The Class of 2025 is a remarkable group of young adults, and it’s a special honor to celebrate them in Great Oak’s 21st year. In the spirit of recognizing meaningful firsts, I asked our GOHS staff to reflect on some of the new milestones and accomplishments we’ve experienced together this year:
This year, we launched a second Peer Leaders class to celebrate the rich diversity of our campus and to uplift every voice in our community, creating a campus where we see our diversity as a strength! Thank you to Mrs. Balka and all of our Peer Leaders for ensuring that the Wolfpack is seen, valued, and heard. A special thank you to Evan Brown and Huyana Vasquez for your late-night emails, your ideas, and your leadership, making both classes of Peer Leaders a success!
For the first time, Baile Folklórico took the stage at GOHS! Huge thanks to students Sara Solano, Kalei Lopez, and the rest of Nuestra Cultura for making this beautiful cultural expression part of our school.
While it was the second annual Staff vs. Students Basketball Game, this year marked the debut of a halftime show! Thank you to Gabby Walker and Skyler Clanton for doing your best to make the staff look like polished dancers.
We hosted two community carnivals for the first time—each designed to bring people together in the true spirit of unity. Thank you to CSF, the Unified Club, and our Peer Leaders for leading with servant hearts and showing us the joy of giving back.
We celebrated two new school records: Mikey Perry-Mack broke the school record and became the fastest Boys 100m runner in Great Oak history. Our Boys 4x800 relay team shattered the school record at Mt. SAC Relays, clocking the fastest time in the nation! Congratulations to Jacob Brown, Christian Gump, Marco Franco, and Jack Paradise—who now head to Nike Outdoor Nationals to compete for a national championship and a potential national record.
This year our athletic teams earned five Southwestern League Championships, including a three-peat from Girls Basketball and a perfect 10–0 league record from Boys Volleyball, which is a first! Football and softball reached the CIF semifinals, while Boys Golf and Unified Track and Field were CIF runner-ups.
Our AFJROTC Drone Racing Team, CA-20052, earned 1st place in the nation for the very first time! Cadets practiced before school twice a week and programmed and built their own drones. All three senior Drone Squadron leaders also earned their FAA Part 107 commercial drone licenses.
Dance, Vocal Music, and Theatre collaborated for the first time on a student-devised performance, guided by a united team of faculty. Thank you, Cayleigh Loy, Circe Chaney, and Lily Mata, for your commitment to the arts and your inspiring collaboration.
Another first: both our Varsity Winter Drumline and Varsity Winter Color Guard competed at World Championships in the same year—an incredible achievement made possible by the talent of our students and the commitment of our parent booster community.
The SOGO Senior Class finished their career with 3 Bronze and 1 Gold Medal at State Championships in the Spirit of Great Oak. Our Winter Drumline and Color Guard earned 2 Bronze, 2 Silver, and 2 Golds. And their performance in the Rome New Year’s Parade earned them a new first: an invitation to march in Las Cabalgatas d’España in Seville, Spain.
Our Science Olympiad team took home over 170 medals and five trophies from five competitions—a record-breaking year of achievement.
Our CTE Engineering program expanded its pathway to include Robotics and Mechanical Engineering for the first time. Seventy Engineering 2 students earned Lean Six Sigma White Belt certifications, and 35 students in our Capstone class earned OSHA safety certifications—real-world credentials that will benefit them far beyond high school.
Today I also celebrate a first: my first year as principal of this incredible school. Class of 2025, thank you for making it so memorable. I am especially grateful to three groups who helped ease this transition:
- First, thank you to the Girls Field Hockey team who greeted me on my very FIRST day on the job! They came in after practice to say “hello” and share some advice for the coming year.
- Thank you to Mrs. Casady and our graduating TOK class. Starting the week with you inspired me and helped me grow as an educator and leader.
- I'd also like to recognize a group of students I’ve had the privilege of knowing since elementary school: Chloe Lee, Jayden Lee, Andrew Reilly, Piper Thiesen, Gavin Nicola, Ben Gunawan, Angel Roseta, Diego Soto, and Sophia Ralphs. It’s been a rare honor to serve as your principal twice, and I thank each of you for leaving an indelible mark on me as a principal and person.
As you can see, the Class of 2025 has been part of a year full of meaningful firsts—moments that reflect not only individual accomplishments but the heart and spirit of our entire school community. From record-breaking athletes to student-led cultural initiatives, from academic excellence to groundbreaking collaborations, this year showcased the power of vision, resilience, and unity.
