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A compilation of my written reporting in my ever-growing portfolio of journalistic work.

Mustang News •

San Luis Obispo adopts single-vote ballot system - Mustang News

San Luis Obispo voters will see a different ballot format beginning this year. The city is adopting a new single-vote system for the city council.


Under the new system, which will begin this year, voters will select one candidate for the city council instead of up to two, as was previously allowed. The two candidates who receive the most votes will win the available seats. 


The change applies only to city council elections and will not affect the mayoral race, in which voters already selec...
Mustang News •

Cal Poly adopts new GE template with semester conversion - Mustang News

Cal Poly students will see a new general education (GE) template in the 2026-27 academic year once the university converts to semesters. 


The change is a part of a statewide overhaul of transfer and degree pathways that began in California State University campuses in 2025. Cal Poly will be the last CSU to adopt the new California General Education Transfer Curriculum, known as the Cal-GETC.


While other CSU campuses implemented Cal-GETC in 2025, Cal Poly received a one-year extension to av...
Mustang News •

Semester transition: Cal Poly releases new academic catalog - Mustang News

Cal Poly released the 2026-28 academic catalog, its first official document detailing what course offerings and graduation requirements will look like when the university transitions to semesters.


The 2026-28 semester catalog will take effect next academic year as Cal Poly officially joins the rest of the California State University system in operating on semesters and is the first Cal Poly catalog not on the quarter system.


READ MORE: Switch to semester system – Mustang News


Cal Poly h...
Mustang News •

Mustang Success Center starts family advising pilot - Mustang News

The Mustang Success Center, in collaboration with University Advising, launched the “La Familia y Communidad” Advising Pilot in August.


Utilizing funding from the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grants awarded by Cal Poly in Fall 2024, the project inverts the traditional approach to advising by bringing families into the process, rather than keeping them out of the picture. 


The program keeps parents and supports looped through not through advising meetings, but through shared informati...
Mustang News •

The Class of 2026 faces uncertain future as AI reshapes job market - Mustang News

“I don’t feel sure that I’m gonna get a job by the time I graduate,” senior Nashali Vicente Lopez said.


Lopez is one of many students preparing to graduate without a clear answer on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will affect her career. She started at Cal Poly as a computer science major to become a software engineer, but as AI tools advanced, she began to wonder if her future was being automated out from under her.


“AI made me question whether I was in the right major,” Lopez said. “It...
Mustang News •

Apply now for Cal Poly's fall 2026 semester - Mustang News

Applications are now open for prospective students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and other campuses within the California State University system for the fall 2026 semester. 


The CSU application window officially opened on Oct. 1 and will close on Dec. 1, giving high school seniors and transfer students two months to submit their materials.


Students can apply to Cal Poly and any of the 23 CSU campuses through the Cal State Apply portal. 


Applicants will be expected to meet several require...
Mustang News •

ICE activity reported in downtown San Luis Obispo - Mustang News

Local activists reported alleged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the downtown San Luis Obispo area yesterday morning. 


Activists took several pictures and followed vehicles they suspected were being used by agents due to their tinted windows, paper license plates and clean exteriors. One was an unmarked black Ford Expedition that multiple witnesses saw drive through downtown with blue and right lights on. 


Residents who gathered near the courthouse chased the vehicle,...
Mustang News •

TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk fatally shot during Utah campus event - Mustang News

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was killed on Wednesday after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University, according to President Trump. He was 31.


Kirk was at the university to kick off his ‘American Comeback Tour’ when one gunshot rang out, according to the Associated Press. Kirk was struck in the neck and rushed to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries. 


Before being shot, Kirk was answering a question about mass shoo...
Mustang News •

Cal Poly swears in new police chief - Mustang News

Cal Poly officially welcomed its new chief of police, Robert Plastino, during a swearing-in ceremony on July 25.


Plastino brings over 27 years of experience with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, where he previously served as chief deputy of law enforcement operations. He covered a wide jurisdiction from Carpinteria to Cuyama and included oversight of both patrol and detective divisions. He also worked closely with the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Isla Vista commun...
Mustang News •

Gifford Fire Grows to 40,000 Acres in California Forest - Mustang News

Update August 4, 10:48 a.m.: The Gifford Fire has grown to 65,062 acres. It has lost containment overnight, 3%, according to the U.S. Forest Service.


The Gifford Fire, fueled by warm and dry conditions, has grown to almost 40,000 acres in Los Padres National Forest after igniting on Friday afternoon near the border of San Luis Obispo County, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It’s 5% contained as of Sunday evening.


Overnight, the blaze surpassed January’s Palisades fire in size, making...
Mustang News •

Cal Poly earns five-star rating from Money in 'Best Colleges' list - Mustang News

Cal Poly received a five-star rating from Money, a personal finance outlet, in its ‘Best Colleges in America’ list, marking the third consecutive year the university has earned the publication’s top distinction. 

The rating system evaluated 732 four-year colleges nationwide, using 25 data points across affordability, graduation rates, student debt and postgraduate earnings. Schools are scored on a scale from two to five stars. 40 institutions, or about 5% of those evaluated, earned a five-sta...
Mustang News •

Student arrested after pro-Palestine protest

A Cal Poly student was arrested for his involvement in a pro-Palestine protest that left the Financial Aid and Student Accounts Office vandalized, according to SLO police logs. He could be expelled, according to the campus Social Justice Coalition.


On June 4, five pro-Palestinian protestors entered Cal Poly’s Financial Aid and Student Accounts office and spray-painted graffiti on walls, furniture and computers.


Two suspects were identified and arrested after the protest. One is Theodore Le...
Mustang News •

Madre Fire: California's largest blaze in 2025 burns 52,000 acres in San Luis Obispo County

In a year of historic wildfires, the Madre Fire is now the largest in California, burning over 52,000 acres in San Luis Obispo County.

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in a remote, brush-heavy area near the border of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Fueled by dry grass and wind, it spread quickly overnight, swelling from a few hundred acres to over 52,600 acres by Thursday afternoon.

As of Thursday night, the blaze was only 10% contained, according to Cal Fire, with 50 str...
The Lancer •

Trump Administration Cuts Reach CVUSD

The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) was informed Tuesday, April 29, that a federal grant worth $11.3 million will be canceled, according to student board member Aidan Light.
The grant, which was approved in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, came after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 elementary schoolers and two teachers. Despite gun control being a widely divisive topic, lawmakers from both parties agreed to allocate $1 billion n...
The Lancer •

The Weight I Carry Being a First-Generation American

On July 3, 2013, my parents and I left Taiwan for the United States, carrying just a few suitcases and the weight of my parents’ sacrifices. I was six years old, too young to understand what we were leaving behind.
Hope. That’s what drives so many first-generation families. They hope their children will have more opportunities, and their struggles and sacrifices will amount to something and will not be in vain. But hope is a heavy thing to carry when it comes wrapped in expectations. For as long...
The Lancer •

McEnroe leaves TO after questions arise

It was a quiet Monday morning before school on Feb. 10, deep in the football offseason. It was unusual, then, when Thousand Oaks High School head coach Ben McEnroe summoned his players for a mandatory meeting.
The team gathered in silence, expecting an announcement about the 2025 team schedule or maybe a guest speaker. Instead, they found themselves at the center of a shift no one had anticipated.
Despite the graduation of his son, Cory McEnroe—who is committed to playing football at the Univers...
The Lancer •

Finding my way: Using sports to continue my career

I may not be an athlete, but I’ve found my way into the world of sports. Growing up, I used to imagine myself playing football. I lived it when I got into high school.
By my sophomore year, I realized I had no chance of playing at the next level. But that didn’t mean I had to leave it behind. I picked up a camera and started to take photos of my friends. It quickly turned into something bigger. By junior year, I found myself at an offseason training facility with Alex Singleton, a linebacker for...
The Lancer •

Lancer named Regeneron science scholar

Wind gushing outside E3 in November, leaving the science lab without power, senior Benjamin Chung poured a substrate into an enzyme, hoping it would change color.
It turned pink. He screamed.
Chung had just finished his research to submit for the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science research competition for high school students.
In early January, the Society for Science — which serves as the managing body of the Regeneron competition — announced that...
The Lancer •

Thousand Oaks girls’ soccer advances to CIF-SS Finals

Thousand Oaks girls’ soccer secured a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory against Alta Loma in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 semifinals on Saturday night, earning a spot in the championship game for the first time since 2008.
The Lancers defeated Moorpark 2-1 in 2008 to win the school’s first CIF-SS girls’ soccer title. Similarly, the 2008 team competed in Division 2.
Sophomore Maddie Linville played a pivotal role, scoring in regulation and assisting on the game-winning goal in overtime. Senior...
The Lancer •

Thousand Oaks hires Branden Anderson as the programs next football head coach

A familiar face is returning to lead the Lancers after their historic two-season run under Ben McEnroe.
Branden Anderson has been named the next football head coach at Thousand Oaks, principal Eric Bergmann announced in a press release to the school.
Anderson, a Thousand Oaks alumni and former Lancers quarterback, returns to the program after serving as Newbury Park’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons. He succeeds Ben McEnroe, who resigned in early February after a historic two-ye...
The Lancer •

Ben McEnroe resigns as Thousand Oaks High School head coach

Thousand Oaks High School head coach Ben McEnroe resigned from his position effective immediately on Monday morning.
McEnroe led the Lancer football program for two seasons, during that time he held a 17-9 record and brought the Lancers to back-to-back semi-finals for the first time since 1987-88.
In a meeting Monday morning with players, McEnroe announced his resignation.
Previous to taking the job at Thousand Oaks, McEnroe coached California Lutheran University from 2007 to 2021.
McEnroe’s sta...
The Lancer •

LEAP students start an entrepreneurial endeavor

Thousand Oaks High School’s Learning Essentials Academic Program (LEAP) launched a coffee cart to teach life skills while raising funds for the program.
The coffee cart was established by Assistant Principal of Student Support Services Michelle Kerrigan, whose vision is for a micro-business in the special education program.
The cart allows special education students to practice real-world skills and build on their social skills/cues. Teachers submit paper forms to order, and students take charge...
The Lancer •

The Pressure of Leadership

Senior Morgan Castillas is in a unique position that hardly few dawning Lancer Green get to achieve. She plays softball, flag football and basketball and serves as a captain for all three teams. 
When the TO flag football team made it to the playoffs for the first time this year, she stepped up to help her teammates manage their nerves.
That’s not always easy.
“One of my teammates was having a mental breakdown before the game, and we had to work together as a team to help calm her down,” Casilla...
The Lancer •

Ready, Set, Dash

On Thursday morning, Nov. 28, 2024, more than 2,000 runners gathered at Cal Lutheran University for the second annual Turkey Day Dash.
For 15 years, the YMCA led the Turkey Day Dash, inviting thousands annually to the CLU campus before the big Thanksgiving feast. The Dash was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and remained on hiatus in 2021 and 2022, leaving a void in the Thanksgiving morning tradition.
Five07 stepped in to reignite the tradition and restart the annual counter, rallying suppor...
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