Author: Leisa Komyo

Last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) students had the option to choose their academic model for the year. The hybrid model allowed two days of in-person learning and two days of online learning on the video-chatting app, Zoom. The Irvine Virtual Academy (IVA) model was strictly online learning. Some students at the elementary school level had the option to return to a traditional in-person model.

For the 2021-2022 school year, IUSD is inching towards a return to ‘normalcy’ with its academic model selections. The IVA model is still available this year for families who choose to opt-out of the traditional in-person learning. With the new state mandates, IUSD still requires students and staff to wear masks at all times indoors, but masks are currently not required outdoors.

Woodbridge High School junior Jake Sanjongco has won the Orange County (OC) Film Festival for American singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker’s song “End.”

Through his music video, Sanjongco hopes to tell the story about losing loved ones and being left with the guilt from all of the mistakes and memories made.