MAY NEWSLETTER

Canyon Families,

Welcome to May! We are now into our last full month of the school year! It is hard to believe how fast this year has gone. But when things are going good, time seems to go fast and we have had a great year. Our students gave us a lot of reasons to celebrate in April and there are more opportunities in May. For information on past and future events, please read below.

Brent McKee
Principal

This past month, AVID at Canyon High School has been blending academic rigor with essential life skills to prepare students for the future. Students toured the UCI campus on a spirited "hunt" for as many anteaters as they could find, giving them a firsthand look at university life. Back on campus, AVID seniors practiced the nuances of dorm room living under the guidance of Canyon Head Chef Chris Jones. These hands-on lessons in collegiate culinary skills, combined with the program's signature collaborative study groups and scholarship workshops, have ensured that Canyon’s AVID students are heading into their next chapter both academically sharp and "dorm-ready." The AVID senior class of 2026 will be attending colleges such as Cal Poly Pomona, GCU, TCU, SDSU, CSUF and CSUSF.

This spring, Canyon held a Community College Fair. Seniors explored post-graduation options with presentations from Cerritos, Coastline, Fullerton, Irvine Valley, Orange Coast, Saddleback, and Santiago Canyon. Students gained insight into programs, campus life, and the admissions process. Students also had a chance after the presentations to meet representatives, ask questions, and gather resources. It was a valuable opportunity for students to learn about their options and begin planning their next steps.

Please click on the attachment below to view the April IB Newsletter and learn about all of the great things happening in the IB Program.

CONGRATULATIONS to Canyon Robotics! After winning the California State Championship, Team A along with Team B recently participated in the annual Vex Robotics World Championships. This was a weeklong competition held in St Louis, MO during the month of April. This year the Vex Robotics World Championships hosted the top 860+ teams from not just all 50 states, but over 40 countries from around the world! Divided up into 10 divisions, all teams battled to be named their Division World Champions and get the chance to compete in front of an audience of over 3000 people and be crowned the ultimate Robotics World Champion. Team A won the title of a Division World Champion and competed center stage at the competition in "The Dome" (formerly home to the St Louis Rams). This is a huge accomplishment and an ultimate goal for all robotics teams around the world.

We would also like to congratulate all three of our robotics teams for a very successful season. There are over 6800 Vex Robotics Teams ranked in the world. All of our teams final rankings are within the top 7%. VERY IMPRESSIVE! Their final rankings are as follows: Team A – 56th, Team B – 236th, Team C – 457th. Our teams spend a minimum of 10 hours a week building, programming, driving, documenting, and designing and their commitment to excellence has paid off!

Want to learn more about these amazing teams and becoming a part of it for the 2026-2027 season? There will be an Informational Meeting on Monday, May 11th at 8pm via zoom. Applications will be accepted from May 12th – May 26th, with teams being formed in June. Applications are available to any 2026-2027 Canyon student, including incoming freshman. Use the QR code on the photo to receive a zoom link or email CanyonRoboticsBooster@gmail.com for more information.

• Tickets currently on sale.

• Price increases May 4

• Last day to purchase: May 6 (during lunch only)

• Event date: May 9

• Time: 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM

• Location: Cerritos Performing Arts Center

Continuing a tradition that started several years ago, ASB held its annual "You Matter" Week. A big part of the week is that the ASB students created a heart for every CHS student and wrote a short message on it. They then posted them on the windows of the 200 Building where students could come and get their heart. During the week, they also played music at nutrition and had activities including the opportunity for students to get Glitter Tattoos and Friendship Bracelets. Having 33 students write out 2175 Hearts is a lot of work so THANK YOU ASB for working so hard on this!

Canyon High School recently had several students recognized for their amazing talent in Art. Five students were recognized at the "Shine On" competition sponsored by the Orange County Department of Education. Their works were displayed at the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana. They were Kamryn Jones, Kaelyn Rivas, Kayla Connolly, Faith Dean and Sebastian Reyes.

The following seven students were chosen out of hundreds of applicants to have their work displayed as part of the OC Arts for All Student Showcase. They were Brooke Devereaux, Sofia Guerrero, Andre Lomeli Guzman, Lindsey Trinh, Taylor Wanner, Sara Kong, Phoebe Mai, Tran Bao Thy Phan, Katherine Nguyen and Rylie White. Their works will be on display through June 3rd at Crystal Court at South Coast Plaza.

CONGRATULATIONS to all of these outstanding and talented artists.

Canyon High School is proud to announce that several student filmmakers have been officially nominated for the 2026 Orange County Youth Choice Awards, part of the statewide Directing Change Film Challenge. These students, from the film program led by Film Teacher Alex Graham, are being recognized for their work in high-impact storytelling centered on mental health and substance use prevention.

The nominated films were selected for their ability to educate peers on recognizing warning signs, supporting friends in distress, and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health. The Canyon High School nominees are:

Suicide Prevention Category

• Your Thoughts Aren’t Alone – Ana-Shekar Dadashzadeh

• Light at the End of the Tunnel – Susan Braun

• Directing Change PSA – Vivian Steiner, Sydney Wong, Brooklyn Kumsakul, Mackenzie McCarthy, and Annavie Dang

Substance Use Prevention Category

• I didn’t know it would make things worse – Winston Harman

The Directing Change Film Challenge integrates health proficiency with cinematic arts, empowering young people to become advocates for wellness within their communities. These nominations represent a significant achievement for the students in both technical filmmaking and community leadership.

At the beginning of the April, the Canyon High School Color Guard team traveled to Dayton, Ohio for WGI world championships. They competed against 144 teams in their class and placed 25th in the world! On April 19th, they competed in the local WGASC championships and placed 3rd in their class. CONGRATULATIONS COLOR GUARD on an outstanding season!

Tonight is the last night to see our Amazing Dance Classes featuring "The Company" and "The Jr. Company" performing their Spring Dance Show! Show time is 7:00 and will be performed in the MPR. For more information, please click on the link below.

On Wednesday, April 15th, Canyon High School held it's last signing day of the year. We were proud to recognize the following outstanding student athletes who will be continuing their academic and athletic careers next year. We wish all of them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Derek Ingle - Lacrosse - Utah State University

Kendyl Fay - Dance Team - University of Tennessee

Landon Wade - Football - George Fox University

Morgan Cornelison - Swimming - University of LaVerne

CONGRATULATIONS to our Boys Golf Team and their Coaches Chris Weinkauf and Simon Dreisbach on winning the North Hills League Championship! It has been over a decade since our Boys Golf Team last won a League Championship! The boys will soon be competing as a team and as individuals in CIF play. Good Luck in CIF!

CONGRATULATIONS to our Boys Volleyball Team and their Coach Matt Silva on winning the Crestview League Championship. They went 7 - 1 in league to claim the title. The team automatically qualified for CIF but unfortunately lost a hard fought match against Camarillo H.S. Congratulations to all on a great season!

In addition to the two previously mentioned League Champions, we have other spring sports teams that qualified for CIF. Congratulations to our Boys Lacrosse, Girls Lacrosse and Stunt teams! All qualified for C.I.F. after great seasons. Also Congratulations to our Girls Beach Volleyball team that qualified and made it to the CIF Semi Finals and played Winward on Thursday afternoon but unfortunately lost a very competitive match 3-2. So far, all of our spring sports teams have qualified for CIF with Softball and Baseball still to be decided with one more week to go in their season.

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

CONGRATULATIONS to Ms. Erin Miller on being selected as Canyon's Teacher of the Month! Ms. Miller teaches AP and IB English. She is also our IB CAS Coordinator. Having taught at Canyon for several years, she has probably influenced over 4000 students lives, each in a positive way. This honor is well deserved and long overdue. Thank you Ms. Miller for all that you do and Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Manny Sanchez on being selected as Canyon's Classified Employee of the Month! Manny has been working at Canyon for almost 5 years as a daytime custodian. Like all of our custodians, he has one of the hardest jobs on campus which is cleaning up after students and helping maintain our campus. Manny is always willing to help out and do whatever is needed to support our staff and students. He is a great representation of all of our hard working custodians.

How lucky are we to have such AWESOME staff at Canyon! Your Canyon PTSA will be celebrating our Canyon Staff during Staff Appreciation Week May 11th – May 15th. Help us “Fill Their Fridge” as a way to say THANK YOU for all they do for our students! Use the QR code to sign up to donate an item(s) or don’t have time to shop? You can do a donation via Zelle to Treasurer@CanyonhsPTSA.com. Donations will be accepted at our Drive Thru Drop off Friday, May 8th and Monday, May 11th from 8:00am – 9:30am. For any questions, please reach out to Melanie Smith at melanie.b.smith@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your support and donations! And thank you to our Canyon Staff for making this such an exceptional school!

For parents of seniors, it is probably hard to believe that their student will be graduating in less than 6 weeks! Graduation week is always a busy week not only for seniors but their parents. A letter was sent out a few weeks ago with information on end of the year procedures, graduation and graduation tickets. If you didn't receive that email, you can click below to view it.

This coming Monday, May 4th, we plan to celebrate our seniors who have been accepted to colleges or the military for next year. We will let all seniors out for nutrition a few minutes early and they will have the opportunity to sign a banner and place a sticker that represents their future destination on the banner. We will then display that banner for the remainder of this year and next year. Seniors need to bring a sticker that represents their school choice or career to place on the banner.

May 8th is the last day to order a Senior Banner through the OUPSF for graduation. Please see the flyer to the right for more information.

The National Honor Society has tutoring in Room 101from 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.

The American Chemical Society Club offers tutoring sessions across all levels including Regular, Honors, and AP Chemistry.

Tutoring sessions are held every Tuesday and Wednesday from 2:00–4:00 PM. On even days, tutoring will take place in Ms. Nguyen’s room (129), and on odd days, it will be held in Mr. Brierly’s room (134).

Monday, May 4th @ 11:00 AM - Senior Signing Day Activity

Monday, May 4th @ 7:00 PM - Canyon HS Foundation Meeting in Room 114

Thursday, May 7th @ 9:00 AM - Canyon PTSA Meeting in the Library

Saturday, May 9th @ 7:00 PM - PROM at Cerritos Performing Arts Center

Sunday, May 17th @ 5:00 PM - Color Guard End of the Year Showcase

Friday, May 22nd @ 7:00 PM - Jazz Reception in the MPR

Monday, May 25th - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, May 26th @ 6:30 PM - Senior Laureate Awards in MPR

Friday, May 29 @ 7:00 PM - Choir Concert

Saturday, May 30th - Percussion Showcase in the MPR

Thursday, June 11th - Last Day of School and Graduation at 7:00 PM at Fred Kelly Stadium

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.