHS DECA] is more intense, and Shea does a good job preparing you. And it’s very hardcore and you kind of appreciate that,” Bryant said.
Bryant then went on and placed second in State for Principles of Marketing a month later and qualified for the international competition. International consists of people from all of the United States and other countries competing in Orlando, Florida in late April, including 37 PHS students who qualified.
“I’m mostly excited, a little nervous, but mostly excited,” said Bryant, when asked about how he feels about the upcoming competition.
DECA allows future business leaders, such as Bryant, to showcase their understanding of marketing and entrepreneurship. PHS DECA, with its impressive history of award-winning students, continues to grow and develop future entrepreneurs.
An New Prom Experience
By: Alana Campos and Jordin Watson
Pinnacle Prom Attire Drive
This year marks the third year for the Prom Attire Drive at Pinnacle High School (PHS). Students all over the Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) donate gently-used prom attire to contribute to a program that helps students from all five of the PVUSD high schools who may otherwise not afford the formal wear and accessories to attend their prom.
The prom attire drive takes place from February 6th to March 6th. PHS students bring in their gently-used prom attire such as formal dresses, jewelry and purses, heels, suits and tuxedos, dress shoes, ties and belts to the prom committee, dropping off donations in room F125. All donated items then stock a boutique run by PVUSD teachers at PVOnline located 15002 N. 32nd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85032. For PHS students who donate, their names get entered into a drawing for a chance to win a free prom ticket.
In addition to the chance of winning a prom ticket, students receive National Honors Society (NHS) outside hours. Formal dresses, suits and tuxedos earn two NHS outside hours and accessories at or above $10.00 result in one outside hour.
“We thought it would be a great idea if all the high schools and teachers in Paradise Valley School District started gathering prom attire to help students be able to afford to go to their prom,” explained Rosemary Jakub, PHS teacher and co-organizer of the district-wide Prom Drive.
“Last year, we helped over 100 students in our district,” Jakub said. “This year, we’re really focusing on anyone who wants to save money on prom. We want to stress any student can come, male or female, they just need to bring their student ID.”
In addition, the Prom Drive welcomes any student to help setup and tear down the boutique. If interested in helping Jakub and many others, contact Mrs. Jakub at riakub@pvlearners.net or visit her in room F125.