Bighorn news: Race cars, open enrollment, and Senior Spotlight

Students in Jackie Bogdanowicz’s physics class relied on physics to build and race model cars.

Students in Jackie Bogdanowicz’s physics class relied on physics to build and race model cars.
Provided to the LVN

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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: AN NGUYEN

High school has been all about the experiences and memories made for graduating senior An Nguyen. The four years have gone fast, and the gifted senior encourages everyone to make the most of their time.

Nguyen started at Oasis Academy as a freshman and his favorite memory comes from Jackie Bogdanowicz’s class.

“It was just such a fun and comfortable environment, we loved joking with (and annoying) her every day,” he said. “I remember one day I came into her office to drop off a student's Chromebook I repaired, and we talked for over an hour. I lost track of time and forgot I had left my friend waiting in my car. When he called asking where I was, she and I laughed so hard together.”

He’s grateful for the lifelong friendships he’s made at Oasis Academy.

“I'd like to thank Josh Gusewelle, Troy Underwood, Zach Budner, Josh Helm, and Clint Vaughn for making school a pleasure to come to,” he said. “Especially Josh G and Troy for not telling me to go kick dirt when I first arrived at Oasis, I literally just followed them to lunch one day and never stopped.”

Those friendships helped make his high school experience even better.

“My friends and I have always been comfortable and close with our teachers, and we make a conscious effort to make class as fun as we can. We always reminisce about how fun sophomore year was for us. All of our classes were engaging, and we made sure to talk and have fun with each other,” he said.

Along with the friendships, he’d also like to thank the Oasis staff for their impact.

“I'd like to thank Mr. Evan Brandt and Mr. Eric Grimes for being the best teachers I've ever had,” he said.

“Mr. Brandt made math super easy to learn and made his classes engaging and fun,” Nguyen explained.

“Mr. Grimes sparked a love of government in me and made me study for his exams and We The People like I never have before. I even considered pursuing a career in law for a short while because of him,” he added.

“Government with Mr. Grimes was the best class I've ever taken. I studied more than ever in that class out of pure passion and always competed as hard as I could in Trashball. I wish sometimes I could compete in those games again and flex my government knowledge on all the underclassmen” he laughed.

But Brandt and Grimes are not the only two teachers Nguyen appreciated.

“I also want to thank Ms. Bogdanowicz for being super down to earth, she didn't even feel like a teacher sometimes, just like an old friend. Mrs. Julie Stockard as well pushed me to try hard and become a better person. She the sweetest woman I've ever met,” he said.

During high school he participated in We the People, National Honors Society, and Robotics.

“We The People provided one of the happiest moments in my life when the team (Halle Feest, Michele Grossi, Anna Springfield) and I won the Unit 5 Award at Invitationals. It's a shame we couldn't go to Regionals, but I was incredibly proud of us for winning the award,” he said.

Nguyen will graduate in May with both his high school diploma and an associate of arts degree from Western Nevada College. He plans to work toward a career in video production.

“I plan to move to Reno with my siblings and attend the University of Nevada, Reno to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a Journalism minor with an emphasis on Film & Media Productions,” he said. “After I get my BFA, I plan on taking Full Sail University's online certification course for Film & Video.”

With that strong educational foundation, he hopes to get his dream job.

“My dream job is to either work on professional films or on a content creation team like Mr. Beast as a video editor or sound designer,” he said.

Again, Nguyen wants students to remember to take time and enjoy their four years of high school.

“Enjoy your time here as much as you can, don't rush to graduate,” he said. “Four years will pass ten times faster than you think so cherish every moment you have with your friends. Go to every event, just go hang out, spend your money on stupid things and lose a couple hours of sleep being with the ones that make you happy. You'll never forget those moments and you'll never get to relive them so make it special.”


SOPHOMORES BUILD MOUSE TRAP RACERS

Students in Ms. Jackie Bogdanowicz’s physics class used the concepts they’ve learned in class to build and race mouse trap powered race cars.

The students applied their newly learned principles of the different types of energy and how it works to power their self-designed cars. Students were free to engineer a car design of their liking, but the snapping of the mouse trap was required to be used to create the energy to propel the car.

The car had to travel a minimum of seven meters in the race. Winners of each heat progressed to the next round. The winning car design was from the team of Riley Jacob and Leo Arcoraci.

“The project was a fun yet educational way for us to put our knowledge to work. It was also a good way to lead up to finals,” Kaylee Craig said.

It was the favorite lab so far for many students.

“This lab was definitely my favorite of the semester; I had a lot of fun creating the cars. At the same time, I found this project very interesting because we were able to have a car travel using a mousetrap as the source of power,” Craig said.

— Taylor Sowersby


OPEN ENROLLMENT THROUGH FEB. 27

Oasis Academy open enrollment for the 2025-26 school year is now through Feb. 27.

Enrollment is open for all students entering grades kindergarten through high school. The lottery will be held on March 3.

Applications are available online at oanv.org. Contact Oasis Academy at 775-423-5437 with any questions.

— Taylor Sowersby