Journalism (Talon school newspaper)
Literary Magazine
Mock Trial
Model United Nations
Peer Counseling
Robotics
Speech & Debate
The OPHS Literary Arts Club is pleased to announce that Veritas IX is here! Each year, we invite our student body to submit original works of poetry and short fiction to be considered and curated for publication in our annual literary magazine issue. Our campus becomes a more vibrant and connected space every time a new author inks their identity onto the page.
Veritas IX is available for purchase for students and staff alike for just $5; we thank the PFA for subsidizing these costs! We can only accept cash and checks at the Student Store right now, but if you visit the OPHS Web Store, you may pay by card instead. Please make out payments to the OPHS Literary Arts Club.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the club and its magazine these past nine years. Even more importantly, thank you for empowering students to express their personal voices–you have all played a part in making this campus more empathetic and imaginative.
Gratefully,
Jessica Wall-Smith
Veritas Advisor
Veritas IX’s Featured Authors:
Lila Marshall ○ Yashika Kumar ○ Rishan Shah ○ Carmel Chen ○ Annie Ben-Shoshan ○ Anjali Staschik ○ Justine Picard ○ Ella Gonzalez ○ Peter Manuel ○ Lila Marshall ○ Luke Hodges ○ Luke Pryor ○ Sierra Large ○ Claire Murray ○ Lorena Tan ○ Jade Wolff ○ Grace VanSchooneveld ○ Ella McNally ○ Yuri Kim ○ Tanvi Jeurkar ○ Elle Markham ○ Mark Neminov ○ Parmida Mohammadi ○ Sophia Perez ○ Sophie Goldfarb ○ Matthew Rochman ○ Danlei Wang ○ Meirav Zarin ○ Gianna Mortillaro ○ Maggie Ruan ○ Gabriel Levin ○ Hannah Ma ○ Julia Marcos ○ Daniela Trivelli ○ Olivia Compton ○ Kinza Khan ○ Marina Avramenko ○ Leonardo Castaneda ○ Joshua Joel ○ Jayden Stanislaus ○ Nahlini Hauser ○ Jake Calafati ○ Diya Johny
The two 2021-2022 Mock Trial teams receiving a "pep talk" from Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko ahead of the State Competition
The two 2021-2022 Mock Trial teams with advisor, Dr. Victor Anderson, VCDA Erik Nasarenko, and Superintendent Dr. Jeff Davis
After seven (7) nights of Ventura County Mock Trial competition, Oak Park High School earned the top spot and will represent Ventura County in the 40th annual California Mock Trial Finals. Additionally, we earned four individual awards during the Ventura County Competition. There were 22 schools competing with 30 teams and over 450 students. The following OPHS students were the only winners in their role:
1st Place Journalist - Alexa Scharlin (who will compete in the State competition.
Best Prosecution Witness Terry Edwards - Tied - Ava Winkle & Hunter Glass.
Best Defense Witness (defendant) Jamie Cobey - Jaiden Wilson.
Thirty-Two (32) County High School winners, over 300 students competed for the State Champion who will represent California in the National Championship from May 5-7 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After four (4) days of State Competition, Oak Park earned a ninth place finish with an individual State award going to Ayush Natarajan for Clerk.
Thank you PFA! We love and appreciate your continued support.
Dr. Victor Anderson, Faculty Coach & Attorney Advisor
BRUIN Model United Nations Conference, November 2021 at UCLA
Southern California Model United Nations Conference, March 2022 at USC
Thanks to PFA funding, administration support, and a wonderful team, this year has been a great success. The OPHS Model United Nations team has attended four conferences in total, two in-person and two virtual. We have accumulated 6 awards throughout the year! All our awards and the associated college/conference is listed below. PFA funding has allowed us to offer our conferences for free or at discounted prices, making them more accessible for our team. Southern California Model UN was offered at a 50% discount, while T&T MUN was completely free. At SCMUN this past week, our students not only had a great experience visiting colleges, but also got to experience the true spirit of MUN as they delegated and debated with students from 40+ schools! Model UN is a club that offers far more than public speaking, it provides leadership, diplomacy, and real-world exposure; all of which our delegates were exposed to throughout the year.
Awards:
UCLA's Bruin MUN 2021: Outstanding Delegate and Verbal Accommodation
UCSB's Guacho MUN 2022: Commendation
T&T MUN 2022: Outstanding Delegate and Best Delegate
USC's SCMUN 2022: Honorable Mention
Our goal for the future would be to make MUN more accessible and well-known, hoping to grow as a delegation. We would like to see all delegates have fun and become aware of the world around them!
The OPHS Speech & Debate Team 2021-2022 State Qualifiers.
The OPHS Speech and Debate team has thrived this year in no small part due to the support we have received from the Oak Park High School PFA.
The past two years have been challenging for our team. Faced with a pandemic, our league moved all tournaments to an online format. We were grateful the club continued, but we faced enormous obstacles with student motivation and club funding. We have not only been able to create novice classes each year, but we have also had incredible success at our league tournaments. Last year we sent 6 students to the state championships, and this year we send 7, a team record. But we are not just about tournaments. The skills these students learn on our team will serve them for a lifetime. It is a rigorous team that leads with grace and kindness.
Throughout it all, the PFA has been by our side with support and funding. Without their help, the students would be limited in their prep materials and tournament participation. The PFA funding helps pay all our team materials and team memberships fees. This then allows us to participate in some invitational tournaments that would otherwise be out of reach. This is no small dollar amount, and we are deeply grateful for their support.
Thank you, PFA! We truly appreciate you!
Irene Lyle, Speech and Debate Coach