Canyon Families,

It is hard to believe it is already March and Spring Break is just 4 weeks away! Even though February was a short month, there was a lot going on and several of our students accomplished great things! For a summary of some of the events from February as well as a preview of some upcoming events in March, please see below.

Brent McKee
Principal

On Wednesday, February 19th, Canyon High School held it's annual Open House Showcase. It was a great night where parents of current students could meet with their student's teachers and prospective students had the opportunity to learn about all of the great academic and extra-curricular programs we have at Canyon. There were also performances from our Performing Arts groups during the evening that guests could enjoy. It was estimated that well over 1,000 guests were on our campus that night. Below are some pictures of the night.

The Canyon ASB along with all of our Clubs held the Spring Club Carnival on February 12th and 13th. Due to the rain, we had to move the event into the MPR. We still had over 100 clubs promote themselves and recruit new members. If a student would like a list of clubs or how they can sign up, have them go to the Student Center.

"The Drowsy Chaperone" tells the story of a lonely, middle-aged man who, while feeling down, puts on a record of his favorite fictional 1920s musical, causing the characters from the record to come to life on stage in his apartment as he narrates and comments on the absurd plot, which involves a Broadway starlet on the eve of her wedding, a chaotic cast of characters including a "drowsy" chaperone, a bumbling best man, and a series of mistaken identities, all while poking fun at the tropes of classic musical theatre.

It stars Fawn Rinker as "The Drowsy Chaperone", Olivia Melgoza as Janet, Skye Mason as "The Man in the Chair", and Eli Medlin as "Robert Martin".

It plays in the MPR March 18-21 at 7 each night. Doors will open at 6:30. Tickets are on sale at the door. First come first serve. Tickets are $15 and $10 w/ASB

The Canyon Vocal Music Program, under the direction of Mr. Jens Hurty, will hold their next Choir Concert in the MPR at 7:00 pm on Wednesday March 5th. This will be the music that they will be singing at upcoming competition festivals and on their tour to Hawaii later in March.

The Canyon Robotics Teams competed in the VEX Robotics Signature Event - Rumble in the Rockies, in Salt Lake City in February. With 95 teams competing from multiple states and Canada, our three Canyon Teams showed up ready to stand out and put their hard work to the test on the field. After qualifying matches, the teams ranked as follows - Team A in 5th place, Team B in 16th place and Team C in 44th place. Teams A and B qualified to go into the finals. Team C ranked 6th in the all teams Skills Challenge. Congratulations to all our teams for these impressive standings!

We would also like to wish all three teams good luck as they travel to Los Angeles this month to compete in the State Championships with the goal of qualifying for the World Championships in May. If you are interested in learning more about the Canyon Robotics Team, please email CanyonRoboticsBooster@gmail.com.

In February, Canyon's Model United Nations club took part in the conference in Laguna Hills, bringing home several individual awards thanks to standout performances by Kairav Shah, Shrey Shah, and Spencer Mayfield.

On Sunday, March 23rd, Canyon will be hosting its first mini-conference for those who want to learn what MUN is all about. See the flyer for more information and join the Instagram "@canyonmun1" or Remind "@chsmun01" for updates.

The Canyon High School Science Olympiad completed their 2025 season finishing in 8th place in Orange County. Unfortunately, they came up short of qualifying for state but the future is bright as several students will return next year and the El Rancho team finished 3rd and qualified for state.

On Wednesday, February 5th during lunch, Canyon held its Spring Signing Day. Continuing its strong tradition of having athletes go on to compete at the College level, six student athletes signed letters of intent that day. CONGRATULATIONS to all of these athletes and good luck at your future schools!

(Pictured Below Left to Right)

Noah Kim - Basketball - Oberlin College

Blake Helsper - Baseball - Hawaii Pacific University

Abby Foley - Water Polo - Concordia University Irvine

Samantha Gresham - Softball - Dartmouth College

Victoria Oropeza - Softball - Augusta University

Jordan Simmons - Softball - Brown University

CONGRATULATIONS to Tessa Fortenbaugh! Tessa was the CIF Champion in her weight class for Girls Wrestling! Tessa is the first Canyon girl wrestler to accomplish this feat! As a champion, she advanced to the Masters where she placed 4th and is now headed to the State Meet on February 27th. She was a State Qualifier last year. Only an 11th grader, Tessa will look to make it back to back titles next year.

The Winter Sports season came to an end for three more of our teams in February. After winning their first CIF game over Damien, the boys basketball team lost a hard fought game to Santa Barbara. Both our Boys and Girls soccer teams advanced to the CIF quarterfinals before losing to Edison (boys) and Mater Dei (girls) in close games.

The Spring Sports season is now underway. Our Girls Softball team leads the way as the #1 ranked team in Orange County. Other Spring Sports now in season are Boys Golf, Girls Tennis, Swim, Track, Baseball, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys Volleyball and our 1st ever Girls Beach Volleyball Team.

For all the athletic schedules, please visit the Canyon Athletic Website

On February 6th, Canyon High School CTE programs visited El Rancho. We had the opportunity to showcase 20 different programs to future students. Our dedicated teachers engaged and informed over 500 enthusiastic 8th-grade students about the diverse academic and athletic opportunities available at Canyon High School.

CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah Chhay who was selected as Canyon High School's Teacher of the Month for February. Ms. Chhay currently teaches Special Education as well as English 11. In addition to her teaching duties, Ms. Chhay is the Co-Department Chair for the Special Education Department. As one of the students who nominated her stated, "I am very grateful for having such an understanding teacher like you and you truly are the best teacher." In her 8th year at Canyon, Ms. Chhay is well deserving of this recognition.

CONGRATULATIONS to Karen Fink who was selected as Canyon High School's Classified Employee of the Month for February. Ms. Fink is in her 3rd year at Canyon as the Health Clerk. She provides great care for our students on a daily basis as she provides support to our school nurse in the health office and is alway ready to assist in any Medical Emergency.

Our outstanding IB program has a lot going on. More than I can cover in my newsletter so they have produced their own newsletter. Please click on the following attachment to view it.

You may have already heard from your student, but Canyon High School has a new Kitchen Manager. Chris Jones started in late November and has made already made a major impact in our cafeteria. With a strong resume in the food and restaurant industry, Chris immediately started creating new recipes that are made from scratch eliminating some of the pre packaged food. In addition to preparing food for several hundred kids twice a day, Chris is also preparing meals for our sports teams who need to leave early for games. He has visited classrooms to talk to students and has had classes come and sample some of his new creations. The proof is in the numbers as participation in the lunch and nutrition program has gone up by several hundred students. Lunch and Nutrition are free so encourage your students to try it if they haven't already! The food is definitely improved and Chris has big ideas for next year to make it even better!

This Saturday, March 8th, the Canyon High School Foundation will be having it's annual Hall of Fame Gala at the Alta Vista Country Club. During the event, five alumni will be inducted into the Canyon High School Hall of Fame. CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Megan Bush - Class of 2007

Christian Colon - Class of 2007

Briley Lewis - Class of 2014

Lauren Mathewson - Class of 2003

Chris Snitko - Class of 1991

They are each special individuals, but as a collective group, they are AMAZING! They are exemplary role models for the Comanches of present and future and we are looking forward to a special night celebrating them.

To purchase tickets as well as information on the online silent auction, please click on the following link.

Canyon Seniors, the CHS Safe Grad Night Foundation has once again been able to secure a limited supply of Grad night tickets. These will be park hopper tickets for all day and includes the Grad Night Celebration in California Adventure. Its a full day of fun and excitement. Tickets go on sale Wednesday February 26th and cost $265. Flyers with all the details will be distributed to English Class Google Docs as well as flyers posted up all around school.

After being recognized in December for outstanding attendance, Canyon High School was recognized again for having the BEST ATTENDANCE for the month of January among all of the OUSD Middle Schools and High Schools! This is BACK to BACK months that the traveling trophy will remain at Canyon! We appreciate our students who made the effort to be here as well as our parents who make sure their students are here each day. Pictured are our awesome attendance ladies Christina Hurtado and Stephanie Meyer with the traveling trophy! These are the two ladies who work very hard each day to make sure are attendance records are accurate.

What do you do if you need to pick your student up early? Who do you contact if your student is sick or you need to clear an absence? For answers to these questions and more, please click on the link below.

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY TUTORING

The National Honor Society has tutoring in Room 133 from 3:30 to 4:30 Tuesday through Thursday.

Every morning at 7:30 AM, we offer Math Tutoring in Room 139. Mr. Joe Svoboda is available to help any student who is having trouble with Math. No appointment is necessary. This is a great opportunity for those who can't get help outside of school to come before school and get help with Math. Due to Faculty meetings, there is no tutoring on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month.

Wednesday, March 5 @ 7:00 PM - Choir Concert in the MPR

Thursday, March 6 @ 9:00 AM - PTSA Meeting in the Library

Monday, March 10 @ 7:00 PM - Foundation Meeting in Room 114

Tuesday, March 18 - College and Career Fair in Gym (During School Day)

Tuesday, March 18 - Friday, March 21 @ 7:00 PM - Spring Play in the MPR

Friday, March 28 - Minimum Day Schedule and end of 3rd Quarter

Monday, March 31 - Friday, April 4 - Spring Break

For up to date information during the month, you can check out the Canyon HS Website or click on the Daily Bulletin which has up to date announcements on what is happening at CHS.