For Castaic Coyotes, the summer of 2025 was one that should be celebrated. While summer is usually dedicated to relaxing in anticipation for the school year, students who participated in activities, such as cancer research and leadership building, showed determination that should be recognized.
A major achievement over the summer was the continuation of the Research in Focus program run by Castaic’s AP Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher, Kate Song.
Each summer for the last three years, Research in Focus has acted as an opportunity for students across Hart District to do cancer research with other students and present their findings at UCLA. Song had originally started this program to help Castaic students gain research experience.
“It’s nearly impossible to get any kind of research opportunity [for high school students],” stated Song. “Since my own kids were in high school… if there’s nothing for them to do, I’ll start my own program and get involved.”
While the program has no prerequisites during the application process, Song mainly looks for students with a genuine interest and personal connection to cancer research. This allows students to get the opportunity to explore their interests through this program, while learning something new.
Students like senior David Delgado, only in his first year of Research in Focus, have professed how the program has helped him to “pick up a bunch of research skills, like reading and understanding complex studies about cancer treatments. [He] also got better at communicating and presenting, because [they] had to explain our project in a way that made sense to everyone, even if they weren’t familiar with the topic.”
Song expressed her admiration for the students participating in the program, acknowledging the dedication and grit all of the students had. What really stood out to her was how “the students really understood and had a better grasp of the science this year.” Other students commend how creative each of the groups were with their presentations, with Delgado saying they used “interesting visuals, along with one group making a TikTok account to promote themselves.”
Senior Cody Tran, a member of the group winning first place for their presentation on pancreatic cancer, provides advice to other students joining the program.
“Research everything, don’t slack off, practice presenting standing up, [and] don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something.”
Aside from the Research in Focus Summer program, Castaic’s ASB officers participated in a four day long leadership-building program at University of California, Santa Barbara. The program consisted of leadership activities and team building exercises, all helping ASB prepare to build school spirit over the school year.
Cheryl Hanks, ASB director, has stated that the camp helped them “immediately step their game up” in all aspects, allowing them to hit the ground running. The UCSB ASB program helped ASB orient non-officers during their summer program taking place at school. This included helping them build skills early on such as poster making, building up spirit school events, and working on their social media presence, letting them start working on promoting homecoming once classes started.
With Castaic only in its sixth year, it’s impressive to recognize the already growing campus activities and opportunities. Achievements like cancer research and large-scale leadership camps go to show how Castaic can provide unique opportunities and how students should take advantage and build pride for their school.
