Loara Theatre Arts / MACY Awards

Fall Production of Antigone December 2012 Poster

Introduction: 

Loara Theatre Arts has a long tradition of performances, whether it's through choir or as a program itself Loara has always worked hard to make these performances to remember.  This year is no exception.  Following a successful run of Sophocles' Antigone

With Loara doing "Godspell" we were sure to raise eyebrows but our students took the song "We Beesech Thee" and truly made it their own, taking notice of the MACY's Awards program.

Promo Poster of Godspell May 2013

"Godspell"

"Godspell" is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival which played on Broadway from October 13, 2011 to June 24, 2012. Severalcast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, "Day by Day" from the original cast album, reached #13 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the summer of 1972.

The structure of the musical is that of a series of parables, based on the Gospel of Matthew (though three of the parables featured are recorded only in the Gospel of Luke). These are then interspersed with a variety of modern music set primarily to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ treated briefly near the end of the performance. It started as a college project performed by students at Carnegie Mellon University and moved toLa MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in Greenwich Village. It was then re-scored for an off-Broadway production which became a long-running success. A junior one-act version with some songs removed has also been made under the title "Godspell Junior."
With all this, Loara took the musical to award winning fame.  The following is an email sent to the staff from the Theatre Arts teacher in regards to their performance on May 25, 2013 at Segerstrom Stage One:

"We did it!!!  We competed for our first time in the MACY's going against other Orange County Theatre programs such at Mission Viejo, Fullerton and OCHSA-which in case you don't know are considered a few of the best theatre schools in the OC. We were asked to perform at the MACY awards ceremony on the Segerstrom stage-one of only 20 schools to perform out of the 45 schools that competed. We also had Nick Fortinberry nominated for actor of the year.

Not only did Loara have an amazing performance but we brought home 4 achievement medals by Codey Foltz, Ian Villaescusa, Cynthia Espinoza and Laura Robbins.

4 outstanding achievement trophies by Matt Argame, Briana Frias, John Rushman and Desiree Nguyen.

2 highest achievement trophies by Nick Fortinberry and Charishma Marquez.

1 MACY scholarship ($500) awarded to Desiree Nguyen who will be attending UCI in the fall majoring in Theatre!

And THE Heart and Soul Award-awarded to the production with wonderful characters and voices with large heart and soul!-yep that's us!!!

Yep!  We received a production award our first year!  Pretty darn awesomely amazingly terrific if you ask me!

I must say this is one of the most memorable years I have had teaching Theatre and I owe it all to the amazingly talented, dedicated and hard-working students and their families, friends and teachers that support them!

Now I'm going to truly enjoy the rest of my weekend!  Congrats Loara for having such amazing kids!

Vanessa Montgomery"

A big congrats to cast and crew for an amazing run.  Below is the program for this award winning show.  Try to catch our shows next year.

Fall Production 2013 /December 5-7, 2013

Talent Showcase 2014 / February 21, 2014 

Spring Production 2014 / May 8-10, 2014

Girls Volleyball / Semi-finals CIF

Although our Girls Volleyball team didn't bring home a CIF title, their accomplishments are far reaching.  This is how Maxpreps sports has them listed:

Mascot: Saxons Team: Varsity 12-13 

Colors: Scarlet, Vegas Gold, White

Coach:Allison Somers 

Address:1765 W Cerritos Ave, Anaheim, CA 92804

Overall:27-1-1 

League: 10-0-0 

National Rank:2625

State (CA) Rank: 239

Their ranking just keeps grows and their individual stats are amazing.  They dominated their opponents throughout the season as you can see by stats by match.  So when they didn't pull off a win in the Semi Finals, this viewer didn't walk away with his head hung low, he walked away knowing these girls made Saxon History.  They are the best we've seen (so far) and their accomplishments are something that should be written about in a blog.

Going into the Semi Finals this is what the OC Register wrote about the game to come:

No. 2 Hemet (Mountain Pass League champ, 21-5) at No. 3 Loara (Golden West League champ, 27-0-1)

Outlook: The Saxons are in the midst of a magical run, entering the semifinals undefeated. Loara swept Connelly in the quarterfinals, 25-17, 25-21, 25-23. After a first-round bye, Loara defeated Big Bear in four and swept Connelly. The Saxons have only dropped eight sets all season. Hemet won the 4A title last season. The Bulldogs have won their last six matches, including a three-set sweep over Twentynine Palms and a four-set victory over Colony of Ontario.

Thank you ladies for a magical season, it's been a great ride.

Band Spectacular

 taken from the program November 7, 2012

A Bit of History

Excellence in music in the district began in the early 1920's when Joshua Williams came to Anaheim High School.  During the 30 years at that school he gave free lessons to his high school students as to make a complete orchestra, then he encouraged the elementary schools to develop music programs.  The next important champion in Anaheim was William (Bill) Cook, who came to Anaheim High School while he was still a senior at Redlands College.  With the retirement of Williams in 1950, Bill Cook spearheaded the development of music throughout the new schools that were being  built in the district.

Loara has been blessed with only 3 band directors in our 50 year history,

1. Rick Moreno
2. Bill Schroeder
3. Scott Domingues

The first Spectacular was held at La Palma Stadium in 1963.  The show moved to the newly opened Anaheim Stadium in 1967 and back to Glover Stadium in 1984.  During the enrollment high of the district, and prior to the high schools becoming four year institutions, the Spectacular drew crowds of over 25,000 and featured 26 AUHSD schools (17 junior high schools and 9 high schools).

The Band and Pageantry Spectacular was never intended to be a competition, but rather a "show." The basic rationale of the "show" was to show off the excellence of the Anaheim Union High School District music program and to help the progression of young musicians from the junior high school programs through the high school band programs.

The All District Junior High School Band is composed of 120 musicians represent the eight junior high schools in the Anaheim Union High School District.  The members are selected by their directors to join in this opportunity to introduce them to the high school band program.  The goals of this group are to promote high expectations, outstanding achievement, motivation, and involve junior high school students in the large scope of music education.

The All District High School Band is also chose by the band directors.  They chose an equal amount of students so the band is a overall representation of the best of the best when it comes to High School music.  Over the years some of the best musicians in the nation played in the all district band.

Since the early 90's Loara's ASB has agreed to attend each and every band spectacular and since then other ASB's have been seen there supporting their bands ... of course Loara High School is always the loudest.

Once a Saxon, Always a Saxon.

3rd National Title: Hot Rodders @ Loara

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) 

Auto Show 2012

Aileen Melendez, Josh Coman, Andrew Romero, Chris Shamtiz, Steven Brown, Coach Russ Baccerala
(not pictured alternate Robert Loera)

THE EVENT

The event itself resembles the tear down between rounds at a drag race. The engines are identically prepared small block Chevy's complete with all the goodies, Edelbrock air cleaners - carbs – aluminum manifolds - heads - water pumps and valve covers, MSD distributors - wires, K&N oil filters, Hedman ceramic headers, TD timing chain covers, Moroso oil pans, ARP head bolts, Fel-Pro/Speed Pro gaskets and components, Melling oil pumps and Royal Purple lubricants. As you can see, we have many companies already involved with this event that show case their products. We have numerous manufactures supporting this program that do not build engine products. These Manufactures show support by sponsoring teams at each event. Students must properly disassemble the engine down to just crank, cam, and block using hand tools only with proper detorque and disassembly procedure. The team then returns behind their work bench, and when approved by the judges, teams begin working to reassemble once again with correct assembly procedure and torque specs, all while being viewed by judges and spectators. Time added penalties are assessed for dropped components, improper disassembly/assembly, poor sportsmanship, etc. All procedural penalties are in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow rule book provided to the High Schools at the start of the school year. The team with the fastest time including penalty minutes wins.

HOT RODDERS OF TOMORROW NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

Las Vegas NV. - "Showdown at SEMA" is the title of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge National Championship at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. This year 13 High School Auto Tech teams competed Oct 29 through Nov. 1, 2012 in the engine teardown and rebuild contest in front of thousands of spectators at the entrance of the SEMA show.

Loara High School Wins Their Third Straight National Championship Title

Team MOTIVE GEAR - Loara High School from Anaheim CA. won the 4th Annual "Showdown at SEMA" their third straight, with the average time of 21:24 minutes. The top three teams were so competitive that they all ended up less than a minute apart! All thirteen teams competing this year did fantastically well with the 13th placed team average being only 33:46!

Event Winners and Wildcard Teams Compete 

The thirteen teams earned their way to the "Showdown at SEMA" national championship. Eight teams by winning their events straight out and five additional teams that had the next best qualifying times in the Nation were invited to compete.

Time Averaged Playoff Format 

During the normal event competitions through the year, all teams compete once. The best time wins the event and that team has the opportunity to compete at SEMA. But during the national championship "Showdown at SEMA" all the teams competed a total of 4 times during the SEMA show starting Monday. At the end of the fourth day each team's highest time was thrown out and the remaining three times were averaged.


The National Champion for 2012 - Team MOTIVE GEAR (Loara High School from Anaheim CA.) was determined the winner with the best average time of 21:24. Trophies and scholarships were given out on Friday morning at the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow award presentation.

Second Place - Team ENERGY SUSPENSION - Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Ctr., Choctaw, OK. - Average Time - 21:54

Third Place - Team MR. GASKET - East Ridge High School from Chattanooga, TN. - Average Time - 22:19

Fourth Place - Team AEROMOTIVE – Burton Center for Arts & Technology, Salem, VA.- Average Time - 24:46

Fifth Place - Team MAGNAFLOW - North Orange County ROP, Anaheim, CA. - Average Time - 25:35

Sixth Place - Team ROYAL PURPLE - Elkhart Area Career Center #1 - Average Time - 25:50

Seventh Place - Team ARP- Elkhart Area Career Center #2- Average Time - 25:53

Eighth Place - Team PROFORM - Peach County High School Fort Valley, GA.- Average Time - 26:14

Ninth Place - Team THERMO-TEC –Thomas County Central High School, Thomasville, GA.- Average Time - 27:40

Tenth Place - Team EDELBROCK - Fremd High School, Palatine, IL.- Average Time - 28:50

Eleventh Place - Team HEDMAN HEDDERS - Belvidere North High School, Belvidere, IL - Average Time - 31:04

Twelfth Place - Team MSD - Joliet Central High School, Joliet, IL.- Average Time - 32:31

Thirteenth Place - Team PAINLESS PERFORMANCE - Sequoyah High School, Soddy Daisy, TN.- Average Time - 33:46


1.2 MILLION DOLLARS Awarded to the participants in scholarship money

Three Auto Technological Colleges: 

Ohio Technical College (OTC), 

University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) and 

School of Automotive Machinists (SAM) 

are presenting all the High School students participating scholarship money.

Each College is awarding the following:

$10,000 to each first place team member,

$9,000 to each second place team member,

$8,000 to each third place team member,

$7,000 to each fourth place team member,

$6,000 to each fifth place team member and

$5,000 to each sixth thru thirteenth place team member.

50th Anniversary / Birthday Rally 11.1.12

On November 1, 2012 Loara High School celebrated their 50th year in existence.  Covered in an earlier blog, Loara Beginnings - 80's you'll remember the school opened on November 1, 1962.  We have been planning this day for quite some time but with the help of David Sporn (class of 1990) Chuck McCance (class of 1974), Susan Nicholas (class of 1965) and alumni teachers Gary and Jeanette Cleaveland we were able to pull this off in full Saxon fashion.  Of course the main players were in place, asb, the band, the choir, jrotc, the cheerleaders and the color guard ready to perform to put on a great show.  We also had help from the PTSA bringing in over 2000 cupcakes for our kids, our new Principal John Briquelet as our emcee, the Superintendent Elizabeth Novack as our guest speaker and several alumni, alumni teachers and staff along with board members and other district officials.  It was an afternoon to remember.

50th Anniversary Celebration

Other Loara Dignitaries were;

1. Alden Esping (Health and Activities Director / Also at Ball Jr. High 30 years)
2. Carol Cook 
3. Dr. Jan Billings (taught in AUHSD and former Superintendent)
4. Shirley Miller (Ball Junior High's Cafeteria)
5. Dr. Agnes Meck (AP)
6. Mike Greenwood and his wife (Math)
7. Don Budd (Math)
8. Dave Hurlburt (taught Drivers Ed and Math - the longest at Loara)
9. Luis Ruiz (one of the first teachers at Loara)
10. Beverly Nicholas (school nurse)
11. Dave Strauht (custodian in the 60's and 70's)
12. Chuck Darrington
13. Bob Gardener (Principal at Clara Barton)

I can't explain the feeling of the campus by students and teachers alike, they were more complimentary than I've ever seen them in recent memory.

That morning during the video announcements, Gwen Stefani wished the Saxons a Happy 50th Anniversary (a video we also showed those in attendance of the Homecoming Assembly.)

Gwen Stefani's Congrats

"Back on November 1st, 1962, Loara High School first opened its doors to the public. Over the intervening 50 years, it has been an outstanding public high school, one with a rich history of academic and athletic successes and one that is still cherished by its students, staff, alumni, and the local community. Because this Thursday marks the actual 50th Anniversary of the Saxons, we will be celebrating with a pep-rally and ribbon-cutting ceremony during our students’ lunch period. In addition to our own students and staff, dignitaries from AUHSD, and Loara’s storied past have been invited to attend. We are looking forward to a wonderful event that will help all of us memorialize this important date."

Mr. John Briquelet - Principal 2012

November 1, 2012 Saxon Shield

The Saxon Shield is back, after a few lean budget years and a year where they didn't know the name was the Saxon Shield, the Shield prints it's first issue in years and does so on the 50th anniversary of the school opening.  On November 1, 2012 the following shield went out.

Just a disclaimer, this is not done as a class any longer and the kids do this by their self .  Yes there is an adviser but for the most part it is a true student publication so any typos or not knowing formatting of newspapers needs to be forgiven.  At least for now, it's their first one.  

click here to see issue one November 1, 1962

LaPalma Park / Glover Stadium and DeeFee Field

La Palma / Las Palmas / Glover Stadium / Dee Fee Field

History of Glover Stadium

As I was looking about to find the History of Glover Stadium, as is usual lately on Facebook, either the Loara High School site or the Loara 50th Anniversary site there is a vibrant discussion of everything Loara.  From the tree in front of the school to when did it go from La Palma Park to Glover Stadium.  So ask no more, thanks to JoAn Burdick Gottlieb (Class of xx) and Richard MacLeod (Class of 72) my answers are clear.

JoAn offered this ... La Palma Park and La Palma Stadium was original name. Anaheim High Coach Glover (pronounced as a "glove" with er ) was honored after he passed away. In the beginning Dee Fee a 6 ft. 3' Anaheim Park Maintenance Superintendent for La Palma Park, had the baseball field named after him and it is Dee Fee Field if you enter from the West entrance look up and see the name Dee Fee Field. In those years I taught my baton twirling groups at La Palma Park on Saturday mornings. I had the Pre-School and young ones, then had the Junior group, followed by the Seniors -- Jr. High and High School. Then I drove to Hollywood to do two shows a night for the Frank Sennes Mouline Rouge Dinner Theater. Saturdays were always hard, as I didn't get to sleep until about 3 am after I drove home from the last show and getting a bite to eat. Couldn't have that much "steam " these days .

LA Times

And then Richard found this from 1989 ...

GOLDEN YEARS : Anaheim's Glover Stadium Celebrates 50 Years of Treasured Sports Memories
June 23, 1989|STEVE KRESAL | LA Times Staff Writer


Joe DiMaggio played there with the Santa Ana Air Base team during World War II.
Connie Mack brought his Philadelphia Athletics there for spring training in 1940.  Mack later told The Sporting News it was the best spring training site he had used in 50 years in baseball.

Joe DiMaggio

The St. Louis Browns trained there in 1946. Many of the stars of the Pacific Coast League in the late 1930s and '40s played there during spring training, including Johnny Vander Meer, who pitched consecutive no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.

The baseball and football stadium at La Palma Park in Anaheim is not unlike a museum: It doesn't look special from the outside, but it's filled with history--50 years of it, to be exact. La Palma Park celebrates its golden anniversary this year. The stadium--best known today as Glover Stadium--opened in March of 1939, and the rest of the park in August.

Many of the best high school baseball players in Orange County have played on La Palma's field, including Mike Witt of the Angels, Gary Carter of the Mets and Royals' minor leaguer Bob Hamelin. The stadium has played host to the Orange County high school all-star baseball game the past 22 years.

"The place just has a mystique about it," Cypress College baseball Coach Scott Pickler said. Pickler, who grew up in Anaheim, played American Legion games at La Palma and later coached his Loara High School teams there.

"I remember when we would host the Loara tournament and we would play the first game of the season there," Pickler said. "The field looked perfect. It was like we were the first ones to ever play on it."

The stadium, one of the few multipurpose stadiums for non-professional teams, is maintained by the city of Anaheim's parks department.

In 1937, area merchants decided some vacant land in north-central Anaheim would be a perfect place for an automobile junk yard. After all, about all that happened there were some Valencia Orange Growers' Assn. shows and an occasional flood.

The city council, however, thought a rusty pile of cars and scrap parts would be an ugly border for the city, so it decided to ask the federal government for money to build a park. The Works Progress Administration program provided the funds, plus 63 workers.

Construction began Dec. 16, 1937. There were a few early delays, one to remove nearly 1,000 feet of irrigation pipe that had been unexpectedly unearthed. About a fourth of the work was completed by March of 1938, only to have a fierce storm hit.

The project resumed in early April and grass was planted in June. In July, the Anaheim Chapter of the Lions' Club held a picnic and grass-cutting party at the park.

The stands and the locker rooms below the stands--which are still in place today--were completed in early 1939. By March of 1939, the baseball field was ready for the opening ceremonies.

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The Glory of Baseball Blogspot

Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson

In 1950 Jackie Robinson starred in a movie about his life, called "The Jackie Robinson Story." The picture was filmed in part at Las Palmas Park in Anaheim, also known as Glover Stadium/Dee Fee Field. In the photo to the left, Jackie is pictured at bat at Las Palmas with the wood stands behind him.

This park has a long history with professional baseball. It was originally built in 1939 and has been used as a spring training home for the former American League team the St. Louis Browns.

First used by the California League in 1941, (pictured above) it was an active professional ballpark until 1948 when the Sunset League last made this their home for 2 years. The Sunset League was famous for being the first "official American minor league" system to utilize Mexican ballparks as part of the league. The Sunset League later spawned the Tex Mex League and the AZ Mex League. These 3 leagues combined, used over half a dozen Mexican ballparks. Many of which still are standing today and are again part of the new Arizona-Mexican league which started 2003.

Amazingly, this little piece of baseball history is still standing in Anaheim. It's not often you find a former professional ballpark.. not used in so many years... that hasn't been demolished, especially in a large urban environment  Even more astounding, is that it's almost in 1941 game day condition, as shown below.

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And now you know.

What were some of your favorite memories of La Palma Park / Glover Stadium or DeeFee Field.  (besides the bums that sleep there today)