State of the Arts
2019-20
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts High School
November 30, 2019
Dr. Edward A. Trimis, Principal
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts High School is a student-centered, creative learning community that engages students intellectually and artistically, instilling responsible citizenship and academic rigor for college and career preparedness.

create. inspire. unify. educate.
Welcome to our latest Legacy VAPA State of the Arts newsletter! This newsletter is the 9th newsletter (though we missed one last year) I have published since arriving at Visual and Performing Arts High School at the Legacy High School Complex in July, 2016 (we soon adopted "Legacy Visual and Performing Arts HIgh School" as a shorter, to the point, title). As I start my 4th year as the VAPA principal, this is certainly a special year for me in that the current senior class have only had me as their principal and we have a shared experience of VAPA over the last 3+ years. I am super proud of our students, faculty and staff, who have worked so hard to build and grow our school in so many ways since 2016. We have done so much! From starting new programs and groups, to hiring new staff, to improving our teaching and learning outcomes making a dramatic increase in both math and English/Language Arts scores in last Spring's state tests. You simply need to visit our school: see kids working together, students carrying violins and other instruments through the campus, groups of students literally dancing in the hallways, and inspiring teachers around every corner, to feel the wonderful work we are doing building a positive school culture, while improving instructional outcomes, and developing excellence in all areas of the arts. Legacy VAPA is a great place to be, and the word is getting out with many students trying to enroll with us throughout the year, from both inside and outside of the district.

In the spirit of our increase in test scores and continued excellence in the arts, our theme for this year is VAPA Rising: Beyond Expectations! Enjoy the State of the Arts and be sure to go to our website and social media platforms linked on the site at www.vapalegacy.com for more info.

Be sure to click the hyperlinks in RED at the bottom of each article to see more photos and enrich your experience!
#vapasmart #artsmart
           -Dr. Edward Trimis, Principal

Legacy VAPA VIII
VAPA Rising: Beyond Expectations
Happy Thanksgiving from Legacy VAPA!
VAPA Parent Center Rocks
Thank you to our Parent Engagement Team, including Laura Suarez and Erika Farias, who lead our parent involvement efforts including the last Arts and Crafts Workshop at the Legacy Parent Center led by Ms. Farias in November, as well as our Thanksgiving Turkey community program.

Happy Holidays
From Legacy VAPA Parents and Community
Legacy VAPA Band in LAUSD Championships
Congrats Legacy Marching Band who competed on Nov. 23, 2019 in the 2019 LAUSD Beyond the Bell Band and Drill Team Championships. Special thanks to Director Juan Cuevas, Student Leaders including Drum Majors Ashley and Evelyn and Drum Captain Pam, families, and supporters. Thank you also to BTB Music and Entertainment Coordinator Tony White. Check out the band's new uniforms!

Legacy Cross Country Finishes Strong
Congrats Legacy Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams, both having spectacular races Nov. 16 in the CIF City Section Prelim Meet at LA Pierce College and qualifying for the CIF City Section FINALS Nov. 23, also at Pierce! Cross Country Boys and Girls Teams also had a spectacular race at the CIF City Section Finals on Nov. 23.
A huge thank you to Coach Tudon and his coaching staff, parents, and supporters. Special congratulations to Citlali Tejeda (STEAM, ‘21) who was 1st in Eastern League D3 and seniors Anyssa Giles (VAPA), Valerie Villatoro (ISLC), and Amber Curiel (ISLC).

A Typical Day at VAPA
One of the questions we get frequently from potential students and their families is "what is a typical day like at VAPA?" On Nov. 21, Principal Trimis made the rounds and this is what he saw: kids creating, dancing, singing, acting, drawing, performing, and teachers actively engaged with their students in class. He saw our beginning orchestra and strings class in rehearsal, beginning dance class prep for the upcoming Winter Fest Dance Showcase, ACADECA students running their 4 minute speeches, Leadership students planning the Toy Drive, a productive Coffee with the Principal meeting, surprise celebration for music teacher Juan Cuevas, and closing with a college application workshop for seniors. We are VAPA!

Fall Play Shares the Joy of Dr. Seuss
Congrats cast and crew of The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet , the Legacy VAPA 2019 Fall Musical which ran Nov. 13-16 including a preview for Tweedy Elementary School. A big thank you to Ms. Craig, director, Mr. Brown, tech director, teachers and staff for support, especially Mr. Cuevas, and family, friends, and our wonderful actors.

Willow Gramlich
Nominee for CLS Educator of the Year
Congratulations to Willow Gramlich, VAPA Science Teacher, who was a nominee for the 2019-20 California League of Schools Educator of the Year. Ms. Gramlich was honored last night at the CLS Educator of the Year Awards Dinner. “It is interesting for me to read through the recommended qualities for the candidate indicated in the nomination form. And, of course, Willow Gramlich, has all of these qualities. She is knowledgeable of school reform and is up-to-date on current trends and practices. In fact, when our school was asked if our science teachers wanted to transform our traditional high school science classes into new Next Generation Science Standards-aligned courses, a year before the rest of the district, Gramlich was the first teacher to sign up. As the department chair of a small school, her support for her colleagues extends far beyond her department. Our staff knows if they want to see a solid teacher, teaching to standards, in a well-organized, super-engaged, and exciting classroom, where students are accountable for their learning, and they participate in rigorous work across the grades, they have no further to look than at Gramlich’s classroom. There is no question that she is teaching to standards as they are not only displayed on her board with the agenda, but the students know what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how to be successful in learning it. Ask any of the students in class and they’ll tell you, like they told me! Technology is also utilized from the book-reader projecting visuals to the online resources she shares with her students. She embraces our school-wide strategies such as arts integration and is the first to demonstrate how she approaches this work. And she follows our bell schedule closely, is the first to advocate for more instructional time while supporting our students in their many live performance obligations.” -Dr. Edward Trimis, Principal

Mental Health Week
Nov. 11-16 was Mental Health Week at Legacy VAPA High School. I am super proud of all the work we do to support students' minds and hearts along with academics. It is critical work and keeps kids in school. Thank you to our psychiatric social worker, Dr. Irene Lara, who makes such a huge difference in the lives of our students, our teachers and staff who do so well with our students and their needs, and our wonderful students, many who overcome adversity on a daily basis to be in school and succeed. Thank you to our leadership class to put posted notes on every student locker and all the students who contributed to the gratitude poster.

Legacy Football Ends the 2019-20 Season Strong!
Congratulations to our awesome Legacy Tigers Football Team ended their season Nov. 15 at Marquez High School. We are super proud of our team who after a tough season, defeated teams in the Eastern League and went 2 rounds into playoffs, competing in the quarter-finals, and actually shutting out some of the teams they played! Of course, we are especially proud of our VAPA students and so excited that our seniors can end with a strong season. A big thank you to Coach Guzman and his coaching staff, AD Jair Sánchez, the Legacy schools administrative team, our wonderful spirit team including Band, colorguard, Cheer, and Short Flags, and our amazing parents and fans!

Mariachi Corazon Hispano at ISLC Event
Congrats to VAPA’s wonderful Mariachi Corazon Hispano, directed by Juan Cuevas, who performed for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new ISLC Middle School facility on Wednesday, November 6. Special thanks to our student leaders who led the group (we are a Leader in Me School): Karen, Mayrany, Francisco, and the other student leaders, as well as our super-talented musicians!


Mariachi Corazon meets as a zero period class, every day from 7:15-8:25 am at Legacy VAPA.
VAPA at HBCU Event
A huge thank you to Ms. Solis and Ms. Grinner who took some of our wonderful students to the Black College Summit at Holman Methodist Church on Nov. 4 where over 50 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were featured. Students attending included Akilah, Nyla, Rondaisha, and Aushnae.

Dia De Los Muertos @ VAPA
Nov. 1 was our Dia de Los Muertos celebration at Legacy VAPA. The event was complete with free churros and conchas for every VAPA student, a wonderful altar, and, of course, a continuous live performance from VAPA’s very own Corazon Hispano Mariachi! Thank you to Mr. Cuevas, Ms. Craig, and our leadership class for organizing the event!

Congrats to Mr. Juan Cuevas and VAPA’s own Mariachi Corazon Hispano who performed in the 1st Annual Local District 2 East Dia de Los Muertos celebration November 2. The group has doubled in size and is one of the fastest growing groups at VAPA! They made us all super proud! 
VAPA Halloween, 2019
This year was another wonderful Halloween at Legacy VAPA High School, complete with costume contest, a wrap the mummy game, pumpkin contest, and even a flash mob to Thriller by our Dance Program!  A huge thank you to Ms. Craig and the leadership class, our staff for support, Ms. Navarro (our guest dance instructor), and all of our awesome students!

Legacy Girls Volleyball Success
From their standings in the play-off bracket, to the
Dig Pink Senior Game, and to all the many games before, we all salute Coach Santacruz and our Girls Volleyball Team at Legacy! Congrats to the team for their fantastic game against Southeast HS. The game was Senior Night as well as our 1st Annual Dig Pink game raising funds and building awareness for breast cancer research! And Congrats to Coach Santacruz and Legacy Girls on the Oct. 30 2nd Round Play-Off victory over MACES (3-0).

Legacy Homecoming Rocks!
The 2019 Legacy High School Complex Homecoming is now in the history books (Oct. 21-26)! It was a full week of spirit activities, hall decorating, HC Pep Rally, awesome football games, and closing out with a wonderful HC dance. The week is a great example of how all three of our legacy schools work together for school-wide events. Thank you so much to our leadership sponsors and students from all three schools, teachers and staff for all their work and support, and hats off to our amazing students.

Fall Student-Led Parent Conferences
Congrats to all involved in the October 24 VAPA Fall Student-Led Parent Conferences! A huge thank you to our teachers and staff who facilitated the sessions, special thanks to our parents who participated, and kudos to our wonderful students, leaders in their own rights, who led their conferences. Student-Led Parent Conferences are one good practice that you will find in “Leader in Me” schools such as Legacy VAPA. Bravo!

VAPA Sings for Day in the Park
Congrats to VAPA's own Anisa Giles (VAPA, '20) who sang the National Anthem on Saturday, October 19, for the South Gate Police Department Family Day in the Park Event.

VAPA Students Are Finalists for Show Search!
Congrats to Nathalie Moreno (VAPA, ‘22) and Clarissa Gaeta (VAPA, ‘22) who were finalists for the Foundation for New American Musicals’ (FNAM) Show Search new musicals competition. They are one of only 3 teams of winners from throughout the Los Angeles area in the high school division. Their show, The Hardest Goodbye , with music, lyrics, book, and script by Nathalie and Clarissa was produced October 7-12 at UCLA by a professional cast, producer, director, and production team funded by FNAM. All of the writers who made it to finals will receive a $500 scholarship funded by Wells Fargo. The finals event was October 12 and all of the performances were amazing. Though their show did not win 1st place, it may have been the audience's favorite based on the rush of people who congratulated Nathalie and Clarissa after the show! Huge thanks to families and friends for support, Stacie Craig (Writing for Musicals instructor), and Dr. Trimis for support.

VAPA Goes to College
October 10-14 our awesome college-bound students went to visit several colleges from Santa Barbara to Northern California! Thank you to our chaperones including Ms. Dadrass who organized the trip, our students’ parents for their support, our host colleges, and our amazing students.

VAPA's Performance Ambassadors Recruit!
As our recruitment events came to a close with the Open House on October 5, Dr. Trimis thanked all of our teachers, students, and community for their support. Students missed classes to go on the trips, but, our community realizes this is a critical part of what we do. We need to get the word out about our wonderful school, and I believe we have done that. We went to several schools and Enrollment Fairs including Walnut Park MS, Elizabeth LC, Ellen Ochoa LC, Nimitz MS, South Gate MS, and more. A huge thanks to our chaperone directors, Mr. Cuevas and Ms. Navarro, our office staff for support, and all of our wonderful student performance ambassadors, which included 50 students from band, jazz band, mariachi ensemble, show choir, dance, and leadership.

Latino Heritage Celebration Returns
Congratulations to the wonderful performers who brought our 2019 Latino Heritage Celebration Concert on September 26 to life. Congrats Jazz Band, Aurora Show Choir, Mariachi Corazon Hispano, and this year’s Emerging English Choir. Special thanks to Mr. Cuevas (VAPA Director of Music), Ms. Cynthia Navarro (VAPA Interim Director of Dance), Mr. Thomas Brown (VAPA Director of Technical Theatre), and Mr. Anthony Tamborino (ELD Lead Teacher). Thanks also to Ms. Dadrass for her support. And a big thank you to friends, family, and supporters!

Congrats, Mr. Alex Avalos, Girls Volleyball VAPA Teacher of the Week for Sept. 23-27!
ACE Program Returns
The ACE program, presented by the Educare Foundation, has been a staple at VAPA for three years. This year‘s Class of 2023 completed the program in September and it was amazing. These photos are from the parent/family celebration/completion ceremony. With next year‘s freshman class, every VAPA student will have gone through the program. The freshman transition program develops student leadership, public speaking skills, and helps students fine-tune skills for their future high school experience. A huge thank you to all of the teachers, staff, seniors who facilitated the groups, the VAPA staff who planned for event, the Educare staff who ran the program, the Educare Foundation who funded the program, and LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell for their support.

VAPA Scholars Honored
Congrats to our wonderful VAPA scholars honored at our annual Spring Honor Roll Assembly on Sept. 12, 2019. Stiudents receive awards for honors and high honors based upon grades from the spring semester. ACADECA members from last year’s team were also honored.

VAPA Perfect Attendance Reward!
Congratulations to our Legacy VAPA students who are in perfect attendance or near perfect attendance (96% or better/7 or fewer absences) last year! Thank you to the LA Dodgers who gave the students 4 tickets to a Dodger game. 34 students had perfect attendance last year and many others had near-perfect attendance! Thank you to LAUSD for the incentive program and our wonderful PSA counselor and TSP/attendance support staff!
Freshman Orientation
Welcome to the Legacy VAPA Class of 2023! Over 100 of our newest students participated in Freshman Orientation on Thursday, August 15. Thank you to Ms. Dadrass, Ms. Grinner, and our Link Crew Link Leaders who facilitated all the activities throughout the day and ran the program! 

Aurora Show Choir Getting Ready for the New Year
And so it begins! On the heels of the first jazz choir event of the year, the Legacy VAPA HS 2019-20 Aurora Show Choir, kicked off the new year with Day 1 of Show Choir Camp on August 12! The group got a jump start on their new competition set including multi-part singing and choreography! Thank you to choreographer, Coach Andy, and our wonderful performers for taking time out from their summer to prepare for the year!

VAPA Aurora Jazz Choir Goes to Vocal Jazz Academy
Legacy VAPA Aurora Jazz Choir participated in their first event of the year on Saturday, August 3: the Long Beach Vocal Jazz Academy at CSU Long Beach. The workshop included several sessions for students and directors, a vocal jazz master class, honor jazz choirs for directors and students, and an evening concert featuring honor groups and the CSULB Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Pacific Standard Time. Thank you to Matt Falker and Christine Guder (directors of the workshop), CSULB for hosting, chaperone/directors Dr. Trimis and Mr. Cuevas, parents of students who attended the concert, and our wonderful jazz singers in Aurora, many of whom are new this year!

VAPA and Legacy Students Earn Rewards
Congrats to these wonderful students awarded tickets July 22 to see an LA Dodgers game with their friends and families. The 12 students have done exceptional work, propelling them to the head of their classes in attendance and academics this summer. Bravo! Enjoy the game! Thank you to Beyond the Bell and our LAUSD partners for the tickets! 
VAPA's Class of 2023:
The Summer Bridge Arts Experiencee
Our newest Legacy VAPA Tigers had the opportunity to go to school for 5 weeks in the summer including some field trips in the Summer Bridge Program. This year the trips included the Hollywood Bowl (July 18), the Grammy Museum (July 12), and the California Science Center (June 28). Huge thanks to Summer Bridge/Arts educators (Mr. Avalos, Tamborino, Cuevas, and Ms. Craig), Mr. Legaspi (Teacher Leader), and the LAUSD Beyond the Bell Branch for funding Summer Bridge and Educare for support! The trips were part of a multi-experience academic arts program which supplemented the strong academics of Summer Bridge with arts experiences in writing music and playwriting with theatre/acting, playing musical instruments, and music tech/recording experiences funded by Legacy VAPA.

" Our students are artists, intellectuals, athletes, leaders, college bound. We are VAPA."
VAPA Videos
Did you know there are MANY videos of VAPA events on our YouTube channel (Tiger TV). Check them out! Thank you, Mr. Adolfo!

Informational Materials at VAPA
Go to our website for more information at www.vapalegacy.com. On the website all of our social media platforms are also linked (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, PodBean, YouTube).

Legacy VAPA VIII
VAPA Rising: Beyond Expectations
Tip Line at VAPA
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts High School is excited to offer a service for our students who see or learn about dangerous or concerning issues at VAPA and/or the Legacy High School Complex. Tips are anonymous and will be investigated by VAPA and LAUSD staff as soon as possible after being reported. Though the line accepts calls, texts are more effective. Please note another option is to report any concerns directly to Legacy VAPA teachers and staff by dropping into the office, calling 323-357-7531 or e-mailing Dr. Trimis at etrimis@lausd.net.

Legacy VAPA Rising:
Arts Events for 2019-20
VAPA Rising-Beyond Expectations
The Legacy VAPA VIII (2019-20) theme is "VAPA Rising: Beyond Expectations". You will see this theme throughout our programs, classroom instruction, and events!
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts High School
Dr. Edward Trimis, Principal
Ms. Terri Grinner, Assistant Principal
Ms. Jeina Dadrass, Coordinator
Ines Melendez, SAA 
Local District East
Mr. Jose Huerta, LDE Superintendent
Mr. Jesus Nunez, Community of Schools Admninistrator
LAUSD
Mr. Austin Beutner, Superintendent
Contact
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts High School
www.vapalegacy.com 
5225 Tweedy Bl.
South Gate, CA 
323-357-7531 etrimis@lausd.net
Dec. 2 Late-Start Day
Dec. 6 Spring Fest (Music)
Dec. 9 Late-Start Day
Dec. 13 Spring Fest (Dance)
Dec. 13 Finals (Per. 7) School ends at 1:30 pm
Dec. 16 Finals (Per.1-2) School ends at 1:30 pm
Dec. 17 Finals (Per. 3-4) School ends at 1:30 pm
Dec. 18 Finals (Per. 5-6) School ends at 1:30 pm
Dec. 19 Community CarolingTrip (specifc groups)
Dec. 20 Last Day of Semester/Staff Luncheon (Min. Day)
Jan. 13 1st Day Spring Semester (Late Start Day)
Jan. 20 School Holiday (MLK Birthday)
Jan. 27 Late-Start Mondays throiugh April (except for holidays 2/17 and 4/6)

Go to www.vapalegacy.com for VAPA/Arts, Legacy, & Sports Calendars                        
We have space at VAPA! Join us!
Legacy Visual and Performing Arts HS:
Preparing students for college, career, and life through the arts.