- New principal
Aliso Niguel welcomed their new principal, Dr. Mahindrakar, as he takes over former principal Mr. Hatcher’s position this year. His experience is extensive as he has held various positions in other high schools and served as an assistant principal and Activities Director at Aliso before. His passion for improving students’ experience at school not only comes from a love of supporting youth education, but is also personal as Dr. Mahindrakar attended Aliso during his high school years.
- OCASA Come to Aliso Niguel
Along with a new principal, Aliso Niguel also welcomed the Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts (OCASA) to the campus after they moved from El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano. This charter school hosts a unique form of education to 6th-12th graders that tailor to their specific needs. It is located at the right side of the campus in the second row of portables, and occupies the parking area next to them.
- We Break the Record with OC Student Section
This year’s football season had many successful games for Aliso’s team, but it also marked a historic moment when Aliso broke the record for Orange County Student Section of the Week award. The Den was able to break the record for the most OCSS titles won in a single football season, with nine people’s choice titles wins. The Den also has the most OCSS of the week titles ever recorded in OCSS history, with 20 titles in total.
- A Successful Homecoming Dance
2024’s homecoming dance brought excitement and hype to the campus as well as some creative proposals which everyone got to see on the school’s socials. This year, the theme was “MusikFest” and each classmen received a different artist as their theme, Freshmen: Taylor Swift, Sophomores: Drake, Juniors: Pitbull, and Seniors: Bruno Mars. The dance featured a plethora of entertainment with two extravagant amusement rides, a dance floor with a DJ, a karaoke station, a coffee serving station, an ice cream stand, a game station, and cool lit decorations. Many found this dance to be an improvement from last year’s and enjoyed it.
- CUSD Board Election
The board election took place in fall as recurring and new representatives went head on to obtain a seat as a representative in the Capistrano Unified School District. Their efforts allow schools all over the district to continue to grow student success and education. Krista Castellanos was reelected and is currently representing Aliso Niguel along with another group of schools that are part of Trustee Area 5.
- AP Exams Go Online
The College Board decided to transfer many AP exams to an online or even hybrid format for May. In total, 19 exams will be transferred(12 online and seven hybrid), some significant ones include European History, Art History, Calculus AB/BC, Chemistry, and more. The College Board hopes this will decrease cheating on the AP tests, which previously had caused many tests to be cancelled.
- Teachers Pilot New Grading System
A new grading system has been in the process of being developed by the district. This year, teachers in the “Grading’s Coalition” at Aliso Niguel have started to slowly pilot certain aspects of the new system. The goal is to develop a more fair form of evaluation on student proficiency on a subject, in which the grade reflects if a student’s work is up to the standard, while omitting other external factors like punctuality or behavior in class.
- Challenge Accepted Event
The Challenge Accepted event took place on Oct. 23 and 24 during seniors’ English block periods. Seniors could sign up for certain sessions, depending on where they were applying, to get direct help from a college counselor on their college applications. This proved helpful for countless seniors this year looking for guidance on how to get into their dream college.
- New Phone Policy
A new district wide phone policy came into all classrooms, including Aliso’s, to limit mobile distractions for students. New phone pockets by the name “phone/cell spas” or “phone/cell holders” were installed and required in every classroom, mandating students to put their phones in the holder from the beginning to the end of a class.
- New Bathroom Policy
To avoid wandering students during a bathroom break, the school decided to assign each zone of the school to a certain bathroom so students would remain in the same area and limit their time out. To make it more obvious whether a student was straying away from the assigned area they should stay in, new fluorescent vests that are color coded with the areas have been used as bathroom passes over the typical lanyard necklace.
