evercado
The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade
evercado
The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade
evercado
The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade
Senior Andrew Kim silently reads and annotates “The Pastures of Heaven” during fourth period California Literature class, a senior English elective, on Friday, April 10.
SH brings novel opportunities, seven new courses for upcoming year
Kaylynn Park, Copy Editor • April 17, 2026
Senior Abigail Veyna (middle) competes alongside fellow prom court members in a musical chairs game Thursday, April 9, in the quad as part of prom week festivities.
PROM PREVIEW: ‘Where Paths Cross Paris”-themed dance plans to go international at AV Irvine Saturday, April 11
Nicole Park, Editor-in-Chief • April 10, 2026
The Accolade's online website was named a National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker finalist on Wednesday, March 4, via Facebook.
National Scholastic Press Association nominates The Accolade website for Pacemaker finalist after Orange County Journalism Education Association Write-Off victory
Mina Imai, Copy Editor • March 24, 2026
Sunny Hills earned the College Board’s AP School Honor Roll Gold distinction for the third straight year, based on student participation and performance in AP courses.
THREE-PEAT: Sunny Hills takes Gold on College Board’s Honor Roll for third straight year
Alice Chae, Assistant Feature Editor • March 10, 2026
A collection of various vapes, illicit substances when under the age of 18, are displayed in a photograph taken by an anonymous source.
UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Students navigate the allure of risks alongside peer pressure and social media, sharing their experiences of facing temptations
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • February 20, 2026
Freshman Jolie Michaels reaches inside the vending machine near the cafeteria to grab a Sparkling Ice energy drink, which contains about 160 mg of caffeine.
CAF’FEIN’ING FOR MORE: Professionals explain possible reasons behind teenage caffeine consumption
Nicole Park, Editor-in-Chief • February 19, 2026
A student waits as an artificial intelligence [AI] chatbot generates a response. This captures the growing allure of AI as a source of quick answers, emotional support and creative tools.
GENERATED OR GENUINE? AI continues to reshape education and creativity
Kevin Lee, Layout Editor • February 19, 2026
Helios adviser Lindsay Safe holds her finalist-nominated 2024-2025 yearbook, “It Starts With You,” on Friday, Feb. 6, in front of the Lyceum.
Journalism, yearbook programs find out next month if each will win Gold
Kyuwon Han, Opinion Editor • February 6, 2026
Following the longest shutdown of 43 days, the government has reopened its doors as of Wednesday, Nov. 12. During the pause, certain student financial aid grants were unavailable.
FUNDING FREEZE: Federal funding delays raise concerns about FAFSA processing, SNAP benefits
Sua Lee, Staff Reporter • December 15, 2025
Senate Bill 640 will go into effect starting Thursday, Jan. 1, and guarantee automatic acceptance to 16 of the California State Universities for the Class of 2027.
LAW AND ORDER: New state senate bill encourages higher college admission rates to California State Universities for Class of 2027
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • December 15, 2025
The new recognition honored campuses supporting student success through innovative practices.
A ‘SUNNY’ IMPACT: Orange County Department of Education recognizes Sunny Hills as one of 12 Orange County campuses leading with innovation
Alice Chae, Assistant Feature Editor • December 11, 2025
fiveALIVE members Jia, Bay, Ciara (center), Nini and Ellie perform their debut single "Queendom" in the gym during break on Friday, Nov. 14.
K-POPPING INTO ACTION: New K-pop group debuts with performance at Sunny Hills
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • November 14, 2025
Fullerton service department vehicles occupied the road at the bottom of the hill on Thursday, November 13, following a bomb threat via phone call at approximately 1:30 p.m..
BREAKING NEWS: Two-hour Shelter in Place enacted following bomb threats via phone call
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • November 13, 2025
Principal Craig Weinreich sent out a newsletter to Lancers on Friday, Sept. 5, highlighting the school’s new state and national rankings.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP: SH breaks into top 3% of public schools nationwide
Yena Oh, Entertainment Editor • November 10, 2025
Homecoming king nominees Katie Park (left), Pierce Sandle and Jake Sexton pose in the quad on Friday, Oct. 24, during break. Senior Caleb Solis was on a family trip in Idaho at the time and missed the photo.
SH traditions expand with addition of homecoming king title
Kevin Lee, Layout Editor • November 7, 2025
Sophomores Dongjin Yoo, Jaykob Sandoval and Jion Rim lift sophomore Gael Munoz Fonseca for the sophomore class dance performance during halftime at the homecoming football game on Thursday, October 30.
SH students take center stage with first-ever homecoming class dance
Tatiana Galvez, Assistant Entertainment Editor • November 7, 2025
The first slide of the Freshman Council Google Slides presentation covers how the program works, the benefits, meeting details and where to sign up. It will be presented in the first meeting.
BUILDING A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP: New program empowers freshmen to lead and represent their class
Emily Lee, Assistant News Editor • November 4, 2025
The ASB announces on Friday, Oct. 24, the 2025-2026 homecoming queen candidates, including seven senior girls who will contend to receive the most votes to be crowned on Thursday, Oct. 30, during halftime of the football game at Buena Park High School stadium.
HOMECOMING PREVIEW: Saturday, Nov. 1, suit up for “A Dark Night” to remember
Kaylynn Park, Copy Editor • November 1, 2025
Cutline: Senior Pierrce Sandle (center) dances with other students in the quad during the DJ battle between social science teacher Marcus Reveles and athletic director Paul Jones on Thursday, October 16.
Surprise event invites students and staff to dance to DJ-ed music
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • October 18, 2025
Former Accolade adviser Tommy Li gives a fist pump as he wraps up a Pacemaker finalist chant that he led with the rest of the Advanced Journalism class on Thursday, Sept. 11, during fourth period in Room 138.
ANOTHER ACCOLADE FOR THE ACCOLADE: For a third straight year, journalism program earns nomination for national award
Ashley Kang, News Editor • October 7, 2025
Trellis is an educational app for teachers, created by English teacher Scott Rosenkranz. The app’s name comes from its logo, which depicts a garden trellis.
Teacher creates educational app ‘Trellis’ to support student growth
Sua Lee, Staff Reporter • October 7, 2025
After receiving funding from a grant on Jan. 28, the Career and Technical Education program expanded the Coding and Gaming classroom.
Coding and Gaming class gets $500,000 revamp
Kyuwon Han, Opinion Editor • September 30, 2025
Students and staff across the Fullerton Joint Union High School District [FJUHSD] received emails promoting a part time job offer with pay. The messages were set from compromised FJUHSD accounts.
District-wide scam emails bring summer shock
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • September 23, 2025
Students explore different stands on the third day of Club Rush during break on Thursday, Sept. 4.
BOUNCING BACK: SH freshman enrollment increases beyond projected expectations
Ashley Kang, News Editor • September 22, 2025
Sophomore Shizhen Jin places her phone in English teacher Christina Zubko’s “phone jail” outside Room 64 on Friday, Sept. 12, just before the start of sixth period.
SH expected to stay on track despite state-wide phone policy updates
Ashley Kang, News Editor • September 18, 2025
Sophomore Janiny Maldonado (right) reads out her essay, “Carrying What Matters,” during the 26th Annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest awards ceremony, standing behind the podium on Friday, March 14, at Chapman University in Orange.
English assignment turned into award-winning entry
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • June 23, 2025
Freshmen Cora Woodward (left) and Evangeline Cowell (right) eat their lunches and socialize at one of five newly added picnic tables in front of the 20’s building.
WRAPPING IT UP: Murals, fixtures conclude 2024-2025 school year campus improvement projects
Alice Chae, Assistant Feature Editor • June 14, 2025
Campus supervisor liaison Randy Avalos (left) and science teacher Alexander Hua hold a bouquet of flowers in recognition of their Employee of the Year award. This school year’s honorees were announced in the staff lounge on Friday, Jan. 24, during break.
Campus supervisor liaison, science teacher earns Employee of the Year
Katelyn Ahn, Business Manager & Spotlight Team Reporter • May 30, 2025
Then-sophomore Ayden Currier (left) and then-junior Kayla Choe mop and clean the drawings and messages in chalk left by the senior pranksters in the quad on May 24, 2024. Custodians also worked to clean other parts of the campus.
NEWS ANALYSIS: Senior pranks
Rose Park • May 28, 2025
Social science teacher Jeff Gordon (right) shares a congratulatory hug from assistant superintendent Karl Zener during the Monday, May 12, celebration of retiring teachers in the Performing Arts Center. The Fullerton Joint Union High School District organized the event to give its 43 certificated retirees a commemorative plaque recognizing the number of years they've contributed to their students.
GOLDEN HANDSHAKE: 43 Fullerton Joint Union High School District teachers — 9 from Sunny Hills — take early retirement incentive
Kevin Lee, Layout Editor • May 20, 2025
Fire Truck 6 from the Fullerton Fire Department arrives by the swimming pool to investigate the potential gas leak situation during fourth period on Friday, May 2.
On-campus gas leak leads to classroom evacuations
Irene Park, Editor-in-Chief • May 15, 2025
Accolade web managing editor senior Justin Pak (left), web editor-in-chief senior Seowon Han and adviser Tommy Li celebrate the online news website’s first-place win in the Southern California Journalism Education Association’s California All-Stars competition on Tuesday, April 8, in Room 138 during fourth period.
Accolade’s online news website takes first-place plaque at state media contest
Soojin Cho, Feature Editor • April 25, 2025
Eco Spirit Week features different activities students can participate Monday-Friday, April 21-25, to raise awareness for the environment in celebration of Earth Day Tuesday, April 22. This flier was posted on the Instagram accounts of the Associated Student Body and Thrifting Club, the coordinators of this new spirit week.
Thrifting Club, ASB collaborate to form first-time Eco Spirit Week
Mina Imai and Irene Park • April 22, 2025
Junior Melina Ciorogariu walks down the red carpet during the Prom Fashion Show held in the quad during break on Wednesday, March 26. The event, featuring formal attire from Windsor and Friar Tux, showcased outfit options for juniors and seniors preparing for prom on Saturday, April 5, at the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.
PROM PREVIEW: ‘Interstellar’-themed dance to light up The Artic in Anaheim Saturday, April 5
Caroline Shin, Staff Reporter • April 3, 2025
An unknown firefighter stares into the raging flames and thick smoke that blazed through the Eaton and Palisades areas on Tuesday, Jan. 7, the first day of the fires.
Eyewitness to fire devastation
Emily Lee, Assistant News Editor • April 2, 2025
The weekly principal's newsletter features video production's latest episode with school events on Friday, March 28. For the first time, students received the morning announcements via video sent to teachers on Monday, March 31, during second period. (Screenshot from GOLD Standard)
TAKE TWO: ASB hands over some of morning announcements duty to video production
Aashna Dialani and Irene Park • March 31, 2025
The Sunny Hills Science Olympiad team celebrates its sixth-place finish at the regional competition at the University of California, Irvine, on Saturday, Feb. 22. Teams that place in the top six get to advance to state competition Saturday, April 12, held at the California Institute of Technology.
SH Science Olympiad advances to in-person state contest for first time since 2020
Jenna Kim, Entertainment Editor • March 30, 2025
The National Scholastic Press Association selected this snapshot of The Accolade’s online news website in recognizing it as one of 34 Pacemaker finalists on Tuesday, March 11. The staff will find out if it becomes a Pacemaker winner during an awards ceremony on Saturday, April 26, in Seattle.
Journalism program earns another round of national, regional awards
Soojin Cho, Feature Editor • March 20, 2025
A digital copy of the AP Honor Roll certificate was included in the Friday, Oct. 4, digital newsletter sent out by principal Craig Weinreich.
Sunny Hills strikes gold for a second straight year
Kaylynn Park, Copy Editor • March 12, 2025
English long-term substitute teacher Tom Wiegman lectures during first-period Advanced Placement English Literature class today in Room 32 while the ViewSonic monitor behind him shows no internet access. Sunny Hills and all campuses in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District could not access the internet for the whole school day though it was restored within an hour after school.
Internet outage hits Fullerton Joint Union High School District again
Seowon Han, Web Editor-in-Chief • March 11, 2025
Sunny Hills staff, parents and students listen to English teacher Suzanne Boxdorfer who is standing in front of the podium to present accreditation information in Room 33 on Wednesday, March 5.
5-member committee to visit, evaluate Sunny Hills from today to Wednesday, March 12
Rose Park, Cub Reporter • March 10, 2025
Carol Hallenbeck (right), who taught journalism and advised The Accolade school newspaper from 1969-1993, scans a paper with a pencil in her right hand while a staff member observes. Hallenbeck died of old age Sunday, Feb. 2, in her Costa Mesa apartment. She was 97.
‘Legendary’ Accolade adviser dies at 97
Emily Kim, Sports Editor • March 6, 2025
California Assembly Bill 1858, effective Jan. 1 of this year, aims to tamp down those campuses that hold active shooter drills.
LAW & ORDER: Legislation over certain safety drills effective Jan. 1 of this year prompt district officials to update protocols
Esther Ahn, Cub Reporter • March 2, 2025
The new small electronic sign board, also known as a minitron, stands at the entrance of the west parking lot. For nearly a week since the start of the 2024-2025 school year, visitors to that part of the campus only saw the stem without the sign and LED boards after the old marquee got removed over the summer.
SCREEN TIME UPDATES: Jumbotron, meet minitron
Alice Chae, Assistant Feature Editor • February 20, 2025
Installed in February 2017, the jumbotron has been prone to malfunction lately, as in this case, last May.
BIG SCREEN NEEDS BIG UPDATE: School officials take steps to replace 8-year-old jumbotron with a more advanced model
Kevin Lee, Layout Editor • February 18, 2025
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