At Jurupa Valley High School, there are many seniors headed to college to fulfill many of their life long dreams. While many students are staying local, there is a great handful of Jags spreading across California and the U.S.

Even though many have chosen to stay in state, there are a vast majority that chose to go elsewhere. According to JVHS Career Center clerk Ms. Deborah Barela, the class of 2013 has the most students who are attending out of state colleges since she has been here.

Bryce Inn will attend Brigham Young University, Idaho to major in business. Jessica Preleyko, who is attending Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, plans to major in nursing. Margarita Huerta-Rodriguez is going to Colorado to attend Western State Colorado University, and Jacob Prusia will be attending Purdue University to major in mechanical engineering.

Even though many chose to go far away, there are many that chose to spread out across California as well.

For example, Luis Cordova is planning on attending University of California, Santa Barbara for engineering.

“One thing I’m looking forward to about college is the diversity of the alumni, and I want to experience the diversity of college parties,” said Cordova.

Rodrigo Lopez will be attending San Diego State University to major in biology.

“Although I know my new-found independence won’t necessarily be freedom, I look forward to the thrill that will accompany my college experience as an Aztec,” said Lopez.

Emilee Francis plans on attending Azusa Pacific University to major in English literature.

“Life is approaching as we know it. You blink and it’s today. You blink and it’s tomorrow. You blink again and this is your life. I’m stoked for my college years and what the future may hold,” said Francis.

Carlos Nunez is planning on going to Chico State University for mechanical engineering.

“I can’t wait to be a Wildcat,” exclaimed Nunez!

Senior Brenda Hermosillo will be attending California State University, Fullerton to major in social work.

Julio Avelar-Barragan, Freddy Guzman, Antonio Jaime, Stephon Bryant, Kristina Marie Cornejo, and Carmen Villalobos plan to go to University of California, Riverside.

“I’m looking forward to joining a sorority, meeting new people, and starting my life as an adult,” said Villalobos.

At League Finals, Jose Escalante, 11, said he “felt good because [he] pushed to the limit and dug deep”, leading him to the victory of winning League Champion for his One Mile and Two Mile race.

Sophomore, Jenn Ibarra placed first in league for girls high jump, leaving her feeling “happy because [she] accomplished more than the planned goal of just beating [her] personal record.”

Captain, Scott Barkley, 11, said, “[he] could’ve done better, but [he’s] still happy with the winning second in pole vault.”

Coach Samuel Reed said, “Overall, the team beat many personal records, but no one qualified for CIF. There were many improvements, and we all look forward to next year.”

Freshman Justine Silva began playing girl’s varsity soccer this year. Silva has played soccer since she was ten years old on club teams and in AYSO. Once she made varsity as starting sweeper and occasional center midfield, she “couldn’t believe it” and said that it felt “amazing” to make varsity as a freshman. “[Playing on varsity] was fun but hard because the older girls know more about soccer than you do.” Silva plans to play soccer next year.

Adam Slater is a freshman who wrestled on the JVHS wrestling team and ran on the JVHS track team. Slater does not wrestle or run with another team outside of school. However, he did participate in track events in middle school and he likes to train on his own as well. Slater competed in the weight ranks of 120. For track, Slater competed in events such as the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4×1 relay, and the 4×4 relay. “It felt pretty cool to go against people older than me,” said Slater, “there is more competition.” Slater said that he was excited to make varsity because “it was my first year and it was possible for me to make CIF.” Slater only made CIF in wrestling. Slater said he will continue to compete next year.

Senior Jennifer Ibarra has played on the girl’s varsity soccer team since her freshman year. Ibarra has been playing soccer since she was four years old, playing for AYSO and on a club team. When she first made varsity, she felt “accomplished and excited to be able to play at a higher level” than most other freshmen. “It wasn’t that bad,” said Ibarra, “It took me a while to adapt to [a soccer] environment with a bunch of different ages.” Through her years on soccer, she has played as halfback her freshman year, defender her sophomore and junior years, and finally forward as well as captain of the varsity lady jags.

JVHS does not have any four year varsity sport senior males. However, there are still senior males who have committed themselves to a team since their freshmen year.

Senior Julio Avelar has been involved with the wrestling team at JVHS since he was a freshman. He was JV with a weight rank of 189 for his freshmen and sophomore years and has been playing at varsity level since he was a junior with a weight rank of 182. “Junior year I was scared,” said Avelar, “Senior year I felt like I had a big responsibility, like I had to go out there and compete.”

Making a varsity team your freshmen year is a rather impressive feat to accomplish. Even if you are a freshman and do not make it on varsity, there is always the next three years of high school to work your way up, building your skills to represent the JVHS Jaguars on a varsity team.

Freshmen on Varsity Sports:

Boys Soccer- Carlos Cervantes, Miguel Hinajosa

Boys Swim- Nicholas Barba, Christopher Ruiz

Girls Basketball- Sabrina Anguiano

Girls Soccer- Monica Sanchez, Justine Silva

Girls Softball- Sabrina Anguinao, Melanie Sanchez

Track- Genesis Lopez, Jasprit Singh, Adam Slater, Joshua Villagomez

Wrestling- Adam Slater

When school is in session, students are allowed to work three hours daily if they are 14 or 15 years old. If they are 16 and 17 years old, they are allowed to work four hours daily. Students are able to work up to 8 hours on a non school day. 

One of the many benefits of having a job is receiving the paycheck. For students, having their own money sometimes means having more freedom because they are able to spend the money on things that they want to.

Many of the students that have jobs also participate in clubs, sports and rigorous classes. One such student is Brihanna Lenderos. She works at a retail fashion store called G stage and is currently involved in ASB, cheer and class council.  She said, “It’s a lot of work, but it all pays off at the end.”

Junior Amethzary Monroy currently works at McDonalds. She said, “I love my job! You never get bored because there is always something to do, plus my co-workers are so much fun!”

Senior Hector Guzman also works at a fast food restaurant, but doesn’t have the same experience. He said that he didn’t like his job because it was too hectic and is very fast and demanding. He said, “you are expected to never be lazy and work really fast.”

Mrs. Vicky Kaylor gives the opportunity to students that work to get extra credits by going into weekly Monday meetings and completing the hours.  Guzman did this program last year. Even though he doesn’t like him job very much, he said that it was very beneficial and paid off.

The Jurupa Valley boys swim team placed second, and the Lady Jag swimmers placed fourth.

Senior, Shelby Ready said, “Jurupa Valley did fantastic; a lot of people dropped time, and it was a great way to end my senior year.”

Jeremy Mariscal, 11, placed first in his 100 breast stroke, 500 free, and 200 medley relay with Jacob Delos Santos, Alexis Salvatierra, and Diego Alamillo.  Mariscal said, “Due to our hard work and talent, our season has been very good and very productive.”

Senior, Alexis Salvatierra said, “Finals went really, really good because the majority of the team dropped time.”

Salvatierra placed first in his 100 butterfly stroke and second in the 50 free.

Juniors, Diego Alamillo and Kory Tate both agreed “Finals went well, but it could have been better; however, [we’re] happy about boys receiving second in league.”

Robinson announced that he took seven musicians, Michael Alejo, Nelson Grande, Kyle Mahmet, Angela Silva, Andres Jimenez, Rebecca Gomez, and Kaitlyn McArdle, to a small ensemble festival at Vista Murrieta High School. 

At the festival, three soloists, Jimenez, Gomez, and McArdle, earned “Superior” ratings.

Robinson said that “in my seven years at JVHS, I have not seen the level of musician displayed by Andres Jimenez. During his festival performance, it was clear that the judge was sincerely impressed by his playing as much as I was, and as a tenth grader, Kaitlyn McArdle is very close on his heels.”

 Mahmet, Silva, Jimenez, and Gomez all earned “Excellent” ratings. Gomez and Jimenez also earned a “Command Performance,” which is determined by a “Superior” rating in all five categories in which they were judged. The students that earned “Command Performances,” were featured in a separate performance at the end of the festival.

     The participants were competing for the chance to be named either “Mr. Money Maker” which was determined by who sold the most tickets, “Mr. Congeniality” who was chosen by the audience, and of course the main title “Mr. JVHS” who was chosen by the guest judges.

     All of the contestants did a great job at representing the school and showed the judges and audience their personalities, but at the end of the night only three of the contestants were given titles. Miguel Casteneda was named “Mr. Money Maker,” Zach Houser was named “Mr. Congeniality,” and Alexis Salvatierra was announced as “Mr. JVHS.”

     I was extremely honored to write Advice from a Senior, and I would like to thank my readers for their interest in my column. I hope that my advice helped my fellow underclassmen in the steps of surviving this jungle that we call high school.

     This however is goodbye for now because in the future when you open up your morning paper, you might be able to see my columns once again.

With a score of 95 out of 100, the Jaguars took first place in their final competition of the competitive cheerleading season to be crowned National Champions.

Coach Natalie Franco was pleased with the squad’s achievement. She said, “I was extremely thrilled! I couldn’t help but cry tears of joy of such accomplishment! The feeling was indescribable, simply just proud!”

She says she first realized the team had championship potential at their first competition practice.

“There were so many plans and discussions as to what we wanted to meet, and it definitely showed in the way we practiced. The talent shined in the way they started the season.”

With the feeling of victory still in the air, there is also a feeling of sadness. The season is now over and the seniors are leaving the team.

Sophomore Cristina Gutierrez said the seniors on the team “are like my family.” She also said, “I have never met anyone more motivated. They are the reason we won.”

Senior Jessica Valenzuela is going to miss the team. She said, “I’m going to miss how close my team was this year and all the crazy, random things we would do and talk about at practice.”

Senior Hope Logan had some words of advice for next year’s squad. She said, “Work hard and don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to push your limits. Believe in your team; they are your family. Perform like it is your last competition ever. Lastly, have fun!”

They played against many other kids from different schools. There were about 100 students playing in CIF.

Boughton scored earned a score of 89, which is 17 over par. Kumamoto earned a 95, 23 over par.

With their scores in CIF, they did not advance to the next round. In order to go to the next level they needed to shot 78 or better. They played against many other kids from different schools there were about 100 students playing in CIF.