Templar and Rampage place at competition
At the annual East Los Angeles Journalism Education Association Write-Offs on March 2, Templar and Rampage took the top spots in a variety of categories.
For the first time in 10 years, Templar placed first in the Yearbook sweepstakes. Rampage earned fourth place in the Newspaper sweepstakes. Overall, combining everyone’s scores, TCHS placed third in Super Sweepstakes.
In addition to the group awards, Templar and Rampage earned several individual awards, such as first in newspaper photography, first in feature photography, second in news writing, fourth in sports writing and more.
Diamond Bar, Schurr, Walnut, Wilson, Bell Gardens, Mark Keppel and San Gabriel students competed alongside TCHS at Schurr High School.
New elective courses
There will be three new courses for the 2019-2020 school year: Digital Photography II, Mandarin for Heritage Speakers and Studies in Geography.
Digital Photography teacher Mr. Savay Lieu created a second-level photography course for students who want to further their understanding of the craft. Unlike the fundamental and technical focus of Digital Photography I, Mr. Lieu will focus more on creativity and visual communication in Digital Photography II.
Though completion of Digital Photography I is recommended, it is not required. Students can alternatively prove their eligibility to advance to the second-level course by presenting a portfolio to Mr. Lieu.
Students will also be able to enroll in a new Social Studies elective called Studies in Geography. The curriculum will cover World and U.S. Geography, along with the culture, religion and ethnic studies pertaining to each.
Students of any grade can take the class for a semester or the whole year. However, history teacher Ms. Robyn Selders thinks it will be especially beneficial for freshmen.
“Freshmen haven’t taken history since eighth grade, so the gap between eighth grade and tenth grade makes it difficult,” Ms. Selders said. “I think taking the class would definitely help by providing a geography introduction to feed into World History.”
The Foreign Language department will also add a new course next year. Chinese teacher Ms. Susan Zheng is opening up a Mandarin for Heritage Speakers class to teach Mandarin-speaking students how to read and write.
Prior to the class, only students with no exposure to Mandarin could enroll in the Chinese elective classes. Now, students who speak the language at home, but lack reading and writing skills, are able to further their understanding.
Once completing the course, students will be eligible to move onto Chinese 3 the following year.