Congratulations to Cougar Football for a history making season that brought students, families, alumni & the Antelope community together and made it a GREAT DAY to be a Cougar.

The Cougars ended their season with a 12-1 record, clinched the PVL title, beat Colfax in the quarter finals, beat Bradshaw Christian in the semi finals and lost 21-13 to Ripon in the finals.

First year Head Coach Chris Seele and his staff did a great job this season leading the Lady Cougars to the playoffs. Coach Seele is building a new foundation for the CHS Volleyball Program. Go Lady Cougars!

During this very hectic time of the year, it is very heart-warming to have our community come together in support of those with great need. During two of the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Vacation, Dudley Elementary hosts two separate drives to support the less fortunate in our community.

During the week of December 2-6, Dudley students, families and staff donated canned and dry goods to benefit the Community Food Pantry at Wilson C Riles Middle School. Together they delivered almost 500 canned and boxed goods to Riles.

During the week of December 9-13, Dudley hosted a hat, glove, mitten, scarf and sock drive to benefit the clothes closet at the CJUSD Family Resource Center. In conjunction with these efforts, the staff at Dudley has been collecting warm coats and jackets for the clothes closet at the Family Resource Center. To date, Dudley has more than 30 coats, jackets, and sweatshirts to donate.

-Kari Green

Best Buddies is the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Best Buddies Friendship chapters build one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Last year, Center High School opened the first high school Best Buddies chapter in the Sacramento Valley.

Antelope High School started their Best Buddies chapter this year after hearing about the one at Center High School. One of their advisors, Hayden Olhiser, is a Special Olympics coach and has also coached Unified Sports. Unified Sports is under the umbrella of Special Olympics. Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. In Unified Sports, teams are made up of people of similar age and ability. That makes practices more fun and games more challenging and exciting for all. Having sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions and false ideas are swept away.

Hayden invited CHS to participate in a Unified Sports Basketball game between the two local high schools. Both schools worked together to move the boys JV game to Monday night with the Freshman game, which opened up the time slot before the varsity teams played. Both schools wanted to bring the Antelope community together to cheer on BOTH teams and promote unity between the schools and community. Hayden Olhiser coached the Antelope team and Sandy Weaver and Daniel DeLeon coached the Center team. CHS varsity girls basketball team also gave the CHS players a skills clinic to help prepare them for the game.

Antelope High School hosted the game this year. Their Red Zone and cheerleaders welcomed the CHS players cheering, "Let's go Cougars! Let's go!" as they entered the gym. Throughout the game, the entire crowd cheered and supported both teams. The players were so excited and had such a great time! Afterwards, the two teams came together for pizza and cookies and celebrated the amazing game! Center High School is looking forward to hosting the game next year and making this an annual event!

With the upcoming holiday season, there are many organizations within our community that are reaching out to help our students and families.

Operation Santa is an event spearheaded by Center High School students and Mrs.Winborne, Leadership Teacher and Activities Director. It really is an opportunity for both sets of students to make a meaningful connection. Twenty-five Spinelli students are selected to join the high school students for a craft and conversation. Younger students get the benefit of the older student’s insight and expertise. The older students get the benefit of mentoring a younger student who really looks up to them. At the end of the time together, the high school student provides a gift to the younger!

The Taste of Tuscany restaurant encourages their customers to contribute Christmas gifts to their “giving tree”. Those gifts are then distributed to local schools to distribute to those families in need. We have several families at Spinelli that benefit from the generosity of strangers. Thank you to Taste of Tuscany.

The Sacramento Sheriff’s Toy Project in a partnership with the Salvation Army, work together to collect and distribute boxes of food, clothes, and gifts to families in the Spinelli area. Thank you to those who work so hard to make the season brighter for so many families. The abundance of kindness is appreciated.

VSP came to our campus and offered eye exams to students. Sixty-eight students had eye exams. Of those, 3o student received two pairs of glasses (one for school use and one for home use) courtesy of VSP! They have been helpful to our students in making sure learning is accessible to all.

California State University, Sacramento students of computer science were paired with a 5th grader at Spinelli to be pen pals. They have been writing letters back and forth where 5th graders ask questions about college life and the Sac State students write back giving them a very positive picture of the college experience. Our 5th graders were then able to take a field trip out to the University and got the full tour from their fabulous pen pals!

We welcome the Antelope community to please join us on December 17th for our annual Holiday Social from 3:30-4:30.

Club Advisor Rebekah Jones, "I love the way it is thought provoking for our students and permits them to have their own opinions and even teaches them how to have a healthy respectful debate sometimes, and through those debates they are able to gain new and different perspectives. I watch in wonder as the natural discussions lead to student inquiry and critical thinking."

Book Club meets every 2nd and 4th Friday after school. Snacks are provided.

The Center Joint Unified School District is committed to equal opportunity for all individuals in education. School and district programs, activities and services shall be free from unlawful discrimination based on actual or perceived sex, race, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, ancestry, ethnic group identification, gender, physical or mental disability, or on the basis of a person’s association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, or sexual harassment in any district service, program and/or activity that receives or benefits from state financial assistance. The district shall promote programs, which ensure that unlawful discriminatory practices are eliminated in all school and district activities.