School – CATS Central

Students react to the wildfires

By Rosemary N. Daniel A. is an 11th grader at CATS. How did you feel when you first heard about the Los Angeles wildfire ? I felt nervous that the fires would spread further into LA. In what ways did the fires affect your daily life or routine ? The fires made it uncomfortable to breathe but it felt nice to stay home and relax. What did you learn about the causes and consequences of wildfires from this experience ?I learned that they cause massive amounts of damage and ruin the environment. How did your school

February 3, 2025

LA wildfires: Mr. Martinez reflects on the impact on after school activities like SRLA

By Kimberly B. Mr. Martinez is 9th grade English teacher, Leadership teacher, and a coach for Diego Rivera’s SRLA team. During this time of the wildfires, what were your initial thoughts when coming to school during the bad air quality? Oh man, I hated it. I was like, I don’t know why we’re coming to school. Something similar happened when I was in high school, when there was fires, and you could literally see the ash come down and I remember breathing that in and having coughs, and it sucked. I was like, I don’t know

February 3, 2025

LA wildfires: Mr. Nueva on the impact of toxic emissions

by Emmanuel O. Mr. Nueva is the Chemistry teacher for CATS. Where were you when you found out about the fire? I was at home. I’m pretty sure what I was doing. I was on Reddit and I saw a post about all the fires. Were you affected by the fire or any of your family members? I personally was not affected. I live kinda far away from here, I’m a little bit closer to the Altadena fire the one by Pasadena. I was a little closer to that but I was thankfully not affected by

February 3, 2025

School

How teachers empower students with disabilities

By Gehenna N. Through innovative programs and dedicated staff, CATS teachers ensure that every student receives the support they need to thrive academically and personally. Two key figures in this initiative are Ms. Ortiz, an English and special education teacher, and Ms. Beltran, the alternative curriculum teacher, who shared their insights on the school’s efforts to support students with disabilities. Ms. Ortiz is passionate about making educational material accessible and understandable for all students. “I make sure to try to make the material as easy to understand as possible, providing different ways for the materials to

June 3, 2024

Sophomore spotlight: Emonie’s career goals

By Edward R. Emonie B. is a sophomore at CATS with big dreams. She wants to go to college, do engineering, and get her diploma. After college Emonie has her mind set on the career path she wants to go down. Emonie has two picks for colleges she wants to attend: USC for basketball and Clark Atlanta University for its community vibe. “Clark is an HBCU, and I would love to be around more people that are like me,” she says. As for USC, she dreams of playing basketball professionally. “USC has a great basketball team, I

June 3, 2024

Junior spotlight: Jocelyn the nail artist

By Rene H. If you ask 11th grader Jocelyn what her favorite hobby is she would say it was her nail business because that’s what she has a passion for doing. Her nail business is what she did to keep herself entertained during quarantine. She also said “I always had a passion for nails and being creative” so this would also distract her from other things. Her passion for nails came from seeing other nail techs and her creativity because she believed she was able to make many designs with what she thought would look pretty.

June 3, 2024

Profile: Mr. Mandujano’s love for math

By Joseph C. From a young age, Albert Mandujano found his love for math early on and now, as a math coach, he shares the power and knowledge of this complex subject with his community. “I would say that math explains almost everything that happens in the world,” he said. While math for many is their least favorite subject in school, Mandujano found his love for math around middle school when working at his grandma’s mini market. While working at his grandma’s mini market, he would do lots of different tasks such as stocking items, being

June 3, 2024

Profile: Ms. Haagen’s past as a gourmet chef

By Walter C. When Kimberly Haagen was younger, she proved to be quite mischievous towards her parents which got her grounded pretty often. “Um, I think when I was about 12, I was still getting grounded. Especially for kicking the ball in the house,” she said. A rule in her house for whenever someone was grounded, they had to take care of preparing the food for three days minimum. “I was grounded a lot. So I became great at cooking,” she said. As her skills improved, she had an incredible idea, “So about 12 I started

June 3, 2024

Senior spotlight: Christopher the barber

By Hugo M. Like many seniors his age, Christopher C. is currently working to achieve his aspiration: becoming a barber. Chris said, “I want to become a barber to make a living off of it, and because I have friends who are barbers who have also inspired me to become one.” For instance, currently, Chris is working toward his goal by advertising around the school, putting up multiple flyers, and he already has had several clients. “I’ve had a bunch of clients. I’ve probably had like about 20?, but, um, but it’s a good experience like

June 3, 2024

School

March Madness: 10th graders dominate the court

By Axel G. CATS students and teachers/staff competed in the annual March Madness basketball tournament that took place from April 3rd to April 5th. Though the current juniors had won the tournament over the last two years, this year, the 10th grade team took the prize. The score in the teacher/staff and sophomores game was 25 -14. Mr. Mandujano, CATS testing coordinator/Math Coach, participated in the basketball tournament because he believes that it builds community and it’s fun. Photos by Axel G. He added that we need more space and time for things like this. “We

May 29, 2024

Category: School