Shark Bytes

Dear Students and Families,

I hope you all saw my email that I sent out yesterday but, if you didn't, I want to share that with sincere regret our yearbooks will not arrive before the end of the school year. I understand how much students look forward to receiving their yearbooks and sharing memories. Unfortunately, the yearbooks are now expected to arrive a week after school lets out.

To help ensure students can still capture the special moments and messages from this year, we will be providing all students with autograph signature sheets. These can be signed by friends and teachers now and then added into their yearbooks once they arrive. We expect to distribute these sheets by Wednesday May 14th.

Additionally, we are planning a special yearbook signing event on Tuesday June 10th at 2pm. We warmly invite all of out students, including our graduating seniors, to join us for this event. For those who may not be able to attend, yearbooks will also be available for pickup.

We know this isn’t the ideal situation, and we truly appreciate your understanding and flexibility. Our hope is that, despite the delay, students will still be able to collect heartfelt messages and memories from their classmates and teachers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to help in any way we can.

Take care,

Maritza Torres

Wednesday, May 14th

6:00-7:30 pm
Oceana High School Cafeteria

Please join us as the 10th graders celebrate and share their Sophomore Exhibition projects! Each student has spent the last semester researching a human rights abuse in the world. At Sophomore Exhibition Night students will be sharing what they learned and advocating for change. Please join us in the Oceana High School cafeteria to learn about students' projects and how to make our world a better place. Browse their presentations, ask students questions, and celebrate their hard work. We are so proud of the work they are doing and we are excited for you to get to learn from them!

All 10th grade students are expected to attend, and students need to arrive at 5:30 to set up. We will open doors to the exhibition at 6:00 pm.

Pizza and other refreshments will be sold during the evening. Siblings, family, friends, and community members are all welcome, but please keep in mind that some of the topics may be upsetting to sensitive viewers.

Last week of school is coming up fast! Students will be released at 1:15pm the last three days of school. Here is the schedule for the last week of school:

• Monday, May 26 - Holiday, No School
• Tuesday, May 27 - Even Day Regular School Schedule (end at 3:00 pm)
• Wednesday, May 28 - Odd Day Minimum day, Wednesday Schedule (end at 1:15pm)

• Thursday, May 29 - Even Day Minimum day, Wednesday Schedule (end at 1:15pm)
• Friday, May 30 - Odd Day Minimum day, Wednesday Schedule (end at 1:15pm)

To view our bell schedule, please visit here.

GRAD SCHOLARSHIP FLASH FUNDRAISER

Oceana High School friends,

Great news to share! We have raised $1,305 in new gifts through the OSPTO Grad Scholarship Flash Fundraiser so far. With matching funds from OSPTO, that means $2,610 of additional scholarship awards will be available to OHS graduating seniors this year - awesome!

But we are not done yet - we have just a handful of days to meet our goal of $5,000 in new gifts. We are asking YOU to pitch in with a scholarship award gift in any amount. OSPTO will match your gift dollar for dollar - effectively DOUBLING the impact of your generosity. Our goal is to create a minimum $10,000 scholarship award fund for qualifying OHS students. Our deadline to secure this funding is May 15, 2025. With your help and OSPTO’s matching funds, we can do this!

Donate to OSPTO via credit card or PayPal here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=5XFJ2S79FJ9JW

Prefer to send a check? Make checks payable to OSPTO and put “scholarship” in the memo line. Drop off or mail checks to OSPTO ℅ OHS, 401 Paloma Ave, Pacifica, CA 94044.

Want to go the extra mile? Ask your employer about their charitable gift matching program. Some employers offer up to a 200% match to your gift!

OSPTO is also looking for volunteers to join our Board of Directors. We meet monthly during the school year, and enjoy additional activities supporting the school of about 1-2 hours per month. Also, watch for opportunities to join our Fantastic (July) Four Fundraiser Crew this summer!

Gifts to OSPTO are tax deductible. Our tax ID is 81-3470624.

Please come support the OSPTO fireworks booth by either signing up to volunteer at the fireworks booth sales, come buy your fireworks from us, or, even better, both!

Volunteer here!!

Be the Change Youth Council (BTC) is a group of youth leaders from Oceana High School who work together to reduce youth substance use and raise awareness about mental wellness. BTC would like to invite students and families to join us for our 7th annual Youth Summit.

Date: Saturday May 10th

Location: Ingrid B. Lacy Middle School

Time: 11:00 am - 2:30 pm

It will be a great day including youth-led workshops, live streamed podcast, free photobooth and door prizes. Free lunch is included for all attendees!

Registration link:Youth Summit Registration Link

If you have any questions feel free to contact Program Director Mary Bier: mbier@jeffersonunion.net

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news about a course update for the upcoming school year!

This year’s Sculpture class was a tremendous success—students explored their creativity, built impressive works, and discovered a love for working with their hands and imaginations. Thanks to the incredible work of our teacher and the enthusiastic participation of our students, we’re ready to take things to the next level.

Next year, Sculpture will evolve into 3D Studio Art—a refreshed and expanded course that builds on everything students loved about Sculpture, while diving even deeper into the world of three-dimensional artistic expression. Based on student feedback and the teacher’s vision, 3D Art will include a wider variety of materials, techniques, and creative challenges, giving students even more ways to explore, design, and bring their ideas to life. We can’t wait to see the amazing work students will create in 3D Art!

For students who signed up for Sculpture, please be advised about this change in their schedule next year. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Leung 650-550-7308, sleung@jeffersonunion.net.

Honoring History and Humanity: The AIDS Memorial Quilt at Oceana

Presented by the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA)

During this past week, Oceana High School had the extraordinary privilege of hosting two sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. This powerful and historic work of art was first created in 1987 as a way to honor the lives lost to the AIDS epidemic, to raise awareness, and to fight the stigma surrounding the disease. Today, it remains one of the largest ongoing community art projects in the world, embodying love, remembrance, and the enduring fight for justice and compassion.

During Flextime throughout the week, all students had the opportunity to view the quilt sections in person, learn about its profound history through short videos, and hear a presentation from Oceana’s own Gay-Straight Alliance. This is a rare and meaningful opportunity to connect with a living piece of history — one that calls on us to remember the past while continuing to build a more inclusive and empathetic future.

Senior Awards Night was a huge success! Senior Awards Night is a special evening where we celebrate individual students for their work this school year and every year of their high school education.

Due to our generous community, we were able to give thirty five thousand dollars to Oceana graduates! In addition, we celebrated seniors for high honors, community service hours, meritorious for Senior Exhibition and State Seals. Congrats to our seniors!

It's almost time for our graduation ceremony!

Event Date(s): May 29, 2025

Purchase an optional AdvancePay credit before the ceremony. This gives you free shipping on your order of $35+ after the event. PRE-ORDER NOW

Last school year, we were able to stream our graduation which was a huge success. We are happy to announce that we will be stream the Class of 2025's graduation!

We will share the link in SharkBytes and through an email to our seniors as soon as we have the link available.

Graduation day is fast approaching! Please review this letter to the graduating seniors and their families from Principal Torres. If you have any questions, please reach out to Principal Torres. We are excited to celebrate your graduation!

On Tuesday, May 13th there will be a Community Service Fair during lunch in the courtyard, where you can come learn about various summer volunteer opportunities.

Friday, May 16th- ALL SENIORS must turn in the required amount of community service hours (76 hours) to Laurie in room 209 (or ask office staff to put form in her box) by 3 pm. Do not forget to make a copy of your hours.

All other students should turn in community service hours from this year to Laurie by the end of the year.

Last school year, Oceana established a new tradition that we hope better reflects our student population and increases the general enjoyment of the graduation ceremony. In our opening, we would like to invite a senior class poet or singer to help celebrate the achievements of the class of 2025. If you are interested in being considered, please fill out this form.

The Senior Class would like your support! We would like to create a memorable Senior Class trip to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. The estimated cost for transportation, food, and any additional expenses is around $70 per student. Please consider to donating to the wonderful Class of 2025!

👉 Donate here! 👈

Linked is an opportunity to spend the day assisting a Zoo Camp, playing with the campers, helping to assist with activities, making crafts, and exploring the Zoo.

Daly City Youth Health Center wellness interns will be hosting a group for seniors and juniors on Wednesdays after school. The group will focus on post high school planning and students will learn DBT skills and other skills to manage anxiety and life stressors. The group will be capped at 12 students and students who attend prior sessions will have first dibs in the group.

Students, especially seniors who may be in need of community service hours, check out this website with multiple soup kitchens in SF. This is a great resource for completing your community service requirement:

https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/ca-san_francisco

The Excelsior Community Food Pantry distributes fresh groceries to families each week and students can volunteer!

We encourage all students to review the attached flyer and take advantage of these resources. Mental health is an important aspect of your overall well-being, and we are here to support you every step of the way.

The JUHSD Wellness Page also has many additional support resources.

Wellness Counselor and School Social Worker can provide support with short-term mental health, stress management/mindfulness, grief/loss, anxiety/depression, health appointments, crisis, referrals to community resources/outside counseling, and more! No question or concern is too small!

Click here for the request form!

Alyssa Owyang (she/her), aowyang@jeffersonunion.net, School Counselor, is on campus on Monday, Wednesday & Thursday supporting the 12th grades

Mattias Johansson (he/him), mjohansson@jeffersonunion.net, School Counselor is on campus Monday - Friday supporting 9th-11th graders

Jeannette Herbert (she/her), jherbert@jeffersonunion.net, Wellness Counselor is on campus Monday - Friday

Liberty Cajayon (she/they/siya), lcajayon@jeffersonunion.net, Wellness Counselor II/School Social Worker is on campus Monday - Friday

Website: https://www.juhsd.net/ohs
Location: 401 Paloma Avenue, Pacifica, CA, USA
Phone: 650-550-7300