Shark Bytes

Dear Students and Families,

I hope this message finds you well. As with any presidential election, the results can evoke a wide range of emotions, reflecting the diversity of perspectives within our community. During these times, I’d like to remind everyone of one of Oceana's schoolwide outcomes: Respectful, responsible, and engaged community members. We need to be committed to treating one another with kindness, recognizing that we are “an interconnected learning community that honors the identities of all individuals.” By embracing diverse viewpoints with respect, we can continue to foster a supportive and inclusive environment.

Wishing you all a peaceful and restful long weekend.

Take care,

Maritza Torres

Oceana will be closed on Monday, November 11, in honor of Veterans Day. We welcome students back on Tuesday November 12th.

Oceana's culinary classes are having a fundraiser selling various flavors of delicious student-made pies! The flavors and prices are listed on the attached flyer. Scan the QR code or click here to purchase pies and donate to the culinary classes!

OSPTO invites Parents/Guardians/Families to an adult social! Please come and socialize during this fun event.

Date: Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00pm

Location: Table Wine, 17101 Francisco Blvd, Pacifica

Tickets: $50 pre-pay via Zelle or $60 at the door

We hope to see you there!

The Oceana High School community would like to invite you to participate as a guest speaker for our annual Career Day. This event will be held on Friday, January 31st, in person with a luncheon for speakers. Presentations are likely to begin at 1pm.

We are thrilled to hold this event each year. We could not provide this exciting opportunity to our students without the participation from working professionals, such as you. Please join us in educating our students about your career. If you are available, please complete the google interest form by Friday, November 15, 2024.

https://forms.gle/u3ewHgQK9JpnYWhd9

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact mjohansson@jeffersonunion.net or mtorres@jeffersonunion.net. We will follow up with a more detailed letter if you are able to attend as one of our guest speakers. Thank you for your time and consideration in helping to make a difference in our students’ career options and life. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

On October 18th, students received access to the interim course packet. The packet has information on the interims being offered for the Spring semester. If you are interested to learn more about interim, please visit our website. The interim course sign up sheet was due this past Wednesday, November 6.

Interim Placement Process: Students read the description of each interim course and rank their courses they’re most interested in. Course sign up sheets turned in on time will be randomly sorted by grade level. After randomly sorted, Seniors will be placed into interims then Juniors, sophomores, freshmen and finally any late interim course sign up sheets. For highly impacted interim courses, priority will be given to students who have never been enrolled in that course.

After students are placed in interim, the placements are final and cannot change. You and your student will be able to see their final interim placement Friday December 6 on Synergy and in Advisory.

Advice to Sophomores and Freshmen: Be sure to have one of your top five choices be an on campus interim.

We are excited to introduce the Cyber Sharks, Oceana High School's first-ever robotics team. Our goal is to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), but we need your help to make it happen!

Join us in making history at Oceana High School by donating today and helping the Cyber Sharks swim to victory in our first season!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-cyber-sharks-thrive-in-inaugural-robotics-competition?lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Hey parents and rock band enthusiasts! Our students are rocking out every Thursday afternoon, and it’s been a blast—so much creativity, so much energy, and yes, a lot of loud noise! But we’ve run into a bit of a dilemma: we’ve got more eager musicians than we do instruments and amps. Imagine trying to form a band with three guitars and only one amp—it’s like trying to throw a party with one slice of pizza! We need your help to make sure everyone can join the fun and strut their musical stuff.

Donating to our Oceana High School Rock Band account will help us get the extra gear we need now, but we’ll also need funds later for things like guitar and bass strings, synthesizers, gear maintenance, and the cases to keep everything safe. Not to mention, we’ll need transportation to gigs and recording studios when our rock stars are ready to hit the road! Your support will keep our band running smoothly, so we can focus on making awesome music. We’d really appreciate any donation you can make to help our young musicians thrive! Thank you!

https://oceana.myschoolcentral.com/Index.aspx#/1282/product/805

This year's yearbook is currently on sale online at Yearbook Forever. The price will be slightly increasing throughout the year, starting in November, so purchase your yearbook now for the best deal!

The Class of 2025's fundraiser is now open for donations! We are fundraising so that we have the resources necessary to provide you with the best events, merch, senior trip, and more. Additionally, if we reach our fundraising goal for sweatshirts, the price for senior sweatshirts will be REDUCED! ($45 —> $35)!

Seniors, please register for the fundraiser using this link and send it to family & friends. Any contributions will be greatly appreciated!

Prestige Portraits will be at Oceana for senior portraits on November 18th and November 19th from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Prestige Portraits can only photograph up to 80 students in November so the remainder of seniors will be photographed on the second round on January 15th. These are the only dates that Prestige Portraits will be at Oceana.

Instructions on how to schedule/cancel/change senior appointments online:

• Go to: https://prestigeportraits.com
• Enter your 8-digit appointment code then select "Go".
• If you do not have a code, enter the city and state of the school, then select your school. After you select your school, enter your first and last name then click "Search".
• You will then see the 8-digit appointment code. Enter the 8-digit code in the appropriate box then click “Go”.
• From there, the students can select the date and time of their appointment. Seniors can also contact Prestige directly at byarea@lifetouch.com or call 1-877-825-7922 (Mon-Friday 9am-4pm) for any questions.

Ms. Owyang visited all humanities 12 classes to provide a lesson on financial aid. See the slides from the lesson here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1G_TLIVRrMcLXMV3puj328KjvaTjz6OBqlAzYQUCWNeY/edit?usp=sharing

Financial aid applications open on December 1st and the priority deadline is March 2nd! There will be a Cash4College event for all senior families on Wednesday, February 12th from 6-8pm in the library. Sign up and more information to come in the spring semester!

Need support on college applications? Here is a great place to start!

Check out these workshops if you want info/support with Skyline College!

Questions? Email Ms. Owyang at aowyang@jeffersonunion.net

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

We are excited to announce our Self Care group for students starting on 11/12/24 hosted by Wellness Counseling Interns. It will be a group run during flextime meant to equip students with coping skills for anxiety. This group will also include fun activities for self care!

Attached is a slideshow containing all kinds of information you might need to know about Oceana! It discusses graduation requirements, senior exhibition, interim, and more. Additionally, the slideshow has links to digital resources you might find helpful, such as college application guides, SATs, financial aid support, and more.

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