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Oct 30th - Nov 10th

Halloween: A Jaguars Night To Fright

10/31/23, Joanna Vance

It's that time of the year again Jaguars! Put on your costumes, grab your buckets, and get ready to Trick Or Treat. Halloween is back and many students are excited to get dressed up and see their buckets filled with treats galore. Some students at University Preparatory went to a Halloween Party, went Trick-Or-Treating, or just stayed home, laying in bed, and watched a horror film. Though what was the experience like for all the different adventures?

Being that Halloween was on a school night, many students planned activities for the weekend before. This included attending Halloween parties. You can never go wrong with a party, especially if you're dressing up and matching with friends. Jessica Hernandez, Grade 11, had planned to go matching to a Super Mario Halloween themed party, where she said she had a fun time.

When asked about the experience of the party, Jessica said, "It was fun! There was a taco guy who had all the different types of meat, cupcakes, and mochi ice cream. There was also a jumper that had a slide connected to it and all of the little kids were playing on it. I dressed up as Rosalina and there were her Lumas everywhere, it was really cute. Overall I liked going to the party because I got to hang out with the people I wanted for a longer period of time than I would've if we'd gone trick-or-treating."

Even though Jessica might've not gotten the biggest bag of treats, she still enjoyed Halloween in another way that involved not only treats, but some mouth watering tacos too.

Trick-Or-Treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults., and most people go out during the night since, especially with all the decorations and costumes, it gives much more of a 'spooky' feeling. However, your costumes don't have to be scary! Camille Torres, Grade 7, dressed up as a 'Big Baby', went trick-or-treating with her family, and had a blast!

When asked about her Halloween night, Camille responded with " It was fun and I saw my old teacher! I went to Spring Valley lake and I got a lot of the big candy bars."

By the end of the night, Camille had gathered all her candy and was ready to head to bed. Surely all that candy will last weeks or even months! Either way its always a win to get the big candy bars and stay out late.

Art Club Fieldtrip by Morgan Rodriguez

11/08/23

On Nov. 7, the U.P. Art Club set off to the Broad Art Museum in Los Angeles, a trip which had been planned since the beginning of the school year. This trip was meant not only to show club members the many diverse creations made by artists, but also as a way to show them just how creative they can truly be.

Having arrived at around 10:40 am, the Art Club made its way inside the museum and was greeted by the lobby along with a shop where tourists can buy items to give to friends and family.

The club was guided up an escalator where they saw the many pieces of art; varying from sculptures, paintings of portraits, and of abstract art, along with statues as well. Some pieces came from well known artists, such as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, while others were from artists not as well known, like Kehinde Wiley and Amani Lewis.

Andy Warhol, born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, is still an influential artist today; influencing not only the older generation but also young, soon to be artists. He started off working as a commercial illustrator, but by the early 1960's he had developed his iconic "pop" style. Warhol brought techniques and imagery of mass commercialism into visual arts. His most famous painting being that of Campbell's soup cans. By 1962, he began creating silkscreen prints, and throughput his career he often drew on themes of death, disaster, commodity, and celebrity.

Jeff Koons, is an artist born in York, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the School of Art Institute in Chicago and the Maryland Institute of Art; he moved to New York and joined the East Village Art, an alternative community of artists who rejected the mainstream of the art world. He's known famously for his balloon-like sculptures, like the Balloon Dog, Rabbit, and Tulips, all of which are being showcased at the Broad Art Museum. Not only has he created many beautiful sculptures, but he also has famous paintings, such as Party Hat, and Couple.

Inside the Museum there are three stories, with the first having the lobby, and tourist shop. On the second floor, there's more of a storage unit where there is section free for those going that will be visiting the Museum. By the third floor, being the floor where the art club viewed the numerous art works displayed at the Museum.

-- M.E.S.A --

Middle Eastern Student Association

10/30/23, Janni Rich White

Middle Eastern Student Association (M.E.S.A.) held its 2nd meeting on Friday, Nov. 3rd, in room P-202 to show club members how to write their names in Arabic and share different flavors of Turkish delights such as coconut and pistachio, honey and apricot, and rose water.

M.E.S.A is one of the newer clubs on campus, making them slightly less known than other clubs. So what are the club members' goals and hopes for their club? Founder and President of University Preparatory’s M.E.S.A. Rinad Gamal (12) shares her answers in an interview. Responding to the question “Why’d you create this club?” Rinad says “My main goal was to create a space where a discussion could be opened about the Middle Eastern North African (M.E.N.A.) culture in general. I’ve discovered that our school has a sizeable [population], and knowing that Middle Eastern students were a minority at our school, I wanted there to be a sense of belonging as many don’t feel comfortable expressing their roots. I also wanted to encourage people to learn about our culture despite their background.” Like most cultural-based clubs at U.P., you don’t have to be a part of the M.E.N.A. region to join the club, “It’s an open space for everyone. Actually, most of our members aren’t even Middle Eastern.” M.E.S.A.’s vice president Rawan Gamal (10) states. One of M.E.S..A’s hopes for this first year as a club is to “Hopefully have the club participate in performing for the multicultural pep rally this year.”

M.E.S.A. is a club that aims to spread cultural awareness and hopefully be a place for students to find a sense of belonging and encourage comfortable expression of one’s roots.

For more information, contact M.E.S.A. at:

Instagram: uphsmesa

Remind: upmes

Meeting Room: P-202

Meeting Days: Every other Friday

Spanish Club Takes to the Dance Floor in Showing Culture

11/06/23, Morgan Rodriguez

Taking its culture into the spotlight, U.P.'s Spanish Club hosted a dance on Nov. 3 in U.P's gym to commemorate The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos.

The event had numerous tributes to the holiday itself, with there being an ofrenda, bright colorful decorations, food, dancers performing many traditional dances, and musicians playing beautiful music.

An ofrenda, which is an alter that is built to honor loved ones and to welcome their spirits home, are commonly decorated with marigolds or cempasuchil, which are used as a way to help guide the spirits of loved ones back home, playing an important role in the overall holiday. There are also candles, vibrant skulls, food, in which those that have passed used to enjoy, and most importantly the very picture of those who have passed. The ofrenda overall represents the four elements of water, wind, fire, and Earth. Water is usually represented by a pitcher filled with water which is usually placed on or near the ofrenda so that the spirits may quench their thirst. Paper banners, which are also decorations for the ofrenda, represent the wind. Earth is represented by the food that is left for the spirits to enjoy. Lastly, there is fire, which is commonly represented by the lit candles that warm up the ofrenda, each one standing for each loved one that has passed away.

With many hands on deck helping to prepare for the dance itself, Art Club has gladly helped make decorations for the dance, one being the many metal, colorful portraits and also having made and painted the clay skulls that are seen on the ofrenda. Having spent about two weeks making decorations for the dance itself, making sure that the dance is as colorful as can be.

At the dance, tacos, drinks such as horchata, and agua frescas were served, along with arroz con leche. The line for the tacos was very packed while the horchata itself was sold out very quickly. To purchase food, those of attendance needed to get in line to purchase tickets, each being one dollar per ticket.

The dance also held the performers that danced to many traditional songs, one being The Danza de los Viejitos or the Dance of the Old Men. This being a humorous dance featuring dancers dressed as old men, running around and overall messing around. The dance itself is a representation of the cycle of life, where the performers, being the old men, represent the end of that cycle. Typically performed by five to four men. It originated in pre-Columbian Mexico, where it was used for ceremonies by the people of Purépecha. Overall the dance is a celebration of life, the wisdom that comes from old age, and the traditions of the Mexican people.

There were also dancers performing folklorico also known as Baile folklórico. This dance, performed by both men and women, expresses the life and spirit of people through its movements and music. With those is dresses showing off their beautiful colors as they twirl and dance to the music . While those in suits wearing large hats, with usually black suits. Their pants having galas on each side of the leg, accented with a red tie and belt. They too dance, and together both performers display beautiful twining as they weave between each other following along with the music.

For music, both band and strings students helped provide music for the dance. Being made up of violists, trumpeters, violinists, guitarists, flutists, and even singers. The music players having to play multiple songs throughout the night while the two vocalists had their own solo part during the performance.

As for whats to come next year, lets hope Spanish club may host another dance and wish them good luck.

Dia de Muertos

11/03/23, Victor Eamphanich

A spanish event based on Día De Los Muertos (A Mexican tradition called Day of the Dead) was held on Friday, November 3rd in the gym between 5-8pm. Several cultural performances were arranged to be shown to the crowd that day along with food and drink sales for people and their friends to enjoy.

Día de los muertos is a 2 day event based on the those in our family who have passed away.People set up their altars with photographs, candles and marigolds.Prior to the event, Spanish club had set up an Otrenda (an altar) in the cafeteria for Día de los Muertos where students could contribute photos of people they wished to remember.The main part of the Dia de los Muertos school event was the colorful and festive decorations.Students had stayed in school to make flowers (marigolds) and other paper cut outs to decorate the gym with. Tables were covered in flowers and candles which are traditionally used to help guide those have have passed back home with the light it provides.

In addition to the event, the Spanish club, Mariachi club and Latin X provided wonderful performances to bring to the event. Those who participated dressed up in cultural outfits and had prepared face makeup to represent the dead or the living. Each performance was carried out with festive moods and high spirits, each enjoyed by those watching.

Día de los muertos was a fun and bright event with much cultural significance to it. Student that went and those that had helped set up will remember the cheerful memories they created.

Veterans Day Parade

& Preparations

11/12/23, Joseline Tanchez

Veteran’s day is celebrated in many ways. At University Prep, our marching band and color guard perform together for Veteran’s day. Many practices have been held through out the months on Mondays and Fridays to help the march be ready for Saturday, November 11th.

The preparations for marching band have been held inside Mr Magee’s band classroom and on the blacktop located by the locker rooms. The marching band practices are held for all wind ensemble students in addition to other band students interested in participating. During the practices, students were taught to march with their instruments, keep track of time, and to stay organized in their rows as they played alongside the color guard which had prior practices after school before joining the band.

In addition to the performance preparations, uniforms that are worn to represent the school band had recently been assigned to the members. Each uniform which came with adjustable sleeves and pants for each student to adjust accordingly to their own sizes. Each uniform is to be worn during the march with bowties and satchels ornamented with our schools colors.

On Saturday at 7am, those participating in the march will meet up to prepare for their performance starting at 10. The march will last roughly 30 minutes and it will each nearing 10:30. All wind ensemble students present will then be seated and perform a piece called “America the beautiful” for those attending the parade. During this time, any students not participating are welcome to leave and stay for the full duration until it is over.

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