Courtney Yu
Senior Class President Courtney Yu does it all, from coordinating events for the Class of 2022 to planning all the fun activities seniors enjoyed during Homecoming and spirit weeks. Within her position, Yu organized fundraisers, senior events, and the senior parade, as well as monitoring purchases for the senior class.
“Being able to see my planning and everyone’s hard work in a tangible sense was extremely fulfilling.” stated Yu. “The experience reinforced our bonds and helped me understand that I always have a second family to rely on and even scream songs with on the dance floor! From this, I gained new friendships and a newfound appreciation for all the hard work that goes into serving our student body.”
Katie Dang
Sophomore class vice president Katie Dang initially joined ASB to become more involved in high school activities. After becoming one of the leaders of class council, Dang took on a much larger role in organizing parts of school events.
“Me and the lovely Sophomore President, Paris, tend to split the workload,” continued Dang, “but I do make the posts for our Instagram pages and work with Paris to organize fundraisers and our class council meetings. We also planned [the Sadie Hawkins Dance] this year!”
Spending last year online, Dang prefers being able to bring ideas to life over being online after coming back to campus for her second year in ASB. The familial relationships in ASB helped lessen her burden.
“ASB does get stressful, but we’re never alone,” stated Dang. “We all lean on each other for help and advice.”
Henry Wang
ASB Vice President Henry Wang, senior, first joined the organization during his sophomore year to be more involved around campus. Wang’s day usually consists of checking up on the different offices serving within ASB, lending a helping hand to the ASB President, and reading bulletin announcements.
Despite the busy schedule, he loves the student body and thoroughly enjoys what he does.
“I love the [feeling of satisfaction] after seeing students enjoy themselves at a rally or dance,” smiled Wang.
Spending time with other members and forming a bond with them while working on posters late after school also makes his time in ASB more enjoyable.
Through his journey as vice president, Wang learned to improve upon his leadership skills and is happy to have ASB saved as a core high school memory.
Reyan Nguy
Junior Class Vice President Reyan Nguy played a fundamental role in school wide events during this school year. Nguy was responsible for boba fundraisers at lunch, which generated long lines that stretched the entirety of the quad. The fundraisers helped raise money for dances, especially Prom, which Nguy played a large role in planning.
“The support was really good for the [boba] fundraisers. It definitely helped make Prom such a special event.”
In addition to planning Prom, Nguy also helped host the Junior Class Council meetings. These meetings help students stay informed about current school events.
“The [class council] meetings are always fun,” Nguy stated. “I think it is really important for students to stay in the loop about decisions that will directly affect them.”
Leyna Truong
Serving as the ASB treasurer, senior Leyna Truong joined ASB as a way to step out of her comfort zone and make the most out of her high school experience.
“Getting to bond and work with all the amazing students in ASB is my favorite part,” Truong smiled. “I was inspired to join ASB after seeing how spirited and outgoing all the members were during my freshman and sophomore year.”
As her second year in ASB, Truong is familiar with her duties, being responsible for the financial requisitions requested by individuals, clubs, and organizations affiliated with Gabrielino High School. Her favorite part was helping with the dances.
“ASB put in so much effort, work, and patience to plan and execute the homecoming dance,” Truong fondly remembered. “It was satisfying to see how successful the outcome was.”
Jesus Gonzalez
After a year of fundraising, poster-making, and hosting the Last Chance Dance, freshman class president Jesus Gonzalez found the hard work fulfilling when events like the Homecoming Game were completed.
“I remember feeling very, very happy, “ Gonzalez sighed. “When I saw the decorations and how many people actually came […] it didn’t matter if we lost the game, just the fact that we all worked together to have a big event like that, it felt amazing.”
As an ASB novice and a new student to the district, the adjustment to the position was gradual.
“You get used to it, things will get easier,” reflected Gonzalez. “Because at first I didn’t understand what most of my job was, but now I have a pretty clear idea of what it is and how to do it.”
Paris Ngeam
“I can definitely say I have paved the way for more sophomore class presidents,” stated Paris Ngeam.
The hardworking sophomore class president learned the philosophy of creating memorable experiences during one’s high school years from her ASB upperclassmen. During this school year, Ngeam has hosted class council meetings, created fundraisers to benefit the class of 2024, worked on bonding events for the sophomores, planning the Sadies dance, and the winter rally.
Ngeam’s balance between academics, ASB, and being an athlete, “was a real struggle trying to manage my time…but soon I learned that having communication with your teachers really helps,” Ngeam specified.
Her advice to everybody is, “to reach out even when it is hard to…[there] will always [be help].”
Mia Von Haam
During her first year of ASB, Mia Von Haam took a big jump by being elected for the 2021-2022 Senior Class Vice President.
The role came with many responsibilities, including planning the senior events. During the beginning of the year, von Haam took part in working on Homecoming and all of the events during this semester that took place. Now, towards the end of the year, they worked on the events surrounding Graduation, helping to honor their class.
“I really like seeing the behind the scenes aspect of it,” stated von Haam. “I wasn’t that involved in my previous years and I remember seeing things happen, but now I get to see how those things actually happen.”
Joseph Aguilar
Senior Joseph Aguilar’s role in ASB goes beyond just Gabrielino. He is the district representative, meaning that he must attend every district board meeting and relay reports from four different schools, giving him inside knowledge on how the district functions.
“I enjoy being able to be informed about what’s going on in the community and being able to relay all that information back to staff, parents, and students,” said Aguilar.
Aguilar is also a member of the Office of Athletics, which involves getting rosters for the sports, creating posters for varsity players, planning season rallies, and attending weekly meetings.
“[Being in ASB] is definitely worth it in the sense that you get to see others enjoy the events you put on,” stated Aguilar.
Theresa Huynh
As president of ASB, there is no limit to the duties senior Theresa Huynh has to fulfill from leading business meetings every week, overseeing all of the offices in ASB, reading out the bulletin every morning, and coming back to campus after a year of online school has not made things any easier for Huynh.
“I feel like everyone has gotten a little bit more introverted, like we’re not as spirited as before […] and trying to bring back that spirit has been pretty hard,” Huynh expressed.
ASB has worked hard to host a variety of events for students to participate and learn traditions. They have also improved communication with students, branching out to social media platforms and utilizing the display cases on campus.
Trinh Huynh
Junior Class President, Trinh Huynh is tasked with numerous responsibilities but still strives to design amusing activities for students. Due to several factors, planning these activities can become challenging. “A lot of our time management and organizing our things [was difficult], because there was a lot going on besides our junior class council duties and ASB duties,” Huynh explained. “We [also] had the whole school situation, which are restrictions due to covid.” The council had to follow school rules and COVID-19 regulations while creating fun activities that students can enjoy. According to Huynh, this made the process of planning tough. Despite the difficulties, Huynh treasured class bonding activities. “When we would have class bondings, it was just a [fun time] because so many people would attend and everyone would have fun together,” stated Huynh.
Katherine Chen
As the ASB secretary, junior Katherine Chen organizes and makes time for meetings involving the ASB. ASB holds meetings every tuesday, and Chen is responsible for keeping track of their meeting minutes.
This year, she has aimed to exceed the standards of her role. With a love for organization and planning, this job was the perfect fit for Chen.
“I’d say I’ve done a pretty good job,” laughed Chen.
Despite surpassing these standards, she still feels she could have done better if she was given the chance to restart the year.
“I like the environment the most,” Chen stated. “It’s really fun hanging out, meeting new people, and you know; the little therapeutic painting sessions we needed.”
Winnie Yang
As ASB Historian, junior Winnie Yang keeps detailed track records of all the ASB events and activities. This is her first year in ASB, and she ran for the historian position because she wanted to explore her creativity through scrapbooking and planning the bulletin boards around campus.
The digital scrapbook is a guide and a source of inspiration for Gabrielino ASB members in the future.
“It lets future ASB members look back and get an idea of what ASB is about, like what we do and what kind of events that we have throughout the school year,” Yang stated.
Yang’s favorite part of ASB is being able to update and select a theme for the display case every month.