John F. Kennedy High School Home

On Saturday, April 6, Kennedy choir students practiced for their upcoming concert with the Master Chorale on May 3, 2019 at Walt Disney Concert Hall under the direction of Grant Gershon and guest conductor famous composer Eric Whitacre. The Students did an excellent job! Thank you, Ms. Jones, for arranging such an incredible opportunity for our students!

On April 5, a trauma team from Providence Holy Cross hospital trained 9th grade medical magnet students in the basics of bleeding control. The trauma team included the trauma program coordinator, trauma nurse practitioner and trauma surgeon. Students attended a presentation and participated in hands-on wound treatment workshops using model limbs with lacerations and punctures, gauze and tourniquets. Students received certificates of completion for the bleeding control basics course and a booklet on blood control basics for reference.

On Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31, Kenney’s Chamber Orchestra, under the leadership of our Music Director, Wilber Ibarra, held their annual Spring Tour in San Diego. They performed at San Ysidro High School as part of the World Strides Heritage Music Festivals held in various cities throughout nation and received a Silver rating, based on their musical performance. As part of the Spring Tour, orchestra students spent 2 days at Sea World and visited various sites in Old Town San Diego.

Kennedy High School will have a community meeting to discuss establishing new Magnet Programs. We are exploring the possibility of offering additional College/Career Magnet programs that would be of interest to our community. The meeting will be Monday, April 22, 2019 at 8:30am in the Parent Center. La preparatoria Kennedy tendrá una reunión para discutir el establecimiento de nuevos programas Magnet. Estamos explorando la posibilidad de ofrecer programas adicionales dentro de nuestro programa Magnet que podría ser del interés de nuestra comunidad. La reunión será el lunes 22 de abril del 2019 a las 8:30am en el Centro de Padres.

On Wednesday, April 3, Ms. Calixto’s Alternate Curriculum class went on their first major field trip of 2019 to the California Science Center. The class was able to view the Space Shuttle Endeavor, the main feature at the IMAX Theater “Superpower Dogs”, the Giant Aquarium, and finally they had lunch at the Trimana Grill. The students had a great time and wished they could have stayed longer!

On Wednesday, April 3, Matthew Thompson, Consultant Chief of Staff for Amgen’s Final Product Technologies (FPT) Core, spoke with our freshmen and sophomores about careers in healthcare beyond the traditional medical field. He focused primarily on biotechnology/research careers. Mr. Thompson is also an Expert Life Science Management consultant and founder and CEO of Thompson Global Consulting LLC. He brings a longstanding history of leading consulting experience to Life Science companies across the globe.

On Friday, March 29, Canon USA provided a 3 hour hands-on workshop on recently purchased 4 Canon C100 cinema cameras. This work-based learning environment was run by Peter Marr and Tony Tran from Canon. Senior filmmakers were provided instruction on the menus, setup, and performance of the cameras that are currently used by Netflix, NFL Films, and various other professional productions. They even offered to host the Senior Thesis Premiers, a capstone project production for seniors in the Filmmaking strand of the Architecture/Digital Design/Filmmaking Magnet.

The yearbook staff has been working hard on the yearbook since the beginning of the school year, making sure to preserve as many memories of the 2018-2019 school year as possible. They just submitted the final design to Walsworth company and are now waiting for the books to be produced! Make sure to order your 2018-2019 yearbook for $110 today at the Student Store after school, in A201 during lunch, or online anytime. Yearbook makes a great graduation gift!

The Spanish Club will be hosting Banda Night featuring Banda La Pegadora on Friday, April 5 in the Big Gym from 7-11pm. Tickets are $12 presale at the quad and $15 at the door. Food and drinks will be sold at the dance. The $6 combo includes: 2 tacos, rice & beans, and a drink (soda or water). Food combo is NOT included in the entrance fee. Please see flyer for more information. Proceeds from this event will be used to sponsor the 1st Spanish Club scholarship for a graduating Kennedy senior.

For the first time, LAUSD administered free SAT college admissions exams to nearly 30,000 high school juniors, allowing them to take an important first step on the path to a college career. The rigorous reading, writing, math and essay test was administered on Wednesday, March 27 to 497 Kennedy juniors in the Big and Small Gyms. The SAT School Day affirms the District’s commitment to ensuring that students are prepared for college and the workforce when they graduate. Most four-year universities accept the SAT as part of a student’s application packet to help gauge their readiness to tackle college-level material. Paying for all the SAT fees and allowing juniors to take the exams during the school day at their regular school helps to eliminate barriers that have traditionally made it difficult for some students to take the test. The District will continue to offer the PSAT, a practice test for the SAT assessment, to all high school sophomores at no cost. Our LAUSD Board Member, Scott Schmerelson, commented, “I salute this effort to encourage our students to take advantage of all opportunities to ready themselves for college, university and other post-high school experiences.” Kennedy Associate Student Body (ASB) Vice President, Katherine Haro, said that she “Thought that the SAT testing went smoothly.” She went on to say that “We (juniors) need to take better advantage of the SAT preparation opportunities on campus.