Submitted by Trever Jobinger, Student Journalist for Minarets Press O’NEALS – Would it surprise you to know that since 2016, the number of students living in local valley towns, such as Fresno and Madera, who choose to attend Minarets has vastly increased? The graduating class of 2016 reported less than 30 valley students while today, of the total 500 or ...

Submitted by Emma Bloodworth, Student Journalist for Minarets Press O’NEALS – Since the beginning, Jim Mattes, local resident and husband to ag teacher Kristi Mattes, has always been one of the biggest supporters of Minarets FFA. He contributed to not only the school and farm but to the community and FFA program in a large capacity. Over the years, he ...

Submitted by Priya Cheema, Student Journalist for Minarets Press O’NEALS – Unlike many other sports, the Minarets cross country team has had the opportunity to compete in multiple meets over the past few weeks. With a shortened season due to COVID-19, the team only had about five races this year. One of the most important of these five races was ...

Submitted by Ryan Abner and Molly Smith, Student Journalists for Minarets Press As the deadline for Slick Rock film submissions creeps up on March 12, problems are beginning to surface with the practicality of students trying to create content during lockdowns and the overall pandemic. While students not being able to create exactly what they want isn’t a substantial issue ...

Submitted by Stevi Valenzuela, Student Journalist for Minarets Press On Feb. 6, seniors Matthew Sheller and Moises Agundez hosted a non-hazardous household waste drop-off event for their Senior Legacy Experience (SLE), free to all of Madera County. Last year, Sheller’s brother Michael held the same SLE, inspiring Sheller and Agundez to carry it on another year with the hopes someone ...

Submitted by Jolene Anderson & Mia Hipwood, Student Journalists for Minaret’s Press With the anniversary of COVID-19 mandated quarantine coming up this Saturday, students and staff at Minarets High School reflect on the past year, talking about their struggles and disappointments. Freshman Acacia Edeluchel recalls that her teachers had previously talked about the possibility of schools closing, but she didn’t ...

Submitted by Trever Jobinger, Student Journalist for Minarets Press Minarets High School can’t say thank you enough for the generous grant donated by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians. Almost exactly a year after the closure of Minarets due to COVID, Minarets students are hoping to return to campus to finish out the school year. It will not be ...

The Chawanakee Unified School District is looking to hire additional staff to accommodate the return of students with safety precautions in place. Several postings are coming out or are already posted on edjoin.org. Chawanakee Unified School District has been running in person learning for Elementary students for several months now. This has been a great success as safety and student ...

MADERA COUNTY MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES – The 39th Madera County Academic Decathlon and the first virtual competition had 7 schools competing on February 6, 2021 in the 10 event competition answering questions based on the topic “The Cold War.” Madera High South High School was the overall winner with our own Glacier High School Charter coming in second only 51.7 points behind ...

Submitted by Jolene Anderson, student journalist for Minarets Press O’NEALS – In January of 2020, three student musicians met together for the first time, forming the band Sunroom. Starting in an actual sunroom, Jayci Coons, Evan Bethel, and Austin Bethel started rehearsing covers of songs such as “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones and “White Wedding” by Billy Idol. From there, ...