e The Epitaph
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Volume 62, Issue 1
Homestead High School 21370 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014
October 3, 2024
New administration joins community Administration shares hopes, goals for upcoming school year
Parth Dhaulakhandi, Evelyn Wang and Veronica Zhao
“My second goal is to build a positive campus culture where staff love coming to work every day. [I hope] students are excited to come to HHS and feel safe [in a] community they feel proud of,” Nurnberg said. “There’s so much that’s great here, so [I want students to feel] that [they’re] connected to the school and to have a positive experience here.”
Assistant principal Nico Flores: Flores said he served in various roles across FUHSD, specifically at FHS and MVHS, fter the retirement of former associbefore joining the HHS administration team. ate superintendent Tom Avvakumovits in early July, FUHSD underwent Flores said he obtained the necessary background for his current position, which entails a long line of administrative changes, resulting in three new appointments at HHS: managing athletics and activities, from previous experiences as a PE teacher, dean and principal Denae Nurnberg, assistant prinassistant principal. cipal Nico Flores and dean Rahul Sharma, “I’m leaning a lot on the leadership in athNurnberg said. letics I’ve had in my past, specifically at MVHS,” Principal Denae Flores said. “I have a good Nurnberg: “[My goal] is to build a posunderstanding of what’s Stepping into her happening, so I can annew role, Nurnberg itive campus culture where ticipate certain times of said she has two staff love coming to work the year when it’s going main goals she plans every day, and students are to start to ramp up, like to incorporate over excited to come to HHS and homecoming [or] when the course of the seasons transition.” year: collaboration feel safe.” Because these speand school spirit. —Principal Denae cific administrative Putting an emNurnberg responsibilities are phasis on a robust new to him, Flores collaborative process said he wants to fobetween teachers, especially for those in cus on obtaining knowledge and supthe same department, is critical for stuport from his colleagues. dent success, Nurnberg said. Specifically, “I’m relying on the mistakes I’ve incorporating ways for staff to connect made in the past in regards to movoutside of the classroom will foster collabing from one school to another oration, Nurnberg said. and coming in with the idea “[It’s important to bring] renewed energy and life back into [collaborating] and of [keeping my] eyes and supporting our [department leads]. That’s ears wide open and my mouth shut,” Flores said. very adult-focused work that will hopefully “There are certain times pay dividends in the classroom over time,” when I need to provide Nurnberg said. “The idea is that [if ] you input based on my exhave world literature with one teacher and [a different student has] world literature perience, but [first] I with another teacher, the skill set you’re want to just sit back and learn all that I learning across the classes should be the possibly can.” same.” Flores said he The goal is for expectations surroundfeels more coming grading and homework, as well as the knowledge obtained by students by the fortable involvend of the year to be aligned across the ing himself with his new responsame course, regardless of who is teaching sibilities, as previit, Nurnberg said. ous experience has Another area Nurnberg aims to foshown him the layer cus on is building school spirit to foster a sense of community and belonging for of grace that comes with both students and staff members, she said. being new to a role.
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“I don’t know what I don’t know, so asking for help [is] critical,” Flores said. “Having 15 years of experience in the same school district has prepared me to have [the] inner confidence to do that.” Dean Rahul Sharma: Before joining the HHS administration team, Sharma said he served as a high school principal at San Jose Conservation Corps Charter School for six years. Having transitioned from a school of 200 students, Sharma said he is working to adapt to the new, larger student body size of a public high school. Stepping into his new role, Sharma said he aims to familiarize himself with the student body to ensure they receive the guidance they deserve. “My biggest [goal] is getting to know the students first and seeing how I can support them,” Sharma said. “For seniors specifically, letters of recommendation are coming up, so I want to make sure that process goes smoothly.” Sharma also said he intends to review
current policies to make sure they are equitable for all students. Assessing regulations comes down to evaluating what has worked in previous years and determining whether it is fair for every student, Sharma said. When the dean position became available, Sharma said he was drawn to it by the opportunity to interact closely with a student body. “When I was growing up, I didn’t see teachers or an admin team that looked like me,” Sharma said. “I wanted to work in education because I want to be in a space where I can support all students, whether its students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners or whoever they may be. I want to provide equity for young people and be a voice for students who may have been failed by the education system.”
Rahul Sharma
Nico Flores
Denae Nurnberg
Dean
Assistant principal
Principal
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Photo by Veronica Zhao
Photo by Parth Dhaulakhandi
Photo by Evelyn Wang
Shift in role causes ASB changes
Digital AP testing requires reworks
Leadership teacher, ASB students reflect on adjustment
Test format changes necessitates action among teachers, admin
Annie Guo, Vivian Kim and Alan Zhang After Hector Almendarez assumed the role of the new leadership teacher, ASB made several changes to the class for the current school year, ASB president, senior Sophie Park said. The changes include a system of discussion open to the school
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Vote based on policy, not popularity Voters must consider presidential agendas, not personalities when casting ballots
community and a deeper focus on holistic wellness, Almendarez said. Almendarez said one of his main goals is to make ASB’s discussions available to the entire HHS community. “A big thing I really want to promote for the year is that it is not just ASB, it’s anybody who is welcome to come and present an issue that they would like us to address, whether it is club-related or activities-related,” Almendarez said. The main purpose behind student council meetings is to improve communication between ASB and clubs, Almendarez said.
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See Leadership changes, Page 2
Nailing art into business Student nail artists find passion, difficulties in running small businesses
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Parth Dhaulakhandi, Henry Hu and Vivian Kim FUHSD is making changes to district infrastructure and AP class curriculums as a result of College Board implementing digital AP testing for a majority of exams, principal Denae Nurnberg said. To support the transition, Nurnberg said FUHSD
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ amuses audiences with goofs ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ barely misses the mark with its remake
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is planning major changes to the infrastructure of the district’s WiFi. “In terms of how to shift HHS [to online testing], we have, as a district, over the last couple of years been preparing for this change,” Nurnberg said. “We do have some limitations to [the] bandwidth [of ] WiFi.” Assistant principal Paula Mockler said she set up a WiFi infrastructure test, which students participated in, allowing the district to analyze WiFi bandwidth and internet speed. The wireless access ports at two crucial points on campus were tested to see if the network was adequate for AP testing needs, Mockler said.
See Digital APs, Page 3
Turf construction affects fall sports Sports, student life restricted to smaller fields, home games are reduced for some
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