Extracurriculars

Exploring Extracurriculars

Students reflect and share about their on and off-campus extracurricular activities, which include clubs, sports, and theater.

WORDS and ART by DIONNE PETERSON

Katherine Ball ‘23

Q. What extracurricular activity are you involved in currently? A. Acting at Lights Up! Theater company. Q. How long have you been doing this? A. Four years, specifically at this theater company. Q. How were you initially drawn to the acting program? A. I was in a production of “Les Mis(érables),” and one of my friends there founded a new theater company. I decided to give it a shot, and it was awesome. Q. What’s your favorite thing about acting? A. Definitely the people. It’s just the most weird, amazing, crazy mix of people, and just getting to come back year after year and see people I already know and meet new friends is really fun. Also being able to see it all come together after months of rehearsal is pretty cool. Q. If you have taken a theater program at school, how does it differ from the one you are taking currently? A. I think the school play can sometimes face limitations caused by the need to condense rehearsals into one period, but the school musical is very similar to the ones I do outside of school, because rehearsals are after school. A benefit of doing a program outside of school is that it can have a bigger pool of people to draw from than Laguna (because Laguna is rather small) and also allows for a longer rehearsal process that is not restricted by one semester. Q. Has acting helped you in opening up new pathways? A. It provides a safe space for improving at acting, which can sometimes feel difficult and embarrassing and weird, and really lets you get comfortable with those parts of acting.

Molly Newell ‘22

Q. What extracurricular activity are you involved in currently? A. I am part of the Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) committee. Q. How long have you been a part of DEI?

A. Ursula Chan officially created the committee this year, so I have been part of it since then.

Q. How were you initially drawn to the committee?

A. I think at Laguna, there was a lack of diversity, and there were a lot of people having conversations about minorities.

I think it is important to educate everyone since we are so privileged at Laguna and in a bubble. Q. What is your favorite part about the DEI committee? A. We are planning a movie night for Black History Month, and that’s going to be really exciting, because we are going to watch “Black Panther” and include a discussion about it, which is important to talk about race in film and representation.

Q. How has the committee helped open up new pathways for you? A. I think I just have learned a lot about all the different backgrounds and learned how to be able to acknowledge it and bring diversity and inclusion into conversations, and be able to educate others just from the material Chan brought into our meetings.

Nayeli Castrejon-Peralta ‘25

Q. What extracurricular activity are you involved in currently? A. The extracurricular I am doing currently is squash. Q. How long have you been playing squash for? A. I have been doing squash for about three years. Q. How did you find out about squash? A. In the fall of 2019, my mom found their Facebook page, and she asked me if I would like to try it out. Because at that time, I was still playing soccer. Q. What is your favorite thing about squash? A. Everyone in the program is pretty close, we all talk to each other. Sure, sometimes we laugh at each other or like to tease each other, but we all support each other, especially in tournaments. Q. If you have been in any school sports before, how does that differ from what you are taking outside school sport? A. The school sport is seasonal, so you’re only with those people for a certain amount of time before you guys split off. Sure, you might keep some connections, but not all. Meanwhile in squash, we’re all together for a while and get to know each other really well. Q. Have you been in any squash competitions? A. I have only been in one tournament, when I played for the Laguna team. I lost two of my games, but I did win one, but even then, I had a lot of fun, and there was a lot of support from my teammates. Q. How has being part of the squash team helped you open up new pathways? A. Santa Barbara School of Squash (SBSOS) is the reason I was introduced to Laguna. I didn’t know the school existed before then. My grades are good, we thought this school would benefit me. So I came to Laguna, and I’m so glad I did.

Dylan Charney ‘24

Q. What extracurricular activity are you involved in currently? A. At the moment, we wrapped up Mock Trial. Q. How long have you been in Mock Trial? A. This is my second year doing it. It is only offered to high schoolers, and it is a couple months long. Q. What initially drew you to Mock Trial? A..I have always been interested in history and law. Last year, my history teacher Kevin Guay thought that I should try it out and that I would enjoy it, so I tried out and I did really enjoy it. Q. What is your favorite thing about Mock Trial? A. My favorite thing is when we’re doing the scrimmages, working through all the kinks, and going through the whole process while we are all there. Q. If you have been in another program outside of school before, how does that differ from what you are currently in school? A. What makes this one different is that it’s a very tailored experience. It is much more enriching than the other curriculars than those available, and it’s a bonding experience between classmates that maybe don’t really know each other. Q. Have you been in Mock Trial competitions? A. Yes, at the end of the season we always have a competition; I was sad to miss the last one due to an illness. However, I did participate in last seasons. Q. Has being part of Mock Trial helped you by opening up new pathways? A. Yes, but it is less about directly opening up a pathway and more kind of what you want to explore in the future and opening up a roadmap for you.