Del Oro will be well-represented during the Kern High School District’s annual Promoting Excellence in Activities and Athletics in Kern (PEAAK) Awards. The awards will be held Wednesday evening at the Dignity Health Arena, Theater, and Convention Center in downtown Bakersfield.
Senior basketball player Gabriel Bocardo and the boys varsity cross country team are nominees for Athletic Play of the Year. Bocardo was named one of the South Yosemite Horizon League’s two Most Valuable Players and also made an appearance at the Kern County All-Star basketball game in March. The cross country team captured back-to-back league and Central Section championships, with junior Noel Huato finishing in first place in the Division 3 category.
Bocardo could make a second appearance on the award stage as the varsity boys basketball team is nominated for Greatest Comeback. The basketball team advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation’s Division 6 semifinals this season, advancing over Desert High in a comeback win.
Three Drama department productions were nominated, with “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Jungle Book” up for the Outstanding Live Theatrical Production (Musical) category and “The Bold, The Young, and The Murdered” for Outstanding Live Theatrical Production (Non-Musical). Additionally, seniors Nicole Aguirre and Jazmin Santos were nominated for Outstanding Scholar Thespian.
Senior soccer player Aaron Esquivel and softball pitcher Anali Martinez were nominated for the Outstanding Leadership category.
Jayden Zepeda, the Sunburst‘s multimedia editor, is nominated in two categories, Scholar Photographer and Best Editing in Film/Video. Zepeda, a senior, was nominated for producing a video during Black History Month in which two Del Oro students read aloud an article by Sunburst Editor-in-Chief Kayla Vaughn about how casual use of the N-word on campus has become so pervasive and how it really is perceived by Black students.
That story earned Vaughn a nomination for the Excellence in Writing category. She is also under consideration for the Best News Story award. She previously won PEAAKs in both categories, capturing the Excellence in Writing award during her freshman year at Mira Monte and winning Best News Story last year. Junior Itzel Garcia is also nominated for Best News Story for her reporting on the student walkouts and protests earlier this semester.
The Sunburst‘s staff is nominated for the Best Design category.
