By: River Reyes

Photo taken to commemorate the JPA inspection

This month the Pleasanton Highschool Eagle Battalion participated in the JPA (JROTC Program for Accreditation) Evaluation. The JPA Evaluation is designed to evaluate the JROTC program to see how well it is following the minimum program criteria.
Select Cadets were chosen to participate, creating portfolios that detailed their experience within the JROTC program. The Staff created several slides detailing the Battalion’s current state. The inspection would also extend to involve our principal (Ms. Guajardo) and superintendent (Dr. Mann). The Pleasanton Highschool Eagle Battalion performed extremely well, achieving the highest award – The Honor Unit with Distinction.
Following up last month, the Eagle Battalion held a Cadet of the month board as well as a Noncommissioned Officer of the month board. The winners of these boards were Cadet Pvt. Courtney Cearley and Cadet SSG. River Reyes from Bravo Company.

The month of February was a very exciting and productive month for the Eagle Battalion and we hope to keep the effort up for the rest of the school year.

By: River Reyes

Senior Mariano Gutierrez is pictured mid-game.

This month was the second bout of the season for the Pleasanton Highschool Boys Soccer team. With 6 (to be updated) games under their belts, the boys are currently at a 3-3 lock. On an even ground, the team hopes to improve upon their collective trust to create an unstoppable force.
Earlier this month, the team suffered defeat in Gonzales and Floresville, but is looking at the bright side as they held the lead for the majority of the Gonzales game and improved their plays for the Floresville games. They would then redeem their loss in full with the Wimberly game, winning 3-2. When asked about their strengths, Coach Breiten said, “We are currently excelling at our passing and communication.  Passing and communication were one of the first two things we have been working on during December and January.”
With the season settling in, the team will continue to build upon their strengths and improve their weaknesses in hopes to do well throughout the rest of the season.

By: River Reyes

This month, the Pleasanton Mens Soccer team will be kicking off a new season. The team has been actively practicing after school since the start of December and will be participating in their first games on December 15th and 18th. 

When asked about how the team may perform during their game, Coach Brieten said, “I don’t know how they’ll play, they’re a young team and have a lot to work on. It will be pretty exciting to see how well they perform and what we need to work on going forward.” This year’s team is predominantly composed of sophomores and juniors, with few freshman and seniors. To best prepare for the upcoming games, the boys will be focusing on conditioning, ball skills, and their team play.

Going into the season, the Pleasanton Mens Soccer team will be very unpredictable given the current composition of the team, but it’ll be an exciting season going forward. Best of luck to the boys during their upcoming games. 

By: River Reyes

JROTC Eagle Battalion Drill team after the meet

On Saturday, October 31st and Saturday, November 7th, the Pleasanton High school JROTC Eagle Battalion participated in the “Grand Prairie Shootout” virtual drill meet. Participating were the Pink Eagles female color guard, Co Ed male and female color guard, and the Armed drill team.  

Both the female and male color guards showed up to the PAC parking lot on October 31st to perform for the color guard phase of the drill meet. Both color guards had a strong performance, representing the Eagle Battalion well.

On Saturday, November 7th, the armed drill team gathered at the PAC parking lot to perform for the drill phase of the virtual drill meet. The armed drill team had a strong performance, maintaining excellent discipline and formation, with few hiccups to count. When asked about their performance, the armed drill team commander Cadet Captain Jared Griego stated, “I feel confident in our performance, all of our cadets performed to the best of their abilities.” As for some of the newer cadets, Cadet Cearley stated, “I feel like we had a good performance, it was exciting competing for drill for the first time.”

With astounding performances, our color guards and drill team kicked off the year strong with a whole season to look forward to, honing their skills for the climax of the season with 5th brigade.

By: River Reyes

COVID-19 took the world by storm. All around the world many businesses, organizations, governments, and schools were hurdled into the unknown. Pleasanton High School was not an exception. The worldwide pandemic affected us all, forcing our school to switch to distance learning following the past spring break. Even now, 6 months later, our student body has been divided between distance learners and face-to-face learners with a new set of challenges for our school to overcome. 

Naturally, our school has adopted common safety practices to avoid the spread of COVID-19 for our face-to-face learners. There have also been restrictions put on gatherings taking place on school grounds. Everyone on the school staff has been working hard to ensure students have a relatively safe year by monitoring students to make sure they’re following our safety guidelines. Our teachers have had their fair share of difficulties ensuring that every student learns the necessary material with an emphasis on being flexible for the challenges being faced teaching both online and face-to-face. 

The students of Pleasanton High school have had varying experiences. Some face-to-face learners feel no real differences in the learning environment apart from the COVID regulations whereas some of our distance learners wish to return to face to face classes to have a better experience when it comes to classwork. In addition, students on campus have been following the new safety practices and behaving well with a respectful attitude.

This school year will prove challenging for everyone with their respective responsibilities, but we will move forward with positivity, acceptance and hope for brighter days in the future.