The Acorn

Greetings AOC Families,

I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! Friday is a M/W schedule. Thank you to all of the families who attended March Madness. ASB did a wonderful job organizing this event and our students had a great time!

In two weeks, we will have Spring Break. There will be no school from April 7th-11th from both AOC and COC. We will see students when we return on April 14th.

Our Seniors are starting to receive their college acceptances. Thank you to our students who have shared this news with us. We're so excited to hear this news from you!

For our parents, AOC book club readers, we will meet on April 2nd, Wednesday to discuss the Emotional Lives of Teenagers. An email will be sent home to all of our book club readers! We will start with chapter one and two. I hope that you can join us for this first meeting! And, some of you asked for us to make it virtual so we will keep it online! Thank you!

Upcoming Events

• March 26 and 27th- CAASPP Testing for grade 11 (Attendance is important!)
• April 1- WASC Virtual Visit
• April 7-11- Spring Break
• April 21 and 22- CAASPP Testing for 11th grade
• May 5-9- Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week
• May 2- Senior Dance
• May 22- Showcase, AOC Open House
• May 27-June5-Final Exams for AOC and COC (Attendance is important!)
• June 4- Senior Sunset and Graduation Rehearsal
• June 5- Last day of school & AOC Graduation for Seniors at 6pm in the COC PAC
• August 12th- First day of the 2025-2026 school year. The 2025-2026 WSHUHSD Calendar is attached.

Have a wonderful week!

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Dr. Juliet Fine

Principal of AOC

(661) 362-3056

jfine@hartdistrict.org

661-362-3056

Carla Tuttle, Office Manager/ Registrar- ctuttle@hartdistrict.org

Students who have signed up for Jazz/ Rock Ensemble should plan to meet this Friday at lunch with Manak in room 101.

~ Dr. Fine, jfine@hartdistrict.org

Hey Seniors, are you going to the Senior Dance? Senior dance tickets are $90.00 each Come on out and make memories to last a lifetime. Please remember that the Senior Dance will be on Friday, May 2nd from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. See Mrs. Perkins to purchase your ticket.

Wow—ASB March Madness was a HUGE success! A massive shoutout to the Sophomores for taking home the championship—what an incredible group of athletes! 💪🏆

Meanwhile, Mr. Koegle’s Freshman Biology class took learning outdoors with a scenic hike through Vasquez Canyons, exploring geology while soaking in the beauty of nature. 🌿⛰️

Over in Mrs. O’Shea’s class, students brought literature to life with their Talk Show projects, stepping into character from All Quiet on the Western Front. Talk about PBL in action! 🎭🎙️

Our faculty stepped up as coaches, professional referees kept the games fair, and ROOTS made sure everyone stayed cool with fresh water bottles and ice—thank you, ROOTS! 💧❄️

And let’s not forget ASB, who kept the energy high with an awesome halftime show and game! They made sure the event was fun, safe, and totally engaging—face painting and all! 🎨🎤

A HUGE thank you to ASB, our amazing student body, staff, and families who made this event such a fantastic community-wide celebration! We couldn’t have done it without you! 🎉💙

SOAR running team has so many AOC students involved and almost all of them completed the LA Marathon! It was an incredible accomplishement for so many students! Way to go AOC!

Can’t wait for the next one!

Sanjana Prabakar is a Sophomore at AOC. Sanjana Prabakar and her friend Sahasra Ponnuswamy. On Jan19,2025, they both were selected by IAPMT - International Association of Professional Music Teachers to perform in Weill Carnegie Hall in New York. They both were very excited and travelled to New York and performed in Carnegie Hall. They have demonstrated incredible dedication and passion towards music in spite of their busy academic schedule. We're so proud of Sanjana! Way to go!

Christopher Gerrick is waiting for his college decisions, he has just received his second promotion at Six Flags where works. Christopher is the second EVER employee under 18 to be promoted to a Supervisor role at Six Flags. We are very proud of him! Congratulations, Chris! This is AWESOME news!

For the rest of the school year, students and parents are invited to share any good news that they are proud of with the rest of the AOC community. Please share the good news with me, jfine@hartdistrict.org and I will share it with the entire community. Let's celebrate our students' accomplishments together.

Last week, many of our families at AOC celebrated Holi. Holi is the Hindu festival of colours and is celebrated to mark the start of spring in India, Nepal, other South Asian countries and across the diaspora. Celebrants rejoice by throwing coloured powders at one another on the street. Festivities also involve special holiday foods, music and dancing. Holi (Hindi pronunciation: ['hoːli:]) is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. On March 13th and 14th of this year this marked the arrival of spring!

Nowruz is the Iranian New Year or Persian New Year. Historically, it has been observed by Persians and other Iranian peoples, but is now celebrated by many ethnicities worldwide. Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is a 3,000-year-old celebration of spring, It was celebrated on March 21st.

Seniors will have a week filled with activities and COC final exams for the last week of school at AOC that will include rehearsals, a pancake breakfast hosted by our Senior Parents, graduation cap decorating and ASB's Senior Sunset event. Students will also receive their gowns and graduation tickets that week. Students must attend school everyday to receive their graduation tickets and gowns and participate in the graduation ceremony.

Spring Break is from April 7th-11th and there is no school.

Located on the campus of College of the Canyons, AOC is proud to be the middle college high school in the William S. Hart Union High School District serving students 9th-12th grades in the Santa Clarita Valley. Students have the opportunity to earn between 24 and 44 transferable college units, prior to receiving their high school diplomas. Upon graduation, the majority of Academy students pursue their post high school education by continuing at COC and completing their college transfer requirements in only one year after high school. Other AOC students go directly into a four-year university, bringing their community college units with them and placing themselves well into their freshman and sophomore years at the college level. While attending AOC as a high school student, community college tuition is waived for established California residents.

Email: jfine@hartdistrict.org
Website: https://www.academyofthecanyons.com/
Location: Academy of the Canyons, Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Phone: 661-362-3056
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Academy-of-the-Canyons-Middle-College-High-School-330158873741614
Twitter: @Academy_Canyons