Behind the Scenes of Specialty Electives

Jasmine Wongphatarakul, Kimberly Ayson, Gillian Bui, Alice Xie, Esther Pack, Sophia Ho, Julia Kremenetsky, Andrew Kang, and Oliver Kostich

West Ranch fosters an environment that allows students to grow personally and academically by providing a variety of classes to explore. Aside from The Paw Print, West Ranch has a few other specialty electives, including West Ranch TV, Studio A Jazz band, ASB and Yearbook. The Paw Print had the opportunity to explore the inner workings of these programs.

ASB

Esther Pack and Sophia Ho

ASB, or the Associated Student Body, is behind planning all of the fun events at West Ranch, including spirit days, rallies, dances and other school-sponsored activities to ensure a memorable school year. However, many students often do not realize all of the work that goes on behind the scenes. Mrs. Priske, ASB advisor for the past five years, commented on the work that goes unnot...

Studio A Jazz Band

Jasmine Wongphatarakul and Kimberly Ayson

Every morning, the West Ranch band room fills with music from every era of jazz. Studio A Jazz Band plays a variety of songs, from music commissioned by professional musicians to jazz renditions of songs by The Beatles. Jazz gathers every morning during zero period to play and prepare for their upcoming concerts and performances. Mr. Leff, West Ranch’s Jazz director, described a typica...

The Pride

Gillian Bui, Alice Xie, and Julia Kremenetsky

With the overwhelming amount of students who purchase yearbooks at the end of the year, West Ranch’s yearbook elective, or The Pride, keeps a tight schedule. Yearbook staff members utilize their photography and design skills to enhance every page of the book to create lasting memories for all Wildcats. The process of creating a yearbook requires members to work with one another to achieve a c...

WRTV

Oliver Kostich and Andrew Kang

West Ranch TV, or WRTV, is West Ranch’s very own student-run news station. Students in the program work to deliver a variety of video segments that range from school and local news to trending topics in pop culture, student-produced short films and more. WRTV is broadcast every morning through the video-sharing platform Youtube, where a live show is shared to students after the fi...