MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 55, NO. 4
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
December 17, 2021
American High School hosts
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On Saturday, December 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., American High School (AHS) held their 16th Annual “BELIEVE” Holiday Boutique. The event featured more than 70 local artists and crafters hosting stalls and selling items including woodworking, ceramics, jewelry, accessories, and more. This highly anticipated event also featured a raffle and Bake Sale, a fundraiser for AHS Class of 2022’s Grad Nite event. As the popularity of this event has grown every year it has been held since 2005, the “BELIEVE” Holiday Boutique is now Fremont’s largest holiday boutique and features a never-ending list of vendors. While newer vendors participated in the event this year, the boutique has also curated a dedicated list of vendors who return year after year because of how large the event is and how many customers they gain
16TH” ANNUAL
BELIEVE Holiday Boutique By Ayushi Kashyap, Hannah Shen & Aaryan Suri Staff Writers
from it. “[The boutique] is amazing. I love it. It’s one of the best boutiques of the year. I look forward to it all year long.” Shawnie Ledbetter, owner of A Crafter’s Love, a business that sells signs made from recycled fence boards, said. In the main selling area of the event, the Rotunda, vendors set up stalls displaying their products, each designed to catch the eye of the attendees. There was no shortage of diversity in these vendors’ products, with stalls selling Crocs to stalls selling dreamcatchers. The Rotunda was also decorated with festive balloons, posters, and decorations. However, there was much more to the event than the stalls in
the Rotunda. Through Candy Cane Lane, a hallway decked out with more Christmas-themed decorations, shoppers could access the Eagle Rock Cafe where even more vendors were set up. Because of the abundance of vendors and shoppers at this event, many COVID-19 precautions were also put in place. “We did have people at the entrance ensuring that masks are put on as they enter, and we spread signs out ... around every corridor and around the rotunda,” AHS Senior Class Vice President Jimmy Ying said. The senior class officers mainly assisted the AHS Parent Teacher Student Association in setting up the event and making the eye-catching signs that say masks displayed all around the school. The event was a major success this year and has “become a hallmark of winter here at AHS,” Ying said. The boutique has not only
become a great way for local vendors to advertise their products, it has also become a great way to build community around the Fremont area. “We meet all kinds of families and friends and you get to see people that you haven’t seen for a while, so it’s really nice to see all the community to come out and support AHS,” Jessica Baker, a parent volunteer at AHS Class of 2022’s Grad Nite Bake Sale, said. ▪
“ The event
has become a hallmark of winter here at AHS. ” — AHS Senior Class Vice
President Jimmy Ying PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITER HANNAH SHEN
L2 Partners with USAgain TO HOST
CLOTHING DRIVE By Amelie Wu & Elton Yu have partnered Staff Writers mittee Member with USAgain. Junior Jackie Wang said. In the past, the L2 Community ComUSAgain reached out Activities Director mittee has hosted similar events including Ben Breazeale via email, who forwarded the canned food and blood drives for various message to the L2 Community Committee. organizations to benefit the underprivi- USAgain hopes to remove the stigma surleged and support the community. Some rounding secondhand clothing while supof their most recognized events include the porting student sustainability. “The intent fall and spring blood drives; however, these was pretty straightforward, to divert reusable drives were cancelled due to COVID-19. clothes and shoes from landfills to the reuse “We decided to go with a clothing drive cycle, and to keep clothes and shoes that are because as the seasons are changing, the perfectly fine in people’s closets, but just difweather is getting colder. A lot of people ferent people’s closets than they were origidon’t have the [necessary] clothes to wear, nally,” USAgain Business Development Conespecially since winter is coming around. So tent Creator Jacob Rayburn said. we decided to host a clothing drive to help A complication they faced throughout this those people that are drive was limited publicity. Despite members in need,” L2 Com- of L2 reposting and sharing on social media munity Com- about the drive, the committee was unsure if their posts reached a wide audience. Another complication that arose was limited supply of TreeMachines. “The boxes were low in supply, and it took an extra week to get here. So we had to extend the drive, limiting the “ Many students are blessed and we time we originally had,” should give back ... There is always a L2 Member Senior need and always people who are in Kevin Chen said. Through hosting need, so we should help out. ” PHOTO BY STAFF WRITER AMELIE WU events such as canned — Activities Director Ben Breazeale From left to right: L2’s Community Committee members Seniors Aditi Morumganti, Aashi Khandelwal, food and blood drives, Kevin Chen, Community Committee Head Senior Irene Seo, and Community Committee Member Junior In honor of America Recycles Day on November 15, MSJ’s L2 Community Committee collaborated with USAgain to run a clothing drive from November 12 to December 22. According to USAgain, as of December 8, the drive has collected 110 pounds of clothes. USAgain is an organization that recycles excess clothing, shoes, and other household textiles via donation boxes called TreeMachines. Three of these TreeMachine drop boxes were placed around campus to encourage students and staff to donate and support their cause. MSJ is currently one of more than 650 schools that
According to USAgain,
110
pounds of clothes were donated through the drive
Jackie Wang.
L2 hopes to encourage students at MSJ to give back to the community while also recognizing the financial privileges of living in the Bay Area, as oftentimes, students fail to recognize the support they are provided in comparison to other communities. “[Many] students are blessed and we should give back ... There’s always a need and always people who are in need, so we should help out,” Breazeale said. According to USAgain, 50-80% of the collected clothes can be reworn. Additional applications of donated clothing include being recycled into rags or being used to make new clothing. “The clothes are sent to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador ... Some clothes also go to Texas, where we have some partners, but the great majority of the clothes go to those “ The clothes are sent to Central AmeriGuatemala, Belize, Honduras, can countries,” Rayburn said. ▪ and El Salvador ... the great
majority of the clothes go to those Central American countries. ” —
USAgain Business
Development Content Creator Jacob Rayburn