![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
Located in San Clemente, the Togethership, is an independent private school designed for elite middle school student athletes.
With sports being a popular activity for children, new schools are opening with sports as a large part of their curriculum.
According to the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), 53.8% of children ages 6 to 17 years old play on a sports team or participate in a type of physical activity as of 2022.
“Togethership was formed to provide these hyper-focused, elite student-athletes every opportunity and advantage possible to achieve their goals on and off the court and field,” according to the school’s website.
Students attending Togethership are opting out of starting their freshman year of high school after completing eighth grade, entering the sports focused program instead, then re-entering traditional public or private high schools a year older.
It currently focuses on baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball.
“Being around other people that also love sports is very different from regular school. Once you leave the school they teach you ways to take care of yourself outside of the sport alone,” said football player Luke Frith.
A primary goal of the school is to develop athletes and prepare them for high school.
“An ability to get faster and stronger before going into high school, being a freshman coming in you already have advantages people don’t,” said Frith.
Designed to include three to four hours of sports training everyday outside of academic work, the academy must balance sports and academics.
“The Togethership facility is incredible. The weight room was super organized and they used technology to personalize each athlete’s workout,” said soccer player Sariah Porter.
Though the school has a primary facility, they transport players to and from different practice locations depending on their sport.
“There are buses to take students out to local fields for speed and agility and whatever sports classes they are taking,” said Porter.
Applicants must complete a multi-step process and a phone interview before getting a quote on the cost of tuition.
Typically it enrolls around 200 athletes per year. Class sizes are small and teachers and students have the opportunity to build a better relationship with one another.
“They did a great job balancing sports and academics. They are some of the best teachers I ever had and they taught me the right things about real life fundamentals, not just what they were supposed to teach,” said Frith.
Devin Quinn, the creator of the academy, trained star National Football League (NFL) players such as Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Christian Kirk under the mentorship of Jordan Palmer.
Built as a holistic academy, Togethership hopes to improve academics, nutrition, mindfulness, recovery, sport, and performance.
“They helped me strengthen my mentality, it forces you to do the things you normally wouldn’t do,” said football player Ryan Matheson.
Drawbacks to the program might include not graduating with the same class of students they used to go to school with, distance from peer group activities that occur at high school like dances and clubs as well extracurriculars like drama, music, and art programs.
But for some, the cost of tuition and sacrificing these things for a time might be worth it.
This story was originally published on The Express on November 22, 2024.